Camera showdown: Nexus One vs. iPhone 3GS
Rumors cropped up last week that Apple had put down a big order for LED flashes, something useful for one thing, and one thing only: a digital camera. It doesn't take much to figure that the next iteration of the iPhone is likely to be packing one of these, since many of the latest cell phones--including HTC's recently released Nexus One, now have them included.
The Nexus One's 5-megapixel camera also has an LED-powered flash.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)That got me thinking: how does the Nexus One's 5-megapixel camera and its eye-searing flash stack up against the 3-megapixel flashless camera module of the now-aging iPhone 3GS? Is the ability to take bigger and better-lit photos worth touting as the end-all, be-all feature among smartphone cameras? The easiest way to figure that out is to run a few tests.
Full disclosure here: I'm not a camera-testing expert. I am an avid photographer with a handful of pro gear, as well as a few high school and college photography courses under my belt. I'm not even going to try to get into things like testing dynamic range, color sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, etc. So instead, I've set up the two cameras to take essentially the same photo in various situations, to see how the two stack up.
All photos in this comparison were taken within the same minute of each other, while balanced from a leveled tripod to maintain the same height and distance. Images were then transferred directly from the devices for analysis. All comparison shots are presented side by size, at full quality, without any recompression or conversion. Any timings were done with a stopwatch.
Basic lens specifications
(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Apple iPhone 3GS
- 3-megapixel camera (resolution: 2048x1536 pixels)
- autofocus (can also be set by touching the screen to select focal point)
- aperture: f2.8
- focal length: 3.85mm (37mm equivalent)
HTC Nexus One
- 5-megapixel camera (resolution: 2592x1944 pixels)
- autofocus
- LED flash (optional)
- aperture: f2.8
- focal length: 4.31mm (35mm equivalent)
It's worth noting that Apple is a little more liberal with the camera metadata, something the Nexus One could gain in a future software update. Right now, any photos snapped on it come without things like ISO, exposure time, aperture, and the lens' fixed focal length. However, both come with embedded GPS metadata, which makes for easy geotagging. It's just surprising that Google would have location, but not some of the more rudimentary camera info, within its metadata.
Camera speed
Time to boot built-in camera app:
- iPhone 3GS: about 2.5 seconds
- Nexus One: About a second
Lag between pressing the button, getting the shot, then returning to on-screen preview for next shot:
- iPhone 3GS: A little less than 2 seconds
- Nexus One: A little less than 2 seconds
Macro focus
Macro photo testing was done with a tape measure and a shipping box.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)A camera's macro-focusing capabilities are no minor benchmark. This is how good your camera is at focusing as close to a subject as possible. This is most useful for taking shots of business cards, bar codes, and QR codes.
Between the two, the 3GS gives users a bit more control over what area they want to focus on, allowing users to simply touch the phone's screen to select the part of the photo they'd like in focus. The Nexus One, on the other hand, does the thinking for users, putting things into focus as it sees fit. In other words, users don't really know what the camera will focus on until after it takes the picture.
For our testing, we set a tape measure out across a table, and moved a labeled box closer and closer to the phone's camera, until it reached an optimal focus. For the iPhone, that length was 2.5 inches on the dot. A centimeter closer, and it lost a noticeable amount of sharpness. The Nexus One was able to pull in just a tad (and we do mean a tad) closer than the iPhone, coming in at 2.4 inches. To take it a step further, you can pull in both phones to about an inch of a subject and still have details such as text be legible. It's just not anywhere near as sharp as it is from 2.5 inches and beyond.
Both cameras' close-focusing capabilities are to be commended, but between the two, we'd happily put the 3GS out as the victor. Despite it's 0.1-inch disability, it lets you see what will be in focus before you take the shot. It also refocuses as you get closer or farther away from your subject, which the Nexus One does not.
Low-light sensitivity
Low-light performance is one of the big differentiators between these two cameras. Any camera nerd will likely scoff at the low-light capabilities of a camera phone and its tiny sensor, but in real-world use, this ends up being important. Having a camera you can use with less-than-ideal lighting can be incredibly valuable.
The first part of the low-light test has both cameras taking photos in a darkened room, with very little available lighting. And the second test compares the iPhone to the Nexus One in an even darker room, with the Nexus One's flash on.
Darkened room
The iPhone 3GS versus the Nexus One, from the same height and distance (in low light). Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Darker room
The iPhone versus the Nexus One in a very dark room. The third shot makes use of the Nexus One's flash. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Low-light noise
Pixel noise from the same shot, seen in its native resolution.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Worth noting is that the Nexus One had considerably less noisy phones than the iPhone in identical situations. Even with plenty of available light, the iPhone's photos still had a noticeable amount of grain, when viewed at 100 percent.
