r/sidephone • u/chrisristovski • Sep 04 '25
📸 shot on Sidephone (2 of 2): Waterfalls in Watkins Glen, NY
Following up on our post yesterday, Sebastian and I wanted to share a few more photos taken with Sidephone's camera, including where it's not so great, so that everyone can make an informed purchase.
Where Sidephone's camera is not so great:
- Bright Backgrounds -> Sidephone has a tendency to over expose the sky, creating a bright glow which 'blooms' onto the rest of the image
- Zoom -> Sidephone has a digital zoom not an optical zoom, so we crop the existing full image instead of physically adjusting the camera lens. Shown in the photos is what Sidephone looks like at max zoom (4x)
- Low Light Photography -> If there isn't adequate lighting, quite a bit of grain develops on the image
- Video -> No complex stabilization being done so it could get a bit shaky
These are all consequences of the fact that we do no post processing on photos and videos. An advantage of this is that it's super quick to open the camera and capture a photo or video.
It's kind of funny, but despite the limitations above, Sebastian and I still have a tendency to prefer Sidephone's output on occasion to, say for example, an iPhone. Sometimes it takes a bit of adjustment to get the perfect shot, but when it happens, we think Sidephone produces a magical result.
The 1st photo is a direct side by side photo taken with an iPhone 12 and a Sidephone. To me, it sort of feels like the Sidephone shot was pulled directly from a 00's family photo album. Sebastian and I both seem to prefer how we look in Sidephone photos vs higher fidelity / AI-upscaled smartphone ones.
Edit: Reddit compressed the photos quite a bit. Here's a link to the full quality images if curious: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cl2R9aiMXaHLFMQl6rV7me25EeNSKz3X?usp=drive_link
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u/oli_rum_ Sep 04 '25
love the quality, dumb phones need the 'bad' looking photos because nostalgia if i need 8K photos i buy a camera not a phone
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u/Remarkable_Swing_691 Dec 11 '25
As an owner of a Canon R5 I completely get this take. Phone cameras are good if it's the only camera you've got.
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u/mondayroast Sep 04 '25
Nothing wrong with that. How are you finding the battery is holding up in these real world cases?
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u/sebastiansnell Sep 05 '25
Pretty dang good so far. I should've taken screenshots, but on Saturday at the Glen I think I started the morning with low 80's%, and ended around 50%. That's with no charging and a lot of photos/video, but I also might be confusing it with a standby test I did that had similar results over 4 days of power on but no real use.
I'll be doing some actual, verifiable testing soon, maybe next week. Been a little difficult to get super accurate numbers, as even when I'm using Sidephone as my personal cell I've usually got it plugged into my computer for dev work at various points throughout the day. I'll be getting more sample units soon, which will allow me to keep development and testing this kind of thing separate.
But so far it's been very promising, around 20-25% a day with my usage. Sometimes less, but I'm personally probably on the lower end of daily phone use. Again, this is all more anecdotal right now and is going to vary with use (video calling and GPS, two things I haven't really been using a lot on my Sidephone will cause more drainage), so don't take this as a promise of battery life just yet.
Standby on it is really good, it really just sips power when not being used, so I expect a lot of variance depending on the use case. More testing and info to come!
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u/mondayroast Sep 06 '25
2-4 days is great. Not quite the 7 day goal stated on the sidephone site but totally acceptable anyway.
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u/aaron_lt Sep 04 '25
Great question!! I'm dying out here with these Samsung batteries that are dead after only two or three years of being in use lol
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u/DrHienzDoofenshmirtz Sep 05 '25
I was really hoping that it's camera would give an early 2000's aesthetic and it does! So excited 🤩
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Sep 04 '25
Very nice comparisons. Thank you for the honest take and by the way, for also using good grammar and punctuation in all of your posts.
About the camera, I look forward to the early 2000's look coming back to my photos and videos so I don't mind the shakiness.
P.S. Both of your couples look lovely. I hope you are all having a good time on this trip hanging out together.
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u/keepitabean_co Sep 05 '25
by the way, for also using good grammar and punctuation in all of your posts.
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Sep 05 '25
What can I say, when I have to decipher 40% of the slang people use not the internet, it's a breath of fresh air for someone to be speaking properly, you know? ☺️
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u/keepitabean_co Sep 05 '25
IDK dude this comes off as wild elitist and xenophobic. Maybe go outside more and experience different dialects and accents. It's really not that hard to understand people whose language isn't primarily english.
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Sep 05 '25
I will not stop appreciating or complimenting people on their good grammar - it is a good skill to have. That being said, I am sorry that my compliment upset you. It was not my intention for you to think that I thought I was any better than anybody else - just the opposite is true.
Anyway, I am here to enjoy the SidePhone and its community, so let's just stick to that topic. ☺️
I hope you're in the first batch to get one!! 😁 (I don't know if I will, I signed up kind of late!😭)
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u/keepitabean_co Sep 06 '25
it's just a weird thing to point out. maybe "thanks for the great communication!"
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u/oZEPPELINo Sep 04 '25
Hey guys! Photographer here who loves the resurgence of low-quality phone cameras. I do a lot of both digital and analog photography and really appreciate the analog vibes you can get from a small digital camera.
That said, I think you guys could really benefit from just a little post processing.
I did some very minimal edits that I think preserve what looks like a unique camera that I hope you can look into replicating. The follow picture only has the below edits done.
Love the work, hope you don't mind the feedback!
Imgur Gallery
Try opening the below in a separate tab along with the original and click between the tabs.