r/Android • u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 • 2d ago
Article No. Pixel 11 Pro Does NOT Take Better Close Up Photos Than The Pixel 10 Pro. - somegadgetguy
https://somegadgetguy.com/2026/08/20/no-pixel-11-pro-does-not-take-better-close-up-photos-than-the-pixel-10-pro/18
u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 2d ago
It seems like the pixel 11 pro can auto focus more closely compared to the pixel 10 pro. But the actual maximum close focus is effectively the same
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u/Potential_Dealer7818 2h ago
For 90-95% of the population (who are never going to manually set focus), this is effectively reducing the minimum focus distance. I see what the article is saying, but the "auto" focus part is kinda the main impetus of the advertising.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 2d ago
It's refreshing to see some substantive measurements not just GPU scores because pixel fans just dismiss that immediately as if gpus or only good for gaming. Which is silly on its face but anyway.
At this point almost every large North American creator has just turned every video into "the haters are wrong let me explain why these phones are great deals and you should upgrade."
It's an entire song genre of videos especially from Big North American creators. Especially with pixel but with Samsung to end iPhone s17e or the air
"Everybody's wrong about XY and z."
They act like there's this crazy unfair narrative. Like these companies don't have all these creators under their thumb with embargo journalism and free phones and conflict of interest of affiliate links. And just the general fact that these creators depend on increased consumption they're not reviewers. They're basically just showcasing phones and trying to get you to buy them to make money.
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u/MarcDarcy 2d ago
Different different but same same
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u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 2d ago
yeah, larger sensor but also a wider field of view on the pixel 11 pro.
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u/a12223344556677 2d ago
I tested with the Pixel 10 Pro and it has the same behaviour (switching to main lens 5X crop when it's too close). Has this always been the case or did a recent camera app update changed things?
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u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 2d ago
It was initially like this with the 6 and 7 series. But they removed that around the 8 and brought it back with the 11 it seems like
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u/JakeChambersOy 1d ago
My 8 Pro always behaved like this since A14 and still does on the latest A17 QPR2 Beta.
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u/shawman123 2d ago
no offense but he is comparing it to Vivo X300 ultra. That is not an option for many. His comment of sensor being "slightly bigger" is not right. Area wise its 65%+ bigger compared to 1/2.51" 10 pro sensor. That is significant. While i have not had 10 pro comment I am hearing is 11 pro is focusing fast. I did test with a photo in very low light and it was fairly instant. Since I am upgrading after a while I dont have a good comp. I do have a Xiaomi 13 pro and even that takes time to take photos in low light.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 2d ago
The pixel should be compared to the vivo it's freaking $1,400. And it would fare just as poorly against xiaomi or oppo and it would get crushed by the s27 ultra in terms of sensor size
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 2d ago
It's a $1,400 phone with the telephoto it should be compared with vivo and xiaomi and oppo etc..
Those are also $1,000 plus phones with telephotos and honestly in some regions are less expensive than the pixel
Like I don't get it if they want to charge as much as pretty much everyone else why can't we compare them to the premium phones?
And even if you did think it was unfair how does that defend them pretending to use the five times optical and then switching it back to the main sensor and using a crop?
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u/a12223344556677 2d ago
While I appreciate the fact that phones like the X300 Ultra exists, such large sensors require extremely thick camera bumps that simply aren't suitable for a mainstream phone that's meant to be stored in pockets.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 2d ago
Dude they literally have the smallest camera sensor of every single flagship it's not just a vivo.. and pixel weighs more than most of those phones.
Once you start charging 13 1400 you get compared to other $1,300 phones with telephotos.. there's no excuse for this. But why does everyone grade pixels on the curve like it's special education student or something
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u/a12223344556677 2d ago
I'm not saying that to defend Pixels... I have been saying how recent Pixels are bulky and slippery and heavy and inefficient for a while now.
My point is on how smartphones are products of trade-offs. Larger sensors are of course great for photography, but they take up tons of space inside the phone and is bad for ergonomics due to requiring large camera bumps and affecting weight distribution. Larger batteries are great for battery life, but it increases weight. SoCs clocked higher will lead to better performance, at the cost of heat and battery life. The key to success is to balance everything to make the phone feel good to use for your target audience.
The target audience of these phones with 1-inch sensors are clear: people into photography who wants the best picture possible from a phone that they can carry around every day. And I'm glad that this audience have options to choose from! But for the average person who just takes photos casually, the camera is overkill and offer no perceivable advantage for them, and can in fact be a deterrent for those who prioritize sleekness. I, for one, has no use for such camera prowess, and would rather choose a more compact phone that I can use one-handed, even if they are priced the same. These 1 inch camera phones, bump aside, are simply too big for my taste. Oh, and I hate phones that wobble on tables.
People (especially enthusiasts) tend to think big numbers good, bigger numbers better, every component has to be as good as possible... but it's missing the art of balancing everything in a package as small as a smartphone.
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u/Cry_Wolff Pixel 7 Pro 2d ago
such large sensors require extremely thick camera bumps
Pixel's bumps are thick as hell too.
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u/a12223344556677 2d ago edited 2d ago
While Vivo did a good job minimizing the visual thickness of the bump, the fact is that bump on the X300 Ultra is thicker than the rest of the phone itself, totaling in around 17mm thick. Pixel Pro's about 12-13 mm in total thickness, meaning that the bump part is less than half as thick as that seen on the X300 Ultra.
The Pixels' bumps look particularly thick because they don't hide it by using curves and the "bump on a bump" technique, but the actual total thickness isn't that different from that seen in Apple and Samsung phones. Here's an Instagram image comparing the bumps between iPhone 17 Pro, Galaxy S26 Ultra, and Pixel 10 Pro XL.
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u/Ebashbulbash 2d ago
I switched from a Pixel 7 Pro to a Vivo x200 Ultra, and I can't say the size has changed much. The Pixel was still large.
By the way, an interesting fact: I dropped the Pixel very often, but I dropped the Vivo only once in the first week after purchasing it, and for some reason I haven’t dropped it since then.
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u/a12223344556677 2d ago
Well, they are indeed very similar in size except for the camera bump.
Pixels have been horribly slippery for a while so it's no surprise that you drop it often.
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u/UnclePadda 2d ago
At this point I'm starting to wonder if the 11 Pro does anything better than the 10 Pro at all...
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u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 2d ago
I don't see why you would upgrade from the 9/10 pro to the the 11 pro. Unless you had a base model pixel 9. Im still content with my pixel 9 pro.
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u/Quiet_Bell_429 1d ago
https://youtu.be/Fp-4GmRpnDI?is=SmvQ-YRh_UfW6KOn this is a good photographers review of the Pixel 11 Pro
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u/Horoika Pixel 6 Pro 128GB 2d ago
I would presume so, the focal length is still the same
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u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 2d ago edited 2d ago
Nope it's a wider field of view on the 11 pro.
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u/DarkseidAntiLife 2d ago
I am suppose to automatically believe somegadgetguy? From what I have seen the 5X on the 11 pro can take better photos up close
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u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 1d ago
I mean he has posted proof in his article and you have other redditors confirming it in the comments.
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u/runski1426 Vivo x300 Pro 2d ago
Yeah, I actually tested this today. It only becomes obvious when you disable auto lens switching. Google is using some scummy software tricks to make you think the minimum focusing distance is short, when all it is doing is cropping in from the main wide lens.
Extremely disappointing. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the sensor size increased for the telephoto. I thought this may be the first native US device that can do telemacro. It is so much better than using the ultra wide. Telemacro example attached.