Best phones for selfies, Jan 2020

Daylight

Two years ago, it was a proper challenge to find a phone that recorded in 4K resolution with its selfie camera, with a lone Nokia 8 boasting the feature and the Galaxy S8 coming in half-way at 1440p. Now 4K-capable selfie cams are more common, though it's still not a ubiquitous feature.

In our 6-phone roster, three devices are capped at 1080p for their selfie video (Pixel, Mate and OP7P), two have dedicated 4K-enabled selfie cams (Galaxy and iPhone), and then there's the Zenfone 6 that does its flippy thing. So as you can see, getting a company's flagship phone doesn't guarantee you all the flagship features.

Mind you, the OP 7T Pro doesn't have 4K on the front either, so it's not like we're complaining about something OP's fixed with the latest model. And not getting 4K selfie video from the likes of the Pixel 4 XL and Mate 30 Pro is particularly annoying, though not at all surprising in Google's case - the company's 'you don't need that' stance on the missing 4K60 from the 4's rear cam is pretty telling.

So, quite conveniently, we have two groups of three phones each that can either record at up to 1080p or 2160p. The iPhone takes the 4K one step further, by offering 4K60 on its front-facing cam as well, but come on - you don't need that.

Here are the screengrabs from our outdoor test sequence that goes through different lighting conditions, starting with a relatively balanced shot with the subject in the shade. Here we see the Note has biased the exposure towards a well-exposed subject, which we do like even if it's at the expense of some blown highlights in the back. The iPhone and the Zenfone aren't as keen to brighten up the frame on account of a person being in there though they still manage to achieve a reasonably well-exposed face.

Already evident is the fact that the iPhone's field of view is the widest, which helps you frame yourself in the shot more easily at arm's length - most other phones require you to stretch out a bit to fit an entire mug in landscape orientation. Another peculiarity we're seeing is the Zenfone's inherent ability to blur the background more than any other phone thanks to having the biggest sensor in the bunch.

On the flipside, the Asus entry has the tightest framing of this group - you can't have it all. Then again, it does have an extra ultra wide-angle camera if that's the look you're going for, though it's inferior in most respects. In any case, the Zenfone generally offers the most detailed image, closely followed by the iPhone and then the Note's relatively softer output.

Position 1: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6

Moving on to the 1080p contestants, we're immediately seeing the inevitable drop in detail. The OnePlus is the softest of these, though it does have some impressive dynamic range, which is nice. The mate isn't particularly sharp either, and it also does the worst job of exposing the person's face. The Pixel has exposed alright and has a decent amount of detail, but that detail has a particularly unpleasant and grainy structure.

Position 1: Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Walking into the sun, the phones adjust exposure accordingly, and all our participants do a great job at it, save for the Pixel, which leaves the face blown out. The Mate is alright in the exposure department but has a yellowish tint to the skin tones, which we can't say we enjoy particularly.

Speaking of skin, the iPhone generally tends to add a bit of warmth of its own, as does the OP 7 Pro where you can also see an extra red tint. Meanwhile, the Note takes away some of the real-life redness. We'd say the Zenfone stayed the truest to life in the test scene.

Position 2: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

The light hitting from the side makes things more challenging as half the face is brightly lit, while the other one remains in the shadow. We'd say the iPhone and the OP handle it with the most poise, while the otherwise good Galaxy exhibits some weird color banding in the form of brown blotches in the shadowy areas under the subject's right eye - weird. The Pixel is bad as usual, while the Mate and the Zenfone could use a boost in the shadows.

Position 3: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

With the sun directly behind the subject, the phones are split into two groups. The Galaxy, Pixel and OP expose for the face, without much respect for the rest of the frame (generally the preferable approach, we think), while the iPhone, Zenfone, and Mate try for a more balanced rendition, with the Mate, in particular, salvaging the most of the highlights.

Most of the phones suffer from flare to one extent or another, but the rings in the OP and Mate's footage are particularly noticeable.

Position 4: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Then there's the matter of stabilization. The Note10+, iPhone 11 Pro Max, OnePlus 7 Pro, and Zenfone 6 do quite well to iron out shake when handholding the phones for recording, and we can't say one of them is notably better than the others. What we can say is that the Pixel 4 XL isn't as good, and our subject's steps can be seen more distinctly as video shake. As for the Mate 30 Pro... it's not doing a great job, no.

Low light

We created a setup in our work-in-progress soon-to-be video studio that we figured would be taxing on the phones' capabilities to capture photos and video in low light. We shot at two light levels, starting with the dimmer lighting that gave a 30lux reading in the middle of the subject's face and a little under 60lux to the right of it. We would then flip a switch to turn on an extra LED panel which made for a nice 300lux light level when measured on Will's face.

Once more examining the screengrabs first, we're seeing vastly different approaches here. The Galaxy Note10+ applies heavy noise reduction, obliterating the fine detail in the process. Meanwhile, the iPhone 11 Pro Max leaves a lot more noise in, but also finer detail. The Zenfone 6's footage remains relatively detailed, but it does struggle with the dynamic range more than the others. Speaking of dynamic range, the iPhone leads the way with a nicely exposed subject and well-contained highlights (though some may find its rendition too low in contrast), while the Galaxy is somewhere in the middle.

30lux: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6

Out of out 1080p contestants, we'd probably pick the OnePlus 7 Pro's rendition of this scene as it has the best detail and widest dynamic range. The Pixel continues its unimpressive selfie video run with a soft picture and blown highlights, though admittedly with a well-exposed face. The Mate's output is also among the softest, with Will's skin almost entirely smoothed out though detail is indeed present in the hair and eyebrows.

30lux: Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

At 300lux things change dramatically, as the phones now have plenty of light to work with. The Zenfone 6 captures excellent detail in these conditions, way out of reach of the iPhone and the Galaxy. Its dynamic range remains an issue though, and the exposure adjustment is the slowest of all phones here.

The iPhone takes a couple of moments to come up with just the right HDR processing, a procedure that manifests itself with visible (and quite annoying) changes in exposure, but it does ultimately settle. Once again, it's the least contrasty image in the bunch, and now that's not a compliment, plus in its attempts to bring up background shadows, it's made them quite noisy. The Galaxy's less HDR-y approach looks better here.

The Pixel's footage does, of course, benefit from the extra light, and the phone captures more detail. It pulls ahead of the OnePlus in these conditions, a narrow victory, mind you. The Mate remains our least favorite in no small part because of the poor rendition of the skin tones, an ongoing issue regardless of light.

300lux: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro