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Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by wscott on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:26AM (#12643181)
dxomark has published their iphone 7 review, but the 7 plus camera review is still pending.

Still very looks like a very impressive camera. The biggest drawback I see from phone cameras now is shutter lag and just how long it takes to get the camera app ready to take pictures. I hope Google has this nailed now.

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by nicktelford on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:30AM (#12643197)
They mentioned shutter lag in the presentation, saying that they spent a lot of time minimizing it. They didn't give any concrete numbers or a demo though.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by eeeeeeeeeeeee on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @12:20PM (#12645242)
Shutter lag seems to be a common problem with Android phones. Is this a hardware or software issue, or what? I've seen it even on newer phones, like the Nexus 5x.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by piyush_soni on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:33AM (#12643215)
They said they were able to make it fastest of all the phones they've tested.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by simscitizen on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:38AM (#12643248)
iOS has always tried to simulate zero shutter lag: the camera continuously captures full-resolution images into a ring buffer, and the app goes back in the frame buffer to find the image that corresponds to when you pressed the shutter.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dx034 on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @09:16AM (#12643503)
Zero shutter lag is what I love about the iPhone. Compared to my previous Xperia Z5, the pictures on the iPhone are not better (rather worse at bad light conditions), but I never have to wait to take one. The time it can take the Z5 to focus and finally take a picture is annoying.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by _pmf_ on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:43AM (#12643289)
This sounds like a good way to drain the battery, and it will only work when no flash is required.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by pjc50 on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:49AM (#12643331)
Presumably it's quite cheap if you have enough RAM and hardware JPEG acceleration; the camera has to capture a string of images to display on the screen anyway.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by JustSomeNobody on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @11:03AM (#12644395)
Nothing comes without a cost.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by tarancato on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:45AM (#12643303)
Still better than nothing.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by JustSomeNobody on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @11:01AM (#12644372)
I seem to recall them saying the Galaxy Nexus had zero shutter lag as well. Makes one wonder why this isn't the norm now.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by jandrese on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:47AM (#12643310)
Getting the camera app ready is just a swipe at the login screen, you can have the first picture in less than a second with a touch of practice.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by euyyn on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @05:49PM (#12648228)
Alternatively, double-click the lock button.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by jooize on Thursday October 06, 2016 @08:29AM (#12651843)
Thanks to you I can remove Camera from the iPhone Dock!
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dep_b on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:56AM (#12643369)
I have been checking that site a few times per week last month to see if they finally got around reviewing the iPhone 7 Plus, but no cigar. It has been out for over a month now and if you like it or not it's still one of the most popular mobile phone cameras in the world and definitely an upgrade compared to the regular iPhone 7 camera.

And then you see a slide where Google uses the word iPhone 5 times to tell the world why their iPhone is well worth the iPhone price, lacking a score for the iPhone 7 Plus, and the reason for the delay suddenly becomes clear.

Well paid, Google. Well paid.

And Dxomark: you only have one reputation...

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dogma1138 on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @09:17AM (#12643513)
DoXMark is probably the only website that has a proper methodology for reviewing mobile phone cameras.

They are consistent, very indepth, have objective scoring metrics and haven't shown any bias towards any brand or maker.

The iPhone 7 plus isn't an easy phone to evaluate because it has dual cameras, reviews of other phones with dual cameras also tended to lag and those were simpler where the 2 cameras were identical and were used to speed up or add additional digital zoom whilst the iPhone 7P uses 2 different cameras.

The iPhone 7 review was up 20 days after it was announced, and effectively about 9-10 days after it has became available in Europe.

It's pretty laughable that pretty much the only objective source out there and the only one that has bothered to take a scientific approach to evaluating the quality of cameras for mobile phones is accused of bias and being a paid lip service just because their current methodology is not compatible with the iPhone 7 Plus not to mention considering that iOS 10 also lacks support for certain modes for the 7P, and they want to actually give it a proper review, which means put it in cases where both cameras can be measured objectively.

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dep_b on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @10:26AM (#12644063)
I am not saying any of your arguments doesn't hold up and the iOS 10.1 upgrade of course also crossed my mind. But you have to understand that Google got early access to it's review results, permissions to use them in their keynote and to also use competitors results.

This is not free, even if only they received services or free hardware for it in return. Once you start doing that there's no return.

Because they could have reviewed the iPhone 7 Plus using the iOS 10.1 betas. And what about the final number? Isn't the difference between 88, 89 or 90 also up to the personal opinion of the reviewer? How are bokeh foto's and true zoom weighed? If it is 88 instead of 89, how much did the Google bribe influence it? It's still a possible deviation within their rigid testing methodology depending on the reviewer's opinion.

I see a lot of websites that are clearly sponsored in one way or another. Samsung does it, Lenovo does it. I think Samsung and Lenovo products aren't bad but I know they spend a lot of money on massaging online review sources.

Dxomark didn't give me that "might be sponsored in a way" feeling, now I just don't know.

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dogma1138 on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @10:57AM (#12644325)
The company's business model is doing testing and publishing (and selling results) the results (as well as selling actual cameras for the iPhone and image processing software).

Their methodology and scoring algorithms are open.

https://www.dxomark.com/About/In-depth-measurements/DxOMark-...

They have evaluated 1000's of cameras, lenses and sensors, and all of a sudden they are biased because Apple doesn't ship pre-production units to get reviewed?

This is beyond pathetic, I love my iPhone but I never considered it to be the king of anything, even as far as the camera quality goes, it was overall one of the best rounded camera's but for quite a long time it wasn't the king.

The iPhone 3/3GS had pretty shitty camera's, like god damn awful, things have started to pick up with the 4 and 5 and the 5 was probably the only period where the iPhone might have been more or less uncontested, but since the 6 there were phones that were getting very close and even beating the iOS devices at certain aspects of the camera, and with this generation things are pretty much dead even as far high end devices go.

P.S.

It's quite likely that their full reports are available to purchase indirectly, this is how many of these niche firms work, this doesn't mean that there is bias, it's just the nature of these things these reviews are extremely expensive.

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dep_b on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @11:25AM (#12644627)
> because Apple doesn't ship pre-production units to get reviewed

You're guessing just as much as me now. The only fact is that Google definitely had to pay to get these results and that review exactly at the moment of their keynote.

And it was definitely convenient for their slides to not have to show a iPhone 7 Plus score in it. It wouldn't have looked so suspicious if they just were proud about their own score on itself.

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by Klathmon on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @03:19PM (#12646893)
>The only fact is that Google definitely had to pay to get these results and that review exactly at the moment of their keynote.

How is that a fact?

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by euyyn on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @05:57PM (#12648294)
Dude, you're not guessing: You're talking about your butthurt hypothesis as if it were established fact. E.g.:

> how much did the Google bribe influence it?

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by kyrra on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @09:13AM (#12643488)
Or they are waiting for iOS 10.1 that includes full portrait mode. https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/21/hands-on-portrait-mode-beta-i...

That was a big selling point during the announcement of the iPhone 7+, so seems worth waiting for that feature to be ready before completing the review.

Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by ubercow13 on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @05:37PM (#12648136)
That example shot looks...really bad..
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by JustSomeNobody on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @11:05AM (#12644411)
Or... or... they are waiting for the portrait mode to come out of beta. Just a thought.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by dilap on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @10:24AM (#12644040)
Seems like a plausible conspiracy theory to me, but it's also a pretty honest way to be shady -- no compromise of the reviews themswlves.
Re:Pixel smartphone camera review: At the top by mistermann on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @08:59AM (#12643392)
Wow, they better have paid big for that.