Technology - Google News

Pixel 3's 'Super Res Zoom' still can't match Apple's iPhone XS camera
Apple will sell a clear case for the iPhone XR
Call Of Duty's 'Blackout' Doesn't Truly Compete With 'Fortnite' For Two Simple Reasons

Pixel 3's 'Super Res Zoom' still can't match Apple's iPhone XS camera

Posted: 12 Oct 2018 05:37 AM PDT

Google finally unveiled the new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL earlier this week, putting an end to all the leaks and rumors that have been flooding the web for months. For reasons that we’ve covered a dozen times by now (a shipment of Pixel 3 XL prototypes was allegedly stolen and sold on the black market) it felt like we knew just about everything there was to know about the company’s third-generation Pixel phones long before they were unveiled on stage in New York City this past Tuesday. Of course, leaks never paint a complete picture and we learned plenty of new and interesting details during Google’s press conference. Not surprisingly, several of those details pertained to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL’s camera.

Apart from the fact that Google’s Pixel phones get instant access to new Android releases while owners of rival phones typically have to wait several months for updates, the cameras on Google’s Pixel phone lineup have been among the phones’ biggest draws. In fact, last year’s Pixel 2 is still considered by some people to be the best camera phone available to this day. That will undoubtedly change next week when the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are released, but can a single-lens camera really outperform the dual- and triple-lens cameras on other recent flagship smartphones?

Reviewers will undoubtedly spend plenty of time pitting the new Pixel 3 camera against other leading camera phones. While we wait for those extensive comparisons, there are already some interesting morsels that have been trickling out since Google’s press conference last week. Google announced some very cool new software features that will help further enhance the camera experience on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and one in particular was put to the test earlier this week.

Much has been made of Google’s decision to keep a single-lens camera on the back of its new third-gen Pixel phones. This is an especially hot topic considering the fact that Google added a dual-lens camera to the front of both phones. Of course, the company made the logic behind its decision perfectly clear during the event. The dual-lens selfie cam exists solely to facilitate wide-angle selfies that fit more into the frame. Since rear-facing cameras are typically used to shoot subjects that are much further away, this is less of an issue.

Google has managed to use software tricks to compensate for all of the features enabled by dual-lens cameras on other phones. The question, of course, is how well those software tricks work. We’ve already seen that portrait mode photos taken with single-lens cameras can be quite impressive, and now Google’s new “Super Res Zoom” feature on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL has been put to the test.

One of the best things about pairing a telephoto lens with a standard wide-angle lens is optical zoom. Google doesn’t have a dual-lens camera on the back of its new phones though, so the company’s engineers created an enhanced digital zoom feature that’s intended to provide zoomed photos that are just as clear as photos captured using optical zoom. Does Super Res Zoom deliver on that tall order? Maybe not.

Via Reddit, we’re pointed to a quick test that was posted on Twitter by a blogger the day after Google’s Pixel 3 event. The test couldn’t have been simpler. He snapped the same photo with a Pixel 3 and an iPhone XS while both phones were zoomed to 2x. Apple’s iPhone XS has a secondary telephoto lens so it uses optical zoom up to 2x, while the Pixel 3 uses digital zoom. The image below shows the result from the iPhone XS on the left and the result from the Pixel 3 on the right.

Image Source: Daniel Bader, Twitter

You can view the full-resolution versions of the images right here, but you probably don’t need to because the results couldn’t be more clear. Google’s Super Res Zoom is impressive indeed, but the clarity doesn’t even come close to matching the photo captured using the iPhone XS’s optical zoom. We’ll add that the color reproduction and tone also look much better in the iPhone XS’s photo.

Of course, this isn’t a thorough comparison and we still have no idea how Google’s new Pixel 3 camera will match up with the iPhone XS overall. What we can say, however, is that Google’s enhanced digital zoom is impressive, but it already seems clear that it’s no match for real optical zoom.

