[Q] Taking a still image seems to be impossible...

[Q] Taking a still image seems to be impossible... - Omnia 7 General

Has anyone else noticed that no matter how still you hold the phone, it still seems to blur the image?
It takes a tremendous amount of stability and light, despite the settings, to take a decent photo.
It's really getting on my nerves that I have to discard 9/10 images took with the phone when any other phone camera I have used before took pictures perfectly, no matter what settings were selected or how much the phone was shaking...
I take a lot of photos with my phone and this is really putting me off.

try activating the anti-shakiing feature when taking photos, it helps a little

That doesn't really help enough.
I just hope it's a software problem, maybe the exposure time is too long.

Nope, I've managed to be able to take good photos, but i agree, takes abit of effort. It's all in the technique imo

actually i find it a lot better than most cameras on phones. ive got quite a shaky hand but id say im keeping more photos than im deleting. compared to the camera phones ive used (with various O/Ss) id say the omnia7 is up there with the best of em.

Maybe I've got shaky hands recently :s
My last phone was a nexus one and that did a perfect job for me.
I guess I'll get used to it.

Related

MKBHD chose our Device M8 his favorite phone of 2014

Smartphone Awards: 2014!: http://youtu.be/f6pPIG3EvAs
Yasssss

Legit.

Awesome. This phone rocks and Lollipop makes it even better.

Yeah I noticed this morning too!
Very cool. Analyzing every aspect, it's hard to disagree as it being the all around best phone. It really is solid - because even the camera, which is often pooh-poohed outside of these forums, has its strengths and is generally very serviceable all around, especially considering the amount you can adjust. The camera is arguably the weakest point because every other characteristic of this phone is above average, if not best-in-class.
Woot woot.

alias3800 said:
because even the camera, which is often pooh-poohed outside of these forums, has its strengths and is generally very serviceable all around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THe only reason the camera isn't poo-poo'd ON the forums is because anyone who says anything bad about it is immediately screamed at by a team of fanatics.
It's a great phone with the worst camera in a flagship phone of the past 3 years at least.

thebobmannh said:
THe only reason the camera isn't poo-poo'd ON the forums is because anyone who says anything bad about it is immediately screamed at by a team of fanatics.
It's a great phone with the worst camera in a flagship phone of the past 3 years at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It still takes MUCH better shots than my friend's LG G3.
I've tested it in person, and I don't give a darn if any biased reviewer says otherwise based on the numbers in the megapixel count.

Rouz. said:
It still takes MUCH better shots than my friend's LG G3.
I've tested it in person, and I don't give a darn if any biased reviewer says otherwise based on the numbers in the megapixel count.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sigh. I appreciate you attempting to prove my point, but I really didn't say that just to start ANOTHER thread where everyone defends the camera and insists it's just "bias" that makes every single reviewer and reasonable person diss the camera. I just wanted to point out that there are plenty of owners of M8's who are disappointed in teh camera but have been cowed into keeping our traps shut.

thebobmannh said:
THe only reason the camera isn't poo-poo'd ON the forums is because anyone who says anything bad about it is immediately screamed at by a team of fanatics.
It's a great phone with the worst camera in a flagship phone of the past 3 years at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be completely honest, I just don't see it as THAT terrible. Especially not in lowlight. I've had the iPhone 6 and 6+ and just about every Android phone. The biggest thing missing is detail; you can't zoom in worth a goddamn. And, I usually run my photos through snapseed for a quick editing of at least the color profile and the contrast. So, maybe I'm just being lenient because I'm not really one to just point and shoot and send. I crop, edit, etc. before doing anything with photos, regardless of the phone.
And I get that you don't like it but - the worst of any flagship in the past three years? There's probably a list of ten flagships in the past 3 years that are worse than this. Not to mention, at least you can manually control shots with this camera. Typically tuning down EV will control the blowing out of highlights (or not target-focusing, as I've read here in the forums). Lowering ISO for night shots is necessary at times too. But anyways.. Not the best dynamic range and detail but, you can get it to produce. And rather quickly too. I feel like this is the fastest flagship available. Hopefully lollipop doesn't bog it down with unnecessary transitions and animations.

