{"id":51160,"date":"2018-12-28T16:32:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T11:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenerdmag.com\/?p=51160"},"modified":"2019-12-27T06:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T01:47:43","slug":"best-camera-phones-of-2018-with-4k-video-recording-and-low-light-performance-mate-20-pro-pixel-3-and-iphone-xs-max","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenerdmag.com\/best-camera-phones-of-2018-with-4k-video-recording-and-low-light-performance-mate-20-pro-pixel-3-and-iphone-xs-max\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Camera Phones of 2018 with 4K Video Recording and Low Light Performance: Mate 20 Pro, Pixel 3 and iPhone XS Max"},"content":{"rendered":"

From its humble beginnings as a VGA camera to its current form of multiple camera sensors, the modern smartphone camera has progressed by leaps and bounds over the last decade and a half. Having lived through the era of evolving smartphone cameras as a pre-teen I can recall how big of a deal it was when Nokia came out with the world’s first 2.0 MP camera in a smartphone, the\u00a0Nokia N90 in 2005. It was not long after that Sony Ericsson joined the competition and released their\u00a0K800i in 2006, the first 3.2 MP camera in a mobile phone. A phone that I would come to own a few years later. These two were some of the best camera\u00a0phones of their time and little did we know that in a few years the iconic 3.2MP Cybershot sensor of the K800i would become obsolete.<\/p>\n

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I can recall the sheer excitement of that era when mobile cameras were getting better and better with each passing year. Today, however, we have reached a place where even the cheapest Android smartphones boast a decent resolution camera which is more than capable of taking day time shots. However, the criteria have changed significantly\u00a0for what makes a good smartphone camera today. There is much more competition and a plethora of features offered by each manufacturer which makes it difficult to discern which smartphone camera is the best.<\/p>\n

Today, I will try to evaluate the camera capabilities of the three most highly acclaimed smartphones of 2018. The Mate 20 Pro, The Google Pixel 3 and the iPhone XS Max. We will only be talking about the primary cameras on all three phones as the selfie cameras are good enough across all of them.<\/p>\n

Best Camera Phones of 2018:\u00a0Mate 20 Pro, Pixel 3 and iPhone XS Max<\/h3>\n

We will be looking at the three most talked about camera smartphones of 2018. Do note that at this level of flagship smartphones the lines become increasingly blurred. Anyone of the three mentioned smartphones can perform exceedingly well on their own merit. However, there is always something that is lacking from one and present in the other. So let’s go through the three top performing camera smartphones of 2018.<\/p>\n

1. Huawei Mate 20 Pro<\/h3>\n

Huawei Mate 20 Pro is Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone. It is all the rage these days especially after its camera was declared the best smartphone\u00a0camera in a blind test done by MKBHD. It came on top of 16 other smartphones that were also in the test. So what exactly make’s it the best Smartphone camera on the market right now?<\/p>\n

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Huawei Mate 20 Pro Camera Hardware<\/h4>\n

The Huawei Mate 20 has three camera sensors on the back. A primary 40 MP with an aperture of f\/1.8 and a diameter of 27mm. This is a wide angle lens in itself but the Mate 20 Pro does one better, it also features an ultra-wide lens with an MP count of 20. The 20 MP lens has an aperture of\u00a0f\/2.2 and a diameter of 16 mm. This lets you shoot some of the best Bokeh portraits I have ever seen in a smartphone. However, there is also a third lens, which is a telephoto lens with a pixel count of 8MP, and a diameter of 80mm. This lens lets you have a 3x optical zoom and Optical image stabilization.<\/p>\n

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So it all looks good on the paper, what about real life performance then? Well, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro snaps some of the best pictures among smartphone cameras. The portrait shots are especially nice, subject separation is sublime, colors are accurate and following are some sample shots that we took for a better understanding.<\/p>\n

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Sample Photos<\/h4>\n