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Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top

249 points by Simpliplant 10y ago

peng 10y ago
Why are all of the example photos so horribly downsized and compressed? The picture of the Eiffel Tower is only 920 × 690. That's laughable compared to the 12.3 megapixels it should be. If you're reviewing image quality, you should give the readers the original files captured by the camera. There's no way readers can say anything definitive about Pixel's camera quality without real data.
VeejayRampay 10y ago
Will this phone be discontinued and unsupported after two years like other Google phones though? I've owned a Nexus 4, a Nexus 5 and now a 5X, I think they're very good phones, but the fact that the Nexus 5 I bought 2 years ago won't ever see the light of Nougat is extremely annoying. I wish Google at least pretended to care about their older lines of phones (which are not cheap phones either, the Nexus 5 cost me about 500 euros when I bought it).
- nkozyra 10y ago
  While I can't speak to their cycles, is it really fair to call the Nexus line 'Google phones?' It seems possible they'd be more likely to extend support lifetime to this rather than branded partner phones.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- jhasse 10y ago
  I would rather worry about the non-replaceable battery and the missing microSD card slot. You can upgrade a 3.5 year old Galaxy S4 to over 128 GB storage (~35 € for a microSD card) and a fresh battery (~10 € for a new one). And with custom ROMs you can also run Nougat (I'm personally still running Marshmallow on mine though).
  - heywire 10y ago
    Unfortunately there are some models of the S4 which cannot run a custom rom (AT&T model, for example).
    - jhasse 10y ago
      This one? http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=jflteatt http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=jflteatt Luckily I'm from Germany and we have the international version (with a Qualcomm SoC). But it's true that you have to be careful which phone you buy if you want to run a custom ROM. For example there are several "Value Editions" of Samsung's phones which can't be rooted.
      - heywire 10y ago
        Yes, that's the one. Unfortunately around the time of the introduction of the Android 5 update on that handset, they also locked down the bootloader. As far as I'm aware (and a quick search of the XDA forums), it seems that it will probably never be unlocked. Such a shame because it is a great phone being left behind.
        jhasse 10y ago
        Ah I see :/ Btw: You can officially unlock the bootloader of some of LG's phones, see http://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader.dev?categoryTypeCode=ANRS http://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader....
        voltagex_ 10y ago
        It worries me that the unlocking of many phones relies on manufacturer websites that might not be there one day. Hell, even the Xiaomi Mi4c required unlocking with "identity verification" via SMS.
        jhasse 10y ago
- tdkl 10y ago
  Yes, 2 years of upgrades and another for security updates.
- kyrra 10y ago
  They clearly outline the update lifetime in the operating system section of the store: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone "Android 7.1 Nougat, the latest Android OS 2 years of OS updates 3 years of security updates"
  - hedora 10y ago
    Thanks for this! At least they are being more transparent than in the past. By my calculations, Apple is doubling this (based on iPhone 5, and OS updates, not security updates). I think in $/month for disposable hardware like phones. Plus, Apple's model is to charge for software development, while Google subsidizes it with ads/surveillance/platform lock-in. I'm happy to (and did, with the iPhone 6) pay 2x to opt-out of the OS-level surveillance. So, for me, this phone is 4x more expensive than an iPhone. That takes real "courage". Of course, most people don't think like me, so they'll probably sell lots of these.
    - Klathmon 10y ago
      This has been the policy since the Nexus 4.
      - Chronic9q 10y ago
        So Nexus phones have been 4x more expensive since Nexus 4.
        Klathmon 10y ago
        Well the Nexus 4 started at $299 at launch, and the Nexus 5 and 5X at $349, so that changes things a bit. I do think that Google's support lifetime of these phones is atrocious, my comment was in reference to the "At least they are being more transparent than in the past."
        hedora 10y ago
        Yeah; I worded that poorly. I should have said: If they want me back as a customer, they need to add a "turn off all telemetry" button (just like Microsoft needs one), and they'd need to double the support lifetime or half the price of this phone to be inline with Apple. I've noticed Apple tended to command a ~2x price premium on Android, even when their phones had shorter support periods. I personally am willing to pay that premium for privacy/security, but not the camera or apps / os features, which are largely comparable between the two platforms.
- kissickas 10y ago
  The Nexus 5 was released ‎October 31, 2013, making it almost three years old (at least it's three generations old - after 5 came 6, then 5x and 6p - now the Pixel its de facto successor).
  - dfrey 10y ago
    What is more relevant than when it was released is when it was last sold as a new device through official channels. If a phone is for sale though a legitimate distributor, then I think it's reasonable to expect security updates for 3 years after that point.
jordache 10y ago
how does the auto HDR fail to trigger once in a while? The auto HDR should be enabled while the camera app is open.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  It's not always needed (or wanted) so in theory, the feature is triggered when software detects a situation where it is warranted. You wouldn't want any unnecessary image processing if lighting conditions don't demand it so it makes sense. But as with anything involving "automatic detection" I imagine there will be false positives or negatives. Interested to see if there is still the option to toggle it on and off even if "auto" is the default.
  - jordache 10y ago
    The reviewer took several shots in sequence to demonstrate the random nature of the auto HDR. I'm just pondering how it happens. The HDR flag not a decision the software makes at the instant of capture. While composing the shot, there is a liveview from the sensor plus the processing pipeline, including the HDR processing. Does the user not realize/perceive that HDR is enabled before pressing the shutter?
wscott 10y ago
dxomark has published their iphone 7 review, but the 7 plus camera review is still pending. Still very looks like a very impressive camera. The biggest drawback I see from phone cameras now is shutter lag and just how long it takes to get the camera app ready to take pictures. I hope Google has this nailed now.
- nicktelford 10y ago
  They mentioned shutter lag in the presentation, saying that they spent a lot of time minimizing it. They didn't give any concrete numbers or a demo though.
  - piyush_soni 10y ago
    They said they were able to make it fastest of all the phones they've tested.
    - simscitizen 10y ago
      iOS has always tried to simulate zero shutter lag: the camera continuously captures full-resolution images into a ring buffer, and the app goes back in the frame buffer to find the image that corresponds to when you pressed the shutter.
