‘Mars, here I come!’ NASA’s InSight launches from California on a six-month journey

NASA’s newest Mars mission lifted off in the fog atop an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:05 a.m. local time Saturday morning. It was a rare treat for space enthusiasts in California, as it’s the first interplanetary mission ever to launch from the West Coast.

And we have liftoff! #Mars, here I come! 6 months and counting to the Red Planet. pic.twitter.com/wBPYdZVUlt

— NASAInSight (@NASAInSight) May 5, 2018

InSight (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport) will travel more than 300 million miles on a six-month journey to Mars. It’s scheduled to land on the red planet on November 26.

Previous Mars missions have studied the topography and atmosphere of the planet in depth, but nothing like InSight has ever been done before. Equipped with an array of sophisticated monitors, the car-sized mobile laboratory will probe deep beneath the surface of Mars, explained JPL Director Michael Watkins. It will collect data on “marsquakes,” monitor heat flow deep beneath the surface, and measure how the planet wobbles as it rotates. The mission was delayed for two years after leaks were found in the seismometer.

“InSight will help us unlock the mysteries of Mars in a new way, by not just studying the surface of the planet, but by looking deep inside to help us learn about the earliest building blocks of the planet,” Watkins said.

NASA

A couple of tiny hitchhikers will also be going along for the ride. Two CubeSat satellites nicknamed “Wall-E” and “Eva” will follow the spacecraft all the way to Mars. Officially named Mars Cube One, or MarCO, the duo is an experimental addition to the mission that’s designed to send data back to Earth as InSight lands on the planet’s surface. This is the first time the laptop-sized CubeSats will be used outside of an Earth orbit.

“These are our scouts,” said JPL engineer Andy Klesh. “CubeSats haven’t had to survive the intense radiation of a trip to deep space before, or use propulsion to point their way towards Mars. We hope to blaze that trail.”

The satellites are named after the animated Pixar characters because they use compressed gas commonly found in fire extinguishers for propulsion.

Once it arrives at Mars, the 1,340-pountd InSight will enter the thin atmosphere at 13,200 miles per hour. After deploying a supersonic parachute to slow itself down, it will jettison the heat shield and the lander itself will finally emerge. Its 12 descent engines will then guide the lander to a safe touchdown just a few minutes later.

Bruce Banerdt of JPL has been waiting a long time for this moment. “Scientists have been dreaming about doing seismology on Mars for years,” he said. “In my case, I had that dream 40 years ago as a graduate student, and now that shared dream has been lofted through the clouds and into reality.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• NASA’s InSight lander passes its final tests, ready for the trip to Mars
• Get your Sagan on with 60 awe-inspiring photos of the final frontier
• NASA and ESA will team up to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth
• NASA releases first images of Jupiter’s bizarre geometric storms
• Watch the skies — China’s ‘Heavenly Palace’ space station will crash tonight

Best demos available on Playstation 4 right now

It’s an awesome day! You just got a PlayStation 4! You now have it all set up and you’re ready to dig into some serious gaming. However, the problem is that the only game you have is the used copy of Rugby 15 that your aunt got you. Sure, you could go ahead and pretend to enjoy one of the most poorly reviewed games available on the PS4, but there is another way. Fortunately for you, there are plenty of demos available for some really great games and we’re going to take a look at some of the coolest games with demos on offer in the PlayStation Store.

A Way Out

A Way Out is a co-op only game where you play as one of the two prisoners trying to break out of jail. You play as either Leo and Vincient as you both continue on the emotional journey that happens throughout this game. Try it for free right now to see if it’s something you truly want to purchase.

See at PlayStation Store

Yakuza 6

Follow the story of Kazuma Kiryu, a man who has to take care of the son of his sister’s son. Throughout this journey to find the kid’s father, Kazuma meets some unstoppable forces on the way. See if you can take on the Tojo clan with the free demo before you buy it.

