Pixel 3 camera test: Google's phone delivers again

Equipped with a 12.2-megapixel rear camera, new software updates that use machine learning to improve image processing and a secondary wide-angle selfie shooter, Google's Pixel 3 and 3 XL take fantastic images. Click through to see the photos.

Let's start with some easy, well-lit outdoor images. This was taken in Madison Square Park on a bright day.

A closeup of a flower. Here, I like the depth of the petals at the center of the flower.

Taking a photo of this building at a standard view.

Zooming in on the building at max zoom.

The Pixel 3 and 3 XL both have a feature called Night Sight mode to brighten up low light photography. Here is a photo taken on the phone's auto-mode...

And here is the same scene with Night Sight.

Another shot without Night Sight...

Using Night Sight again.

We move now into some indoor shots. This is still a brightly lit room, and you can see plenty of details in the black counter and brick wall.

A typical shot of some coffee art, but I do like how much details are in the froth.

A few more shots indoors...

I like the focus and the details of the fish and clams here.

A closeup shot of some bread. I like the falloff between the fore- and background.

Testing the phone's Portrait mode. With only a single lens, the Pixel 3 pulls off a solid shot of this dog.

Moving onto low-light images, the Pixel 3 handles these dim settings well -- brightening up shadows and retaining lots of detail.

These flowers were quite pale looking in real life, but I would have liked the phone to punch up the colors more.

Taking a selfie shot with the phone's standard front-facing camera.

Taking a wide-angle shot with the secondary camera. Here you can see more people fitting into the frame.

For these next few low-light shots, take note of how the camera handles different lighting situations and exposures. The wide dynamic range allows the Pixel 3 to handle tricky situations like this to produce a solid photo.

The Pixel 3 starts at $799, £739 and AU$1,199 for the 64GB model, while the 3 XL starts at $899, £869 and AU$1,349.