      - _pmf_ 10y ago
        This sounds like a good way to drain the battery, and it will only work when no flash is required.
        tarancato 10y ago
        Still better than nothing.
        pjc50 10y ago
        Presumably it's quite cheap if you have enough RAM and hardware JPEG acceleration; the camera has to capture a string of images to display on the screen anyway.
rvwaveren 10y ago
Meta comment: Interesting that the site (dxomark.com) has the tagline "The reference for image quality" does not use retina images.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  What are retina images?
  - Jonnax 10y ago
    High resolution images for High-DPI displays. Eg. 3200x1800 on a 13" screen.
  - skrowl 10y ago
    Retina in this sense is an Apple marketing buzzword for high DPI anything. Back in the day they used to have higher DPI items, but today they still put 1080p displays on their 5.5" phones while most other flagships use 1440p in the same size display (and are thus much higher DPI).
    - eknkc 10y ago
      You are right but I wonder if it is any improvement at this point. Writing this on a iPhone 6s Plus and I can't possibly see individual pixels. What is the benefit of going higher?
      - skrowl 10y ago
        Hold your 6S Plus up next to a Note 7 viewing the same photograph or high resolution video. If you don't see a large difference, head immediately to the optometrist.
      - sp332 10y ago
        This is a niche answer, but you can put them in a VR headset with lenses that spread out the screen over a much larger fraction of your visual field without looking too pixel-y.
mtgx 10y ago
The camera sensor seems to be the same one as the one they put last year in the Nexus 6p and 5x, but the new phones have gotten a major upgrade in image processing performance and in software. They also benefit from a new gyroscope that's used for seemingly very good video stabilization (not clear if it's used for still photos as well). Oh, and it has a faster shutter speed. Hopefully next year they use an f/1.8 or wider aperture, too.
- tarancato 10y ago
  How do you know that? I find it weird that three different mobiles from three different manufacturers use exactly the same camera.
  - MatekCopatek 10y ago
    Well, like someone mentioned above, Sony is really dominating this market with its sensors. Which means it's not that strange to have a bunch of similar sized and prices phones use the same sensor.
  - mtgx 10y ago
    Mainly going by the camera specs: 12.3MP, f/2.0. And it "makes sense" for a phone maker to use the same sensor for two years in a row. At least I know Apple does that (sometimes even keeps it for 3 years, like it did with its first 8MP camera). I think it would be weirder and less likely if they ordered a "next-gen" camera that had exactly 12.3MP resolution and f/2.0 lens, just as last year's camera. There's still a small chance I could be wrong, though, so just take it with a grain of salt. Perhaps Google will confirm it either way soon.
  - wibbleywobbley 10y ago
    It's really not weird at all, pretty much all high end phones use sensors from Sony because they make the best sensors for this specific application. Some of the phones I know of that had the IMX377: Nexus 5X Nexus 6P HTC One M10 It looks like the Pixel is using the IMX378 -- I'm not sure what differences there are between the IMX377 and IMX378. It's also worth noting that there is a lot more that goes into a good camera system than the sensor
Ambroos 10y ago
I just can't help but notice all phone cameras right now are incredibly close in quality, and the differences don't really matter anymore. The software experience has become the only important thing. There's an easy explanation for it too. Pretty much every single high-end phone released in the last two years uses a Sony sensor. They completely dominate the smartphone sensor market right now.
- mxuribe 10y ago
  If that's true, curious if sony ever chooses to, or is forced to ("forced" due to a disruption to their supply chain, I mean) raise prices on that component, that would pretty much raise the price for everyone's phones. (Or at least everyone who relies on that component.) In biology, to fend off this type of dependency, i think they call that genetic diversity; I'm sure there's a name for the same in supply chain management.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    The sensor is probably $1 each when bought in trays anyway, so even if they increased their prices 100%, manufacturers would just soak up the cost.
    - sz4kerto 10y ago
      They're around $5.
  - jrockway 10y ago
    Fujifilm and Canon still make their own sensors. Fuji's seem pretty good. Canon can't compete, opting to sell DSLRs to people already locked into their system.
    - shen 10y ago
      This is not true. Fuji's X-Trans sensors are just Sony sensors with a X-Trans filter instead of a Bayer filter. The latest Canon sensors (5D mkIV) lose to the Sony sensors at base ISO but pull ahead at higher ISOs.
geodel 10y ago
I have no doubt about quality of camera. I somehow can not shake off this feeling, that despite top of the line components and Google software, the iPhone comparable pricing will limit its market to very small size. The only successful hardware by Google is chromecast which is very cheap to buy. So ~$650 price of phone despite having best camera does not seem attractive enough. It does not have cutting edge custom components like e.g. TPU etc which I wonder would make its price lot more palatable.
- Gracana 10y ago
  I'd be hesitant to buy anything from Google again.. I had a nexus 7 tablet and they killed it in an update. At least with an iPhone, it'll be supported for a few years.
  - t4nkd 10y ago
    "Supported" -- I'm not sure if you've ever tried to use a last-gen iPhone device with the latest iOS release, but, every device I've ever owned was sketchy at best after the 1st hardware release, and completely unusable as of the 2nd. In my experience, it didn't matter if I upgraded to the S or full version model, this problem happened from 3->4, 4->5, and 5->6. I expect my wife, who is still an Apple user, to be asking me for the iPhone 7 before the year end because her phone is "a slow piece of shit".
    - pazra 10y ago
      Complete hyperbole. I'm using an iPhone 5S with iOS 10 and it seems just as fast as the day I bought it.
      - ShinyCyril 10y ago
        I also own a 5S. While I can't say it's as fast as the day I bought it (I got it second-hand with iOS 9 loaded), it's certainly faster than the 3GS it replaced! The 3GS in turn, was a replacement for my Motorola Milestone (Droid in the US) which, despite being released the same year, received a grand total of one major OS updates and then was dropped.
ngrilly 10y ago
Does the video stabilization work even in 4K, or only with lower resolution? In the affirmative, how can the camera effectively stabilize the video since the sensor resolution (4K) is almost the same as the video resolution?
satysin 10y ago
I am surprised that of all the companies to come out with a better camera than the latest iPhone is Google!
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  This sentiment makes no sense.
  - satysin 10y ago