alias3800 said:
To be completely honest, I just don't see it as THAT terrible. Especially not in lowlight. I've had the iPhone 6 and 6+ and just about every Android phone. The biggest thing missing is detail; you can't zoom in worth a goddamn. And, I usually run my photos through snapseed for a quick editing of at least the color profile and the contrast. So, maybe I'm just being lenient because I'm not really one to just point and shoot and send. I crop, edit, etc. before doing anything with photos, regardless of the phone.
And I get that you don't like it but - the worst of any flagship in the past three years? There's probably a list of ten flagships in the past 3 years that are worse than this. Not to mention, at least you can manually control shots with this camera. Typically tuning down EV will control the blowing out of highlights (or not target-focusing, as I've read here in the forums). Lowering ISO for night shots is necessary at times too. But anyways.. Not the best dynamic range and detail but, you can get it to produce. And rather quickly too. I feel like this is the fastest flagship available. Hopefully lollipop doesn't bog it down with unnecessary transitions and animations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's absolutely not terrible, it's just not good, and is by far the worst thing about the phone for me.
"Worst in the past 3 years" is admittedly hyperbole as I obviously don't have access to every flagship of the past three years, and I"m sure SOMEONE has effed up worse somewhere, but it's the worst I've used since probably my iPHone 3. There may be ways to make it better with playing with settings, but as a daily driver "camera always in my pocket" it's the worst I've used in many years. If I wanted a DSLR that I had to meticulously to set up a shot with, I'd carry one. It's a camera phone, it should compromise some of the customization for quick and decent photos in most situations.

thebobmannh said:
It's absolutely not terrible, it's just not good, and is by far the worst thing about the phone for me.
"Worst in the past 3 years" is admittedly hyperbole as I obviously don't have access to every flagship of the past three years, and I"m sure SOMEONE has effed up worse somewhere, but it's the worst I've used since probably my iPHone 3. There may be ways to make it better with playing with settings, but as a daily driver "camera always in my pocket" it's the worst I've used in many years. If I wanted a DSLR that I had to meticulously to set up a shot with, I'd carry one. It's a camera phone, it should compromise some of the customization for quick and decent photos in most situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'll agree with that. It definitely is the weakest point for the phone.
I'm also less critical of it now because I bought it during HTC's sale a few weeks ago. But nevertheless.. The nifty gallery and the fast shooting help me get by. But I would much rather have to wait an extra second for the shot and have it be better than have to always be editing. But.. Hopefully the m9 will improve upon it, and lots.

thebobmannh said:
It's absolutely not terrible, it's just not good, and is by far the worst thing about the phone for me.
"Worst in the past 3 years" is admittedly hyperbole as I obviously don't have access to every flagship of the past three years, and I"m sure SOMEONE has effed up worse somewhere, but it's the worst I've used since probably my iPHone 3. There may be ways to make it better with playing with settings, but as a daily driver "camera always in my pocket" it's the worst I've used in many years. If I wanted a DSLR that I had to meticulously to set up a shot with, I'd carry one. It's a camera phone, it should compromise some of the customization for quick and decent photos in most situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a phone with a camera not a camera phone, cameras don't come with phones built in lol...

manup456 said:
It's a phone with a camera not a camera phone, cameras don't come with phones built in lol...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A "cell phone" isn't a cell with a phone on it, it's a phone that uses cellular technology. A "smart phone" isn't a smart that has a phone on it, it's a phone that has smarts. A camera phone isn't a camera with a phone on it, it's a phone that has a camera on it.

Have we all come back to the cementary to un earth the urn of horse dust that was not made from incineration but from the repeated beating of over and over again with the whole camera thing?

NJGSII said:
Have we all come back to the cementary to un earth the urn of horse dust that was not made from incineration but from the repeated beating of over and over again with the whole camera thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speaking of unearthing, I'm came extremely close to soiling myself when I read this.

Advanced Calling update fixed camera lag for me

At first I thought I was dreaming but sure enough since the update the shutter lag is almost gone. It was a 230MB update, it seems like they updated a lot of stuff. Also my battery life is much better since the update from what I've seen.
Great stuff.