See at PlayStation Store

Watch Dogs 2

Take on the persona of Marcus Holloway, a young hacker who teams up with other hackers, and expose the dangers that lie within ctOS 2.0. Help take down the corrupt corporations that have a hand on this software, and make sure it never gets into the wrong hands. Stop them in the free demo to see if it’s something you would enjoy.

See at PlayStation Store

Destiny 2

Forget about Rugby 15. You deserve to sink your teeth into something a little more delicious. Great news, one of the most popular online multiplayer games is available for a test run right now. Go get a feel for the second installment of Bungie’s first-person shooter epic right now, for free!

See at PlayStation Store

Doom

Speaking of first-person shooters, Bethesda just recently rebooted the Granddaddy of first-person shooters. If the last time you plated Doom was on a bootlegged floppy then maybe it’s time to revisit the series. Doom has garnered mostly positive reviews so a chance to dip your toe in that water and see for yourself seems like a good deal to me.

See at PlayStation Store

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Perhaps you are in the market for some spooky scares. Resident Evil 7 has got you covered. The latest entry into the Resident Evil series just happens to be a blast and is also chock full of creepy moodiness. Get the demo and see if you can handle it!

See at PlayStation Store

NieR: Automata

Well on its way to becoming the sleeper hit of 2017, you couldn’t do much better as far as RPG demos go. If you want to get a peek at the game that’s blowing people away with its impeccable game design then now is your chance.

See at PlayStation Store

Final Fantasy XIV

Maybe you’re a big fan of massively multiplayer online experiences. Maybe you’re also a big fan of the Final Fantasy franchise. If both of these assumptions are true then I have great news for you. The multiplayer Final Fantasy XIV has a demo that is just waiting for your download. You can play the game for free all the way up through level 35. How’s that for a bargain?

See at PlayStation Store

Injustice 2

Oh, you’re looking for a fighting game? Netherrealm has you covered. The DC comics empire may stumble in the world of cinema but thanks to Injustice 2, they are doing great in the gaming department. Download the demo now and take control of all your favorite DC heroes in some no holds barred fighting fun.

See at PlayStation Store

The Evil Within 2

Oh no! You didn’t get spooked out enough from the Resident Evil 7 demo? That’s ok, there are more scares to be had. Get yourself some more survival horror action with The Evil Within 2. With its largely favorable reception, I think you can spend a little time and no money playing the demo in order to see if you’d like to take the full ride that The Evil Within 2 has to offer.

See at PlayStation Store

Hopefully, this list affords you the opportunity to try out a few of those blockbuster games that everyone is talking about without having to open your wallet. The games listed are here are just a few of the demos that are available on the PS4. If you want to see what else is available all you have to do is go to the games section of the PlayStation Store and select the Demos section. There is a veritable smorgasbord of games there and they are adding more all the time.

Why are we reviewing PlayStation 4 games on Android Central? Let us explain.

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Facebook only checks for impostors within your circle of friends

When you go to Face Recognition in Facebook’s Settings page, there’s a link that leads you to more info about it that says switching it on can “help protect you from strangers using a photo of you as their profile picture.” That pertains to a feature Facebook launched in March that’s supposed to tip it off if somebody is impersonating you. According to a new report by The Washington Post, though, the technology won’t quite solve Facebook’s problem with fake accounts. The social network has admitted to the publication that it mostly looks for impostors only among your friends and friends of friends.

Facebook said that it does compare profile pics against millions of other users’, but it didn’t reveal a specific number. It also didn’t disclose how it chooses which accounts to compare against. Besides, “millions” is still a tiny fraction of the 2 billion users on the website. In the event that it does find fakes, it doesn’t always penalize the right person — the Post says that in some cases, it disables people’s real accounts instead.

In addition to comparing profile pics against a small number of users, Facebook reportedly said that it only reviews new accounts created since the feature launched, because it would take too much power to compare billions of profile photos against each other. Considering the social network’s problem with fake accounts, which it calls “undesirables,” has been going on for years, the technology won’t be able to completely solve the issue as it is.

