So it seems the rumors were true about the slow motion component being preserved on the Galaxy S10 phones from last year’s S9. Last year the stand out feature of the phone in video mode was the slow motion capability and it was one of the main selling points for the Galaxy S9. We got no mention of the feature during the Samsung event today for the S10 but we can find it buried in the phone specs with some details.
It seems the feature is slightly improved in bit-rate quality, color, and dynamic range. However, the main improvement is the recording time which has gone up to 0.4sec from 0.2sec and up to 0.8sec in 480fps mode which is half the frame rate. In essence, it seems the phone is now the flagship slow motion performer for Samsung.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The next Galaxy Phone release by Samsung flagship line the Galaxy S10 is due for release this month. The rumor mill is suggesting big improvements in screen size coverage, processing, fingerprint reader below the screen and our main interest slow motion video capture. It seems the next phone will improve on the video quality of the slow motion and may even add better time recording at 960fps 720p but will not introduce higher resolutions.
The Galaxy S9 and Note 9 already handle slow motion very well but we wanted to see better time recording on the 960fps slow motion mode above the fractions of a second offered by last years release. The OnePlus 6, for example, offered 3.75 seconds recording at 480fps which made it our slow motion phone for the 2018 calendar year.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Apple has released a preview video showing the video capabilities of the iPhone Xs in 4k 30, 4k 60 and slow motion 1080p 240fps. You can see in the liquid and sound part of the demo the quality delivered by the full HD slow motion but it is hard to judge per pixel sharpness and or artifacts from such a short high shutter video. We will need more real-world samples in order to see if there has been an improvement from the iPhone X of 2017.
We have isolated a part of the footage to see the slow-motion compression and we could detect aliasing in the edges, softness and compression artifacts which are typical of mobile phone high frame rates. The iPhone Xs seems to still have them to some degree. Color and motion on the codec seem to be excellent especially in 4k which looks extremely detailed and with more than acceptable dynamic range.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Apple just released 3 new iPhones and a 4th generation watch. These are all about the screen and speed and not really big new capabilities. It is all refinement and flawless execution but video fans will look at these phones as a continuation of last year’s specs with a better codec and possibly better bit rates and image quality but not much else. The iPhone X and 8 still remain relevant which is expected in an “s” upgrade cycle.
Gone are the big leaps of frame rates and Apple is capping at 1080p 240fps while completely ignoring rivals like the Galaxy S9,OnePlus 6 and Sony Xperia XZ series when it comes to super slow motion video. Apple was at the forefront of these technologies with the iPhone 6 but now have really rested on their laurels while the competition leapfrogs in video capabilities when it comes to frame rates. Others will point out that even when the high speed is restricted you will now get better quality footage in all modes which is certainly an upgrade.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The just released Xperia XZ3 had a lot of rumors surrounding the slow-motion capability which was to be a cut above previous releases but as first-hand reviewers have shown, the camera module is carried over from the XZ2 and what the phone really changes are the first ever Sony OLED display in HDR, larger battery and a larger screen as main feature changes.
The Slow Motion component is unchanged from the XZ2 at 960fps in Full HD 1080p and 720p with just 6.4 seconds worth of playback at 30fps and 3.2 seconds at 1080p 30fps timeline. The hone only records for 0.1 seconds at 960fps in 1080p and 0.2 sec for 720p. Hardly a usable slow motion format for the people looking to capture long slow motion in the several second time-range.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
Now that a few days have passed we now have the first few samples of what the Galaxy Note 9 is capable of in 960fps slow-motion mode. It shows about the same effective resolution as the Galaxy S9 and S9+ which share the same camera system. The Note 9 is supposed to increase the dynamic range but it is unclear how much benefit it will show in a resolution starved 720p high-speed mode.
The best selling factor for the Note 9 as a slow-motion device is the doubling of recording time to 0.4 seconds from the 0.2sec available on the Galaxy S9. This transforms into a 12.8-second video played back at NTSC 30p which makes it much more enjoyable than the 6.4 sec on the other Samsung phone.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
