iPhone XS Max Apple is embarassingly behind Google now in Phone photography

[DNichter]

how do you hold perfectly still for long periods without using a tripod? hmmm

btw google doesnt require you to hold it still, at all....

if you dont care either way then dont talk out of your ass about apps you've never even used

All I pointed out was that apps have been able to do this for years, which you now admit to, whether a tripod is needed or not. Me not caring about taking pictures at night is why I don’t use the apps, but they obviously do the same thing. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s nice you finally have the feature.

 

[dazz87]

There ya go, magic. App is NightCap Pro. Google is finally catching up to an app from 2013. It's a parlor trick, nothing amazing.

Parlor Trick? Here another one.......

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

I am not worried about what Google and Android are doing and how it compares to Apple. I am more interested in Apple continuing to make their ecosystem the best it can be with more features and seamless integration between products.

Most definitely!

 

[dazz87]

That may be true for you, but for me the camera is very important.

Well most here dont really value the camera.....Like I said the camera is only a year behind...so if you are looking for this then come back in 2019.......But lets talk about how great the Emojii are tho..... Apple emojii best among all phones.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Well, the talented guys at AppleInsider seem to think that the XS MAX has the better camera!

 

[dogslobber]

But Android therefore iOS.

 

[robotphood]

All I pointed out was that apps have been able to do this for years, which you now admit to, whether a tripod is needed or not. Me not caring about taking pictures at night is why I don’t use the apps, but they obviously do the same thing. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s nice you finally have the feature.

Having used nightcap, it’s not the same as google’s night sight, which isn’t just a long exposure. It is much more advanced than that. Nightcap photos don’t turn out nearly as well as what we’re already seeing from the leaked google software. And yes, photos come out a bit unnatural for a night shot, but it is clear that with computational photography they’ve pulled off something the hardware alone cannot. It’s not hard to imagine this feature being tweaked down the line to produce better and better looking low light shots. I am sure Apple is working on this as well and quite possibly it’ll be more refined by then. This should be exciting for anyone that wants advancements in smartphone photography, not just google/android fans.

PS. I think a better title for this thread would be how far ahead google is in LOW LIGHT photography. Half the people commenting seem like they haven’t even read the Verge article.

 

[DNichter]

Having used nightcap, it’s not the same as google’s night sight, which isn’t just a long exposure. It is much more advanced than that. Nightcap photos don’t turn out nearly as well as what we’re already seeing from the leaked google software. And yes, photos come out a bit unnatural for a night shot, but it is clear that with computational photography they’ve pulled off something the hardware alone cannot. It’s not hard to imagine this feature being tweaked down the line to produce better and better looking low light shots. I am sure Apple is working on this as well and quite possibly it’ll be more refined by then. This should be exciting for anyone that wants advancements in smartphone photography, not just google/android fans.

Makes sense. Yea I said that earlier in the thread. I am sure Google's implementation is better, just not necessarily groundbreaking to me.
[doublepost=1540575845][/doublepost]

Parlor Trick? Here another one.......

English?

 

[vrflyer]

what app on ios can basically turn night into day? i'll patiently wait for your comparison pics or your excuse.

Uhmmmmmm.... I dunno gee. Photoshop and it's free to use with many basic filters.

 

[redman042]

As a consumer, you should be thankful the competition is this intense instead of throwing stones. Google is doing amazing things with computational photography, and currently has Apple handily beat on low light algorithms. However, Apple is kicking Google's arse in other areas, most notably the quality of its OS and the integration with the hardware. Apple's silicon design group is making custom CPU, GPU, and AI processors and Google is doing nothing of the sort. Apple is well-positioned to implement a similar, perhaps much better, low-light algorithm as well. The future will hold amazing things from both companies.

 

[robotphood]

Uhmmmmmm.... I dunno gee. Photoshop and it's free to use with many basic filters.

I’m no photoshop expert but I don’t believe you can achieve these results (more detail, less noise) from the base photos.

As a consumer, you should be thankful the competition is this intense instead of throwing stones. Google is doing amazing things with computational photography, and currently has Apple handily beat on low light algorithms. However, Apple is kicking Google's arse in other areas, most notably the quality of its OS and the integration with the hardware. Apple's silicon design group is making custom CPU, GPU, and AI processors and Google is doing nothing of the sort. Apple is well-positioned to implement a similar, perhaps much better, low-light algorithm as well. The future will hold amazing things from both companies.

Fanboys from either side don’t seem to grasp this. We all are rewarded with better devices from this race.

 

[Caspavio]

I’m no photoshop expert but I don’t believe you can achieve these results (more detail, less noise) from the base photos.

no you cant.

