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Single-Lens Google Pixel 2 Camera Takes Top Spot From iPhone 8 Plus in DxO Labs Tests

downpour said:
In all the photos your average person is likely to take, the iPhone looks considerably better.

Better colour, contrast, exposure and detail.

Look at the carousel shot, most non-technical people would pick the middle one as the best.
If you follow the link, the photos of the girl on the bridge, sitting in the restaurant, by the coloured lights and on the bench are all perceptually better on the iPhone.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me? Look at the carousel picture, the reds are far more vibrant in google pixel in comparison to the washed reds of the iPhone.

Regarding details, look at the paint labels in the top middle of the first photo. Google pixel's look sharper while the iPhone's look significantly blurred.

I just wish iPhone camera pictures had more vibrant colors and less noise.
 
MacBergin said:
hahaha DxO is so laughable. trying to make themselves seem like the experts when all it is, is just another person's opinion of what looks good. its so sad that you have a ratings scale that apparently has no ceiling...if you have no ceiling then how can anything be judged or compared. They are excite to see someone break that 100 barrier. Ridiculous.
Click to expand...
They are experts...


Our History
For well over a decade, the scientists and engineers at DxO have been advancing the way the world takes photographs. Headquartered in Paris and San Francisco, we also have offices in Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
 
jabingla2810 said:
Look at the detail around this lady’s head.

Neither identifies her hair or what should and shouldn’t be in focus perfectly, but I know which I prefer.
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The blur on the last picture looks slightly better but the overall detail, sharpness and color is FAR superior in the first picture.
 
rafark said:
Are you kidding me? Look at the carousel picture, the reds are far more vibrant in google pixel in comparison to the washed reds of the iPhone.

Regarding details, look at the paint labels in the top middle of the first photo. Google pixel's look sharper while the iPhone's look significantly blurred.

I just wish iPhone camera pictures had more vibrant colors and less noise.
Click to expand...


I don’t think I’d describe either of them as vibrant. The Pixel 2 looks more maroon than red to me in the carousel image.

Not that it matters, any and all images we see in comparison shots like this. Or indeed for a review of a single device have one inherent problem.
Not a single one of us knows how the subject looked on the day the image was taken.

Even if they were taken on the same day immediately after one another we still have no actual frame of reference as to how the subject looked in real life, other than possibly someone’s subjective opinion.

That’s why I always advise that someone try cameras out for themselves before buying them. There’s a lot you can’t tell from an image on the internet.
Of course that’s less of an issue with phones as we, I would hope at least, tend to buy them for more important reasons than the camera alone.
 
If i didn't have an iPhone I would try this phone. I really think the augmented camera where you point it at something and it gives information is pretty cool.
 
SirRahikkala said:
You are correct, unless apple makes some last minute changes to software how the photos come out. Honestly I don't think they will even they could. Everyone is buying the X out of stock anyway since 6, 6S, 7 and 8 are almost the same phone with little iterations and X is only one with new design.

If we look "only" DXOmark and photograph quality (without the video) then lead is:
  • Samsung Note8 (100)
  • Pixel2(99)
  • iPhone8+ (96)
  • iPhone8 (93)
  • Pixel (90)
  • HTC U11 (90)
Do note that Pixel2 XL, LG V30 is untested along the upcoming iPhoneX
Click to expand...

We can also conclude that the iPhone isn't that special anymore. Pixel2 does have amoled display as well. Also to consider that Apple developed their own A11 and that’s probably cheaper than buying from Qualcomm. The design is the same for the last 4 years... we can conclude the margins on these phones are way too high. I really hope iPhone 8 and plus won’t sell well. Apple needs a lesson to thread their loyal customers fair.
 
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rafark said:
Are you kidding me? Look at the carousel picture, the reds are far more vibrant in google pixel in comparison to the washed reds of the iPhone.

Regarding details, look at the paint labels in the top middle of the first photo. Google pixel's look sharper while the iPhone's look significantly blurred.

I just wish iPhone camera pictures had more vibrant colors and less noise.
Click to expand...

The trouble with judging these pictures is that it is too subjective. If you look at that same carousel picture, look closely at the carousel lights on the top left, around the whale. To my eyes the lights are very blurry on the pixel2 vs the iphone. The reds may be more vibrant, but they could be artificially more vibrant and not reflective of the true color unless you are there in person to appreciate the true color.
 
I don’t really go by DXO, they are false tests in a controlled environment I find.. not like the real world.
Will be interesting to see what the X does.

One thing I do not like are the silly prices all the makers ar now charging, I mean 999 for the X, 979 for the Note 8 and 900 for the 128 GB Pixel 2 XL, all pounds sterling....
 
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apolloa said:
I don’t really go by DXO, they are false tests in a controlled environment I find.. not like the real world.
Will be interesting to see what the X does.

One thing I do not like are the silly prices all the makers ar now charging, I mean 999for the X, 979 for the Note 8 and 900 for the 128 GB Pixel 2 XL, all pounds sterling....
Click to expand...
Whoever at DXO brilliantly decided to pay the right people to get their ratings as some sort of recognized standard by paying google or wooing google or whatever is underpaid.
 
