Smartphone camera comparison: you choose the winner
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Photo 1 - Portrait | |||
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Photo 2 - Full-body shot | |||
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Photo 3 - Landscape | |||
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Photo 4 - Against the light | |||
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Photo 5 - Motion | |||
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Photo 6 - Macro | |||
- Which shoots the best pictures?
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20.39%
867 votes Device #1 -
22.86%
972 votes Device #2 -
45.56%
1937 votes Device #3 -
11.19%
476 votes Device #4
4252 votes
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From Photo 1 | From Photo 2 | From Photo 3 | From Photo 6 |
100% crops | |||
- Which has the best detail?
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18.86%
632 votes Device #1 -
29.93%
1003 votes Device #2 -
44.49%
1491 votes Device #3 -
6.71%
225 votes Device #4
3351 votes
UPDATE: Our Smartphone Camera Comparison is now over and we've revealed which the participating handsets are. First here ranks our Canon PowerShot SD870 IS point-and-shoot, followed by the Apple iPhone 4, HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S II.
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124 Comments
1. snowgator posted on 20 Jul 2011, 09:35 2 0
Very cool way to do this. My wife is big on the camera aspect of the smartphone. Very interested in the results.
2. mrvid posted on 20 Jul 2011, 09:38 1 0
My wife and I went to the zoo a few weeks ago, most people were using their cell phones to take pictures, not regular cameras anymore.
3. santaclaus posted on 20 Jul 2011, 09:51 1 2
sorry for any wrong comment, i think that
1. Digital camera
2. HTC Sensation
3. Nokia N8
4. Samsung Galaxy S II
17. bubba78 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:58 13 0
I would be SHOCKED if on of the 4 tested wasn't an iPhone.
66. remixfa posted on 21 Jul 2011, 09:33 0 0
im pretty sure #1 is an iphone, it doesnt have the widescreen like some of the others do.
82. emmarbee posted on 21 Jul 2011, 22:57 0 0
haa haa haa. @santaclaus. Do you really think phonearena missed out iphone in this shootout? Either the first one or second one iPhone.
3rd - definitely digi cam and 4th - SGS II
Sensation / iPhone in first and second position
100. TommyP (unregistered) posted on 23 Jul 2011, 09:55 0 0
I'm pretty sure when they said it was a smartphone shootout they wouldn't include a digital camera
101. TommyP (unregistered) posted on 23 Jul 2011, 09:58 0 0
nevermind..just saw the article sentence 1 is a point and shoot..sorry
4. santaclaus posted on 20 Jul 2011, 09:54 0 0
I am very particular in choosing in a good camera smartphone. So this test would probably help me to pick the cream de la cream amongst smartphones ^^...
Would be good to add in Sony Xperia Duo in some day in the test because it says that it has 12MP camera.
40. vishu9 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 14:41 1 0
its no doubt the winner's gonna be N8,...so u might as well pick it up now...that is if u can bear with Symbian...its nothing unbearable, but just that other OSs are more refined in user experience...otherwise I've been in love with my N8 and it's camera since day 1! :)
50. ChiX017 (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 17:34 0 0
No doubt N8 is d best but software......not so much
6. belon1986 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 09:55 0 0
1. IPHONE 4
2 Sony Ericson Xperia arc
3 Nokia N8
4. Samsung Galaxy S II
9. santaclaus posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:02 0 0
there is a camera tested too. not all are cameraphones.
11. chunk1x posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:10 1 0
iPhone 4 would stick out since it doesn't have the best lenses which results is softer detail, purple fringing and software that tends to be over saturated pics. Believe me iPhone 4 is above average camera performance but not as good as this four. I made a mistake No.1, is a point and shoot camera since the clarity is much better that it is only possible with over sized optical lenses.
45. 530gemini posted on 20 Jul 2011, 16:38 0 6
@chunk. Please read the title of the article. It says "smartphone". Now why did you say that camera number one is a point and shoot camera when this is about smartphones? Lol. Also, how much would you bet that the iphone4 is not one of the contenders here? Lol. I can't wait to see the results and slap it to your red face :)
I think this is between the N8, sgs, ip4, and xperia.
53. Slammer posted on 20 Jul 2011, 18:43 3 0
---"That's why below you'll find images shot on three high-end smartphones and a point-and-shoot camera"---
The above is from the author of this test.
John B.
57. chunk1x posted on 20 Jul 2011, 20:53 0 0
Read the article carefully.
