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I am pretty much dissapointed with the pictures I have obtained with my Universal's built in camera.
Sometimes - most of the times - dont really beleive it is a 1.3 MPixels cam.
So,
1. Do you think using another software to take pictures would improve performance/quality?
2. It is possible to use another software to manage the camera?
3. Maybe, it's just me not being able to use it properly. Any advice to get good quality pictures?
have you checked the pictures on your pc?
i thought this until i looked on the pc and they were actually pretty impressive, dont be fooled my the on screen preview after youve taken a pic
yes... checked them out on a PC.. but no good quality. The problem is that if you're taking good quality pictures.. the it must be me.. :?
Anyway I recon that good pictures can be obtained under good conditions (light, etc.), but indoors... no way, at least for me.
i've seen on my HTC wizard that in the registery the camera can be edited things like bitrate too, havent tried it yet.
Ive gone from a D500 to this. Both 1.3 megapixel cameras, but the images from the samsung are far larger and far better quality. The images I get from my XDA are terrible.
maybe -hope so - it's just the software.
Could the camera be used with another soft? maybe from another WM5 device.
HTC has used extremely cheap and low quality camera sensors :-( Theres not much you can expect from its camera....so i guess its wise to accept the fact and move on :S
There are tons of dead pixels, and fails to reproduce the colors accurately...its just a "i have a cam on my phone too" feature, and nothing of any practical use!
cheerio
s
its enough to get the point across say car accident , for insurance or the poice, it would be enough to convince surlly.
Took some pictures yesterday for first time on Universal, on top of a hospital roof, sun shining.
So as normally happens in those situations you can not see what you are taking properly due to the screen contrast etc. in the sun. ( same on all camera phones I have had )
Just used the standard settings, didnt change anything, have just downloaded them onto the PC and I am quite impressed with the quality.
On par if not better than some of the camera phones I have had in the past.
Just checked settings and I was on 640 x 480 capture size and ambience auto.
So for me a thumbs up to the quality from a camera phone.
share one of those beautiful pics...
wanna check if it's just me..
Perhaps a silly question - but have you made sure your camera settings are at 2M (1200x1600) to take your photos. The exec defaults to a much smaller size.
cheers
hehe, yes.. thanks.
I'm just saying that quality doesnt fit in in a 1.3 Mpixels camera, my POV.
The camera is useless imho. sometimes its good to catch stupid pics of people who have parked terribly or funny signs on petrol station doors but all in all they would have been best just leaving it out.
The only solution is to get a decent camera.
JAmes
I'm an amateur photographer (with the lovely Nikon D50), and no doubt the Universal's picture quality is not very good. However, I see it as a bonus add-on for the Universal rather than a proper feature. Say, I don't carry the Nikon D50 into my lessons at school all the time (until recently, when we had our very last lessons at school for the rest of my life!); with the Universal I was able to quickly take pictures of my classmates sleeping in our maths lessons or film our chemistry teacher burning jelly babies (they literally scream and burn when they react with some solution!).
Anyway, my conclusion is that the camera on the Universal is good for quick snaps, but not good for family portraits. :wink:
PS: HTC, come on, you call yourselves "High Tech Computer Corporation" and you can't even manage a tiny camera?
Whilst on the topic, yesterday I tried to take pictures of a beautiful wheat field in the sun, but the picture I got was just a very dark image, no matter where the sun was relative to the lens. Changing the settings to "Sunlight" or "Automatic" did not help either.
Very disappointed, and you don't often get this lovely weather in the UK!
To the OP, there's no easy way to say it: the camera is crap, like 99.99% of all mobile phone cameras. The CCD they use are cheap as dirt, and unless you're experiencing optimum conditions (such as bright, bright sunshine outdoors), there's no way you'll ever take any decent pic with this phone regardless of the software.
Glad I could clear that up! :twisted:
It does not seem that bad to me,
settings = 2M(1600x1280) and daylight
I have not resized the pic , so sorry if it runs off screen :wink:
This is just before my ride to Turkey and back from UK
Stu..
Bagmanstu:
Nice outfit!
mdaexecfan said:
there's no way you'll ever take any decent pic with this phone regardless of the software.
Glad I could clear that up! :twisted:
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Exactly - it's a phone/PDA with a free camera, not a camera with a phone/PDA... Miracles you will not get!
The quality is acceptable to me but getting the best result is sometimes difficult. My major problem the handling, choosing the right settings for the occasion is a bit awkward.
@Bagmanstu: Cool
Im dont know, every where I read, thay say that the cam is s..., and it takes 5 secs. from when I press till it takes the picture.