SirRahikkala said:
You are correct, unless apple makes some last minute changes to software how the photos come out. Honestly I don't think they will even they could. Everyone is buying the X out of stock anyway since 6, 6S, 7 and 8 are almost the same phone with little iterations and X is only one with new design.

If we look "only" DXOmark and photograph quality (without the video) then lead is:
  • Samsung Note8 (100)
  • Pixel2(99)
  • iPhone8+ (96)
  • iPhone8 (93)
  • Pixel (90)
  • HTC U11 (90)
Do note that Pixel2 XL, LG V30 is untested along the upcoming iPhoneX
Click to expand...
The Pixel 2 XL will be the same as the Pixel 2 since Google decided that both phones should get the same feature sets. Also notice the Note 8 still bests even the Pixel 2 by one point, which actually makes the heading of this article completely inaccurate, not only did the iPhone not have the top spot, but the Pixel 2 still didn't take the top spot.

Granted with as good as these cameras are these days it is really just nitpicking and up to personal preference on the camera, but the point is this is poor writing that didn't bother to do fact checking first.
 
This is what I expected. While I like 2 Lenses. More doesn’t mean better in this case.
 
symphara said:
But this one is very good:

https://cdn.dxomark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ref1_Bokeh-Indoor_GooglePixel2-e1506967768712.jpg

And it's clearly better than the iPhone.

All computational bokeh methods have flukes and failures, including Apple's. I've seen trainwreck bokeh done by iPhones too. The algorithms they use can be thrown off by some minor detail.

You just re-take the shot, perhaps change the angle a little bit. On my phone (P9) sometimes I can fix it by changing the focus point and the aperture effect, sometimes I just retake the shot and it works fine the second time.

It ain't as good as a DSLR, but I'm impressed with what modern smartphones have achieved so quickly.
Click to expand...

The background blur in this example doesn't make much sense either from a photographic stand point. The blur is way too uniform with sense of depth completely missing. Looks like something my old Sony Xperia Z3 could have shot years ago.
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bladerunner2000 said:
People are obsessed with posting photos of every mundane daily activity on social media only to convince everyone they have a life instead of actually living their lives.
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Best reply ever ;)
 
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jabingla2810 said:
Portrait mode with a single lens looks like its much nicer and more accurate than the iPhone with its dual lens.

Good job Google.
Click to expand...

Really? Most of the shots I've seen so far look awful (in fact i haven't seen a portrait mode on any phone handle complex things like hair etc well.) I would have thought though if anyone can do it google can, they have some of the best imaging people in the world working for them now.
 
Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between Samsung, Google and Apple, really. They all can take great pictures.

Biggest difference between the flagships is the OS, not the camera. Each platform has its fans; until now most prefer iPhone. Maybe that will change this year or some future year and Samsung or Google will sell a couple hundred million phones instead of Apple doing so.
 
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Infiniverse48 said:
Not you or anyone specifically. Everyone as a whole.
Click to expand...
So, have you something to backup that 99% (I am gentle, I give you an order of magnitude from your statement) of the pictures taken by the population of people using cameras with a zoom are taken at max wide angle ?
 
apolloa said:
I don’t really go by DXO, they are false tests in a controlled environment I find.. not like the real world.
Click to expand...

bet you dont take car crash tests seriously, because they are executed in a controlled and standardised environment :D
 
cmwade77 said:
The Pixel 2 XL will be the same as the Pixel 2 since Google decided that both phones should get the same feature sets. Also notice the Note 8 still bests even the Pixel 2 by one point, which actually makes the heading of this article completely inaccurate, not only did the iPhone not have the top spot, but the Pixel 2 still didn't take the top spot.

Granted with as good as these cameras are these days it is really just nitpicking and up to personal preference on the camera, but the point is this is poor writing that didn't bother to do fact checking first.
Click to expand...

But to my knowledge, they are made by different company. Pixel 2 was made byHTC and the Pixel 2 XL by LG. There could be differences.
 
does anyone really care?
Are you really going to buy a thousand dollar phone based on whether one has 4 points greater than the other on a DXO chart? Is anyone that crazy?

The eco system and OS in general are going to have just as much bearing as the camera quality even if you are focussed on image quality. Because ultimately you have to do something with the images and process them or whatever.

Also, photography is subjective. Some people like Canon's colour science and some people prefer Nikon or Fuji, Others just want RAW etc.. When you get to a certain level its always about the eco-system (Canon lens system vs Nikon or Fuji) than it is about the camera.

So well done guys, you all make great photos! whats next???
 
0lf said:
So, have you something to backup that 99% (I am gentle, I give you an order of magnitude from your statement) of the pictures taken by the population of people using cameras with a zoom are taken at max wide angle ?
Click to expand...
We’re talking about iPhone. And I don’t have any data. I have logic. In the absence of data, intelligent people use logic, that’s what begins a hypothesis. Logic. Now, I don’t need to show with evidence that it is 99.9%, no, see it’s obvious. It takes next to no thinking to conclude this. The default sensor is the wide sensor, and virtually no one is zooming in when they take pictures and of those who do, only a fraction of their pictures are using that.
 
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