Google Pixel 7 Review
I love portable technology—if you can put it in a pocket or a bag, I’m probably into it. I’ve covered phones and tablets of all shapes and sizes, and reviewed everything from game consoles to laptops in my decade-plus career. Prior to joining PCMag, I wrote articles for Android Authority, How-To Geek, MUO, New Atlas, Tom’s Hardware, and plenty of other tech publications.
The Bottom Line
The Google Pixel 7 is the best $600 Android phone you can buy, particularly if you want flagship features and performance on a budget.
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.
Google Pixel 7 Specs
| Name |
Value |
| Operating System |
Android 13 |
| CPU |
Google Tensor G2 |
| Dimensions |
6.1 by 2.9 by 0.3 inches |
| Screen Size |
6.3 inches |
| Screen Resolution |
1080 by 2400 |
| Camera Resolution (Rear; Front-Facing) |
50MP, 12MP; 10.8MP |
| Battery Life (As Tested) |
12 hours 10 minutes |
For $599, Google’s Pixel 7 sits comfortably between the $449 Pixel 6a and the $899 Pixel 7 Pro in the company’s lineup, which is the sweet spot in the budgets of many smartphone shoppers—and that just so happens to make it one of the most feature-rich, affordable phones on the market. The Pixel 7 easily outclasses most similarly priced handsets, and brings some real heat to Samsung’s $799 Galaxy S22, with standout performance and camera quality for the price. Though its low-key external design refresh and minor spec bump may seem a bit incremental year over year, you simply won’t find a better Android phone for $600, making the Pixel 7 our Editors’ Choice winner for affordable flagships.
It Sure Does Stand Out
Google carries over the unique design language of last year’s Pixel 6 for this year’s Pixel 7. Most notably, it retains the horizontal camera bar on the back of the phone. In a world where Samsung uses a vertical camera array and Apple rolls with a square, Google’s elongated bar stands out. In the case of the Pixel 7, there are two lenses tucked into the camera module, which has a matte aluminum cover rather than the black glass of the outgoing model. The phone is available in three colors: Lemongrass, Obsidian, or Snow. The frame is made from recycled aluminum. The front and back glass of the phone is glossy, though it doesn’t seem to attract fingerprints.
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The screen measures 6.3 inches (0.1-inch smaller than the Pixel 6) with a punch-hole camera and nearly edge-to-edge bezels. The OLED display packs 2,400 by 1,080 pixels, for a density of 416ppi. The refresh rate runs as high as 90Hz, which isn’t as fast as the 120Hz display on the Galaxy S22 or Pixel 7 Pro, but it’s still noticeably smoother than a 60Hz display. The screen pushes up to 1,000 nits (typical) and 1,400 nits (peak) of brightness, which matches Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro. Contrast is one million to one, and there’s support for 24-bit color and HDR. For comparison, the S22’s screen measures 6.1 inches and has a similar resolution, but steps up the refresh rate to 120Hz.
This isn’t a particularly large phone. At 6.13 by 2.88 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and 6.9 ounces, the Pixel 7 is a little bit bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S22 (5.78 by 2.78 by 0.30 inches, 5.93 ounces), but smaller in every dimension than the Pixel 6 (6.24 by 2.94 by 0.35 inches, 7.3 ounces).
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The controls, ports, and other functional elements are the same year over year. The power button and volume toggle are on the right side, while the physical SIM card tray is on the left. Though the Pixel supports eSIM (like the new iPhone 14 family), you can fall back on a regular nano SIM card when needed. The USB-C port and speaker are on the bottom edge.
In terms of durability, the phone features Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back, which should help protect against drops. It also meets the IP68 rating against dust and water ingress. These are must-haves for modern flagships.