Is that right?
Stick with the Diamond, much better IMO. Only advantages of a HD is the bigger screen and more RAM, but I think the Diamond is much more useable.
To answer your question, that appears to be the case for me, yes.
"Only" the screen is a pretty major advantage, it's almost double the size. The Diamond isn't seriously usable for web browsing - the HD is. Ditto for video.
ChrisB said:
Im dont know, every where I read, thay say that the cam is s..., and it takes 5 secs. from when I press till it takes the picture.
Is that right?
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That's rubbish and completely untrue. I find the camera to be quite excellent and picture quality very good in fact.
I don't blame you though for getting that impression. Before I got my own unit, I also had that false impression from reading all the complaints on this forum. But after getting my own HD, I'm really happy with it. This is despite not having flash.
eaglesteve said:
That's rubbish and completely untrue. I find the camera to be quite excellent and picture quality very good in fact.
I don't blame you though for getting that impression. Before I got my own unit, I also had that false impression from reading all the complaints on this forum. But after getting my own HD, I'm really happy with it. This is despite not having flash.
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Exactly the HTC Touch HD is a great phone. Some people reading forum like this think they get a good sampling of what people using the phone think about it. That is not true since it is mostly the maybe 1% that have troubles of some kind with their phone that write here. The rest of the people that are happy with their phone do not write about.
The only thing I can recommend for people considering buying the phone is to get the phone and try it out. You will most likely like it a lot.
Camera is not bad, but also not good. Don't buy it as a camphone.
I've got a nokia n82 and a touch hd.
If the cam is ****? Yeah, it is. Don't let people let you think different. I guess it's not worse than other htc-phones though, I haven't had one since the original touch (elf).
If it was daylight out here now (denmark, actually) I should have taken comparision shots for you, but it's not, and with the xenon flash on the n82 it is even more superior in this light.
That said, the touch hd is a fantastic device in every other aspect! I didn't buy it for the cam, and don't care about it's picture quality, since I've got my n82.
The camera is only suitable for taking pictures in well-lit area.
Forget about dark areas.
All in all I'm sufficiently pleased with it, as I did not expect anything great.
Hello
Yes the Cam is ****
very slow slow slow and it only does pictures in very light areas.
In the drak they are very dark - the missing flash is a desaster.
Do not buy the hd for taking pictures or videos
But also safe you monry on fu.. nokia modells
IMHO...
The quality of the photos that the Touch HD can take is far better than the three HTC devices I've used before. It's actually pretty good in my limited experience with it. However, the camera remains virtually unusable because of two things:
1 - the delay between tapping the screen and the photo taking the image while the camera fusses over the focussing and then thinks for a couple of seconds
2 - the lack of hardware button makes camera shake very hard to avoid
These two factors make it almost impossible to take a photo of a moving scene because of the unpredictability of the timing of the shot and the likelihood of camera shake.
Attached is a photo I've just taken in the low evening light that illustrates what should be a perfectly easy photo. I couldn't avoid camera shake even standing still and being ultra-careful. The exposure isn't bad though.
the cam is bad... only usable by normal daylight also video recording is very bad
well in normal daylight the cam is better than my n73. video is realy better...
Are there some tweaks or settings to speed up taking images? It's really slooooow...
TIP: Disable the "Auto Whiteness" in the camera.
I have spent the last 2 weeks playing with the camera and was very disappointed with low level lighting pictures at first, BUT! now I have ressolved this problem.
There is an option in the camera "Auto Whiteness", the sensor or software in the camera seems to be useless at judging lighting, so if you set this to manual and select the indoor lighting icon (looks like a light bulb) then the camera gives quite impressive low level lighting pictures.
Speed of the camera between pressing and taking a picture is about 3 seconds, not the worst shutter delay I have seen on a camera phone, but not the best. Hopefully HTC can address this with future software updates??
For me the main issue is the blurryness of virtually all pictures,
if its a picture of a person I have to ask them to be still, then I take a pic and then I have to ask them once more to be DEAD STILL.
Most people take stay still to mean don't walk off any where but with the Touch HD stay still means don't let one muscle move.
If you want a phone that takes decent picture then its not or you.
Its a multimedia phone (pics not included)
I have been playing with the HD for two days now, which meant finding all of the tweaks and then removing them until it works for me. The excellent tweak app (search for it here) recommends enabling the sport and burst modes of photo (works great) and then changing the maximum res to 3M (makes my phone crash!)
