Matthew Miller/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Google's photo prowess may be the best out there due to its software tuning. The Pro Res Zoom brought to life objects that were barely visible to the naked eye. Night photography, seamless editing, and other features added to an amazing camera experience. After decades of covering mobile devices -- and a personal obsession with always having the latest and greatest smartphones -- I never travel with just one. For my middle daughter's wedding in Hawaii, I packed five flagships to document the week: the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, Vivo X200, OnePlus 13, and Google Pixel 10 Pro. Also: How to clear your Android phone cache (and why you shouldn't wait to do it) It didn't take long to crown a clear winner. After the first event, the Pixel 10 Pro stood out as the most reliable and versatile option. Its effortless point-and-shoot experience, exceptional image quality across all lighting conditions, and powerful on-device editing made it my go-to device. I even passed it around to family members throughout the week -- and now I'm sorting through thousands of photos and videos, most of which came from the Pixel. Matthew Miller/ZDNET I was particularly impressed by Google's Pro Res Zoom functionality, which provides up to 100x zoom on the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. The Tensor G5 powers Pro Res Zoom, and the 10 Pro impressed everyone when I captured turtles on the beach, flowers from afar, wildlife joining us for breakfast, and more. The phone helped capture objects that we could barely see with the naked eye while still maintaining excellent clarity. Matthew Miller/ZDNET The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is my current daily driver, and its zoom capabilities are solid -- good enough that I reached for it a few times to capture wildlife and the vivid detail of Hawaiian flora. But in nearly every instance, the Pixel 10 Pro delivered noticeably sharper, more detailed results. Also: The secrets that make Pixel 10 Pro the world's smartest phone camera - from inside Google The difference comes down to optics and software. The Pixel 10 Pro features a 5x optical zoom lens compared to the Z Fold 7's 3x. It also supports up to 100x digital zoom, far exceeding the Z Fold's 30x limit. That extra reach, and the image clarity that came with it, made all the difference when shooting distant subjects. Matthew Miller/ZDNET With the wedding events held on the shores of Hawaii, I captured a few panoramic shots and found the updated panorama capture guidance to be flawless, with beach and lava content looking beautiful on the Pixel 10 Pro. Matthew Miller/ZDNET We had about 60 guests joining us in Hawaii, so we spent a lot of time at the reception trying to capture group shots. The Auto Best Take function, which automatically turns on when taking a group photo, helped us capture the best of each person without any editing or manual selection later on. Also: Want the Pixel 10 Pro? I recommend buying these 5 phones instead - here's why My wife was especially impressed with Google's ability to use AI to fix photos she captured while dancing and moving that she would normally delete because they were too blurry. Matthew Miller/ZDNET I have not been impressed with the battery life of Pixel devices in the past, so I was worried about the six-hour wedding and reception schedule. However, the Pixel 10 Pro helped us capture more than 500 photos and videos before the battery finally ran out. Thankfully, Google also now supports fast charging, so I was able to charge up the phone and keep going the next morning. There's a helpful cropped viewfinder that shows you where you're focusing when zooming. Matthew Miller/ZDNET Now that I am home, I plan to try many more functions and features, including using natural prompts in Google Photos to edit photos and having Camera Coach guide me to take better photos. Things were moving too fast and furious during the wedding week for me to pay attention to the coach, but I hope to explore this function soon.