Has Google improved the under-display fingerprint reader from the Pixel 6? Sort of. Training the embedded reader is as simple as any other phone, and we’ve determined that the scanner is indeed faster and more reliable than the outgoing phone’s sensor (though it still lags behind the performance we’ve seen from other top handsets). In addition to the fingerprint reader, Google has brought back the secure facial recognition tool for security. This feature allows you to securely record an image of your face and use it to unlock the phone or authorize payments. It works well, though perhaps not quite as quickly as Apple’s Face ID.
Deceptively Strong Performance
The Pixel 7’s performance is atypical. Like the Pixel 6, it doesn’t score off the charts on benchmarks, but it feels incredibly smooth and fast during real-world usage. Google tunes its custom-designed Tensor G2 system-on-a-chip differently from the off-the-shelf MediaTek and Qualcomm chipsets that competitors use. Google is more focused on machine learning and artificial intelligence features and what they can empower rather than straight-up horsepower. The Tensor G2 has an octa-core processor and an ARM Mali G710 MP07 GPU, as well as a custom-made Tensor Processing Unit, DSP, ISP, Context Hub, and Titan M2 security chip. This last bit manages biometric data, such as your fingerprints and facial recognition images.
The phone has 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. Make sure you choose the right one for your needs, because there’s no microSD card slot (which has become standard for flagship phones). The S22 has the same allotment of RAM and storage options, but the Pixel 7 Pro ramps up RAM to 12GB and adds a 512GB model.
Benchmark numbers aren’t necessarily bad, they just don’t impress in the same way other phones do. For example, the Pixel 7 scored 10,571 on the PCMark Work test, where the Samsung Galaxy S22 outperformed it with 13,974. On the GeekBench 5 processor test, the Pixel 7 scored 1,032 and 2,749 on the single- and multi-core tests, respectively. The Galaxy S22, which features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, scored 1,216 and 3,448. The real-world performance of the phones feels much closer than these numbers suggest, however.
Using the GFXBench Aztec offscreen 1440p benchmark, the Pixel 7 averaged 25fps while the Galaxy S22 averaged 29fps. Those are fairly similar frame rates on a test that’s designed to push a smartphone’s graphics hardware to the limit. We also played Genshin Impact at medium settings and 60fps, and it ran great. We didn’t notice any major hitches or frame rate drops, which is all you can ask for from a graphically demanding game.
We can’t stress enough how much better the Pixel 7 feels than its benchmarks suggest. Between the overall fluidity of the phone and the features Google offers with the Tensor G2 chip, it makes for a truly smooth overall experience.
Another key aspect of a phone’s performance is battery life. The Pixel 7 did well with its 4,355 mAh battery, but it didn’t blow us away. In our power drain test in which we play a video from YouTube on Wi-Fi with the screen brightness turned up to the maximum, the phone lasted 12 hours and 10 minutes. Compared with the Galaxy S22, which lasted just nine hours, Google’s affordable flagship fares pretty well, though neither comes close to the 16 hours we saw from the iPhone 14 Pro.
As for powering up, the Pixel 7 supports up to 30W charging (though there isn’t an adapter in the box). When charged at full speed, it took 95 minutes to reach capacity, which is fine, but not particularly impressive. The Samsung S22 recharges faster at 85 minutes. The Pixel supports fast Qi wireless charging, though Google doesn’t specify at what rate. It can also share its battery wirelessly with accessories such as headphones or smartwatches.
The phone’s stereo speakers are solid. We listened to The Knife’s "Silent Shout," our bass test track, which sounded pretty good through the Pixel 7, even at high volumes. We then switched to “Stranded” by Gojira, which focuses on treble, and the Pixel 7 once again avoided distortion while sounding crisp and clear.
Making a Connection
Google offers all the key connections you expect from a leading smartphone. That means you get 5G with mid-band and mmWave (on certain models) for speedy wireless performance. The phone includes Wi-Fi 6E, which is the latest version of the wireless standard, as well as Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and GPS.