Mine seems better as well. My battery doesn't drop from 100 to 99 in the 1st 10 seconds anymore either lol

Seems about the same

cyberr8der said:
Mine seems better as well. My battery doesn't drop from 100 to 99 in the 1st 10 seconds anymore either lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera seems the same to me, I didn't have complaints before though. I think the reason it drops to 99 right away is because the phone charges to 100% then charging turns off and starts charging again at 99%, so you may have just unplugged at a more opportune moment.

Camera still lags massively for the front facing camera

Not seeing much of an improvement on camera lag here... Still pretty terrible.

Still lags and sucks. lol

I definitely got better battery and rear camera is a little better.. Front facing still sucks

rx2mazda said:
Still lags and sucks. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Took great pics for me today...
Maybe its the user that sucks
PS--Let it focus first!

cold21blooded said:
I definitely got better battery and rear camera is a little better.. Front facing still sucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most FFCs suck.

adrynalyne said:
Took great pics for me today...
Maybe its the user that sucks
PS--Let it focus first!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realize what everyone is saying sucks is the very thing you say in your "p.s", right?
The fact you do have to wait so long before it focuses and takes a picture is what sucks about it. Any decent smartphone doesn't come close with how long this camera takes.

I tap it, it focuses, it takes the shot.
I must be missing the problem here.
I'm aware it has a slow shutter but that doesn't make it suck. It means I need to use it differently until they fix it.
It could be worse. It could take pics uber fast and never truly focus, ala gnex. There was no fixing that garbage camera.
This all reminds me of my wife. She has always taken my hand me downs. She wanted my Note 2, because it took great pics.
Then she got it and they sucked. Then she wanted my Note 3 because it took great pics. Then she said something was wrong because her camera shots came out bad.
Then she got a Note 4 because of the camera. She complains about the pics again. We went on a trip yesterday and both snapped pics. She doesn't understand why my Turbo pics look so much better.
I have a secret weapon: I let it focus. Too many people take pics on their phones and are too impatient to even let them properly focus.

adrynalyne said:
I tap it, it focuses, it takes the shot.
I must be missing the problem here.
I'm aware it has a slow shutter but that doesn't make it suck. It means I need to use it differently until they fix it.
It could be worse. It could take pics uber fast and never truly focus, ala gnex. There was no fixing that garbage camera.
This all reminds me of my wife. She has always taken my hand me downs. She wanted my Note 2, because it took great pics.
Then she got it and they sucked. Then she wanted my Note 3 because it took great pics. Then she said something was wrong because her camera shots came out bad.
Then she got a Note 4 because of the camera. She complains about the pics again. We went on a trip yesterday and both snapped pics. She doesn't understand why my Turbo pics look so much better.
I have a secret weapon: I let it focus. Too many people take pics on their phones and are too impatient to even let them properly focus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the very problem for some of us - we don't have time to let it focus before we miss the shot we want. I have an 18 month old, if I can't capture something the split second it happens, the moment is gone. My S4 focused much quicker, and I've played around some with the G2 and G3, both of which are also faster. Don't get me wrong, the Turbo bests all of those phones in the categories that matter more to me, focusing and shutter speed (or lack thereof) is this phone's one flaw in my opinion. Both of which I really hope can be fixed with software tweaks. No reason this phone's HP shouldn't allow improvements there.

I definitely noticed an improvement in the front camera, even before I read any comments on here.

sdsurferbob said:
That's the very problem for some of us - we don't have time to let it focus before we miss the shot we want. I have an 18 month old, if I can't capture something the split second it happens, the moment is gone. My S4 focused much quicker, and I've played around some with the G2 and G3, both of which are also faster. Don't get me wrong, the Turbo bests all of those phones in the categories that matter more to me, focusing and shutter speed (or lack thereof) is this phone's one flaw in my opinion. Both of which I really hope can be fixed with software tweaks. No reason this phone's HP shouldn't allow improvements there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A phone camera has never been good for instant action though if you don't anticupate. They don't have the hardware for it imo. Ive seen people with ois make blurry shots snd blame the device.
Ive always learned to antcipate for good shots on a phone and is worked out pretty well. I'm sure the software will get improved. Last years motos had camera woes too that were largely addressed by software updates.

