In the spirit of the summer selection published earlier this year where we focused on types of vacations, DXOMARK dove deep into the results of its smartphone camera, audio, battery and display protocols to compile a short list of the best smartphones for specific types of get-togethers and activities this season. In this selection, we only included products that were available internationally. We hope this list will help you choose the best device for your purposes  — no matter where your winter plans take you!

Friends & Family Gatherings

Whether around the festive dinner table or opening gifts, you’ll want your smartphone camera to capture the best of these warm indoor and low-light moments amid the glow of holiday lights.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

When it comes to taking photos of friends and family, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max ranks at the top for its excellent portrait-taking capabilities in all types of lighting situations, including low light. But it’s in video where the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a game changer. No other device has been able yet to match its excellent video experience, with its autofocus tracking and excellent stabilization. The iPhone 15 Pro devices keep everyone’s skin tones accurate with just the right contrast even when lighting conditions are challenging. It’s a safe bet that everyone around the table will end up looking good in the images. The device’s excellent display features make the screen readable even from an angle whether viewing photos or videos individually or with your family and friends gathered around you.

Huawei P60 Pro

The Huawei P60 Pro’s extraordinary low-light performance is unmatched by any other device so far, with images that correctly convey the mood of a low-light scene with natural colors, even in night shots. With the device’s variable aperture lens, which is still rare among smartphone camera modules, the device can auto adjust to various scenes and light conditions, all the way to very low-light situations that will ensure a well-focused shot whether taking a photo of a single person or a group of people. In addition, portraits show a high-performing background blur. The video experience on the P60 Pro is above average whether recording or viewing, with a display that provides good readability when indoors and audio that is good at localizing sounds in the scene.

Google Pixel 8 Pro

Like the previous top two picks, Google’s latest release, the Pixel 8 Pro, gets high scores in our family and friends scenario. The device produces images with very accurate skin tones across all lighting conditions, taking the decisive shot the moment the shutter is pressed, and managing to freeze the scene by keeping motion blur to a minimum. The Pixel 8 Pro provides some of the best audio recordings when taking videos of friends and family. Low-light scenes in photos and videos are accurately exposed and rendered, with well-managed noise. The Pixel 8 Pro’s display performance means that the screen is readable in all lighting conditions and renders colors very well so that it makes viewing photos from the gallery app a pleasure. But when taking a break from all the socializing, the Pixel 8 Pro offers quite a good HDR10 video watching experience, accompanied by an equally satisfying audio playback from the built-in speakers. Users looking for a similar flagship experience but at a more affordable price should consider the Google Pixel 8, whose performance matched or came close to the Pro’s experience in display and camera.

Honor Magic5 Pro

The Honor Magic5 Pro’s low-light performance, along with its accurate skin-tone rendering in difficult light conditions, makes it a good choice for friends and family gatherings, whether shooting stills or video. Well-exposed images provide nice colors and a high level of detail. The audio and display experiences are satisfying  across the board, making it a very good companion for watching videos and viewing memories in the gallery app.

City Exploration

The holidays are a great time to explore and visit cities that glow with festive lights and decorations, presenting  mobile photographers with plenty of opportunities to test their smartphone’s low-light and night capabilities.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra’s consistent image quality throughout its zoom range makes it a versatile companion for a city exploration trip.  The camera’s ultrawide camera (measured at 12.4 mm equivalent) offers a  wide field of view, accurate exposure and neutral white balance, allowing to capture expansive skylines or skyscrapers. Low-light performance is also the camera’s strong point. With a battery that last more than 2 days, mobile photographers can get up to 5 hours of autonomy just taking photos.

Huawei P60 Pro

The Huawei P60 Pro has an excellent zoom performance, with the ultra-wide camera capturing excellent level of details while keeping noise levels very low. Images taken in very low light or at night consistently provide natural colors. The device’s battery, which can last more than 2 days, provides 4 hours of shooting photos and videos.

Google Pixel 8 Pro

The Google Pixel 8 Pro’s overall good performance down to low light provides images with accurate exposure and natural rendering of the scene, even when shooting with the ultra-wide camera. In addition, the high level of details in images, particularly from the ultrawide camera, is among the best so far in our database.

End of Year Parties with Friends

Holiday parties, fireworks events, concerts, and school plays. You’ll need a device that can catch the ambiance of  all the events you need to attend.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

For steady shots, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra provides very effective video stabilization even when recording while walking. In addition, the camera has an accurate autofocus in video with face tracking that keeps subjects in focus. In video, the recorded audio is just as important as the images. Here the S23 Ultra does not disappoint, with very good audio recordings in loud environments. To round it all off, the S23 Ultra has a battery performance that is remarkable for a device of its class. With 67 hours of autonomy when used moderately, it’s unlikely that party-goers will have to recharge the smartphone during the night. But even if the battery runs low, a quick 5-minute charge will add nearly five and half hours of autonomy.

Apple iPhone 15

The iPhone 15 series stays one step ahead of the all other phones, particularly when it comes to video. The standout feature is a stabilization system that can control any movement, making it the best smartphone for video stabilization available on the market today, With excellent autofocus, as well as very good audio recording in loud environments, the iPhone 15 is a reliable  companion to capturing memories of parties with friends, with videos have a clean and  professional look.

Google Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a provides a great video experience for its class and its price, with generally accurate exposure, smooth autofocus, and wide dynamic range. On the audio front, it provides an above-average performance while recording loud sources, while the battery provides 55 hours of autonomy.

Xiaomi 13T Pro

The Xiaomi 13T Pro also has effective video stabilization, with a wide dynamic range, that make it a handy shooter for late-night events. Videos also contain a high level of details compared to other devices in the same price segment. And the battery offers more than 2 day of autonomy when used moderately.

Winter Trips

Winter scenarios often present certain lighting challenges when taking photos or videos. Outdoor bright snow scenes also require a screen that is readable.  Whether you go skiing or opt for warmer climates, you’ll need a device that can perform while you are on the move.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a also a good choice for this profile thanks mainly  to its great screen readability and color fidelity in all conditions, making sure you can see the contents of your screen even in bright sunlight. The camera provides a good experience when capturing outdoor images. Add to that the device’s nearly 67 hours of autonomy in moderate usage means you won’t have to worry too much about running out of battery while on the slopes. After a day of outdoor activity, the device’s strength is in its screen’s video-watching performance, especially at night.

Google Pixel 8 Pro

Both of Google’s latest Pixel models, the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 8, provide a good performance when shooting photos and videos outdoors, particularly the Pixel 8 Pro, which has the best-in-class outdoor  and wide performance. Both phones’ top-performing screen readability in bright sunlight means you’ll be able to comfortably see that your got the shots you wanted.

Asus ROG Phone 7

Asus ROG Phone 7 is a  good choice for this scenario thanks mainly to its excellent battery performance, with a very good autonomy, particularly when using the camera. Although the battery can last for three days, the Asus ROG Phone 7 is also capable of recharging in less than 40 minutes. The device’s screen readability is generally very good as long as the the weather outdoors is not too sunny.

Honor Magic5 Lite

The Honor Magic5 Lite‘s top-scoring battery performance stands out for its impressive on-the-go performance outdoors, which comes in handy when on the ski slopes or trekking out in nature.  The device’s battery is able to last for  more than 3 days when used moderately, but even if used intensely, the battery can endure nearly 2 full days.

Although this list is far from exhaustive, we hope the our short winter selection has helped you find what you are looking for this holiday season. To explore more smartphones, be sure to keep checking dxomark.com’s ranking page for the latest smartphone tests and rankings.

Happy Holidays from all of us at DXOMARK!

The post Best smartphones for you: DXOMARK’s winter selection appeared first on DXOMARK.

Laptops aren’t just for writing term papers and emails or working on spreadsheets. Laptops now are great companions when it’s time to take a break from school and work to just listen to some music or watch a movie.

With that in mind, DXOMARK, which recently started evaluating laptops for video calling as well as music and video, has selected some  newly tested laptops whose performances make them a good fit for specific needs. Read our insights into these laptops and then click on the name of the laptop  to see  the scientific data that support our selection.

Laptops that balance work and play

“Works hard, plays hard,” the saying goes. These days laptops must offer a comfortable experience both in and outside the classroom for students or both in and outside the work environment for professionals. Such devices deliver uncompromising, best-in-class audio, camera, and display performances in our two use cases — Video Call and Music & Video.

Apple MacBook Pro 14” (2023)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G

Laptops to consider :

Apple MacBook Pro 14” (2023)

The Apple MacBook Pro 14” (2023) is currently ranked first overall among all laptops evaluated to date, thanks to the excellent experience it delivers for both video calls and multimedia in all tested conditions. Its best-in-class camera has great detail, accurate exposure, and good skin-tone rendering; and its audio playback is superb for voice intelligibility and for providing an immersive playback experience. The HDR video watching experience was far ahead of other laptops. Whether camera, audio, or display, the MacBook Pro 14″ (2023) showed itself to be a top performer in all tested conditions.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 has the best overall performance for all tested Windows laptops, with consistently good results across both video call and multimedia use cases. Its camera has very good target exposure in nearly all situations, and its screen brightness and color rendering make it ideal for watching videos.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G performs well overall, but especially in video call, where it brings accurate face exposure even in challenging conditions and great voice intelligibility. Good readability and an immersive audio experience make it a good choice for SDR video playback.

Laptops  that offer a strong remote meeting experience (home office/school)

These laptops give students what they need for an optimal remote learning experience, and give professionals at home or in the office what they need for a successful remote meeting experience: cameras that adjust to changing environments; good voice intelligibility (including good management of multiple voices talking at once); and good display brightness and readability.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED

Acer Swift

Laptops to consider:

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 provides one of the best Video Call experiences among Windows devices tested to date. Its camera maintains a good level of detail and its audio capture is good at filtering out background noise in most situations.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED

The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED achieves a stand-out audio performance that makes it a good choice to use during video calls. It handles overlapping voice situations well and provides an immersive audio experience, with wide and precise spatial rendering.

Acer Swift

The Acer Swift is one of the best devices for video calls, thanks to good target exposure on faces during calls, and to effective noise reduction and targeted microphone directionality that provide excellent voice intelligibility. It also manages overlapping voices very well.

Laptops that work hard but play harder  

This scenario requires a laptop that is optimized for comfortably watching videos and listening to music. The display needs to be suitably bright in low light and dark conditions; have faithful color rendering; and provide a pleasant and immersive audio experience for both video and music.

