Gadgetory

a great camera on a phone doesn't always translate into a great video camera and our pixel iPhone shootout proved to be the perfect example this entire video was shot using these two phones side-by-side on this makeshift rig both 1080p at 60 frames per second so let's find out which one paints a better picture of a day in the San Francisco Bay we'll start with the front-facing camera in theory the pixels 8 megapixel sensor should look sharper than the 7 megapixels on the iPhone but in reality the iPhone did a better job at balancing the exposure as the lighting changed back on the main camera both seem pretty stable despite the movement of the trolley but the iPhone is a little bit smoother both use different mechanisms to stabilize the iPhone uses a more traditional optical image stabilization while the pixel does electronic digital stabilization which uses the accelerometer and built-in gyroscope to keep the shot steady but the pixels still seems to be working out a few kinks in its mechanism and the movement in the next shot looks unnatural and jerky the iPhone though far from perfect seems slightly smoother despite some focus issues the same holds true for the running shot the movement on the iPhone seems more natural and consistent but it had some issues keeping focus on the dog which brings us to the next category and here's where the iPhone starts to show its weakness when relying on its autofocus the iPhone had a much harder time keeping the subject in focus even in direct sunlight at a much closer distance the pixel is able to capture more detail in the foreground and create a sharper outline on the subjects but with scenery you'll notice the complete opposite the iPhone is much sharper with richer colors and contrast while the pixel seems flat in comparison and blurs out details in the background that appears sharp on the iPhone unless you're backlit and in this case it's reversed despite an occasional lens flare the pixel expose a shot better against the Sun while the iPhone washed it out there's that lens flare again on the pixel but I'd still choose it over the iPhone in the slow motion clip both were shot at 240 frames per second 720p but the water droplets look crisper on the pixel with better color contrast overall and when it comes to zoom there's really no competition the dual then set up on the iPhone allows for a sharper 2 X optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom thereafter that still gets the subject in focus the pixel relies on digital zoom meaning it can't get as close and well the results speak for themselves but once the Sun started to set the pixel basically dropped out of the race the low-light of the clouds looks washed out while the iPhones look sharp and vibrant and this next shot of the Sun setting on the bridge looks pixelated on the pixel and the iPhones may be darker but much sharper with less noise same goes with the night shot sure the pixels may be brighter but there's so much noise around it it's barely usable the iPhones is dark but crisp so you can at least distinguish landmarks the pixel may have been our winner in our still photography test but it's a different story when it comes to video and here the iPhone 7 plus was consistently better than the pixel unless you're shooting subjects in which case the pixel does excel but overall the iPhone 7 takes this round