Gadgetory

one lens versus - it's time for the Google pixel - and the iPhone tend to go head-to-head to compare the cameras I took them to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco all photos were taken with Auto HDR turned on and video shot at 4k 30 frames a second both phones produce really nice photos in good lighting conditions but the pixels images are consistently sharper with more detailed colors on the iPhone can look more saturated and the automatic white balance is a bit warmer Google's hdr+ enhanced mode also makes photos look more vivid and appears to boost the dynamic range Apple popularized portrait mode with the iPhone 7 plus where the subject looks sharp compared to the background to get this effect the iPhone makes a depth map with the dual cameras and blurs out the background while the pixel relies on its single lens and machine learning to make the blur in daylight both phones do a good job of defining the subject and blurring behind but details generally look sharper on the pixel and the effect really makes the subject pop and yes in case you were wondering portrait mode also works on fish in low-light the iPhone had a hard time keeping portrait mode active and kept asking me to turn on the flash so I missed the effect on this photo the pixel had no complaints trying again the iPhone did manage to take the shot and produced a more flattering photo even if the exposure is a little darker than the pixels portrait mode is also on the front cameras neither phone does a great job with my hair but the iPhone has a smoother transition between the subject in the background and the warmer color temperature is also more flattering the pixel looks like a messy cutout the second lens on the iPhone gives 2 X optical zoom while the pixel relies on digital zoom to get you closer at a reduced magnification you can't see much difference between the two but as soon as you look at Sutra tower you can see the loss of detail for the pixels digital zoom at 2x compared to the optical zoom on the iPhone as for flash the pixels lights up this cage so much it washes out the color while the iPhones photo is much more true to what it actually look like which brings us to low-light photos in the aquarium at reduced magnifications they look pretty similar but on closer inspection the pixel just takes the edge on detail it's also slightly less noise but overall they're very close both phones can shoot 4k at 30 frames a second for the iPhone adds 60 frames a second at this resolution the low-light video the iPhone looks a lot cleaner and it has a better exposure overall on the video image highlights tend to blow out on the pixel and the shot looks noisy the pixel uses a combination of electronic and optical stabilization whereas both of the iPhones lenses are optically stabilized while the pixel does show some of the jello effect it's common with electronic stabilization it looks smooth especially if you're moving or doing a tracking shot the iPhone can look a bit jerky at 240 frames a second the pixels only recording in 720p while the iPhone is at a full 1080p resolution colors look more punchy on the iPhone while the pixel over exposes and loses some detail and sharpness on the leaves so which phone comes out on top the pixel excels at still images if you want the most detail and sharpness without extra processing but the iPhones got optical zoom a better selfie camera and overall video quality so which one did you like better the Google pixel - or the iPhone 10 make sure to leave a comment below and vote in our poll and hit me up on Twitter if you have any questions about the cameras on these two phones