That said, the noise on the iPhone can be more pleasing. Take a look at the shot from the darkened room: there were fewer blue color aberrations within the grain, the kind you can really see when viewed on a large monitor or photo print. Such things can be removed in post-processing, but it's nice to start out with fewer.
Distortion
Both cameras exhibited very little distortion--at least not enough to ruin your photos, if you're taking shots of things like buildings. Straight lines stay straight, and subjects that appear in the corners of the frame do not look bent or stretched. This isn't very surprising, given that both lenses have fixed focal lengths and aren't very wide.
Focal length
The iPhone's focal length is 3.85mm, but because of the tiny sensor's crop factor, this ends up being equivalent to a 37mm lens. The Nexus One is noticeably wider, despite being rated at just 2mm less. Shots taken with it, from the same place as with an iPhone, show much more of the scene within the frame. Using the Nexus One is basically like taking a big step back, if you were to be using the iPhone. This can come in handy, if you're snapping pictures in a small room, or trying to get a tall building into your shot without having to change positions.
Other notes
• Both cameras make it easy to see what's in the frame with a large preview display. Between the two, the Nexus One's higher-resolution OLED screen presents a more vibrant image with noticeably deeper blacks. It also has a faster frame rate, leaving less on-screen blurring when you're framing your subject.
Android's camera app has a number of advanced settings the iPhone's stock camera does not offer.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)• The Nexus One's camera app comes with a number of advanced settings the iPhone's stock camera app does not. This includes the options to turn the flash on and off, to tweak the white balance, to apply a digital color filter, to pick the quality and size of the shot, to change the focus mode to infinity, and to turn geotagging on or off.
• The Nexus One's camera lens is protected by the back of the phone's case, which can be removed to access the battery, SIM card, and MicroSD slot. This could lead to a wealth of aftermarket camera add-ons, which, for the iPhone, have come in the form of cases.
• Photos taken on the Nexus One are automatically stored to the microSD memory card, meaning that you can retrieve your photos, even if the rest of the phone goes kaput.
Conclusions
Unfair comparisons aside (we are, after all, comparing newer technology to older), it's pretty clear that the Nexus One's camera is more capable than what's found in Apple's 3GS. Was this a surprise? No. But it is great to see how big of a gap there is between the hardware packed into a device unveiled in June of last year and the hardware we're getting in January of this year.
Even better, both of these cameras can be augmented with extra hardware goodies that can make photo taking in new directions (the Nexus One especially, as noted above). Software can help a phone's camera go far beyond its stock capabilities. This has already been proven true on both platforms, which have a myriad of camera apps, though Android developers continue to have the problem of an increasingly wider range of hardware they need to support.
The most surprising difference in the two cameras is the difference in the low-light performance. When you're shooting in a dark or darkened room, you're going to want a camera with a flash. Otherwise, you end up with a grainy, almost-unviewable shot. This was most apparent in our poster picture from the darker-room test above. Whereas the iPhone came out on top in picking up the poster with no flash (likely due to a higher baseline ISO), it got blown away, in terms of colors, sharpness, and noise, when the Nexus One got to break out its flash.
Of course, neither of these phone cameras is as desirable as a point-and-shoot or, even better, a real SLR with a big, light-sucking sensor in it. But in a pinch, I'd take the camera on the Nexus One over the iPhone's any day. Even without the flash.
Correction at 9:01 a.m. PST: The article incorrectly stated the megapixels for the iPhone 3GS camera. It offers 3 megapixels.
Update at 10:15 a.m. PST on 1/13/2010: Added focal length and aperture of the Nexus One's camera, as supplied by HTC.
Josh Lowensohn writes about Web start-ups, video games, multimedia tools, and the occasional robot. He joined CNET in 2006, and posts to the Web Crawler and Webware blogs. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh. 
"Tap where you want to focus. Camera automatically adjusts the exposure for the selected area of the image."
http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/#camera.taking-photos-and-recording-videos
"The Nexus One's camera app comes with a number of advanced settings the iPhone's stock camera app does not. This includes the options to turn the flash on and off, +++to tweak the white balance+++"
As mentioned on Apple's iphone site....and just about every review of the iphone 3gs.... you have fine control of the white balance and exposure. Not just on or off... but live feedback by tapping the picture in various places. Sorry if I am beating a dead horse.. but it was a pretty big omission.. especially considering the comment above.
if you compared it to Nokia nd SE phones the idfference would be even bigger !
but one thing going for the iphone camera are third party apps like pano ,picoli etc.
not to mention image editors like the photoshop.com app and others
Android has a few as well like Fx camera but nothing close to the iphone !
