8 megapixel mega shootout: Picture this
- D
- AnonD-25
- iAB
- 11 Nov 2011
Hi, again, guys, and thanks for the feedback so far.
It seems a lot of the people that chose to voice their opinion in the review comments think that the we've incorrectly dubbed the iPhone 4S as the best cameraphone this time around and we've done that for all the wrong reasons.
Well, you are really free to choose your best camera based on any criteria that you deem important.
But in defense to our original work and efforts, I’ve gotta say we've evaluated dozens of photo and video samples from all these cameraphones; samples that were taken in the same time and place. The reason why some of the images turn out different is because the cameras of these phones render them differently.
And yes, it's true there are some discrepancies with the conclusions found in the individual phone reviews and that's unavoidable.
Individual reviews are written by individuals and their conclusions are based on their their own individual experience and expertise. In fact we are backtracking and we are updating all individual reviews as we speak, as the findings and scores in this shootout take prevalence. It is, indeed, our ULTIMATE 8MP SHOOTOUT.
This shootout has truly been a team effort, involving almost half of our reviewing staff in the evaluation process.
If there is one single non-biased article published on this website, it’s this one. You are looking at scores set by professionals with years of cameraphone, and most importantly, photography expertise.
It's not about the most recent iPhone or the most recent Galaxy smartphone. It’s much more than this for us. We're way above favoring these short-lived products. And I say "short-lived" because we've seen all the iPhone and Galaxy generations come, shine brightly and then go only to be substituted by the next star in a year or so.
We are way above that, we've been in the business for ten years now. Imagine all the high-end phones you've personally owned. Well, we've reviewed them all and we've reviewed many more than that. And we'll keep it on. We couldn't care less which is the iPhone of the day if it didn't put something substantial to the table.
And this time, at least in the camera department, Apple have outdone themselves. Taking the limitations of today's miniscule camera technology, making all the right compromises and trade-off's and finally delivering a product that has the most balanced feature set and performance.
All manufacturers make these kind of compromises - whether it is details vs. noise suppression or high-iso vs. low shutter speeds, or warmish yellow cast vs. a bluish tint. These decisions are made automatically for you when you shoot with your cameraphohne and it just so happens that we, as seasoned professionals, tend to like the best what Apple has called. We are not running some sort of an Apple cult here, nor is it about Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson or any other brand. We are all about THE PRODUCTS.
And we these scores we have here, we are not trying to be deceitful or to secretly market some product, we are just being honest. And if honesty is something you can't take so well, then you are free to bash and troll in the comments.
As you see, we don't even delete these sort of comments, because, unlike you, we value your opinion.
-chavis, the GSMArena team
- L
- LaW
- v64
- 11 Nov 2011
LOL put the N8 here and it will rip on all of em, the next n8 sucessor will lead again, no one especially the "fasion fruit" iphone 4s will take nokia's place as camera leaders. I am suprised how a 10in recording in 1080p is only around 150MB more than a 720p video in the galaxy s2 mobile.
- ?
- Anonymous
- wHR
- 11 Nov 2011
galaxy s2 is better than iphone 4s.gsmarena is more towards to apple.
if you dont believe,buy both ip4s and gs2 and compare it yourself.ip4s pic quality is good but still,gs2 is better.plus gs2 is older than ip4s.
- ?
- Anonymous
- PRW
- 11 Nov 2011
Gosh, these SE fanboy just meh. They always bark that iP4S cam is the best because from Sony, how that their average plastic Arc's camera is the best in milky way, beating N8. They even make a story bout how Canon and Nikon use Sony's sensor buy I just couldn't help to laught when I see that Sony is lagging behind Canon&Nikon in image quality.
- ?
- Anonymous
- U@k
- 11 Nov 2011
Anonymous, 11 Nov 2011can't believe 8 months old phone(GS2) is one of the best ca... moreIt is even more difficult to believe that Nokia N8 is still THE BEST camera phone after 13 months.don't know what others are doing.maybe they have just given up!!
- ?
- Anonymous
- U@k
- 11 Nov 2011
AnonD-5197, 10 Nov 2011Sorry to make you sound illiterate, but this is an 8MP batt... moreWell you conveniently left out the 8mp part while claiming that sgs2 was the best camera phone for 8 months. And I am not sorry if you look or sound illiterate.that would be your fault entirely!
- S
- SGM
- ykn
- 11 Nov 2011
N8-12Mp, 11 Nov 2011I agree with most people here about comparison. First of al... moreEven if that's true (I think it was Sony, not SE) it doesn't matter - Apple can afford to pay more for a good camera, the Arc S is cheaper than the 4S so its camera can't be as expensive.
