118 TECH ADVISOR • APRIL 2020COMPARISON
when you tap the shutter, no matter the subject, mode,
or lighting condition.
The bigger jump over last year can be seen in the
iPhone 11’s Night Mode. While it will be criticized by
some as merely playing catch-up to Google’s Night
Sight, which debuted to wows on the Pixel 3, Night
Modeis a revelationfornighttimephotography,
withamind-blowingalgorithmthatproducesbetter
resultsthan the Pixel 4 in some instances.
The iPhone excels in its understanding of what’s
being shot. Other night modes simply amp up the
brightnessandexposurewithvaryingresults,while
theiPhone 11 does a better job of preserving the
shadows and overall integrity of the scene.
While both the iPhone 11 and the Pixel 4 XL
usuallysnuffedthecompetition,moreoftenthan
not,Ipreferredthenuancein theiPhone11’sshot.
WherethePixel4 XL’sNightSightshotsoftenseem
likea Photoshop brightening filter had been applied,
which affected clarity and sharpness, the iPhone 11’s
shots had deeper blacks, crisper details, and less
overall noise and graininess.
Small details aside, at times the iPhone 11 simply
floored the competition. As you can see in the
comparison shots opposite, all four phones did well
with pulling out the colour of the darts, but the board
on the wall is another story. The OnePlus 7T struggled
mightily with white balance (a constant issue when
shooting in low light with white backgrounds), and
the numbers in the S10+’s shot are barely visible. The
Pixel 4 XL handled the colour well, and illuminated the
colours in the board and most of the bottom numbers,