adrynalyne said:
A phone camera has never been good for instant action though if you don't anticupate. They don't have the hardware for it imo. Ive seen people with ois make blurry shots snd blame the device.
Ive always learned to antcipate for good shots on a phone and is worked out pretty well. I'm sure the software will get improved. Last years motos had camera woes too that were largely addressed by software updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You keep missing the point here... the point those of us complaining is there are several phone's that exist today, many of which are generations behind the turbo that take pictures much faster than the turbo does (my GS3 and GS4 sdsurferbob mentioned being perfect examples).
Listen, I love my Turbo and have no regrets for choosing it, it's just super disappointing and almost inexcusable for any feature of a "flagship" to be worse than phones 3+ years old.

timofcourse said:
You keep missing the point here... the point those of us complaining is there are several phone's that exist today, many of which are generations behind the turbo that take pictures much faster than the turbo does (my GS3 and GS4 sdsurferbob mentioned being perfect examples).
Listen, I love my Turbo and have no regrets for choosing it, it's just super disappointing and almost inexcusable for any feature of a "flagship" to be worse than phones 3+ years old.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you missed my point. Im aware of the shortcomings but no amount of stating this will fix the problem. We as users can adjust until then, however.
Im aware of phones that snap better pics, because ive owned them. However somehow i take better pics with my turbo than my wife with her note 4. The only variable is the user right? Ive learned to overcome. We CAN take good pics. Or we can tell everyone the camera sucks and just suffer because we don't want to take the time to do better. I chose the prior and I get great pics.
I'll be happy when moto fixes the camera, but until then I will adapt.

Got my Moto Maxx today and I was expecting the camera to be very slow, and its way faster than what I've seen on some reviews. Still not as fast as it should be but I'm confindent Lollipop will solve all camera problems.

Lower the resolution and it takes them even faster.

It's a phone with a camera to me. If I'm going to an event and pics are important I have a camera to bring. If I need one spur of the moment this camera works fine for me. Just my opinion.

Same phone different camera pictures??

Hi everyone! I am having problems with my note 3. I recently purchased a refurbished samsung note 3 from the o2 website which arrived acouple of weeks ago and noticed my camera looks grainy colours look watered down compared to my mums samsung note 3. Here are afew pics taken on default settings on both stock cameras in the same conditions. The only difference is shes running kitkat 4.4.2 and i am runninf lollypop 5.0, but this was the case before i upgraded, infact i upgraded to see if it would change but its still the same.
This is the second refurbished phone I have got from o2 as the previous one had bad vertical lines in low light conditions TRUST ME it was bad. One thing I would like to say is when moving around with my mums note 3 camera, the picture looks so smooth while mine looks very grainy. Does this phone need to go back? Because I cant imagine the same phone on the same settings could produce the opposite photos.

It's hard to say without knowing exactly what rom version you're both running... and double check both camera settings. Default isn't enough to insure they are setup the same.
Also check to see if there is any screen protector on your camera lens (some shops put that there)... is it clean or any grease/smudge, etc (thought that wouldn't account for the graininess). Graininess occurs when ISO gets pumped up higher. Usually with low lighting, but check to see where ISO is set to.
If all those things still don't check out... then maybe getting a refurbished phone isn't the best way to go (or at least from this o2 place). Good luck!

cyberboob said:
It's hard to say without knowing exactly what rom version you're both running... and double check both camera settings. Default isn't enough to insure they are setup the same.
Also check to see if there is any screen protector on your camera lens (some shops put that there)... is it clean or any grease/smudge, etc (thought that wouldn't account for the graininess). Graininess occurs when ISO gets pumped up higher. Usually with low lighting, but check to see where ISO is set to.
If all those things still don't check out... then maybe getting a refurbished phone isn't the best way to go (or at least from this o2 place). Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both iso on each phones were set to auto and i have checked the lens and it looks flawless, so i am guessing this phone will have to go back?

You know what... I think it's android 5.0 issue. I updated my phone to it too... and camera now also takes more grainy, not as sharp pics. That sucks. So something is up with that.
Maybe go back to 4.4.2 -- that probably resolves the issue.
I tried with another camera app (better camera) and same results.