Makes sense. Yea I said that earlier in the thread. I am sure Google's implementation is better, just not necessarily groundbreaking to me.

yeah, im not sure how it works exactly, but it is not something new. even in traditional camera, you increase the shutter time so that more light can enter, and you will get a brighter image. the problem with doing so is you need to hold the camera really still or your picture will appear blurry, hence you probably need a camera stand and a remote shutter release. if im not mistaken, what google and huawei did is probably to use AI to overcome this problem so much so that you can now shoot it in your hands

 

[robotphood]

no you cant.



yeah, im not sure how it works exactly, but it is not something new. even in traditional camera, you increase the shutter time so that more light can enter, and you will get a brighter image. the problem with doing so is you need to hold the camera really still or your picture will appear blurry, hence you probably need a camera stand and a remote shutter release. if im not mistaken, what google and huawei did is probably to use AI to overcome this problem so much so that you can now shoot it in your hands

“Google says that its machine learning detects what objects are in the frame, and the camera is smart enough to know what color they are supposed to have.”

 

[Seth Matthews]

I'm interested to know more.

No you're not. You are being condescending and you know it.

I recently bought an iPhone XS and was shocked at how heavy the phone is

Heavy? Are you kidding? It feels premium and solid. Heavy? it isn't a barbell. I think you are just used to how cheap the other phones feel.

bad iOS is

What does bad mean? Seriously, saying iOS is bad is laughable. It works extremely well and manages the phone on less memory than the phones you mentioned. I don't call that bad, I call that functional. Again, I think you are just used to the cheap mobile software in the phones you mentioned.

I spent some time setting it up to try and replicate the usability I was used to on Android but was thwarted every step of the way.

How were you thwarted? iOS setup is very simple. I am sensing a pattern here...you are used to cheap phones and don't seem to be very adept at the simplest of tasks. There is a problem here for you and it isn't the phone.

I soon realised I'd have to do everything Apple's way or no way.

This tells me all I need to know about your "interest."

I took the iPhone back for a refund.

Were you thwarted every step of the way of the return?

I accept that the A12 SoC is faster than the Snapdragon 845 in the Pixel 3

This is the first sensible thing that you have said.

but, as with cars, top speed is not always a useful measure of a good car.

You are right, that is why Apple blows Android away, because not only is the iPhone faster, but it works seamlessly with my AirPods, MacBook, iMac, AppleTV, HomePod, and Apple Watch.

'Blows Android away' intrigues me.

No it doesn't. Troll.

You mention integration. With what? I have a Mac and can run Messages and WhatsApp on my desktop. Chromecast works beautifully. I'm not sure what further integration I'm missing with Android?

AirPods, MacBook, iMac, AppleTV, HomePod, and Apple Watch. WhatsApp? LOL, okay. You know exactly what you are missing and your post shows it. You don't want to know anything, nor are you intrigued. You are butthurt by my comments, so you composed a lengthy condescending post. Okay, you matter. Do you feel validated now?

 

[DNichter]

no you cant.



yeah, im not sure how it works exactly, but it is not something new. even in traditional camera, you increase the shutter time so that more light can enter, and you will get a brighter image. the problem with doing so is you need to hold the camera really still or your picture will appear blurry, hence you probably need a camera stand and a remote shutter release. if im not mistaken, what google and huawei did is probably to use AI to overcome this problem so much so that you can now shoot it in your hands

Yea I think as smartphone photography improves over time, a lot of the stuff that took a little extra work to accomplish is just going to be handled by AI. Pretty cool, but I worry how produced these photos will look. So far I am happy with Apple’s approach, but I don’t want it to become too much.

 

[QueenTyrone]

Having used nightcap, it’s not the same as google’s night sight, which isn’t just a long exposure. It is much more advanced than that. Nightcap photos don’t turn out nearly as well as what we’re already seeing from the leaked google software. And yes, photos come out a bit unnatural for a night shot, but it is clear that with computational photography they’ve pulled off something the hardware alone cannot. It’s not hard to imagine this feature being tweaked down the line to produce better and better looking low light shots. I am sure Apple is working on this as well and quite possibly it’ll be more refined by then. This should be exciting for anyone that wants advancements in smartphone photography, not just google/android fans.

PS. I think a better title for this thread would be how far ahead google is in LOW LIGHT photography. Half the people commenting seem like they haven’t even read the Verge article.

Everywhere explains that night shot is just an enhanced long-exposure shot nothing more

 

[Samut]

Has anyone mentioned long exposure mode in Lightroom Mobile? Looking at EXIF it takes series of photos using fast exposure and combines them together which I would suppose is a similar method that Google is using with Pixel3.

Long exposure mode can be enabled under technology preview menu in settings and I recommend that you guys test it if you are unhappy with the standard camera app.

 

[DaveOP]

You seem pretty entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. I try not to do that on any platform. Whoever it is they try and reel you in so you can't leave.