In testing Wi-Fi, we compared the Pixel 7 with the Samsung Galaxy S22 at various ranges. The Pixel 7 performed well on our Wi-Fi 6 network. When close to the access point, it averaged 680Mbps down, while the S22 averaged 662Mbps down. When stretching the range to the other side of an apartment with three doors closed in between, the Pixel averaged 385Mbps down and the S22 averaged 364Mbps down. In other words, the Pixel matches the competition on Wi-Fi.
Unfortunately, the Pixel 7 came up a bit short in some aspects when testing 5G. With a good T-Mobile signal, there was almost no difference between the Pixel 7 and the S22, with download speeds of 725Mbps and 704Mbps, respectively. However, in areas with weak signal strength, Samsung’s device outperformed the Pixel 7 over and over. The Pixel showed far greater variance and sometimes couldn’t run the speed test at all. Speeds were slow across the board, with each of the test phones rating between just 2 and 3Mbps down, but Samsung was more reliably able to connect on the network’s edge. We know that the S22 has a Snapdragon X65 modem. Google says it updated the modem in the Pixel 7 series (the Pixel 6 had an Exynos modem), but the company hasn’t specified the exact component.
Call clarity and volume on the Pixel 7 are good, with the phone peaking at 77.9dB through the earpiece and 95.6dB through the speaker. Those numbers are average in terms of the competition. Call clarity is strong on both ends; everyone we spoke with said they could hear us clearly and we could hear them just fine. Google has a feature called Clear Calling that uses machine learning to filter out background noise, but it wasn’t ready for testing at launch.
Google also has a new calling feature named Direct My Call, which is powered by the company’s Duplex technology. Essentially, when you call a business with a complicated menu tree, Google will transcribe the menu options and show them on your screen for you to tap. The feature has been improved in that it now shows the menu tree in its entirety, rather than piecemeal as the assistant speaks the options. We tested the feature with a local business and it worked exactly as advertised; it’s certainly more pleasant than waiting for the robot to finish reading all of the options one at a time.
Last Year’s Cameras, Leveled Up
When you first glean the specs of the Pixel 7 cameras and see that they’re essentially carried over from last year, your gut reaction might be disappointment. After all, we want to see leaps in camera technology each year. The main camera has a 50MP sensor with an f/1.85 aperture and an 82-degree field of view. The ultra-wide camera has a 12MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a 114-degree field of view. Both take advantage of optical and electrical image stabilization for sharper shots. Samsung’s Galaxy S22 has a three-camera arrangement, adding a telephoto zoom to the mix.
On the front, you’ll find a 10.8MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 92.8-degree field of view, which is a notable improvement over the Pixel 6, which had an 8MP selfie camera and an 84-degree field of view.
While the rear camera hardware is the same as last year, Google is harnessing the power of the Tensor G2 to add some impressive features to the Pixel 7 that make capturing and editing photos a more pleasant experience. Perhaps the most impressive of these features is Photo Unblur, which can take any image (even ones not captured on the Pixel 7) and, in the Google Photos app, sharpen any blurriness. This means you can salvage older photos using the Pixel 7, which is a truly game-changing feature.
The Pixel 7 doesn’t offer optical zooming power like the Pixel 7 Pro and Galaxy S22 do, but that doesn’t mean it can’t zoom. The phone makes use of Google’s Super Res Zoom to generate up to 8x zoom through a combination of digital cropping and machine learning to fill in and sharpen the gaps. Moreover, the phone can offer 2x "optical" zoom by capturing images with the central 12MP of the 48MP sensor. It’s not as sharp as you’d get with dedicated telephoto glass, but the software does a good job of cleaning up the photos so they are usable.
A new feature called Guided Frame is designed to help people with visual impairments take selfies through verbal cues. While it won’t change the experience for a large percentage of people, it’s still a useful feature, and one that we’re happy to see included. It works exactly as advertised.
As for the selfie camera, it takes solid pictures, even in low light. And if a picture doesn’t come out exactly how you like, or some person walks through the background, post-processing features like Magic Eraser are there to help.
