Google Pixel 7 5G 128GB (Lemongrass)

Going into my second week with the Pixel 7, all I can say is avoid it. After wasting countless hours trying to get it setup and working, while troubleshooting nearly every aspect of it, only to have much of that hard work undone almost daily or a couple times per day is frustrating. So what's wrong with the Pixel 7? There's things that are terrible that will never get fixed, such as the useless fingerprint sensor, the poorly positioned volume buttons and the crummy audio, to things that should work and don't or you can get to work occasionally and then they break, such as the gestures, Google Assistant, Gboard and camera. It's a heartbreaker because it's truly a super cool phone and is packed full of features. If only it worked better. Throughout my time with the ... MoreGoing into my second week with the Pixel 7, all I can say is avoid it. After wasting countless hours trying to get it setup and working, while troubleshooting nearly every aspect of it, only to have much of that hard work undone almost daily or a couple times per day is frustrating. So what's wrong with the Pixel 7? There's things that are terrible that will never get fixed, such as the useless fingerprint sensor, the poorly positioned volume buttons and the crummy audio, to things that should work and don't or you can get to work occasionally and then they break, such as the gestures, Google Assistant, Gboard and camera. It's a heartbreaker because it's truly a super cool phone and is packed full of features. If only it worked better. Throughout my time with the Pixel 7, I've had it almost working in a stable fashion, got excited and bought a case... Then it starts failing and I go through hours of troubleshooting to get it working again, get excited because I think it's stable for I buy a screen protector, then of course it gets all weird and I spend more time troubleshooting and tinkering, only to think that SURELY NOW IT'S STABLE, so I order up a charger, and of course it stops working properly again. It's behind in the performance department but it's fast enough for regular use, but the glitchiness and bugs are infuriating. The only people I would recommend this phone to are Android junkies that live for fixing and tweaking their phone. For people who just need a phone to work as intended, this isn't it. Now my completely reliable and usable Motorola I traded in for this beta pseudo phone, is somewhere in the black hole of Verizon's return department in Texas, never to be seen again, so I've got to try and return the Pixel, but my old phone is gone and I'm now in need of a stable working phone, so I'll likely be on ebay looking for something older and more reliable with a real fingerprint sensor, or trying to switch over to the Apple ecosystem and use an old iPhone 8 I've got sitting around. Ugh

I've been lucky enough to test drive the Google Pixel 7 over the past few weeks and I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised! As a previous Google Pixel 5 owner, I was not initially expecting much in an upgrade. Maybe a better camera. A faster phone. What I was not prepared for was how big of a jump in quality I was getting. The Pixel 7 hardware itself is solid, a little larger than my last phone but it has a premium feel that I think sets it apart. Easy to hold, big enough for a decent battery but not too large that it's a pain to carry around. This is a fast phone - it can handle running multiple apps concurrently without any lag and powers through on a battery which is always getting me through the day. If I ever need a top up I've always got wireless charging ... MoreI've been lucky enough to test drive the Google Pixel 7 over the past few weeks and I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised! As a previous Google Pixel 5 owner, I was not initially expecting much in an upgrade. Maybe a better camera. A faster phone. What I was not prepared for was how big of a jump in quality I was getting. The Pixel 7 hardware itself is solid, a little larger than my last phone but it has a premium feel that I think sets it apart. Easy to hold, big enough for a decent battery but not too large that it's a pain to carry around. This is a fast phone - it can handle running multiple apps concurrently without any lag and powers through on a battery which is always getting me through the day. If I ever need a top up I've always got wireless charging available - although I'm yet to use it, as I'm never getting as scarily low on power as my last phone. Photos are clear and crisp. Taking photos at night is no longer an exercise in frustration - the Pixel 7 handles photography in the dark so much better! Video as always is a big selling feature of the Pixel line and this is no different. Recording is supported in 4K 60FPS for really smooth recordings, and there are new features like Cinematic Blur to create some great quality effects. Photo editing likewise continues to bring improvements, this time the magic eraser intelligently improves photos through removing people and things from backgrounds - I've been shocked how well this works! Both photos and videos pair nicely with Google One for storage, costing just a handful of change a month for peace of mind that your phone and all your photos are backed up on the cloud should you ever need them. One thing I've really enjoyed with this phone has been the consistent experience. Whether I'm changing a setting, searching for a file, browsing the internet, taking a photo or just setting a timer - everything ties together so seamlessly. I always know where to look to make tweaks and the intuitive gestures for navigation make it a breeze to move back and forth, or swap between windows. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this phone to anyone, a great little phone which benefits from all of the usual Google updates and is just a joy to use every day.