I did notice a change actually when upgrading to lollipop, the camera looks over-sharpened sometimes and lack detail, lots of noise... Is this a thing?
Also, battery life isn't that amazing before and after buying a new battery for the phone, barely lasts me a 9 hour school day with medium to high usage, no gaming.
Is this just lollipop being weird? I flashed mine via Odin from an Italian version of the Note 3 but the bands are basically the same, no problems getting 4G, H+, 3G or 2G.

I read somewhere there was a camera mod on some rom... that gave the full camera pic, not compressed. So maybe Lollipop is now compressing the images more, which will give more lossy images. Will try look more into that, but 5.1 should be coming out for more devices (soon I hope)... suppose to fix some mem leak issues and others.
This is where I read about the compression: It's a camera mod. Maybe can try it ^^ http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...camera-mod-note-3-n9005-lollipop-5-0-t3067827

Well i gave my phone to o2 repair and they said that they could not find a fault with the camera lol So I am out of ideas here. All i know is the difference between the two cameras are nite and day and i am not happy.

As I said, can give the mod camera a try and see if it's better. I haven't tested it yet - will get around to it on weekend.
But from a lot of bug reports and boards across the web... Lollipop upgrade has made the camera worse - so some coding is at fault. Hopefully it's fixed with next update (5.1 rolling out soon).

Guys is there any code or any way to check whether we got original camera or replacement parts from eBay? Because I am also not happy with my note 3 camera.

Z5C common issues

so guys i`m an owner of z3c a great phone but lacks the build quality and terrible camera...since i broke the screen i`m planing to jump to
samsung galaxy s6 its a premium tbh but i hate samsung.......or z5c both are same price to me....
so i`ve been following the post of Z5c on sony.talk.....and the amount of defected units is way too high..... them blurry images and rarely dead pixles but its more like 7 out of 10 with defected lens .....is it worth it to take the risk and get the z5c? or is there any more bugs found on this phone hope we can discuss it here even though i dont believe the camera is that great even if the phone is not defected

I'll just post my issues with the Z5 Compact:
- Auto-brightness is broken, unlocking the phone with enabled auto-brightness results in a bright display for a couple of seconds --> Sony said that it'll be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update
- Lags and inconsistent performance, disabling X-Reality helped a bit. It just doesn't feel like a fast phone, my old HTC One M8 was flying through the system. My brother has a Nexus 6p with the same processor and it feels much smoother, we compared them side by side (opening apps, loading websites).
- Music and Podcasts from different apps (Spotify, Shuttle+, Pocketcasts) are pausing every now and then (already repaired the phone with PC companion and did a manual factory reset, reformatted my external SD card)
- slow camera launch
- it takes a while to look at a taken picture
- active mobile radio bug --> will be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update, other Marshmallow phones confirmed that
- slow connection to wifi networks (exclamation mark in the statusbar)
- many bloatware apps from Sony (luckily they can be disabled)
Overall im quite disappointed by this phone because of its lackluster firmware performance. I'm hoping Marshmallow fixes the most annoxing bugs (broken auto-brightness is a pain), if not I'm selling it. I like the slim UI, the design of this phone and the camera. My photos are thankfully not blurred.

I've got Z1c, Z5c and S6. If you love small size, Z5c is the only option. The current problem is software not mature, not to the level you can't real use it as a daily driver but enough to annoy you. We are waiting for MM to fix. Me and my friend both owned Z5c and our lens no blur.
S6 two big issues, other than that it's good. First is poor memory management during heavy multi-tasking(light use okay) and second thing is bad color reproduction(over saturation and too much contrast, auto exposure isn't as accurate) compared to Z1c/Z5c. But I know Z3c white balance is quite buggy even worse than Z1/Z2 line.
I always take photo so camera is most important to me and I tend to stick with Z1c/Z5c and going to sell out my S6 soon. But S6 camera is extremely quick and OIS is useful, for the point and shoot purpose no doubt better than Sony but I just can't use it to shoot out any decent photo though S6 camera got little more details but color is too wrong. Casual user may more welcome S6 camera bcoz they just want speedy.
The current problem on Z5 camera is high ISO bad and 4K focus/quality at low-light even worse than my Z1c. But the focus is decent, slightly slower than S6 but blows Z1c/Z3c. Color and exposure is improved too, I'll say the best I've ever seen. However, if the upcoming MM not fix all issues, I'm thinking to stick with Z1c for a little bit more time and wait Z6c/Z7c.

