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The $899 Pixel 7 Pro may feel familiar to the 6 Pro, but it's still fantastic.

Lead Editor, CNET Advice, Europe; Lead Photographer, Europe

Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.

Google's $899 (£849, AU$1,299) Pixel 7 Pro only has a few changes from last year's Pixel 6 Pro , but that's because a complete overhaul isn't something the company needed to do this time. The Pixel 6 Pro won my CNET Editors' Choice award pick in 2021 because it was a superb bit of kit, showcasing a major design shift from the Pixel 5 , Tensor-powered performance and great cameras.

Instead of needlessly replacing everything Google achieved with the 6 Pro, the company instead made subtle refinements this year, tweaking and poking here and there to make the 7 Pro even better. 

And it is better, with improved cameras, some new neat tricks and dare I say it, an even more attractive design. And of course it's packing the second generation Tensor G2 chip, Google's homemade processor. It's very much evolution over revolution, and the $599 Pixel 7 is taking much the same track. It's a small step, so if you have a Pixel 6 Pro already, this isn't a phone to consider upgrading to. 

But if you're using an older Pixel phone -- or any phone from before 2020, for that matter -- then you'll get a lot from the Pixel 7 Pro. It's powerful enough for demanding gaming, it can take stunning photos from its three rear cameras and the Android 13 software is slick and enjoyable to use. 

And it does all this while undercutting Apple and Samsung on price, especially compared to the $999 iPhone 14 Pro and the $1,199 Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra . And sure, the Pixel Pro isn't cheap, but if you want to put cutting-edge flagship mobile technology in your pocket, it's a superb option.

The design is similar to last year's 6 Pro but refined. Google has kept the characteristic strip along the back of the phone that houses the multiple cameras. But it's now a recycled aluminum strip that blends seamlessly with the metal surround of the phone, which I think gives it an even more luxurious look. 

The back is still glass and the front still curves nicely at the edges. But if I'm nit-picking -- which I am -- there's a bit of a lip between the curved display and the metal surround, so the two don't blend seamlessly together. It's definitely noticeable when you hold it, but does that actually matter in everyday use? Of course not. 

The design updates give it a stylish look.

It's IP68 rated for water- and dust-resistance, so spilled drinks are no concern. I do worry, however, that the shiny aluminum strip could be susceptible to damage -- in the short time I've been using it, several small hairline scratches are visible on its surface and over time that could become more pronounced. Whether that's a problem remains to be seen. It could even develop a nice patina, like aged brass tools, that actually enhances the look.

The display measures 6.7-inches and has a 3,120x1,440-pixel resolution -- exactly the same as the 6 Pro. It's sharp, bright enough to easily see outside and it's got bold, punchy colors that I found lent themselves well to vibrant YouTube videos, but still managing not to look overly saturated or unrealistic. There is a "Natural" color mode if you do want to tone that down, though. 

There's no question it's a big phone, which is great if you love big-screen gaming or watching a lot of videos on the move. But people with smaller hands -- or who simply prefer smaller phones -- could find it cumbersome, especially when holding it one-handed. You can opt for the smaller Pixel 7 with its 6.3-inch display, but you'll also make tradeoffs by not having a telephoto camera. Speaking of which…

The camera bar houses three lenses.

The cameras on the Pixel 6 Pro were superb, capable of taking gorgeous images that rivaled any of the top phones around and I'm pleased to see that Google hasn't lost its touch here. The Pixel 7 Pro's 50-megapixel main camera takes stunning photos, with beautiful dynamic range and vivid colors. It's grouped up with a dedicated 48-megapixel telephoto lens that's exclusive to the Pro, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera.

It's taken some glorious shots on my test photo walks around autumnal Leith, Scotland, with vivid blue skies being captured perfectly and tons of detail recorded by that high-resolution sensor. 

I love the vibrant colors, crisp detail and spot-on exposure in this shot from the standard lens.

It's capable of taking some gorgeous snaps as you document the changing seasons.

The optical telephoto zoom has been given a boost from 4x zoom to 5x. That might not seem like a huge difference but it gives that extra reach in its zoom to help you crop tighter in scenes and find more interesting compositions that'll be lost to your iPhone 14 Pro-packing friends with their 3x max zooms. 

At 5x optical zoom, this image remains pin-sharp, with perfect exposure and colors.

I love the more interesting compositions you can get with the 5x zoom lens.

Like the main lens, the telephoto zoom captures images with spot-on dynamic range and little noticeable color shift when you switch lenses. The 48-megapixel resolution means that images look pin-sharp, but it also gives some scope to further digitally zoom in. Personally I love the telephoto zoom here; it's a great sweet spot between the iPhone's 3x zoom and the Galaxy S22 Ultra's 10x zoom that means I'm more likely to actually use it. 

Switching to the ultrawide lens lets you pack much more into your scene and I'm impressed that there's again almost no noticeable shift in colors between lenses, with the deep blues of the sky and the warm tones on the buildings of Leith looking almost identical, whatever zoom mode I was using. 

The ultrawide lens packs loads more into the scene, but maintains the accurate colors and great exposure balance.

