📷 Surprised how this low-light shot came out on my phone

Last Saturday we went to a small restaurant in Jubilee Hills, and the lights were barely on. There were a few candles on nearby tables and that was about it for the whole room. I took a photo of my plate and my friend's face across the table, expecting the usual grainy mess. Phone cameras in the dark have always given me brown, blurry pictures with noise in every corner. This time the photo looked almost normal. I could see the texture of the naan and the steam off the curry. My friend's face had proper skin colour, not that washed out yellow I'm used to seeing at night. It took around 3 seconds after I pressed the button, and I had to hold my hands very still. He moved a bit and his side came out soft, so the second try was better. I didn't switch to any special mode. The phone seemed to do it by itself when it saw how dark it was. That surprised me, because I always thought night mode was something you had to turn on yourself. My last phone was about 3 years old and I never got a photo like this from it at night. Not sure if it's the sensor or the software, but something in these phones has changed. I'm due for an upgrade in a few months, so I'm collecting ideas from people here. What phone are you using, and what does it do in a dark room like that? Do you press the night mode button, or just leave the camera on auto? Post your worst low light shots too, the blurry ones. Those are my favourite to compare.

Mine is an older phone and its night mode takes about 4 seconds, so I hear you on holding still. I lean the phone against a glass of water or the menu card to keep it steady, and it works.

One thing that helped me at night was cleaning the lens. I know that sounds silly. My pocket leaves a thin greasy film on it, and every dark photo looked like it had fog. Wipe it with a soft cloth first, then try again at the same table. Hold your breath too. If it still looks soft, then the phone is the problem, but try the cloth before that.

Night mode on most phones needs a few seconds of keeping still, so your friend moving makes sense. I took photos in a dim wedding hall once and auto mode gave me mud, night mode gave me faces. If you try the same table again, rest your elbows on it and breathe out as you press. Which phone are you using? That would help people compare what they get at night.