Video Sample – HTC HD2 vs iPhone 3GS in poor light
November 14th, 2009 | 
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HTC HD2 in low light
There is a pretty vicious rumour going round that the iPhone 3GS’s camera is better than the HTC HD2’s.
Being lucky enough to have both devices available, I have made these two videos recorded in the same conditions.
iPhone 3GS in low light
Now I don’t know about you, but I am pretty convinced I will have a better video experience with the HD2 than the 3GS.
What do our readers think? Let us know in the comments below.
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I just wish the camera lens did not stick out like it does, which can lead to many scratches, even when just putting it down on a table, as the back of the phone is not flat. That is my one big dislike of the HD2, I hope they don't repeat this kind of design in future phones.
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Forgive my ignorance of the specifics of the two devices, but the HD2 looks like it’s using some kind of illumination and the 3GS isn’t. I’d really like to know how both do in low light without additional lighting to get a more apples to apples comparison of the strength of the sensors.
I’m a fan of HTC.. and while not an Apple owner (PC, phone, music player, etc) in any capacity, I have a healthy respect for Apple devices and think the 3GS is pretty slick (really what the iPhone should have been first or second time around.. not third..).
All I know is that the ‘flash’ on my HTC Mogul (aka 6800 aka P4000) is a joke. It’s great as a flashlight, but try to use it as a flash and it’s on constantly until you take a picture.. where it gets BRIGHTER.. totally washing out what you’re trying to take a pic of. If they’d just leave it on and let you frame the pic how you want and just capture what you see in the viewfinder, it would have worked great.
So far I love HTC, but goofy stuff like that make me wonder about goofy stuff in their other devices. Still, 90% great is still better than most mobile devices out there.
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wmpoweruser Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Yes, the HD2 uses its flash, which is the point of the video really. I tried to activate the flash on the iPhone 3GS, but could not find it…
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Strangerx Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
there's no flash on the iPhone, for a even better comparison could you disable the flash on the HD2? it would show the difference between the cameras itself better, as neither of them will have an advantage (which in this article the HD2 has with its flash)
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Lennard Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
I think thats' the point of the video, is to show which has the advantage, and that the user will benefit from the HD2. I think a couple people are missing the point. this is what the author said.
"but I am pretty convinced I will have a better video experience with the HD2 than the 3GS"
therefore, he's not checking which has the better sensor, but which gives the user a better experience.
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Lennard Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
lol, good one, i got it.
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Jake Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
The flash on the HD2 works exactly as you described it does on your Mogul.
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ha… maybe you want to put the bit about flash being used in there? videos are misleading. i can already hear the iphone troops gathering
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If the 3Gs had a flash and it wasn't turned on then that wouldn't be a fair comparison, but since it doesn't its apple's fault for not thinking to include one. If for arguement's sake he turned it off and the 3Gs took a better video its not fair to say the 3Gs takes a better video as that would simply not be true. Under normal use you would use the light so that is the conditions under which the comparison has been made.
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Nice Cat ;p
As a HTC fan I'd have to echo the above comments as in an additional HD2 video without the flash would be a great comparison, to the crappy flashless iPhone just for fun!
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iPhone doesnt have flash. And it doesnt have dat beautiful red tint in photoes)))
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Strangerx Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
which red tint? care to point me to those photos? (shot with the HD2 of course..)
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iPhone fanboys, the comparison is fair. Read the title again.
It says "HTC HD2" vs "iPhone 3GS", not HD2 "cam" vs 3GS "cam".
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That's a kitten right? So cute! LOL!!!
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What a bias review, HD2 seems to be using LED flash therefore it's NOT a correct comparison between the lenses of the cameras. And why low light? hmmmm I smell something fishy.. It seems you know 3GS shoots better in normal lighting.
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wmpoweruser Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Actually we have had a set of comparison videos before, where there was not much difference, and of course people said its really in low light where you can see the real difference.
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=9245
Well, there is a significant difference of course in low light. I can hardly see any features on the iPhone version.
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Lennard Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I dont' think the review is biased.
take this example: we're both car tuners and I tuned my car to 950hp, it goes 0-60 in less than 3 seconds, and you tuned your's to 400hp, goes 0-60 in 5 seconds, you think you're a better tuner than I and that your car is faster so you wanted to race me down the quarter mile. in the race I blow you out with enough time to cool my engine down before you finished.
would you consider that a fair race? the answer is "yes".
should I have tuned my car to 400hp also? the answer is "no".
"why?" because we're not testing who is the better driver, we're testing who is the better tuner that can tune his car to be the fastest.
back to the article: so the HD2 gives the user a better experience, the user shouldn't have to cripple features, the feature is there so use it. this is why the comparison isn't biased, the test is not between which device has the better lens, it's about which takes better videos in the same lighting condition.
