Playin’ with Google’s Pixel 7

Again in December 2021, I informed you in regards to the smartphones I used to be prepping to transition to subsequent in my periodic end-of-support forced-replacement sequence: a pair of Google Pixel 4a 5G handsets, one for my “day job” cellular  account (Verizon) and the opposite for my private account (AT&T). I ended up actualizing that aspiration, no less than midway…as readers who subsequently perused my October 2022 5G “rant” could bear in mind, a Pixel 4a 5G ended up assigned to my Verizon telephone quantity (with one other in storage as its all-important spare).

For AT&T, then again (and as common readers may recall), I ended up going with a first-generation Microsoft Floor Duo dual-screen foldable.

Quick-forward a year-plus, and each telephones are nearing the tip of their guaranteed-update lives: the Floor Duo drops off Microsoft’s assist listing this very month (as you learn this; I’m writing these phrases in early August), with the Pixel 4a 5G following it in November. So, it’s time for one more periodic end-of-support forced-replacement cadence, though the subsequent one will hopefully be a lot additional sooner or later than has traditionally been the case.

I’ve gone with a pair of 128GB Google Pixel 7 smartphones this time, the primary “Obsidian” in coloration and the second “Snow” (not my most popular tint, however it was on sale for $100 lower than its also-on-sale “Obsidian” sibling on the time, and I’ll have a case on it anyway). I’ve already activated and transitioned to them, truly, again in in mid-July, adopted by donations of their predecessors to charity, timed to potential recipients’ back-to-school preparation wants:

The cut price-shopping story of how I obtained the primary “Obsidian” one is intriguing, no less than to me, so I hope you’ll indulge a quick diversion. My spouse had purchased me a Pixel 6 again in July of 2022 as an early-anniversary current, on sale for $474.05. A few months later, Google launched the Pixel 7 line, and for causes that also escape me (though I think that they needed to do no less than partly with the Pixel 6 technology’s power buggy mobile subsystem and Google’s need to maneuver customers to the improved successor to be able to cut back its support-cost burden) provided aggressive trade-in pricing: $490, which sure, is lower than we paid for it. The Pixel 7 was $599 (its authentic MSRP) on the time, so our out-of-pocket price was solely $109. Not unhealthy!

Right here’s how the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 stack up towards one another, in addition to in comparison with my Pixel 6a “spare” and the Pixel 4a precursor (“Professional” variations of each the Pixel 6 and seven, which I haven’t included on this desk, supply bigger screens and extra elaborate rear digital camera subsystems):

Utilization and different observations comply with, each on the whole and associated to particular options listed on this desk, and in no explicit order save how they streamed out of my noggin:

