Ask, "What's the best camera phone?" and the default answer since last fall has been Google's Pixel 3. But as the Pixel 3's software and hardware ages and new contenders enter the market, the answer to that question may change — and sooner than you may think. Huawei's P30 Pro, the Chinese phone maker's latest photography-focused flagship device, brings a lot of potential to the table. While it suffers from a lack of availability in the U.S., the 128GB version of the P30 Pro costs only a little more than the 128GB version of the Pixel 3 (£899 compared to £839, or roughly $1,173 to $1,095). To see which phone took the better pictures in a variety of circumstances, we had a multi-day face-off between the P30 Pro and Pixel 3. First, we went out in London after dark to see how the respective phones fared in low-light situations. Then, we followed up in daylight where put features like portrait mode and zoom to the test. Here’s how the two phones fare and whether Google has any reason to be nervous about its camera phone crown. Camera specs: How the Huawei P30 and Pixel 3 compare The camera on the Pixel 3 features a single 12-megapixel sensor. The P30 Pro offers a trio of lenses — 40-MP main, 20-MP ultrawide and 8-MP telephoto sensors — plus a time-of-flight sensor for measuring the depth of an image's subject. Significantly, the P30 Pro's main camera uses a world-first RYYB sensor instead of an RGGB one, which Huawei says contributes to the phone's ability to capture plenty of light. In the interest of testing the phones fairly, I shot all images at the best 4:3 resolution they could produce, which meant 12 MP for the Pixel and 10 MP for the P30 Pro. You can also shoot images in 16:9 on the Pixel or 1:1 or full screen on the P30 Pro. MORE: Galaxy S10 vs Pixel 3 Camera Shootout: Which Phone Wins? While I stuck to using the main rear cameras for this face-off, it's worth pointing out that the P30 Pro's night mode is not available on the phone's 32-MP selfie camera, while the Pixel does offer this feature. On the other hand, the P30 can use any of its three rear cameras with night mode, so you can use the phone's wide-angle lens or its particularly impressive zoom capabilities at the same time. P30 vs. Pixel 3: Which is better at night? What does all that hardware mean in terms of performance at night? To find out, we compared the Huawei P30 Pro to the Pixel 3 in a half-dozen different shooting situations. Huawei approaches night mode by taking pictures with very long exposure times, around 4 to 6 seconds, plus a lower ISO to compensate for the extra light that results from that method. The Pixel 3 also lowers the ISO and increases its exposure time, but only to about a quarter to a third of a second. London Eye: In our first test, we checked how much detail of the famous observation wheel the two phones could capture. The P30 Pro shows an impressive amount of the thin spokes on the wheel's interior, as well as detail around the wheel's circumference, keeping the light sources in check. There isn't a huge amount of difference between the Pixel 3's auto and Night Sight modes, save for the brightness level. I prefer the auto-mode picture in this case, but it still can't defeat either image the P30 Pro produced. Winner: Huawei P30 Pro Street lamp: So, how do the phones deal with closer, bright objects set against a dark background? It's a similar story as before: The P30 Pro is able to control the light far more effectively than the Pixel, especially in night mode, where you can clearly make out the lamp's metal casing. Google's phone can't match this at all, with the light flooding out all but the largest part of the frame. Swapping between auto and night mode doesn't change much, although night mode does at least brighten up the buildings behind to give some background texture. But since the Pixel performs so poorly with the main subject of this photo, the victor here is obvious. Winner: Huawei P30 Pro Houses of Parliament: Shooting the Palace of Westminster from midway along Westminster Bridge offers further proof of the difference in quality of the auto modes on these phones. The farthest side of the building becomes almost a silhouette on the Pixel 3's picture, but with the P30 Pro, you can discern the windows and lines of the palace's walls all the way to the end, thanks to the proprietary sensor in Huawei's phone. With night mode active, the Pixel 3 has a brighter image, benefitting from a greater number of weaker light sources illuminating the subject. The P30 Pro is just as sharp but with less light and deals effectively with the strong light coming from the right-hand side of the image. On balance, though, I would say this is the first image where I prefer the Pixel 3's offering to the P30's. Winner: Google Pixel 3 Waterloo Station: The test here involves a mid-distance object with a mix of well-it