anything interesting to take photos of
besides of course the ever-expanding
selection of booze that i'm throwing
down my gullet to make it through yet
another tedious week
ah happy slightly fuzzy memories but all
the same if you're willing to share in
absolutely everything about your
everyday existence with the rest of the
world then the good news is you don't
have to splash out a huge amount of cash
on a really good camera phone these days
i've reviewed absolutely heaps and heaps
of budget-friendly smartphones
and here's my pick of some of the best
that you can get right now in early 2021
with a dependable
camera for shooting everyday photos and
videos and from one of the latest
greatest
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now one of the best camera phones around
right now is definitely google's
pixel 4 ear which costs 350 quid and yes
fair enough that's not quite a budget
asking price right there that's more
mid-range but honestly if you can
stretch to 350 pounds then the google
pixel 4 here
is worth every single penny you
seriously won't find better optics
anywhere
there's lots to love in general about
this compact wii beauty from the
gorgeous oled screen to the perfectly
smooth everyday running but it is that
single lens rear shooter that really
elevates the pixel 4
above its rivals which is of course that
12.2 megapixel rear camera boasting
built-in optical image stabilization and
a super fast
autofocus the exact same tech you'll
find on the pixel 5.
all that you're really missing on the
google pixel 4a compared with that pixel
5
flagship smartphone is the secondary
ultra wide angle lens and to be honest
you're not really missing much like the
iphones this is a simple point and shoot
effort minimal effort is required to get
great looking photos even in fairly
testing conditions
although google's dual slider tool does
really help out with the hdr shots so
you can get a clean bright snap of your
subject without over saturating the
background
skin tones and other colors are
naturally captured while photos look
sharp and proper nice when blown up onto
a big display
and yeah you don't get a depth sensor
but google software smarts can reliably
add a bokeh style background effect to
your portrait shots
and the best bit is definitely still
that night sight mode which again offers
impressively natural results even when
the scene is incredibly dark
it really can't be beat even by some
phones twice the price
oh and as an added bonus google didn't
feel the strange mysterious need to
chuck an absolutely pointless macro lens
onto the back of the google pixel 4a
so frankly they deserve a pat on the
head and a gold star just for that
swap to video mode and you'll grab some
good luck in 4k footage again with
minimal effort
audio comes through loud and clear and
the picture quality is still good too
with reliable focus and once again
natural looking results and yeah there's
an eight megapixel selfie cam up front
and if you actually want to take photos
of your face and post them up for the
world to stare at then it'll more than
do the job
you even get helpful hints for taking
better looking selfies
and of course the same portrait mode
smarts as that rear cam right so the
google pixel 4
is a fantastic option but if you can't
quite afford that 350 quid your budget
is tighter than an
octopuses ring piece then what are your
options well the good news is that in
early 2021 you'll still find some
perfectly respectable camera tech
slapped onto some smartphones that cost
just around 200 pounds
for one there's motorola's moto g9 plus
which like the pixel fourier serves up a
stock android experience but this time
in a much bigger package
there's lots to like about the g9 plus
and that includes the quad lens camera
specifically the 64 megapixel primary
sensor which can capture some sexy
looking everyday snaps
motorola's ai smart can reliably suggest
the best camera mode to use at any given
moment to get the best
possible shot and it can also straighten
up any wonky shots when needed
definitely good news if you're shooting
any photos after a four pack of stella
shop contrast is usually handled pretty
well by the g9 plus so you won't get any
over saturation unless you're trying to
shoot against the sun or something
and even moving subjects didn't prove
too much of a problem for the g9
plus unless they're proper flapping
about the place while the portrait mode
really helps your fam to stand out with
a pleasingly neat bokeh style effect
indoor snaps can look a little soft but
when light gets low you do have a pretty
decent nightboard to fall back on which
brightens up the still
and keeps those tones reasonably
realistic it's certainly one of the
better efforts as far as budget blowers
go
you've also got an ultra wide angle lens
on the g9 plus but this often produces
quite grainy shots with slightly washed
out colors
so it's not amazing and as you'll soon
find like with pretty much every other
budget smartphone in this roundup you
also get a basic 2 megapixel depth
sensor
and a 2 megapixel macro lens which seems
