Just days ago, iPhone 8 Plus took the first place on the DxO list, and then it shared the throne with Samsung Galaxy Note 8. But, according to DxO, Google Pixel 2 leaves both these phones behind. With the impressive overall score of 98, this now seems to be the best smartphone for “phoneography” there is, at least judging from DxO’s tests.
The first Google Pixel phone was holding the record for a while before it got beaten by HTC U11, and then iPhone 8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8. While the Apple’s and Samsung’s latest phones share the same overall result, they differ in the categories of photo and video. Google Pixel 2 scored 99 in the photo category, which is only one point below Galaxy Note 8’s maximum 100. In the video category, Google Pixel 2 scored 96 and left both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy Note 8 far behind.
Unlike the twophones that were holding the record until just recently, Google Pixel 2 has a single camera. Still, it’s described as the “top-performing mobile device camera [DxO] has tested.”
When it comes to the photo performance, as you can guess, Google Pixel 2 showed impressive performance on DxO’s test. It preserves a high level of detail both in shadows and highlights, and it offers “excellent color rendering, and very impressive dynamic range.” AF performance is excellent as well. When it comes to preserving the details in tricky lighting situations, Google Pixel 2 beats HTC U11, which is one of the top performers. It also performs well in low light, and shows better results than the Galaxy Note 8 when used with flash.
DxO tests zoom and bokeh as well, and since Google Pixel 2 is a single-camera phone, these are created by software. As they write, this software does a good job on Zoom, Depth Effect, Portrait Mode, and Bokeh, but it still has some flaws. There’s a loss of detail with zoom at medium to long range, so much that the photo with zoom over 4x weren’t really usable. Bokeh is improved over the Pixel phone, but this is the category where the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy Note 8 perform better.
While there are some obvious flaws within the photo category, the Pixel 2 only has a few small ones when it comes to the video:
“Exposure is good in almost all lighting conditions, with quick transitions between lighting levels. Autofocus is very fast, smooth, and stable — including subject tracking. The Pixel 2 also does an excellent job at balancing detail preservation and noise reduction — among the best we’ve seen.”
There are more details of the test and on DxO’s website, so make sure to check them out. Also, head over to their page to see the test images and comparisons with other phones.
Although Google Pixel 2 is the current leader on DxO, it’s still slightly outperformed by the Galaxy Note 8 when it comes to photos (at least on the DxO’s tests). But, the video performance has a really impressive score, and I’m looking forward to seeing the hands-on reviews and see what it’s capable of.
[via DxO]
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