108. kamen posted on 24 Jul 2011, 12:46 0 0
I also at first thought that No 1 is a digital camera. On the flowers picture it is seen that with 3 and 4 the background loses focus in pretty much the same way which means a close F-number value (=smartphone with most phones being around F3). 1 and 2 are confusing me, though - they seem to have similar higher F-numbers because of the loss of focus. On the close-ups No 1 seems to have more aggressive noise-suppression. And since most of the digicams does not have such aggressive algorithms (except Sony) I now start to think of No 2 as a digital camera.
Well, No 3 is my favourite too :)
26. Rooney (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 12:17 0 0
I agree with you the 3rd is N8 and 2nd is Arc. The Arc seem to widen the range while N8 have the natural look
65. KawaiiE (unregistered) posted on 21 Jul 2011, 05:18 0 0
Paragraph #2 : "That's why below you'll find images shot on three high-end smartphones and a point-and-shoot camera" . You just named four smartphones.
7. belcherman (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:01 0 0
Would be nice to include indoor shots, with and without flash. Outdoor shots are only half the story when comparing photo quality.
8. liqwidzero posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:01 5 0
#3 delivers the most natural images, while still keeping in the details and not over-contrasting the image as the first two do.
10. Guest (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:05 0 0
Please look at the zoomed images before voting.
46. 530gemini posted on 20 Jul 2011, 16:42 1 0
@guest. I agree. I voted for #3. But after I opened the photos, I'm torn between 2 and 3. It seems like 2 and 3 are sometimes better than the other.
13. cj100570 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:31 5 0
Obviously most commentators missed the point and are trying to figure which device too which pictures instead of picking out which picture looks best.
14. observer (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:37 4 3
I voted #2 for both. although Device #1 showed some nice pictures.
30. AhmadAlsayegh posted on 20 Jul 2011, 12:30 1 0
Device number 1 took too warm pictures for my taste,
Voted for device 3
15. jreed2560 (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 10:46 1 0
I like the test, but can we seperate each shot and vote on each "set" individually that would be a nice way to not just compare the overall quality of all the pictures, but also see which device takes the best shots in each category.
20. xenover posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:08 0 0
i noticed that too, though it doesn't have much detail
38. r2212xx posted on 20 Jul 2011, 13:56 1 0
Yeah.. The first one has better details. But the pictures look shadowy.
18. xenover posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:03 0 0
I'm guessing..
SGS II
iPhone 4
mytouch 4g slide ???
G2X/O2X
19. xenover posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:07 0 0
actually, scratch that
last one has to be a 5 mp camera
21. luis_lopez_351 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:16 1 1
1. Its ok
2.WTF is up with the colors? it looks like its shooting in a vintage setting.
3. Its a little better than number 1, looks sharper and colors look natural
4. looks washed out...must be from an HTC device lol
my guess:
1:SGS2
2.Iphone4
3.MT4G slide or N8
4. Could be anything...it could even be a boat. lol
123. ladyhaly posted on 30 Jul 2011, 18:16 0 0
I hope you know that you just embarrassed yourself, picking on HTC when you thought pictures taken by their latest flagship phone, the HTC Sensation, were taken by the Samsung Galaxy S II--- and the pictures you were so dearly insulting were taken by your beloved Samsung Galaxy S II. Meaning you just insulted the device you're biased towards, thereby making yourself look stupid.
Bottomline is that we should just respect the different companies who make these fabulous phones and to not insult something with arrogant confidence when you're not sure what it is.
Do not make the same mistake again.
22. jlbrazil posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:21 1 0
1- iPhone 4 ( over saturated colors )
2- Camera
3- Nokia N8 because on the macro shot it was alot clear ( due to 12 MP )
4- Galaxy S II ( On the Macro shot it had more detail than the first one ( iPhone 4 - 5 MP ) but it was less than the 12 of the N8 , so 8 MP )
31. AhmadAlsayegh posted on 20 Jul 2011, 12:34 0 0
I though macro shoots had nothing to do with the "MP", it is all about the lens
32. jlbrazil posted on 20 Jul 2011, 12:35 0 0
I know .. but in those pictures where they ""zoomed" in the Macro Shot , the one wich had more detail had a bigger quality in MP.
35. AhmadAlsayegh posted on 20 Jul 2011, 13:11 0 0
ah, thanks for clarifying
87. emmarbee posted on 21 Jul 2011, 23:11 0 1
Most probably N8 isn't in this race. If it is there, then pointnshoot camera isn't there.
