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

17 March 2023


Sort by:

  • 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.

        vrvly, 18 Mar 2023IR and ''UV'' cameras, on both doogee a... moreBigger sensor so you can pull in more light.

          DarlingYext, 18 Mar 2023I really hope you are joking with these models apart from t... moreIR and ''UV'' cameras, on both doogee and huawei are quite exciting aspect of photography.
          If having such cameras without any competition isn't worthy of giving them title the-best-phones-for-photography, I don't know what kind of camera tech is worthy, more Mp or bigger sensor? We see that everyday.

            Anonymous, 18 Mar 2023samsung can't even get their software on track for fa... moredigital zooms always bee sh#t, what's new pal?

            Use the 3 or 10x mark and you'll see, the captured images will be far better I assure you 😁

              Don't like how the foliage (And general nature then?) seems to be captured/rendered in daylight but night images are stellar and seems to offer good balance. I hope Samsung will catch up with BBK on this 😋

                Anonymous, 18 Mar 2023samsung can't even get their software on track for fa... moreDon't get me wrong, I don't personally like Samsung's software or even think that it's any good. I'm likely the biggest Samsung hater actually, that you would find on this site.

                However their camera software is good, except for that shady moon mode that wasn't necessary.

                As for the vivo X90 Pro+, I envy anyone that has that. I'm currently rocking the vivo X51, the first generation and I guess little brother to the X90 Pro+ and even this is crazy good in terms of camera, especially considering it only has a Snapdragon 765G in it.

                  vrvly, 18 Mar 2023The best of photography? What about x90pro+, S98pro, P50poc... moreI really hope you are joking with these models apart from the X90 Pro+. Don't get me wrong Huawei is awesome when it comes to photography, but.. P50 Pocket? Really?

                  S98 Pro tho, a Doogee? How?

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • mAW
                    • 18 Mar 2023

                    DarlingYext, 18 Mar 2023Sure, software is obviusly very important. Vivo and Xiaomi ... moresamsung can't even get their software on track for face unlock, is a joke compared to vivo and huawei. Not even the option to keep the screen ON while looking on it is done right and fails so many times is frustrating so don't talk to me about samsung's having the best software.
                    Their samsung pass stores passes in their cloud ( which they got hacked last year) instead of locally encrypted like huawei and vivo does.
                    As for the zoom, i'd choose my x90 pro+ for zoom any day compared to my wife's s23 ultra. Samsung's zoom looks good in good light and on their optical range, lower the light a bit and try taking a picture like 8-9x and samsung will become unusable which makes vivo much more versatile. I'm surprised how many reviewers fail to reveal how shit samsung's zoom is between its optical range and in lower light and only shows it in their ideal situations.

                      I should also mention that I used hi res + raw on vivo, since it captures more detail, its fast and got also raw with it.
                      Maybe it would be too much to compare against superwide or tele of some with low res - small size sensors...
                      BTW, Question: where is the ''Alpha''? They even got ultra priced pro photography flagship. If this ''the best'' does not include them,...

                        • N
                        • Neph
                        • 6jx
                        • 18 Mar 2023

                        walkman8, 18 Mar 2023After looking at every shot full screen on a big screen, I&... moreI totally agree with your observations. I have been using Galaxy S20 past three years since its release and I was pretty happy with its camera shots.

                        Now I was kinda forced to upgrade to vanilla S23 (although I was not convinced to be honest) and now I truly regret. After reading this review I see that S23 Ultra's shots suffer from the same problems you listed - loss of details, hell lot of noise (uncommon to Samsung, that's what I'm disappointed most), stupid artifficial oversharpening.

                        One thing that is not mentioned here are the videos. After the release, the video stabilization on my S23 was very, very good. Gimbal like, the difference with my old S20 was that huge I was shocked. But after the first security patch they ruined it as it now simply doens't work at all. There is literally no video stabilization after february security patch. Pathethic, really.

                        I'm impressed how good Xiaomi is and how far from Samsung it is. I hope Samsung improves the photos by software updates, because they are garbage now.

