The Google Pixel 4 XL Review: Stuck In The Past In 2019
by Andrei Frumusanu on November 8, 2019 11:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Pixel 4
- Pixel 4 XL
Camera - Daylight Evaluation
Naturally, the main selling point of the Pixel series is the phone’s camera(s). Google puts a lot of thought into the software processing of the Pixel’s camera and it’s able to differentiate itself by means of software trickery. The Pixel 4 this year upgrade the main camera sensor to a new unit which features better noise handling and dynamic range, and Google also claims to have improved the HDR+ algorithm for daylight pictures. Let’s see if this pans out.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
In the first scene, the one thing that immediately pops out is that the Pixel 4’s colour temperature is a lot warmer than the Pixel 3’s. Unfortunately, this is a degradation as the scene is too warm and the sky starts to become far to grey compared to the actual scene.
The composition and exposure is otherwise extremely similar to that of the Pixel 3, which again for this particular scene, isn’t good because it’s far too dark and the scene is lacking highlights. Looking at the histogram of the picture we see there’s barely any content in the last 20% of the levels even though we’re capturing this on a clear sky with bright sun. The left building in particular is very muted on the Pixel compared to the more representative results of the iPhone 11 or Galaxy S10.
On the new telephoto lens, colour temperature is also off. The exposure and composition is extremely similar to the iPhone 11 here, both suffering from limited dynamic range compared to the S10.
Cropping on the viewfinder and taking super resolution zoom photos, we can see that the Pixel 4 XL does better than other phones with just 2x optical magnification, however when viewing the picture at its native resolution we still clearly see we’re a ways off from achieving equivalence to a higher optical magnification module such as the 3x zoom module on the Mate 30 Pro.
Detail on both the main and telephoto cameras are comparable and competitive with the best phones out there.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
In this shot, the Pixel 4 is able to showcase its higher dynamic range compared to the Pixel 3. The phone has better exposure and the shadows are much better defined. It’s still behind the iPhone and in particularly the S10’s, at least the Snapdragon variant as the Exynos fell flat on its face with the local tone mapping of the HDR processing.
The colour temperature of the telephoto again is off here as it’s much too warm and the highlights are again a bit weak given the sunlight.
In the maximum zoom at 8x, again, the Pixel 4 is able to showcase an advantage in quality over other 2x units such as from Samsung and Apple, but the benefit is relatively limited as it again falls behind Huawei’s 3x module.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
While maintaining a relatively similar signature, the Pixel 4 here is able to showcase better dynamic range compared to the Pixel 3; it’s able to more accurately resolve the trees in the scene and actually capture the leaves while the P3’s shadows were quite crushed. The iPhone does better with the foreground brightness while the Snapdragon S10 further has the best dynamic range in the background elements.
Again for the telephoto module, Google’s super zoom is a benefit along with the 16MP higher resolution sensor, however it’s again not comparable to a sensor with higher magnification.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
This shot was taken facing the sun which is always a very tough situation for most cameras. Google’s worst attribute here is again the colour temperature is warmer than it should be and also a degradation compared to the Pixel 3. We notice the much-improved dynamic range in the shadows. Google here opts to raise the shadows more while Apple was better able to supress the halo of the sun. Samsung still remains ahead as it’s able to do both. We see similar results in the telephoto shots.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
The scene here had a lot of contrast in it comparing the sunlit left side versus the dark and shadow-cast right. It’s a good example of the differences between the shadow handling between the Pixel 4 and 3. Previously, the Pixel 3 would just clip things to black with too dark shadows, whilst the Pixel 4 is making efforts to actually retain the scene. This hits some limits as we’re seeing extremely pronounced noise in the P4’s result. Samsung has issues with shadows on the S10/S while the S10/E has very blurry details. Apple and Huawei both have the best overall results.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
Facing away from the sun the results aren’t quite as drastically different. The Pixel 4 is competitive but I think the iPhone produces the overall best results here.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ]
The Pixel 3’s sky here is again just more blue and in line with what other phones are capturing, whilst the P4’s rendition is warmer.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
The Pixel 4’s most obvious change here is again better shadow renditions and more visible presence of the trees. Again very conservative conservation of highlights compared to Apple and Samsung, most notable in the trees and leaves.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
The forest is also a strenuous test for detail retention. The Pixel phones here have the best behaviour as they do not suffer from HDR merging issues or from degrading noise reduction filters, and are able to retain the details of the leaves throughout the scene.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
In this next shot in easier indoor lighting, differences between the phones again diminish. Again for me the issue here is again colour temperature as things are yet again too warm and the yellows are too strong.
