Google Pixel 7 Photo Unblur tested — this makes even iPhone 3G pictures look good
Both Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro it boasts a host of impressive features. But near the top of that list is Photo Unblur, a new photo editing tool that can turn blurry photos into something you’ll be happy to post and share.
Photo Unblur is powered by the new Tensor G2 chip found inside the latest Pixel 7 models. As such, the feature is currently exclusive to the Pixel 7, and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. You won’t find Pixel Unblur among them Pixel 7 features should come to Pixel 6 via upcoming software updates at this time.
The Tensor chip on the Pixel 7 uses machine learning to capture blurry photos and clean up images, similar to Magic Eraser feature introduced last year could easily remove distracting people and objects from your photos. Photo Unblur has been added to the Google Photos app on the Pixel 7 as a photo editing tool — when you select a blurry shot in Photos, Photo Unblur appears as a suggested tool more often, making it even easier to clean up your blurry shot.
Perhaps the best thing about Photo Unblur is that you’re not limited to fixing blurry photos you take on the Pixel 7. Any photo stored in the Photos app is fair game, as long as you’re accessing that app on one of Google’s latest Pixels. This means that photos taken with completely different phones – even iPhones – can be fixed.
Photo Unblur sounds good on paper, but how does it work in practice? To find out, I took some of my old, blurry photos and put a new feature to work cleaning them up. I’ve also asked fellow Tom’s Guiders to send me their blurriest photos so we can see how well this Pixel 7 feature works.
Here’s what I discovered when I had the chance to test the Photo Unblur feature on the Pixel 7.
Shot outdoors in the shade (iPhone 5c)
I took this shot of my daughter seven years ago — so long ago, I was still carrying an iPhone 5c. Her face is shadowed by one of the fallen trees in Sequoia National Park, but more importantly, she’s also out of focus, either because she kept moving or because my hands were shaking or some combination of the two.
Photo Unblur cleans up her face so that her features are now perfectly in focus. The trade-off is that her features have become very smooth, giving her an almost doll-like appearance. This is where the shadow works in my favor because it hides the excess of the blurring effect, while at the same time significantly cleaning up the area around her face.
Group shooting, indoors (iPhone 3G)
Photo Unblur can apparently handle photos from even older phones, because this shot of my daughter and two preschool friends was taken on an iPhone 3G if the image metadata is to be believed. The faces of all three girls have varying degrees of blur — my daughter’s is the most in focus, while the girl on the far left is pretty blurry.
Photo Unblur does a great job here, sharpening the faces of all three young ladies, especially the girl in the middle. Again, you get aggressive face smoothing, especially with my daughter and her friend on the left, but it’s a decent trade-off for a picture this clear.
Group shot, animals (iPhone 13 Pro Max)
If the children do not stay in one place while you are trying to photograph them, the animals are even less cooperative. And that’s the problem with this photo of some Oxford Sand and Black Pigs that my colleague Richard Priday took with his iPhone 13 Pro Max. Let’s see if Photo Unblur can blow and puff and blow away some of the blur in this image of the three little pigs.
Answer: Somehow it can. No change to the pig in the middle, but the one on the right comes into sharper focus with the Unblur effect, especially around the snout and eyes. Alas, the pig on the left just gets a sharper snout, but nothing else. I guess Photo Unblur works best when it can concentrate on a specific area instead of having multiple subjects spread across the width of the image.
Animal shot, outdoors (iPhone 11)
The value of applying the unblur effect to one specific area is shown in this photo from fitness editor Jane McGuire. It’s quite a striking photo of a dog in a winter field with beautiful pink and purple clouds in the sky. But unfortunately, our four-legged friend is a bit out of focus.
The improvement when we tap Photo Unblur is subtle, but it’s there. Focus around the dog’s nose and you’ll see better focus – not significantly better, but improved enough to make the shot look better than before.
Night shot, outdoors (iPhone SE)
So far, most of our unblurred photos have been taken in favorable lighting conditions. Not so in this photo of my daughter during a strangely lit holiday celebration. It’s completely blurry, because the camera on the original iPhone SE struggled with the dark setting.
This is by far my favorite example of what Photo Unblur can do. My daughter’s face becomes clearly visible when the blur effect works its magic. There’s also not too much of the smoothing we see in some of the other photos, although the right side of her face is a little washed out. Given the challenging lighting, however, the way her face is lit doesn’t look entirely out of place. This is a much improved photo, thanks to Photo Unblur.
Indoor Shot, Distance (iPhone 12 Pro Max)
Senior Editor Henry T. Casey provides this close-up photo of wrestler Rey Mysterio. The original photo actually looks pretty decent, although it’s probably not as sharp as it could be. Maybe that’s why Photo Unblur had such a minimal impact on the footage.
Oh, there’s an improvement — Myseri’s shirt is now more readable. And to my eyes, his forearms look a little sharper in the unblurred photo. But for the most part, the Pixel 7’s feature has concentrated on cleaning up one part of the photo, and that’s not necessarily the area you’d hope would be in focus.
Indoor shot, low light (Galaxy S22 Ultra)
Staff writer Malcolm McMillan’s concert footage was shot under similar conditions to Rey Mysterio’s – it’s indoors and shot remotely (though that’s rarely a problem for Galaxy S22 Ultra). Lightning, however, is much more ruthless.
Photo Unblur slightly enhances the shot, though you’ll need to zoom in to see the effect. The guitarist’s face becomes much more visible in low light after using the Unblur effect; the lead singer on the left is essentially intact.
Action shot, indoors (Pixel 4a)
I don’t think I need to explain what’s wrong with the original photo of senior editor Marshall Honoroff demonstrating his taekwondo technique. Marshall is just a speck of movement. Certainly, the Photo Unblur tool can clear it up a bit, especially considering that this photo was taken by one of Google’s devices, the Pixel 4a.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter, in one of the real disappointments of our Photo Unblur testing. Marshall remains as blurry as before, with his face and hands notably out of focus. I was hoping that Photo Unblur could at least clean up the area around his face, but the only thing that looks sharper is the logo on his shirt.
Photo deblur testing: Outlook
I noticed a few things when testing the Photo Unblur feature on the Pixel 7 that suggested some common themes about this Tensor-powered capability. For starters, we seemed to get the best results with photos taken with older phones. That’s probably because mobile cameras have improved so much in recent years, but with older devices, there’s still a lot to fix, so you’ll notice Photo Unblur’s impact more.
We also got the best results with people facing the camera — we tested a number of photos not included in this article with side views of faces where there was no visible effect at all. This is especially true for any photos involving animals – when most of the animal’s face is facing the camera, Photo Unblur cleans things up better.
Lighting does not seem to affect the effectiveness of Photo Unblur. In fact, some of the best improvements came in low-light shots. Lighting can also help mask the over-smoothing of faces that appears to be a side effect of Photo Unblur.
After using Photo Unblur, I realized that it is not a silver bullet for all blurry shots. Some photos cannot be saved. But the feature is effective enough and it’s easy to use Photo Unblur to enhance older shots. Even after this testing, Photo Unblur remains my favorite feature of the Pixel 7.
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