The company believes that there were as many as 87 million undesirables as of last quarter, which is almost five times as many as the 18 million fakes on the website back in 2016. Those fakes were linked to Russia’s efforts to influence the most recent Presidential Elections — Russian troll farm Internet Research Agency apparently created fake Americans on social networks like Facebook to post anti-Clinton sentiments.

Even Sen. Christopher A. Coons became the victim of a Facebook impostor with a lot of Russian friends that copied his name, photos and info. He brought up the issue to Mark Zuckerberg when the Facebook chief appeared before the Senate to answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica fiasco. When asked why Facebook shifts “the burden to users to flag inappropriate content and make sure it’s taken down,” Zuckerberg replied:

“…it’s clear that this is an area… we need to do a lot better on. Over time, we’re going to shift increasingly to a method where more of this content is flagged up front by AI tools that we develop.”

Source: Washington Post

US elevates the role of Cyber Command

After months of talk and planning, US Cyber Command is now just as important as the rest of the Pentagon’s commands — at least, on paper. The military has officially elevated its cyberwarfare division to a “unified command” that operates independently of the NSA. It’s not a complete split. General Paul Nakasone (shown above) will run both Cyber Command and the NSA, replacing Admiral Michael Rogers.

The change in structure comes as the US is readying an Integrated Cyber Center that will help both the country and its allies plan responses to cyberattacks.

Nakasone has vowed a more aggressive response to online threats, whether they come from Russia, China or elsewhere. He’s concerned that adversarial nations won’t back off unless they face more serious repercussions for their actions. In the past, American officials have been hesitant to launch attacks against major powers knowing that the US is heavily dependent on a digital infrastructure that might buckle under the weight of a large cyberwarfare campaign.

Whether or not this shuffle actually changes Cyber Command’s practices isn’t certain. In addition to Nakasone’s shared leadership, there’s the question of whether or not this will prompt changes in policy beyond the potential for harsher responses. Right now, the changeover is mostly symbolic — it’s clear the US sees cyberwarfare as important, but the elevated command will have to flex its muscles if it wants to show that it’s truly on par with its conventional peers.

Source: Reuters

Let’s cheer each other up in the weekend comments thread!

We should be happy over the weekend, so let’s do this.

This is one of those rare weekends when I’m sad that I’m not working. Or at least not getting ready for work stuff.

For the first time in about 10 years I’m not getting ready to head to Google I/O and it’s bothering me a little. And to be honest, it’s also making me a little annoyed. I’ve had to deal with some back surgery over the past winter holidays and I’m sitting this year out. Don’t laugh, because one day you’ll be old, too.

Normally I’d be making sure I had a handful of SD cards and camera batteries to cram into my rucksack or grabbing a handful of travel-sized toiletries from the drug store. Happily gathering the stuff I needed to head out to California for the best damn week a geek could ever have. Like health insurance or vacation days, Google I/O is something I consider a job benefit.

This year I had to opt-out because i don’t think I want to deal with one part of it — Shoreline Amphitheater’s horrible accessibility. On a good year it’s bad enough that I need to hit Andrew or Daniel to boost me up a hill or two (and I can’t thank them enough for being a good sport about it) but I know I just can’t handle it this time. Then I think that I’d be fine if Google I/O was back at the Moscone Center instead of out in the park. And then I get grouchy so I stop thinking about it.

That’s just me, though, and next year I’ll be back and have a blast. Meanwhile, everything is in good hands with the best bunch of travelling bloggers known to mankind there bringing us all the great stuff and poking fun of the silly stuff that Google has to show off. Andrew, Alex, Daniel, Russell and Mr. Mobile got this. Come to think of it, they do every year and I just have fun learning about dope shit. Now I know why I’m sad.

Take a minute and share what you’re doing this weekend. Push some of those good vibes my way!

Today’s best deals you won’t want to miss

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

Today you can get big discounts on workout equipment, the Garmin fenix 3 GPS watch, essential kitchen appliances, and more! Don’t pass these up.

