Apple iPhone 3GS vs Google Nexus One

Have you got a time to think that how does the Nexus One 5-megapixel camera and its eye-searing flash stack up against the 3.2-megapixel, flashless camera module of the now-aging iPhone 3GS? Is the ability to take bigger, and better-lit photos worth touting as the end-all, be-all feature among smartphone cameras? The easiest way to figure that out is to run a few tests.

I’m not a camera-testing expert. I am an avid photographer with a handful of pro gear, as well as a few high school and college photography courses under my belt. I’m not even going to try to get into things like testing dynamic range, color sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, etc. So instead, I’ve set up the two cameras to take essentially the same photo in various situations, to see how the two stack up.

All photos in this comparison were taken within the same minute of each other, while balanced from a leveled tripod to maintain the same height and distance. Images were then transferred directly from the devices for analysis. All comparison shots are presented side by size, at full quality, without any recompression or conversion. Any timings were done with a stopwatch.

 
Basic Lens Specifications

Google Nexus One

• 5-megapixel camera (resolution: 2592×1944 pixels)
• Autofocus
• LED flash (optional)
• Aperture: unknown
• Focal length: unknown

Apple iPhone 3GS

• 3.2-megapixel camera (resolution: 2048×1536 pixels)
• Autofocus (can also be set by touching the screen to select focal point)
• Aperture: f2.8
• Focal length: 3.85mm

It’s worth noting that Apple is a little more liberal with the camera metadata, something the Nexus One could gain in a future software update. Right now, any photos snapped on it come without things like ISO, exposure time, aperture, and the lens’ fixed focal length. However, both come with embedded GPS metadata, which makes for easy geotagging. It’s just surprising that Google would have location, but not some of the more rudimentary camera info, within its metadata.

 
Camera Speed

Time To Boot Built-in Camera App:
iPhone 3GS: about 2.5 seconds
Nexus One: About a second

Lag Between Pressing Button (getting the shot, then returning to on-screen preview for next shot)
iPhone 3GS: A little less than 2 seconds
Nexus One: A little less than 2 seconds

 
Distortion
Both cameras exhibited very little distortion–at least not enough to ruin your photos, if you’re taking shots of things like buildings. Straight lines stay straight, and subjects that appear in the corners of the frame do not look bent or stretched. This isn’t very surprising, given that both lenses have fixed focal lengths and aren’t very wide.

 
Focal Length
The iPhone’s focal length is 3.85mm, but because of the tiny sensor’s crop factor, this ends up being equivalent to a 37mm lens. The Nexus One is noticeably wider. Shots taken with it, from the same place as with an iPhone, show much more of the scene within the frame. Using the Nexus One is basically like taking a big step back, if you were to be using the iPhone. This can come in handy, if you’re snapping pictures in a small room, or trying to get a tall building into your shot without having to change positions.

Both cameras make it easy to see what’s in the frame with a large preview display. Between the two, the Nexus One’s higher-resolution OLED screen presents a more vibrant image with noticeably deeper blacks. It also has a faster frame rate, leaving less on-screen blurring when you’re framing your subject.

Android’s camera app has a number of advanced settings the iPhone’s stock camera does not offer.

• The Nexus One’s camera app comes with a number of advanced settings the iPhone’s stock camera app does not. This includes the options to turn the flash on and off, to tweak the white balance, to apply a digital color filter, to pick the quality and size of the shot, to change the focus mode to infinity, and to turn geotagging on or off.

• The Nexus One’s camera lens is protected by the back of the phone’s case, which can be removed to access the battery, SIM card, and MicroSD slot. This could lead to a wealth of aftermarket camera add-ons, which, for the iPhone, have come in the form of cases.

• Photos taken on the Nexus One are automatically stored to the microSD memory card, meaning that you can retrieve your photos, even if the rest of the phone goes kaput.

it’s pretty clear that the Nexus One’s camera is more capable than what’s found in Apple’s 3GS. Even better, both of these cameras can be augmented with extra hardware goodies that can make photo taking in new directions. Software can help a phone’s camera go far beyond its stock capabilities.

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