Of course, all the key photo features of the Pixel 6 make their way to the new phone. In addition to Magic Eraser, you get Night Sight, Motion Mode, True Tone, Face Unblur, Top Shot, and more. Google brings its inclusive Real Tone tech to the Night Sight and Portrait modes for better, more accurate skin tone results across more of the camera app. The S22 has plenty of camera features too, but not Real Tone.
When working in low light, you’re almost guaranteed a good picture thanks to Night Sight and the versatility it offers. We tried it out against the Galaxy S22’s night mode and found that images are reliably better with the Pixel 7.
During the day, the differences between the Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22 are less pronounced, though we prefer the softer colors on the Pixel 7 over the brighter colors on the S22. Of course, that’s a matter of preference.
There are plenty of video recording features available on the Pixel 7, such as 4K30 and 4K60, as well as 240fps slow motion. The Pixel 7 also offers a Cinematic Blur and Cinematic Pan feature that’s similar to the Cinematic mode Apple offers with iPhones, blurring the background while focusing on the subject. It includes a number of optical image stabilization tools as well, so you can record video with minimal camera shake. The S22, however, ups the ante by offering 8K video capture.
Ultimately, whether you’re a pro photographer who wants to fiddle with white balance, aperture, and shutter speed, or you just want to point at a subject and get a good photo, the Pixel 7 is one of the best camera phones you can buy, and not far behind the pricier the Pixel 7 Pro.
A Stellar Android Experience
The Pixel’s Android 13 experience is the cleanest and most pleasant one you can get on any smartphone. Sure, Samsung’s OneUI is great, and plenty of companies have clean and functional Android skins, but there’s just something to be said for the pure version that comes on Pixel phones.
As part of that Android experience, Google has added some nifty features to the Pixel 7. Now, when someone sends you a voice message, Google automatically transcribes it. If you find yourself in a place where you can’t listen to a message, this is a welcome feature to have.
Google has also added a new feature to its Recorder app that lets you create labels for different people. If you’re recording a lecture or you’re a journalist taking an audio record of a briefing, knowing who is talking can be convenient when you go back to listen later.
Assistant Voice Typing is another Pixel-exclusive feature, and it makes writing messages with your voice a faster, more streamlined process. Not only can you send messages with it, but you can also edit them with Google Assistant. Plus there are accessibility implications, as people who can’t physically type can benefit from this upgrade.
Google promises five years of security upgrades and three years of Android version upgrades. Similarly, Samsung is committed to five years of security updates and four generations of Android system upgrades. These are the best commitments across the entire landscape of Android devices. That said, your Pixel phone is almost certain to see Android system updates faster than a Galaxy device.
The Best $600 Android Phone
If there’s one thing Google gets right each year with its base model Pixel phones, it’s the price. With the $599 Pixel 7, Google has crafted an absolutely stellar smartphone with most of the features offered by the more expensive Pixel 7 Pro, but for $300 less. Stepping up to the larger Pro primarily nets you a faster, sharper screen and a powerful telephoto camera, which might not be worth the extra money for many users. Moreover, the Pixel 7 edges past the Galaxy S22 on camera and battery performance for $200 less, even if it falls a little short on cell connectivity. Between its solid performance, stellar cameras, and unique design, the Pixel 7 has virtually everything you can want in a $600 phone, earning it our Editors’ Choice award.
OnePlus Nord N20 Review
I’m that 5G guy. I’ve actually been here for every "G." I’ve reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also write a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsess about phones and networks.
The Bottom Line
The OnePlus Nord N20 is a smooth, striking, and affordable phone; just don’t expect a flagship camera experience.
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.
