92 PCWorld NOVEMBER 2019FEATURE iPHONE 11 NIGHT MODE VS PIXEL 3 XL, GALAXY S10+ & ONEPLUS 6T
While the Pixel 3 XL (center) and Galaxy S10+ (right) all performed well, the iPhone 11 (left) enhanced the
ride and the sky behind it without losing a sense of reality.Pixel, and it often trounced it.
Take the shot of the framed photograph
on the previous page, taken in a room with
very little light. The S10+ struggles mightily to
make out shapes and colors. The Pixel 3 pulls
out an impressive level of detail. But the
iPhone 11’s shot looks like it was taken with
the lights on. The texture of the frame is
visible, the colors are sharp and accurate, and
my reflection on the glass is captured as part
of the scene. If you zoom in, you can even
read some of the words.
In the carnival shots, you can also see
Apple’s processing prowess in action. There’s
some slight blurriness in the shots of movingrides, but the end result looks more like a
stationary picture than a moving one. The
Google Pixel actually gets the edge here, due to
its excellent detail and the slight light trailing in
the iPhone 11 photo. But when the same ride
was stationary, the iPhone 11 was incredibly
impressive, even managing to capture a star
while enhancing the sky’s twilight hue.
Of course, Google’s Pixel 4 (go.pcworld.
com/pxl4) is right around the corner and will
surely improve on Night Sight. But at the
moment, Apple’s Night Mode is the one to
beat. In one fell swoop, Apple went from
the sidelines to stardom, and every other
phone maker should take notice.