Is the camera any better?

[strikeIII]

I was nothing but a pixel user. I was ok with the hardware but always hoped for more. I was ok with the 4-5 hr sot with the 4xl because I'm always near a charger. I just got tired of all the bugs in thier software. There'd fix one thing and break something else. The assistant would never work when i needed it to. Thier camera software is amazing but video is trash. I'm not a big camera or vid guy so i didn't care. Since they're all about the software experience their software should be crisp 100% of the time with no issues. That's not the case so i just got tired. Their resale value is crap too. In October my wife got$350 for her old s8 from sammy and i got a cool $100 for my pixel 2 xl for the 4xl. Once sammy offered$600 for my 4xl i couldn't resist. Yes the ultra camera software needs work but this phone is great and I'm glad i switched. Hopefully google gets their act together and makes a real phone down the road. Then i may go back. No phone is perfect unfortunately. If Google could up their specs to meet sammy i think they could make the perfect phone though.

Software should be crisp 100% of the time with no issue? What world do you live in. Not even Apple or Microsoft can pull that off.
Hell, not even Samsungs own software.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Lol

I think you should have blanked out the last word on that screenshot. The N word is still very offensive to Black people around the world.

 

[Peter Scooze]

Software should be crisp 100% of the time with no issue? What world do you live in. Not even Apple or Microsoft can pull that off.
Hell, not even Samsungs own software.

Exactly my point. Dont make a phone with the main selling point the software then. Apple and Sammy have actual hardware to go with software. Obviously no software is 100%

 

[MoreDef]

Yeah, my Pixel 4xl is just hot garbage. 7 hours SOT with only adaptive battery and using it as is out of the box. The anti-pixel hardware argument is old and needs a rest. That aside if Samsung fixed the camera I'd have a hard time trying anything else for a year until the next Samsung models because I really dig their hardware.

No no no... Please don't misunderstand, I am a huge pixel fan. I basically turn whatever phone I get into a Google phone. It's just hard to get behind some of the hardware choices they make that seem very apple-ish in terms of a slow trickle of hardware upgrades versus the other manufacturers who throw in innovative things on a yearly basis. I'm actually in the market for a pixel phone to use strictly as camera while I let the Ultra do everything else. Any suggestions? I mean, newer it's understandably better,, but how far back in the line can I go while still getting great pictures? 3a? 2xl?

 

[Peter Scooze]

No no no... Please don't misunderstand, I am a huge pixel fan. I basically turn whatever phone I get into a Google phone. It's just hard to get behind some of the hardware choices they make that seem very apple-ish in terms of a slow trickle of hardware upgrades versus the other manufacturers who throw in innovative things on a yearly basis. I'm actually in the market for a pixel phone to use strictly as camera while I let the Ultra do everything else. Any suggestions? I mean, newer it's understandably better,, but how far back in the line can I go while still getting great pictures? 3a? 2xl?

Nah i get you. You're just frustrated with them like most of us. I just cant justify buying their products anymore. I would grab a 3a . Probably can get one for cheap.

 

[buzzy3970]

That's the thing. I don't believe google makes hardware choices as much as they design the software. It's like they pick the manufacturer tweak the design a little, but in the end it's basically a vanilla android heavily marketed by Google. Not to say that is a bad thing just my observation or opinion should I say.

No no no... Please don't misunderstand, I am a huge pixel fan. I basically turn whatever phone I get into a Google phone. It's just hard to get behind some of the hardware choices they make that seem very apple-ish in terms of a slow trickle of hardware upgrades versus the other manufacturers who throw in innovative things on a yearly basis. I'm actually in the market for a pixel phone to use strictly as camera while I let the Ultra do everything else. Any suggestions? I mean, newer it's understandably better,, but how far back in the line can I go while still getting great pictures? 3a? 2xl?

 

[MoreDef]

Nah i get you. You're just frustrated with them like most of us. I just cant justify buying there products anymore. I would grab a 3a . Probably can get one for cheap.

This is definitely going to be my last first-day purchase with Samsung =(.

3a, here I come..

 

[Peter Scooze]

I will say if Google designed the software for the ultra camera it would be game over.

 

[MoreDef]

Here are some examples of stock cam vs. Gcam

Check the difference is skin tone and texture, along with blurring if there is any motion. Terrible.

 

[MoreDef]

That's the thing. I don't believe google makes hardware choices as much as they design the software. It's like they pick the manufacturer tweak the design a little, but in the end it's basically a vanilla android heavily marketed by Google. Not to say that is a bad thing just my observation or opinion should I say.

Well, they chose the size of the battery, the amount of cameras, the inclusion (but lack of features) for soli, along with going 90hz. Those were all things they could have done so much more, but it felt like they were intentionally handicapping themselves to demonstrate how much more their software could do to keep up. Instead of keeping up, they should have been blowing people out of the water. If there as a Galaxy note with Google software, my head would explode and I'd have to invest in 4 years worth of the same style case and screen protectors instead of buying a new style for a new phone every year.

