HTC U11 vs. LG G6: Which has the best phone camera? - danielsunts1970

amurray@idgcommunications.com The LG G6 is our top smartphone camera, but the HTC U11 packs some serious punch. Fit prohibited our testing to see if the HTC U11 captures the top spot!

Your smartphone likely includes the most important camera you own: the camera that's sitting in your pocket, ready and waiting to get images at a moment's notice. We've been doing a series of smartphone tv camera tests to determine which phone has the absolute optimal camera, and in real time it's time to comparison the red-hot HTC U11 against our current top piece, the LG G6.

A bit about myself: I'm a professional cinematographer and photographer. For my 24-hour interval job, I shoot, edit, and sometimes perform in videos for PCWorld. For my camera examination, I pay back attention to specific parameters, mixing some practical considerations with my personal professional interests. I check gritty details that are important to pros, but likewise use the phone cameras just like you probably do: In auto mode, as if I right whipped my phone from my pocket.

Our tests flow from through color, clarity, and exposure, then look into duplicate features and exploiter experience. And, from that we determine a winner! I'll go into farther inside information about what's covered in each test as we progress through this article.

The HTC U11 faces the dominant LG G6

In earlier call up tv camera shootouts, the LG G6 took along the Google Pixel and scarce emerged victorious. The LG G6 returned to the ring shortly subsequently, this clock time against the Samsung Extragalactic nebula S8, and barely poor a sweat off. Now comes the HTC U11, whose camera garnered praise from DXOMark, a popular television camera testing internet site.

In front we get to my mental test images, countenance's go o'er hardware specs. The reigning champion, the LG G6, sports cardinal 13MP cameras, united standard and one wide-angle. The authoritative lens has an aperture value of f/1.8, while the ample has a f/2.4 lens. The standard lens has a powerful optical image stabilization (OIS) scheme, only the spacious does not (nor does it ask one). This is complete restricted by LG's amazing Camera App, which is packed to the gills with features.

The HTC U11 contender, but then, houses a single 12MP sensor, a faster f/1.7 lens, and threefold-pixel autofocus. Like the G6, it has OIS and HDR.

Both cameras tout their patented HDR processing. Look-alike most mid-range and mellow-end camera phones, the HTC U11 and LG G6 have calibrated from traditional HDR (which antimonopoly uses photo information) to an approach that lets the smartphones run up jointly multiple photos taken at the exact same moment. The idea is to create the best possible shot, protective more point and getting obviate unwanted randomness. This is why most smartphones enable HDR by default option—and why I kept it that way for our testing.

In real time let's dig into the results…

Colouring quality

Winner: HTC U11

The color test is pretty simple. We'ray assessing the accuracy of some color replication and Caucasian balance, and looking into how much saturation is applied to the final image.

HTC U11 vs LG G6 camera test shot — In outside nature shots, both cameras reproduced colors extremely well.

Some cameras fared well overall with coloring material accuracy, even in blended-lighting situations. The same goes for tricky light-colored balance. Their faults are minor. The G6 definitely pumps upfield the impregnation in careful situations, though non every bit readily as the Samsung S8 does.

The U11 struggled to get an accurate bloodless residual in low-light scenarios. One could indicate that the U11's orange-ish glow more closely resembles what's in the scene, just I prefer the tv camera to maintain a consistent, unconditioned white, such as the G6 maintained.

Aside from that, I loved how the U11—such same the Google Pixel—handles its colors, keeping them nigher to true life story rather than amping them up.

Keep reading to see how the HTC U11 handles clarity in complex images.

Clarity

Success: LG G6

For lucidness, we look at the sharpness of the lens across the whole frame, arsenic considerably as how much sharpness the phone adds to the ultimate fancy. This was another close fight off, with just slight variations in genus Lens acuteness.

I found some inconsistencies with the U11's lens around the outer edge, but non enough to dampen the results. LG loves to apply a good sum of money of sharpening and noise reduction to the final envision, but it doesn't bug ME as aware atomic number 3 IT's a prima facie paradigm to begin with.

The low-inflamed results challenged the cameras most. I was actually stupefied by how little noise reduction the HTC U11 applies, leaving the photos with plenty of ingrain. But then, the LG G6's resultant role looks a bit excessively processed, even though it holds more particular and has a superior OIS.

I'm going away to give this one to the G6, but only by a pel of chroma noise.

Exposure

Winner: HTC U11

The third test is exposure, which revolves around how the cameras choose to expose for a scene and when they decide to fire their traditional HDR systems. Surprise-surprise, this test was another close promise, with each camera nailing complex lighting scenarios prison term and fourth dimension again.

LG G6 camera exposure test shot — The G6 tends to protect highlights, resulting in a darker shot compared to the U11.

HTC U11 camera exposure test shot — The U11 has No problem risking overexposure, which lights up the tower more compared to the G6.

The G6 did tend to expose scenes slightly little than the U11 did. The G6 was besides very aggressive in terms of protecting highlights. This only became a problem when shooting straight at the sunshine, like in the last below.

The G6 fought so rocky to hold highlight information that the Dominicus just appears to be Pieris brassicae dot in the toss with sticky lines. The U11's sunlight has a nice flow-off that may technically lose the highlights, but information technology's allay a much more pleasing and natural image. Between two good cameras we have to split hairs somewhere, so I'm leaning toward the U11 on this unrivalled.

Close, we kvetch some user experience and pick a winner, plus, bask the bonus shots.

User experience

Winner: LG G6

We all make love that image quality solitary tells division of a tv camera's story, because if the interface is overly confusing, no one will usance it. In response to reader feedback, consequently, we've added user experience to our gunplay.

For near common functions, like television camera launch and autofocus speed, both cameras were connected point. As we moved into new functions suchlike RAW photo-taking and manual way, however, they diverged a bit. The HTC U11 has a marked lag after taking photos saved to RAW, for case. This may be tolerable if you're taking your time with well-composed shots, but the lag simply shouldn't go on given how much horsepower is in this phone. What's Thomas More, the U11's hand-operated mode is just a unwieldy user interface overlay that feels like an rethink compared to the G6's sleek, user-friendly version.

Also, with the LG G6, you get not one, but two rise cameras at your disposal, and eve LG's panoramic-angle tv camera is superior-quality. The U11's field of view is wider than the G6's main lens in order for it to be more useable in every situation. Still, in the G6, having a Thomas More distinct intermediate shot paired with a wide angle gave me much interesting options.

The alone real ding I can come finished with for the LG G6 is that I had a rough sledding sighted the screen in very glary situations. But that's a minor point, and I nonmoving can't conceive of other smartphone tv camera I'd rather use for shooting images.

All-close to winner: LG G6

While HTC's U11 has a camera that stands up to the prizewinning of them, it isn't enough to top LG's G6. The G6 offers a great mix of out-of-the-air hole pizzazz for quick photos, and in favor of features that permit you polish and get creative with your shots. Having cardinal rear cameras at your disposal helps a good deal, and the features in LG's stock camera app are the superior come out thither. Is IT perfect? No. But later on attractive on troika of the former year's best smartphone cameras, the LG G6 is still standing.

The HTC U11 is clearly nary slouch, though, arsenic you'll see therein encore selection of many of its best photos from our shootout.

LG G6

Eminence: When you purchase something after clicking golf links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our assort link insurance for more details.