by If you want the best smartphone out there right now, this is for you
It’s easy to take the Pixel 7 Pro for granted. Pick one up at a haulage store and you’ll probably sigh. Same age, same age, you’ll murmur to yourself. And while Google’s latest flagship phone certainly has a few surprises in store, you’re honestly missing out on the bigger picture. Yes, the Pixel 7 Pro is a simple evolution of its predecessor, but by picking up where the Pixel 6 Pro left off, Google has been able to create a phone that’s better in almost every way.
The refinements at play this year can be seen from all angles. The hardware is closer than ever to Samsung’s level, with the camera bar blending elegantly into the frame and wrapping around the entire device. While we’d love to see Google drop some of its bad habits – the glossy glass back is so 2018 – the overall design is better than anything the company has ever offered.
Meanwhile, the Tensor G2 chip powering this phone allows for even more AI tricks than ever before. Although it’s only a modest increase in performance, tools like Photo Unblur and Recorder are changing the way we use smartphones. Recording a lecture or an interview has never been easier, even if multiple speakers could potentially interfere with the automatic transcriptions. And seriously, Photo Unblur salvaged images from a decade ago that I thought would remain blurry forever. It’s one of the most impressive tools I’ve ever used, and it’s exclusive to Google’s latest smartphones.
And that says nothing about the cameras on these particular devices. Since its inception, the Pixel series has been the best way to capture the world around you, and it has remained so to this day. While the Galaxy S22 Ultra beats Google for sheer flexibility, nothing beats the Pixel 7 Pro when it comes to capturing incredible shots on the fly. Whether you’re shooting with the primary lens, the enhanced ultra-wide, or the flexible 5x telephoto sensor, the images this thing puts out are second to none.
Google has also finally figured out its reliability issues. Unlike the Pixel 6 Pro, we’ve seen very few bugs rearing their ugly heads this year. Security patches and feature drops arrived on time and as expected, and Google took quick action on some issues. It bodes well after the company dropped the ball in 2021.
Simply put, the Pixel 7 Pro offered the most refined experience of any smartphone in 2022. In a year full of devices that offered small changes to existing hardware, it was Google’s efforts that impressed us the most, and that’s why it earned us the Phone of the Year award. Whether the company can do it again next year with the Pixel 8 – or possibly the Pixel Fold – remains to be seen. But right now, if you want the best Android phone, it’s hard to beat Google’s offering.