[ Pixel 4 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
[ Galaxy S10+ (S) ] - [ Galaxy S10+ (E) ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P30 Pro ] - [ G8X ] - [ Xperia 1 ]
The Pixel 4’s dynamic range here is again evident as it’s able to much better preserve the shadows. The composition and colours are very close to the iPhone 11.
Camera Daylight Conclusion
Overall, the Pixel 4’s camera performance was a relatively mixed bag for me. The biggest downside in my opinion was that the phone had a ton of scenarios where it simply got the colour temperature wrong. This is a bit ironic because it’s one of the key points Google made about the new Pixel 4 camera software which is meant to use machine learning to better identify scenes. I just didn’t see the benefit in my time with the phone and more often than not it reproduced more inaccurate colours than the Pixel 3.
Where the P4 definitely made a big upgrade is in the dynamic range ability of the new sensor. The P2 and P3’s lack of shadow detail was for me the one of the phone’s largest weaknesses as I just wasn’t very fan of the captures. There’s actually a lot of people who were fan of this look because it looked more “contrasty”, with some vendors such as OnePlus even going as far as degrading their cameras in software updates and destroying shadow detail just to copy the past Pixel’s look. I’m really glad that Google has fixed this aspect of the Pixel camera and I think it’s a notable upgrade for the picture quality.
In terms of detail, the Pixel 4 does very well. There’s not much difference to the P3, and you’d also have to go pixel peeping to see major differences compared to Apple and Samsung. There’s going to be more differences in the HDR tone-mapping, and Google is falling behind a bit in terms of the dynamic range it can capture compared to the competition.
The telephoto module on the Pixel 4 is ok. A lot of the times it suffered similar colour temperature issues as the main sensor, and it’s also quite weaker in dynamic range compared to the S10 and iPhone 11’s telephoto cameras. The detail of the 16MP sensor is very good, and the inclusion of super zoom does improve digital zooming results, however I wouldn’t say it goes far enough as to it being a definitive competitive advantage as it’s not that major in terms of quality leap – Huawei’s 3x telephoto unit for example is clearly a better sensor.
My biggest problem with the Pixel 4 camera was the capture experience. The phone really needed to somehow impress me with the telephoto module in order for me to be able to rationalise Google’s decision of not adopting an ultra-wide-angle lens. The best anecdote I can talk about here is my own experience at Google’s launch event in New York. As I was visiting the city and walking down the streets with the Pixel 4 in one pocket and the S10 in the other, I found myself taking essentially all my shots with the S10, with most of them using the UWA simply because the city’s impressive buildings and skyline was just impossible to capture and properly frame on a regular angle camera module. LG, Samsung, and Apple all have figured out that the UWA takes precedence over the telephoto module if having to make a choice between the two, and in this regard, it feels like Google is still stuck in 2017/2018, and the omission is a definitive mistake for the Pixel 4.
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Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
It goes up to 600 nits in HDR video content, I don't currently have a good methodology to measure that.s.yu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Daylight:I now realize that the crushed black issue is probably not really an issue, it's an attempt to hide the raised noise floor resulting from stacking underexposed shots. Take the poorly lit loading area of that building in sample 3 for example, Pixel 3 displays a similar depth into the shadows to iP11P and S10+, but Pixel 4 goes further at the cost of a lot more noise, while Mate30P simply has more shadow DR because of the larger sensor and that it doensn't use such a stack.
Also I don't believe the difference in shadow mapping(darker, but far from pitch black leaves, vs. lighter leaves) is evidence of raised DR. It's only raised DR if deeper shadows are revealed at the cost of no more noise, or if the same shadow is now less noisy, but neither is true as evident in the foreground shadow of sample 4, Pixel 4's shadow is, as I noticed at GSMA without even a direct comparison, more noisy than Pixel 3's. Not only noisy but flat-looking, an overdone HDR effect. It's so bad there's blotching, under the roof of the building to the left in sample 4. The costs seem to notably outweigh the gains, or Pixel 4 used an even faster shutter for this specific shot to recover more highlight, resulting in worse shadows. In this shot iP11P's hybrid bracketing approach utilizing longer exposure time for some of the frames shows its strength and delivers the most solid shadows among the different stacking approaches. So if Apple were to lift shadows to the same extent as Pixel 4 then we might have been able to see deeper shadows back in sample 3.
Come to think of it, Pixel 4's noisy shadows were even notable in the official samples leaked before launch. I thought it was due to pre-retail firmware but I was too optimistic.
Look's like Apple's is the best overall but Pixel 3 has the most stable detail retention. Samsung still lacks detail as it has been for quite some time but at least DR wise it generally matches Apple. Huawei's latest Mate30P greatly dials down both sharpening and NR resulting in a surprising number of keepers, only sometimes sharpening would seem too low yielding in what's now not waxyness but a thin haziness, or maybe the sharpening threshold is too high.
