Hands On with the Google Pixel 7 Pro and the Pixel Watch

Disclaimer: Google sent us a unit of the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.

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It’s October and that usually means we get a box from Google to review. This year I am more stoked about what they announced than I have been in a few years. Not only do I have the Google Pixel 7 Pro in the office, but I now have the long rumored Pixel Watch on my wrist. This is something I have been salivating for since I fell in love with the Apple Watch. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing out there in the smartwatch space that provides wearers with enough functionality mixed with a well rounded hardware experience. As much as I enjoy using a Fossil or a Samsung Galaxy Watch, I just never found enough behind those products to compare with my Apple Watch experience. I simply need an Apple Watch experience that works seamlessly with Android. Can Google finally provide me with that? This is the start of my journey to find out!

Right away, I am ecstatic to open the package to find an amazing Pixel unboxing experience. I do appreciate how Google takes the extra effort in how they design their media kits to send out, regardless of influencer clout. It makes for a really fun unboxing experience for us. Of course, when you buy the Pixel 7 Pro or the Pixel Watch, you’ll get them in their standard white solo packaging. In our media kit, this elegant black box opens to reveal a fancy mirrored reflection with the hashtag #teampixel engraved smack dab on the center. Reflecting off the mirror are the main stars of this year’s show, the flagship phone and watch. 

Pixel 7 Pro

Retail Price: $899.00

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The retail packaging

Our set is fully decked out with the Obsidian black theme. Both the phone and the watch sport this sleek dark color that easily matches any outfit. Black never goes out of style. The 7 Pro comes in three colors this year, with Snow white and a new Hazel color joining the lineup. The highest end Pixel starts at an MSRP of $899. What you get for that price is a 6.7” display that has a 1440 x 3120p resolution. That’s a whopping 512 ppi density on this 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Add in AMOLED technology with HDR10+ and a 120 Hz refresh rate and you basically are at the top of the line for phone specs in 2022. 

While the physical design of the Pixel 7 Pro remains largely the same from its previous iteration, the camera bar does have a slight alteration in aesthetics. With a metallic shimmer to it, the Pixel 7 Pro does away with any colorful dual tones we had in previous years. Instead, Google has opted for a very mature vibe in 2022. The build material still consists of a glass back. That camera bar houses the main selling points from the search giant as we have a 50 MP, f/1.9 wide sensor, flocking a 48 MP, f/3.5 telephoto lens (only on this phone), and a 12 MP f/2.2 ultrawide. With laser autofocus and OIS, Google is banking on a lot of software magic to provide shooters with unbelievable results. The Pixel 7 Pro combats the Apple iPhone with an exclusive Macro Focus ability that we’ll be sure to test out in-depth to see how it matches up to the Apple iPhone 13 Pro.    

Product Specs +

• Tensor G2 CPU
• 12 GB Ram
• 128 GB Storage
• 50 MP, f/1.9 wide
• 48 MP, f/3.5 telephoto
• 12 MP, f/2.2 ultrawide
• 10.8 MP, f/2.2 Selfie Camera
• 6.7 Inch AMOLED Display
• 1440 x 3120 p (512 ppi)
• 120 Hz Refresh Rate
• 5,000 mAh battery

The internal upgrade is the jump from the first generation Tensor CPU to the Tensor G2. Google says the refined chipset will provide the 7 Pro with better battery life, more security thanks to the Titan M2 chip, better image processing for photos, and better GPU efficiency for gaming. We’ll have to use this phone in our everyday testing to see if it’s a noticeable bump in performance from last year’s flagship model. Every model does have 12 GB of ram and the lowest storage space is this 128 GB model. 

There’s also a 5,000 mAh battery with 23W fast wireless charging. An in-display fingerprint scanner, and a face scanner rounding out the security features. All of this is running through Android 13 and since it is a Google phone, updates should be periodic and timely. On paper the Pixel 7 Pro screams flagship at a surprisingly affordable price tag of $900. Many competitors with similar specs are north of $1,000. We’ll see how the phone holds up in our full review.

Pixel Watch

Retail Price: $899.00

Buy on Amazon

While the flagship phone seems like a worthy spec bump, the star of this year’s lineup is the first ever Pixel Watch. Google sells four color variants, with the Matte Black case and the Obsidian Active band being the configuration we received. Immediately, I already had good vibes the instant I powered it on. The haptic feedback emits a certain quality that is hard to replicate. It’s hard to even explain unless you’ve experienced a good smartwatch with a good haptic system.

The Pixel Watch has two physical buttons on the frame: a recent apps button flush with the body, and a circular crown that serves as a home button. The crown is a dead replica of the Apple Watch and I’m totally fine with it. The crown feels a little cheap from initial impressions, but it performs quite responsively.

Product Specs +

• Exynos 9110 SoC
• 2 GB Ram
• 32 GB Storage
• WearOS 3.5
• Corning Gorilla Glass AMOLED Display
• 294 mAh
• LTE

Some people may find the Pixel Watch to appear smaller than it really is. With only a single 41 mm diameter model, I found the watch to fit my wrist perfectly. Google gives you a large and small band as a starter set with the purchase. This is pretty customary for smartwatch makers. Google has implemented this mechanism where you press a small button on the casing that will release the band with a slight rotation of the case. It took me 5 minutes to get used to it, but it seems to work.

The casing is rather slim for a round watch. Speaking of the round form factor, the display is protected by a custom Corning Gorilla Glass AMOLED screen. It’s pretty sharp with 320 ppi to look at. Interestingly enough, Google went with the Samsung produced Exynos 9110 SoC instead of a more traditional Qualcomm chipset that is found on many WearOS watches. There’s 32 GB of storage with 2 GB of ram powering WearOS 3.5. We’ll see how smoothly the watch performs on this well documented Exynos processor with a 294 mAh battery holding it up.   

With both a built-in microphone and built-in speaker, this particular model also has LTE. This means that if you pop a sim card into the watch, it can act as a standalone mobile phone device capable of calls and texts without a smartphone nearby. This model retails for $399, while the non-LTE version sells for $349. Along with that extra band size I mentioned, Google provides a USB-C magnetic charging cable with the purchase. There’s no charging brick for any of the Google products released this year. 

I’ll look deeper into the functionality of the watch as I have it on my wrist starting this week, but a lot of the fitness monitoring will be done through Fitbit, who Google currently owns. I’m not personally going to be using this watch as a fitness specialist, but it’ll be interesting to see how it handles that integration as Fitbit technically still produces and runs their own products.

Regardless of how my opinions of both the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch evolve after my review period is over, I’m happy to say that we have more options now on the market now. An Apple Watch for Android was what I had been praying years for, and on the surface, it seems like my prayers have finally been answered. 

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