Zoom Zoom: Testing 10x Hybrid Zoom in Dublin with the Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10x Zoom
by Ian Cutress on May 22, 2019 10:30 AM ESTClosing Thoughts
Ultimately my main use for zoom in the future is going to be at press events for AnandTech, just in case I don’t manage to get my usual front row seat. In those instances, where it is always a rush to get the photo and do the live blog, having presets for the zoom features is critical.
In this case, the Reno wins a point by virtue of having a 2x zoom preset. I should assume that adding a preset could be a simple addition for the Huawei device, or in fact, they could allow users to have custom zoom level presets in future. This would be ideal. But the large jump from 1x to 5x on the P30 Pro isn’t as seamless as perhaps Huawei would like it to be. Nonetheless, for me, any phone with any zoom feature in future should have a series of presets.
At a distance, in auto mode, the P30 Pro does make anything not in direct light a little darker than I would have liked. This isn’t a critical issue, given that a user can apply post processing, but ultimately I suspect only a few will. The Reno does this a little better, however the Reno certainly has difficulties in its 10x hybrid mode. A number of times we saw the images come out a little blurry, however text was easier to read compared to the P30 Pro. I’m not sure if this is a great trade off, however we were told by Oppo that the Reno 10x Zoom will be coming thick and fast with camera updates, so that may change in the future.
In the grand scheme of things, this is a tough comparison. The Reno has the slightly better interface, and the 6x optical zoom does have benefits over the 5x optical zoom in the P30 Pro. However, Huawei’s 10x mode is certainly better than Oppo’s, and it’s a mix up on which one is better with processing based on the situation of the photo at hand. One of the key differences here is going to be price, and the Oppo is nearly 30% cheaper than the Huawei P30 Pro. If one of the next battlefields of the smartphone industry is zoom cameras, then I hope these make their way into the more mainstream soon. We’re already seeing upper-mainstream phones come out with 3x optical / 5x hybrid zooms, and it will be interesting to see how the software adapts to improve the hybrid zoom modes.
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NICOXIS - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
Is it true that Samsung bought the company that provides there periscope zoom modules?NICOXIS - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
*thesehalcyon - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
Yes, Samsung bought Corephotonics (of Israel) for $155M in January:https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-samsung-buys-is...
BedfordTim - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
They bought CorePhotonics who do the Oppo zoom module. The supplier of Huawei's is different and possibly Sunny Optical. Both appear to be switchable telephoto modules with software providing a zoom effect hence the presets at the actual focal lengths.siberian3 - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
In other News Huawei was ban from accessing the next Android version fromGoogle because the ban that the US Gov just impose.Goodbye to the chinese mobile giant you will remembered
hecksagon - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
They are not blocked from the next android version, just blocked from previewing the code before it gets published to the Android Open Source Project. Once its published they are free to access it.Their home market (China) does not have much of a Google presence. The play store is already inaccessible, with many third party app stores taking its place. Likewise, the other Google services have their Chinese equivalents. ARM did just pull their license so they can't develop new SOCs in house, but that doesn't stop them from sourcing from Samsung or Mediatek. Other hardware components also have Chinese sources available. BOE specifically is expected to overtake LG Display this year as the second largest mobile OLED manufacturer.
They have the entire Chinese government backing them and have a large domestic market. They will survive as a company longer than the current US administration will be in power.
s.yu - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
Unfortunately I have to agree with you. Huawei is a despicable company deceiving people in China and out, they've never cared to be actually decent and are brazenly unapologetic when they get exposed for their lies, yet they're hailed as heroes in China. But this trade war is not enough to rid the world of this deceptive and shameless entity.Darcey R. Epperly - Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - link
Your comment matches also to the US foreign politics.heffeque - Saturday, May 25, 2019 - link
Totally.NSA has been spying the whole world for decades, in part thanks to backdoors on american companies, yet it's bad when other countries do it? I'm confused by people who accept one and disregard the other.
techgadgetgeek - Sunday, May 26, 2019 - link
Totally agree with you. Double standards and hypocrisy that not too many people see.