BKAV CEO Nguyễn Tử Quảng, known for his bold claims about his products, recently stirred the pot again by directly comparing the night photography of the Bphone B86 to two smartphones from “brand A” and “brand G.”
According to Quảng, BKAV engineers have successfully developed a night photography technology called sNight 2.0, which will be featured on the Bphone B86 and future Bphone models. To prove sNight 2.0’s effectiveness, the CEO shared a night photo of Hoan Kiem Lake taken with the Bphone B86, comparing it to shots from “brand A” and “brand G” smartphones. It’s easy to guess that “brand A” refers to Apple’s iPhone and “brand G” to Google’s Pixel.
From these photos, Quảng claims the Bphone B86 with sNight 2.0 produces better night shots than the other two phones. The difference isn’t just about brightness but about being “more true-to-life and natural.” He points out that the iPhone and Pixel photos are too bright for night scenes, while the Bphone image offers a more balanced look. According to him, this is an “extremely hard-to-reproduce” effect.
“The first photo below shows how BKAV engineers used AI and computational photography to recreate the true colors of Hoan Kiem Lake at night, despite very limited lighting. The contrast between light and dark areas in this setting is extremely difficult to reproduce authentically and naturally, without making it too bright like daytime, so that the night truly feels like night emotionally!”
“You can see this by comparing, under the same conditions, sNight 2.0 on the B86 with night mode shots from flagship devices from brand A and brand G (although Vietnamese law now allows direct product comparisons, I still use these labels to avoid controversy),” Quảng wrote on social media.
Still, the images shared by Quảng are only for reference and can’t be the final proof since BKAV hasn’t revealed key details like camera settings, exposure times, or whether tripods were used.
User skepticism is understandable. When the Bphone B86 launched, Quảng hyped its camera heavily, claiming “two cameras on the Bphone B86 equal five cameras on other brands,” and that it could “capture moments invisible to the naked eye and difficult even for DSLR cameras.” In reality, the Bphone B86’s camera quality was unremarkable, lacking features like ultra-wide shots or zoom that other five-camera phones offer. The original sNight night mode also required a tripod to work well, limiting its practicality.
Currently, BKAV still owes users several products announced last year. The budget Bphone B40 and B60 were first revealed in May 2020 but have yet to hit shelves. The AirB wireless earbuds face similar delays, which Quảng attributes to “many difficulties.” In a livestream from September 2020, he mentioned plans to launch another budget smartphone “by the end of this year if plans don’t change,” but it seems those plans have shifted as users still haven’t seen the device.
So once again, the photos Quảng shared should be taken as a reference only. We’ll need real-world tests to see if BKAV’s CEO’s claims hold up.