Image Source: Zach Epstein, BGR

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Apple will sell a clear case for the iPhone XR

Posted: 12 Oct 2018 07:44 AM PDT

Apple's been selling its own silicone and leather iPhone cases for years now, but for the first time, it will sell a clear case with the release of the iPhone XR, as spotted by 9to5Mac. The iPhone XR will come in six different colors — black, white, red, yellow, blue, and coral — so it makes sense that Apple would want to sell transparent cases to show off the new designs. The announcement on its official iPhone XR accessories has been mysteriously missing from any US press materials, but a press release on Apple's Canadian Newsroom shows that the clear case will go on sale for $55 CAD, which is about $42 USD. 9to5Mac obtained a marketing image of the phone case, shown below.

Although Apple's silicone cases sell for $39 in the US, and the transparent cases may sell for around that price, it still sounds like a lot to pay for transparent plastic. Alternatively, Speck is also selling a clear iPhone XR case for $40, but its cases offer more protection with raised bezel guards. But iPhone XR owners may want to get their hands on an Apple-official clear case for the first time, one that doesn't have third-party logos.

Unlike the iPhone 5C, which also came in colorful backings, the iPhone XR has a glass back instead of plastic, so it may be worth investing in a clear case if you want to show off the color while protecting your phone at the same time. The case isn't available online yet, but it'll most likely be available when the iPhone XR launches on October 26th. Apple hasn't said whether it'll be released in the US, but we've reached out and will update when we hear back.

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Call Of Duty's 'Blackout' Doesn't Truly Compete With 'Fortnite' For Two Simple Reasons

Posted: 12 Oct 2018 08:03 AM PDT

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4Credit: Activision

Here's a small indication of what publisher Activision thinks about Blackout, the new battle royale mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, out today. As with all games, there's a minimum amount you need to download before you can start playing Black Ops 4. And if you boot up the game at that minimum viable moment, you'll notice something on the mode select screen. You won't be able to play zombies and you won't be able to play traditional multiplayer, because Blackout is the first thing the game downloaded. And why wouldn't it be?

Blackout has already made a splash in the battle royale space for the sheer fact of existing. It's the first entry into the genre from a AAA franchise, and it's the first post-Fortnite release that has a broad swath of shooter fans ginned up to play. Which is convenient, because it's good: it takes the rock-solid shooter foundations of the Call of Duty franchise and turns them on their head in a game mode that favors caution and intentional positioning over the constant chaos that marks team deathmatch.

As Paul Tassi notes, Blackout is a massive problem for the already-struggling PUBG, which is now looking a whole lot like a budget version of Blackout. The two games pursue a similar aesthetic and gameplay, but so far Call of Duty looks to be doing so better, with fewer technical glitches, and with the developer power of Treyarch and partner studios for post-launch support. But PUBG was already on the decline. The real question is: what does this mean for Fortnite?

The two couldn't look more different while still being in the same genres. Fortnite is bright and cartoony, Call of Duty is photorealistic and inevitably somewhat grim. Fortnite revolves around hypermobility, absurd stunts and its signature building system, while Call of Duty leans on a tactical shooter concept bolstered by more elaborate vehicles. But even so, these are both battle royale games, and so they're bound to interact.

I still can't help but feel that Blackout just doesn't really compete with Fortnite for two very simple reasons. It's not free, and it's not on phones.

It can be easy to miss this crucial difference if you're playing both of these games next to each other and evaluating them simply on their design merits. But a huge part of Fortnite's explosion has been its hyper-accessibility, and arguably a huge part of its early lead over PUBG was the fact that Epic launched it for free. That's why we see a huge audience playing this in middle schools and even younger, and that's how Fortnite was able to put up such colossal numbers in a relatively short period of time. If you want to play Blackout you need to spend $60, and that's if you already have a capable PC, Xbox One or PS4. If you want to play Fortnite all you need is the phone that might already be in your pocket.

And that's going to dictate how Fortnite interacts not just with Blackout, but with other big games like Battlefield 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2. Its presence on mobile and lower-end PCs just means that it has access to massive audience that Call of Duty doesn't, and that means that these two games can comfortably coexist without dramatic competition despite being in the same genre.

Me? I'll be moving on to Blackout at least for a while, because I'm terrible at building and I'm not a huge fan of aiming bloom.

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