Google Pixel 2 In Depth Camera Review - Truly a Generational Leap By Android Headlines - Android News & Tech News

Spoiler alerts the pixel two has the best overall smartphone camera of all time. When you use it, you just know it. Shots are clean and clear, take absolutely no effort at all and work a hundred percent of the time. This is a big difference from many other phones on the market that require quite a bit of tweaking to get things working, just how you want them, and thanks to an incredible synergy of hardware and software, Google has taken its pseudo magic, HDR+ algorithm to new heights, hey everybody, its Nick from Android headlines, and this is our review of the camera on the Google Pixel 2 and pixel 2 XL. So, let's check out the camera software. The layout is basic in every regard, and really a lot of this just needs to be changed.

Swiping left or right moves between photo and video mode, and in this case there's really no reason. Google should be designing. The software like this, a simple, dedicated camera, shutter and record button are fine and well oddly enough. Google already does this, although it has to switch between modes before either can be used dumb. The rest of the modes are found in the left hand, slide-out menu, which is confusing since the main modes are swiped between most of these other modes are as basic as the regular camera mode and offer no additional features, there's also no manual mode for the camera of any kind.

On the bright side, Google added a new focus and exposure lock this time around getting slightly more options than it had before. It's obvious the interface isn't that great here, although it does offer a simple point-and-shoot experience. Other basics like launch time and focus speed, are great. The camera launches from cold boot in just over a second and subsequent launches are literally instant. Google is obviously keeping the camera app in memory once booted up and boot times benefit greatly from this.

For the most part, focusing is also incredibly fast and verges on instant in the right light. Google is utilizing a new dual pixel camera sensor in both pixel twos and this dual pixel phase detection autofocus serves many purposes aside from giving incredibly fast focus times. It also allows the phone to sense depth in a way previous generation phones. Couldn't this gives Google the ability to utilize only one camera module for portrait modes with background blur something Google camera has had forever, but it didn't do it nearly as well portrait shots from this phone are absolutely mind-blowing. LY.

Amazing, I, don't think that's actually a word, but I really don't care, because, honestly portrait shots are just that good, bad lighting, good lighting, none of it man, everything that comes from this mode, either from the front or the rear camera is perfect and about the only complaint I can make. Is that it's very difficult to take portrait shots with more than one person at a time background. Blur is done gradually instead of harshly like previous generation phones and as a result, looks realistic as a proper lens would have this on. The front facing camera makes far more sense than the rear camera. But, what's great, is you don't have to sacrifice either of those here moving on to regular type shots? It's Google's HDR+ functionality that really steals the show here.

It's often hard for a smartphone to take in the range of colors and lighting conditions that make photos. Look truly realistic, and it's usually lack of dynamic range that makes most smartphone photos not look so great. HDR technology has improved significantly over the years, but none has been more important than Google's HDR+, which combines multiple exposure. Shots at a per pixel level and with the pixel ? Google is taking its first steps towards a wholly independent future with the inclusion of their first dedicated Hardware, Image Processor, specifically designed for use with HDR, plus the pixel visual core, as Google calls. It actually hasn't even been enabled yet funny enough, but we're still seeing the widest dynamic range ever from any smartphone and the results aren't even close.

Most of the time, HDR plus, is enabled all the time by default, and you actually need to go into advanced settings just to turn it off. Once Android 8.1 Ohio hits we'll be able to see what pixel visual core brings to the table, but for now HDR plus processing is the same as last year. Photos and video are taken any time you have the app open and pressing the shutter button essentially stopped the cycle and combines the last handful of shots into one glorious outcome. HDR plus processing is all then done in the background, without any kind of user facing context, unless you swipe over to the photo quickly enough. Google has been able to enhance this to the point where it doesn't just take photos, though it also automatically takes three-second bursts of video when it deems appropriate, or, of course, you can force this to be always on or off to your liking, who has also enhanced the gallery view from the camera app giving the full Google Photos experience without having to navigate to another app comparing photo quality to other flagships shows just how advanced, Google's back-end processing really is we rated both the Galaxy Note 8 and the LG v 30s cameras very highly for different reasons, but let's take a look at how they stand up to the pixel twos camera.

These are just a few shots that exhibit the best of what Google can offer from its camera and how much it can differ from the competition. Most shots turned out like this, and there was almost never a situation with a pixel ? lost to any of the phones. We tested it against. Shots were dynamic range. Our most important are the ones where you'll find the biggest wow factor and lower lighting conditions generally display better colors, better brightness and more clarity than competitors.

There are so many situations where Google's HDR+ is able to pull out, not just better dynamic range in terms of shadow detail versus highlights, but also in the way we think of HDR on a TV or other display. Simply put. There are colors here that are not on other phones, pictures and the pixel twos photos end up looking more vibrant and colorful without looking over saturated or unrealistic. It's this wider color range that we're seeing from the pixel twos photos that really make them look better when compared to other phones, and a lot of this comes from the fact that photos are almost never overexposed or underexposed in any way. The only time we saw the pixel to suffer from under exposure was in situations that no one would ever be taking the photo in any way.

Darkroom is of either no direct light or no light at all, showed the Galaxy Note 8 did a better job of pulling light from unknown sources, and the pixel 2 ended up crushing black levels and sometimes looking unfocused. It's these situations that most folks had probably just use flash in if they're, even going to take a photo at all. Subsequently, anyone looking for manual, photography or video options needs to look elsewhere, there's literally nothing here outside an exposure slider and the exposure / autofocus lock, while the video mode features are bog-standard, the quality is simply unmatched. When it comes to stabilization. Last year, we only had electronic stabilization on the Google Pixel, which, in all honesty, looked easily as good as most hardware models at the time, but this year Google is combining hardware, oh is with software AIS, and the results are showstopping walking running jumping it doesn't matter.

This video looks like it was taken from a professional gimbals every time and that's 4k video to not just 1080p like most phones, it's insane how good it looks, and it doesn't even suffer from the usual stabilization jitters that we've seen from plenty of phones all in all, it's an experience like no other, but it's not all encompassing if you need a phone camera that just works all the time. Every time this is where you go. The crazy thing is that this was achieved on a sensor with 0.15 microns, smaller pixels, a significant reduction to say the least, but with an enhanced lens and processing you'd, never know the difference. If you need manual, controls, stickers, filters or other from the included software you'll just need to look elsewhere. Android 8.1 Oreo may bring about some big changes in this regard, but the best quality for now is achieved via the simplistic Google camera app and those results are nothing short of amazing. We hope you enjoyed that review and will subscribe to us for regularly updated content chat with us on your favorite social media network and don't forget to check out android headlines' comm for 24/7 tech news coverage thanks for watching and until next time.

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