and shadowy areas. The difference between auto and night mode on the P30 Pro is fairly subtle, but noticeable. The darker stonework above the arch, the lettering within it, the stone figures and the clock, which are all sharper with the night mode enabled. Winner: Huawei P30 Pro Wall art: Indoors, in pitch darkness is where the P30 Pro shines the brightest. The Pixel 3 struggles to capture anything except the darkness and gets only a fuzzy image when night mode is active. In contrast, the P30 Pro doesn't break a sweat, essentially offering you two different filters of the same image, which has enough fidelity to show you the dewdrops on the petals of the flower. I don't imagine it's going to be a regular use case for smartphone photographers, but if you happen to need a way of taking candid pictures somewhere with little to no light, or if you just want to show off to people with inferior smartphone cameras, then the P30 is unmatched. Winner: Huawei P30 Pro Night sky: It's hard to find a very dark place outside when you live in one of the best-lit areas of the country. All the same, pointing the phones up at the sky shows how well the P30 Pro can work with a very dark background. Winner: Huawei P30 Pro P30 vs. Pixel 3: Which is better during the day? So with the P30 Pro coming out decisively as the victor in the night-time stage, how do the two phones compare when the sun is out? We hit the streets during daylight to see how the two cameras stacked up. Paddington Basin: These shots, taken from a bridge looking over the end of the Regent’s Canal’s Paddington arm, are full of interesting details, from the bright sky to the water to the reflections in the buildings that surround the area. The long open space also provides a challenge in capturing an image’s depth. P30 Pro ultra-wide lens shot The P30 Pro gets to show off its ultra-wide angle lens here, showing a little more detail at the sides and accentuating the distance impressively. In shot-vs-shot comparisons, you can see how the P30 Pro offers superior details throughout the image, from the smaller ripples in the water to the clarity of the clouds in the background. However, the way the extra light interacts with the shiny surfaces of the buildings makes the image look a little washed out. While the Pixel is less detailed, its image gives a better contrast between the lighter and darker elements of what it captured. It’s a tough call, but the Pixel just edges out the P30 Pro. Winner: Pixel 3 Statue: This sculpture outside St. Mary’s Hospital has a dark but also slightly reflective surface that you can easily get close to, making it a challenge to capture details from a short range. The P30 Pro produces a brighter shot, but in doing so, some of the subtler lines and marks in the statue are downplayed. The Pixel 3 provides the opposite: a darker shot overall but one that more capably shows off the unique shape of this piece of art. Winner: Pixel 3 Portrait: With Rembrandt Gardens in Little Venice as my backdrop and a friendly assistant to take the pictures for me, we can see how well the phones deal with portrait-style photos, both normally and with their bokeh-enhanced portrait modes enabled. The P30’s image could fool you into thinking these pictures were taken on a sunny day. The entire photo — from the foliage in the background to my skin color — is more vivid. The white sky does cause issues though, making the background overexposed and spoiling the look of the branches and leaves that are near to it. The Pixel’s image is colder, but has better contrast, which you can see in the leaves present in many parts of the photo. While they’re not the photo’s main focus, it is interesting to note at least as a divergence in how the two phones process the backgrounds in these circumstances. When both phones show off their bokeh capabilities, the P30 Pro pulls ahead again. The classic specks of bright light which the photography technique is known for are quite visible here, while I remain clear in the foreground. The Pixel manages a more general blurring, but this is uneven, which you can see by comparing the bushes on the right of the near background to the bushes on the left. The photo isn’t completely ruined, but it is at least compromised somewhat. The P30 Pro takes a better portrait mode shot, but I prefer the Pixel’s more rounded interpretation of the same subject when the two phones are using their standard settings. Because the P30 handles blurs better, though, I will call this round a dead heat. Winner: Draw Coffee and Muffin: This attractive pair of mid-afternoon treats look a little overexposed when shot by the P30 Pro. While this helps bring out the color of the muffin’s blueberry filling, the overexposure also makes the muffin look undercooked and the coffee look weak. The Pixel wins on the detail front as well as with color, showing the