My old phone, which was a Samsung Galaxy S9+, was a reliable companion piece for the last 5 years since it came out back in 2017. Granted, the Samsung shovelware that it came with was pretty annoying at times, but the performance and build quality were so high for me that I can overlook those problems. It became a problem for me in April 2022 when Samsung stopped releasing security updates for the S9+ and the fact that it was stuck on Andriod 10. Rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM was an option, but it was aging considerably by then, and new phones were coming out with preorder deals, so I decided to trade in my old phone for a new Pixel 7.
It’s been about a month since I received my Pixel 7, and it’s been a really great experience to use. I was able to transfer all of my apps from the google play store and all of my pictures and files when switching devices without any issues, so that’s a plus. It didn’t transfer any apps that I downloaded from F-Droid or any apps that have installed from APKs I downloaded from the internet, so I had to do that myself. After that, all of my downloaded open-source apps worked fine with Google’s flavor of Android 13. Compared to all of Samsung’s apps that you can’t delete, Google’s included apps have all been very useful, like Google Messages, which can block incoming spam messages and calls automatically. It’s all very minimalistic and doesn’t get in your way, which I can appreciate heavily after sticking with Samsung since the Galaxy S3.
On the hardware side of things, Google’s new Tensor 2 has been exceptionally fast compared to my old phone. It has a fingerprint reader on the front of the screen, and a Face Unlock feature as well, though you can go with a pin number as well. The camera bar on the back was a bit odd at first, but it had enough features as well as software solutions with its lighting and color temperature modifiers. The battery has been great as well, with its 4355 mAh battery lasting me beyond a single day. Google’s approach to their phone processors, compared to Samsung’s trying to pack in beefy specs to their phones as much as possible, is more focused on optimizing their AI and ML capabilities. This video review from Marques Brownlee (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE5H5intsck&t=656s&ab_channel=MarquesBrownlee) shows off what makes the Pixel 7 unique from its competitors, like how it can show you the choices on screen from an automated system before the robot speaks them, or how it can transcribe audio recorders live through its recorder app, or you can get rid of the blur in your phones.
Overall, I have been very pleased with using this new phone. Since I bought this phone in October 2022, I will have guaranteed Android version updates until October 2025, and security updates until October 2027. The pricing model for the phone is lower compared to other Flagship devices from Samsung and Apple, with the base model Pixel 7 costing $599 and the Pixel 7 Pro costing $899. If you are in need of a new phone and you aren’t tied in the Apple Ecosystem, you can’t go wrong with a Pixel. It’s not the most powerful phone you can get, but it’s definitely the “smartest” smartphone you can get thanks to its integration of hardware and software.