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 16″

Apple MacBook Air 13″ (2022)

Honor MagicBook View 14 (2022)

Laptops to consider:

Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 16″

The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro’s strong display and audio performances make it particularly well-adapted for watching videos. It has faithful color rendering and good brightness, and its audio has good dynamics and sharp attack even at loud volumes, making it ideal for movie playback.

Apple MacBook Air 13″ (2022)

The Apple MacBook Air 13″ (2022) is an all-round excellent performer in all use cases, including multimedia, where it provides very good and appropriately bright HDR video rendering, with good control of reflections. Its immersive and faithful tonal balance in audio playback for both music and video is enhanced by an impressively powerful bass.

Honor MagicBook View 14 (2022)

The Honor MagicBook View 14 (2022) provides a very good multimedia experience, particularly when watching videos, with a bright display that had very faithful colors and an excellent SDR reproduction and an audio playback that was good overall. For users planning to primarily consume media content on a  laptop, then the MagicBook View 14 is a excellent choice not only for its display performance but also for its price.

For more information about DXOMARK’s latest protocol, read the dedicated article and check out the rankings of all the laptops tested so far on dxomark.com.

The post Back to school : Our laptop selection appeared first on DXOMARK.

Friends & family vacations

There are lots of great photo opportunities on a typical vacation with friends and family, kids jumping in the pool, the group gathered around the barbecue in the evening, a family bike ride and other leisure activities. All these situations create different challenges for smartphone cameras, and you want to make sure your device is capable of surpassing them all.

Given that a large proportion of photos and videos will include human subjects, the camera has to offer great portrait capabilities, with nice skin tone rendering and good subject exposure in all light conditions, but also be capable of freezing motion on moving subjects. A wide depth of field should help maintain good sharpness on all subjects in group shots, and video clips should come with a high-quality audio track that allows for good intelligibility of voices.

When viewing the recorded memories of the trip in a group, the display should offer a wide viewing angle, so everyone gets a good view, and the built-in speakers should provide good sound quality when playing back recorded video clips as well as movies or other entertainment videos.

Huawei P60 Pro

The Huawei P60 Pro features an outstanding camera that does an excellent job in pretty much any situation and is a perfect choice for taking pictures and recording videos of friends and family. Portraits come with accurate skin tones, and the P60 Pro is extremely good at balancing exposure in difficult conditions, for example backlit portraits. It also excels at freezing motion and capturing sharp subjects in dynamic scenes, even in low light. The innovative variable aperture keeps everyone in a group shot in focus, thanks to an expanded depth of field when multiple faces are detected in a scene.

Honor Magic5 Pro

Honor’s latest flagship smartphone is an excellent choice for photographing family and friends, thanks to accurate skin tones and high levels of detail, even in difficult light. In video mode, the autofocus keeps track of moving family members in all light conditions and recorded clips come with good face exposure, nice contrast, and an excellent balance between texture retention and noise reduction. Audio playback is good across the board, allowing for a pleasant sound experience when watching video content.

Google Pixel 7

The Google Pixel 7 is the most affordable option in this category but still captures consistently good images and videos of friends and family, thanks to good skin-tone rendering and natural contrast in all conditions. In addition, the excellent autofocus helps keep your subjects in focus. Video watching is great, especially with HDR content, thanks to adapted brightness and contrast. However, color shifts are visible when viewing at an angle, so the experience is best for those with the straightest view onto the screen. Sound playback quality with videos is decent but still leaves some room for improvement.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Apple’s current flagship phone comes with a camera that is excellent for capturing memories of friends and family, thanks to photos and videos with natural contrasts and accurate skin tones in all conditions. Fast capture ensures you won’t miss the decisive moment and a wide depth of field keeps all subjects in group shots in focus. The display is excellent overall, making it a great option for consuming video content, but when viewed at an angle color shifts can occur. Thanks to the wideness and energy of the audio track, the sound experience when watching videos is great as well.

Festival circuit

It doesn’t matter if you’re into Trash Metal, Reggaeton or the London Philharmonics, all types of music festivals require a fairly unique mix of device capabilities in order to make the most of the day and come back home with a good selection of digital memories on your storage. When viewing recorded videos back home, those guitar riffs should sound just like they did in front of the stage. The photos and videos of your favorite band jumping on stage should be well-exposed and sharp.

In order to achieve this, the device has to provide great audio recording quality with the main camera, especially at the high sound pressure levels that you are likely to encounter at a rock or electronic music concert. At open-air events good wind noise reduction is a must-have as well.

Good video quality, with effective stabilization, is required for recording your favorite acts on stage. A good tele zoom allows you to get closer to the performers both when recording video clips and snapping still images. Festival days can be long, so good battery life is essential. And if you do ever run out of juice, you want to make sure you can recharge to a high battery level in very little time, to not miss out on any acts.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Samsung’s current flagship phone really ticks all the boxes for this category, making it an excellent option for recording at concerts and festivals. Audio recording quality is very good, including at high sound pressure levels as they are usually encountered at concerts and similarly loud events. An effective wind noise reduction feature ensures good results even in gusty conditions. The camera delivers great results in most conditions but excels particularly at long-range zoom, making it ideal for capturing performers on stage. In addition, the very good battery autonomy of nearly 67 hours in moderate use means you won’t have to worry about carrying a power bank or finding a power outlet on the festival grounds.

Apple iPhone 14

The Apple iPhone 14’s audio recordings feature a pleasant sound signature and deal well with the loud volumes and high sound pressure levels of concerts and music festivals. A decent wind noise reduction feature helps improve audio recording quality further. Like all current iPhones, the 14 is capable of recording excellent videos and capturing nice still images, but the lack of a dedicated tele lens means you will have to accept a noticeable loss of image quality when zooming in closer to the performers on stage. It’s also worth keeping in mind that battery autonomy is low when using the camera, so an occasional recharge might be required if the festival day is long.

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is a more affordable device than the Galaxy S23 Ultra or iPhone 14 which means that compromises will have to be made in some areas. As a sound recording device the A54 5G delivers a solid performance across a wide range of use cases, including recording concerts, but the built-in microphones are slightly prone to wind noise.

The camera produces well-exposed images and videos but the lack of a tele lens means zooming in results in a loss of image quality. Battery autonomy is good under moderate use and overall the Samsung is a very decent smartphone option in its price bracket for festival-goers.

Xiaomi 12T

Alongside the Galaxy A54, the Xiaomi 12T is one of the more affordable options in this list. Although it’s not a flagship-level product, it is still a very good option in its price segment. In terms of audio recording, it’s best for recording vocals in quiet environments but performs fairly poorly with loud sources, making it only suitable for recording at quieter events. On the plus side, an effective wind noise reduction allows for recording in windy conditions.

The camera delivers a pleasant photo and video performance with good noise management and accurate autofocus, but image quality suffers when applying tele zoom. Battery autonomy is not the best we have seen, but the Xiaomi is capable of charging very quickly, so a few minutes plugged into a power outlet will expand your recording time quite significantly.

Road trips

During long hours on the road, smartphones provide valuable entertainment options to passengers. Good display and audio playback quality make for a great video- and movie-watching experience. A long battery life and good quick charging capabilities help keep devices running until the destination has been reached.

For the occasional drive-by snapshot of a tourist site, the camera should be capable of limiting motion blur to a minimum and capture good image quality in all light conditions, from bright daylight to low light when driving in dim conditions.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers an outstanding display experience when watching videos, with good brightness and pleasant colors. Audio quality is great, too, with a nice timbre and a deep and powerful bass. Excellent battery autonomy means you can keep going a long time between recharges and the camera’s autofocus is fast enough to capture the decisive moment, with good color and exposure across all light conditions.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Apple’s latest top-of-the-range model is an excellent device to take on a road trip, thanks to an overall excellent display that is particularly good at video playback, with contrast tuning that renders videos close to the artistic intent. Immersive audio with great wideness and energy adds to the video consumption experience on the Apple. Battery autonomy is excellent, too, allowing for more than 20 hours of continuous video watching, and the camera is capable of capturing nice images in any light condition you could possibly encounter along the way.

Google Pixel 7 Pro or Pixel 7

Google Pixel 7 Pro

Google Pixel 7

Google’s latest Pixel phones offer an overall very good display experience when watching videos, especially when consuming HDR10 content, with good brightness and color. The audio track comes with a good and clear tonal balance, as well as a consistent timbre at all volume levels, completing an excellent movie-watching experience. Battery autonomy when streaming video is decent as well, more than 17 hours in the case of the 7 Pro, and the camera experience is consistently good across all use cases, ensuring excellent holiday pictures along the way.

Honor Magic5 Lite

We’ve also included the Honor Magic5 Lite on this list for its extremely long battery life when watching video. More than 22 hours of continuous video consumption on one charge is outstanding, making the Honor your best bet when charging options are scarce.

City exploration

Activities during an urban vacation can be extremely varied, creating the need for a versatile mobile device that is very capable across a wide range of areas. The camera has to be capable of producing good image quality across all light conditions, in bright daylight, under indoor conditions and in very low light, for example when shooting cityscapes at night. A wide field of view on the ultra-wide camera is very useful for architectural photography in narrow city streets, and so is a good tele for zooming into the details of urban life.

During visits to museum, galleries and similar indoor locations, good indoor performance of the display is key and a good battery life and quick charging capabilities help you keep going all day long.

Huawei P60 Pro

The Huawei P60 Pro comes with one of the very best cameras we have seen on a smartphone. Still-image quality and video quality are great overall and outstanding in low light, making the Huawei an ideal imaging tool for any city trip. The ultra-wide camera’s very wide field of view lets you squeeze a lot of scene into the frame. The ultra-wide also captures excellent detail and low levels of image noise. In general, the level of detail is high across the entire zoom range, allowing for great images of subjects at all distances.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra camera delivers consistently excellent image quality across the entire zoom rage, with good exposure, a wide dynamic range and natural rendering of detail, even in low light. The ultra-wide camera offers a wider field of view than most competitors, with accurate exposure, fairly neutral white balance, and well-controlled image artifacts. Its versatility makes the 13 Pro an ideal imaging companion on a city break.

Honor Magic5 Pro

The Honor Magic5 Pro camera captures great detail and is excellent for low light photography, with accurate colors and good exposure even in night shots. The zoom delivers great image quality across all settings, from ultra-wide to tele, offering a lot of flexibility when composing images of urban scenes. The display is also well suited for city trip use, offering good brightness and readability in all light conditions, including indoors.