1- arc / sensation / iphone 4
2- iphone 4 / arc / sensation
3 - digi cam (N8)
4 - sgs II
23. David Ferreira (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:24 1 0
I gave points to each set like in soccer/footbal: winner of the set: 3 points; loser of the set: 0 points; both photos in the middle (like a tie): 1 point. I divided in 6 sets of the major photos, then more 3 sets to the crops (Face, Building, Flower/Macro). So, for me the results were:
DEVICE 1 > 3+3+3+1+1+1+0+3+3+1 >> Total: 18 points;
DEVICE 2 > 1+1+1+0+0+1+0+0+0 >> Total: 4 points;
DEVICE 3 > 1+1+1+3+3+3+1+1+3 >> Total: 17 points;
DEVICE 4 > 0+0+0+1+1+1+1+1+1 >> Total: 6 points;
Now i'll wait to know, which devices were tested...
24. really? (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:25 0 0
Really? Even when it's been said multiple times that there is a point-and-shoot camera in the mix?
25. gregoryyy3 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 11:49 0 2
Iphone 4
mytouch 4g slide
Htc sensation
Evo 3d
27. Penny posted on 20 Jul 2011, 12:26 5 0
Hmm, so this was a bit mixed and difficult for me. Here are my observations:
1. This camera is over saturated, and appears to have a very aggressive noise suppression algorithm, which makes its photos lose detail.
2. This camera seems to have the most detail in the majority of the photos, but over saturation and just off colors tend to ignore details in dark areas. This camera probably has the least aggressive noise suppression, so more detail is visible but so is more noise.
3. This camera has the most natural colors across the board. I also think it has the best balance of noise suppression, neither washing away all the details nor allowing a lot of noise. It however doesn't seem to have the same level of detail as camera number 2, although it does get more details in the shadows. This one would be my pick for best overall.
4. This camera didn't really stand out to me. It has more natural colors than cameras 1 and 2, but not more than camera 3.
Conclusion: I'm confused between cameras 1 and 2, because in the first picture I thought camera 1 clearly had the best detail, but in subsequent photos and the cropped photos it did not appear that way. No matter how much detail, though, cameras 1 and 2 are too over saturated for me.
56. Thump3rDX17 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 19:08 0 0
we noticed a lot of the same things but i chose number 2 because i didn't mind it's saturation.
34. Rooney (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 12:57 0 0
One of the useful link with full res for reference:http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_se
nsation_vs_galaxy_sii_vs_optim As you can see, the Galaxy S II can get may of fine detail but the color is a bit light and cold. It could be stand at 4th place. The N8 has the natural look and fine detail also. It could be the 3rd one. The 2nd might be the Arc because they have vivid color although more noise(you can see in the 3rd crop) due to the high compression(1.3MB in average).us_2x-review-608p3.php.
86. emmarbee posted on 21 Jul 2011, 23:05 0 0
First this was my prediction. I guess I missed Arc in this race.
1 - May be HTC Sensation / iPhone
2 - May be iPhone / HTC Sensation
3 - Digital Camera
4 - SGS II
So now its
1 - May be Arc / iPhone
2 - May be iPhone / Arc
3 - Digital Camera
4 - SGS II
124. ladyhaly posted on 30 Jul 2011, 18:20 0 0
Your first guess was the correct one. There is no Arc in this race.
39. Thump3rDX17 posted on 20 Jul 2011, 14:23 0 0
i liked no. 2. 1 had the best close-up detail in crops 2 & 3 but i still voted for 2 because it had good enough detail considering how much better the pictures looked with the best contrast with the truest light conditions, i thought that about all of 2's. 3 & 4 looked too washed out but 3 did almost have my vote for best close up detail.
41. Man2006 (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 15:11 4 0
This article is very interesting, this allows you to investigate which has the best quality BEFORE a review makes you shape an opinion. Who agrees?
42. Vitaliy (unregistered) posted on 20 Jul 2011, 15:16 0 0
there is no nokia n8 in this comperison, nokia n8 doesn't use any software prossesing and the third contestor clearly has it.
1. iphone 4
2. sensation
3. galaxy s 2
4. Experia Arc
43. jlbrazil posted on 20 Jul 2011, 15:34 1 0
ONE of them is a point and shot camera .. why thats so difficult?
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