200MP vs 1-inch - testing the best Android phones for photography

17 March 2023


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  • AnonD-1087127
  • 39y
  • 19 Mar 2023

Anonymous, 17 Mar 2023Yes please, more articles like this! Please, also include... moreYes exactly it is hard nowadays to compare and see the massive difference .. so all these comparisons are completely useless

    • A
    • Ai
    • xD$
    • 19 Mar 2023

    Can any of the issues mentioned above be fixed with software updates?

      None of this is in the interest of the end user, so Meh! Do you want quality photos? buy a real camera* a phone is just to be connected and the camera in case you want to take any photo one day, people don't even know how to use all the sensors... So you just want to point and shoot the image and no longer having to make adjustments as if you were going to record a series or something hahaha

        Tech Jesus Gattuso, 19 Mar 2023Huawei's last best afford was with p30 and mate40. Aft... moreWell, my point was trying new exotic technology, not the performance in favorite points.
        When shooting, there are some things you can tweak at least a bit, but there are some you won't be able to, like when shooting 720nm or 850nm.

          • C
          • Coco
          • J88
          • 19 Mar 2023

          Jagganatha11, 19 Mar 2023I ONLY rely on results from RAW files on my phone, jpegs pr... moreIf you rely only on RAW then defenitely u should pick up some compact aps-c, u would pay less and have multiple times better quality photos.

            Madmallu, 18 Mar 2023If the Vivo X90 Pro can beat the ultra flagships here .imag... morePro+ basically has better sensors, its processing is quite provocative tho, some people love it, some hate it. I think the Zeiss natural should be used more for photos so that I can actually get a grip on how a naturalistic the photos from the vivo phones can be. Also, their HDR is too strong for its own good. Their photos lack real contrast, everything's balanced and that's not cool. Contrast is what makes things pop. Would've been cool if they put the Pixel 7, would've really liked to see its results.

              Anonymous, 19 Mar 2023Came here to see some Xiaomi fanboys, wasn't disappoin... moreDafuq's wrong with you? I own 2 Samsung Ultras. 😃

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                • Anonymous
                • 8uS
                • 19 Mar 2023

                walkman8, 18 Mar 2023After looking at every shot full screen on a big screen, I&... moreCame here to see some Xiaomi fanboys, wasn't disappointed. Thanks for the good laugh! (PS: Sony phone owner here).

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                  • Anonymous
                  • PE3
                  • 19 Mar 2023

                  Using X80 Pro, and I'm not least surprised the X90 photography exceeds the rest esp. in potraits and night mode.

                  Unfortunely, the cream of the crop - X90 Pro Plus is not available in the Global market which translates to you using the China ROM (Origin OS) which does not integrate well with Google system if you are using the X90 Pro Plus.

                  Come on Vivo... make the X90 Pro Plus available to the Global market as well.

                    • K
                    • KOT
                    • MVQ
                    • 19 Mar 2023

                    It's not good test, it doesn't show what the best to offer have all of this cameras. For example 200 mpix photos looks absolutely amazing and this is proably best looking photos since Nokia 808 came out. Even 1 inch sensor phones can't achieve this quality. After downscale Samsung photos looks stunning in 50 megapixels. Second place is for VIVO, which has best 12 megapixel camera also fantastic 50 megapixel photos, but not good as Samsung - the real quality is about 25 megapixels.

                      if gsmarena could add full frame equvilents to the their specs page it would be so useful, +1 if you agree

                        Speaking as an iPhone user, after reading this article and watching this video:

                        https://youtu.be/56gEYFEfSjc

                        My personal hope is that for the next iPhone Apple follow down the larger sensor route as opposed to the higher megapixel one Samsung seem obsessed with.

                        It seems obvious that the law of diminishing returns is very much at play when increasing megapixel count alone, there does however appear to be tangible benefits to increasing the size of the light gathering surface of a sensor.

                        I know there are many other factors to be considered, but like I said if somebody were to ask me what is more important more megapixels or a bigger sensor, then I’m going with the latter.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • KSi
                          • 19 Mar 2023

                          Please release this in YouTube

                            vrvly, 18 Mar 2023IR and ''UV'' cameras, on both doogee a... moreHuawei's last best afford was with p30 and mate40. After that they're all about inconsistency. Their night photography, video aren't even mid range like today.

                              DarlingYext, 18 Mar 2023Bigger sensor so you can pull in more light. That's part true, the lens aperture also need to be bigger with respect to sensor.
                              For example, an 1" sensor with 23mm f1.9 lens intakes same amount of light as an 1.3" sensor with 24mm f1.5 lens. In both case, aperture would be ~4.5mm.
                              But in case of S23 ultra and xiaomi 13 pro, S23 ultra has f1.7 aperture so yes xiaomi 13 pro can collect 25% more light than samsung.

                                IMO, the way they process the image is very important. I'm impressed with the Xiaomi 13 Pro use 1 inch sensor, but how they managed the image is not good as Samsung and Google.

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • KgZ
                                  • 19 Mar 2023

                                  "...the Xiaomi 12S Ultra takes impressive photos, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the most consistent shooter, the 13 Pro takes mature photos, and the Vivo X90 is the phone we'd pick to be our pocket camera any day of the week."

                                  Translation for the readers here who don't seem to get the 'hidden message' in gsmarena's reviewers' comments above:

                                  1. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra takes impressive photos but not as impressive as the Vivo X90 Pro.
                                  2. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is the most consistent in terms of churning out good photos but not as consistently good as in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
                                  3. The Xiaomi 13 Pro takes mature photos that have matured above mediocre image quality.
                                  4. The Vivo X90 is the phone we'd pick to be our pocket camera any day of the week because it is simply above all the rest of the other competitors here in image quality.

                                  "In short, the winner is the Vivo X90 Pro by a large margin, followed by the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in second place, the Samsung S23 Ultra in third place, and finally, the Xiaomi 13 Pro in last place."

                                    • J
                                    • Jagganatha11
                                    • a0V
                                    • 19 Mar 2023

                                    I ONLY rely on results from RAW files on my phone, jpegs processed according to manufacturers taste disgust me. So for me at least, this is another NON-review. Besides it does not include good Huawei (P40 Pro P50 Pro etc) that matter to a lot of us on Earth!

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 70d
                                      • 19 Mar 2023

                                      Anonymous, 18 Mar 2023but only 90% of the 1-inch sensor are being used. the rest ... moreIsn't only about 60% used?

                                        I don't really like any of these cameras.

                                        Yes, the sensor size is going up but they neglect the basics such as variable aperture. A lens that is stopped down will not only have much more perceived sharpness due to increase of focal plane but will also be closer to the Nyquist frequency. It would also be ideal if they had a separate sensor just for night vision as it's a balance between letting lots of light in and perceived sharpness. Smaller sensors perform better in high light situations, same with lenses. The price for allowing lots of light in is an overall decrease in fine detail. The only reason why everybody is fine with it is because they know nothing different.

                                        And there is is no reason for these extreme megapixel counts either, outside of taking 8k video. Binning is not a substitute for physics. If any of these numbers were seen in the late 2000s early 2010s, they would have been laughed out of the room as they should be. I'm just waiting for Samsung to come out with a 1,000 megapixel (1gigapixel) camera with 0.1um pixels and act like it's the coming of God.

                                        Vivo is the best of these cameras however especially when you consider they have a color sensor. People rag on additional sensors such as macro, ToF, color sensor, but they need to be present to make sure the camera is well rounded and accurate when the need arises.