                          The best of photography? What about x90pro+, S98pro, P50pocket. (Unofficially, but available)
                          Brands upgrading just main sensor or afraid of removing IR/UV filters. Not really the best.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • nbM
                            • 18 Mar 2023

                            tomo100brt, 18 Mar 2023Where is XPERIA Pro-I? It has 1 inch sensor too.but only 90% of the 1-inch sensor are being used. the rest sits in the dark. moreover, it is just a totally overpriced piece of junk with terrible photo quality.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-731363
                              • SH3
                              • 18 Mar 2023

                              DarlingYext, 18 Mar 2023When it comes to global smartphone sales, after Apple and S... moreVery honest clear and clever answer,
                              Kudos to you my friend.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • SH3
                                • 18 Mar 2023

                                jayDAWG, 18 Mar 2023You wrote all that but your explanation sounds like it'... moreMan you funny.
                                Blackberry were too expensive and too costly and not available everywhere.
                                Main reason they lost is:
                                What caused BlackBerry's failure? BlackBerry lost out to Apple and Samsung for dominance of the smartphone market. Fundamentally, the company's mistakes were linked to an excessive focus on enterprise over consumer tastes and preferences, an OS that nobody was building apps for.

                                Nokia once a great brand just like Sony Erricsson ro Siemens had its times to shine the light and sow its fruits every year but with comming new techs new OS like Symbian and many else they were struggling to impress.
                                Nokia was hesitant to upgrade to Android because it believed Android was not the mobile industry's future, and customers would not migrate to it. Moreover, the company's management did not think of touch screen smartphones as a necessity, which proved a failure for Nokia.
                                So, where did Nokia go wrong? It failed in its organizational structure and interdepartmental communication. Insufficient coordination among departments often leads to a variety of operational issues. In Nokia's case, it led to many delays in the development of their OS.
                                According to the book major reasons for Nokia's decline include a pervasive bureaucracy leading to an inability to act, destructive internal competition and the failure to realize the importance of lifestyle products like the iPhone.

                                Several known reasons why brand klike Nokia failed.
                                But since Finnish company litterary divorced from Chinese HMD and Foxconn they again going to make something tottaly unique which either send them to he heawens amiong all cell phones and brand and will make them number one brand or they will struggle in hell like they did past 10-12 years since microsoft bought them.

                                  After looking at every shot full screen on a big screen, I'm shocked that s23u's main camera wasn't trashed harder.
                                  It's all fine if you don't zoom in. Once you do- omg, horror! Very little preserved detail, bunch of artefacts, noise. And that's in daylight scenario!
                                  Surprisingly, in other scenarios it's at least half-decent (ultrawide is definitely its forte).
                                  I am sure that's due to Samsung's terrible processing algorithm and GCam might save the day, but why should I do the additional work? That was Samsung's job!

                                  Never in a million years would I have predicted that Xiaomi (13 Pro) is the one making the best shots, hands down. So much preserved detail, no artefacts, barely any noise, natural colors. Daylight especially, then night time, portrait, while in other scenarios it's at least 2nd. Amazing!
                                  Vivo isn't that bad either, they should cool it down with color reproduction, but that's why Zeiss Natural is there, I suppose. Ultrawide is bad, such a shame we cannot get the x90 pro plus here.

                                  All in all, I think Samsung has nothing to do here. It's among the worst performers in flagship category, with only Apple as being worse.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-731363
                                    • SH3
                                    • 18 Mar 2023

                                    Super, 18 Mar 2023Tesla has been around, and is more widely known for it'... moreWell thats seems correct but does not solve fact the best advertising is ordinary people no need to spend 4 billions on TV ads ,Billboard ads or famous Movie, Cinema and Theathre stars.
                                    If one is happy with particular device its obvious it will tell family and friends and do the promo for said company and if its not that happy then even a family and friend will give away hands from that brand.

                                      jayDAWG, 18 Mar 2023Nokia and blackberry once sold everywhere, huge budget, hug... moreWhen it comes to global smartphone sales, after Apple and Samsung, the next one is Xiaomi followed very closely by Oppo and vivo, which is impressive considering vivo and Oppo are hardly available anywhere.

                                      As for what happened to Nokia and Blackberry, well they simply failed to adapt. For Nokia it was Windows phone that destroyed the company, and for Blackberry it was the fact that they were too late to go from Blackberry os to Android.

                                      I know you didn't mention them, but Sony is also a very old competitor. And so WAS LG, they don't/didn't really market their devices at all, that's part of why Sony's sales are low and LG just simply left.

                                        jayDAWG, 18 Mar 2023Your comment is the reason why people should always read th... moreSure, software is obviusly very important. Vivo and Xiaomi both have very capable software, not on the level of Samsung, but it's not like they are years behind and their hardware this time was just simply better. However even I think that for zooming the S23 Ultra is clearly the best of the 4, if we had the X90 Pro+ here, the story might be slightly differen, but from the reviews I have watched, the S23 Ultra still seems to be on top when it comes to zoom.

                                          8 of 13