Anyway if you want to take really good SHAKE FREE pics the ONLY way is through the burst/sport options. The auto focus for the 'normal' cam is so crap that the shutter stays open forever. In sport or burst mode the camera has to ditch the refocus and just shoot - out of the 5 in sport or 30 in burst you will have two or 10 decent pictures. This was exactly the same on my old HTC P3900.
The video is still completely crap - although much improved if you shoot as for MMS.
If we're talking about very low light, even my Canon camera does not give good result. So I don't expect miracle from HD. Having said that, I have taken quite a lot of indoor shots with lights on and the result is not noticeably worst than what my Canon camera can deliver.
As for motion, I actually don't find any problem there. I have taken quite many shots with car moving towards and away from me and the sharpness is still there. No blurring at all.
I find vido recording to be really good.
The lack of hardware button is a non-issue for me. I find it very easy to just touch the screen, the try to hold it still for the process to be completed.
This is the best camera I've ever had in a phone, and I find myself using it quite a lot since getting my HD.
This is seriously the worst camera I've ever had in a phone. And the sad part is the auto focus which is way too slow and cannot be disabled. No other tweak will help really unless somebody will figure out how to set focus to infinity permanently.
Attached are photos taken with the HTC Touch HD at night in New York City last week:
YESSSSSS IT SUCKSSSSSSS!
Auto light balance is useless, shutter speed is miserably slow (not even for a still photo) , no flash , video is worthless. 5 MP not in full screen (in full screen it is 4MP) .
If you have kids and want to take a photo for them then please wait till thy sleep and start shooting , other wise you will be wasting only your time and battery .
It is even too bad in watching movies without setting hours and hours converting them!
I hope it is not a hardware issue and only software that can be updated later .
No cam-mobile , yes surf-mobile and nav-mobile.
Ok, as far as i can tell no one has mentioned this, i appologise if i have missed it as i know some people on here get a bit righteous on here.
SO the camera. , on the HD the camera was the only major thing that really sucked, it did everything else i was expecting of it but that camera really was crap in anything but perfect light conditions.
has anyone heard anything about this HD2 and its camera, its the same MP spec obviously but that means nothing, forget the LED lights they are a gimic at best. Whats needed is a larger CCD and lens, not pixel density, so whats the word on the streets guys? can this thing suck in more light than its older brother and not suffer major lag as the device tried to compensate? and is the shutter responce higher reducing those blured pics that can happen even in perfect day light?
here you have some samples
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=8987
and more here
http://www.slashgear.com/htc-hd2-5mp-camera-gets-reviewed-distinctly-average-1259864/
it is average... nothing good, but nothing bad... but i think those are samples from pre release... so it can change...
Yeah the camera sucks
Actually, judging by the videos I've seen, HD2's camera is very fast (almost instant) when focusing, which makes it usable in real-life conditions, unlike HD's.
dazza9075 said:
forget the LED lights they are a gimic at best.
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I beg to differ... While I completely agree that LED flash is no match for a "real" xenon flash, it is useful as it allows to take pictures that wouldn't be possible otherwise - you can take a picture of your friends in a bar and stuff like that (which in my case is like 90% of all the scenes I want to take pictures of )
dazza9075 said:
is the shutter responce higher reducing those blured pics that can happen even in perfect day light?
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My major gripe with HD was very slow focusing - it just didn't allow to shoot anything. HD2 is 10 times better - it almost works like a focus-free camera in terms of speed (at least that's what I saw on some hands-on video).
Fast it may be, but the pictures i have seen so far are of terrible quality, but what can you expect from a cmos lens?
CMOS sensor, you mean?
I certainly don't consider those pictures to be of "terrible" quality. They are noisy and all, but if I can use my phone to make something like that I'd be quite satisfied, for anything better I'd use a "real" camera. The problem with my HD is that I can't use it at all because it's so slow that the scene changes several times before it shoots anything.
Well my nokia 5800 only has 3.2mp and it blows those pictures away. CRAP
Yeah, i know LED lights can have a use, especially up close as you say taking pics in the bar, which ironically is exactly the poor lighting i tried with the HD to no avail!
so i take that back.
Shutter speed would be good, ive lost too many good photos because the wind was pushing me enough to slightly blur everything.
I never even thought to check if the HD cam was CCD or CMOS,
its a bit bizzar if thats the case because although CCD has a higher quality it should be slightly slower than CMOS, which it clearly isnt, which makes me wonder what exactly is slowing the whole thing down.