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Apple News had a one-week exclusive on a documentary series

Apple isn’t kidding about its intentions to turn its News app into more than just an aggregator. BuzzFeed has confirmed to Digiday that Apple reached a deal to premiere the documentary series Future History: 1968 through News a week before it reached social networks, YouTube and even BuzzFeed’s own mobile app. Apple had first crack at the initial three episodes and gave BuzzFeed a cut of the pre-roll ad revenue in addition to featuring the show prominently. It not only highlighted the documentary in its featured video galleries, it sent a notification to people who follow BuzzFeed News.

The exact terms of the deal aren’t public, but it appears to have been successful. BuzzFeed’s Roxanne Emadi said the Apple News version got “several hundreds of thousands of views” across its three episodes during the one-week exclusive, while those episodes netted over 110,000 views between Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the time since.

To some extent, the deal may have been necessary. Publishers have reportedly been reluctant to create original videos for Apple News because of a lack of revenue and the challenge of getting someone to watch longer, in-depth videos. Apple appears to be using the deal as proof that News-specific videos can be successful, albeit with heavy promotion in an app pre-installed on millions of devices.

It’s safe to say that Apple is repeating the strategy it used to great effect in the music world: it’s snapping up exclusives and whole companies (in this case, Texture) in a bid to elevate its services from nice-to-have extras to serious money makers. The company is increasingly reliant on services for revenue as the smartphone market cools down, and deals like this may play an important part in that shift.

Source: Digiday

Recommended Reading: The ‘Stories’ invasion won’t relent anytime soon

Why ‘Stories’ Took Over Your Smartphone
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic

Snapchat may have created the monster, but in nearly every social (and some not-so-social) app you fire up, you’ll be greeted with a feed of Stories. In fact, Facebook says the format is on pace to be more popular than a primary feed as the preferred way to share updates. The Atlantic explains how the ephemeral format took over your phone and why it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

You may never own a quantum computer, but IBM will still let you use one

IBM scientists opening up a quantum computer IBM

You’ll probably never use quantum hardware yourself, but there’s a high chance you’ll benefit from research that couldn’t have been completed without it. The ones and zeros of conventional computers could never accomplish the kind of processing quantum computing is capable of.

The possibilities are limitless, yet there’s one important hurdle: If people don’t actually have access to quantum computers, the technology is little more than an intriguing science project. If computer scientists, academic researchers, and others don’t have access to the hardware, the field will never take its next step forward.

IBM’s answer to this problem is a cloud platform called IBM Q. Since the program launched in May 2016, it’s given users a way to utilize quantum computation without having direct access to a quantum computer.

The hardware itself might not be plentiful — but thanks to IBM Q, it’s ubiquitous.

Quantum Build

I met Bob Sutor, the vice president for IBM Q strategy and ecosystem on a crowded show floor at the IBM Think conference in April. We stood inches away from a cryostat, part of the complex architecture that makes quantum computation possible.

“The actual quantum device, the qubits, live in [a cryostat]. This is kept at very close to absolute zero. 0.015 kelvin. That’s a tiny bit above absolute zero, where nothing moves.”

“The actual quantum device, the qubits, live in here,” Sutor told me, pointing to a small compartment at the base of the structure. “This is kept at very close to absolute zero. 0.015 kelvin. That’s a tiny bit above absolute zero, where nothing moves.”

Refrigeration is a common factor among many of the quantum computing projects from the past decade. Low temperatures make it easy to maintain an environment where entanglement can take place. It’s one of the greatest challenges that scientists and engineers working in this field face: how can we make the surrounding area cold enough for the hardware to function as intended.

One of IBM’s 20 qubit commercial quantum computers in the IBM Q Network. IBM

While the coldest section of the cryostat almost reaches absolute zero, the top of the structure is a relatively balmy four degrees kelvin. Each section gets progressively colder from top to bottom, a process that apparently takes a total of 36 hours. Sutor refers to it as a “glorified still,” referring to the way that helium is used to carry out a distillation process that flushes out heat.

Dummy Hardware

As Sutor talks to me about this complex hardware, he acknowledges that this particular example isn’t actually used to run calculations as part of the IBM Q platform.