to be an obligatory feature that you
have to slap onto every affordable
handset these days
like oh what you're stuck at home all
day well why not go take lots of
interesting photos of those dead wasps
gathered around the window sill that'll
make the afternoon fly by
and the moto g9 plus also does a decent
job with your home movies capturing
sharp 4k video with clear audio
the focus can once again handle moving
subjects no worries and the image
stabilization actually isn't too rubbish
so there's lots to like about the
motorola moto g9 plus but undoubtedly
still one of my
favorite budget smartphones around that
200 pound mark is the poco x3 nfc
you've got dependable performance thanks
to the snapdragon 732g
chipset you've got great battery life
you've got a freaking 120 hertz full hd
display
for one of a better words the poco x3
nfc is the absolute tits
and that grinder certainly extends to
the poco x3 nfc's camera tech
specifically the 64 megapixel primary
lens slaps on the back
using sony's imx 682 sensor now this
shoots photos at 16 megapixels by
default
with four in one pixel bin and used just
to brighten up shots when needed all the
same you can shoot at that maximum 64
meg resolution if you like
which adds some finer detail to your
snaps i was very
impressed by the general photo quality
for this price point those colors appear
natural
that is unless you use the ai mode to
boost the vibrancy when snapping plants
and the like
the focus generally cops well as long as
your subject isn't too close
and that fast shutter speed works pretty
well for moving subjects
even in strong contrast the poco x3 nfc
outperforms many budget rivals
sure you'll definitely see some
oversaturation in very testing
conditions
but this thing can pick up very
respectable detail even when you're
shooting against the sun
and that 13 megapixel ultra wide angle
lens is handy when you need a pullback
viewpoint although bear in mind as with
most budget phones
this lens is not as effective as the
primary lens for color capture
and in strong lights things do look
positively washed out at times
as usual with xiaomi smartphones you've
got a crapload of bonus mods stuffed on
there to mess around with too
many of which are utterly pointless
although i did like the results that i
got from the portrait mode
which uses the 2 megapixel depth sensor
to accurately pick out your subject
and then attractively distort the
background and as usual you've got that
obligatory 2 megapixel macro lens which
is
completely cac and best ignored xiaomi
has also
added a night mode for when things get
seriously darker though this is rather
limited in its effectiveness you will
get a slight brightness boost and that's
about it
for your home movie requirements you can
shoot 4k resolution video at 30 frames
per second
and again those results are solid for a
200 pound smartphone the ultra hd mode
produces sharp finely detailed footage
and can cope with challenging conditions
without much picture degradation
audio is clearly captured as well and i
was also surprised at how good that
stabilization is when you're moving and
shooting
even at that top 4k level and you've
also got the option of shooting video
using that ultra wide angle lens as well
but you can't actually switch between
the primary and the ultrawide angle
while you're shooting you have to
choose one hit record and then stick
with it and last up you've got that 20
megapixel selfie camera which will make
you look nice enough for your insta
shots while the portrait mode does a
blinder despite no help from an
additional depth sensor
lovely stuff now another fabulous
alternative to the poco x3 nfc that
you'll find at that 200 pound budget
asking price is the xiaomi
mi 10 t lite the mi 10 tea lights camera
attack isn't quite as strong as that
poco struggling with tricky light and
also occasionally with hyperactive
subjects
but use a little care and you will get
some great looking detailed photos with
natural color reproduction
there's a wide angle lens for
flexibility and all of the usual bonus
bits like a night mode
are present and correct your horn movies
will look good too as long as the
lighting isn't too bollocks
i love the rest of the me 10c light as
well gamers can enjoy the smooth
performance and that 240hz touch
response rate as well as the game turbo
modes battery life is good the display
is slick and sharp and i mean
that's awes that's awes and i also still
really like last year's redmi note 9 pro
as well which i reckon still boasts
better camera tech than the fresh new
redmi note 9t which i recently reviewed
that 64 megapixel primary lens uses
samsung's gm2 sensor and even at the
default 16 meg resolution
you can expect sharp good-looking photos
when you beam the results to a big
screen
if you do want to shoot at the maximum
64 meg level then that is also an option
producing slightly more natural results
when you zoom right in i was definitely
impressed by the color capture here too
the redmi note 9 port offers natural
looking picks as long as you knock off
