Is the shutterbug of the Android Samsung Galaxy S4 better than iPhone 5? It is, so tells a test conducted by DxOMark, a French firm that specialises in camera optics and image sensor analysis.
DxOMark has given the new Samsung Galaxy S4 a score of 75, while Apple's iPhone 5 is placed just below it with a score of 72. iPhone 5 may claim to be the number one mobile phone opted for taking pictures (remember it's last month's ad that appeared claiming, "Everyday, more photos are taken with the iPhone, than any other camera."), but it may not be the best choice if we are to go by the scores.
While the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iphone 5 are occupying the second and third ranks respectively for image quality, it is Nokia's 808 Pureview that has topped the charts with a whooping score of 77. But Pureview comes with Symbian operating system, which attributed to its commercial failure. Symbian lags behind both Android and iOS.
According to DxO, fourteen aspects of the mobile camera, including both still and video quality were analysed by the firm's imaging experts. The scores for aspects like exposure and contrast; colour; autofocus; texture; noise; artifacts; flash and stabilisation were given for each camera and then the total score calculated.
Galaxy S4, which is just behind Nokia's pureview, is followed by Apple's iPhone 5, Apples's iphone 4S, Samsung's own Galaxy Note II and S III with the same score of 72. Samsung Galaxy S4 recently broke records set by previous Galaxy phones by hitting more than 10 million sales figure in the first month of its launch.
According to DxO, while Nokia Pureview's great sensor achieves great image quality in low-light with higher pixel count, Samsung Galaxy S4 is way behind with its noise reduction alone. In bright colour, S4 utilises its efficient AF and dependable auto-exposure systems that can maximize image details from 13 megapixel sensor to "deliver images with fully saturated colour".
Some of the flaws that seem to negate out S4's overall image quality according to DxO is ringing, were halos that appear near image's edges; little colour-shading in tungsten light along with inferior stabilization and aliasing effect in video.