Well as for the (perfect lighting conditions and zero blur) quality of the HD im more than happy, so i hope HTC can build on it and make it faster.
jrvenge said:
Well my nokia 5800 only has 3.2mp and it blows those pictures away. CRAP
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thats all rather subjectional really, my old XDA 2 produces better pics at the cost of resolution, so yes in a small printout it could be better but not when blown up. most people do not need anything more than 3.2mp, if my HD was any quicker on 3.2 id use it.
Most printers in peoples homes arent capable of printing the difference between 3.2 and 5 unless its enlarged anyway!
ive yet to see any good shots from a production HD2 but if its like the HD and its "perfect lighting" the quality is quite amazing, perfect lighting is the operative statement there though for the HD so i can only hope the HD2 can push that bar back a bit!
dazza9075 said:
its a bit bizzar if thats the case because although CCD has a higher quality it should be slightly slower than CMOS, which it clearly isnt, which makes me wonder what exactly is slowing the whole thing down.
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As far as I understand (and I'm not an expert so I may be wrong), there are two problems:
One is obviously the crappy optics (small and made of cheap plastic and such) which do not let enough light come through, combined with a tiny sensor, resulting in lower shutter speeds required to take a picture - thus you get the blur.
Two is the way auto focus works - it's not measuring distance to the object, but instead analyzes the image from the sensor for sharpness and then adjusts focus until the blur goes away. This requires some calculations, obviously. All (or most) non-professional cameras work this way, but "real" cameras have dedicated processors for this stuff, and don't do it in "software" mode - hence, they are much speedier. The same must apply to HD2 - Snapdragon has some camera module AFAIK, and/or is much faster overall than the processor in HD (and it's not just the clock speed, the Cortex A8 architecture is way more efficient).
vangrieg said:
As far as I understand (and I'm not an expert so I may be wrong), there are two problems:
One is obviously the crappy optics (small and made of cheap plastic and such) which do not let enough light come through, combined with a tiny sensor, resulting in lower shutter speeds required to take a picture - thus you get the blur.
Two is the way auto focus works - it's not measuring distance to the object, but instead analyzes the image from the sensor for sharpness and then adjusts focus until the blur goes away. This requires some calculations, obviously. All (or most) non-professional cameras work this way, but "real" cameras have dedicated processors for this stuff, and don't do it in "software" mode - hence, they are much speedier. The same must apply to HD2 - Snapdragon has some camera module AFAIK, and/or is much faster overall than the processor in HD (and it's not just the clock speed, the Cortex A8 architecture is way more efficient).
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If that is the case then i dont understand why they didnt use a CCD, much easier to build and if you need a processor for the auto focus to make it work then it makes little difference since you need a chipset anyway (cmos has most of its circuits onboard)
i put my money on a tiny sensor, but hopefully your right and it is a CPU limitation because its doing it in software, least it can only get better that way!
I have never seen a high-end phone produce such bad photos, coming from an iPhone 5, 4S, HTC One X and HTC One... The Galaxy S4 turned out to be a huge disappointment contrary to the reviews I've read. I checked updates and I am running the latest updates so I am unsure what else I can do except trade this phone away for something else.... Any insight?
an_xda said:
I have never seen a high-end phone produce such bad photos, coming from an iPhone 5, 4S, HTC One X and HTC One... The Galaxy S4 turned out to be a huge disappointment contrary to the reviews I've read. I checked updates and I am running the latest updates so I am unsure what else I can do except trade this phone away for something else.... Any insight?
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There are several threads about this already.
scott14719 said:
There are several threads about this already.
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I can't search effectively and creating this thread didn't hint at any similar-created threads. Could you please point me to those discussions?
an_xda said:
I can't search effectively and creating this thread didn't hint at any similar-created threads. Could you please point me to those discussions?
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Click to collapse
I just put "photo" in the search box in the 'General" section and at least 4 relevant posts came up on the front search page alone with "camera" or "photo" in the thread title. Reading through them should help you to better understand the situation. There isn't a "one fix" situation for your issue that is why it is important you read through the material available so you can see what you need to try and what works for you. Good luck.
To be fair the other threads don't contain a "fix" other than people in general bashing users claiming users coming from iPhone's don't know how to shoot.
This thread might be useful for finding out some sort of real solution to the issue.