He tells me that the qubits are fake – “why put one of our state of the art chips in something that just wanders around?” – and that the cryostat itself is a little more “robust” than the real McCoy, to ensure that it doesn’t fall to pieces during its press tour.

“Why put one of our state of the art chips in something that just wanders around?”

We’ve been covering quantum computing for Digital Trends for years, and it was still fascinating to see the hardware ‘in the flesh,’ even if it was actually just a replica. But the fact that IBM feels the need to lug around a physical representation of its quantum endeavors speaks volumes about the current status of this technology.

For years, quantum computing was little more than a ‘what-if?’ that fascinated computer scientists. Then it was an experiment. Now it occupies a strange no man’s land, offering direct utility for researchers even before the promise of a large-scale universal quantum computer has been fulfilled. That said, it’s still a relatively niche technology, even though IBM is doing its utmost to make it accessible.

The field of quantum computing is evolving at a remarkable rate, but there’s still a long way to go before it reaches its potential. Part of the challenge is the sheer scope of bringing these ideas to fruition.

A replica of IBM’s quantum computing hardware at IBM Think. Brad Jones/Digital Trends

The concept itself required a significant amount of grounding in experimental physics just to get off the ground. That work needed to be upheld by feats of engineering – for instance, the coiled wires you see in the images illustrating this article were implemented to prevent the hardware from breaking itself into pieces as the temperatures drop and the metal contracts. Currently, there’s the daunting task of developing an ecosystem around the technology.

It took a company with the heft of IBM to turn something that could easily have ended up as a science project into technology that’s workable and practical. But now that a great deal of foundational work has already been completed, there’s a distinct focus on how the make this hardware accessible, alongside efforts to keep on making incremental improvements.

Working From Home

“A couple of years ago, this was a physics project,” said Jerry Chow, manager of IBM’s experimental quantum computing group, speaking to Digital Trends at the Think conference. “It was something that you needed to be in a laboratory to do. Putting it on the web was the first step.”

“A [few] of years ago, this was a physics project. It was something that you needed to be in a lab to do. Putting it on the web was the first step.

He notes that part of the intention with the remote access offered up via the IBM Q platform was to hide away some of the underlying physics. Users don’t necessarily need to know what the refrigeration process contributes — or how the superconducting processor operates. Not being able to fully comprehend the engineering of the quantum computer isn’t a barrier to entry.

This may seem obvious, given most of us use devices like smartphones and laptops on a daily basis without working knowledge of what’s under the hood. The difference is operational quantum hardware is incredibly rare by comparison.

A lack of finances or technical expertise might prevent brilliant researchers and standout students from using a quantum computer to do important work. But IBM Q ensures that even if these individuals have a path to the hardware they need.

We’re not talking about mere future potential, here. Chow tells me that 75,000 users have run over 2.5 million experiments on the IBM Q platform, with some 60 research papers having been published as a result. “There’s a paper from Japan on entangling 16 qubits, and how you would actually do that,” says Sutor. “That’s the first time anyone had actually done it on this type of machine.”

IBM scientists work on quantum computing hardware in the IBM Q Computation Center at the Thomas J Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York and IBM Research – Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland. IBM

When the idea of quantum computers first hit the mainstream, one of the most common questions people asked was when they could expect such a system to replace their PC. Experts replied that for the time being, it’s unclear whether this type of hardware would offer any tangible advantages over classical computers.

So, we shouldn’t expect to see a quantum computer in every home office – but now, it seems that in the short-term, we shouldn’t expect to see one in every computer science lab, either. In our inter-connected era, it follows that a cutting edge technology wouldn’t be rolled out en masse until all the kinks been ironed out.

The nature of the IBM Q platform means that lessons learned can be turned into improvements for everyone very quickly.

“The model for consumption of quantum in the near-term is this type of cloud access,” notes Chow. For the time being, it seems that accessing quantum hardware remotely is the most effective approach.

