Renowned tech Youtuber Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, has blindly tested 16 smartphones on Instagram that went on sale in 2021. More than 3 million users of the social network took part in the voting, and the results were extremely difficult to predict based on the price of the compared smartphones.
In addition, although models of different price categories took part in testing, there were no entry-level options in the rating. He tested devices from Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro to POCO X3 GT, Motorola Edge and Google Pixel 5a. The latter became the unexpected winner – it was its pictures that users liked the most.
Also, it is noteworthy that flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro did not even overcome the second round, giving way to more budget options. It is worth noting that users with any level of knowledge about photo technology voted on an equal footing, only the preferences of the majority of respondents were taken into account.
Google Pixel 5a unexpectedly wins smartphone camera blind test
The Pixel 5a defeated the Pixel 6 Pro, which has a more expensive and probably better sensor, in the first round. The Youtuber himself specifically noted that his project is more of a social experiment – how users, normally loudly expressing approval of well-known expensive brands, will behave when testing in which photos are not labeled.
So, in the final round, the rival of the Google Pixel 5a was the OnePlus 9 Pro. In addition, the Pixel was voted for by 75% of participants. The conclusions made by the Youtuber are curious:
Gizchina News of the week
- So, survey participants are more likely to choose brighter photos, the choice is much less dependent on other characteristics;
- Also, in the era of social networks, in which images are often shown in a compressed form, the clarity of the images plays a relatively small role for those evaluating;
- Finally, modern users are interested in technologies that do not require any settings for high-quality shooting – ideally, everything should be done at the touch of a button.
Besides, according to MKBHD, the price of the devices is practically irrelevant. So, in a multi-stage subjective competition, a smartphone with a price of $ 399 or more won.
Google Pixel 5a 5G specifications
- 6.34-inch (2400 x 1080 pixels) FHD+ OLED HDR display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Octa Core (1 x 2.4GHz + 1 x 2.2GHz + 6 x 1.8GHz Kryo 475 CPUs); Snapdragon 765G 7nm EUV Mobile Platform with Adreno 620 GPU
- 6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB (UFS 2.1) storage
- Android 11
- Dual SIM (nano + eSIM)
- 12.2MP rear camera with f/1.7 aperture, LED flash, OIS, 16MP 107° Ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture
- 8MP front camera with 84° ultra-wide lens, f/2.0 aperture
- Pixel Imprint – Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
- Water and dust Resistant (IP67)
- 3.5mm audio jack, Stereo speakers, 2 microphones
- Dimensions: 154.9 x 73.7 x 7.6mm; Weight: 185g
- 5G SA/NA 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.1 LE, GPS, USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1, NFC
- 4,680mAh (Typical) / 4620mAh (minimum) battery with 18W USB-PD 2.0 fast charging
