Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro Review: Even Better Value

Portrait mode has been made better by the wizardry of the internet giant. In the last few years, I've noticed that the Pixels struggle with rogue hair strands when using Portrait mode, and it would make errors that could ruin a photo. I haven't seen that much on the series. It takes better low-light Portrait mode photos than the phone. The phone tells me that I need more light, but it works on the phone.

The Super Res zoom on the Pixel 7 Pro now goes up to 30X, which is great. You can take better photos when you pinch and zoom in on the camera app. At 10X zoom, you can get images that are close to optical-level quality if you use machine learning and the full 48-megapixel camera. I wouldn't recommend 30X zoom, but 10X is amazing, and you should use it in well-lit conditions. I compared it to the 10X optical camera on the S22 Ultra, and while it was sharper, it wasn't too far off.

More of a reason to upgrade to the Pixel 7 Pro can be found in these improvements. If you like taking close-up shots, Macro Focus is a good choice. I like having the option to take pictures of my dog. It's disappointing that the selfies on both phones don't have the ability to focus. The image isn't as sharp as you'll get on the phone.

The video quality is not as good as it could be, but you can set it to shoot 4K and 30 frames per second. The footage looks better when viewed on a high definition screen. Portrait mode is similar to the new Cinematic Mode in that it allows you to get some silky bokeh in your videos. Apple has upgraded its cinematic mode to 4k. While it works in low light, you won't want to use it because of the distortion.

If you're worried about bugs, especially after the rush of issues that plagued the Google Pixel 6 launch, you should be reassured by the fact that the company is doing more rigorous quality testing. I ran into a bug in my testing that resulted in white-noise footage when I shot normal video. A restart fixes it, and the company says it has patched it. Since then, I haven't seen the flaw.

The new phones from the company are well worth your attention, even though they are overshadowed by the first-ever wristwatch.