Photo comparison: Exploring historic Heidelberg with two flip phones

Our two test subjects were flip phones that fold along the short side. Due to the complex mechanics and screen technology involved, manufacturers often have to cut costs elsewhere, such as by sacrificing camera quality. It will be interesting to see how these two phones perform in this regard. Here are some specifics about the devices: 

• The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 is equipped with a high-end processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, and boasts extensive photo capabilities. Its main camera features a maximum resolution of 50 megapixels and can record 4K video at 60 fps. Additionally, it includes a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. The price of this flip smartphone has dropped significantly and it is available on Amazon starting at around US$929,88.
  
  
• Our second test device is the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which is equipped with the slightly less powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. In terms of camera setup, it takes a different approach: while it also has a 50-megapixel main camera, it features a telephoto lens instead of an ultra-wide-angle camera, enabling better close-ups but lacking the capability for wide panoramas. At the time of testing, Razr 50 Ultra was available on Amazon for about US$699,99.
  

Our visit to Heidelberg began with an evening stroll across the old bridge, which was built over 230 years ago. We took a photo of the medieval bridge gate, which once led onto the bridge's numerous predecessors and was integrated into the city wall.

Samsung's camera brightened the scene more effectively, making the dark spires and the unlit church in the background stand out better against the night sky. However, the street lamps appeared slightly too bright. Additionally, the photo from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 was notably sharper.

But that was just our initial impression. With plenty more amazing sights to explore, we carried on walking.

We continued our stroll and came across the historic town hall on the left. So we took another picture, and the camera on the Samsung flip phone proved to be more impressive: the palm tree in the foreground appeared much more detailed, and the features on the façade of the town hall were clearer. Overall, the image also appeared sharper.

The camera on the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra once again performed better with the detail of a nearby house and the head above the archway, producing a much clearer image. In contrast, the Samsung phone's lens introduced a blue cast, making the subject appear less vivid overall.

Upon traversing the Neckar, we took a picture of the old town and residential neighborhood across the river from the bridge. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 performed notably better with its camera: the handheld photo was sharp, detailed, and captured the nighttime atmosphere better.

In contrast, while the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra had a significantly shorter processing time, its photo still suffered from blurred contours and moderate brightness.

It was time to climb the Philosopher's Path on the banks of the Neckar opposite the old town, which offered particularly spectacular views of the historic backdrop. We recommended doing this at night with a flashlight.

The Old Town and the world-famous Heidelberg Castle layed ahead. Unfortunately, after several wars in the 17th century and a fire around 100 years later, the castle was largely in ruins. But what a ruin it was: perched on the wooded slopes above the city with its red stone walls, it stood as a symbol of Romanticism.

From the Philosopher's Path, we had to zoom in to get a close view of the castle ruins. This led to rather mediocre results at night with both test phones. However, the photo from the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra appeared much more blurred and less brightened compared to the picture from the Samsung flip phone.

Considering the overall view of the old town with the castle and the old bridge, we preferred the more restrained brightening of the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra. The orange-lit sights in the photo from the Samsung phone camera looked particularly oversaturated in color.

However, when we zoomed in a little, we could recognize significantly more details on the Samsung mobile phone.

The following day, we traveled across the Neckar's banks opposite the old town and observed some Egyptian geese. To avoid getting too close to the animals, we used the zoom functions of the mobile phones and encountered problems with the depiction of the grass, the animals, and the river in the background: While the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra clearly oversharpened all areas of the picture, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 produced a somewhat blurred and pale-colored image.

Our next test image was a view from under a bridge towards the castle on the opposite bank. Since it was not as bright under the bridge as outside, the smartphones had the chance to demonstrate their HDR capabilities. The camera on the Motorola flip phone was almost a little too bright, but the details appeared much sharper compared to the photo from the Samsung phone.

Next, we went to the bridge and started a zoom series on the ruins of Heidelberg Castle. The differences between the two cameras became clear once again: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 could also take an ultra-wide-angle shot, which captured a much larger image area but appeared somewhat distorted at the edges.

On the other hand, the 2x magnified image from the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra looked sharper, as it had its own telephoto lens and did not rely on digital zoom at this level.

At 20x zoom, the image from the Galaxy Z Flip6 appeared significantly blurrier.

The Heidelberg municipal fire brigade happened to be practicing by the river. The fine drops of water from the hose provided a good opportunity to check the video quality of the two flip phones, both of which could record 4K videos at up to 60 fps.

On the Motorola phone, the recording displayed somewhat oversharpened image quality in detail, while on the Samsung, everything appeared somewhat more blurred. Both phones managed to capture the fine water droplets with moderate detail, and despite a lot of movement in the frame, neither test device showed any artifacts.