Hiking and camping

Lovers of the great outdoors want a mobile device with a camera that is capable of capturing great landscape shots with the main camera or ultra-wide, as well nice macros when getting close to plant life or even small animals. The display has to offer good readability in bright sunlight and good audio playback quality with the built-in speakers allows for musical entertainment during picnic stops or back at camp after a long day of hiking. Out in the wild, far from any power outlets, battery life is paramount as well.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Thanks to good detail, nice colors and a wide dynamic range the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera is an excellent option for landscape photography. Readability of the display is excellent, including in sunlight, where the iPhone screen manages impressive brightness levels and nice color rendering. Battery autonomy is excellent, with more than 64 hours in moderate use, meaning there is no need for battery packs on shorter trips into the wild. Musical entertainment at the campfire is ensured as well, thanks to good audio playback with a pleasantly wide sound scene and energy.

Honor Magic5 Pro

The Honor’s camera delivers good exposure, nice color and high levels of detail, making it a great tool for taking landscape shots of the great outdoors. The phone’s display offers good brightness and readability in all light conditions, even in bright sunlight which is great for outdoor use. In addition, the Magic5 Pro is great for listening to music, thanks to a natural and pleasant tonal balance, good dynamics performance and a wide sound scene.

Huawei P60 Pro

The Huawei P60 Pro camera is outstanding in all conditions and use cases, including landscape photography, capturing great detail, nice colors and a wide dynamic range. If you need to squeeze more scene into the frame, the ultra-wide camera won’t disappoint with its 13mm field of view, good fine detail rendering and low levels of image noise. The Huawei is also an excellent option for macro photography, using its tele lens to keep some distance to the subject, which is essential with living subjects and helps prevent shading the scene with the device.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

We have included the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra in this list specifically for its macro photography capabilities and great display. In its macro camera mode, the Samsung captures close-ups with great detail and nice color, making it a great option for capturing small subject in the nature surrounding you. The phone’s display offers great readability and color fidelity in all light conditions, making sure you can see the contents of your screen even in bright sunlight.

The post Best of smartphones [Summer 2023] appeared first on DXOMARK.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is the music, and more to the point, finding the right wireless speaker that can accompany all types of planned summer events and activities, such as picnics, outdoor walks, or evening gatherings in the garden, or just looking up at stars at night.

DXOMARK’s Speaker protocol has got you covered for the finding the perfect speaker for the outdoors. That’s because DXOMARK is all not just about testing devices  in laboratories but also in real-life situations and various use cases from the kitchen to the bedroom to the backyard. Our common use cases consist of placing and testing speakers in various locations indoors in an actual apartment and outdoors, and under specific circumstances such as listening to a podcast before going to sleep, cooking, watching movies, playing background music for a small gathering  or playing loud music at a party.

So for our summer selection of the best speakers, we looked at the high performers specifically in our outdoor use case. For this use case, we play music in an outdoor space, such as on a balcony or in a garden, with people gathered around the speaker. This use case differs from the others, as sound reflections and reverberations are much reduced outdoors, making for very different acoustics compared to indoor settings. We also use this use case to check if a speaker’s performance under battery power differs from when it is plugged into a power outlet.

The speakers we considered for this list had to perform well at loud volume, where hardware and software are usually pushed  to their limits, revealing performance weaknesses that might not be noticeable at lower volumes. A good bass  response was a prerequisite for the low end to be deep, powerful, and precise, and directivity had to be as close as possible to 360°. The ideal outdoor speaker also had to be ergonomic and easy to carry from one place to another, as well as be water and dust resistant. Having a few charging ports for smartphones and other electronics were  welcome features.

Here’s our list of the Top 5 Wireless Speakers that we think would be great for those long summer days.

Devialet Mania

For outdoor parties and barbecues

Devialet’s speakers are usually designed to stand out for their  indoor premium aesthetics. The French brand’s first portable speaker, the Devialet Mania, brings those design principles and its pleasant sound signature to the outdoors, where it is also sure to stand out as a conversation piece.

When it comes to the audio, this stylish round speaker has an array of connectivity options and provides an impressive performance outdoors, earning it our top score for outdoor performance. Its homogeneous and 360° directivity delivers a consistent tonal balance no matter where it is placed, making it ideal for an outdoor party or a barbecue gathering with friends. It delivers quite a loud sound and an impactful bass for its compact size.

The integrated little handle makes this water-resistant (IPX 4) speaker easy to carry around when the party has to move indoors because of a little rain. Oh, and don’t let the kids mistake it for a ball!

Ingress Protection (IP) rating: IPX4

Weight: 2.3 kilograms

Outdoor score: 157  (Top Score)

For more performance details in other use cases:  https://www.dxomark.com/speakers/Devialet/Mania

Soundcore Motion X600

For all types of gatherings and occasions

The Soundcore Motion X600 is a simple, but very versatile, compact outdoor speaker that is meant to be configured with all of its diverse options activated. Once that is done, the speaker delivers a strong bass boost as well as immersive spatial audio, which is quite impressive and unexpected for a speaker under $200.

What stands out about this portable speaker is the scope of its wideness, which is comparable to larger and more expensive speakers, and its nearly flawless tonal balance.

The speaker’s attractive price point makes the Soundcore X600 a very accessible device, while its adaptability to various use cases and myriad of audio options will please all types of music lovers.

Weight: 2.0 kilograms

Ingress Protection rating: IPX7

Outdoor score: 152

For performance details in other use cases:  https://www.dxomark.com/speakers/Soundcore/Motion-X600

JBL Xtreme 3

For any outdoor dance party

JBL is no stranger when it comes to portable and versatile speakers. The JBL Xtreme 3 is usually known for being the life of many parties, reliably providing the music for indoor and outdoor parties with its rich and lively sound with good dynamics and especially good punch. When it’s not used on the party circuit, the Xtreme 3 is also quite performant when used in the kitchen, bathroom or even watching movies thanks to its easy connectivity to a variety of devices.

The Xtreme 3’s rugged build  and IP67 dustproof and waterproof rating make it an optimal choice for outdoor use, with the added advantages of having ports that can charge a smartphone, as well as a little built-in bottle opener!

Weight:  2.0 kilograms

Ingress Protection rating: IP67

Outdoor score:  141

For more performance details in other use cases: https://www.dxomark.com/speakers/JBL/Xtreme-3

Teufel Boomster

For small outdoor gatherings

This powerhouse of a speaker provides an overall pleasant tonal balance and precise and powerful dynamics, with good bass and a sharp attack, delivering a sound that is free of artifacts. The Teufel Boomster offers Bluetooth  and jack connectivity options.  It also comes equipped with FM and digital radios as well as an extendable antenna (and a fold-down handle) for an on-the-go retro connectivity to the airwaves.

Because its directional,  front-firing speakers, the Teufel Boomster’s ideal outdoor performance is at small and more intimate gatherings where listeners and speakers are not far apart. In this type of scenario, the Teufel Boomster is good for listening to a podcast or to music  at high volume.

Weight: 3.8 kilograms

Ingress Protection rating: IPX5

Outdoor score:  141

For more performance details in other use cases: https://www.dxomark.com/speakers/Teufel/Boomster

Bose Soundlink Flex

For nomads

Designed to be used on the go, the  slim and  rugged Bose Soundlink Flex is and ideal option for listening while hiking and exploring. It  even comes with a built-in strap that can attach to a backpack for true portability. The Bose Soundlink Flex’s IP67 rating also means that even if it rains during a hike or the speaker is accidentally dropped into the water (it floats!), the music will go on playing.

But no matter what the acoustic environment, the testing showed that the sound is rich, clear and well-balanced, as long as volume isn’t at the maximum. But when it comes to sharing music on the go, this speaker can roll with the punches and deliver a clear sound.

The Soundlink Flex’s connectivity is limited to Bluetooth.

Weight: 0.6 kilograms

Ingress Protection rating: IP67

Outdoor score: 133

For more performance details in other use cases: https://www.dxomark.com/speakers/Bose/Soundlink-Flex

DXOMARK is always testing a wide variety of wireless speakers in different price segments. We focused mainly on outdoor performance in this shortlist, but all the speakers we test undergo evaluations in numerous other use cases and environments. (Read more about the Speaker protocol and the specific use cases tested.) Whatever the summer season holds in store for you, be sure to check out other speakers and devices on dxomark.com to find one that best suits your activities and your audio preferences.

Have a great summer!

The post Best of wireless speakers [Summer 2023] appeared first on DXOMARK.

We tested the six top-end soundbars from Devialet, LG, Samsung, Sennheiser, Sonos, and Sony, ranging in price from €999  to €2,300.

Like in our well-established smartphone and wireless speaker audio protocols, we tested these soundbars objectively and perceptually in controlled conditions using the movie and music use cases from our wireless speaker protocol.

The LG S95QR soundbar being tested in DXOMARK’s semi-anechoic chamber.

First, a series of measurements were made in our anechoic lab to generate graphs for frequency response, THD+N (Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise), and loudness tables. Then, perceptual evaluations took place in our dedicated apartment laboratory, in a living room setting, where all systems were tested comparatively at the same volumes and in the same conditions.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus under test in the apartment laboratory.

Soundbars that included satellite speakers were also evaluated in standalone mode. For each system, our audio engineers tested the multiple settings available in their respective apps and then chose the mode that was best suited for each use case (movie or music).

After having evaluated the contenders objectively in our anechoic lab and then perceptually in a real-life setting, the results are finally in. The battle was fierce,  but ultimately the choice is yours: which will be your best pick?

Decent immersion for a budget

LG S95QR

 LG S95QR

Our first contender, the LG S5QR system (€1,590), comes already packaged with a subwoofer and two satellite speakers.
Despite a decent surrounding sensation, elevation seemed limited and a lack of continuity between front and rear sound was noticed. Extension in the low-end was satisfying thanks to the subwoofer, but timbre didn’t seem really balanced in its default settings, as voice sounded a bit muffled, and the overall sound signature was deemed too dark, and uneven.

Solid all-in-one system

Samsung HW-Q990B

Samsung HW-Q990B

Next up we have the Samsung HW-Q990B (€1,499) competing directly with the LG soundbar as an all-in-one system for a similar price.
With a clean and natural sound signature, watching movies and listening to music was a pleasant experience. Dialogues were intelligible in all circumstances, unaltered by the full dynamics. Great immersion, with a noticeable sense of elevation to top it all.

A multi-purpose ecosystem

Sonos Arc

Sonos Arc

Going up a notch on the price scale, we then tested the Sonos Arc soundbar (€999), to which we added a Sub (Gen 3) and two Sonos One as satellites, which can also be used as standalone speakers.
The Sonos system proposed a clean experience, with intelligible voices and a controlled low-end as well as natural dynamics. Decent immersion, with a sense of elevation slightly lacking but an impressive wideness for the soundbar alone.