that ai mode leaving that on
unfortunately tends to create rather
artificial images that
aren't particularly eye pleasing and in
strong contrast situations this budget
blower ain't defeated either
it's rare to see any oversaturation
although you will notice detail loss in
those dark
areas when things get particularly
taxing as for low light situations well
the night mod does help to brighten
things up a bit although it doesn't
admittedly help much with the grain
you've got plenty of other camera
features to play around with too
including a nifty portrait mode that
does a commendable job
helped along by that 2 megapixel depth
sensor and you've also got an 8
megapixel ultra wide angle lens which
manages to once again produce quite
natural results when you're widening the
view
oh and you also have one of those 5
megapixel macro lenses as well great for
flower fans
for video you can shoot up to 4k
resolution footage with that primary
lens or full hd with the wide angle
effort
although you can't swap between the two
on the fly audio pickup gets a thumbs up
as well as does the color capture
although you will want to keep still if
shooting at the ultra hd resolution
as the stabilization in too hot and last
up i also enjoyed the 16 megapixel
selfie snapper which handles all kinds
of lighting just as well as the back end
you've got the usual portrait mode
smarts as well again with solid results
so any insta fans will be loving it now
to finish up this roundup of the best
budget camera phones you can get in
early 2021 let's drop that asking price
just one last time to around that 150
pound mark and one of my favorite
smartphones around this price point
right now
is the oppo a53 again the phone itself
is a bit of a superstar offering a
smooth
everyday experience two days of battery
life between charges and all the
standard stuff like nfc and expandable
storage
the display is mia hd and the a53 is
still stuck on creaky old android 10
but at this price it is a tidy wii
package that definitely butters my buns
as for the camera that triple n setup
headed up by a 13 megapixel primary
sensor
is rather bloody spiffing well as usual
you get a depth sensor and another piece
of dog
macro lens hooray hooray etc everyday
test shots taken by the oppo a53 are
generally pretty good for this price
point
colors are occasionally a little faded
but detail levels are respectable even
if you try zooming in just to the three
times level
this is just a basic crop of your photo
of course there's no telephoto action
here
so you won't want to push in anymore or
else you'll just get some fuzzy blocky
results
moving subjects sometimes come out a
little bit blurry so kids are naturally
great fun to shoot
maybe just nail their feet to the floor
and you'll probably do all right and
indoor shots are often grainy and warm
but i've seen far worse performance at
this price
you've got the typical camera bonus
modes like a portrait effort that
usually works really well
with little to no jank sadly there's no
night mode here however and that's a
shame because the oppo a53 definitely
struggles in low light
things get very soft and dark rather
quick there is however a pro mod that
you can use to try and fiddle around
with like the iso levels and some of the
other settings to correct some of the
issues
that you're seeing it doesn't always
work particularly well but it is another
option for your video needs you can only
shoot full hd clips with the oppo a53
there's no 4k
option here but i found that the whole
movies i grabbed with this thing were
perfectly serviceable
the focus cooks well with moving
subjects it just keeps things flat as
you'd expect there is some saturation in
stronger lighting but nothing too
dramatic
and audio pickup was good front and back
it did the job nicely
and last up that simple 8-megapixel
selfie snapper struggles
more than the rear camera when it comes
to harsher conditions often [ __ ] in its
pants entirely
when bright backgrounds are involved
although the impact is definitely
worsened when used in the portrait mode
which otherwise does a good job
and at night you've got a screen flash
feature thing which i didn't absolutely
hate
so that right there is my roundup of my
favorite budget-friendly camera
smartphones that you can get right now
in early 2021 from the likes of poko
xiaomi and good old motorola of course
we've only included smartphones i've
actually personally tested and reviewed
as well so
no doubt i've missed out a few of your
own favorites definitely closing down
below if you've got a budget-friendly
smartphone with a great bit of camera
tech on it be great to hear from you and
i am hoping to review a bugger ton
of more budget smartphones as we
progress through 2021 hopefully with
better and better camera attack as well
so hopefully i'll refresh this video
later in the year but in the meantime
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notifications bell and more importantly
have yourselves a fantastic rest of the
week cheers everyone love you
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