For me, throwing the S4 into "Active" or "Sports" mode generally tends to help slightly. From what I can tell it's the actual camera app itself. The camera itself is superior to iPhone 4S and 5's camera. It's actually the same camera but a newer version more or less. It has a faster shutter speed and better fstop and such. Just I believe the camera software (Both Stock-Based rom and on CM10.1) are both slow to react. Usually in "Auto" it will see fast moving objects and the phone will adjust the shutter speed to be quicker. From what I can tell the Auto setting is just very slow to react and not as sensitive as what I was used to on the iPhone's camera app. Why manually setting "sport" seems to work for me as it tells the camera to use a higher shutter speed and doesn't have to figure it out on its own. Same deal goes for dark photos, which I get ALOT of. Manually changing the settings results in a good photo, however "Auto" seems to be playing stupid and not adjusting parameters the way that I'm used to. Some might be fine with it and used to it, but having used the iOS camera for years I'm not used to having to manually adjust all my settings to take a quick photo.
WoodburyMan said:
To be fair the other threads don't contain a "fix" other than people in general bashing users claiming users coming from iPhone's don't know how to shoot.
This thread might be useful for finding out some sort of real solution to the issue.
For me, throwing the S4 into "Active" or "Sports" mode generally tends to help slightly. From what I can tell it's the actual camera app itself. The camera itself is superior to iPhone 4S and 5's camera. It's actually the same camera but a newer version more or less. It has a faster shutter speed and better fstop and such. Just I believe the camera software (Both Stock-Based rom and on CM10.1) are both slow to react. Usually in "Auto" it will see fast moving objects and the phone will adjust the shutter speed to be quicker. From what I can tell the Auto setting is just very slow to react and not as sensitive as what I was used to on the iPhone's camera app. Why manually setting "sport" seems to work for me as it tells the camera to use a higher shutter speed and doesn't have to figure it out on its own. Same deal goes for dark photos, which I get ALOT of. Manually changing the settings results in a good photo, however "Auto" seems to be playing stupid and not adjusting parameters the way that I'm used to. Some might be fine with it and used to it, but having used the iOS camera for years I'm not used to having to manually adjust all my settings to take a quick photo.
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Thanks for that, appreciate it. I too will manually play with the default settings to see if they can adjust the photo better. Coming from an iPhone and HTC One X/One, the phones just all react and produce stunning images with minimal effort (and I don't mean filters, the actual photo quality is superb under the right angles/lighting).
WoodburyMan said:
To be fair the other threads don't contain a "fix" other than people in general bashing users claiming users coming from iPhone's don't know how to shoot.
This thread might be useful for finding out some sort of real solution to the issue.
For me, throwing the S4 into "Active" or "Sports" mode generally tends to help slightly. From what I can tell it's the actual camera app itself. The camera itself is superior to iPhone 4S and 5's camera. It's actually the same camera but a newer version more or less. It has a faster shutter speed and better fstop and such. Just I believe the camera software (Both Stock-Based rom and on CM10.1) are both slow to react. Usually in "Auto" it will see fast moving objects and the phone will adjust the shutter speed to be quicker. From what I can tell the Auto setting is just very slow to react and not as sensitive as what I was used to on the iPhone's camera app. Why manually setting "sport" seems to work for me as it tells the camera to use a higher shutter speed and doesn't have to figure it out on its own. Same deal goes for dark photos, which I get ALOT of. Manually changing the settings results in a good photo, however "Auto" seems to be playing stupid and not adjusting parameters the way that I'm used to. Some might be fine with it and used to it, but having used the iOS camera for years I'm not used to having to manually adjust all my settings to take a quick photo.
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Click to collapse
Agreed. There is definitely a software lag as the phone ties to determine for itself what all the lighting conditions are, etc. Also, if you are using a slower external card, you will be much better off using the internal storage for photos so there is less wait time while the app writes the image.
joeybear23 said:
Agreed. There is definitely a software lag as the phone ties to determine for itself what all the lighting conditions are, etc. Also, if you are using a slower external card, you will be much better off using the internal storage for photos so there is less wait time while the app writes the image.
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Phone is saving to device so it isn't a write to memory problem. Just wish the software was better optimized if the shutter lag is not the hardware.
sport mode works best to reduce shutter lag; auto will cycle through modes and keep changing variables of shutter speed and ISO (aperture is fixed).
i would like to see if there is a way to dedicate more processors to the camera app, and crank up the processor speed when the camera app is opened (ie to 100%), that would fix the lag. is there a way to do this?
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Sony Xperia 1 II, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Sony Xperia 1 II is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
One of my all time favorite phones / camera's
So I have been able to play with and use the xperia 1 ii for over 4 days.
this will be a short review and perhaps I will add to it at a later moment.
Main Things I Didn't Test
* Gaming
* Video
Look and Feel
I personally really like the look and feel of this phone. It has some iPhone 4 qualities to it. By which I mean it feels like a device/tool with nice buttons, very high quality materials. It feels like a tool, like a device that is build for usability rather than build for the wow factor (if that makes sense).