Going from a 2020 Moto G Power to the Pixel 7, (only because Verizon is penalizing older customers by making them upgrade to 5G Unlimited plans or pay a surcharge for grandfathered plans), and my first impressions are that's the Google Pixel 7 is a nice phone, BUT not as good as the moto g power in terms of ease of use and functionality. Battery has yet to be determined on the Pixel, but from a full charge, I'm down to 56% after 2 hours of use, so I doubt it'll come close to the 2 to 3 days the G power lasts. Battery aside, I'll say the Pixel 7 is faster, (3 times faster according to the geek bench score I got).l, I'm anticipating the camera will be better, the screen should be brighter outdoors and Google assistant seems a little more predictable and quicker, and I ... MoreGoing from a 2020 Moto G Power to the Pixel 7, (only because Verizon is penalizing older customers by making them upgrade to 5G Unlimited plans or pay a surcharge for grandfathered plans), and my first impressions are that's the Google Pixel 7 is a nice phone, BUT not as good as the moto g power in terms of ease of use and functionality. Battery has yet to be determined on the Pixel, but from a full charge, I'm down to 56% after 2 hours of use, so I doubt it'll come close to the 2 to 3 days the G power lasts. Battery aside, I'll say the Pixel 7 is faster, (3 times faster according to the geek bench score I got).l, I'm anticipating the camera will be better, the screen should be brighter outdoors and Google assistant seems a little more predictable and quicker, and I like the new theme colors that automatically match the wallpaper I select. Those are the only advantages I've found so far. The Pixel is a little narrower which will take some getting used to. The disadvantages of the Pixel are glaringly obvious compared to the Moto G Power 2020 unfortunately. The main ones I'll mention for those Motorola users who are considering this change are: No Moto Actions... I absolutely love moto Actions because I can turn on the camera and the flashlight easily, as well as use the 3 finger screenshot. If you're a Moto user be ready for some serious clunkiness for those frequently used features you'll not have with the Pixel. Perhaps the biggest problem is where they decided to put the volume buttons on the Pixel, almost dead center on the phone under the power button. Not sure how I'll mount the Pixel in my phone holder in the car due to that. The second biggest design blunder of the Pixel is the fingerprint sensor is in the screen and works like garbage. The 2020 g power had it on the back, it was easy, consistent, and quick. The Pixel may as well not even have a bio unlock, you'll be regressing to using a PIN, or the face unlock which is hit or miss and certainly won't work in the dark like a fingerprint sensor does. The audio sound is okay on the pixel, perhaps not as high volume as the Motorola but it has a nicer quality, although nothing like an iPhone. The stereo speakers are both on the bottom on the pixel, which is a step backwards from the moto g power which has a speaker on the bottom and the top. Lastly the new pixel has a Google assistant search bar widget that cannot be removed from the home screen and is in the worst possible place at the bottom of the screen, so expect plenty of accidental assistant launches that you cannot disable. Needless to say I'll certainly miss all those great aspects of the moto g power now that I've got the Pixel 7. What I'm looking forward to is a speedier experience overall and hopefully some of the funky glitchy things that plague the moto g power like the slow and sometimes unresponsive auto rotate display, the Google assistant while locked, (never worked on the moto g power but seems to work fine on the pixel), and I'm hoping some of Google's features like driving mode will work a little better on the pixel but I've yet to try them. This is an early review, and comparing the two phones isn't exactly fair because the Motorola G Power 2020 was a very purpose built phone compared to a fancy flagship phone. I'm still a little apprehensive about the switch, but hoping to get past it.