These Galaxy S20 camera features are cheaper elsewhere

Samsung has equipped its new smartphones, which will soon be available for €899 to €1,549, with the best chipset and camera technology available. In response to Samsung’s new service item, we want to show you that similar fun and great photos can be had with phones that don’t cost as much as a used compact car. Some competing smartphones already offer similar features, for much less money. So let’s review the promises:

1. Detailed recordings up to 108 megapixels

For a long time, a large number of megapixels was considered a pure marketing strategy. Consumers and testers quickly realized that image quality depends on many more factors than the number of pixels in the photo. However, with the 100-megapixel mark cracking on younger devices, it looks like the game is starting all over again.

Only the particularly expensive Galaxy S20 Ultra gets the 108 MP sensor. the minor Get the Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus models single 64MP. In both cases, we first have to find out in the test whether the cameras actually output this resolution out of the box. Manufacturers often install high-resolution sensors, but reduce the number of pixels in JPEGs that are actually output for a variety of reasons.

By the way, if you are looking for a cheap smartphone with the Galaxy S20 Ultra camera, you will find it at Xiaomi. His Mi Note 10 was released in November 2019 and is available in Germany for around 450 euros; So about 1,000 euros cheaper than the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Colleague Stefan tested it extensively and felt that it would at least leave his DSLR at home when he travels.

2. Hybrid Zoom

Colleague Julia had already commented extensively on the pseudo zoom of the Galaxy S20. Notebookcheck experts first discovered that the cameras in the new devices only offer 1.06x optical magnification; the rest is cropped as an image section of the sensor’s excess pixels, already mentioned above, and optimized by software.

With its software improvements, the Galaxy S20 and S20+ models have a 30x zoom, and the S20 Ultra even 100x. That’s what it’s called spatial zoom and is promoted appropriately with shots of the moon.

Samsung is responding after Huawei took the smartphone camera zoom crown last year with the P30 Pro (now available for under $600). In the test, the P30 Pro’s camera not only showed its strengths with its 50x zoom.

3. Still images from videos

It is true that the Galaxy S20 will be the only smartphone on which you can shoot 8K video for the time being. A still image from an 8K video is equivalent to a 33-megapixel photo (according to Samsung). The problem, as is well known, is that such videos can only be recorded for one minute. Then the Galaxy S20 pulls back to process the mountain of data. The detailed Galaxy S20 camera test should show how 8K videos prove themselves in everyday life, and as we know, we still owe it to them.

Master your current smartphone only 4K recordings mean a resolution of eight megapixels for still images. That should be more than enough for most snapshots; especially since you create 30 per second. This should also allow Jesus moments like the one above to be optimally preserved.

Samsung also announces that 8K videos can be streamed directly to Samsung TVs. Even if the manufacturer is proud of its proprietary island solution, thanks to Google Cast, wireless streaming from a smartphone to a TV hasn’t been a technical miracle since 2015. Both the FireTV Stick and Google Chomecast make it possible, directly from the Google Photos app. Admittedly, currently only Samsung can do all of this in 8K.

4. Multiple scenes in one shot

Here’s a feature that could really make the Galaxy S20 stand out from the crowd. Samsung calls it “Single Take”: You hold your camera for three to 10 seconds on an exciting scene (the more movement, the better), and then the software suggests a series of still images and offers to make a video of the footage. make multiple cuts.

Is it a burst mode or a beast mode? Introducing the Single Take feature on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, which allows you to capture up to 10 photos and 4 videos, all in one shot! Pre-book at #sangetha now!

#samsung #samsung galaxy #SamsungGalaxyS20Ultra #GalaxyS20Ultra pic.twitter.com/44CRSfkjEZ

— Sangeetha Mobile (@SangeethaMobile)
March 1, 2020

However, it is only a matter of time before TikTok or Instagram replicate this function in their apps and thus also make it available to users of cheaper alternatives to Samsung’s new Galaxy S20 smartphones.

5. Video Stabilization Software

Even if shaky camera has become acceptable with modern TV and movie formats, video recordings should be at least somewhat stable. Since smartphone videos in particular are rarely shot with a tripod or gimbal, the risk of blurry recordings is particularly high here.

With “Super Steady”, Samsung wants to calm down your shaky recordings as soon as they are created. Here too you take advantage of the generous sensor size and abundance of megapixels. Crop-based video stabilization often comes at the expense of maximum resolution. It remains to be seen whether Samsung can at least also create “super stable” 4K video. That would put it on par with the iPhone 11 Pro (Max). If super-steady Full HD videos are enough, you can get them with older versions of the Google Pixel series. They usually change hands on eBay for less than 200 euros.

6. Night mode

We have long known the night mode for photos on smartphones. Here, too, Huawei impressed with the P30 Pro in our camera test. New, on the other hand, is the night mode for videos, which, as expected, finally makes recordings at parties and in the bar less dark, muddy, blurry and noisy. It will be necessary to find out in the test if the smartphones of the Galaxy S20 family achieve as good results as those of Apple with the iPhone 11 Pro.

According to the MoMo Film Festival, the low-light videos of the Sony Xperia 1 (for camera test) are considered the best among Android smartphones. Its successor Sony Xperia 1 II has already been presented. The original now only costs around 600 euros.

7. Peer-to-peer sharing

Due to the high resolutions of the Galaxy S20 cameras, the data volume of photos and videos is correspondingly large. 8K video will be 600 MB per minute, or 10 MB per second (!), after compression. Then you probably don’t want to send photos and videos to your friends via WhatsApp, especially since they lose their charm when compressed. Samsung offers to ship them via share now to friends who are in your immediate vicinity. The hook? You must have a Galaxy device.

Sharing is just as simple with the Google Files app: install the app, find nearby friends, and connect directly; ignore the internet. Your data volume will not change accordingly. In many cases, it can also be done without an app: In the Share menu you will find the appropriate tools with “Wi-Fi Direct”, “Android Beam” or the like. These methods automatically establish the fastest available direct connection between two smartphones. In the case of Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), data transfer rates are up to 80 MB per second. If you know any alternative, please leave a comment.