When even the best smartphone cameras — and baseball teams — disappoint - The Verge
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro offer sophisticated, class-leading camera technology. But they still come up short in some challenging situations — kind of like a good baseball team.
The Verge homepageThe Verge homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo./Tech/Reviews/Science/Entertainment/MoreMenuExpandThe VergeThe Verge logo.MenuExpandGadgets/Tech/Cameras and PhotographyOn smartphone cameras, the Seattle Mariners, and disappointmentOn smartphone cameras, the Seattle Mariners, and disappointment / Even the best teams and the most cutting-edge technology will let you down sometimesBy Allison Johnson / @allisonjo1
Share this storyThe iPhone 14 Pro has one of the best smartphone camera systems money can buy, but it still has its limitations. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeThere’s the smell of sizzling sausage, car exhaust, and late-season playoff hopes in the air on Tuesday night as I cross the street toward the stadium. I’m carrying a neon green Mariners fanny pack across my chest (that’s how the kids are wearing them, right?!?) loaded with the essentials: my ID, Kleenex, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and an iPhone 14 Pro. The roof of T-Mobile Park hangs open over the adjacent railway, looming like the Death Star, and I head toward an entrance with a few things on my agenda, in no particular order:
I chose these two phones in particular because they’re two of the best you can buy right now. They also present significantly different camera feature sets, and I’m curious which I’ll like using better over the course of the evening. The 14 Pro has more of a “helps you take nice pictures with minimal effort” vibe, while the S22 Ultra takes a maximalist “you want cameras? here, have five” approach. The 10x zoom on the Ultra has really impressed me in the past, but I’m curious to see how it holds up with glowing stadium lights and distant action on the field.
The 14 Pro doesn’t have the raw telephoto reach of the S22 Ultra, but then, I like how it processes photos in general better than the S22. Will that make it more useful overall? Or will I be annoyed by its limited zoom range? I would have brought more phones, probably, but I’m limited to what I can carry in this fanny pack.
On top of all that, the Mariners are coming off a dismal road trip in which they lost a string of extremely winnable games, casting an all-too-familiar shadow of doubt on our chances of snagging a wild card spot. With about a week left of regular season play, they can’t afford to lose any more easy games.
Rating: 5