How CNET Tests Phones - CNET

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Phones are overmuch much than connection devices; they're our gateway to the internet. They've go the halfway of our regular lives, lodging our idiosyncratic information, enactment essentials, idiosyncratic memories and enabling america to bespeak our personalities online. That's wherefore CNET conducts rigorous tests to assistance you find the close telephone for your fund and needs.

When reviewing phones, we instrumentality a assortment of factors into relationship specified arsenic camera quality, artillery life, design, bundle and longevity. Every telephone is different, but our investigating allows america to reply the aforesaid question successful each review: Is this telephone worthy buying? We measure phones based connected the prime of their hardware and software, whether they present immoderate meaningful caller innovations and whether they're the close price.

We regenerate our idiosyncratic telephone with the trial portion during the reappraisal play truthful that we tin get an close content of what it's similar to trust connected the instrumentality for regular tasks. In summation to this anecdotal usage, we besides behaviour circumstantial side-by-side tests against different phones arsenic portion of the valuation process.

We mostly trial phones against their contiguous predecessor, competing phones from different companies oregon different telephone wrong the aforesaid merchandise enactment (for instance, iPhone 14 versus iPhone 14 Pro). We absorption connected whichever comparisons are astir utile for helping our readers navigate the buying decision, and that whitethorn alteration depending connected the phone. Whenever possible, we enactment each 3 types of comparisons into a review.

Some of these methodologies are comparatively caller to CNET's investigating procedures, truthful you whitethorn not spot them successful each of our reviews from 2022. We're successful the process of updating our existent reviews with these tests and program to instrumentality them afloat successful 2023.

Below is simply a wide overview of what goes into a CNET smartphone review.

Testing smartphone cameras

an Android telephone and an iPhone some flash

The camera is the biggest country wherever companies similar Apple, Samsung, Google and OnePlus typically marque improvements to caller models each year, and our reviews enactment telephone maker's claims to the test. We instrumentality photos successful a assortment of circumstances and lighting conditions, including agleam outdoor areas, dim indoor settings and mixed lighting.

We seizure a assortment of subjects (objects, pets and people) to measure boldness, sharpness, skintones and colour accuracy. We trial each of the phone's main lenses (wide, telephoto and ultrawide), front-facing cameras arsenic good arsenic antithetic shooting styles, similar representation mode and nighttime mode. Our reviews besides screen utile editing features oregon shooting modes that are circumstantial to the device, specified arsenic the Google Pixel 7's Face Unblur oregon the iPhone's Cinematic Mode.

Part of these tests see side-by-side photograph comparisons betwixt the telephone we're reviewing and erstwhile phones we've tested. We measure a phone's cameras connected their consistency arsenic good arsenic however they stack up against the competition. All photos are consecutive retired of camera and accessed without immoderate edits, unless specifically noted. Beyond the archetypal impressions we get from viewing these photos connected a phone's screen, we besides upload them to a machine and presumption them alongside 1 different connected a monitor. This reduces immoderate bias that whitethorn travel from the antithetic screens connected each phone. It besides makes it easier to presumption discrepancies successful clarity and colour betwixt each photo.

We besides seizure video with the reappraisal telephone and justice it connected its representation and audio quality. Just due to the fact that a telephone tin seizure 6K oregon 8K video doesn't mean it's good. Unlike the computational photography algorithms that Google, Apple, Samsung and others use to photos, videos stay comparatively little processed, making it easier to critique a camera's strengths and flaws.

Testing smartphone performance

The show conception of our reviews examines however responsive phones are successful mundane use, however good they juggle aggregate tasks and however they fare during benchmark tests.

We bash this by observing however rapidly phones tin unfastened apps and motorboat the camera. We besides enactment whether the telephone has an adaptive refresh complaint mounting and however this improves show if astatine each (for example, whether this makes animations and scrolling consciousness smoother). We besides look for signs of lag erstwhile moving aggregate apps (such arsenic utilizing a societal media app oregon playing a crippled portion connected a video call), oregon playing an online multiplayer crippled with the highest graphics settings.

In summation to these mundane tasks, we besides tally a bid of benchmarks designed to trial a phone's computing powerfulness and graphics performance. These tests see Geekbench 5 for wide CPU show and 3DMark Wild Life Extreme for graphics. We besides tally the aforesaid tests connected different phones that we're comparing our trial instrumentality to.

Testing smartphone artillery life

The iPhone 12 being charged with a MagSafe charger connected a woody table

We trial artillery beingness successful 3 ways: done an anecdotal accent test, a video streaming trial and by observing artillery beingness aft mundane use. As noted earlier, these tests are comparatively caller and we're inactive successful the process of adding them to our 2022 reviews.

The anecdotal accent trial measures however overmuch the artillery drains aft 45 minutes of wide usage. We bash a small spot of everything during this trial to mimic authentic mundane experiences. That includes streaming video, utilizing societal media apps, playing a game, making a video telephone and different miscellaneous tasks similar checking email. After this 45 minutes of mixed usage, we people down the percent of artillery drain. To support the trial accordant betwixt phones, we execute each of those tasks for astir 10 minutes. We besides support the surface brightness acceptable to 50%, crook disconnected the always-on show and support the precocious refresh complaint mounting connected (if determination is one).

The streaming trial monitors however overmuch the artillery drains implicit a three-hour play portion viewing a video connected YouTube. We usage the aforesaid video each clip for consistency and acceptable the surface brightness to 100%. We besides disable settings that automatically dim oregon brighten the screen, link to Wi-Fi and crook connected the adaptive oregon precocious refresh complaint mounting if applicable. We instrumentality artillery percentages astatine the one-hour, two-hour and three-hour marks.

Since we usage trial phones arsenic our regular devices, we besides sermon however agelong the artillery has lasted successful mundane usage based connected our experience. Often, our applicable acquisition with a phone's artillery beingness tin springiness america the astir close prediction of what others mightiness expect if they bought the aforesaid phone.

Testing smartphone design, bundle and display

The Pixel 7 Pro with an Android 13 logo connected screen

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Our smartphone reviews besides encompass different areas similar design, bundle and show quality. Design tin beryllium subjective, but we mostly look for factors specified arsenic durability (water and particulate absorption ratings), however casual the telephone is to run with 1 hand, the physique prime and whether the plan is unsocial oregon absorbing successful immoderate way. For show quality, we'll notation factors similar brightness, however casual it is to spot successful sunlight and sharpness and color.

Software is different cardinal portion of CNET's smartphone reviews. We notation immoderate caller oregon noteworthy features and however agelong the telephone volition enactment caller versions of Android (or iOS respectively) and information updates.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 successful Flex Mode successful someone's palm

Our written reappraisal tells you everything we consciousness and experienced, but we besides springiness each telephone wide people and prima standing to supply a antithetic context. A $450 telephone mightiness deficiency each the features that a $1,000 telephone has, but its worth mightiness mean it gets a higher score. We besides update these ratings based connected a assortment of factors, including bundle changes and prime power issues.

Reviews volition ever alteration depending connected the device, but these are the halfway tenets that marque up a CNET smartphone evaluation. Determining a phone's wide worth is our guiding rule successful each smartphone review. Our reviews shed airy connected whether a caller telephone lives up to its expectations, who the telephone is for and whether it delivers connected its promises for the price. We are ever evaluating our ain investigating methodologies and looking for ways to improve, truthful expect to spot much updates successful the future.

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