    What I mean is that getting the label of the "best" phone camera isn't easy. Samsung and Apple basically go back and forth with each release. Then Google comes along with this brand new phone that pips the just-released iPhone 7. Impressive is all.
    - dx034 10y ago
      They didn't test the iPhone 7 Plus yet. The camera there could be better. And while it's of course great that they built such a good camera, it's the least of what people expect. Cameras seem to be the last domain where phones differentiate. Software is similar, speed is similar, shape and size anyway.
    - nacs 10y ago
      This "Google" phone is actually manufactured by HTC who has been making (Android) camera phones for years.
      - snovv_crash 10y ago
        And whose HTC10 is currently considered to have the best camera on the market.
- josefresco 10y ago
  More like HTC+Google
ricw 10y ago
Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead in camera quality. I wonder how and why, and what apples comment on these results would be. On paper, the google pixel should have inferior results, given its slower lens (f2.0 vs f1.8 on the iPhone and f1.7 on the s7). Yet they apparently are superior. All modern high end smartphone cameras use the same sensors (Sony) with different lenses. Did google achieve this through better software? Or better hardware? Hardware seems unlikely given that both Samsung and Apple likely have much larger budgets and a longer knowledge history. I just ordered an iPhone 7 plus because of the camera, and this is clearly making me question whether this was the right choice.
- pavlov 10y ago
  When was Apple's decisive lead in camera quality? Nokia was the clear leader until 2014. Not coincidentally Apple hired Nokia's camera development leader around that time [1]. Since then, Apple has been roughly at parity with Samsung's flagships. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/
- gilgoomesh 10y ago
  > Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead You can't make that claim, yet. Reviews are subjective and it's possible other reviewers may have different opinions on photo quality. Additionally, DXOMark still haven't reviewed the iPhone 7 plus. In any case, 2x optical zoom and iOS 10.1's portrait mode make the iPhone 7 plus a far more versatile option.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  I think a lot of that decisive lead had more to do with what Apple was willing to spend time/money on and others weren't (rather than what was or wasn't possible for any major OEM to do). The combination of camera hardware improving across the board and continuing consumer focus on this as a selling point can only lead Google and others to start putting out better cameras if people are using that as a deciding factor in what phone they buy.
- wodenokoto 10y ago
  When exactly was this decisive lead of the iPhone? It definitely wasn't the iPhone 1, it had terrible camera even for its time but it also had the most handy camera, so it had the highest usage. My memory of the time around the 3g/3gs is fuzzy, but I do remember carrying a point and click together with my 3gs. 4 or 4s was when apple claimed parity with point and click, and I remember a lot of buzz around that time. Looking at the link we see contemporary phones with similar or higher scores from 5s and forward.
mrkgnao 10y ago
I feel like I've seen the striking building on the left before. Does anyone know what it is? https://www.dxomark.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/media/images/exposure-and-contrast-90-__920/152560-1-eng-US/Exposure-and-Contrast-90-__920.jpg https://www.dxomark.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/medi...
- Artemis2 10y ago
  It's the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- jcfrei 10y ago
  Centre Pompidou probably.
- Cthulhu_ 10y ago
  You mean on the right? A reverse Google image search (ha) indicates it might be the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
- koalaman 10y ago
  le centre pompidou https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Centre+Pompidou/@48.8611289,2.3534191,3a,75y,237h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sz9Pe_QPenfxzy8oozwfajw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dz9Pe_QPenfxzy8oozwfajw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.TACTILE.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D129%26h%3D106%26yaw%3D237.07686%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xb7ac6c7e59dc3345!8m2!3d48.8606422!4d2.352245!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Centre+Pompidou/@48.86...
matt101589 10y ago
Really surprised that the Pixel does not have OIS. This seems unreasonable at the flagship price level.
- Sargos 10y ago
  Their EIS seems to be on par with it. OIS doesn't automatically mean better.
dovdov 10y ago
no optical image stabilization in a flagship? laughable.
- ino 10y ago
  The iPhone 6S also doesn't have OIS.
  - rimantas 10y ago
    How is that relevant? Neither did iPhone 3G, but why would you compare Google's newest phone with iPhone 6s, when iPhone 7 is already out?
    - izacus 10y ago
      Because iPhone 6S made execellent pictures even without OIS?
- solidr53 10y ago
  You choose: a OIS bump in your phone or no OIS bump in your phone. The later has a better dxomark.
- Sargos 10y ago
  Their EIS seems to be on par with it. OIS doesn't automatically mean better.
Nursie 10y ago
I know this is slightly OT on this topic as it's about cameras but... I'm genuinely not sure what to do now. My Nexus 6 has a crack in its screen, which is expensive to replace, so I was looking at a new phone. Google were supposed (dammit), supposed to release a new phone with cutting edge software, almost-flagship hardware and at a mid-market price. Instead they've gone straight for the high end of the market, and they've made the screens smaller, and not included wireless charging, something I've grown to like a lot. So now my choices seem to be a galaxy note 7 (I prefer vanilla android), or... That's about it for phones with a good size, good res display that support QI. Without QI there's the P9 Plus and Oneplus 3, but both have comparatively low res screens. The moto Z has no QI, the LG V20 hasn't surfaced yet... Is there another phablet that can tick all the boxes?
- TheCapn 10y ago
  I'm in the same boat as you with my Nexus 5. I was excited for the Pixel but at $1,000 CAD for the 32GB that does nothing particularly special I cancelled my pre-order. What my current plan of action is to find something of last-gen and ride it out for another year. I'm okay spending $300-$400 on something that I'll probably flash a custom ROM into and recycle in a year's time when another round of flagships are announced. Unless there's some segment of the market that's eating the Pixel up the general reception I've been seeing hopefully clues Google into what people were looking for (Nexus iteration)
  - gegtik 10y ago
    I've been hanging onto a samsung s4 loaner waiting for the pixel reveal. at CDN$1200 for the flagship, I have to balk. The oneplus 3 is less than half the price. I can have a very good phone for $520 and save the "leftover" money to purchase the OP5 in 2018 which will probably trump the XL. I think Google's following this strategy to show they're just as valuable as apple from a mobile device perspective, but they lost me. With the mid-range high-quality chinese phones available i can't justify flagship prices anymore
  - soyiuz 10y ago