It doesn't have a crazy high screen to body ratio. So something like S20 (or the S10 i used previously) is a bit more awe inspiring. But as soon as you slap a case on a S10 this will disappear any way. But what it has is a uninterrupted screen with no notches or punch hols, it has two front facing high quality speakers. It is function over form rather than form over function. That is not to say that it is not a good looking device it is very nice build it look really great. Although I'm not a fan of mirror polishing but you will not notice that as soon as you slap a cover on it (and it looks way better than the ugly blue s10). I have the official Sony case with stand which will still allow you to see the very nice sides of the phone; they are beautifully machined and have a nice color (especially with the purple one).
The buttons of the volume and the power feel really nice, they have a reassuring click to them. The only thing I'm missing is a click for the shutter button. Perhaps it is not implemented to make sure you don't move the phone while clicking. This has a bit of a downside when you don't have a shutter sound enabled. As the camera is crazy fast and it is therefor hard to see / notice if you took the photo or not. A click would have been nice. But when using the phone more often I got used to it.
Screen
The screen is absolutely amazing especially in creator mode. Colors are very accurate and it is a real joy to watch media on this phone be it movies, clips or photos. Because of the very high PPI reading news or books is possible with small letters it basically looks like it is printed. Compared to my old s10 which has a amazing screen as well I prefer the Sony as it has such natural colors and this printed feel to it. Also the colors are good with low luminescence something the s10 could not manage. That being said the max brightness is a bit less than the s10 and I feel that the display is a bit more reflective. But this could be caused by the fact I keep the brightness down with the Sony as thing look really good with low brightness. That being said I did not encounter any problems reading the screen outside on a bright day.
The screen ratio is really handy. I never used split screen a lot on previous devices. But since it is slightly taller than a s10 (while having the same width) it makes more sense to use it and I use it for more often now (watching YouTube while messaging). I don't feel it is a big phone. It is a bit heavier than the s10 but also it feels better build than the s10. Compared to a Note 10+ the height is similar but the width is significantly less.
Sound
Front facing speaker are great far better than the S10 or any other phone I used. Switching on Dolby Atmos is mandatory as without it is not that good. You really have stereo sound and both speakers are equal in terms of loudness positioning and quality.
The sound quality from the audio jack is good and you have quite a lot of options to set the sound to your tasted. As I mostly use wireless atm I have not tested this comprehensively.
Speed
It is fast, sometimes notably faster than the s10. I think is mostly because of faster memory as I don't to that much cpu intensive stuff. That being said I think the most phones for the last couple of years are fast enough for most of the tasks any way.
5G / reception
5G works no idea if it is faster than 4g. didn't run any test as 4g didn't give me any problems. Reception seems to be very good at least better than the S10. Some places where I did not have a great reception or didn't have any reception with the s10 I do have with the 1ii. Maybe this could be because of 5G (as it uses multiple connections), or maybe not, I have no Idea . WiFi is stable and fast. Bluetooth as well.
Call quality.
It is great, voice is really good, again better than the s10
Battery
it is good, I'm a heavy phone user as I use it for lot's of reading, emailing, work stuff, music and YouTube. No complains and even slightly amazed considering is has "only" a 4000Mha battery
Camera (and a little bit about pricing)
Properly the most important part of this phone it the camera. As Sony did not release a "cheaper" version of the phone with 64GB like the iPhone 11 pro it is a very expensive device and the camera is it's main selling point. Although you could argue it should be compared with a 11 pro max which makes the Sony cheaper than a iPhone 11 pro max (256GB) or similar priced to the 64GB version. I don't understand reviewers that give a lower rating because of the price. It should be compared to an 11 pro (max) or S20+ / Ultra. Personally I think it comes out ahead in many comparisons to these phones. The 1ii is a "pro" phone with a pro price. But than again a "pro" phone is a silly concept to begin with (the only pro phone I ever used was the blackberry passport, best professional / work phone ever, but bad at anything else).