OnePlus Nord N20 Specs
| Name |
Value |
| Operating System |
Android 11 |
| CPU |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 |
| Dimensions |
6.3 by 2.9 by 0.3 inches |
| Screen Size |
6.43 inches |
| Screen Resolution |
2,400 by 1,080 pixels |
| Camera Resolution (Rear; Front-Facing) |
64MP, 8MP, 2MP, 2MP; 16MP |
| Battery Life (As Tested) |
13 hours 50 minutes |
The highly anticipated Nord N20 ($282) aims to capture the true spirit of OnePlus phones: smooth performance and impressive design at a very competitive price. Last year’s outstanding Nord N10 ($299.99) fit that bill in every way, with its 90Hz display, 5G support, and ultra-wide camera. The Nord N20 is slightly less successful in its goals. The phone looks distinctive and feels fast (both in terms of UI navigation and download speeds on T-Mobile’s 5G network), but its cameras aren’t very competitive. The Samsung Galaxy A32 5G ($279.99) remains our Editors’ Choice award winner for budget-friendly Android phones because of its superior imaging capabilities and software upgrade policy. But if you aren’t focused on camera quality, the Nord N20 is a compelling alternative.
A Distinguished Design and Impressive Battery Life
The Nord N20 is the most stylish affordable phone I’ve seen in 2022, and I don’t anticipate any other model stealing that distinction away this year. It has a striking flat back with two bold, gold-edged camera lenses near the top corner. The back panel looks black at an angle, but straight on, it sparkles like special automotive paint. And although the edges aren’t entirely square, they’re sharper than those of Motorola https://jiji.ng/ and Samsung phones. The handset measures roughly 6.3 by 2.9 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighs about 6.1 ounces; it’s a bit smaller and lighter than the Galaxy A32 (6.5 by 3.0 by 0.4 inches, 7 ounces).
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The phone’s 6.43-inch, 1080p, 60Hz OLED panel appears to accentuate color richness (its contrast levels, in particular, are commendable) more so than outright brightness, but I didn’t have trouble with screen visibility outdoors. The Samsung Galaxy A53’s panel is comparatively brighter, for reference, though that phone is pricier at $449.99.
The 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom of the phone is something I always appreciate. Motorola still includes a physical headphone connector on its handsets, but Samsung has begun to phase them out even on its lower-end models (the Galaxy A33 and Galaxy A53 both lack a 3.5mm port). The headphone jack is especially handy here because the N20’s single, bottom-ported speaker sounds tinny and is easy to accidentally cover with your finger when you hold the phone in landscape mode. The speaker is incapable of producing the signature bass frequencies of our test track, The Knife’s "Silent Shout," but, when I plugged in a pair of wired Bose headphones, the track regained its power.
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Battery life and charging speed are standout features. We got 13 hours and 50 minutes in our video rundown test from the 4,500mAh battery, which is excellent. And when we left the phone on a shelf for a few days, it didn’t lose much charge. For comparison, the Galaxy A32 5G didn’t last quite as long in the same test (13 hours and 1 minute), but the $199.99 Motorola G Power kept going for quite a while (16 hours and 7 minutes).
Because of the N20’s support for 33W fast (wired) charging, we were able to recharge its depleted battery up to 14% in seven minutes and to 50% in 27 minutes. That said, a full charge still takes 75 minutes (the last few percentages go more slowly), and the phone doesn’t support wireless charging. OnePlus includes a wall adapter in the box.
Performance and Software: When 11 Is Greater Than 12
The OnePlus Nord N20 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chipset with two 2.21GHz ARM Cortex A78 cores and six 1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A55 cores. It offers 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (106GB is available out of the box). Notably, a microSD card slot lets you add additional storage (up to 512 GB).
Benchmark-wise, the N20 doesn’t stand out. Its Geekbench multi-core score of 1,982 is better than that of the Samsung Galaxy A53 (1,826), but on the application-focused PCMark Work benchmark, the A53 (11,675) absolutely torches the N20 (7,650).
Application performance is solid, unless you try to run high-end games like Genshin Impact. That title is playable, but the load times felt very long and I noticed instances of stutter during gameplay.