    I am in the same boat (of waiting to update my Nexus 5, which I love dearly). What do you think of Moto Z Play---unlocked version coming at the end of the month? Inexpensive, a giant battery, USBC, quick charge, and reasonable price.
mrob 10y ago
Do people really like that aliased look? Every picture has very obvious aliasing. It's the first thing I noticed, within less than a second. And aliasing is an especially bad artifact because image processing algorithms assume band-limited data. There's no way to get something natural looking from those images. It seems almost unbelievable to me that a camera supposedly focused on quality would do this, so I wonder if DXOMark, despite claiming to be "The reference for image quality", actually destroyed image quality with terrible downscaling. I know people like sharpness, but if you insist on pushing it this far, ringing is far less objectionable than aliasing.
- jrockway 10y ago
  People seem to like the aliasing, paying more to have the lowpass filter removed from their DSLR's sensors, despite the fact that there is no way to fix the aliasing in post-processing. "It won't happen to me," I guess is the attitude. Reviewers that check for MTF and end it there are also problematic. There is more to photography than line pairs per millimeter.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- sp332 10y ago
  Can you fix ringing in post? And personally, if I'm going to be stuck with one or the other, I'd much rather have aliasing than ringing.
  - mrob 10y ago
    You can get some subjective improvement, although it's far from perfect. Eg: http://avisynth.nl/index.php/External_filters#Deringing_.26_Mosquito_Noise http://avisynth.nl/index.php/External_filters#Deringing_.26_... See also: https://people.xiph.org/~jm/daala/deringing_demo/ https://people.xiph.org/~jm/daala/deringing_demo/
Fricken 10y ago
One of the things not mentioned in the article is the support from Google photos. Storage space is now unlimited, and files are uploaded full res, which they didn't do before. If you take a lot of pictures, this makes life so easy. Plus the image search- you can find that picture of a dog catching a frisbee you took 6 months ago just by asking. Everyone seems to be burnt out on novel new technology, but this is amazing to me. The camera's performance is impressive, but to me Google Photos is the biggest differentiator.
- twerkmonsta 10y ago
  Google Photos is available for iOS as well, so not really a differentiation.
  - Fricken 10y ago
    Full res is exclusive to Pixel.
    - lern_too_spel 10y ago
      You get full res on any device. You just have to pay if you go over 15 GB.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      No, free, unlimited full-res is exclusive to Pixel, otherwise full-res photos count against the online storage quota (I think there's 15GB free, and additional storage available for a monthly fee.)
    - mahyarm 10y ago
      Google's original 'unlimited' was 16MP, and the pixel makes 12MP images, so wouldn't it be within the original limit by default. If the pixel makes 4K videos, then that would be over the original unlimited limit.
- sdrothrock 10y ago
  > One of the things not mentioned in the article is the support from Google photos. Storage space is now unlimited, and files are uploaded full res I hadn't heard about this until now; is this for all Android users, or just Pixel users? If the latter, do you lose the unlimited space once you move off a Pixel?
laktak 10y ago
Anyone know how you can now submit duplicate links to HN? I thought that would redirect to the old submission? (https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=laktak https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=laktak)
anotheryou 10y ago
Uh my, that girl with the color chart... looking like: http://kultur-online.net/files/zoom/02_Terror-(Hanns-Martin-Sch.jpg http://kultur-online.net/files/zoom/02_Terror-(Hanns-Martin-... more serious: if you compare automatic white balance you have to have the same framing for all shots!
- gberger 10y ago
  This is a camera review, not a model photoshoot. This comment is unnecessary.
  - anotheryou 10y ago
    I made a joke. (whether it is funny or necessary is another thing of course, I like humor and obviously I found it funny) Furthermore my comment was also about the shot with the chair, showing very different framing for the pixel cam.
dreamcompiler 10y ago
I wish I could use a smartphone camera for everything, but none of them offer depth-of-field control, which makes them unsuitable for portraits. Their tiny pinhole lenses make it practically impossible. One can fake bokeh in software, but it's not the same.
- givinguflac 10y ago
  Have you seen the bohek/depth of field images from the iPhone 7 plus on 10.1 beta? It's fantastic.
- nilkn 10y ago
  The iPhone 7 Plus will offer depth-of-field soon after a software update. However, the effect is indeed largely achieved through software. Despite that, the results can be pretty astounding. Some examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55npvs/so_impressed_by_the_7_plus_camera/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55npvs/so_impressed_... https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55rxnx/iphone_7_plus_photographer_at_a_wedding_its/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55rxnx/iphone_7_plus...
  - dreamcompiler 10y ago
    Very impressive. I had no idea the software had gotten this good. Thanks for the links.
hack_mmmm 10y ago
This is awesome
oDot 10y ago
I sure hope all androids will be able to utilize the Camera app new gyro video stabilization feature
balls187 10y ago
As a hobbiest photographer, this measurebating/pixel peeping is very reminiscent of the MP wars in Digital Cameras and dSLRs. Photos from mobile phones will be most often viewed on a service (FB, Instagram, Whatsapp) which will almost always do some sort of resizing and recompression which would render that +/- 5 spread between all the top cell phones meaningless.
- mrtron 10y ago
  This doesn't decrease the value of the better camera. What if I print some of my photos later? What if I zoom in and then send that section on whatsapp?
- waldir 10y ago
  To counter your point, consider the fact that 4K video looks better when downsampled to 1080p than video captured directly in 1080p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIf9h2Gkm_U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIf9h2Gkm_U -- the mechanism is different for other cases (social media sharing of images, for example), but the principle is the same.
abledon 10y ago
Still has an AMOLED screen and not an IPS, dang.
bg0 10y ago
If the Pixel came out with the dual camera like the iPhone Plus and was cheaper I would seriously consider switching
- Zhenya 10y ago
  Why is not having dual camera a deal breaker for you?
mgleason_3 10y ago
Take a picture of a sunset. So far none of the cell phones even come close to looking like the real thing. Reds look yellow... My wife's SLR does a good job of capturing it, but not our cells phones.
scraft 10y ago
A lot of the comments on the linked site, are disappointed (shall we say) at lack of night photographs, as they believe it is the low light conditions that the new iPhones are really quite impressive (so claiming the Pixel is #1 annoys them). For the record, I've never owned an iPhone, and am very interested in seeing how the Pixel works out, but I just thought I'd mention the comments in case anyone had missed them..!

