DxO ONE Field Test Part I

This small wonder picks up where smartphones fall short

by William Brawley, with Dave Etchells & Dave Pardue |

For times when your iPhone camera just won't do.
Like it or not, smartphone-based photography is more than just a passing phase, it seems. Cameras on smartphones keep getting better and better, the apps for editing and tweaking more complex and sophisticated, and the resulting images themselves more impressive and higher in quality. Of course, there's certainly a time and a place for a dedicated camera, interchangeable lenses, add-on flashes and strobes and all sorts of other gear, but the beauty of smartphone photography is its simplicity.

That being said, there are times when the simple, built-in camera is perfectly adequate for your needs -- quick snapshots here and there, daytime shooting for small-res prints or sharing on Instagram. But, then there are times when that simple, very small-sensor camera just won't cut it -- whether for extra detail and resolution for larger prints, added editing flexibility of RAW images for better post-processing and, perhaps most importantly, much better low-light and high-ISO performance. This is where the DxO One connected camera comes in.