Google Pixel 7 review: cracking camera at a good price

Google appears to have triumphed again. The new Pixel 7 offers the same the top-flight software, camera and smart AI systems that have made its phones winners, but at a knockdown price that significantly undercuts rivals.

Costing £599 ($899/A$1,299) it sits in between the top £849 Pixel 7 Pro and the budget £399 Pixel 6a, competing very favourably on price and specs with rivals from Samsung, Apple and others that are typically in the £700-800 range.

Inside, the Pixel 7 has the same Google Tensor G2 chip as its larger sibling and performs similarly, with particularly rapid AI systems such as text to speech.

Google does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is repairable by Google and third-party shops with genuine replacement parts available direct from iFixit. Out-of-warranty screen repairs by Google will cost similar to its predecessor at about £140 and battery replacements about £100.

The Pixel 7 is made with 100% recycled aluminium, accounting for about 19% of the phone by weight. The company publishes environmental impact reports for some of its products. Google will recycle old devices free of charge.

Google will provide at least five years of software and security updates including at least three major Android versions. Samsung supports many of its phones for five years, while Fairphone is aiming for six years and Apple supports its iPhone for up to seven years.

The Pixel 7 has two cameras on the back, including a 50-megapixel main and 12MP ultrawide, lacking the 5x telephoto of the Pixel 7 Pro.

The selfie camera shoots excellent 10MP images in a variety of lighting conditions.Video capture has been improved all round at up to 4K at 60 frames a second in HDR, catching up to rivals.

Overall the Pixel 7 has a really excellent camera for the money, only really missing an extended zoom.

The Google Pixel 7 costs from £599 ($599/A$999) with 128GB of storage.

For comparison, the Pixel 7 Pro costs £849, the Pixel 6a costs £399, the Samsung Galaxy S22 costs £769 and the iPhone 14 costs £849.

The Pixel 7 is a cracking top-end Android phone at a great price.

It offers most of what makes the Pixel 7 Pro one of the best smartphones of the year, with a few corners cut to be under £600 at a time when technology is getting more expensive, not less.