The Pixel 7 Pro is a big improvement on the Pixel 6 Pro, bringing a lot of new and noteworthy features to the table. Among the headline-grabbing changes are the Pixel 7 Pro’s 50MP main camera, a more stylized take on last year’s Pixel 6 design and AI features like Photo Unblur that are powered by Google’s second gen Tensor chip.
Other Pixel 7 Pro camera features are just as impressive, from the new Cinematic Blur available when you capture video to upgraded zooming with the Pro’s telephoto lens. And you can’t overlook handy Tensor-driven features to weed out spam calls and Direct My Call to get you quickly through phone menus.
But even with all these additions, there’s been a silent star for the Pixel 7 Pro in my opinion — the display prowess of Google’s new phone.
Google is known to make huge phones. From the Pixel 4 onward, Google gave us flagships that with screens that topped 6 inches and beyond. I used the 6.4-inch Pixel 6 last year and it took me some time to go back and get used to my smaller 6-inch iPhone XR again.
This year, when I switched from my 6-inch iPhone, to the Pixel 7 Pro and its massive 6.7-inch display, I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve never been a fan of the large displays on the best big phones until the Pixel 7 Pro, which has definitely won me over. Almost instantly, I’ve found the OLED panel to be much more immersive, with crisp wallpapers that add to the aesthetics of my new phone.
Of course, a lot of that also has to do with the stunning resolution on the Pixel 7 Pro. It features a Quad HD+ OLED display with LTPO and a 120Hz refresh rate. Usually, I watch YouTube videos, Netflix or HBO Max on my husband’s iPhone 13 Pro. But when I watch content on the Pixel 7 Pro, I’m blown away by the rich, life-like colors and incredibly smooth display.
How the Pixel 7 Pro’s display compares
That iPhone 13 Pro my husband owns remains a top device, even if it’s been nudged off our best phones list by the iPhone 14 Pro (and the iPhone 14 Pro Max, especially). Still, that older iPhone features a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR, OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate of its own, so you’d think it would be evenly matched with the Pixel 7 Pro. Regardless, I think Google takes the cake with its super bright and much larger screen.
The Pixel 7 Pro boasts of a peak brightness of 1500 nits, while the iPhone 13 Pro is supposed to max out at 1000 nits. The beaming display on the Pixel 7 Pro was especially impressive while watching dark episodes of HBO Max’s House of the Dragon and the massive screen didn’t make me miss wish I was watching the show on an even larger device like a tablet.
Pixel 7 Pro display bottom line
Despite the overall excellence of thew Pixel 7 Pro’s display, it hasn’t really been talked about since the phone launched earlier this month. I think that’s a mistake, as the Pixel 7 Pro is noticeably brighter than its predecessors — you won’t struggle to see this phone’s screen outside in bright light — and on par with, if not better than, its competitors.
I certainly don’t miss my iPhone XR or even the iPhone 13 Pro that I usually watch content on, as the Pixel 7 Pro gave me the display upgrade I desperately needed. Gaming on the Pixel 7 Pro is equally immersive as watching videos, even if the Tensor G2 chip was recently found to be disappointing for the gaming performance of the phone.
My next mission would probably pit the Pixel 7 Pro display against the Galaxy Z Fold 4 or even the upcoming iPad Pro 2022 to see how it holds up. If my initial experience with the Pixel 7 Pro’s screen is anything to go by, I’m betting the answer will be very well.
