Google Pixel 3 & 3 XL price and full review leaks with iPhone XS Max camera shoot-out

06 October 2018
There are also some tiny bits about Google's Mini, Home Hub and Chromecast.

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  • Dr. Schmendrick
  • RcE
  • 08 Oct 2018

It's a notch above the rest.

- Dr. Schmendrick C. Lipschitz, M.D., Ph.D., Esq.

    • D
    • AnonD-731363
    • SH3
    • 08 Oct 2018

    So in the end its says dont buy there are a lot more better options for a much less price.

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      • AlexG
      • IDg
      • 08 Oct 2018

      AnonD-611364, 07 Oct 2018Well I didn't say that Google's smartphones are the best in... morePixel 2 has the best camera in the market.

      P20 pro doesn't even come close to Google's image software processing quality.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • JT5
        • 07 Oct 2018

        Shanti Dope, 07 Oct 2018Makes sense, but I'm still wondering how a DRAM could be us... moreDxomark evaluates 1080p30 only. But they are thinking of testing 4K and front cam in the future..

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • JT5
          • 07 Oct 2018

          Shanti Dope, 07 Oct 2018Makes sense, but I'm still wondering how a DRAM could be us... moreHigh end DSLR and Mirrorless have dedicated image processors. On Xperia the BIONZ is software but on their cameras BIONZ is hardware. The last generation is call BIONZ X.

          Some of Sony cameras like RX100 IV, Rx100 V, Rx100 Vi, A7 III, A7r III and A9 have DRAM inside their sensors.

          Bigger sensors can grab much more light that is turned into information. They can record much higher bitrate videos like 4K HDR 100 Mbps. But is too high quality that many have limited time to record.

          Panasonic GH5s and Sony 7S II seem to be the best for videography.
          I think weird the fact Apple does not provide 4K HDR 10 like SD845. Even A11 can handle 4k60, it would be easy to record HDR.

          I do not know why phones with same CPU have different bitrate recording. Most flagships record 4K30 between 40 - 48 Mbps. Huawei is below 30. But phones from Sony and HTC are always above 52 Mbps.

          Well, it is nice that LG offers controls for video, pretty useful in many ways. But weirdly G7 didn't come with EIS for 4K. Which makes 4K HDR 10 hard to use.


            Anonymous, 07 Oct 2018The 4K HYBRID LOG GAMMA has too much data. Beca use the g... moreMakes sense, but I'm still wondering how a DRAM could be used for color information from the sensor. Like, professional cameras don't really need this to capture the same video formats, do they?
            I understand that SD845's processing prowess is necessary for this feature, but that's about what I could think of as to why only the XZ2 and XZ3 devices could do this video recording style.

            And yes, XZ2 Premium is indeed a video recording beast. Sorry LG V40 ThinQ fans, but manual video controls just can't match the video quality of this phone. It's a great second best cinematography smartphone, so I'd be hard-pressed if this and the Premium receives low score on DxOMark's video ratings.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • JT5
              • 07 Oct 2018

              Shanti Dope, 07 Oct 2018Okay, thanks for such a wonderful information, but I still ... moreThe 4K HYBRID LOG GAMMA has too much data. Beca
              use the gamut is too high compared to SDR or even HDR 10.
              You capture in 10- bit color ( 1 billion colours). All the amount of data needs the DRAM inside the sensor ( in this case just the RGB). Also the power of SD845.

              Xz1 is not strong enough to do it. Only Samsung flagships 2018 with Snapdragon could do too, but is blocked to make it even with exynos.

              Sony records 4K HDR Hybrid Log Gamma 24fps.

              This makes Xz2 Premium the best for video recording. The ability to do 960fps@1080p, 4K HDR Rec2020 and 12800 ISO @1080p60.

                Anonymous, 06 Oct 2018You must have done a huge survey to gauge pretty much all o... moreYeah, but... Aren't people getting tired of the Pixel 3? We pretty much know everything about it. There are literally unboxings and reviews of the Pixel 3 XL on YouTube. What is there else to talk about? There's gonna be a boring keynote in 2 days and they will announce the Pixel 3 XL. Wow, big surprise... It's hard for people to get hyped about the Pixel 3 when we knew almost everything about it 3 months ago.

                  Anonymous, 07 Oct 2018The 4K HDR allowed by SD845 is 4K HDR 10. This is the m... moreOkay, thanks for such a wonderful information, but I still can't figure out as to how the DRAM would actually help to shoot in HDR10 HLG in Rec.2020 color space.
                  I mean, the DRAM was there to simply allow to store multiple sensor information before offloading it to the internal storage, which allows for more information to be captured in a short period of time, but nothing about color information or so.
                  Processing of colors is done by the ISP, which is why the Sony phones only go up to 24fps with this feature turned on (the ISP can only handle as much as this).

                  And right, Google needs some proper Manual Mode for better control of the hardware. But their dedication to reliability of Auto Mode might mean that they won't make this as a feature.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-611364
                    • TRK
                    • 07 Oct 2018

                    Curtisjr1, 07 Oct 2018huawei's still dominate wid p20 pro aaahaha Well I didn't say that Google's smartphones are the best in photography, I'm just interested to see how long can Google last with their single camera

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • JT5
                      • 07 Oct 2018

                      P20 Pro and upcoming Mate 20 Pro have the advantage of much bigger sensor.
                      The 1/1.7" has twice the area of 1/2.55" used by most flagships.
                      Also the night mode that goes up to 6 seconds shutter.

