- There is a lot of great
smartphone cameras out there, guys.
But today I'm looking at
what might be the best one yet.
I'm not talking about the Samsung Galaxy S8.
I'm definitely not talking about the OnePlus 5.
I'm not even talking about the iPhone 7.
I'm looking at the HTC U11 today
aka The Squeeze Phone
that you guys might have heard about.
But this, this is supposed to be
the best smartphone camera yet.
Let's open it up,
take off the plastic.
HTC U11 come out.
Ooh, what color,
I forgot what color.
It's the blue one.
Sapphire blue I think it's called.
Whoa.
Oh my god.
That's crazy.
Oh my god, it warps my face too.
I was gonna say I could use it as a mirror
but that's not really an effective mirror.
It's more like a Snapchat filter on the back of your phone.
I mean that's the shiniest phone that there is.
Let's take some pictures now.
- I don't know what we're yelling about!
- So let's take a quick indoor selfie
and see how it does right off the bat.
Fix the hair
and smile.
Cheeks.
Now let's do the S8.
Alright.
One more left, iPhone 7 Plus.
A nice close-up selfie.
Alright, now that I got a chance
to put these photos side by side
looking at the HTC U11,
first thing I notice is
it's a pretty soft photo compared to the other two
and I took a couple photos
and they all look like this.
It's definitely not bad at all though
and I think I like it
more than the iPhone's close-up photo.
But the U11 is very close to the Galaxy's
except the Galaxy is much clearer.
Okay, so now let's do some outdoor photos
and I thought this would be a good shot to see
how well the phones can handle dark areas
and bright areas together
'cause I'm standing in the shadows
with the bright sky behind me
and I think they all do a great job
but the Galaxy kind of crushes those dark areas
which I don't really like too much.
The iPhone has some duller colors
with that more faded and natural look
but this kind of all comes down to preference
and the HTC U11 actually does a really nice job.
Beautiful colors.
Everything's properly exposed.
I mean it might actually be my favorite here.
Here is a similar example
where once again the iPhone's colors look so bland
compared to the other two
but that definitely makes it
for a more realistic looking photo instead of eye-catching.
The Galaxy kind of has cooler colors to it.
Overall the whole picture looks a little bluer than the rest
which I think looks pretty nice.
And I am pretty impressed so far with the HTC U11's camera.
It definitely is holding up pretty well against these guys
and it's pretty crazy too
when you think about how bad older HTC cameras were.
Okay, so here's a shot as the sun was setting a bit more.
The iPhone once again looks
a little more faded than the others.
It's also the darkest
but because of this you do get to see more colors
in that beautiful sky.
The HTC U11 is actually the brightest
so you don't get to see that beautiful sunset as much
but the main subject, the fountain,
is nice and bright which I do like
and the Galaxy is kinda in-between the iPhone and the HTC.
It's got a really crazy HDR mode
but once again those dark areas
seem extra dark with the Galaxy
but it actually doesn't hurt the photo this time.
So it's up to you guys to pick your favorite.
Let me know in the comments below.
I mean there is a lot of examples here
where all three photos look pretty much
the same as each other
and once again, all three look really good here.
It's kinda hard 'cause in outdoor photos
you kinda have to take a magnifying glass
to notice the differences.
It's in low-light where things
will start to get a little interesting.
But anyway, if we zoom in here,
you can see the darker shadows this time on the HTC U11
and I believe the HTC U11
is actually the sharpest of the bunch here.
I think overall in this shot,
it might be my favorite just by a hair.
There is one thing worth mentioning though
and that is that the iPhone 7 Plus
is the only phone here that has two camera lenses.
So you can do some cool things with it.
Okay, before we get into it,
look how crazy warm the Galaxy's photo is.
That definitely doesn't look very good.
On the iPhone, we can use the second camera lens
to optically zoom in two times
which creates a clearer photo.
So for reference, if we wanted to zoom in two times
with the U11 and the Galaxy,
it would be by digitally stretching the photo.
So not only will the quality not be as sharp
but you don't have that same effect with the background.
And also while we're here,
we can trigger the iPhone 7 Plus's
big camera feature portrait mode
which blurs the background for that cool DSLR look.
And although it isn't perfect
it's much better than the Galaxy's
pretty wonky selective focus mode
and unfortunately the HTC U11
doesn't have any feature like this.
So like I said, in outdoors it's kinda hard
for any of these phones to take bad pictures.
They all look good in their own ways
and it all comes down to personal preference really
and how you're gonna end up using the photos.
Do you like editing your photos
or do you like snapping the pic and being done?
The iPhone is always gonna be
the most natural-looking with its faded tone.
The Galaxy is gonna be very emphasized
with vibrant colors, dark shadows,
and sometimes crazy warm hues.
And the HTC U11 is kind of right in the middle.
It's always colorful, never too dark, always really sharp.
Now before we get into the big changes with low-light photos
let's try that selfie again since we're outdoors.
And man, one thing I love about the U11 and the S8
is that wide-angle lens they have.
The iPhone has some really good quality.
I mean it's actually the sharpest photo here
but it's just way too close up.
You can't see the background as much,
you can't even see my pants.
As for the S8 and U11, they're both so similar
but I gotta give it to the Galaxy S8
for being a little bit sharper.
Okay now, let's move into low-light
and that is where smartphone cameras usually struggle
and that is where we're gonna see the most differences.
Now first thing you probably notice
is how dark the Galaxy S8's photo is.
It's way too dark
and I tapped on the bottom of the tree on all three phones.
Once again, you can see how natural the iPhone is
with that faded look.
The iPhone is really afraid of getting rid of darker areas
where the HTC U11 darkens them just enough I think.
I think overall, yeah,
the HTC U11 is probably my favorite here in every way.
Okay, so here we kinda see the exact same stuff.
The three phones are really consistent in low-light.
The Galaxy is dark, I mean it's not that bad,
still very sharp, has some nice colors,
and has pretty much no noise
but compared to the others
the darkness does hurt it.
The iPhone seems pretty bland due to its dull colors
but it still looks nice
but definitely not as eye-catching as the HTC U11
with its saturated colors and brightness.
And now it's time for a good old fashioned Pop! Figure test
in some crazy low-light.
I'm actually pretty surprised how bright these pictures are
because they were in a very dark hallway.
The brightness here actually looks nowhere close
to what it really was
but anyway the HTC's U11 awesome low-light capabilities
eventually find its cut-off point
in extreme low-light conditions.
It's still trying really hard though
to be the low-light winner,
I mean it's definitely the brightest
but the colors aren't as nice as the iPhones or Galaxies,
as well as the sharpness and noise.
Okay, so switching over to the selfie camera with low-light.
Once again they're all very impressive for such a dark area
but I think the worst one is probably the HTC U11
just because it's not very clear.
There's a lot of noise.
It kinda looks like the iPhone is the clearest
but I don't know if that's just
because I'm bigger in the picture,
thanks to that not so wide-angle lens.
So here I'd probably pick the Galaxy S8.
So is the HTC U11 the best smartphone camera ever?
Well I mean it's definitely not the worst,
depending on your preference,
it may very well be the best one there
because it takes great outdoor pictures,
great low-light pictures.
The selfie camera, it's not the best
but let me know what you guys think in the comments below.
Thanks for watching guys and I'll see you later!