First a small disclaimer. I didn't use the android camera at all (only for scanning a QR code) as you get a photo pro app which should be used if you buy this phone. Secondly I like photography I have used many camera's over the years and also may phones. Up till now my two favorite camera phones where the Lumia 950XL for color and the Mate 9 for b&w photography. The Lumia still amazes me to this day and Nokia/Microsoft did not get enough credit for there work. It was the only phone I knew that could really capture light. Also I don't care for AI powered camera apps. I understand that this is really handy if you just make snapshot and don't care about doing photography your self. I don't care for "HDR" images as all it accomplish is that it removes shadows and makes for a equal brightened image regardless of how the scene looks. If you like these things I'm not sure that this is the phone for you as Google, Samsung and Apple are better at these things
The camera app phone combination is amazing. It really gives you the feel that you are using a camera and more importantly that you are in control. It is a unbelievably fast combinations. For instance; I tried to take a photo of a dog and I was sure I mist it. As he started moving as soon as I pressed the shutter button but to my amazement the camera took the picture, it must have been less than a second between me clicking and the dog moving. I think it might be faster than my RX100m6. If you like to tinker and you know what shot you want and how you want it to look there is not better phone atm. (the Samsung pro camera is highly unusable and Huawei sadly doesn't have Google apps).
The 20fps works really good as well, it is amazing to use on a phone and to be so sure of the results (yes I know I'm using the word amazing a lot). Another surprise is the performance of the digital zoom it is far better than expected is highly usable. Also it is quit nice to have a 70mm option, although I feel that it doesn't perform on the same level as the other two sensor / lens combinations it seems a bit softer and not as sharply focused. The hero of this phone is the main 24mm sensor / lens combo it performs the best and has all the possible options. For the xperia 1iii I would like to see a 50mm included as well. The colors are natural and this gives you the opportunity to post processes the picture your self more easily than say a iPhone or Samsung.
There are some things I would like to see in a software update. Mainly the ability to zoom in normal focal lengths instead of continues (so from 24 to 28 to 35 to 50 etc). To change the shutter sound to a soft click sound. The ability to set sharpness , contrast and saturation. Last but not least RAW support. Also I had a couple of times the app freeze on me but as this is the first version I presume they will fix this.
a bunch of pictures with various focal length and lighting conditions:
https://we.tl/t-8rRytOUylm
Video
didn't really use it and on cnet there is a great review about its video capabilities including a nice short movie. It's great; one of the best reviews ever for any phone or product https://www.cnet.com/news/sony-xperia-1-ii-review-yep-thats-a-real-telephoto-lens/
If you have any questions I will try to answer them (I will not install apps to check stuff )
stefanve said:
So I have been able to play with and use the xperia 1 ii for over 4 days.
this will be a short review and perhaps I will add to it at a later moment.
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see link in original post for full rez pictures
Really great feedback, thanks. As a prospective buyer who mainly takes photos of friends/family/selfies, how does the 'shoot and point' on the camera pro app hold up? I'm
a big fan of the portrait mode on my Mate Pro 20, does this phone have a similar mode?
Tmel14 said:
Really great feedback, thanks. As a prospective buyer who mainly takes photos of friends/family/selfies, how does the 'shoot and point' on the camera pro app hold up? I'm
a big fan of the portrait mode on my Mate Pro 20, does this phone have a similar mode?
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I've had the phone for two days. I'd say this is not a phone you'd buy to be "point and shoot" camera. The main camera app takes good photos but not the best. To get best photos, you should use the camera pro app. It is a solid app/camera and I feel like I have a close to DSLR camera in my pocket. Colors are very natural and accurate compared to manipulated photos you get from Samsung or even Pixel camera app. It does have a portrait mode that works fine however in Camera Pro if you learn to adjust focus manually can have similar effect even better.
Thanks for the heads up. Any tweaks you'd recommend to the default settings on the camera pro app?
The pro mode has a auto mode which is quit good. And I used it for a couple of shots I shared. So it can work really well. I guess it is depending on the look of the auto mode settings and if the other pros of this phone are of interest to you
stefanve said:
see link in original post for full rez pictures
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OMG! Sorry man, I'm quite shocked by the quality photos form your X1 II. Seriously horrified! There are a couple of good pics from your sample bunch. All others are out of focus, under / overexposed, low detailed etc. I clearly recognize my personal experience with my current phone - Xperia 5 - hit or miss, around 50% of good outcome. Now I'm fully convinced to not even look at possibility of getting Xperia 1 II . Thanks
Love and Hate from me. Eagerly waited for it since announcement and first adverts. High expectations, not only because of SONY´s promises but mostly because of my experience with and long - term SONY user / devices. Most of my SONY phones delivered good images: my XZ Premium, XZ2 Premium, even my last addition, the X, gives me proper images. Not counting the older device along my lifetime (SE68, W-Series, K-Series and so on). But this MK2 is more Hate than Love. Gorgeous design, screen, speakers. Fast and, finally, more storage (novum at SONY!). But the camera - system is a no-go. Mediocre image quality from all but the main camera, even with the 24 lens it delivers inconsistent material. Videos are simply said...to forget. Focus is a hit and miss game when light conditions are different from sunny - outdoor. From 10 images half is usable, depending what lens was used. Not to talk about the front camera. I just informed Sony about my complain and offered them my image and video material to check it. Dunno if they will give me reply....