tiny bubbles and swirl of milk in the foam on top of the coffee more ably. The P30 Pro also manages to include itself in the shot, its shiny ‘breathing crystal’ back visible in the glass. It’s impressive that it managed to do this in a moodily lit café, but the amount of light you are able to capture with the Huawei phone seems to be occasionally a hindrance as much as it is a help. Winner: Pixel 3 Flower: These plants were hung from the underside of a bridge near Paddington Station, making for a test of performance using the phones’ zoom capabilities as well as how well they do in shadow. The roughly 7x digital zoom shot on the Pixel isn’t super crisp, which gives the image an interesting painterly feel. The P30 Pro’s 10x hybrid zoom (the highest lossless zoom it offers) is much more comfortable with this kind of subject. The outlines and folds of the flower’s petals are more defined, and the color is more striking. Winner: P30 Pro Overall winner: Huawei P30 Pro The Huawei P30 Pro just tops the Pixel 3, largely on the strength of its performance at night. The Google Pixel 3 beats the Huawei P30 Pro when you're looking for bursts of light or a generally brighter presentation. But if you're going by raw detail when the lights are low, the P30 Pro has the Pixel 3 beat in multiple situations, keeping the light from overexposing key areas and using a high-powered sensor to show even the darkest subjects clearly. Huawei P30 Pro Google Pixel 3 Night: London Eye X Night: Street lamp X Night: Houses of Parliament X Night: Waterloo Station X Night: Wall art X Night: Night sky X Day: Paddington Basin X Day: Statue X Day: Portrait X X Day: Coffee & Muffin<doc-sep>All three generations of Pixel phones have set new standards for smartphone photography. Historically, the only phone that really outdoes a Pixel's camera is the next Pixel. Others get close, and offer different experiences, but ultimately come up short to Google's phones in terms of outright photo quality. Samsung has a great reputation for having very consistent, capable smartphone cameras — but its slow iteration over the last few generations hasn't looked great considering the consistent improvements Google has made. The Galaxy S10 adds a new ultra-wide camera in addition to the standard and telephoto lenses, and has new software, processing and features to make use of all three. While Google continues to lean heavily on software processing to make the most of its single camera that doesn't look particularly good on paper but has consistently produced amazing photos. Now it's time to see how well the Galaxy S10 challenges the Pixel 3's camera. Good lighting This plays out as expected, having spent plenty of time comparing Samsung and Google's last-generation flagships. Though the components and software have been updated slightly, the philosophies remain the same and play out in all of the photos the Galaxy S10 and Pixel 3 take. The Galaxy S10 takes brighter and more colorful photos every time — whether it's accurate or not. The most apparent difference between these cameras is that the Galaxy S10 takes brighter, more colorful photos every single time, leaving the Pixel 3 looking a bit more dim and dull by comparison. But that isn't to say the Galaxy S10 is accurate — far from it, as the Pixel 3 typically recreates a scene far closer to the way your eyes see it. Sometimes the Pixel 3's photos are so dim that they require tap-to-focus or post-processing just to get them up to a "normal" level. The characteristics carry on to white balance and color temperature, where the Galaxy S10 consistently takes warmer photos overall, again not natural to the scene, while the Pixel 3 is cooler and more natural — though in this case, the Pixel 3 often goes a bit too far in the other direction. The Pixel 3 retains detail and textures the way you'd expect a high-end camera to. Samsung's approach makes sense. People generally want to see bright, colorful photos — not necessarily the most accurate photos. Bumping up the brightness, saturation and warmth is something you see across the photography world as an easy "fix" for making even mundane photos seem more interesting to the eye. But if you value having your photos represent the real world, and want to leave the selective editing to yourself, the Pixel 3 is going to provide a better baseline to start with. The other fundamental difference between how Samsung and Google process photos is in detail and textures. Samsung consistently flattens and crushes fine details in photos, smoothing things out to a high degree. This gives photos a great look at a glance, and sharp edges are retained, but it isn't particularly appealing when viewed large or up close. The Pixel 3 retains dramatically more detail in photos, even under close inspection, but can leave a little bit of grain or noise in some places — but it's once