No satellite speakers necessary

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus with the Ambeo Sub

Next in line was the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus (€1,499), paired with the Ambeo Sub subwoofer (€699).
Performance was certainly impressive for a system without satellite speakers, thanks to an immersive virtual sound scene, including a great sense of elevation. Clean sound signature with a nice low-end, ideal for watching movies. In music mode, however, stereophony was not as wide as expected, and timbre also fell apart a little bit.

Totally independent

Devialet Dione

Devialet Dione

The next system tested was the Devialet Dione (€2,300), once again a standalone soundbar, this time without a subwoofer.
For a system without subwoofer, the low-end was quite impressive, even if it sounded less controlled sometimes. The absence of satellite speakers didn’t impair immersion in the least. However, dialogues were not always very intelligible, and timbre didn’t seem balanced in a musical context.

Immersion at all costs

Sony HT-A7000

Sony HT-A7000

Finally, the last system in this competition was the Sony HT-A7000  soundbar (€1,390), which we tested with an SW5 subwoofer and additional SA-RS5 satellite speakers.
By far the easiest system to set up, Sony didn’t require any dedicated app as all settings are directly accessible from the TV. Immersion was excellent, with good continuity from front to rear as well as a sweet sense of elevation. Unfortunately, timbre wasn’t very balanced either with movies or music, and the low-end especially lacked control, even taking a toll on dialogue intelligibility.

Volumes

If you are concerned about the volumes you could expect with these sound bars, here are the maximum volume measurements, measured at 1m in our semi-anechoic chamber with the soundbar only (no subwoofer and no satellite speakers).

That concludes our battle of some of the top soundbars worth considering when watching for Black Friday deals. Let us know in the comments which system you would choose to watch movies all winter!

Check out the English-subtitled video from our partner Cobra, who designated the best-performing soundbars of 2022 based on our testing measurements.

The post The best of soundbars 2022 appeared first on DXOMARK.

Each user profile will show multiple device suggestions, including some more affordable options next to the usual Ultra Premium and Premium suspects, to suit a variety of budgets.

Friends & Family photographers and video makers

Photos or videos of friends or family members make up more than 50% of all smartphone imaging,  according to a DXOMARK-YouGov survey. ^[1] The same survey also found that users were not willing to make compromises or sacrifice accuracy for speed or vice versa. They wanted a device that was capable of capturing the right moment and providing the best possible image quality, especially when the subjects were people.

This means that the camera has to capture nice skin tones and natural contrast; it also has to be capable of freezing motion at the desired instant, as well as provide a natural-looking bokeh effect that blurs the image background to accentuate the foreground subject. On the audio side of things, we are looking for good audio quality when recording video. Voices have to be intelligible and sound natural. Individual sound sources should be easy to pinpoint in the sound scene and background noise as well as wind noises should be filtered out.

After capture, most photos and videos are viewed on the device, which is why they should be rendered accurately on the display when opened with the gallery application, with good readability and color. A day out with friends or family typically involves taking a large number of images and videos and nobody wants their battery to run out in the middle of the day. That’s why devices should also offer good battery autonomy when using the camera app.

If money is no object, then Ultra Premium devices offer no doubt the best performance for this use case. We were specifically impressed by the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Let’s have a closer look at the best devices for taking photos and videos of friends and family.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Google Pixel 7 Pro

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

The iPhone 14 Pro Max camera offers excellent skin tone rendering and contrast on faces, making it a great option for people photography. In addition, a very good bokeh mode allows for natural-looking DSLR-style portraits with a smoothly blurred background. The camera also does very well at minimizing motion blur on people in motion and the zero shutter lag feature helps photographers capture the exact decisive moment.

On the audio track of recorded videos, a good timbre ensures the intelligibility of voices and effective wind-noise reduction means recording in breezy conditions is not a problem. The 14 Pro Max display tops our database for readability and allows for photo and video viewing even in bright sunlight. The iPhone is not among the best in terms of battery, but four hours of camera use is still an average value among Ultra-Premium devices.

Google Pixel 7 Pro

The Pixel 7 Pro comes with one of the most versatile cameras we have seen, allowing for great portrait shots in all sorts of light conditions. Portrait subjects are rendered very realistically, with outstanding skin tones and nice face contrast, even in backlit scenes. Fast shutter speeds help capture moving subjects without any motion blur and the autofocus system is great at tracking subjects and keeping them in focus, even in low-light and high-contrast scenes.

The audio track in Pixel 7 Pro videos offers a natural timbre, with good intelligibility of voices. Good wideness and accurate distance rendering allow for realistic rendering of the sound scene. The display offers good performance across all test attributes and is great for viewing photos and videos, thanks to good color fidelity in most conditions and well-managed brightness in low light and indoors. In bright light, 4 hours of battery life with camera usage is fairly average for an Ultra Premium device.

While the pricey options in the Ultra Premium segment generally offer the best performance for friends and family photographers and videographers, great options for more budget-conscious users are available, too. These devices still offer great overall performance but might not be quite on the same level as the very best in some areas. The Google Pixel 6a and Xiaomi 12 T are the ones we picked.

Google Pixel 6a

Xiaomi 12T

Google Pixel 6a

Like the Pixel 7 series, the more affordable Google Pixel 6a is a great smartphone for portrait photography, thanks to nice colors and accurate skin tone rendering. The very good autofocus keeps subjects sharp and avoids blur on moving subjects in bright light and under typical indoor conditions. However, it slightly struggles to do so in low light. Pixel 6a video clips offer excellent exposure, color and stabilization.

The audio track of recorded video clips offers a good tonal balance and renders a nice and wide audio scene. The Google display’s color and readability are good for viewing photos and videos in most conditions, except in bright sunlight, and 4 hours and 30 minutes of camera use is an average result in this device class.

Xiaomi 12T

Xiaomi’s latest upper midrange offering scores points for its fast and repeatable autofocus system, a good bokeh mode for the class as well as good target exposure and accurate color rendering. However, skin tones can sometimes look a little unnatural, and in difficult high-contrast conditions, a more limited dynamic range can result in highlight and/or shadow clipping.

The audio track on 12T videos provides good wideness and distance rendering, making for a natural sound scene. The display comes with excellent scrolling smoothness. The viewing experience somewhat suffers in bright outdoor light, but the user can adjust the brightness to a level. The battery offers close to 5 hours of camera use, which is above average in this category.

Night owl  photographers and videographers

With a smartphone in everyone’s pocket all the time, many pictures and videos are also captured in low-light conditions, in bars, at concerts, in dimly lit restaurants, or simply out in the street on the way home after dark. Despite low-light photography being commonplace, many devices still struggle in dim conditions, leaving many users dissatisfied with the quality of their pictures taken in low light.

A camera that does well in low light has to offer a combination of several image quality attributes. Most importantly, the night scene should be rendered as such. There is no point in capturing a night shot if a too-bright exposure makes it look as if the image was taken in broad daylight. Exposure and colors should be natural, there should be a good compromise between image detail and noise, and shutter speeds should be fast enough to freeze motion in the scene and avoid image blur. In video clips, exposure and white balance transitions in changing light conditions should be smooth and not too abrupt.

Top-end camera hardware, such as large image sensors, fast aperture lenses, and powerful image processors can help a lot with low-light image quality, which is why currently the best-performing devices usually belong to the Ultra Premium and Premium segments. Let’s have a closer look at our picks for this category.

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

Google Pixel 7 Pro

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

In our DXOMARK Camera testing, the Huawei offered the overall best low-light capabilities. Thanks to a great combination of hardware and software tuning, the Mate 50 Pro is a step ahead of everyone else in terms of low-light imaging. The camera’s unique variable aperture feature also helps improve low-light still image quality, but is less of a factor for video. Overall, low-light images taken with the device offer nice and vivid colors in addition to pleasant contrast.

Google Pixel 7 Pro

The Google Pixel 7 Pro’s low-light performance was very good and among the best for both Photo and Zoom. The device preserved a natural night-time atmosphere in low-light scenes and portraits and captured a wide dynamic range and good detail.
Image noise was quite intrusive in low-light photos–and more so in videos. But the Pixel 7 Pro was better than most other devices when it came to capturing motion in still shots.

Serial video storytellers

A picture says a thousand words, but sometimes a video is a much better medium for telling a story. At this point, smartphones still capture a lot more photos than videos, but with video modes becoming more and more powerful many users are recording more video than they did a few years ago.

The criteria for good video quality are in many ways similar to those for still images, but the fact that a video captures a longer slice of time, rather than just a specific moment, means temporal factors become important, too. A good video camera has to offer smooth exposure and white balance transitions when the light level or color changes. HDR capabilities ensure good detail in both the darkest and brightest parts of a video scene, and effective video stabilization makes for smooth footage, when holding the camera still as well as when running or walking while recording. An accurate autofocus system is necessary for tracking moving subjects throughout the scene. Face-tracking capabilities can help with this task.

Audio is just as important in video recording as the images, requiring intelligible and natural voices, good localizability of sound sources, as well as effective background and wind noise reduction. When recording events such as concerts, loud volumes, and high sound pressure levels have to be handled well, keeping distortion and compression effects to a minimum.

Last but not least, for video consumption on the device display, the gallery app has to offer good video rendering, with smooth motion, good brightness and natural colors.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and 14 Pro

Xiaomi 12T Pro

Google Pixel 7

Apple iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max

In the DXOMARK Camera ranking, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are top-rated devices for video, but the previous iPhone 13 generation is also still among the very best devices for video. Apple’s HDR recording with Dolby Vision is exceptional, providing great contrast and natural HDR rendering, and the camera’s excellent exposure ensures good detail in both highlight and shadow areas of the video scene. Exposure and white balance transitions during  scene and light changes are nice and smooth, and video color is among the best we have seen, especially in low light, where a slightly warm white balance helps convey the atmosphere of the scene.

In addition, the autofocus system does an excellent job at tracking faces and the latest iPhones provide the best video stabilization we have seen to date, keeping things steady even when running with the camera while recording. Add a very good balance between video detail and noise into the mix and the latest iPhones are a very obvious choice for any mobile video creators.

The outstanding video quality is accompanied by good audio. Thanks to a good timbre, recorded voices are very intelligible and good wind noise reduction helps in windy conditions. Apple’s audio recording is especially good at high sound pressure levels, making the iPhone a good option for recording at loud events, such as concerts.