249 points by Simpliplant 10y ago

peng 10y ago

Why are all of the example photos so horribly downsized and compressed? The picture of the Eiffel Tower is only 920 × 690. That's laughable compared to the 12.3 megapixels it should be. If you're reviewing image quality, you should give the readers the original files captured by the camera. There's no way readers can say anything definitive about Pixel's camera quality without real data.

VeejayRampay 10y ago

Will this phone be discontinued and unsupported after two years like other Google phones though? I've owned a Nexus 4, a Nexus 5 and now a 5X, I think they're very good phones, but the fact that the Nexus 5 I bought 2 years ago won't ever see the light of Nougat is extremely annoying. I wish Google at least pretended to care about their older lines of phones (which are not cheap phones either, the Nexus 5 cost me about 500 euros when I bought it).

nkozyra 10y ago
While I can't speak to their cycles, is it really fair to call the Nexus line 'Google phones?' It seems possible they'd be more likely to extend support lifetime to this rather than branded partner phones.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jhasse 10y ago
I would rather worry about the non-replaceable battery and the missing microSD card slot. You can upgrade a 3.5 year old Galaxy S4 to over 128 GB storage (~35 € for a microSD card) and a fresh battery (~10 € for a new one). And with custom ROMs you can also run Nougat (I'm personally still running Marshmallow on mine though).
- heywire 10y ago
  Unfortunately there are some models of the S4 which cannot run a custom rom (AT&T model, for example).
  - jhasse 10y ago
    This one? http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=jflteatt http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=jflteatt Luckily I'm from Germany and we have the international version (with a Qualcomm SoC). But it's true that you have to be careful which phone you buy if you want to run a custom ROM. For example there are several "Value Editions" of Samsung's phones which can't be rooted.
    - heywire 10y ago
      Yes, that's the one. Unfortunately around the time of the introduction of the Android 5 update on that handset, they also locked down the bootloader. As far as I'm aware (and a quick search of the XDA forums), it seems that it will probably never be unlocked. Such a shame because it is a great phone being left behind.
      - jhasse 10y ago
        Ah I see :/ Btw: You can officially unlock the bootloader of some of LG's phones, see http://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader.dev?categoryTypeCode=ANRS http://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader....
        voltagex_ 10y ago
        It worries me that the unlocking of many phones relies on manufacturer websites that might not be there one day. Hell, even the Xiaomi Mi4c required unlocking with "identity verification" via SMS.
        jhasse 10y ago
tdkl 10y ago
Yes, 2 years of upgrades and another for security updates.
kyrra 10y ago
They clearly outline the update lifetime in the operating system section of the store: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone "Android 7.1 Nougat, the latest Android OS 2 years of OS updates 3 years of security updates"
- hedora 10y ago
  Thanks for this! At least they are being more transparent than in the past. By my calculations, Apple is doubling this (based on iPhone 5, and OS updates, not security updates). I think in $/month for disposable hardware like phones. Plus, Apple's model is to charge for software development, while Google subsidizes it with ads/surveillance/platform lock-in. I'm happy to (and did, with the iPhone 6) pay 2x to opt-out of the OS-level surveillance. So, for me, this phone is 4x more expensive than an iPhone. That takes real "courage". Of course, most people don't think like me, so they'll probably sell lots of these.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    This has been the policy since the Nexus 4.
    - Chronic9q 10y ago
      So Nexus phones have been 4x more expensive since Nexus 4.
      - Klathmon 10y ago
        Well the Nexus 4 started at $299 at launch, and the Nexus 5 and 5X at $349, so that changes things a bit. I do think that Google's support lifetime of these phones is atrocious, my comment was in reference to the "At least they are being more transparent than in the past."
        hedora 10y ago
        Yeah; I worded that poorly. I should have said: If they want me back as a customer, they need to add a "turn off all telemetry" button (just like Microsoft needs one), and they'd need to double the support lifetime or half the price of this phone to be inline with Apple. I've noticed Apple tended to command a ~2x price premium on Android, even when their phones had shorter support periods. I personally am willing to pay that premium for privacy/security, but not the camera or apps / os features, which are largely comparable between the two platforms.
kissickas 10y ago
The Nexus 5 was released ‎October 31, 2013, making it almost three years old (at least it's three generations old - after 5 came 6, then 5x and 6p - now the Pixel its de facto successor).
- dfrey 10y ago
  What is more relevant than when it was released is when it was last sold as a new device through official channels. If a phone is for sale though a legitimate distributor, then I think it's reasonable to expect security updates for 3 years after that point.

jordache 10y ago

how does the auto HDR fail to trigger once in a while? The auto HDR should be enabled while the camera app is open.

soylentcola 10y ago
It's not always needed (or wanted) so in theory, the feature is triggered when software detects a situation where it is warranted. You wouldn't want any unnecessary image processing if lighting conditions don't demand it so it makes sense. But as with anything involving "automatic detection" I imagine there will be false positives or negatives. Interested to see if there is still the option to toggle it on and off even if "auto" is the default.
- jordache 10y ago
  The reviewer took several shots in sequence to demonstrate the random nature of the auto HDR. I'm just pondering how it happens. The HDR flag not a decision the software makes at the instant of capture. While composing the shot, there is a liveview from the sensor plus the processing pipeline, including the HDR processing. Does the user not realize/perceive that HDR is enabled before pressing the shutter?

wscott 10y ago

dxomark has published their iphone 7 review, but the 7 plus camera review is still pending. Still very looks like a very impressive camera. The biggest drawback I see from phone cameras now is shutter lag and just how long it takes to get the camera app ready to take pictures. I hope Google has this nailed now.

nicktelford 10y ago
They mentioned shutter lag in the presentation, saying that they spent a lot of time minimizing it. They didn't give any concrete numbers or a demo though.
- piyush_soni 10y ago
  They said they were able to make it fastest of all the phones they've tested.
  - simscitizen 10y ago
    iOS has always tried to simulate zero shutter lag: the camera continuously captures full-resolution images into a ring buffer, and the app goes back in the frame buffer to find the image that corresponds to when you pressed the shutter.
    - _pmf_ 10y ago
      This sounds like a good way to drain the battery, and it will only work when no flash is required.
      - tarancato 10y ago
        Still better than nothing.
      - pjc50 10y ago
        Presumably it's quite cheap if you have enough RAM and hardware JPEG acceleration; the camera has to capture a string of images to display on the screen anyway.