again authentic to the actual scene. You see texture where there should be texture. Bad lighting There's no way to say this nicely ... Google is still the easy winner when it comes to troubling lighting conditions. And that doesn't just mean "dark" scenes — it also applies to indoor shots and scenes with mixed lighting. Google is still the easy winner when it comes to troubling lighting conditions. This is where Google's reliance on software processing really shows its strengths. In low or mixed light scenes, the Pixel 3 can bring out brightness and details without relying on simply ramping up the ISO or using a single long exposure. Its HDR+ processing manages to bring out light without causing the usual downsides of grain or a lack of details. Low light photos come out crisp just as they do in the day, and what's really impressive is how well the Pixel 3 can still manage to produce proper colors and white balance that are accurate to the scene. Night Sight mode just takes things to a new level, where no other phone — let alone just the Galaxy S10 — is playing. There are ways in which the Galaxy S10's camera can somewhat compete with the Pixel 3 in poor lighting, but if the Pixel 3 goes into Night Sight mode it isn't even a competition anymore. Sure it takes a much longer time to take those photos, but the result is amazing shots that no other phone can take. Samsung's camera tries to rely on old photography principles, with little advanced software processing to fill the gaps. Samsung's tendency to over-smooth textures and flatten out details does not pair well with low-light scenes, where it can often give a soft, blurry or watercolor-like look to photos. It's particularly noticeable in people's faces, which just turn into a blotchy mess. Despite having a large sensor and fast aperture, the Galaxy S10 still leans heavily on typical photography principles to try and get more light in the photo: a higher ISO and longer shutter speed, which just don't do enough. Even the "scene optimizer" that is supposed to detect low light situations and adjust accordingly doesn't seem to do a whole lot. The best way to handle really dark scenes on a Galaxy S10 is to use Pro mode, or at least work with the manual exposure slider in auto mode, to force the Galaxy S10 to try and take a dark photo. Samsung's desire to brighten up every photo to an extreme really works against it in poor lighting, and if you can force the ISO to stay low it can take a better photo. But even still, it isn't going to match the Pixel 3. Experience One thing we've learned from years of using Pixel cameras is that quality of photos isn't always matched by quality of experience taking them. Even with the latest models, Google's been unable to get its camera software to run as consistently or as quickly as Samsung. The camera app regularly has trouble opening up for quick captures, can be sluggish to save photos, and is just generally slow compared to the competition. It's an inconvenience at best and a major frustration at worst. Samsung has camera speed and consistency locked down, plus an ultra-wide camera that's a joy to use. Samsung has the camera speed and consistency locked down, and it's one of the biggest benefits. The camera is always ready to go, will capture without question and switch modes or change settings immediately. Samsung also offers far more options for different shooting modes and tweaks within each mode, including a comprehensive Pro mode that lets you control every aspect of the camera. It's able to strike a good balance between being easy to use for novices and capable for enthusiasts. The Galaxy S10 also has the distinct advantage of its new triple camera setup, with an ultra-wide camera that's a joy to shoot with. Its telephoto camera is closely matched by the Pixel 3's really good digital zoom, but nothing Google does can recreate the interesting point of view offered by the ultra-wide camera. Sometimes photography isn't just about the quality of the shots, but the perspective that can be captured and the fun that it offers. Which camera is best? It's obviously telling that as of this writing the Pixel 3 is our pick for the best Android camera. Even though it lacks the Galaxy S10's ultra-wide and telephoto cameras, and can face performance issues, you just can't deny that its shot-to-shot photo quality is exceptional. The differences are particularly noticeable in low light scenes, where the Pixel 3 somehow performs almost as well as broad daylight. The best possible photos come from the Pixel 3, not the Galaxy S10 series. The Galaxy S10 has its own appeal for people who want to be able to open up their phone's camera and capture instantly with incredible consistency and know that they're getting an above-average photo that can go straight online. And even those who want to tinker and play with their camera