It is interesting here in the UK that even my friends who have iPhones also use WhatsApp. Some even switch off iMessage. Most of us will send a text using an SMS app but if we want to send a picture, or video we switch to WhatsApp. Many use WhatsApp for everything.

To be honest, when I had the iPhone XS I turned off continuity. I didn't want phone things coming through on my computer. You know if you use Windows and use the Microsoft Launcher on Android you get some good integration.

I like to stream music in FLAC from my NAS to my hifi system and I can easily do that using my phone and Chromecast Audio - when I tried AirPlay the quality was nowhere near as good.

The beauty of Android is that you can have your homescreen look however you want it. If you don't like widgets, don't use them. For me I like to switch my phone on and see my agenda for the next few days and my Alexa shopping list. I couldn't get either to appear correctly in the iOS widget screen. The calendar widget looked a mess and the Alexa shopping list widget (Todoist) gave me no option to show a particular list - just the todo list. I also tried a couple of other list apps which use the Amazon Echo List API, but had the same problem with them. I started to think 'maybe on an iPhone I'll have to get used to opening the app and navigating to my shopping list' but then realised I'd be going backwards in terms of the functionality I'm used to and thought 'hell no!'. When I've talked to other iOS users to find out what they do I found out that they don't, basically. I know of no other iPhone user who does some of the things I do and take for granted on my phone. In fact I have approached technically competent friends with iPhones and asked them to sell me iOS - and they always refuse.

At the end of the day it's all about choice and that's what I really don't like about iOS. You have very little. Others prefer to use something which requires little effort to set up and are happy with the Apple paradigm. Horses for courses.

I am pretty entrenched, but that's in part because I work in Enterprise iOS app deployment and management.

That said, I get that you guys use WhatsApp in the UK and Europe/Asia in general, but it's just not a thing here. My entire family, friends group, and co-workers all use iOS, so there is no reason to not take advantage of iMessage. Everything you're mentioning you like to do on your home screen can be accomplished on my Apple Watch, which is the perfect companion for me and a device I always have with me. Now that I have cellular on it, I find my phone staying at home quite often too, and it's been a really wonderful break. I use my Homepod stereo pair for music, I dont need to stream FLAC from a NAS to a big complicated system, it works well enough for me.

To each how own, I don't mean to criticize your choices. I just want to explain how others can feel differently.

 

[Shanghaichica]

That may be true for you, but for me the camera is very important.

The camera is very important to me but not enough to make me switch to the pixel. The camera on my max is very good and there are other features on the iphone/ecosystem that are also important.

 

[mdlooker]

I am not worried about what Google and Android are doing and how it compares to Apple. I am more interested in Apple continuing to make their ecosystem the best it can be with more features and seamless integration between products.

The ecosystem is a tremendous consideration in purchasing products. I completely agree..one advantage of a competitor most likely won't tip me towards their way if it's isolated.

 

[The Game 161]

The camera is very important to me but not enough to make me switch to the pixel. The camera on my max is very good and there are other features on the iphone/ecosystem that are also important.

This is the thing the camera is great on the max. If the camera was all that mattered then surely people would buy a professional camera? the camera on the max and other flagships are great still even if the pixel 3 is better.

 

[MyMacintosh]

Isn’t the whole point of a camera to “capture a real life shot” ? If it’s dark and I take a photo, the photo should look like what my eyes are seeing.... darkness, is this not how it’s always been? I love what Google have done but I don’t want my night time pics to look like I took them in the day.

Adam.

This. Literally all of this. I don't see the hype over this night shot or w.e.
[doublepost=1540597455][/doublepost]

You seem pretty entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. I try not to do that on any platform. Whoever it is they try and reel you in so you can't leave.

This comment makes no sense. Why would you not want all your devices to work seamlessly? Having iOS here, android there, windowsOS there would be a massive headache. Dont understand your argument....

 

[hasanahmad]

Pixel 3 night sight vs iPhone Max in darkness

 

[44267547]

This is the thing the camera is great on the max. If the camera was all that mattered then surely people would buy a professional camera? the camera on the max and other flagships are great still even if the pixel 3 is better.

No, they wouldn’t. How many do you know that want to generally care around a large DSLR camera with them wherever they go? Not many. The best camera you have, is the one you have on you, which is a smart phone that everyone carries daily. There are definitely occasions and situations for a DSLR camera, but we live in a world of convenience and simplicity, and the iPhone delivers that with the camera without having to carry a DSLR with an expensive price tag.

 

[JCCL]

Pixel is irrelevant since it can't send notifications to my Apple watch or link phone calls and msgs. to my Mac. MEH!

I’m sure most iPhone users don’t have apple watches or Macs. I know I don’t and most people are the same. So your comment is quite a bit irrelevant.