rvwaveren 10y ago

Meta comment: Interesting that the site (dxomark.com) has the tagline "The reference for image quality" does not use retina images.

dingo_bat 10y ago
What are retina images?
- Jonnax 10y ago
  High resolution images for High-DPI displays. Eg. 3200x1800 on a 13" screen.
- skrowl 10y ago
  Retina in this sense is an Apple marketing buzzword for high DPI anything. Back in the day they used to have higher DPI items, but today they still put 1080p displays on their 5.5" phones while most other flagships use 1440p in the same size display (and are thus much higher DPI).
  - eknkc 10y ago
    You are right but I wonder if it is any improvement at this point. Writing this on a iPhone 6s Plus and I can't possibly see individual pixels. What is the benefit of going higher?
    - skrowl 10y ago
      Hold your 6S Plus up next to a Note 7 viewing the same photograph or high resolution video. If you don't see a large difference, head immediately to the optometrist.
    - sp332 10y ago
      This is a niche answer, but you can put them in a VR headset with lenses that spread out the screen over a much larger fraction of your visual field without looking too pixel-y.

mtgx 10y ago

The camera sensor seems to be the same one as the one they put last year in the Nexus 6p and 5x, but the new phones have gotten a major upgrade in image processing performance and in software. They also benefit from a new gyroscope that's used for seemingly very good video stabilization (not clear if it's used for still photos as well). Oh, and it has a faster shutter speed. Hopefully next year they use an f/1.8 or wider aperture, too.

tarancato 10y ago
How do you know that? I find it weird that three different mobiles from three different manufacturers use exactly the same camera.
- MatekCopatek 10y ago
  Well, like someone mentioned above, Sony is really dominating this market with its sensors. Which means it's not that strange to have a bunch of similar sized and prices phones use the same sensor.
- mtgx 10y ago
  Mainly going by the camera specs: 12.3MP, f/2.0. And it "makes sense" for a phone maker to use the same sensor for two years in a row. At least I know Apple does that (sometimes even keeps it for 3 years, like it did with its first 8MP camera). I think it would be weirder and less likely if they ordered a "next-gen" camera that had exactly 12.3MP resolution and f/2.0 lens, just as last year's camera. There's still a small chance I could be wrong, though, so just take it with a grain of salt. Perhaps Google will confirm it either way soon.
- wibbleywobbley 10y ago
  It's really not weird at all, pretty much all high end phones use sensors from Sony because they make the best sensors for this specific application. Some of the phones I know of that had the IMX377: Nexus 5X Nexus 6P HTC One M10 It looks like the Pixel is using the IMX378 -- I'm not sure what differences there are between the IMX377 and IMX378. It's also worth noting that there is a lot more that goes into a good camera system than the sensor

Ambroos 10y ago

I just can't help but notice all phone cameras right now are incredibly close in quality, and the differences don't really matter anymore. The software experience has become the only important thing. There's an easy explanation for it too. Pretty much every single high-end phone released in the last two years uses a Sony sensor. They completely dominate the smartphone sensor market right now.

mxuribe 10y ago
If that's true, curious if sony ever chooses to, or is forced to ("forced" due to a disruption to their supply chain, I mean) raise prices on that component, that would pretty much raise the price for everyone's phones. (Or at least everyone who relies on that component.) In biology, to fend off this type of dependency, i think they call that genetic diversity; I'm sure there's a name for the same in supply chain management.
- gambiting 10y ago
  The sensor is probably $1 each when bought in trays anyway, so even if they increased their prices 100%, manufacturers would just soak up the cost.
  - sz4kerto 10y ago
    They're around $5.
- jrockway 10y ago
  Fujifilm and Canon still make their own sensors. Fuji's seem pretty good. Canon can't compete, opting to sell DSLRs to people already locked into their system.
  - shen 10y ago
    This is not true. Fuji's X-Trans sensors are just Sony sensors with a X-Trans filter instead of a Bayer filter. The latest Canon sensors (5D mkIV) lose to the Sony sensors at base ISO but pull ahead at higher ISOs.

geodel 10y ago

I have no doubt about quality of camera. I somehow can not shake off this feeling, that despite top of the line components and Google software, the iPhone comparable pricing will limit its market to very small size. The only successful hardware by Google is chromecast which is very cheap to buy. So ~$650 price of phone despite having best camera does not seem attractive enough. It does not have cutting edge custom components like e.g. TPU etc which I wonder would make its price lot more palatable.

Gracana 10y ago
I'd be hesitant to buy anything from Google again.. I had a nexus 7 tablet and they killed it in an update. At least with an iPhone, it'll be supported for a few years.
- t4nkd 10y ago
  "Supported" -- I'm not sure if you've ever tried to use a last-gen iPhone device with the latest iOS release, but, every device I've ever owned was sketchy at best after the 1st hardware release, and completely unusable as of the 2nd. In my experience, it didn't matter if I upgraded to the S or full version model, this problem happened from 3->4, 4->5, and 5->6. I expect my wife, who is still an Apple user, to be asking me for the iPhone 7 before the year end because her phone is "a slow piece of shit".
  - pazra 10y ago
    Complete hyperbole. I'm using an iPhone 5S with iOS 10 and it seems just as fast as the day I bought it.
    - ShinyCyril 10y ago
      I also own a 5S. While I can't say it's as fast as the day I bought it (I got it second-hand with iOS 9 loaded), it's certainly faster than the 3GS it replaced! The 3GS in turn, was a replacement for my Motorola Milestone (Droid in the US) which, despite being released the same year, received a grand total of one major OS updates and then was dropped.

ngrilly 10y ago

Does the video stabilization work even in 4K, or only with lower resolution? In the affirmative, how can the camera effectively stabilize the video since the sensor resolution (4K) is almost the same as the video resolution?

satysin 10y ago

I am surprised that of all the companies to come out with a better camera than the latest iPhone is Google!