The low light noise, aberrations and contrast make the iPhone 3GS camera's photos far more difficult to work with.
We have a 3G/3GS mix in our house, and I've done many side-by-side tests between the two iPhone cameras... and most of the time I prefer the photos taken with the older 3G camera. I 'always' prefer the 3G over the 3GS in indoor/poorly lit situations.
So, this really isn't a matter of "older" technology. When they made the 3G and the 3GS they had the ability to put better cameras in the units, they just chose not to (for any number of reasons -- I'm sure to keep costs down, otherwise this blog post would be about the outrageous cost of the iPhone rather than the quality of the camera). :)
You can expect next iPhone release with Flash (there will be lot of marketing to promote Flash feature i guess and ofcourse comes with additional price tag) and wait another year for iPhone 5MP (with additional price tag)
Now if they would only add a camera to the iPod Touch...
(2) Seriously here, who here chooses a phone (a touch screen, smartphone, operating system) based on its camera capabilities?
I do. I don't have a camera - and so I'm waiting to switch to the smart phone bandwagon when I can kill two birds with one stone. So when the cameras in smart phones are 'more developed', I will be buying one.
Presumably people choose the smartphone based on lots of features, camera being one of them. Given that smartphones are encompassing more and more functions that people used to rely in other gadgets for, comparing the cameras, in detail, is useful and meaningful to many people.
No no no! Seriously, an $80 fuji on-sale tiny camera will *always* take pictures better than a fixed-lens multi-function device! Canon Elphs are ecellent and under $150 . . .
The only time a smell-phone camera should be used is after an accident to prevent the other driver's license from being lost . . .
You don't use a pocket knife to cut watermelon in your kitchen . . .
--- honestly, the day we got off of "phone/network reception, data speed and battery life" as purchase points was the day we lost our way . . .
Frankly I would like to wait until these 5MP camera phones take really excellent images, and until I they have pretty good 720p hd video. Which is pretty much inevitable, just a question of when. But only if we get real competition. iPhone vs Android vs other Androids is going to give us that. When iPhone is the only option, Apple can do lame things like upgrade from the 3G to the 3GS but leave the same lame camera with no flash. But if people continue to say, hey, it's okay if the photos kind of suck, it's only a cell phone, then regardless we aint' gonna get there.
That's like saying, hey, it's okay if call quality is substandard, it's only a portable phone, not a land line. It's okay if the nav and gps systems are kind of slow and inaccurate, it's not a dedicated GPS unit. It's okay if the sound quality is a bit muddy, it's not a dedicated media player. It's okay if the display is tiny and lo resolution, it's not like it's a laptop . . . etc etc. I think it's pretty clear that if a cell phone bothers to do something, it should do it well.
somewhat of an ignorant comment, my friend. the megapixels are not the reason why the Nexus One takes better pictures. it has a better sensor and lens, obviously. the extra MP are nice if you're going to try to print or something...but really...the MP are the least important factor in cameras today.
Is the iPhone a press created hype?
Will the rest of the world get in the iPhone bandwagon?
I know i could not my fingers are do dirty all the time
cheers!
cheers!"
If about then I forget not.
bye!
Thats fine, just be sure not to a coke bottle.
-- Darkened room: the left photo is more legible; the midtones in the right photo are too dark.
-- Darker room (no flash): the left photo is at least barely legible; you can see something, whereas the right photo is all black. The far-right photo (with flash) had better tones, but a big chunk of the subject was wiped out by glare.
-- Low light noise: the left photo is more legible; its noise pattern is more visible, but it also has more visible midtone and shadow detail. You see less noise in the right photo, but you also see less of the subject.
Overall, it seemed pretty obvious to me that while both sets of photos were qualitatively lousy, the left-side set were at least usable as-is; all the right-side photos all would have needed post-shooting adjustment (making midtones lighter) just to see the subjects reasonably well.
So I was surprised to read that (1) the photos that were more legible and more useful had been made with the "old-technology" phone; and (2) that your conclusion was that the less-legible, less-useful photos were "better."
The best SLR, be it digital or film, is the one that can efficiently handle low light. Shooting low light allows finer control of natural tone. Flash, when improperly applied, washes out natural tone. The comparison above clearly shows which camera has better low light capability and more details. Yet, the higher pixel count and brightness are what most people prefer.