The ultrawide lens's new autofocus system brings a neat new macro photography feature. You can now focus within a couple of inches, which lets you get super close up to the more tiny things in the world like bugs or flowers. It works well too, automatically switching to macro mode when it detects a close up object and focusing quickly. It offers the same solid image quality as the lens provides on any regular wide-angle image too. Sure, it might not be a must-have feature for most people, but it's a fun addition on those occasions when a fancy-looking bug wanders your way and you want to capture a close-up shot for the 'gram. 

The macro mode works well and is great fun to play around with when you find a neat-looking subject like this flower.

Night time images are good too, with the Night Sight mode able to take 6-second exposures, capturing huge amounts of light, even in dark conditions. Night shots are bright and crisp, although I've found issues with flaring if there are street lamps dominating in the image, which sometimes spoils the look. Against the competition, night shots from the Pixel 7 Pro look brighter and sharper than from Samsung's S22 Ultra, but the iPhone 14 Pro's look brighter still. 

The Pixel 7 Pro can take some great photos at night.

But bright lights, like this street light, can sometimes cause problems with flares in the lens.

Google has continued to make a variety of AI improvements to the camera software too, with updates to its Real Tone algorithm for better capture of darker skin tones. My colleague Lisa Eadicicco put that to the test in CNET's Pixel 7 review by taking photos with the Pixel 7, the iPhone 14 and the Galaxy S22, then having the people in the photos pick their favorites -- you can check out that review to see how the phone fared. There's a new Guided Frame feature that uses audio cues to help blind and visually impaired people take selfies. A neat new trick is the Photo Unblur tool which, as the name suggests, attempts to sharpen blurry or out of focus images. 

The Photo Unblur tool actually worked quite well in this selfie from several years ago.

I tried it on a handful of older photos from my library and the difference can be noticeable, with the definition improving significantly in some shots after the tool has done its magic. It didn't seem to make that much difference to others, however. So if your image is simply a blurry mess, no amount of software tinkering is going to rescue it. 

The Pixel 7 Pro's camera system is superb overall that'll suit both keen mobile photographers and casual snappers equally well.  Those zoom shots in particular are a favorite of mine and it's that zoom that's one of the bigger upgrades of the 7 Pro over the base Pixel 7, along with the macro mode. For me, that's enough reason to spend the extra, but you'll have to work out for yourself how much of a priority zoom is in your photography.

The phone runs on the second generation of Tensor G2, Google's homemade processor. It was a bold move for Google to create its own chip from scratch, rather than use one from the likes of Qualcomm, but in practice it makes little difference to your experience using the phone on a day-to-day basis. The Pixel 7 Pro functions like any other Android phone and it's got more than enough power to run beautifully. 

The Pixel 7 Pro arrives with the latest Android 13 software on board.

Navigating around the interface is swift and lag-free. High-resolution videos stream without issue, switching between open apps is immediate and demanding games like Asphalt 9: Legends and Genshin Impact play at max settings without any noticeable issues. In short, this phone packs a lot of power, but it's the behind-the-scenes stuff that Google says has been boosted with the new processor. 

The chip is built with AI and machine learning, with Google saying it's better at AI tasks such as speech recognition, face unlock, object detection in imagery and background noise reduction when you're taking calls. 

It's running the latest Android 13 software, which offers a clean and uncluttered interface which I really enjoy using. It's got no bloatware or preinstalled apps on board, which helps it feel streamlined. And, as with Android 12 on the Pixel 6, you can change all the system fonts' color automatically to match the image you've set as your homescreen. Google calls this Material You and it just makes it easy to give your phone a personal touch. 

So what don't I like about this phone? Well, battery life could be better. After one hour streaming a YouTube video on Wi-Fi with the screen at max brightness, the 7 Pro's battery dropped from full to 95%. The Pixel 7 dropped to 97% in the same time while both the older Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6A dropped to only 98%. After a further hour, the 7 Pro dropped to 87% and was down to 80% after a third hour -- still below the 83% of the Pixel 7 after 3 hours. 

The base Pixel 7 performed better than the 7 Pro in our battery tests.

Is battery life bad? No, not at all. It's fine. It's just not as good as it could be. But it'll still comfortably get through a day of mixed use. Like pretty much all phones, it'll need a full recharge when you put it on your bedside table at night. But if squeezing every drop of battery from your phone is important then the battery life is worth keeping in mind. 

The Pixel 7 Pro might not have the same pizzazz the Pixel 6 Pro had last year, but it still offers plenty of improvements to result in a superb phone. The $300 premium the Pro carries over the $599 Pixel 7 is well-reflected with the phone's 48-megapixel telephoto camera, along with the same, larger screen brought over from the 6 Pro.

There's little else I can say that I don't like about this phone, but it's worth mentioning that many of the Tensor-specific features like Photo Unblur, improvements to Real Tone and Night Sight are shared with that cheaper phone. But the hardware exclusives the 7 Pro does have make it just as deserving of carrying that "flagship" status alongside the best from Apple and Samsung.