Low light:
In the first sample Pixel 4 obviously added more NR, not a good choice as the noise level of Pixel 3 in this image is completely manageable, more NR only smeared the output. iP11P seems between the two Pixels in a number of metrics. Huawei's night mode apart from somewhat aggregated texture intensely suppresses highlights at the cost of various artifacts present since P20P, can't say I ever liked it.
Sample 2: Again Pixel 4 is rather taking the shove the noise floor in your face approach rather than actually yielding more shadow DR, just look at the blotchy sky compared to its predecessor, however it's able to better recover highlights from the office windows.
In the castle sample Pixel 4 definitely does something right, it's not only much cleaner but the blotchy sky is gone. Also I suspect less falloff from the new lens, which yields better corners. Mate30P's technically very large UWA is better than the Samsung's tiny sensor yet a lot worse than the main, perplexing as this sensor's output stacked should still be competitive, also the fact that Mate30P's night mode is only ~21mm equiv. which is halfway between the other two UWA(~12-13) and the mains, in fact leaning toward the FoV of the mains is another issue to consider.
Second last sample: Apple's algorithm of being able to extract data from relatively sufficient light but complete inability to work with deeper shadows in low light reminds me of the Kandao RAW+ I tried out recently, it's similar in that decent data from a single frame could be greatly improved when stacked, but really poor data from a single frame is left untouched no matter how many frames you stack, which could result in very clean highlights yet completely useless shadows at a certain noise level.
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Thanks for your input, great post.s.yu - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
:)s.yu - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
Thanks for the great samples, your hands seem even steadier than before and the framing is far more consistent than what I expect of handheld comparisons.hoodlum90 - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Great analysis and I agree with much of your comments. Each of these cameras provide a slightly different look with different emphasis placed on Noise Reduction / Detail, White Balance, shadows, highlights, etc. I think a lot of it comes down to your individual preference.Personally I do not like how Samsung applies a lot of noise reduction which impacts detail. But I know there are many that prefer this.approach.
The Night scenes seam to provide the greater variance. One example is the Castle where the S10, Pixel and iPhone provide similar renderings with differences in white balance, noise reduction and detail. The P30 Pro seems to take a different approach that I do not like. In this scene the P30 Pro provided a more flat lighting that seems unrealistic. The background trees are the brighter green and the sky has lost all cloud detail. This reminds me of the HDR from the previous gen iPhones that also did not look realistic.
s.yu - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link
"Personally I do not like how Samsung applies a lot of noise reduction which impacts detail."Yeah, me neither. What's even more worrying was that the Note10 series had that up a notch compared to the S10 series which was at least largely on par with Note9 and S9. There's hope for a different turn if S11 uses that new HMX, or at least 27MP would still match the pixel downsampled to 12MP, but there's also speculation that the flagship won't use the best and largest sensor(seeing how Mi Note 10 is close to 1cm thick it makes sense).
"The Night scenes... that I do not like."
Yeah, me neither. :) It's too flat, not only from Andrei's review but also from GSMA's review that came out faster with far fewer samples. In some instances P30P/Mate30P would suppress highlights so much that a night scene is turned to a dusk scene as street lamps look dim and weak and cast light not significantly brighter than the surroundings. It's completely overdone and it's a mistake I wouldn't have made 10 years ago when I just started to post process my photos.
Also if you look closely at the trees I would suspect that it's artificially colored. RYYB should distinguish green poorly(it leaks longer wavelength through by design after all) and the green looks mushy with a fake-looking color tone leaning towards cyan. I wouldn't be surprised if this color was filled by the so-called "AI" as it might have recognized trees when the camera failed to determine the actual color in that area, while it's not precise enough for a more convincing fill.
hoodlum90 - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
There is a little trick to force the Night Mode option on the iPhone 11. The iPhone seems to determine the mode based on what it is focusing on. If you manually focus on the one of the darker area in the night photos where Night Mode was not an option, then it would show up as an option. You just need to remember to manually lower exposure as the scene may end up brighter than expected. Something similar can be done to enforce the "deep fusion" mode in certain instances although that is more difficult to determine as the iPhone doesn't tell you when this mode is used.This seems to be a quirk that Apple can easily fix but for now needs to be worked around manually.
Spencer1 - Sunday, November 17, 2019 - link
Thanks for this nugget. I’ll try it when I get my unit.Hulk - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
I only care about the following things when checking out a phone.How does it feel in my hand?
How is the display?
How long does the battery last?
How fast does the camera open?
How good is the camera?
Honestly all high end phones are pretty good on these points. I have a Pixel 2 because I'm a Google Fi subscriber. I'll pass on the Pixel 4. I don't see any significant improvements on the points I listed above.