                      XZ2 Premium has monochrome and the image Signal Processor the merge color data and luminescence data. The monochrome absorbs 3x the amount of light compared to the RGB. It is like using a total of 4 color sensors simultaneously.

                      Pixel 3 can't do anything against these three after sunset. There is hardware limitation here. In many situations it will use ISO above 400, almost all phones already suffer at this point.

                      Huawei has raw option, Sony has the lightest noise reduction. Edition can get rid of noise while details will still be there. After the noise reduction works which kills lots of details, nothing much you can do.

                      Except for exposure and HDR , I doubt Pixel 3 will do better than these three phones..

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • JT5
                        • 07 Oct 2018

                        Shanti Dope, 07 Oct 2018Merging luminance and color data in real time is just one o... moreThe 4K HDR allowed by SD845 is 4K HDR 10.
                        This is the mode available on LG G7.
                        S9/S9+ and N9 do not have it because Exynos version can't do it.
                        Other phones like U12+, OP 6, Mi8, Nex, Find X do not have because the companies did not want to offer.

                        The Sony phones have 4K HDR Hybrid Log Gamma.
                        Rec 2020 can be used to.
                        This has much more data involved, only been achieved by having the DRAM inside the sensor and SD845, both together.

                        Dual cam of Premium is just for boosting low light skills, there is no function of additional contrast or something else. It won't activates in good lighting, only when it detects lower light.
                        You can force using the manual mode, but base ISO is 200.
                        It also does not work for Macro shots, nor 4K videos ( SDR /HDR)
                        Fusion does not happen if object is too close, less than 1m.
                        In these situations it only uses the main 19MP imx400.
                        Another downside of dual cam is limit of 17MP.
                        Probably hardware limitation.

                        I hope Google decides to offer manual mode, some situations you really need to take control over settings like shutter and ISO. Auto will never gives you 1 second for example.
                        Pixel is made to be the android version of iPhone, so I doubt they bring manual mode if Apple doesn't.

                          AnonD-611364, 07 Oct 2018Let's see how long can Google compete with the rest using a... morehuawei's still dominate wid p20 pro aaahaha

                            Anonymous, 07 Oct 2018HDR+ has weaknesses.. Stacking leads to motion blur. It... moreThe idea of HDR is to work only for still subjects and scenes.
                            It's already a guarantee that the sensor will natively have a wider dynamic range than most other cameras due to the 1.4um pixel size, but HDR+ can just improve things further if the time and situation is well in-control.
                            Yes, such featured Predictive Capture and AF Burst won't work with this, but it's a matter of give and take and choosing a priority for the desired shooting scenario.

                            But Google doesn't really do any of those Sony-style action features, and instead they just want to master the basics.
                            If they're going to put OIS, then it obviously means that the sensor won't be suited for fast-action scenes, so they can already forget about Predictive Capture or Autofocus Burst stuff.
                            Image stacking is a great way to reduce noise as well, since the detail that would be lost in the process won't be that much as to hurting the quality of the image.
                            Google has just set the noise reduction to a minimum, that's why the Pixel 2 has a lot more noise. And in photography standards, it's quite alright, and certainly better than a clean but muddy image.

                              Anonymous, 07 Oct 2018Only Premium has Aube. Just for merge color and luminescen... moreMerging luminance and color data in real time is just one of its strengths. It can still do more. Who knows, maybe this AUBE™ Fusion ISP is also capable of handling 4K@120fps recording.

                              I think only the power of SD845 is necessary for HDR video recording. DRAM isn't needed for the task. If anything, the Galaxy S9/S9+ and Note 9 all must be capable of performing this task as well. The sensor must be HDR-capable as well for this. Maybe Samsung's sensor is just 8-bit, that's why iy can't perform the same thing.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-611364
                                • TRK
                                • 07 Oct 2018

                                Geric.770, 07 Oct 2018Pixel series still stuck on single camera. Joke of the yea... moreLet's see how long can Google compete with the rest using a single camera, I'm kinda anticipated for that

                                  Pixel series still stuck on single camera.
                                  Joke of the year.

                                  But at least that excellent software will impress most stock lovers.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-772053
                                    • 7Xe
                                    • 07 Oct 2018

                                    Why they compared it with iPhone XS Max in low light? They should challenge the king (P20 Pro).

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • JT5
                                      • 07 Oct 2018

                                      Shanti Dope, 07 Oct 2018Great zoom can be achieved even without the need of a dedic... moreHDR+ has weaknesses..

                                      Stacking leads to motion blur. It cannot work fast enough for moving subject like children, pet or sports.
                                      Features like burst or Sony's Predictive Capture would be totally messy.

                                      Low light shots are noisier. Compare samples of Pixel 2 with P20 Pro and XZ2P. Both have less compared to Pixel even at higher ISO.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • JT5
                                        • 07 Oct 2018

                                        Shanti Dope, 06 Oct 2018Technically, the XZ2 and XZ3 devices are all capable of 108... moreOnly Premium has Aube. Just for merge color and luminescence data.
                                        Nothing more..

                                        The DRAM + SD 845 allows 4K Rec2020 ( LG G7 has 4k HDR 10)

                                        About 4k60 you are right, electronic Stabilization doesn't work for the mode. reason Sony doesn't offer the option.

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