Head-To-Head: Google Pixel Vs. Apple iPhone 7 - TEST

Taking Aim At Apple

It's smartphone season. But this time around, Google is aiming to become a more serious player. With the debut of the Google Pixel this week, the company is making clear that it's looking to battle for the premium smartphone market with Apple and Samsung. Google executives said they want the Pixel to stand out from competitors for its artificially intelligent Google Assistant and virtual reality connectivity (with Google Daydream). But not everyone is interested in a virtual assistant or virtual reality, and is just looking for the latest and greatest in smartphones. So, what follows is a look at how the Google Pixel compares on the "normal" stuff -- specs and price -- with another recently launched premium smartphone on the market, the Apple iPhone 7.

First Things First

We'll start with the obvious -- the operating system -- which in both cases are new releases. Google Pixel comes with Android 7.0 (Nougat), which came out in late August, while Apple's iPhone 7 runs iOS 10, which came out roughly in connection with the new iPhone last month. Both Nougat and iOS 10 have gotten favorable reviews, though in terms of advances over predecessor operating systems, iOS 10 is the bigger release with a significant number of new features.

Display, Size And Weight

The first thing to know here is that Google Pixel is the larger of the two smartphones, which could be a plus or minus depending on your preferences, of course. The display on the Pixel is 5 inches diagonally, compared to 4.7 inches on the iPhone 7. The Google Pixel is also 5.6 inches lengthwise, a bit more than the 5.44 inches for the iPhone 7, and is just a little bit heavier at 5.04 ounces versus the iPhone 7's 4.87 ounces (unlikely to be a noticeable difference).

What might be more noticeable is the resolution on the Google Pixel's FHD AMOLED display, which is 441 pixels per inch (ppi). That's in comparison to the 326 ppi on the iPhone 7's Retina HD display.

Processor

Due to the differences in manufacturers, it's a challenge to really compare the processors in the two phones, but it does appear the iPhone 7 may have the faster clock speed. Based on Apple's statements about the new A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7, it would appear the processor has a clock speed of 2.59GHz, compared to 2.15GHz on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821, which is the Google Pixel's chip. Both processors are quad-core.

Camera

Both Google and Apple took a significant amount of time out of their recent product launch events to tout the new cameras on their latest phones. Google's claim that the Pixel camera is "the best smartphone camera ever" will certainly receive plenty of debate. In terms of megapixels, the Google Pixel camera has just a slight edge over the iPhone 7's, at 12.3 megapixels versus 12 megapixels. Apple said the iPhone 7 includes a larger aperture (to let in 50 percent more light) and improved optical-image stabilization, while Google also said the PIxel features advanced stabilization (particularly useful when shooting video) along with HDR+ (for improving image quality).

Storage

While Apple and Google are both pushing their respective cloud storage options -- for moving photos and videos off phones -- neither is backing away from offering significant storage inside the phones themselves. Both the iPhone 7 and Pixel have options for 32GB and 128GB of storage, while the iPhone 7 also has a 256GB configuration.

Connectors

Who would've thought that the humble headphone jack could be a differentiator? Nonetheless, at its event this week, Google boasted about how the Pixel retains the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, in contrast with Apple's iPhone 7, which controversially removed the jack.

The iPhone 7's only connector is the Lightning port, while the Pixel also has connectivity over USB-C and USB 3.0.

Battery Life

This one appears to be a draw. Google promises 13 hours of battery life on the Pixel for Wi-Fi or LTE Internet use. Apple, meanwhile, says the battery life on the iPhone 7 will differ depending on whether Wi-Fi or LTE is being used; the iPhone 7 promises 12 hours of LTE Internet use or 14 hours of Wi-Fi usage.

Worth noting: Google is aiming to differentiate the Pixel with fast-charging capabilities so that users will be able to charge their phones for 15 minutes and get seven hours of usage.

Price

Google, it would appear, has set its pricing for the Pixel to mirror Apple's for the iPhone 7. The 32GB and 128GB versions of both the Pixel and iPhone 7 are priced identically, at $649 for the 32GB base model and $749 for the 128GB model. For the 256GB version of the iPhone 7, Apple charges $849.