• To this point, I actually like the Pixel 7. This isn’t shocking, for no less than a few causes:
  • It’s effectively reviewed, together with its “Professional” massive brother, to not point out its Pixel 6a and (particularly) 7a siblings, and
  • Per frequent apply, I started utilizing it round 9 months after its preliminary introduction, which gave Google loads of time to squelch any preliminary bugs
• I’ve lengthy reiterated in a number of writeups the excessive worth I connect to the flexibility to comfortably match a smartphone in my entrance denims pocket. The one cause I tolerated the Floor Duo, for instance, was that when folded up (whether or not when not in use or when leveraging a wi-fi earbud or headset whereas on a name) it was modestly svelte. Notice that the Pixel 7 is almost an identical in measurement to the Pixel 4a 5G, and is tangibly smaller than its Pixel 6 forebear.
• I’m admittedly stunned at how little I miss the analog headphone jack. Then once more, USB-C headphone adapters are usually modest in value and strong in high quality.
• It’s good to have NFC assist on my private smartphone once more; this function had been lacking from my first-generation Floor Duo. I began utilizing Google Pay wherever attainable as an alternative of a bank card through the peak of COVID, and the behavior has caught.
• I hadn’t discovered the Pixel 4a 5G to be performance-deficient in any notable regard; then once more, I’m not a “gamer” or in any other case a demanding smartphone consumer. That stated, the Pixel 7 is noticeably “snappier” than its predecessor, though I doubt my notion has a lot if something to do with the upper show refresh price (a subject mentioned additional in one other of my EDN weblog posts this month).
• My largest frustration with the Pixel 7 to this point, albeit modest-at-worst within the grand scheme of issues, is its less-than-reliable in-display optical fingerprint sensor. I’d already anticipated this shortcoming from opinions I’d perused prior to buying; in equity, the Pixel 7 supposedly works higher than the Pixel 6 on this regard, and each handset generations labored higher after Google added a “Display Protector” enhanced-sensitivity mode within the settings. Plus, the entrance camera-based face unlock usually works effectively in its place though, because it depends on a standard picture sensor as an alternative of Apple’s infrared “LiDAR” strategy, it’s not usable in dim gentle or after darkish.
• Talking of display protectors, I additionally proactively prevented the worst features of the in-display fingerprint sensor “function” by going with a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film-based one as an alternative of the tempered glass ones I’d used prior to now. PET nonetheless prevents scratches, though not like tempered glass, it received’t shoulder the “crack” burden of a extra extreme telephone drop. Tempered glass display protectors, particularly except they’re extraordinarily skinny (which defeats the aim, sure?) apparently give in-display fingerprint sensors suits. All different elements equal, I’d nonetheless desire the rear devoted fingerprint sensors I’ve used prior to now (on whose quicker-response longstanding reliance, I’m more and more realizing, is a part of the issue; in-display sensors work significantly better once I dial down my impatience and wait an additional fraction of a second for them to do their factor!).
• I think Google’s getting away from devoted rear-mounted fingerprint sensors each for BOM price causes and since they complicate the general system design, contemplating that the wi-fi charging circuitry is additionally on the rear of the telephone. Wi-fi charging is one thing I’ve admittedly dissed prior to now on account of its comparative inefficiency versus legacy wired charging. That stated, paradoxically I take advantage of Qi virtually completely now, delivered by first-generation Pixel Stand chargers, and for a cause I hadn’t beforehand comprehended; it saves put on and tear that the telephone’s USB-C connector would in any other case endure to on account of repeated insertion-and-removal cycles.
• Final however not least, I needed to giggle at myself the primary time I fired up my personal-account Pixel 7 after transferring the AT&T SIM from the Floor Duo to it. I noticed it reporting 5G and thought I’d caught a break with the service, till I squinted (presbyopia, don’cha know) and seen the small “E” on the finish of the image. This “5G_E” is AT&T’s relabeled enhanced-LTE rip-off that I mentioned in my October 2022 piece. That stated, the rationale I’m not getting “true” 5G on AT&T is admittedly a bit obscure; I proceed to cling to a “grandfathered” true unlimited-data (with no throttling) mobile plan that I’ve had for over a decade, and whereas the service beforehand upgraded the plan from 3G to LTE capabilities, the identical isn’t true for 5G. And re. my “work” telephone, on Verizon it helps not solely the “sub-6” (6 GHz) 5G band of its Pixel 4a 5G predecessor, but additionally rising C-bands though, since neither handset is Verizon carrier-locked, not mmWave (UWB).

This all stated, after all, rumors of Google’s upcoming Pixel 8 successor household are starting to achieve vital mass, with an introduction (if, in distinction to monetary disclosures’ qualifiers, previous efficiency is a assure of future outcomes) roughly two months from now as I write these phrases. That stated, nevertheless, because of Google’s prolonged five-year assist assure with its newest smartphone households (the consequence, I think in no small half, of Google’s self-developed SoCs, due to this fact the corporate’s higher management of its software program future) I don’t anticipate upgrading past the Pixel 7 any time quickly. Be happy to chide me for having written these phrases a 12 months or few down the street once I’m lusting after some new smartphone providing 😉. Hold forth along with your Pixel 7 (or different cellular machine) ideas within the feedback!

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line e-newsletter.

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