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Grid comparison: the best smartphone cameras of all time (a.k.a. 'SteveMark'!)

The scores for each criteria are my own personal evaluations, based on my hands-on tests (see the footnotes for URLs) and picked according to image quality produced. You can apply your own weightings, though, and the page will multiply everything up and work out rankings according to your stated criteria. Models and scores: (10=excellent, 1=terrible). Weightings: 'Not'/'Quite'/'Very' multiplies scores by 0, 1 or 2 respectively.

Updated November 2018

To use the Grid:

  1. Work your way down the left hand side criteria, rating each according to how important it is to you
  2. Read off your personalised smartphone camera scores from the bottom row - which is best for you?
Criteria
 Importance to you Lumia 950/XL
950 cam
 iPhone Xs
iPhone X cam
 Google Pixel 3
Pixel 3 cam
 Nokia 808
808 cam
 Lumia 1020
1020 cam
 Galaxy K Zoom
K Zoom cam
 LG G7
g7 camera
 Galaxy S9+
S9+ camera
 Mate 20 Pro
Mate 20 Pro camera
 HTC U11
U11 cam
Image Capture
Daylight
(dynamic range in bright light)


10 9
 10 7
 8
 7
 9
 9
 9
 10
Low light, handheld
(lack of noise in artificial or dim lighting,
helped by larger sensor, OIS, longer exposures,
and multi-frame or multi-pixel combination)


10 9
 10
 6
 8
 6
 7
 8
 9
 8
Low light w/ flash
(lack of motion blur for people
when using flash)


6
 4
 6
 9
 8
 10
 4
 5
 5
 5
Dark/night landscape shots
(lens stabilisation for longer exposures
or multi-frame alignment techniques,
ability to focus, including dedicated night mode)


8
 7
 10
 2
 7
 5
 6
 7
 9
 6
Colour
(colour accuracy, white balance)


8 10
 10
 10 7 7
 9
 9
 10
 9
Detail
(amount of natural detail,
not artificially sharpened, or edge-enhanced,
helped by sensor resolution and
high quality optics)


9
 8 9
 9
 8
 6 8
 8
 5
 8
Purity
(irrespective of resolution,
lack of pixel-level artefacts and noise)


8
 7
 8
 10 10
 6
 6
 6
 2
 6
Zoom
(amount of usable lossless zoom,
factoring in resolution too)


5
 8
 6
 8
 8
 10 3
 8
 9
 2
Macro
(minimum focus distance, bokeh quality)


8
 8 8
 6
 6
 4
 8
 8
 10
 8
Landscape
(wide-angle scenes)


5 5 5 5 5 5 9
 5 9
 5
HDR
(aesthetic quality, usefulness,
and factoring in auto-algorithms)


9
 9
 10
 0 0 7
 8
 9
 9
 9
Panorama
(usability, resolution,
lack of stitching errors)


5
 10
 9 0 3
 6
 8
 8
 8
 8
Video Capture
Video
(overall image quality to 1080p)


9
 10
 10
 10
 10 8
 9
 10
 10
 10
Audio
(audio quality and dynamic range,
low hiss and artefacts,
mono or stereo?)


7
 8
 6
 10 7
 5
 10
 9
 8
 8
Stabilisation
(optical or electronic image stabilisation)


10 10 10
 4 8
 6 10
 10
 7
 10
High resolution video
(4K)


10 10 10 0 0 0 10 10 10 10
High framerate video
(60fps, 120+fps, etc.)


8 10
 10
 0 0 0 10
 10
 10
 10
Criteria
 Importance to you Lumia 950/XL
950 cam
 iPhone Xs
iPhone X cam
 Google Pixel 3
Pixel 3 cam
 Nokia 808
808 cam
 Lumia 1020
1020 cam
 Galaxy K Zoom
K Zoom cam
 LG G7
g7 camera
 Galaxy S9+
S9+ camera
 Mate 20 Pro
Mate 20 Pro camera
 HTC U11
U11 cam
Performance
Autofocus
(speed and reliability)


6
 8
 9 6
 4
 6 9 9
 10
 8
Pocket-to-picture
(speed of launching the camera,
through to getting the shot)


8
 9
 10
 9 3
 5
 10
 10
 10
 10
Shot-to-shot
(delay between consecutive
manually-actionned shots)


7
 10
 10
 9 2
 5
 10
 10
 10
 10
Features
Flash
(overall light output,
plus points for brevity and freezing
low light subjects)


7 6 8
 10 9 10
 5 7
 8
 7
Shutter
(presence of physical shutter button,
or use of other hardware buttons)


10 4
 5
 10 10 10 5
 5
 5
 5
Manual controls
(manual controls for focus, shutter speed, ISO etc.)


10 3
 5 9
 10 8 10
 10
 10
 10
Advanced modes
(e.g. bracketing, timer, interval)


8 6 6 10 10 8 10
 9
 10
 10
Pre-capture adjustments
(e.g. contrast, saturation, sharpness)


0 0 0 10
 0 0 0 0 0 0
Post-capture adjustments
(e.g. HDR, flash
adjustment of mix of frames)


10 3
 2
 0 0 0 0 0 2
 0
Optional RAW capture
(in parallel with JPG)


10 10 10 0 10 0 10 10 10 10
Portrait modes
(and other depth effects)


0 10 10
 0 0 0 8
 8
 8
 0
Criteria
 Importance to you Lumia 950/XL
950 cam
 iPhone Xs
iPhone X cam
 Google Pixel 3
Pixel 3 cam
 Nokia 808
808 cam
 Lumia 1020
1020 cam
 Galaxy K Zoom
K Zoom cam
 LG G7
g7 camera
 Galaxy S9+
S9+ camera
 Mate 20 Pro
Mate 20 Pro camera
 HTC U11
U11 cam
Overall   213
Winner		 201
Runner-up		 182 183 177 170 181 191 172 132

See also my Internet-based TV-style Phones Show...

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Also, if you're trying to buy one of the above phones, I highly recommend Amazon - more reliable than eBay and more new (and clearance) stock.

Thanks to Brian Cryer for his help with the original Javascript on this page and to Indrek Haav for his code modifications and suggestions!