Avery Hartmans/Business Insider
When Apple introduced portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus nearly two years ago, it became a much talked-about and sought-after feature.
A phone that could give your photos that coveted look of a fancy, expensive camera? It sounded like a dream come true.
Since then, other premium smartphone makers have added the feature to their own devices. Samsung’s version is called Live Focus, and Google added its own version of the technology to both sizes of the Pixel and the Pixel 2.
I’m not a professional — or even amateur — photographer, but I do enjoy trying to capture beautiful photos on my smartphone. I wanted to put the feature to the test on three of the top smartphones right now: the iPhone 8 Plus, the Pixel 2 XL, and the Galaxy S9.
Over the course of a few days, I tested the feature in all sorts of conditions and situations, like low light, indoor and outdoor light, and busy backgrounds. While all three phones had their own strengths and weaknesses, one phone was the most consistent.
Here’s how it went:
A simple indoor shot presented unique challenges for all three phones.
Avery Hartmans/Business Insider
What began as a seemingly simple trial — a small plant photographed on a black table — ended up being a bit more complex.
- The iPhone 8 Plus, on the left, looks pretty good, although it’s not as sharp as I would have liked, and the leaves in the back are a bit blurred.
- With the Pixel 2 XL, the plant is nice and sharp, but the background blur is strange and uneven. The Pixel 2 uses technology rather than lenses to create the blur, and in this case, it shows. The desk chairs aren’t blurred enough, and it’s distracting.
- The photo taken by Galaxy S9 is … fine. It’s not as sharp as the Pixel 2, but has a more even and less detailed background blur.
When taking this photo on both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy S9, I had to back away several feet to capture the same shot. This remained a theme throughout my tests because of the dual lenses — the Pixel 2 only has one lens, and could easily capture a shot at the distance I preferred. But every time I wanted to switch to either of the other phones, I had to move back several feet.
Winner: Pixel 2
When it came to a low-light test, two out of three phones had issues.
Avery Hartmans/Business Insider
The low-light test was perhaps the most challenging of all.
On both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy S9, the phones themselves will let you know that they require lots of light to create an effective portrait mode photo. That being said, I wanted to test the phones in every condition — it’s unrealistic to expect that everyone has perfect natural light every time they want to take a portrait mode shot.
- The iPhone 8 Plus had some challenges. The phone really struggled in low light, and kept trying to use the flash, which resulted in an ugly, unflattering shot (my bananas looked like hostages). After fiddling with the camera for several minutes, I finally captured a decent yet dark image.
- The Pixel 2, on the other hand, performed flawlessly. I didn’t really need to worry about the lack of light since the portrait mode effects were added after the fact. I didn’t brighten that photo at all — that’s exactly how it looked once it finished processing.
- The Galaxy S9 was deeply disappointing. The end result isn’t as dark as the photo captured by the iPhone 8 Plus, but it’s also about half as sharp. The background blur is nice, but overall, the photo looks like it was captured on a 5-year-old phone.
Winner: Pixel 2
This monochromatic shot was tricky, since there wasn’t a lot of separation between the subject and background — but all three phones prevailed.
Avery Hartmans/Business Insider
This shot is a great example of the color and light differences between each camera. The iPhone 8 Plus is significantly warmer than the other two, and the Pixel 2 is decidedly darker than the other phones.
Aesthetic differences aside, all three phones did just fine when it came to little background separation.
- The iPhone 8 Plus did an excellent job keeping the entire subject in focus, even in tricky areas like the camera strap. But the end result is way too bright and too warm for my taste, and the phone blew out both the white wall and white shelf.
- The photo taken with the Pixel 2 could have used a bit more background blur — you can still make out the word “Instax” on the camera on the right. However, that’s made up for by the fact that the subject is incredibly sharp.
- The Galaxy S9 did a nice job here, and took a nearly identical photo to the Pixel 2. However, while the background blur is better with the Galaxy s9, the subject isn’t as sharp.
Winner: Pixel 2
So, which one is the winner?
Avery Hartmans/Business Insider
Google’s Pixel 2 XL takes the crown here.
All three phones had their own strengths, and their own sets of issues. While the iPhone 8 Plus took gorgeous photos, I found that they often looked too warm. The Galaxy S9 handled colors beautifully, but it failed in light that was too low or two bright.
And both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy S9 presented a key problem: They forced you, a regular user, to have to think like a photographer. You had to remember to find enough light, to create enough distance between yourself and the subject, and to create enough distance between the subject and the background. It was a time-consuming process, and one that didn’t lend itself to snapping a quick photo on a whim, like most typical smartphone users do.
The Pixel 2 not only took sharp, beautiful photos most consistently, but it was significantly easier to use than either of the other two phones. I didn’t have to worry about how far away I was or whether there was enough light — the phone took care of those things for me. The Pixel 2 proved that portrait mode can be handled entirely by a single lens and great technology, and that dual-lens smartphone cameras are something of a gimmick.
In general, the Pixel 2 has an excellent camera. But this test proves that even when it comes to a specialized feature like portrait mode, the Pixel 2 is the best there is.