IBM is putting its hardware in the hands of people who can find practical uses right now, and that’s sure to shape the ongoing evolution of quantum computing.

At the same time, the nature of the IBM Q platform means that lessons learned can be turned into improvements that benefit the length and breadth of the user base very quickly.

What does IBM get out of making its hardware available to users who wouldn’t otherwise be able to work with a quantum computer? Well, all of the learning from using a quantum hardware would have been spread out across numerous labs. But thanks to IBM Q, now it’s all feeding back into its own project. Don’t expect progress to slow down any time soon.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Intel explores ‘spin qubits’ as the next wave in quantum computing
• Microsoft creates a particle promising a more accurate quantum computer
• Microsoft’s quantum computing language is now available for MacOS
• You can control this robot as it trawls the Chicago River picking up trash
• Google code offers hints that Android Messages is coming to a desktop near you

The big one: Huawei P20 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs. Google Pixel 2 vs. Apple iPhone X

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Huawei P20 Pro has won praise, plaudits, and fans for its impressive triple-lens camera; but just how good is it compared to the other camera-phone powerhouses out there? On paper, it’s technically superior, and it has some truly unique features that make it stand out from the rest. However, the Google Pixel 2, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, and the Apple iPhone X are hardly lacking in the camera prowess department, so we put them all against each other in a country-spanning photo shootout.

The cameras

Let’s examine the camera specifications first, so each contender knows what it’s up against. First, the Huawei P20 Pro. It has three lenses: A 40-megapixel RGB lens with an f/1.8 aperture, a 20-megapixel monochrome lens with an f/1.6 aperture, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture. It’ll zoom in up to 3x without loss of quality, has electronic image stabilization, artificial intelligence for scene recognition and low-light photography enhancement, and 960 frames per second slow-motion video.

Basing everything purely on numbers, the Huawei P20 Pro has the rest of the pack beaten already; but numbers don’t tell the whole story.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus has two camera lenses on the back, both with 12 megapixels, and a clever mechanically adjusted aperture that swaps between f/1.5 and f/2.4. It has optical image stabilization, a 2x zoom without quality loss, and 960fps slow-motion video. The Google Pixel 2 is the only one of the four with a single camera lens, which has 12-megapixels and an f/1.8 aperture. That’s it, nothing special. However, it’s in the software that the Pixel 2 excels, providing beautiful HDR+ enhancements, and impressive bokeh-style portrait shots without a second camera lens.

Finally, the Apple iPhone X has two camera lenses, both with 12 megapixels. One takes wide-angle photos with an f/1.8 aperture, and the second f/2.4 lens handles telephoto duties. It has optical image stabilization, 2x optical zoom without a loss in quality, and bokeh-style portrait pictures. Basing everything purely on numbers, the Huawei P20 Pro has the rest of the pack beaten already; but numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Fountains, and Frankfurt

The first picture shows us how closely matched all these cameras are. We photographed a fountain outside the Steigenberger hotel in Frankfurt on a sunny but slightly overcast afternoon. Let’s go in reverse, eliminating the ones we like least straight away. It’s the Galaxy S9 Plus that takes the least realistically-colored photo, which is overly bright, and the sky is lacking in the blue that other cameras revealed. The Huawei P20 Pro goes in the other direction, darkening the scene, particularly on the building.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

That leaves the iPhone X and the Pixel 2, which are so closely matched, it’ll come down to personal preference. The iPhone X has a a bluer sky, while the Pixel gets the colors and details exactly right. Forced to make a choice, we’d pick the Google Pixel 2 here, although it’s very close.