will see benefit in Samsung's more robust camera software. It's a great overall package. Plus, the ultra-wide camera offers a cool perspective that you can mix in with all of your other photos. But if you're looking for the best photos possible, in as many situations as possible, the Pixel 3 or 3 XL will do a better job of providing that than the Galaxy S10 series. Best photos Google Pixel 3 The best photos from any smartphone today. The Pixel 3 takes the best photos of any smartphone camera right now, and it doesn't care what the lighting conditions are. It flexes its strengths in low light, but still takes excellent photos in every other situation as well. Just have your patience ready to work with its camera app that can be frustratingly slow and inconsistent. From $439 at Amazon<doc-sep>
The Huawei P30 Pro looks to be a real camera contender. It’s racked up the highest DxOMark score ever seen with a total score of 112 — and that’s with four rear-facing cameras. Meanwhile, the 6-month-old Pixel 3 only has one rear-facing camera that is backed up by some of the best post-processing on the entire market. But how do they stack up against one another? From the outset, it would be foolish to say that given the specifications of the Huawei P30 Pro camera, that the odds are not stacked in its favor. The thing is, that the Pixel 3 has shown time and time again that even despite having a pretty average megapixel count and a solitary camera sensor at the rear, it can more than match anything on the market. Of course, we’re talking stills here. The Pixel might be exceptional in almost every single photo-taking scenario, but it leaves you longing for more in the videography arena almost every single time. It’s also worthing noting that due to the combo of the brand new RYYB sensor and high ISO single shot photography that the P30 Pro is capable of, all shots have been taken using the single shot standard Photo mode rather than the inbuilt long exposure Night Mode. You could argue that this does potentially give the Pixel 3 a slight advantage with the excellent long exposure Night Sight, but as you’ll see, the results are genuinely interesting. Update: For those requesting a test of the Night Mode of the P30 Pro vs Night Sight, due to some traits of the new sensor a software update is likely needed to fully compare the two long exposure modes. See the example below for issues surrounding the Night Mode on the P30 Pro. For that reason there would have only been one winner. Whether this is due to the new RYYB sensor having white balance issues, I’m not so sure. I have reached out to Huawei on this matter and hence the Auto mode only vs Night Sight. Night Sight on the Pixel 3 on the left, auto on the P30 Pro in the middle, night mode on the P30 Pro the right. Huawei now needs to tune its night mode white balance to be as good as its auto mode. All so impressive though, it was almost pitch black #HuaweiP30Pro #TeamPixel pic.twitter.com/i6kAozC8YS — Basil Ⓥ🌈📱 (@BasilKnows) March 30, 2019 Subscribe to the official 9to5Google YouTube channel for more videos Pixel 3 – Auto Pixel 3 – Night Sight P30 Pro As you can see from these images taken on the banks of the River Seine, the initial photography from the Pixel 3 manages superbly even in Auto mode. It manages to maintain an exceptional amount of detail that only really starts to fall apart when you dig deeper. There is some real noise here, but the overall color palette and dynamic range is seriously impressive. Turning on Night Sight ups the details exponentially but blows out the highlights on the street lighting. I would argue that this is a more striking image thanks to the extra exposure length and the albeit saturated colors given the environments lighting. The P30 Pro doesn’t fair as well as I had hoped, although the colors of the nearby floating platform and river are excellently preserved, it has a cooler color temperature that isn’t exactly appealing at first glance. Details are lost in the shadows of the bridge and overall I would have to say that it does a very poor job. Pixel 3 XL – Auto Pixel 3 XL – Night Sight P30 Pro The P30 Pro is having a nightmare with this column and one thing I’ve noticed is that in certain scenarios lens flare seems to be a major issue with the handset — or at least it has been in my experience. My initial thoughts are that the wide angle lens is causing some sort of issue but I’m not really too sure to be honest. You can see that the Pixel 3 manages to do a much better job in Auto mode than either other option. When in Night Sight the Pixel does a nice job but the warmer tones result in an odd look that although full of detail isn’t exactly great compared to the initial results. I will say that the sky and cloud cover are exceptional. Chalk that up to the Pixel putting the P30 properly in its place with barely any difficulty.