When Apple introduced portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus nearly two years ago, it became a much talked-about and sought-after feature.
A phone that could give your photos that coveted look of a fancy, expensive camera? It sounded like a dream come true.
Since then, other premium smartphone makers have added the feature to their own devices. Samsung’s version is called Live Focus, and Google added its own version of the technology to both sizes of the Pixel and the Pixel 2.
Over the course of a few days, the phones were tested in all sorts of conditions and situations, like low light, indoor and outdoor light, and busy backgrounds. While all three phones had their own strengths and weaknesses, one phone was the most consistent.
A simple indoor shot presented unique challenges for all three phones.
What began as a seemingly simple trial — a small plant photographed on a black table — ended up being a bit more complex.
- The iPhone 8 Plus, on the left, looks pretty good, although it’s not as sharp as I would have liked, and the leaves in the back are a bit blurred.
- With the Pixel 2 XL, the plant is nice and sharp, but the background blur is strange and uneven. The Pixel 2 uses technology rather than lenses to create the blur, and in this case, it shows. The desk chairs aren’t blurred enough, and it’s distracting.
- The photo taken by Galaxy S9 is … fine. It’s not as sharp as the Pixel 2, but has a more even and less detailed background blur.
When taking this photo on both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Galaxy S9, I had to back away several feet to capture the same shot. This remained a theme throughout my tests because of the dual lenses — the Pixel 2 only has one lens, and could easily capture a shot at the distance I preferred. But every time I wanted to switch to either of the other phones, I had to move back several feet.
Winner: Pixel 2
When it came to shooting a portrait outside, there was a clear winner.
I took these three photos — one right after the other and standing in the same spot — and they all turned out completely different.
- The iPhone 8 Plus photo turned out OK, although it resulted in a much closer crop than either of the other two. Plus, the warmer nature of the iPhone’s camera made his skin tone look much more orange than it actually is in real life.
- The Pixel 2 photo is the best of the bunch. The color is most true-to-life, it’s the sharpest, and the background blur looks the best. This was taken on a rainy morning in New York, so it wasn’t that bright out, but the other two phones completely blew out the background.
- The Galaxy S9 didn’t take a great photo. The background is so blown out that it even affected the subject of the photo, eliminating a chunk of his arm. Plus, it added a yellowish tint to his skin that isn’t there in real life.
Winner: Pixel 2
This outdoor shot resulted in a close call between the iPhone 8 Plus and the Pixel 2.
In this case, there’s not a clear winner — it all comes down to personal preference.
- The iPhone 8 Plus captured a beautiful photo. The colors are rich, the details are sharp, and the blur is subtle and natural.
- The Pixel 2 also performed well here. The colors aren’t as rich or vibrant as the iPhone 8 Plus, but the phone still captured a beautiful photo — you can even make out the raindrops on the flower. Plus, it was easier to capture since I didn’t have to back away from the subject to get portrait mode to work.
- The Galaxy S9 once again didn’t fare well. In general, the photo is OK, but the flower is too blown out and you can barely make out any detail. You might be wondering at this point if it’s operator error, but I promise it’s not — with each test of the Galaxy S9, I usually had to take twice as many photos in an attempt to get a good one, and rarely succeeded.