When watching video on the device, the Dolby Vision display takes full advantage of the recorded HDR footage and provides good color and brightness adaptations.

Xiaomi 12T Pro

Xiaomi’s 12T Pro is an excellent video option for Android users, offering good exposure and wide dynamic range, as well as a very good texture/noise trade-off, down to low light levels. During exposure transitions, the camera makes sure faces are consistently well exposed, and an effective video stabilization provides steady footage when shooting handheld or on the move while recording.

The audio recording in video comes with a natural tonal balance and good dynamics, and in the wide sound scene, individual sound sources can be easily located. However, the device has limitations at high sound pressure levels, so is not the best choice for recording at loud events, such as concerts. The display is not the Xiaomi’s strongest point but still is slightly better than average for watching video, with good contrast and accurate tone mapping. It might be necessary to adjust the brightness based on user preferences, though.

Google Pixel 7

The Pixel 7 offers a flagship-level video experience at a more affordable price point. A very effective video stabilization makes sure recorded clips are smooth and steady, recorded clips contain a lot of detail and a wide dynamic range means that very little image information is lost in the brightest and darkest parts of the scene.

Audio that is recorded with video offers a good tonal balance and a wide sound scene in which the distance of individual sound sources is rendered realistically. Intelligibility of voices is increased with the help of wind noise reduction and an audio zoom feature allows to focus on a specific source of sound while filtering out background noise.

Viewing recorded video clips is a pleasure, too, thanks to an excellent display for the device class. HDR rendering is well-managed, making for natural results, and brightness and contrast adapt well to the ambient light conditions.

Video watchers

Whether it’s streaming a TV show and movie while on vacation, or watching a sports event on the subway, or a catching a YouTube clip before bedtime — video consumption on smartphones is commonplace. A DXOMARK-YouGov survey found that 43% of smartphone owners watch videos or movies on their devices.

The display is the most central element to a good video-watching experience and should offer high-quality rendering, including brightness that auto-adjusts to the ambient light, color and contrast that reflect the original artistic intent of the content creators, and faithfully rendered detail.

The audio playback has to be faithful to the original audio track and render the scene correctly. Spatial capabilities should allow for easy localization of voices and events, for example, an explosion in a movie, and the tonal balance should be accurate, with sharp bass rendition.

Movies can be several hours long, which is why video watchers require a battery that lasts to the end. Therefore battery life is another important criteria for this use case. A good device should allow users to watch a full movie without being interrupted by low battery warnings or having to connect a charging cable.

Let’s have a closer look at our smartphone picks for watching videos.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Asus ROG Phone 6

Google Pixel 7

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Like most Samsung models, the Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) comes with a display that is great for watching videos. In our Display tests, it earned the top score in the video category, thanks to an overall good video experience with good brightness, contrast, and color management. Colors are faithful and highlights are well-managed, showing detail even in the brightest parts of the image.

On the Audio playback side of things, the Samsung offers clear and precise high-end extension and mid-range, which makes voices very intelligible. It’s also reasonably easy to locate individual sound sources in the scene. The 16-hour battery life when watching video is on par with rival devices in the same price bracket.

Asus ROG Phone 6

The Asus ROG Phone 6 display is very well suited for consuming video content, thanks to good brightness and tone mapping adaptations in most conditions.^[2] The audio track that accompanies the video images offers a rich and balanced timbre and excellent dynamics, with sharp and precise attacks. Spatial performance is also very good, allowing for easy pinpointing of sound sources in the scene. In addition, the Asus offers a very good overall battery performance. Twenty-one hours of autonomy when watching video is an excellent result in this price range and should satisfy even seasoned binge-watchers.

Google Pixel 7

The Google Pixel 7 is another device that offers a very good display performance for its class. A well-managed and pleasant HDR performance as well as good brightness and contrast adjustments make video watching on the Google device a pleasant experience. Thanks to a good overall tonal balance and easy localizability of individual sound sources in the scene contribute to this as well. Sixteen hours of video watching without a recharge isn’t the best we have seen but well within acceptable limits.

Social media butterflies

Social media apps are among the most popular on smartphones, and many users spend hours per day consuming photos, videos, and audio on their social media streams.

According to our DXOMARK-YouGov survey, about 60% of smartphone owners use their devices to browse social media. For this kind of activity, both a good display and strong battery are essential. A good social media device should offer smooth scrolling and help avoid accidental taps or ghost touches — the phone reacting to a tap that actually did not happen.

Let’s have a closer look at our selection of the best devices for social media browsing.

Realme GT2 Pro

Honor Magic4 Pro

Oppo Find X5

Realme GT2 Pro

Social media users will appreciate the Realme GT2 Pro’s accurate display touch response that extends to the corners and edges of the screen. In social media use, it also offers the smoothest scrolling of all devices in this list. The battery provides close to 12 hours of uninterrupted social media browsing which should get you even through the longest lists of new posts.

Honor Magic4 Pro

Like the Realme, the Honor Magic4 Pro comes with a display that reacts accurately and smoothly to touch input, even around the edges of the display. At 11 hours  battery autonomy for social media browsing is slightly less, but should still be more than enough for even the the longest Twitter feuds or TikTok binges.

Oppo FindX5

The Oppo Find X5 brings great display performance for social media to a more affordable price point and combines it with a battery that allows for 9 hours of uninterrupted social media browsing.

People always on the move

For many of our daily life tasks, we rely on smartphones, from communication and banking to buying transit tickets and navigation. For users that spend a large part of the day on the move, it’s therefore crucial that their smartphone battery can make it through the day, even under heavy use.

Here, we focused on the autonomy and charging performances within our Battery testing. Long autonomy means that a device offers more than two days of moderate use, allowing you to spend a weekend away without thinking about charging. However, any device will inevitably run out of battery at the wrong time at some point. In these situations, a good charging speed should allow for a quick battery top-up that provides another few hours of use.

Let’s have a closer look at our selection of devices for users on the move.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 5G

Oppo Reno8 5G

Sony Xperia 10 IV

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Ultra-Premium devices tend to come with innovative features that consume a lot of power and are therefore not typically among the best when it comes to battery autonomy. This said, if battery life is a priority but innovation and top-end performance are requirements, too, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, like its predecessors, is an excellent choice, offering the best battery autonomy in its class.

With moderate use, the iPhone battery lasts close to two or three days, but if you happen to pass by a power outlet, a quick five-minute charge can achieve an additional 3 hours and 20 minutes of autonomy. Autonomy for social media browsing is especially great, but the Apple’s battery lasts a long time whatever you’re up to. This is true even for outdoor use where the higher brightness of the display increases power consumption.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G

If good battery autonomy is a must and you can live without the latest features and fastest chipsets, then there is a range of more affordable devices. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G is one of them. Providing three days of autonomy in moderate use, taking slightly more than an hour to charge, and maintaining very good autonomy in calls, the Redmi Note 11S 5G is an ideal choice for anyone who spends a large part of the day on the move.

Oppo Reno8 5G

The Oppo Reno8 5G delivered a very balanced performance in our battery testing. Not only did it offer great autonomy with more than two full days of moderate use, but it also delivered extremely fast charging, gaining an additional eight hours of use in just a five-minute charge.

Sony Xperia 10 IV

Those users who do not get close to any power outlets during their day and therefore need maximum autonomy should have a very close look at the Sony Xperia 10 IV. With more than three days of moderate use on one charge, its autonomy can only be described as monstrous. The Sony will do its job for an outstandingly long time before needing a charger, no matter what you are doing with your phone while out and about.

Let the shopping begin

We hope this article was useful in helping you consider specific options when choosing a smartphone for yourself or for someone else this holiday season. But regardless of the type of user you are, dxomark.com can guide you to making the best choice in devices every time of the year. Check out our ranking tables and our extensive product reviews for a rundown of all the latest smartphones and devices we test.

[1]YouGov RealTime survey conducted on behalf of DXOMARK from December 17 to 23, 2021, among 2,000 people per country, representative of the national population aged 18 and over (France, Great Britain, USA), the urban population for India and the online population for China, using the quota method.

[2]Test results to be published soon on dxomark.com

The post Best of smartphones: Black Friday 2022 appeared first on DXOMARK.

We’ve made a selection of phones that perform well not only under one or two of our protocols, but across the board — Camera, Audio, Display, Battery and Selfie. To offer something for every budget, we’ve also split things up by price segment.

Ultra Premium: Crème de la crème

With most phones in the Ultra Premium segment (launch price of $800 and up) being flagship devices of their respective brands, engineers and designers have to make fewer cost-related compromises than at lower price points and can often try to move the boundaries of what’s currently possible in terms of smartphone technology. Phones in the Ultra-Premium category tend to use high-end components all around, aiming for top performance in all areas. 

In this segment we have observed a lot of improvement over the past year or so and, as usual, the camera is one of the main areas that manufacturers focus on. With the latest generation of devices, we have seen significant improvements in image quality when using the tele zoom. Larger sensors and wider apertures in ultra-wide cameras mean better detail, lower noise, and a wider dynamic range at the widest end of the zoom range as well. As a result, images show better textures and more detail in the very brightest and darkest parts.

In addition, wider angles of view allow photographers to squeeze more of the scene into the frame, which is great for taking pictures of large groups in small space, for example. Most flagship models now offer 13mm equivalent lenses on their ultra-wide modules. Other testers also saw noticeable improvements compared to previous device generations in terms of night-shot image quality and HDR video, offering better textures and detail in the brightest and darkest parts of videos recorded in difficult high-contrast conditions. In addition, new in-house developed chipsets offer engineers more options to choose from to engineers.

We have seen significant improvements in image quality when using the tele zoom.

In terms of audio, most ultra-premium devices continue to provide a good user experience, but not much has changed when it comes to the quality of playback and recording. In the display category, we have seen improvements in brightness, but those do not always mean that displays are more readable. Most manufacturers also use LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) panels in this class, which feature adaptive refresh rates. This way the device can optimize the refresh rate for the type of content that is being shown on the screen.

On the battery front, Ultra Premium phones loaded with demanding new features continue to struggle overall with autonomy. Heavy users will have to find a power outlet sooner or later. Otherwise, charging speed is where smartphone manufacturers currently battle it out in the Ultra Premium segment in terms of battery performance. Some of the latest phones in this class can be fully charged during a short coffee break.

For detailed device performance information, check out the protocol-specific test results on dxomark.com. Now, without further ado, here is DXOMARK’s list of the best Ultra Premium smartphones 2022 so far.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Released in September 2021, Apple’s flagship iPhone 13 Pro Max provides one of the best all-around smartphone experiences. The smooth interaction between the latest hardware and the software attests to the attention Apple pays to tuning and getting the most out of the device, no matter what the
use case.