Winner: Google Pixel 2

The Euro sign

The Euro sign is a well-known landmark in the center of Frankfurt’s financial district, and to capture the scene effectively, we shot our pictures in portrait orientation. The iPhone X is the first to fall here, with a washed out sky, a lack of detail, and it looks pixelated when zooming in. The distant sign in the bottom left of the image is relatively clear in all photos apart from the iPhone X, and it’s the same with the couple taking a photo in the bottom right.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

The P20 Pro reveals detail when up close, a textured sky, and dark green grass; but the stars around the Euro sign are a little dark, and lack visual punch. The Pixel 2 and the Galaxy S9 take very similar pictures, with colors almost matching, and a similar level of detail. The Euro stars are bright, but it’s the Galaxy S9 that manages to best balance the blue of the sign with the gold of the stars, while maintaining the colors of the ground and the buildings.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

The bridge

Heading out into the German countryside, this picturesque bridge made us stop and take some photos, and the results couldn’t be more different. It’s the toughest call yet. One photo stands apart from the others, and it’s not technically the best image, but it’s the one that looks the most attractive to our eyes — the Galaxy S9 Plus. The grass on the right is wonderfully natural, the sky a baby blue, and the water reflective and cooling. If there’s a downside, it’s the slightly soft brickwork on the bridge that lacks a little detail.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

The iPhone X comes next, producing a very balanced instantly-shareable picture. It’s here where you see more detail in the bridge, and in the foliage in the bottom right compared to the Galaxy S9 Plus. The P20 Pro and Pixel 2 are so close to the iPhone X, it’s a draw between all three, and largely up to personal preference.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Church Spire

Let’s zoom. Each of these photos used the camera’s standard zoom feature, going to 2x or 3x. The Pixel 2 is the only one without a lossless zoom mode, and it really shows when you get in close, consequently eliminating the phone from the running at the first hurdle. Surprisingly, the iPhone X comes next, failing to capture as much detail as the two front runners — the P20 Pro and the Galaxy S9 Plus.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

Both these two phones took fantastic zoomed in images, but the P20 Pro takes first place here. The sharpness and detail is quite astonishing, and easily getting in much closer than any of the other phones too. While other categories have not revealed an instantly clear winner, this is the first time it has been obvious from the outset.

Winner: Huawei P20 Pro

Night time cafe

Moving to Austria and Salzburg, we snapped this lively town square cafe set beside an imposing cliff face. It had everything: Color, drama, movement, and challenging lighting conditions. The iPhone X and the Pixel 2 both take good pictures, but they’re outmatched by the Galaxy S9 and the Huawei P20 Pro, which take great pictures. Hardly surprising, given the technology inside specifically designed to take pictures in these lighting conditions.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

We love the way the Galaxy S9 captures the varied lighting under the cafe canopy, giving the shot a realistic edge; but its the P20 Pro that wins with some stunning detail. Just take a look at the texture on the road, and the brickwork under the pink lighting on the building, the yellow “Moving Pictures” sign, and then on the cliff face itself. It’s very impressive.

Winner: Huawei P20 Pro

Darkness

The ultimate test? Walking past a dark entrance to a house, recessed from the road, you could barely make out anything that was there with the naked eye. The Pixel 2’s picture is brighter than what we could really see, and representative of what we’d expect a smartphone to achieve given the conditions. The iPhone X takes a better picture, with more detail, better color balance, and a good glimpse of what was shrouded in darkness.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

The Galaxy S9 Plus is leaps and bounds ahead, showing the building itself, making the white sign readable, and revealing there’s a car hidden on the left hand side. However, the color is off and details are blurred, particularly the trees overhanging the car and the left of the picture.

You may think we wheeled out a massive spotlight for the P20 Pro’s picture, or that a security light flicked on; but we assure you, it was taken under exactly the same conditions. You can see the gravel driveway, the wall on the right, the shape and texture of the trees on the left, and even establish what brand of car is hiding. There are two trees in the center of the picture that are almost completely obscured in the other images, even the Galaxy S9 Plus’ photo.

Winner: Huawei P20 Pro

Blue sky

The P20 Pro uses artificial intelligence (AI) to adjust the camera settings depending on the scene. In this photo it switched to Blue Sky mode. It’s proof that Huawei’s decision to let you turn off the AI enhancements is a good one, because while the sky is a wonderful blue, it’s at the expense of detail in the lower half of the picture. The Galaxy S9 Plus also suffers from an overly blue sky and a lack of detail, especially on the wall in the right of the picture.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

This leaves the iPhone X and the Pixel 2, and it’s a tough call between them. The Pixel 2 has more detail in the most distant part of the castle, but equal with the iPhone X in the rest of the image. However, the iPhone X’s brighter picture all round is more appealing, giving it its first win.