Most people just want to shoot something and quality does not matter. This is why most camera manufacturers tout higher pixel count as the measuring stick. The more pixel, the better, right? For these wannabe camera cell phones, the focus is now about having a flash. Oh well....
I just hope that Apple does not foolishly follow the trend by ruining low light capability and then introduce a blinding flash.
Darkened room - I see a washed out photo on left, maybe a little more detail in some areas, but look at the clock, walls, desk - better photo on the right
Darker room - phot on left is unusable, can't barely see a thing, true the one with no flash is also no good - but why wouldn't you use a flash, the last one is a bit wash out with flash back - but change angle a little would solve that - its digital, not film - take another picture
Low light noise - come on, the one on the left is terrible - period.
- Overall, camera on phones stink - but you have to admit the Nexus One camera at 5mp and with flash is better that iphone 3.2 no flash.
The iPhone photo may be brighter, but it also washes out information that cannot be retrieved. You cannot see the joint in the wood where the light is being reflected. Look at the clock; you can't even see that there are lines delineating the minutes. Look at the backside of the monitor; which one can you read the manufacturer's name?
In the Nexus One photo, the data is still there, even in the darkened areas, allowing one to selectively dodge and burn to bring out the details in the darker areas.
Anyone with Photoshop or similar processing software, could make the Nexus One photo usable, whereas nothing can be done to fix the iPhone photo to retrieve the lost data in washed out areas.
So you see, the Nexus One photo is far better.
All in all, if you were to attempt to print these pictures, the 3Gs are not usable compared to the GN1.
Disclosure: I do not have a smartphone, yet, and I'm waiting until Apple releases the next generation iPhone for me to decide on my (first) purchase. But I do use regularly a Fuji F31fd and a Nikon D80, all old generation of cameras but still good enough for the pictures that I need.
For the dark photo, I assume the iPhone bumps up the ISO because it knows this is all the available light its got. The N1 assumes you'll use the flash, so it doesn't make the adjustment. These are just my assumptions though. If the subject is moving in this light, then you'll never ever get anything usable from the iPhone.
Let's just put it this way, seriously speaking. If you ever get in a car accident, see a UFO, or Bigfoot, and you've got immediate access to both the iPhone and Nexus One, which one would you pick up? Exactly!
I hope the iPhone doesn't get a flash because that would be just a copy cat of all other phones out there. I've been told Apple is not in the copy cat business. It's the little things that make the iPhone so special, I guess they forgot this little thing.
Did smart phone technology advance so far in those seven months that the manufacturers can now include a flash, whereas before it was technologically impossible? No. It's just that the other manufacturers realized the importance of the flash to the camera function. Apple is late to the party because of a decision to not include a flash. Kudos to Apple, however, for letting the user chose the focal point--and shame on the other manufacturers for not following suit.
--mark d.
The article opens a discussion regarding the quality of photography on todays cell phones. If that doesn't interest you then why read it?.......No one made you.
- http://www.oetzitterd.nl/2010/camera-review-nexus-one-vs-g1/
The review is in Dutch but the G1 is on the left and the Nexus on the right
So, you're saying you did an apples-to-apples review, rather than a "what will get me the most hits" article? :)
Page is still loading :/
HTC has released how many smart phones since the 3GS came out? I lost count, but I know there's **** loads, and yet Apple only needs 1 model (with various memory sizes) to compete against all these other brands.
Ah, yet another innovation coming from Apple! Imagine an LED flash on a smartphone camera! already the rest of the industry is preparing to imitate Apple by already having built these devices into their production phones. Follow that leader!
I guess if I were a girl with a purse, I'd always have my camera on me and use it.
Nokia devices in particular take very good pictures. Apple was just trying to squeeze a few more dollars profit out of each phone. Now THEY are playing catch up. Apple has egg on it`s face with a device that fails as a phone (combination of Infineon chip/ATT) , and has a mediocre camera. No wonder most of the apps sold are games.
- by Chameleon81 January 12, 2010 12:16 PM PST
- iPhone's camera is not old technology . When iPhone 3Gs was launched other brands had phones with 8 megapixel camera with led flashes. My 3 years old Sony Ericson K800i has 3.2 camera which cost me 45 pounds as top-up phone. It is Apple's choice not to put a better camera.
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- by January 12, 2010 4:46 PM PST
- ... and that obscure little app called "iPod"...
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (79 Comments)I remember when first iPhone was launched Nokia had N95 with 5 megapixel camera and I was thinking myself who in the earth would buy iPhone :). Then I realized it wasn't just about the camera and pixels. It is all about usability plus INTERNET!