Review: Smartphone Camera Comparison – Samsung Galaxy Note II v Apple iPhone 5

DUMMY: So ever since I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, Geek has been whinging that I’m an Apple fanboy. He’s also bleated that I’m not comparing like-for-like products. We took a walk in the local park on a nice sunny day, Geek with his tombstone-sized Galaxy Note II, me with my sleek and svelte iPhone 5 and decided to give the phones a head-to-head. The question: whose was the best smartphone/camera.

GEEK: You are a whiny Apple fanboy.

DUMMY: Whatever. So here are some of the shots we took. First, here’s the iPhone 5 in quite a shaded area:

GEEK: And then the Galaxy Note II:

DUMMY: Both cameras struggled with the transition from shade to bright sunlight but the stand-out winner in this first shot is the Note II. The level of clarity and detail is far superior and to be honest the iPhone 5 image is quite blurry in comparison.

GEEK: Oo, what a surprise.

DUMMY: On to the next picture. The same subject but in brighter sunlight. iPhone 5 first again:

GEEK: And then the Note II:

DUMMY: Curses. I can see the same kind of issues here. The Samsung camera gives greater levels of detail, certainly up close and in the foreground. As you move further back into the mid and background this difference is less pronounced and at a pinch I might argue the iPhone 5 deals slightly better with dark shaded areas.

GEEK: You’re just making this stuff up, aren’t you.

DUMMY: Shuttit! All in all, I’d say its pretty conclusive. The Samsung camera is without doubt superior to the camera in the iPhone 5. Come on Apple, sort your game out!

GEEK: Boohoo.

DUMMY: Git.

SOLVED: Samsung Galaxy Note II stuck on Samsung logo

Samsung Galaxy Note IIThe Galaxy Note 2 (GT-N7105). What a phone. “Too big!” you say? “I can’t see what the problem is,” I say.

Imagine my dismay then this morning, when I discovered my favourite gadget had rebooted itself (without my permission) and was sat on the animated Samsung logo, quietly glowing to itself, most pathetically. Every few seconds, the haptic motor clicked, like a feeble death rattle.

“Curtains”, I thought.

“Pull yourself together man!” I thought.

After removing the battery, rebooting and generally pleading for a reprieve failed to achieve any results, I took stock and started panicking about how many days it was since I last took a backup. A factory reset loomed.

With one last gasping hope I tried rebooting into safe mode. On the Note 2, from a powered off state, you keep the “volume down” button depressed while powering up. Also, keep the power button pressed until the Samsung logo appears.

To my great relief, the phone booted up in safe mode. I restarted the phone from there and it powered up normally. Next job: perform a backup!

Sadly, this won’t fix physical faults with your phone. Sorry if it doesn’t work for you.

Samsung Galaxy Note II image copyright © SamsungTomorrow, licensed under Creative Commons. Used with permission.