Winner: Apple iPhone X

Portrait telescope

All four phones have a portrait mode, producing the effect of an object in the foreground isolated against a blurred background. We chose a very shiny telescope on top of the Hohensalzburg Castle as our subject. No post image alterations were made to the focal point, which is possible on the P20 Pro and the Galaxy S9 Plus.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

The Pixel 2 isn’t a contender here, as it didn’t manage to blur out the background at all, despite taking a pleasant picture and telling us the portrait mode was active. It’s the only camera that relies on software to manipulate the image, rather than a combination of two or more lenses. The Galaxy S9 Plus and the iPhone X are hard to split. We prefer the iPhone’s brighter picture, and the greater shine on the telescope, but it doesn’t pick out the extreme edges of the scope as expertly as the Galaxy S9 Plus.

Neither camera allowed us to step back from the scene and retain the portrait mode like the P20 Pro. Using its Aperture mode, we could still isolate the telescope against a much more expansive background, creating a very different type of picture. We prefer this because if we want to make the telescope the focal point, it’s easy to crop the picture down. With the S9 Plus and the iPhone X, this isn’t possible. It also effectively separates the telescope and the wall, giving a great depth of field to the scene.

Winner: Huawei P20 Pro

The black forest gateaux

Finally, back in London, we visited one of the original Patisserie Valerie cafes in the city, to enjoy tea and a piece of black forest gateaux. Food is rarely snapped in ideal conditions, and the cafe on Old Compton Street is no exception. Dark wood cladding and low lighting make it challenging for phones to get colors and contrast right. Each phone varied a lot here.

• 1.
  Huawei P20 Pro
• 2.
  iPhone X
• 3.
  Galaxy S9
• 4.
  Pixel 2

The four phones are split into two, with the Huawei P20 Pro and the Pixel 2 taking pictures we liked the least, and the Galaxy S9 and the iPhone X taking ones we preferred. The Pixel 2 didn’t handle the light very well, losing detail out on the chocolate chips on the left side of the cake, and showing less creaminess in the cake itself. The P20 Pro activated food mode, which we left on for the picture, and while there’s plenty of detail and the colors are correct, it blurs out too much around the edges for our liking.

Look at the Galaxy S9’s picture, and the detail is better again in the darker areas; but the iPhone X gets everything right: Chocolatey cake, creamy cream, red cherries, and moist chocolate shapes on top. Delicious, and highly eatable.

Winner: Apple iPhone X

Conclusion

The Pixel 2 won a single category, but was a runner-up in two further categories, showing just how great it performs with a single-lens camera. No-one is going to be disappointed with the results from a Pixel 2. The Apple iPhone X took two category wins, and a single runner-up prize. It’s notable that its wins were everyday situations we all take photos in — blue skies, the countryside, and food. You’ll be happy with its performance in most situations.

The Huawei P20 Pro won four categories, all of which really highlight the camera’s strengths.

The Galaxy S9 Plus also took two wins, but it snapped against the P20 Pro’s heels in four other categories, and it was often a tough decision splitting the two. It’s genuinely superb, as we’ve seen in other comparisons, and there’s almost no situation where it won’t take a fantastic photograph.

That leaves the Huawei P20 Pro, which won four categories, all of which really highlight the camera’s strengths — zoom, low light, and portrait — and accentuate just how far ahead of other cameras it is in these departments. Does this mean it’s the big winner here, and should be purchased over the others? That’s a harder question to answer. Arguably the Galaxy S9 Plus is the more capable, everyday-use camera phone; but it does lack the P20 Pro’s superb feature set and enviable monochrome mode.

In reality, all four of these phones are excellent. Do note, you can’t buy the Huawei P20 Pro in the U.S. unless you import it.

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