Demand for the $1,000+ iPhone X is so strong that a friend went down to his local AT&T store this morning and, without waiting in line, was able to purchase two. I asked him to take the same indoor photos with his old (iPhone 7 Plus) and new (iPhone X) devices (outdoor images are easy for almost any camera). The full-res files are available via Dropbox links:
The sequence of perspective selected is normal, wide, wide, normal. (What Apple calls “telephoto” is actually a “normal” perspective lens.) The EXIF data are still attached so you can verify the lens and camera with any desktop software (including clicking right and asking for Details in Microsoft Windows).
Readers: What differences do you observe in the test images? Has anyone seen any sensor size spec for the iPhone X? It is supposed to have a larger sensor than the 8, but smaller than the sensor on the biggest Sony and Samsung phones? (The WSJ said that low light images are better on the Google Pixel 2 XL, suggesting that the X does not have a large-by-market-standards sensor.) Who else got an iPhone X today? What’s the verdict?
Related:
- DxOMark, which rates the iPhone 8 Plus below the Huawei and Google Pixel 2 phones
- “The iPhone X Is the Beginning of the End for Apple” (Fortune)
The verdict is if iOS didn’t crash every time I snap a photo, maybe I could tell you about the photo quality.
Seems like the sample shots are focused in slightly different places, so some parts of each picture look sharper than the other. Taking test shots is pretty hard.
But there’s definitely not a huge difference between the cameras. For me, having stabilization on the “telephoto” lens was worth the cost of the X upgrade. We use it for video a lot, and the stabilized video looks way better.
I’m not sure which image chip is better, but if you look at the loose hairs on the girl’s forehead you can see that the X is smoother and less noisy but with many less hairs visible which indicates that the detail has been blurred away with more aggressive noise processing compared to the the 7 plus.
For small sensor cameras, thing gets interesting when the light levels go down.
My thinking is, if it wasn’t for FB, the camera quality in smart phones would not be a top item to judge a phone by.
I’d much rather have an iPhone X/8 or Samsung S8/7 with at least 48 hour battery life vs. high quality camera or video.
Car buyers think a lot about battery range when considering a car, but phone buyers don’t seem to be bothered about battery life? This is even when I have seen may phone users desperately looking for a place to charge their phone (as if their life will end once the phone dies on them).
George A: I agree that I’d like longer battery life, but most users seem to be OK with keeping the phone plugged in at home, the office, and in the car. The real pity is that no phones these days have replaceable batteries, apparently because Apple decided that people should buy new phones every two years. It’s much easier to carry around 1-2 replacement batteries than those clumsy power banks, which don’t even attach to the phone in reasonable ways.
As for picture quality, I’m very impressed with the Pixel (1), which for some applications works better than my SLR.
Battery enthusiasts: A longer battery life and high quality camera are compatible goals. If the phone is made slightly thicker to accommodate the larger battery that enables a larger lens and therefore a larger sensor. It is a mystery to me why the Android market hasn’t delivered at least an option for a thicker phone with better battery and camera.
Unfortunately, most phones try to be as slim as possible purely for aesthetic reasons but have non-replaceable batteries so you’re stuck with solutions that only work through the charging port.. I recently got what may have been one of the last phone models with a replaceable battery, the LG V20. Now with a large replacement battery (zerolemon brand), I no longer have “battery anxiety”.