[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
Back at you... ;)

Here's what Anand said about the One's camera. And the sample pics agree. Under certain conditions the One's camera performs better. It's up to people to figure out which camera is best based on the conditions the majority of their photos will be taken under. It's a shame they have to. Samsung didn't even mention the camera in the SGS4 at the unveiling or on their microsite. HTC's the one that's called all the attention to themselves by trumpeting how revolutionary "UltraPixels" are. In side-by-side comparisons the One's camera certainly isn't "bad" but I question how "revolutionary" it is based purely on results.

So let's get down to brass tacks here - the image quality. The HTC One promises a lot but does it deliver? Well that depends on the scenario. When used in good lighting condition, the low resolution really takes its toll and while the per-pixel detail level is impressive the total resolving power is quite limited.

Colors are quite decent and images generally look pretty nice when zoomed at 100%, but we were surprised to see that a lot of noise is present. There is some purple fringing, too, so it's not perfect either. Overall, the gamble HTC took with the ultrapixels certainly doesn't pay off when in good lighting conditions. Just about every other high-end smartphone will produce better stills in that scenario.

To put things in perspective we did an impromptu shootout involving the HTC One and the Xperia Z. The One was shot in its native 16:9 aspect ratio while the Sony flagship camera was used to produce the 4:3 samples.

It doesn't take too much effort to spot the kind of advantage the highly-res sensor on the Xperia Z has over its rival, ultrapixels or not. Sure, the per-pixel quality of the HTC One is better, but the overall amount of captured detail is far superior on the Xperia Z photos.​

As for video, the biggest issue Anand flagged the SGS4 for was having a narrower FOV. The One's image stabilization is a great feature when it comes to video. If someone takes 70% video and 30% stills the One would be a far better choice camera wise. For people that primarily use their mobile for stills the SGS4 appears to stronger than the One but not correspondingly as weak in video outside living with the narrower field of view and lack of image stabilization.

Here's Anand's final words on the SGS4 vs. One as it applies to video.

Winner: HTC One. The HTC One takes this round thanks to its much wider field of view and OI. The Samsung Galaxy S4 can shoot great videos too, as long as you have steady hands and have enough room to take a step back.​

And stills

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S4. It's pretty clear that things are going in favor of the Galaxy S4 here. It produces sharper photos with better colors and there's resolution to crop things out. The narrower FoV is not ideal but it's not a deal-breaker. The HTC One lost this round, though to be fair it was never expected to win a head-on fight in good lighting conditions. Its photos are certainly good enough if you'll post them on Facebook or show them off on a TV, but don't come close to the samples produced with its competitor today.​

P.S. - We can all circle back to this if in fact the One's camera s/w update dramatically changes anything. As it is, the camera's performing the way HTC thought it should otherwise they wouldn't have shipped it.