WarVic said:
OMG! Sorry man, I'm quite shocked by the quality photos form your X1 II. Seriously horrified! There are a couple of good pics from your sample bunch. All others are out of focus, under / overexposed, low detailed etc. I clearly recognize my personal experience with my current phone - Xperia 5 - hit or miss, around 50% of good outcome. Now I'm fully convinced to not even look at possibility of getting Xperia 1 II . Thanks
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I have to say I really like most out of camera photo's, but they don't sharp the photos or use HDR ( you can switch it on) but I guess in the end is about personal taste. to my eyes they look miles better than anything samsung.
just to show what you can do with the out of camera photos (I hope raw support will be added soon) look at the different versions of two photos.
But indeed this phone is not for some one that wants a camera that " just works"
That's fine then. For me they looks like made by Galaxy S5 really. Old dinky Pixel 1 makes a way better shots straight out of the camera to my opinion. Thanks for sharing photos anyway. You've stopped me from making a very costly mistake.
WarVic said:
That's fine then. For me they looks like made by Galaxy S5 really. Old dinky Pixel 1 makes a way better shots straight out of the camera to my opinion. Thanks for sharing photos anyway. You've stopped me from making a very costly mistake.
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Not sure if you looked at the images attached to the post. but keep in mind that XDA is heavily compressing the images. so pixel peaking is not advisable and I can understand you would say it seems to be at S5 level
stefanve said:
Not sure if you looked at the images attached to the post. but keep in mind that XDA is heavily compressing the images. so pixel peaking is not advisable and I can understand you would say it seems to be at S5 level
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I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
WarVic said:
I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
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Not saying or thinking you are an idiot, just checking
Funny how different people see different things looking at the same image. That being said if the main reason of this phone is to have a great camera than indeed it's disappointing and it's better to get a RX100V or what ever and a mid range phone for the same money. I guess no phone is worth 1200 it is way to much for any phone and perhaps especially for a android as the long term support is non existing.
I just have fun snapping with it and i am pleased with the output (considering that it is a phone
Noticed gaming performance is dropping, guess I've installed something....
Playing COD, every 10 odd seconds it shows, then goes back to normal.
Notice this in other games to, even silly idle games that should be pulling no demand. One of them even said, drop to low performance mode, your phone is struggling. WTF!
My previous phone, one lower chip model and g card model never had any problems.
Must be done software conflicts, but dunno how to find them
Am I the only one who doesn't see what's wrong with the pictures that have been posted?
They are perfectly fine. But if you are used to processed photos from Samsung, Google or Apple you might not like the look as these are basically not altered by some algorithm.
Burst shot of me Pooch : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=18Os3AQ2j0TuqaFjJ6c9h-TvFGr2zyIk1
WarVic said:
I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
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This guy is not an idiot either
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zevK7xMsYdA&feature=youtu.be
---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 AM ----------
I think the standard photo App is still a work in progress - a rushed unfinished bolt on that is likely to be improved over the next few updates - they wanted to get this phone to market before they lost the window - understandable
I expect improvements and will wait a few months to see if they materialise before I make a purchase
we need to remember what they are pushing in this phone - the Pro Camera availability and I am loving the idea, a new concept in the market
Think of it this way, what if they never included the standard photo app at all and just improved the auto functions of the pro app, that may have been their intention during development but decided to throw in the standard app last minute - you can't please everyone all at once
Geoffxx said:
This guy is not an idiot either
&feature=youtu.be
---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 AM ----------
I think the standard photo App is still a work in progress - a rushed unfinished bolt on that is likely to be improved over the next few updates - they wanted to get this phone to market before they lost the window - understandable
I expect improvements and will wait a few months to see if they materialise before I make a purchase
we need to remember what they are pushing in this phone - the Pro Camera availability and I am loving the idea, a new concept in the market
Think of it this way, what if they never included the standard photo app at all and just improved the auto functions of the pro app, that may have been their intention during development but decided to throw in the standard app last minute - you can't please everyone all at once
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You can't use someone on the Xperia YouTube channel to counter the comment from someone criticising the quality as it'll just be massively biased towards Sony lol
If it's like the Xperia 1 you'll be waiting forever for the improvements to come so I wouldn't hang around.