This was particularly evident in the phone’s display performance, where it took the lead in our Display ranking because its screen was so readable  in all different kinds of use cases, whether you want to watch a movie outside in sun or indoors in the dark. With a dedicated brightness tuning for HDR, realistic highlights and incredible contrast, any content viewed on the display looks brilliant, making the iPhone an excellent choice for any type of content consumption.

The camera experience particularly shines in video, where the iPhone 13 Pro Max sets the standard with its default Dolby Vision HDR format video settings. Video exposure is very stable and the autofocus provides improved tracking and very smooth refocusing at the right moments. The outstanding overall camera performance is rounded out by excellent still images, with high-quality images in all shooting situations, especially for action shots, and improvements over the previous generation in terms of image detail and in backlit situations.

Unlike many of its power-hungry Ultra Premium competitors, the 13 Pro Max did also very well for battery. Despite using the smallest battery for a flagship device, the Apple managed to outperform all other phones in the segment in the perhaps most challenging area of all –  autonomy – thanks to its excellent efficiency. The device showed that its autonomy can adequately endure the demands of an ultra premium phone and that its autonomy is on-par with bigger batteries in phones that have less-demanding features.

Google Pixel 6 Pro

The Google Pixel 6 Pro, with its proprietary new Tensor chipset, does really quite well in most categories. Google made some huge strides in the camera department with the Pixel 6 Pro. To keep up with other devices in this segment, the Pixel 6 Pro is the first Pixel to have a triple camera set up, and the sensor in its primary camera is twice the size of its predecessor. The Pixel 6 Pro excels at taking portraits and capturing the nuances of all skin tone types. Its zoom range goes from an ultra-wide angle equivalent of 12.5mm to a tele of 102.6 mm, with excellent image detail even in long-range tele shots. Thanks to excellent video stabilization recorded footage is very stable.

And yet, it is with the Selfie camera that the Pixel 6 Pro really stands out, outperforming such heavy weights as the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Whether photos or videos, the Pixel 6 Pro’s front camera delivers high-quality images, with accurate skintones, exposure, and few artifacts. That’s bound to please any Instagrammer.

It’s actually also a good device for gaming, with a display that provides a smooth and accurate touch, as well as a decent response time, as well as audio playback in stereo. The positioning of the speakers means they are hard to block with your fingers when playing games. Overall the Pixel 6 Pro showed a balanced performance in audio, doing well in both playback and recording.

While taking all those pictures and playing games in your Pixel 6 Pro just keep in mind that battery is not the device’s strong point and keep a charger at hand. Autonomy is less than 2 days in moderate use and the charging experience is overall poor, especially when charging wirelessly.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Known for loading its flagship Galaxy phones with top-of-the-line specs, such as the longest zoom or brightest display, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a device of superlatives. But best specs don’t necessarily mean best scores.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) earns its place on this list mainly for its display performance, where it earned a top score not only for readability but also for video thanks to its faithful rendering of HDR10 content. Samsung has fine-tuned the tone mapping of its S22 Ultra display to the point that the device provides an experience that is similar to watching TV.

Combine that with the clear audio playback from the S22 Ultra’s stereo speakers, and you’ve got one powerful on-the-go entertainment system. In the camera department, the S22 Ultra flagship grade long-range zoom (with an equivalent focal length of up to 230 mm) produces images with quite good detail, giving mobile photographers plenty of options for capturing subjects at any distance. However, capturing the decisive moment can be a bit more tricky with the S22 Ultra because a fast autofocus is not one of the camera’s strong points.

Also be sure to pack a charger because the trade off for all the video display quality is that the battery doesn’t quite hold up, with autonomy for both the Snapdragon and Exynos versions at less than 2 days.

Premium: Top performance with some compromises

Premium segment devices (launch price of $600-799) differ from their “money-no-object” Ultra Premium counterparts in so far that designers might have to make compromises in some areas when picking hardware components. As a result, for example, camera specifications and performance in the Premium segment can vary a lot between devices, with cameras showing performance strengths and weaknesses in different areas. If you are looking to buy a Premium phone and the camera is a priority, it’s therefore important to find the device that is best suited to your specific photographic needs. In terms of recent technological developments, compared to the Ultra Premium segment, there seems to be generally less evolution. Many devices offer good zoom quality but are still some way off the flagship class in this respect.

Camera specifications and performance in the Premium segment can vary a lot between devices.

Unlike Ultra Premium phones, many Premium devices do not feature adaptive display refresh rates and maximum brightness of the displays tends to be lower as well. So to make up for the lower spec display hardware on Premium phones, display tuning has to be spot on in order to compete with Ultra Premium phones. Things work in a similar way for audio hardware and tuning.

For detailed device performance information, check out the protocol-specific test results on dxomark.com. Now, without further ado, here is DXOMARK’s list of the best Premium smartphones 2022 so far.

Apple iPhone 13

The Apple iPhone 13 shares most specs with the smaller iPhone 13 mini but comes with a larger Super Retina XDR display. In our tests the iPhone 13 was very balanced, delivering good to excellent results across the board.

Its display offers very good performance across all use cases and the best video playback experience in the Premium segment, with support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision and a focus on color and motion.

The excellent display is accompanied by very good and consistent audio playback but the iPhone 13 is also a great choice for users who want to record audio. Both front and rear cameras tested were among the best in the segment. The rear camera´s video performance is the very best you can find in this class, with a very wide dynamic range and beautiful colors, thanks to the Dolby Vision HDR format. When shooting still images the camera is also capable of rendering nice color, even in backlit scenes and other difficult light situations.

To enjoy the Apple´s great display, sound, and cameras all day long you need a good battery and the iPhone 13 does not disappoint in this respect either. Its battery is relatively small in terms of pure numbers but offers excellent discharge efficiency and therefore good autonomy, and wireless charging works very well, too.

Xiaomi 11T Pro

The Xiaomi 11T Pro follows on the Mi 10T Pro as Xiaomi´s contribution to the Premium price segment. In our testing it shone especially under the DXOMARK Camera and Battery test protocols.

The main camera comes with the best autofocus system in the Premium segment. Its zero-shutter-lag capabilities allow for very quick image capture when the shutter button is pressed. This means it’s easier to take an image of the decisive moment and of people in motion than with its rivals in the segment. In general still image camera performance is good in most shooting situations in bright light and video clips recorded on the 11T Pro in bright light or under typical indoor conditions offer good detail.

Battery anxiety is not something Xiaomi 11T Pro users need to worry about. The device offers an outstanding charging performance, achieving 80 percent in only 18 minutes and a full charge in 30 minutes, so even a short coffee break with the phone plugged in will give you many additional hours of use. The Xiaomi also has the best battery autonomy in its class, a whopping 56 hours with moderate use.

The 11T Pro is not among the very best Premium devices for Audio and Display but still performs on a level in these categories that will keep most users happy, making it overall an easy recommendation, especially for those who prioritize camera and battery.

Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos)

The Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos) is the junior model in the Korean company’s 2022 top-end S-series, and relies on the same Exynos 2200 chipset as the flagship S22 Ultra. However, it comes with a smaller and lower-resolution display than the Ultra, and doesn’t have the larger device’s S-Pen stylus or 10x tele lens.

The Samsung performs well across several of our test areas and our testers especially recommend it for its audio performance. Sound is clear in both playback and recorded audio files. Recording also offers great dynamics but on the downside playback can lack bass and sharpness.

The Galaxy also does well for Display where it is among the very best in the Premium segment. Appropriate brightness and faithful colors make the Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos) an ideal smartphone for viewing streaming content. The main camera does a good job as well and earns the S22 a place among the best in its class. In photo mode the Samsung captures very nice and vivid color, good exposures, and a wide dynamic range. The tele zoom works well at close and medium range and video clips offer excellent dynamic range in difficult high-contrast scenes.

The Galaxy S22 really only lags behind the Premium segment competition in the battery category, so isn’t ideal for power users who spend a lot of time away from charging points. 

High End: Great battery experience

In the High-End segment (launch price of $400 to $599), consumers can find a lot of performance at more affordable prices and in the battery categories, High-End phones often have advantages over their Ultra Premium and Premium counterparts. They often come with scaled-down (and therefore less battery-hungry) features which means they currently provide the best compromise when it comes to the overall battery experience.

As for cameras, our testers have not seen any significant improvements in the latest generation of High-End devices over the previous one, so purely from a camera point of view there is no need for an immediate upgrade if your current device is still fairly new. Generally High End devices often come with smaller image sensors than higher-priced models, or lack features like optical image stabilization or dedicated tele lenses. However, thanks to optimized tuning in the best devices they are capable of impressive image results in many shooting situations. This is particularly true for shooting with the primary camera and video recording but given the aforementioned hardware limitations, High-End devices mostly lag behind the more expensive models in terms of zoom image quality. The Google Pixel is somewhat of an exception to this general rule and really pretty good at all areas of imaging.

Thanks to optimized tuning, some High-End devices are capable of impressive  results.

For the displays, many manufacturers will make some compromises in terms of readability, and brightness is not usually up to the Premium or Ultra Premium levels. You won’t typically find any adaptive refresh rates in this segment either. In terms of audio hardware, some High-End devices only feature single mono speakers, which makes it hard to compete with dual-speaker setups. Still, the best High-End smartphones are capable of providing very pleasant overall display and audio experiences.

For detailed device performance information, check out the protocol-specific test results on dxomark.com. Now, without further ado, here is DXOMARK’s list of the best High-End smartphones in 2022 so far.

Google Pixel 6

For those who are after excellent camera, audio, and display performance without spending Ultra Premium money Google’s Pixel 6 device is an excellent pick. Its camera is the best in the High-End segment by quite a margin. It does an excellent job on portrait images and captures good detail at close and medium range tele settings, especially when considering that the Pixel 6 does not come with a dedicated tele camera.

The Pixel 6 clearly benefits from the tuning efforts that have gone into the Pixel 6 Pro and the overall image quality between the two models is very close. The main difference is the Pro model’s dedicated tele camera. If you can live without it, the vanilla Pixel is an excellent alternative.

If you are more of a gamer than a photographer, the Pixel 6 is a good choice as well, thanks to a display and sound capabilities that are both very suitable for the task. The screen’s 1100 nits max brightness is the highest in this segment (on par with the Samsung A52/A53) and the smooth and accurate touch allows for comfortable casual gaming. Audio playback is clear with good dynamics, and tonal balance is clear and faithful when recording sound, completing the Pixel’s excellent all-around performance for its class.

