The best mobile phones for making videos

When it comes to smartphones we all know that one of the most important features is the camera. If a phone can’t take good quality images or record video, we’re simply not interested. Smartphones manufacturers know this too so all the latest handsets come with powerful cameras and a range of features to help you make the most of them. In this article, other than the obvious recording quality a phone is capable of, I will consider some of what I believe to be the most important features when it comes to recording video to help you decide which smartphone is best for making videos.

Recording quality

As you might expect, the most important factor when it comes to a phone ability to make good videos is the quality as which it is able to record video.As standard now many of the newest smartphone models come with high definition recording capabilities ensuring that you can capture crystal clear video. But, on top of this, some handsets may even be able to offer other features within their video recording capabilities. Such as the Samsung Galaxy S9’s ability to dual-record video meaning that you can simultaneously record video from the front and rear cameras, or the Apple iPhone XS’s ability to record stereo audio whilst recording video making use 4 different microphones to enable you to record stunning quality audio.

Lens quality and number

Another of the most important factors when it comes to your phones ability to record high quality video will be the number of lenses it has and the quality of each individual lens.As you’re probably aware the quality of a lens is determined by the megapixels rating, the higher the number of mega pixels the more individual pixels within your images your phone is able to create so, the higher the quality of the image. The majority of high end smartphones come with a 12MP rear camera, with the highest megapixel rating coming from the Huawei Mate 20 Pro with its impressive 40MP rear camera. So, for the clearest recording quality, the Mate 20 Pro is a smart choice.But, the number of megapixels is not the only factor that is important in terms of lens quality; you should also consider the number of lenses there are. Many smartphones now come with dual lens cameras that enable higher quality video recording by working together to focus your images better. The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Apple iPhone XS both come with 12MP dual lens rear cameras, but, again, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro comes out on top with a triple lens rear camera set up featuring the 40MP lens, a 20MP lens, and an 8MP lens that all work in harmony to create the clearest images.

AI functionality

Another factor that can impact the quality of your video recordings that you may not have considered is a smartphones possibility AI functionality and features. This can help to greatly enhance the videos you take and enable you to take the best quality videos for the scenario in which you find yourself.Each smartphone comes with a different set of AI features specific to different manufacturers or even certain handsets, but most of the newest models available now come with auto-focus to help images be as clear as possible even in lower light situations and can even draw the focus of your videos to the subject of that video by blurring the background. However, my favourite AI feature is the Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s scene optimiser.The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes with a scene optimiser feature that intelligently recognising the subject of your image and adjusts the cameras settings accordingly to produce the clearest image possible. So, if you’re taking close-up footage of a very small subject your phones camera will adjust to this, and if you then transfer to a wide-shot of a far away subject the phone will adjust the cameras settings again to adjust for this.

Internal memory

An important factor when it comes to recording video on a smartphone which is often overlooked is that phones internal memory and storage capacity. Not only will taking lots of video take up a lot of memory capacity, but also the high quality videos that will come from use of a top quality smartphone will be large files that inherently take up a relatively large amount of storage.Available with up to 512GB internal memory the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max have one of the largest storage capacities of modern handsets, giving you plenty of storage space for high quality video files without the need for deleting other files to make space.But the Samsung Galaxy S9 also deserves to be considered as, despite the largest internal memory available for the handset being 256GB, it has the capacity for the addition of a microSD card up to 512GB which would raise the phones storage capacity to a huge 768GB!

Screen size

The final factor worth considering when it comes to choosing the best mobile phone for making videos is the size of the screen. It seems only logical that the bigger the screen the easier it will be to view what you are recording and make sure you are correctly framing your footage.Both the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro come with large screens at 6.2 inches and 6.39 inches respectively but, of the latest handsets available with top quality cameras for recording high quality video, the largest screen is found on the Apple iPhone XS Max. As with the majority of the newest smartphones the XS Max comes with a high definition screen display but what really sets this handset apart from the crowd making it a top choice for recording video is the impressive 6.5 inch screen!