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l3v5y Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
It's a comparison of the two devices as cameras in low light. The 3GS not having a flash gives the HD2 a clear advantage. It's hardly HTCs fault the 3GS doesn't have a flash for this.
Also "There is a pretty vicious rumour going round that the iPhone 3GS’s camera is better than the HTC HD2’s." this answers that question in an area that HTC cameras are notoriously bad at.
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Hehe, awesome cat – the only reason I clicked to read the contents.
But now that I have I need to put in my 2 cents that this review is biased and obviously so from just looking at the still images of those two videos. It doesn't matter that the iPhone doesn't have a flash (well, it probably matters to the unlucky owners), you have to make the circumstances similar to get a decent result or else it's just useless…
We know generally speaking the HD2 will be better in low light because it has a camera, I thought what you wanted to show was the quality of the videos themselves. A point and shoot camera with a small built-in flash can probably do better in low light than a high-end dSLR that needs seperate flash units (well, super high ISOs aside).
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"We know generally speaking the HD2 will be better in low light because it has a camera…"
Hmm, that last word should be 'flash' instead of camera, obviously.
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To not use all the features of the HD2 would make it a biased comparison in favour of the iPhone. Attempting to make the iPhone look better by giving the HD2 a handycap!!
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Lennard Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
exactly my point.
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Oh dont forget you've got to make the HD2 lose 1.8 Mp as well so that its fair.
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l3v5y Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
It only does video recording in VGA AFAIK, so that shouldn't matter for this.
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FFS the HD2 has a flash, its part of the camera package, therefore it should be used. Not using it because its not fair is like testing as turbo car without its turbo because its 'not fair' to a non turbo car! Fanboyism rarely gets THAT stupid, but i see it has here.
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I've no idea why you compare the hd2 with the 3gs – the hd2 is simply no competitor to the whole iphone concept and its stupid to compare both spec'wise – does anybody really think apple is that dumb and simply ignores larger displays, more megapixels etc. and htc are the only geniuses? whatever you do you're always one click away to unhide wm 6.5 on the hd2 and thats sad. And next time if you compare low light conditions than let there be real low light and no flash running – that makes it light vs. low light.
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Jonny Reply:
November 15th, 2009 at 12:34 am
What a stupid comment, of course its a competitor to the iPhone. And no doubt when the new iPhone is released it will be high spec i.e. 1ghz, better camera and so on. You sound very silly saying, the iPhone only has this much, so that must be what you need… untill apple decide better.
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come on. if someone has 20/20 vision and is in a dark room compared to someone with bad vision in a normally lit room, who do you think will be able to see things better… who cares how hd2 video looks with flash compared to iphone without. that comparison was already won and determined on PAPER! we want to see a real comparison of the video cameras. do it during the day or something. or did you already compare without flash and find that the iphone looks better? i hate the iphone, but i'd seriously like to know if hd2 video is shown up, equal or better than iphone.
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All is fair in war. If the HD2 has a LED then obviously it would be a no-brainer to use it during a low-light situation. If the 3GS has a LED then it would be fair to turn it on too, but it doesn't. This is called an advantage people.
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So what does this demonstrate? That LEDs can sometimes lights things up when at close range?
Certainly doesn't show that the HD2's camera produces better low-light videos than the 3GS. Try taking a video in a more realistic low-light scene that focuses on something that's not just a foot away, like an outdoors scene.
The LEDs might be good for shooting "my cat in the dark one foot away, where I could just turn on the ceiling light" videos but will be of limited use for anything else.
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How does something being farther away means its realistic. Lets admit it, low-light conditions are the bane of cameraphones. If you want a good far-range shot, you would be getting a professional camera instead. The camera on this phones are used for stuff like family and personal stuff. You most likely wont be shooting people at a far range unless you are a paparazzi or a spy.
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Anybody notice that the HD2 video had an HQ option and the 3GS vid didn't? That alone says something about the quality of the footage.
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what i noticed was that the HD2 video actually neither had a noticeably higher framerate nor less smears than the iphone video, even though it had a lot more light to work with.
imagine how much worse it then must have been when operating under identical circumstances. surely no wonder why we werent shown that video, its probably absolutely embarassing.
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is there anyway to download the actual video file from the two phones, cant really determine from youtube
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l,m,a,o this is very funny reading your comments, ok lets put this to bed, i own a 3gs and an hd2, i used to be a massive iphone fan and nothing could compare, but but but, i have been converted to the hd2, it is a truely amazing peice of kit, the video if far better than the iphone, and the rest of the phone is also very very impressive, the i phone is a great phone but i feel it has now met its match,
my guess is that all the major negative comments comming from the iphone lovers about the hd2 is due to the fact that your tied into a lengthy contract and wont be able to get an hd2 for many months lol.
all this said mac users will always favour apple stuff, and misrosoft peeps will usualy preffer windows based stuff, so hey we are all right both great phones, who gives a rat anyway we love what we love.
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