Battery performance is one of the few areas where the Google Pixel 6 does not shine, delivering an overall below-average performance for this class. 2 days of autonomy in moderate use should be good enough for most users but charging time was quite long, taking 1 hour and 3 minutes to reach 80% of full capacity.

Apple iPhone SE (2022)

Like the Pixel, the iPhone SE does well in most areas and is a great option for those who are invested in the Apple ecosystem but don’t need the bells and whistles of the more expensive iPhone models.In the camera tests it proved to be a strong and consistent performer all around. It lacks ultra-wide and tele cameras but the 12MP primary camera manages to capture images and videos with good detail. Thanks to a fast and accurate autofocus it’s easy to capture the decisive moment, with the focus on the right spot.

Unlike some rivals in the segment the SE comes with stereo speakers, which provide overall good audio playback, making the phone especially suitable gaming and watching movies. When recording audio it is particularly good at recording loud concerts, thanks to very little distortion. The device also comes with an excellent LCD display that offers smooth and accurate touch responsiveness which again makes it a good option for gaming, despite having a 60 Hz refresh rate.

Battery on the other hand is not a strong point. The battery has a very small capacity of 2018 mAh and offers only 1.5 days of autonomy in moderate usage. At 51 minutes to charge 80% of the battery capacity charging is slower than average as well.

Xiaomi 11T

The 11T is the middle offering in Xiaomi’s T line and a lower-priced alternative to the brand’s flagships, while still offering some impressive features. Our testers were especially impressed by the 11T’s Display and Battery performance. The 6.67-inch AMOLED display offers the best readability in the segment. The device is tuned to adapt readability and brightness to the environment and ensure smooth transitions. It also offers the best video viewing experience in its class.

The battery provides excellent autonomy for this segment (59 hours of moderate use) and recharging with 60 percent or less capacity remaining gets you an additional 8 hours of autonomy which should get you even through the toughest work days.

The Xiaomi 11T is no slouch in our other test categories either. It’s among the better phones for Audio in the High-End segment, thanks to a natural and satisfying tonal balance and good low-end and bass for a smartphone. It also performed well as a recording device across most use cases. The camera scores points with its excellent texture/noise trade-off in still images and nice colors in video.

Oppo Reno6 5G

The Reno6 5G‘s strong point is its battery performance. Charging efficiency is outstanding and charging times are very good. When under 50 percent capacity the device gains a whopping 10+ hours of autonomy with only a 5-minute charge, so even the quickest of coffee breaks next to a power outlet will get rid of your battery anxiety.

The device is also a decent camera option in the High-End segment but better alternatives are available if photo and video capture is a priority. It delivers a middle-of-the-pack performance for Display, where colors are faithful the outdoor image enhancement is unstable. With a single mono speaker, the Oppo isn’t your first option for audio playback but it can make a decent recording device where it offers great loudness and signal-to-noise, thanks to an efficient noise cancellation algorithm.

Oppo Find X5 Lite

Like its stablemate the Reno6 5G, the Oppo Find X5 Lite is the most affordable model in the Chinese manufacturer’s Find X5 series and is an interesting option in the High-End segment, especially when battery performance is high up the list of priorities. The device offers good charging times, reaching 80 percent in only 22 minutes, and excellent charging efficiency. In addition, 2.5 days of autonomy in moderate use is above-average for the segment.

The device also does reasonably well for camera, with well-exposed still images when the light conditions are not too challenging, and a wide dynamic range in video footage. However, both photo and video results drop in quality in more difficult and lower light conditions. In the audio category, the phone is held back by its single mono speaker, and while the display offers accurate touch and good readability in low light, our testers also noted a lack of brightness in indoor and outdoor conditions and color issues when watching HDR10 videos.

The post Best of smartphones [Summer 2022] appeared first on DXOMARK.

Some of these phones might not necessarily have achieved the very highest scores in our rankings, but they were launched in the last quarter, and they have some unique design features or simply offer a lot of features and performance for the money. In addition, all the devices in this list have been tested across multiple of our test protocols, so you know exactly what you will be getting if you stumble across an irresistible Black Friday offer. Keep reading to find out what our audio, battery, camera, and display experts have to say and find the device that best suits your requirements, so you are well prepared once the Black Friday action starts.

Xiaomi 11T Pro: Flagship challenger with great battery management

Launched in October the Xiaomi 11T Pro is a brand new device that offers many of the same features and specs as the brand’s top-of-the line Mi 11 models, but it makes compromises in some areas, for example chipset and camera, to reduce price quite significantly. The result is a more affordable device that still has plenty of power and delivers the goods in pretty much all categories.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is one of the best devices in the Premium segment that we have tested for battery, particularly exceling in terms of charging speed. It is currently the fastest in our database, achieving an 80% charge in only 18 minutes and 29 seconds. On top of that, autonomy is very good for the class as well. With moderate use the Xiaomi will be at your service for two full days and 9 hours before you’ll have to plug it in for charging, making it a great option for users who are often on the move, without access to charging.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro’s charging performance was simply outstanding — it is the best device our experts have tested to date.

The 11T Pro also did well in our Audio tests. The testers found it particularly suited to gaming, thanks to immersive audio with good wideness and snappy dynamics. Just make sure you don’t cover any of the speakers with your hands when holding the phone in landscape orientation. In addition, the device is more than capable in the audio recording department and a great pick for recording in very loud environments, such as concerts, where many competitors struggle to record clean sound.

The 11T Pro OLED screen does well in most situations, providing good readability and reducing eye strain thanks to good brightness management and a high flicker frequency of 480Hz. Colors are faithful, too, and motion is smooth when gaming. On the downside, tone mapping is not managed well in bright sunlight, which means image rendering looks unnatural and detail is lost, so images and videos are best viewed indoors or other lower light conditions.

The 11T Pro does not feature the Mi 11 series periscope tele lens or higher resolution ultra-wide cameras, but it still delivers good imaging performance for its class and captures good quality photos in brighter light conditions. Overall, the Xiaomi 11T Pro is one of the most exciting new releases in the second half of 2021 and definitely worth a close look if you spot an enticing offer during Black Friday.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro camera offers pleasant skin tones and is able to record a wide dynamic scene in outdoor conditions.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Xiaomi 11T Pro:

• Xiaomi 11T Pro Audio review
• Xiaomi 11T Pro Battery review
• Xiaomi 11T Pro Camera review
• Xiaomi 11T Pro Display review

Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G: Great Premium allrounder

Featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset, a 6.55-inch Super AMOLED display, and a quad-camera with tele, ultra-wide and macro, the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G is another device that competes in the Premium segment, offers features and specs that are pretty close to flagship-level and does well across all our tests.

Like the Xiaomi 11T Pro it particularly shines in the battery category. A good charging speed (80% charge achieves in 22 minutes) and an above average autonomy for its class mean the Oppo is currently the best Premium device in our battery ranking.

The Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G achieves the best overall battery autonomy among its competitors.

It’s no slouch in other areas either and the display scores points for nice color rendering in all light conditions. It’s also very smooth when browsing the web or scrolling in apps, making it overall one of the better screens in this class, despite a lack of brightness in some situations that slightly tints the overall good impression of the display. In terms of audio the Oppo delivers great sound for gaming, thanks to an almost artifact-free audio with decent wideness. A lack of bass means it’s not the best option for listening to music, though. On the audio recording side of things the phone does very well when recording sound with videos or in meetings, thanks to good wideness and distance rendition. It’s also a fairly decent option for recording voice memos and meetings.

The camera delivers good detail in both photos and video clips if you don’t venture into scenes that are too dark and the accurate autofocus makes the Oppo a good option for capturing subjects in motion. The zoom isn’t the best we have seen in this class but delivers acceptable results at both the ultra-wide and tele end.

Photos captured with the Reno6 Pro show good subject exposure and detail, but dynamic range can be limited, resulting in highlight clipping, like in the background of this image.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G:

• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Audio review
• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Battery review
• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Camera review
• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Display review

Samsung Z Fold 3: Display giant

Launched in August 2021, the Z Fold 3 5G is the latest model in Samsung’s line of foldable smartphones. The phone’s standout-feature is of course its innovative display setup, with a gigantic foldable 7.6-inch AMOLED 2x main display with a 1768 x 2208 resolution and an additional 6.2-inch cover display which provides quick access to apps content without unfolding the device. However, other specs, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset and the triple-camera with ultra-wide and tele, confirm we are dealing with an Ultra-Premium device here and pricewise the Samsung is a level above the other phones in this list – not much of a surprise given the innovative display technology.

This said, if a big screen in a normal-sized device is what you are after and have some cash to spare the Z Fold 3 might just be what you’ve been waiting for. It’s overall a big improvement over the first generation Z Fold device in all areas and a great phone to use. Thanks to an under-display front camera the wide screen  The large and wide screen make it ideal for immersive entertainment application, such as gaming or watching videos. Brightness is particularly well adapted for watching HDR 10 video content and the touch response is very smooth, allowing for great control in games.

The Z Fold 3’s Audio performance is very decent as well and again a marked improvement over the predecessor, making it the best Samsung phone we have tested to date under our Audio protocol. In terms of playback it does well for gaming and listening to music but it really excels when recording in loud environments and is the best phone we have tested to date for recording concerts.

In our Audio playback tests the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G delivered an above-average timbre performance, with good treble, natural midrange, and a correct amount of bass.

The Z Fold3 has also improved noticeably in terms of camera performance with respect to the Z Fold 2 – in almost all sub-categories. It’s overall pretty close to Samsung’s more conventional flagship, the S21 Ultra, but delivers more accurate white balance and more consistent exposure. A fairly wide dynamic range allows for capture of difficult high-contrast scenes and the dedicated tele camera does a good job at short and medium range. Only for long-range zooming

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G captures bright and pleasant images with good exposure, wide dynamic range and vivid color.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G Audio review
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G Camera review
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G Display review

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Excellent all around

The iPhone 13 Pro Max probably does not need much of an introduction. Apple’s 2021 flagship smartphone comes with the best the brand from Cupertino has to offer, including Apple’s own new A15 Bionic chipset, a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display and a camera setup with ultra-wide camera and 3x tele. While next to some Android flagships the iPhone specs don’t look particularly impressive previous iPhone generations have consistently shown that specs are just numbers and what really counts is performance. The iPhone 13 Pro Max is no different and delivers very good results in all our tests.