Hardware performance aside, I maintain that OnePlus’ OxygenOS 11 Android skin is second only to Google’s skin for Pixel devices. It emphasizes speed and ease of use, features clean icons and a very readable font, and enables extremely fast scrolling and app transitions. The skin’s speedy transitions, in particular, make the N20 feel faster than competing Samsung phones, despite what the benchmark results indicate.
You may grumble that the N20 doesn’t run Android 12, but I’m going to unleash a smoking-hot take here: At least for OnePlus devices, Android 11 is better. Android 12 doesn’t bring noticeable new features to OnePlus phones, and OnePlus’ Android 12 skin is a disaster. As I recount in my OnePlus 10 Pro review, OxygenOS 11 is smooth, sleek, and simple; OxygenOS 12 is overburdened and ugly. OxygenOS 13 is supposed to be better, but this phone won’t get that version.
Old versions of Android tend to become a problem either when a phone no longer receives security updates or when third-party apps become less compatible. OnePlus promises three years of security updates, so this handset should be just fine for the next few years.
Solid Cellular Connectivity
OnePlus plans to release an unlocked version of the Nord N20, but the model I tested is almost obsessively tuned for T-Mobile. It supports the 2/25/41/66/71 5G bands, as well as both the carrier’s "range band" (71) and "speed band" (41). Just note that, on any other carrier, this is at best a mediocre 4G phone. The N20 doesn’t have millimeter-wave 5G, but that’s not something we expect at this price.
Speed on T-Mobile’s mid-band network is as good as that of other midrange phones, and nothing about the reception or call quality stands out to me. Calls sound clear, though the speakerphone is a bit quieter than that of other midrange phones. It tops out at 87dB at a distance of six inches, compared with the Moto G Stylus 5G’s 92dB and the Samsung Galaxy A32’s 94dB. Still, that performance is within the typical range.
Camera: Limited Imagination
The Nord N20 comes with three main camera lenses, two of which are perplexing and useless. The primary 64MP sensor typically produces 12MP photos and uses sensor-cropping techniques to simulate 2x zoom. You also get 2MP monochrome and macro cameras. Oddly, there isn’t a monochrome photo mode, so the former might just function more as a depth sensor. As for the macro camera, I really don’t understand why manufacturers keep spending money on this infrequently used part; this implementation is especially questionable given the low megapixel count. I would have much preferred an ultra-wide or zoom lens.
In good lighting, the camera performs fine. It nets images with decent dynamic range and doesn’t blank out bright skies. The portrait mode isn’t perfect—I noticed some blurring on flyaway hair—but it’s good enough for most use cases.
Low-light performance, on the other hand, is disappointing. You get a night mode, unlike with Apple’s $429 iPhone SE, but this mode produced significantly darker and muddier photos in testing than the Samsung Galaxy A53.
The Nord N20’s night mode (right) isn’t as good as the Samsung Galaxy A53’s (left) (Photo: Sascha Segan)
The A53 is, of course, a more expensive handset, but our complaints are still valid because other phones around the same price as the N20 offer better imaging capabilities. For instance, both the Nord N10 and the Galaxy A32 have ultra-wide lenses, and the latter performs better in low-light environments.
A Strong Budget-Friendly Contender
In 2021, OnePlus offered two low-cost phones on T-Mobile: the $299 N10 and the $239 N200. The N20 serves as the successor to both of those devices; it just about splits the cost between them, and offers an experience that is mostly consistent with its $282 price. OnePlus could have designed the N20 better for the US market, though I suspect the company spent much more time this year integrating with Oppo and spinning out new models for international markets. Thus, Samsung’s Galaxy A32 5G remains more in tune with the needs of most US phone owners. The Nord N20 falls a bit short of the Galaxy A32 in benchmarks and camera performance, but is worth considering if you prefer its better looks and superior screen.