- J
- Jos
- yuX
- 11 Nov 2011
N8 has best camera at present, but its a 12 megapixel monster hence it wasn't included in this test, but its the best out there, sensor size is double whats in the other contenders, so not only has it got better detail by virtue of 12 megapixels but it gets more light too... well done to the iPhone 4S but it ain't the best (best 8MP maybe), and every comparative I've seen between the N8 and iPhone 4S also confirms N8 as IQ winner, though its close, but the xenon flash is also a trump card for the N8 LED flashes are useless when there is any movement but the Xenon flash is so fast it freezes movement...N8 is still king and its over a year old!!
- ?
- Anonymous
- YPb
- 11 Nov 2011
[deleted post]I would say that's incorrect. Nokia has been in this industry and topped the market quite a while. Im not even a fan bot Nokia, but it's a true that Nokia has million of fans.
but SE? billion of fans? that sounds odd to me.
far as i know, SE fanboys are mostly Sony fanboys who believe in Bravia tech which really doesn't exist but only in fanboys fantasy.
Just look at sales and market share of SE. That's pretty pathetic like their camera on their phones.
- D
- AnonD-5976
- 9xI
- 11 Nov 2011
It's funny how GSMArena are quick to ask us to comment on their reviews but they never answer our legitimate questions in the comments field . I'm not saying they should answer each and every question posted but there are those that could help us.
SUGGESTION to GSMArena: Next time please take an image of the same object in the same lighting conditions with each of the phones on your review and then put them up and let the people decide which one is THE BEST...same thing with the videos. Your comparisons and conclusions really leave a lot to be desired.
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- Anonymous
- YPb
- 11 Nov 2011
yeap, i see angry SE and Nokia fanboys who thought at least camera on their phones were the best on the market.
Well, in fact, they have never been there and never will be lol.
- J
- Jared
- PxF
- 11 Nov 2011
definitely an AppleArena.com . haha.
- ?
- Anonymous
- YPb
- 11 Nov 2011
can't believe 8 months old phone(GS2) is one of the best cameraphone.
what other manufacturers were doing last 8 months?
- ?
- Anonymous
- q8Q
- 11 Nov 2011
[deleted post]Yeah that's like in the review there was an area where the 4s did poorly and they didn't say anything about it when they were all to quick to do so on every other phone. Also the part where in camera summary I believe it said something about where the GS2 needs to improve, but it's where the GS2 did better then all others. Tell me that makes any sense. And Gsmarena didn't used to be such apple suck ups. I don't know what happened. And it's more then obvious that Apple purposefully waited al these extra months to try and get the edge of the GS2. I honestly would not be surprised if they were using and studying one to do so.
- T
- Terminator
- FU}
- 11 Nov 2011
AnonD-29706, 11 Nov 2011This is taken from GSMArena's Xperia Arc review: "T... moreActually, while reviewing the Arc S, GSMArena had said that xperia Arc S' camera quality was not equal to that of the original Arc.... May be this comparison would have been different if they have included Arc and not Arc S. Im puzzled to see why they chose Arc S knowing that it wasnt better of the two.... This indicates that the Arc should have been a threat to iphone 4s in terms of image quality if not in the features... Im sure it would have scored Rank 2 and that too not by a far margin of difference when compared to iphone 4s....
- N
- N8-12Mp
- q@x
- 11 Nov 2011
I agree with most people here about comparison. First of all it is not possible that Iphone has better camera then SE Xperia Arc. Reason is simple, SE R&D team develop the camera for iPhone 4s.
- H
- Hmm
- 0CY
- 11 Nov 2011
without a reference dslr camera this test is useless. Oh wait. i get it..you deleted the 4s photos and replaced them with the renamed dslr photos. Nice. Joke aside .. anyone can go to the photo comparison tool http://www.gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=3&idPhone1=3619&idPhone2=4212&idCamera3=30001 and compare xperia arc to i4s and a dsl and see that arc is a bit better than 4s.
- n
- nameless
- pdq
- 11 Nov 2011
I'm considering of getting myself N8.
I don't need much from the phone:
eMail,
call,
text,
GPS,
And GOOD camera.
And price tag is now really decent.
- ?
- Anonymous
- RND
- 11 Nov 2011
z, 11 Nov 2011i still think my D90 is the best. Hassleblad H4D-60 for me, and RED Scarlet for videos. cheers...