It’s the best Ultra Premium device we have tested for battery to date. Battery life is excellent overall and more than 68 hours of autonomy under moderate use mark a significant improvement over the previous generation. The 13 Pro Max also comes with the currently best display in the market. The screen is truly stunning, providing excellent readability in almost all light conditions and use scenarios. HDR rendering is outstanding, with impressive highlight detail, making video consumption a real joy and smooth scrolling and touch response allow for a very good browsing and gaming experience.

Video contrast is excellent when watching HDR scenes on the display. Clockwise from top left: Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), OnePlus 9 Pro. Note that although the clouds and trees in the photo illustrating the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s performance may appear clipped, the actual rendering on the device itself does not show any clipping

The iPhone’s media consumption capabilities are complemented by a strong audio playback performance, which is quite consistent all use cases but especially good when watching movies and gaming. Audio recording does not give you any reason to complain either and the iPhone is another great option for recording concerts and other loud live events.

In the camera category the iPhone 13 Pro Max is one of the best devices we have tested overall and the best for video recording. The camera performs very reliably, with vivid colors and nice skin tones in still images as well as good contrast. While Zoom performance is good but not among the very best, the 13 Pro Max is outstanding for video recording, thanks to smooth color and exposure transitions, good detail and reliable autofocus tracking and refocusing. Dynamic range is fairly wide, too, making the 13 Pro Max the goto-device for mobile video shooters.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max:

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Audio review
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Battery review
• Apple iPhone Pro Max Camera review
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Display review

Asus Zenfone 8: Small but mighty

While most brands’ flagship devices have fairly similar dimensions Asus stands out from the crowd with its Zenfone 8. The phone packs top-level components all around, such as a Snapdragon 888 chipset, 5.9-inch Super AMOLED display, but is noticeably smaller than competing phones. In fact, it’s the currently smallest Android flagship level phone, making it a great option for users who prefer less bulk. Among phones with comparable specs and performance only the Apple iPhone 13 mini is smaller.

The smaller than usual dimensions result in compromises in some areas but the camera is not one of those. There’s no dedicated tele lens, so the Zenfone 8 is not the best option for long-range tele zooming but otherwise, camera performance does not leave any reason to complain. Still image quality is overall very good for a Premium segment device and video recording quality is excellent, with good detail and nice colors.

In our Audio tests, the device did very well across all areas considering its size. Playback is particularly good at lower volumes and while in recording the Zenfone doesn’t excel in any use case, it delivers above average results in all of them. The display could offer better readability in some situations but both motion and touch response are smooth, making for an overall pleasant user experience, especially when gaming or consuming video content.

In our Audio tests the Zenfone 8 delivered a pleasant timbre, warm, colorful, with very good midrange and satisfying bass restitution at nominal level.

Where the Zenfone lags slightly behind its competitors in the Premium segment is battery. The price to pay for the smaller dimensions comes in the shape of a smaller battery and in terms of battery autonomy the Asus is not on the same level as some of its larger-sized rivals. If that doesn’t bother you too much the Zenfone 8 is an easy recommendation to anyone who wants a smallish smartphone.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Asus Zenfone 8:

• Asus Zenfone 8 Audio review
• Asus Zenfone 8 Battery review
• Asus Zenfone 8 Camera review
• Asus Zenfone 8 Display review

The post Black Friday: Our smartphone recommendations appeared first on DXOMARK.

About this article: Note that this article only takes into account the audio results of the selected wireless speakers. For scoring and analysis in our wireless speaker reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions. To know more about our use cases and how they’re used to evaluate each device’s performances,click here.

Top picks

  From left: Sonos Five, B&W Formation Wedge and Harman Kardon Citation 200

If what you’re looking for is a versatile, standalone speaker comfortable with nearly every use case, ranging from quietly listening to a podcast before going to bed all the way up to partying, here are our top performers across all categories.

The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge

Part of Bowers &Wilkins’s Formation multi-room series and conceived as a successor to the iconic Zeppelin Wireless, the Formation Wedge is the best-scoring speaker of all the devices we’ve tested to date. It fared remarkably well across every use case thanks to great timbre and dynamic results, sharp attack, precise bass, good loudness, excellent localizability and wideness, as well as an impressive ability to keep sonic artifacts to a minimum. Its powerful, immersive sound is marked by a distinctive signature, with deep low-end extension, and clear high-ends.

It should be noted that the Formation Wedge is exclusively designed for a wireless use (Bluetooth/Wifi/Ethernet), and that its tonal balance has a noticeable propensity to vary according to the listening volume.

The Sonos Five

The Sonos Five handles the decibels impressively well, in addition to a skillful management of sonic artifacts usually arising at loud volumes. Besides its loud volume capacity and low distortion, the Sonos Five produces a harmonious — albeit rather dark — tonal balance, impactful dynamics (even at quiet volumes!), a wide sound field, precise localizability, and realistic distance rendering for vocal content. This makes it as skilled at partying as it is in snugglier situations like watching movies or listening to soft content before falling asleep.

Thanks to its auto-calibration algorithm and its humidity resistance, the Sonos Five is also fit for bathroom use. Note that it is a front-firing device, and as such, does not evenly distribute sound all around. As for connectivity, the Sonos is a Wi-Fi speaker equipped with a 3.5mm jack input and an ethernet port. While the device is, of course, compatible with the Sonos multiroom ecosystem (that’s the whole point), it does not have Bluetooth.

The Harman Kardon Citation 200

Harman Kardon’s first portable smart speaker is one of our most consistent performers across the board thanks to notable low- and high-end extension, powerful punch and precise attack, and the absence of temporal artifacts. On top of that, the Citation 200 can be battery operated without noticeable changes except for a slight volume decrease, and benefits from an IPX4 certification, making it safe to use outside, in the kitchen, or in the bathroom. Keep in mind that the Citation 200 does only deliver monophonic sound, and that despite what its near-cylindrical shape might let you think, it is not an omnidirectional speaker.

To know more:

• Full Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge review
• Full Sonos Five Wireless Speaker review
• Full Harman Kardon Citation 200 review

Good atmosphere

From left:  AudioPro C10 MKII, Marshall Stanmore II, Klipsch The Three II

Since they’re no longer expected to quietly disappear behind a TV set or in a den, wireless speakers have been given a true face-lift by their manufacturers. Here are a few good-looking models that our protocol deemed most suitable for “living room use cases” such as kicking back and relaxing after a long work day, or having music in the background while entertaining a small group of friends.

The Marshall Stanmore II

The Marshall Stanmore II is a good all-around performer, matching or surpassing the scores of much more expensive devices in our database rankings. Out of all three, it is the best suited for listening to music while relaxing at home with its sharp dynamics and pleasant tonal balance, provided that “V signatures” (accentuated bass and treble) are your thing. It is also one of the best when it comes to playing music very loud, which can also come in handy for partying!

The Klipsch The Three II

Being a good “background music speaker” is not nearly as easy as it sounds. First, the frequency response must be very well balanced at nominal volume: too much treble feels aggressive, too focused midrange impairs the conversation, too little bass and it will not cast a true musical atmosphere. Dynamics also need to be fairly precise and impactful — but not too much! — for the music to remain intelligible, without becoming overpowering. Finally, the distribution of sound shouldn’t be too directional, since your friends are probably not all tightly squeezed in the same spot — and if they are, well, they shouldn’t be.

With its rich low-end, wider off-axis sound distribution, precise high-ends and solid dynamics at nominal volume, The Three II by Klipsch makes a very good choice for friendly gatherings. However, keep in mind that this speaker doesn’t like to be pushed outside of its comfort zone, manifesting very noticeable bass distortions at loud volumes.

The Audio Pro C10 MKII

The Audio Pro C10 MKII is an interesting compromise between the previous two speakers, better at high volume playback than the Marshall and better at friendly gatherings than the Klipsch. It also produces a much more neutral frequency response, in case you’re not a big fan of Marshall’s V signature, and has an RCA input in addition to its wireless options (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Spotify Connect compatible).

Here’s a cool little widget allowing you to compare their respective playback sonorities:

To know more:

• Full Marshall Stanmore II review
• Full Klipsch The Three II review
• Full Audio Pro C10 MKII review

Movie night

From left: Yamaha MusicCast 50, Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation, Amazon Echo Studio

A good movie speaker needs to fulfill a great number of requirements in the audio area, including great wideness, precise localizability for the sources within the sound field, realistic distance rendering, good left-right balance, impactful and sharp dynamics, natural midrange, clear treble, and strong, clean bass — all in addition to a strong ability to keep sonic artifacts to a minimum from nominal to loud volumes. Finally, even if our protocol focuses mainly on playback quality, it does take into account the variety of inputs and the audio-video latency for the movie sub-score.

The Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation

The Mu-so 2nd Generation excels at managing sonic artifacts across all volumes — a useful asset since Naim’s premium speaker has quite a few decibels under its belt. It also delivers a fairly natural tonal balance, clean bass and good localizability, but what makes it truly great for watching movies is the spectacular wideness it casts.

As for inputs, the second Mu-so is equipped with optical S/PDIF, a 3.5mm jack input, Bluetooth and HDMI ARC with CEC, is Chromecast and Spotify Connect compatible, and comes with a remote handset.

The Yamaha MusicCast 50

With good volume abilities, sharp attack, and strong punch, the Yamaha MusicCast 50 is also a very interesting (and much, much cheaper) choice in the movie category. It also turns in a consistent tonal balance, great bass precision, and very few artifacts. Wideness is better than with other devices with similar specifications, however, from 3 meters away and up, it feels slightly narrow.

The MusicCast 50 is part of Yamaha’s highly prolific multiroom ecosystem, and as such, is not only stereo pair capable, but also 5.1 configurable. It is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker that’s AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and, of course, MusicCast compatible, equipped with optical S/PDIF, a 3.5mm jack and RCA inputs.

The Amazon Echo Studio

If you’re rather looking for a budget-minded speaker recommendation, in addition to its general good value, the Amazon Echo Studio turns out to be surprisingly well-adapted for movie playback. It offers good bass depth and impressive wideness considering its fairly compact dimensions, good punch at loud volumes, and a harmonious tonal balance. Of course, the choice of inputs is not as plethoric as with the two previous models, but it still is much more than what the average entry-level speaker provides: besides Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the Echo Studio features a 3.5 mm jack (analog)/mini-optical (digital) input.

To know more:

• Full Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation review
• Full Yamaha MusicCast 50 review
• Full Amazon Echo Studio review

The post Black Friday buyers’ guide: Best wireless speakers appeared first on DXOMARK.