Tag Archives: Apple vs Samsung

Galaxy S21 Slow Motion Feature is Retained!

Galaxy S21 Slow Motion

This week we had the announcement by Samsung of the Galaxy S21 phone line which is the de-facto Android handset in most of the world.  The Galaxy S21 Slow Motion has essentially the same feature set as the Galaxy S20 of 2020 when it comes to high-speed video. The Galaxy brand went serious with Slow Motion since the Galaxy S9 with the 960fps mode at 720p which we can still see here with somewhat improved resolution and recording time.

The S21 line is by almost any standard a refinement of the line with very subtle but important updates on the previous S20 phones. We get the Snapdragon 888 which is the brightest and fastest SoC in non-Apple land. We get 120Hz adaptive screen refresh rate and 108MP telephoto camera on the Ultra version with 10x hybrid zoom, and half that at 64MP on the regular S21 and S21+ which only offer 3x hybrid zoom. We also get 8k video recording on all of the phones at 24p which we will have to test if it is really delivering on the promise. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Galaxy Note 20 Slow Motion The Good and the Bad!

Galaxy Note 20 Slow Motion

Samsung will start shipping to stores the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra on August 21, 2020.  This new phone is the latest and greatest on their line of ultra-performance devices that offer little compromise at a premium price.  It has a 108MP sensor on an f1.8 lens on the Note 20 Ultra 5G version that can do crazy zoom and pixel averaging in low light. The more pixels you record even if they are small let you do more computational photography processing to average noise and artifacts out to end with a crisper lower resolution image that is pleasing and punches above it’s weight.

However, not all is good news since the video mode in Samsung devices when it comes to slow motion has been stalling in the last iterations to a max 960fps mode in HD 720p which is now on this phone an interpolated 480fps mode that is slowed 2x to 960p.  This makes the Note 20 line an inferior slow-mo device to even the Galaxy S10 which offers real 960fps.  The good thing here is a full second of recording at 480fps on the Note 20 line which translates to 16 seconds playback at 30fps and 32seconds with interpolation. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

iPad Pro Slow Motion includes 240fps!

iPad Pro Slow Motion

The iPad Pro has been making accessible the best iPhone Camera features for a few years now and the latest 2020 model seems to be in lockstep with the iPhone 11 Pro but with only 2 cameras instead of 3.  However, the quality is close but not as good lens wise, but they make up with a new LiDAR scanner in place of the third camera lens that makes it possible to accurately scan physical objects and surroundings to improve AR capture and interaction.  The demos are early but the technology holds promise.

What interests us at HSC is the slow motion features and we see a continuation of the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 camera modes with Wide and ultra-wide cameras supporting all slow-mo modes of 60, 120 and 240p which is identical to the mobile line up.  We looked at the iPhone 11 Pro’s camera quality which impressed us with the best 240p and 120p quality on a phone to date see here → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Best Slow Motion Phones of 2019!

Best Slow Motion Phones of 2019

This year we have decided to have a special post to highlight the advancements in smartphone camera systems that allow the recording of super slow motion video. We have seen after all huge advancement this year especially by Asian companies making their best efforts to exploit the camera module’s strengths without crippling them to sell a newer model. The Chinese have decided to create a camera war between phone builders that one-up each other every few months.

We value image quality just as high as frame rate and when phones claim to be 1080p in high frame rate modes we usually find that the real case if 720p or similar upscaled to full HD 1080 with artifacts and jagged edges that can make you dizzy. But not all phones are created equal and that is where this list of the best of 2019 comes in. If by any chance an even stronger contender comes in before the end of the year we might revise this list but it would be a fluke. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Galaxy S10 Slow Motion Selfie Feature in Android 10 One UI 2!

Galaxy S10 Slow Motion Selfie

The latest beta version of One UI 2.0 which is the Samsung interface layer on top of Android 10, is featuring an initial selfie mode for the front camera in the Galaxy S10 and Note 10, to match Apple’s Slo-fie feature which debuted on the iPhone 11.  The Samsung focused Sammobile.com  has already tested the feature and has shown that it is working but with still some performance issues to be ironed out.

For starters, the footage stutters like it is losing some frames from what looks to be a 120fps 720p capture on the front selfie camera. Then there is no real adjustment at the moment of capture allowed on the interface but there are post-recording editing and speed stretching that should allow some level of control.  It would be ideal to have access to a full manual feature on this mode, but it seems it is kind of a bolted-on software upgrade feature to allow a better feature for feature comparison with Apple. If that is the case Samsung should also allow all the cameras on the back to shoot slow motion video and not only the standard wide default cam. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

iPhone 11 Slow Motion Video Samples!

iPhone 11 Slow Motion Video Samples!

Now that Apple’s latest and greatest phone the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro Max have been out in the wild for a few weeks, it is time to revisit the performance of the slow motion video mode of this all-encompassing handset.  The iPhone has always been a good slow mo performer but the new cameras and bigger lenses with more advanced processing gave us high hopes for increases in video quality and fewer artifacts.

The slow motion quality should be better across both the 11 and 11 Max since they share essentially the same system of optics and bionic chip. Quality must be identical except for the two or three camera configurations.  One thing that separates the iPhone is that you can shoot slow motion in all cameras and not just in the standard wide like Samsung or other Android phones. This is one thing Apple wins in spades and we hope to see other manufacturers adopt as  standard. → Continue Reading Full Post ←