 

[strikeIII]

No no no... Please don't misunderstand, I am a huge pixel fan. I basically turn whatever phone I get into a Google phone. It's just hard to get behind some of the hardware choices they make that seem very apple-ish in terms of a slow trickle of hardware upgrades versus the other manufacturers who throw in innovative things on a yearly basis. I'm actually in the market for a pixel phone to use strictly as camera while I let the Ultra do everything else. Any suggestions? I mean, newer it's understandably better,, but how far back in the line can I go while still getting great pictures? 3a? 2xl?

There's some great deals out there for the Pixel 4. Might as well get the latest one. Especially since it has the nicest screen, with 90hz, Google has ever put on a Pixel.

 

[buzzy3970]

Yea you can literally get the pixel 4 for just a little more than the 3A. T-mobile was selling it for half instantly not too long ago.

There's some great deals out there for the Pixel 4. Might as well get the latest one. Especially since it has the nicest screen, with 90hz, Google has ever put on a Pixel.

 

[Mike Dee]

Here are some examples of stock cam vs. Gcam

Check the difference is skin tone and texture, along with blurring if there is any motion. Terrible.

I only see one set of photos

 

[MoreDef]

I only see one set of photos

I alternated. First one is stock, second is gcam, third is stock and last is gcam again. I know they're not the same photo taken twice, but at this point, I feel like I'm preaching to the pulpit.

 

[Borgie]

I alternated. First one is stock, second is gcam, third is stock and last is gcam again. I know they're not the same photo taken twice, but at this point, I feel like I'm preaching to the pulpit.

LOL do you mean preaching to the choir? I don't think preaching to the pulpit is a saying. At least I have never heard it.

 

[Emig5m]

I was just taking some close up pics with my S10 and S20 of phone cases and the ultra is very bad compared to my S10. The ultra didn't want to focus on close up objects where the S10 was instant and clear. Even focus locking the S20 ultra wasn't as clear as the S10 point and shoot pictures. I'm skeptical if an update will come out in time of the return period and I don't feel like holding onto the S20 based on faith alone. I really wish my ultra was on back order for exactly this reason so that I could get in on the pre order deal but receive it at a later time to allow time for a fix.

I'd hate to return now then a legit fix comes out after I send it back but on the other hand I don't like the idea of keeping it based on faith alone that it will be fixed since it uses different, slower, and older focusing technology. Something needs to happen SOON as in I want to have my mind made up by tomorrow so that I have time to return it. I don't give a crap about Korea getting a so-called fix, that doesn't do me any good here in the USA I need the damned fix if it's even fixed it NOW.

If the camera doesn't work properly or worse than my old phone then I don't care about the rest of the upgrades to the 20 series. Camera comes first, the rest is just icing on the cake.

Oh and potentially forget using the optical zoom lens in low light. It's so much darker than even the S10s optical lens. The only thing that I find better with the S20 ultras camera over the S10 is outdoor well lit zoom quality, that's it. The S10 does everything else better. If you want to snap some up close pics of small objects of something small to sell online or whatever reason the S10 blows the S20 ultra out of the water. I'm using them both right now.

 

[MoreDef]

I've heard both, being that the both parties are on one end, disseminating information, with the congregation on the other, receiving.

 

[Mike Dee]

I alternated. First one is stock, second is gcam, third is stock and last is gcam again. I know they're not the same photo taken twice, but at this point, I feel like I'm preaching to the pulpit.

I can't tell which one is more accurate from the first two

 

[MoreDef]

I can't tell which one is more accurate from the first two

There second one. My wife is Italian so it daughter found that balance between her skin and mine.

 

[SupraLB]

Supra seems to be saying that the Pixel is not waiting for you to press anything to start taking the picture. He is saying that it starts capturing as soon as the camera app is opened, and that it just uses the button press to know which of the images to choose from and process. That's why the Pixel has less lag. I never heard this before, and don't know if it's true - just explaining his post.

Exactly. Below is from DP Review, from an interview with Google's software engineer.

HDR+ was its secret sauce, and it worked by constantly buffering nine frames in memory. When you press the shutter, the camera essentially goes back in time to those last nine frames, breaks each of them up into thousands of 'tiles', aligns them all, and then averages them.

Breaking each image into small tiles allows for advanced alignment even when the photographer or subject introduces movement. Blurred elements in some shots can be discarded, or subjects that have moved from frame to frame can be realigned. Averaging simulates the effects of shooting with a larger sensor by 'evening out' noise. And going back in time to the last 9 frames captured right before you hit the shutter button means there's zero shutter lag.

In good light, these last 9 frames typically span the last 150ms before you pressed the shutter button. In very low light, it can span up to the last 0.6s.

This year, the Pixel 3 pushes all this further. It uses HDR+ burst photography to buffer up to 15 images, and then employs super-resolution techniques to increase the resolution of the image beyond what the sensor and lens combination would traditionally achieve. Subtle shifts from handheld shake and optical image stabilization (OIS) allow scene detail to be localized with sub-pixel precision, since shifts are unlikely to be exact multiples of a pixel.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/7921074499/five-ways-google-pixel-3-pushes-the-boundaries-of-computational-photography