miguelrochefort 10y ago
This sentiment makes no sense.
- satysin 10y ago
  What I mean is that getting the label of the "best" phone camera isn't easy. Samsung and Apple basically go back and forth with each release. Then Google comes along with this brand new phone that pips the just-released iPhone 7. Impressive is all.
  - dx034 10y ago
    They didn't test the iPhone 7 Plus yet. The camera there could be better. And while it's of course great that they built such a good camera, it's the least of what people expect. Cameras seem to be the last domain where phones differentiate. Software is similar, speed is similar, shape and size anyway.
  - nacs 10y ago
    This "Google" phone is actually manufactured by HTC who has been making (Android) camera phones for years.
    - snovv_crash 10y ago
      And whose HTC10 is currently considered to have the best camera on the market.
josefresco 10y ago
More like HTC+Google

ricw 10y ago

Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead in camera quality. I wonder how and why, and what apples comment on these results would be. On paper, the google pixel should have inferior results, given its slower lens (f2.0 vs f1.8 on the iPhone and f1.7 on the s7). Yet they apparently are superior. All modern high end smartphone cameras use the same sensors (Sony) with different lenses. Did google achieve this through better software? Or better hardware? Hardware seems unlikely given that both Samsung and Apple likely have much larger budgets and a longer knowledge history. I just ordered an iPhone 7 plus because of the camera, and this is clearly making me question whether this was the right choice.

pavlov 10y ago
When was Apple's decisive lead in camera quality? Nokia was the clear leader until 2014. Not coincidentally Apple hired Nokia's camera development leader around that time [1]. Since then, Apple has been roughly at parity with Samsung's flagships. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/
gilgoomesh 10y ago
> Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead You can't make that claim, yet. Reviews are subjective and it's possible other reviewers may have different opinions on photo quality. Additionally, DXOMark still haven't reviewed the iPhone 7 plus. In any case, 2x optical zoom and iOS 10.1's portrait mode make the iPhone 7 plus a far more versatile option.
soylentcola 10y ago
I think a lot of that decisive lead had more to do with what Apple was willing to spend time/money on and others weren't (rather than what was or wasn't possible for any major OEM to do). The combination of camera hardware improving across the board and continuing consumer focus on this as a selling point can only lead Google and others to start putting out better cameras if people are using that as a deciding factor in what phone they buy.
wodenokoto 10y ago
When exactly was this decisive lead of the iPhone? It definitely wasn't the iPhone 1, it had terrible camera even for its time but it also had the most handy camera, so it had the highest usage. My memory of the time around the 3g/3gs is fuzzy, but I do remember carrying a point and click together with my 3gs. 4 or 4s was when apple claimed parity with point and click, and I remember a lot of buzz around that time. Looking at the link we see contemporary phones with similar or higher scores from 5s and forward.

mrkgnao 10y ago

I feel like I've seen the striking building on the left before. Does anyone know what it is? https://www.dxomark.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/media/images/exposure-and-contrast-90-__920/152560-1-eng-US/Exposure-and-Contrast-90-__920.jpg https://www.dxomark.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/medi...

Artemis2 10y ago
It's the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou
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jcfrei 10y ago
Centre Pompidou probably.
Cthulhu_ 10y ago
You mean on the right? A reverse Google image search (ha) indicates it might be the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
koalaman 10y ago
le centre pompidou https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Centre+Pompidou/@48.8611289,2.3534191,3a,75y,237h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sz9Pe_QPenfxzy8oozwfajw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dz9Pe_QPenfxzy8oozwfajw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.TACTILE.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D129%26h%3D106%26yaw%3D237.07686%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xb7ac6c7e59dc3345!8m2!3d48.8606422!4d2.352245!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Centre+Pompidou/@48.86...

matt101589 10y ago

Really surprised that the Pixel does not have OIS. This seems unreasonable at the flagship price level.

Sargos 10y ago
Their EIS seems to be on par with it. OIS doesn't automatically mean better.

dovdov 10y ago

no optical image stabilization in a flagship? laughable.

ino 10y ago
The iPhone 6S also doesn't have OIS.
- rimantas 10y ago
  How is that relevant? Neither did iPhone 3G, but why would you compare Google's newest phone with iPhone 6s, when iPhone 7 is already out?
  - izacus 10y ago
    Because iPhone 6S made execellent pictures even without OIS?
solidr53 10y ago
You choose: a OIS bump in your phone or no OIS bump in your phone. The later has a better dxomark.
Sargos 10y ago
Their EIS seems to be on par with it. OIS doesn't automatically mean better.

Nursie 10y ago

I know this is slightly OT on this topic as it's about cameras but... I'm genuinely not sure what to do now. My Nexus 6 has a crack in its screen, which is expensive to replace, so I was looking at a new phone. Google were supposed (dammit), supposed to release a new phone with cutting edge software, almost-flagship hardware and at a mid-market price. Instead they've gone straight for the high end of the market, and they've made the screens smaller, and not included wireless charging, something I've grown to like a lot. So now my choices seem to be a galaxy note 7 (I prefer vanilla android), or... That's about it for phones with a good size, good res display that support QI. Without QI there's the P9 Plus and Oneplus 3, but both have comparatively low res screens. The moto Z has no QI, the LG V20 hasn't surfaced yet... Is there another phablet that can tick all the boxes?

TheCapn 10y ago
I'm in the same boat as you with my Nexus 5. I was excited for the Pixel but at $1,000 CAD for the 32GB that does nothing particularly special I cancelled my pre-order. What my current plan of action is to find something of last-gen and ride it out for another year. I'm okay spending $300-$400 on something that I'll probably flash a custom ROM into and recycle in a year's time when another round of flagships are announced. Unless there's some segment of the market that's eating the Pixel up the general reception I've been seeing hopefully clues Google into what people were looking for (Nexus iteration)
- gegtik 10y ago
  I've been hanging onto a samsung s4 loaner waiting for the pixel reveal. at CDN$1200 for the flagship, I have to balk. The oneplus 3 is less than half the price. I can have a very good phone for $520 and save the "leftover" money to purchase the OP5 in 2018 which will probably trump the XL. I think Google's following this strategy to show they're just as valuable as apple from a mobile device perspective, but they lost me. With the mid-range high-quality chinese phones available i can't justify flagship prices anymore
- soyiuz 10y ago
  I am in the same boat (of waiting to update my Nexus 5, which I love dearly). What do you think of Moto Z Play---unlocked version coming at the end of the month? Inexpensive, a giant battery, USBC, quick charge, and reasonable price.

