DigitalVersus crowns the HTC Titan camera ahead of the iPhone 4S, Nokia Lumia 800, and SE Xperia Ray

November 9, 2011 | By Surur

(HTC Titan on the left, Nokia Lumia 800 on the right)

When we posted the comparison of the HTC Titan with the Nokia Lumia 800 yesterday, it was merely based on our own judgement of the test pictures compared.

Now DigitalVersus, who keeps a database of cameras from a large number of devices tested under lab conditions, have weighed in with their own verdict, and it crowns the HTC Titan an unexpected winner.

They found:

We compared the Lumia 800 with the HTC Titan, Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray and Apple iPhone 4S, which we consider to be the best cameraphones we’ve tested to date.

We found the Lumia 800 camera very pleasant to use. It has a fast autofocus and saves pictures quickly. Plus, on the whole, the Lumia 800 camera takes photos that are really quite good quality.

As with Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Ray, we found that photos taken with the Lumia 800 were a touch less sharp than those taken with the iPhone 4S and HTC Titan, which came out more richly detailed.

Compared with the Apple handset, Nokia’s new smartphone doesn’t handle noise quite as well either, and the test shot taken in low-light conditions was full of coloured pixels. Again, the Xperia Ray behaves in a similar way to the Lumia 800 in this respect.

Colours in the Nokia Lumia 800 are too cold while colours in the iPhone 4S are a bit too warm. Bang in-between the two, the Xperia Ray gives colours that are more neutral and more accurately rendered.

So how does the Lumia 800 fare against the excellent HTC Titan? Although the Titan did struggle slightly with some of the ‘Barbie’ test shots, on the whole, HTC’s outsized handset still has a better camera than the other three smartphones cited above.

So while all of these mobiles actually have very good cameras, with all criteria taken into account, we’d place the HTC Titan and the Apple iPhone 4S just ahead of the Xperia Ray and the Lumia 800, which offer similar levels of quality.

Read the full article and see many comparison shots at DigitialVersus here.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged camera, htc titan, iphone 4s, nokia lumia 800, sony ericsson xperia ray

Malcolm Williams

I think I almost agree
http://twitter.com/ama_neden ama neden

Maybe the best phone camera

rsgx

Gee, ya think?

http://farker.myopenid.com/ LoveSGS2

A pity that Titan is not coming to Asia.
http://twitter.com/TuanDesomerChu Tuan Desomer-Chu

I would like them to test Nokia n8 vs titan. Sure n8 will be superior

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UXH5HNCTFSTANWW4BLY777W72Q Chuck

Nope sorry to disappoint. Titan is still better based on the pictures from DigitalVersus.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UWVRPJYQFEG7ZCHPD7LDPBR2CM LWSJR

Damn, Chuck. You act like DigitalVersus is the be all that ends all in cameraphone tests.

There are far more credible sites that offer and conduct more professional comparisons – Why don’t you check out GSMArena, for starters.

DigitalVersus is bunk!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UXH5HNCTFSTANWW4BLY777W72Q Chuck

Ok and I just did. I compared N8 and iPhone 4s since no Titan and no Lumia and guess what…… the same result. iPhone 4s has a better camera.
Anonymous

I agree.
I doubt their test setup. It definitely does not include any outdoor comparison. Indoors, they have special setup which does not reflect real-life scenario. Also, you can see how bad the barbie shots were on HTC. I believe, this testing is not adequate for any decision making process. I would like a more real life comparison.

Anonymous

Generally, indoor photography is a better way to test camera quality. With outdoor lighting, you can have conditions changing from minute to minute (or quicker) which makes comparing colors and contrast handling extremely difficult unless you have a perfectly even overcast day. Indoor photogaphy, on the other hand, can be carefully controlled, which makes it an order of magnitude easier to get a fair comparison between multiple cameras. If you use something more variable, you can’t easily tell whether camera quality is what is causing the aesthetic differences or confounding factors such as sudden change of contrast, change in angle to the sun (which can cause lens flare regardless of camera quality), subtle color changes in low contrast scenes, etc.

Real life scenarios present samples, but controlled samples allow for tests.

Anonymous

I just been on a trip around Europe using both my HTC Titan and a Point and Shoot camera to take photos. Gotta say that the photos from the Titan were right up there with the actual camera which is the first for a phone that I’ve used.

Anonymous

That is really amazing, I hope it gives windows phone a little bit of free marketing. The Titan really seems like an incredible device.
http://www.techin5.com Techin5

Winning?

Anonymous

Won!!

Anonymous

All round, using Windows Phone 7.5, The HTC Titan is King!!!
http://www.facebook.com/SigBoJangles Basil Fuchs

Love it this made me pick up the titan today to replace my hd7. the camera is a huge improvement over the hd7 and one of the few reasons to upgrade as an existing WP7 user in my opinion.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Milad-Bazzaz/100000479683479 Milad Bazzaz

Titan has really surprised me…HTC has done an aweful lot wrong but the Titan is a great smartphone…props.
Anonymous

HTC Titian is the best WP device on the market today. Shame only AT&T has it.
Pablo Wasserman

What about N8?