mrob 10y ago

Do people really like that aliased look? Every picture has very obvious aliasing. It's the first thing I noticed, within less than a second. And aliasing is an especially bad artifact because image processing algorithms assume band-limited data. There's no way to get something natural looking from those images. It seems almost unbelievable to me that a camera supposedly focused on quality would do this, so I wonder if DXOMark, despite claiming to be "The reference for image quality", actually destroyed image quality with terrible downscaling. I know people like sharpness, but if you insist on pushing it this far, ringing is far less objectionable than aliasing.

jrockway 10y ago
People seem to like the aliasing, paying more to have the lowpass filter removed from their DSLR's sensors, despite the fact that there is no way to fix the aliasing in post-processing. "It won't happen to me," I guess is the attitude. Reviewers that check for MTF and end it there are also problematic. There is more to photography than line pairs per millimeter.
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sp332 10y ago
Can you fix ringing in post? And personally, if I'm going to be stuck with one or the other, I'd much rather have aliasing than ringing.
- mrob 10y ago
  You can get some subjective improvement, although it's far from perfect. Eg: http://avisynth.nl/index.php/External_filters#Deringing_.26_Mosquito_Noise http://avisynth.nl/index.php/External_filters#Deringing_.26_... See also: https://people.xiph.org/~jm/daala/deringing_demo/ https://people.xiph.org/~jm/daala/deringing_demo/

Fricken 10y ago

One of the things not mentioned in the article is the support from Google photos. Storage space is now unlimited, and files are uploaded full res, which they didn't do before. If you take a lot of pictures, this makes life so easy. Plus the image search- you can find that picture of a dog catching a frisbee you took 6 months ago just by asking. Everyone seems to be burnt out on novel new technology, but this is amazing to me. The camera's performance is impressive, but to me Google Photos is the biggest differentiator.

twerkmonsta 10y ago
Google Photos is available for iOS as well, so not really a differentiation.
- Fricken 10y ago
  Full res is exclusive to Pixel.
  - lern_too_spel 10y ago
    You get full res on any device. You just have to pay if you go over 15 GB.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    No, free, unlimited full-res is exclusive to Pixel, otherwise full-res photos count against the online storage quota (I think there's 15GB free, and additional storage available for a monthly fee.)
  - mahyarm 10y ago
    Google's original 'unlimited' was 16MP, and the pixel makes 12MP images, so wouldn't it be within the original limit by default. If the pixel makes 4K videos, then that would be over the original unlimited limit.
sdrothrock 10y ago
> One of the things not mentioned in the article is the support from Google photos. Storage space is now unlimited, and files are uploaded full res I hadn't heard about this until now; is this for all Android users, or just Pixel users? If the latter, do you lose the unlimited space once you move off a Pixel?

laktak 10y ago

Anyone know how you can now submit duplicate links to HN? I thought that would redirect to the old submission? (https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=laktak https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=laktak)

anotheryou 10y ago

Uh my, that girl with the color chart... looking like: http://kultur-online.net/files/zoom/02_Terror-(Hanns-Martin-Sch.jpg http://kultur-online.net/files/zoom/02_Terror-(Hanns-Martin-... more serious: if you compare automatic white balance you have to have the same framing for all shots!

gberger 10y ago
This is a camera review, not a model photoshoot. This comment is unnecessary.
- anotheryou 10y ago
  I made a joke. (whether it is funny or necessary is another thing of course, I like humor and obviously I found it funny) Furthermore my comment was also about the shot with the chair, showing very different framing for the pixel cam.

dreamcompiler 10y ago

I wish I could use a smartphone camera for everything, but none of them offer depth-of-field control, which makes them unsuitable for portraits. Their tiny pinhole lenses make it practically impossible. One can fake bokeh in software, but it's not the same.

givinguflac 10y ago
Have you seen the bohek/depth of field images from the iPhone 7 plus on 10.1 beta? It's fantastic.
nilkn 10y ago
The iPhone 7 Plus will offer depth-of-field soon after a software update. However, the effect is indeed largely achieved through software. Despite that, the results can be pretty astounding. Some examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55npvs/so_impressed_by_the_7_plus_camera/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55npvs/so_impressed_... https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55rxnx/iphone_7_plus_photographer_at_a_wedding_its/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/55rxnx/iphone_7_plus...
- dreamcompiler 10y ago
  Very impressive. I had no idea the software had gotten this good. Thanks for the links.

hack_mmmm 10y ago

This is awesome

oDot 10y ago

I sure hope all androids will be able to utilize the Camera app new gyro video stabilization feature

balls187 10y ago

As a hobbiest photographer, this measurebating/pixel peeping is very reminiscent of the MP wars in Digital Cameras and dSLRs. Photos from mobile phones will be most often viewed on a service (FB, Instagram, Whatsapp) which will almost always do some sort of resizing and recompression which would render that +/- 5 spread between all the top cell phones meaningless.

mrtron 10y ago
This doesn't decrease the value of the better camera. What if I print some of my photos later? What if I zoom in and then send that section on whatsapp?
waldir 10y ago
To counter your point, consider the fact that 4K video looks better when downsampled to 1080p than video captured directly in 1080p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIf9h2Gkm_U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIf9h2Gkm_U -- the mechanism is different for other cases (social media sharing of images, for example), but the principle is the same.

abledon 10y ago

Still has an AMOLED screen and not an IPS, dang.

bg0 10y ago

If the Pixel came out with the dual camera like the iPhone Plus and was cheaper I would seriously consider switching

Zhenya 10y ago
Why is not having dual camera a deal breaker for you?

mgleason_3 10y ago

Take a picture of a sunset. So far none of the cell phones even come close to looking like the real thing. Reds look yellow... My wife's SLR does a good job of capturing it, but not our cells phones.

scraft 10y ago

A lot of the comments on the linked site, are disappointed (shall we say) at lack of night photographs, as they believe it is the low light conditions that the new iPhones are really quite impressive (so claiming the Pixel is #1 annoys them). For the record, I've never owned an iPhone, and am very interested in seeing how the Pixel works out, but I just thought I'd mention the comments in case anyone had missed them..!