To be honest I expected the z5c to suck when I bought it.
Marshmallow wasn't out yet and to me, it looks like the best strategy for sony would be to release ****ty software because MM update would come soon anyway.
Unfortunately, I'm very dissapointed, I agree that the phone is laggy and tend to get way too hot. Batterylife is worse than Z3C. (I could easily last two days, one day is even an issue on this phone) The MM update should have hit the Z5 family end December at latest.
I still have hopes for MM, if you could wait three weeks I would, let's see how it works out. (but somewhere it already feels like I'm going to get dissapointed, I had such high hopes for Sony but I feel betrayed by them)

30min Wifi Skype call, temperature reached: 50°C.
So consider also that in some situations the phone overheats easily

Wait to see if mm fixes the problems. I went from z3c to z5c. Not very happy. So my tip is to wait for some weeks

KingKonga said:
I'll just post my issues with the Z5 Compact:
- Auto-brightness is broken, unlocking the phone with enabled auto-brightness results in a bright display for a couple of seconds --> Sony said that it'll be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update
- Lags and inconsistent performance, disabling X-Reality helped a bit. It just doesn't feel like a fast phone, my old HTC One M8 was flying through the system. My brother has a Nexus 6p with the same processor and it feels much smoother, we compared them side by side (opening apps, loading websites).
- Music and Podcasts from different apps (Spotify, Shuttle+, Pocketcasts) are pausing every now and then (already repaired the phone with PC companion and did a manual factory reset, reformatted my external SD card)
- slow camera launch
- it takes a while to look at a taken picture
- active mobile radio bug --> will be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update, other Marshmallow phones confirmed that
- slow connection to wifi networks (exclamation mark in the statusbar)
- many bloatware apps from Sony (luckily they can be disabled)
Overall im quite disappointed by this phone because of its lackluster firmware performance. I'm hoping Marshmallow fixes the most annoxing bugs (broken auto-brightness is a pain), if not I'm selling it. I like the slim UI, the design of this phone and the camera. My photos are thankfully not blurred.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From reading the forums it seems to me that the quality of the z5c handsets Sony has put out is pretty uneven, from poor quality control, different build lines, different rev versions or...?
I'm overall happy, no issues of lags, reboots or the like.
Keep mobile data off almost always so not affected by active mobile radio bug, which is really an Android issue more than a Sony issue if I understand it correctly.
No issues with music or podcasts, listen to pods a lot.
No issues with overheating, it does get quite warm occasionally with heavy use but nothing really bothersome. (I don't play games or shoot video.)
Generally happy with camera, no blur issues, no slow launch issues, though watching pictures/launching album from within camera is really slow. I'm not a keen photographer or a very exigent user of the camera, understand from others there are issues of software limiting the hardware. Definitely could do better in low light.
Agree on the bloatware, have disabled most and wish more was possible. Then again, compared to Samsung or most other manufacturers...
So the issues I have are:
- auto brightness bug, common to all z5 and acknowledged by Sony a long time ago. Disappointing it takes months to issue an upgrade or patch.
- wifi management is confusing. Without Stamina mode wifi keeps turning off in standby/sleep, though I have it set to always keep on. With Stamina mode it stays conected?? Seems counterintuitive. Also occasionally it keeps turning off even then, can't understand why?
- I want to keep wifi always on when connected to a known network, off when no network. Previously Sony had a bundled app, Location based wifi, which took care of it and worked really well. Disappointed they no longer include it, after trying several third party apps I believe I have found one that works.
- battery capacity is ok, not great, but only(?) without mobile data on. Regularly get 6+ hours on screen time which isn't bad, more would be better.
- finger print sensor works poorly and irregularly. Apart from not working if fingers are dirty or damp, which is ok and expected, it works poorly in general. I have five fingers saved, it works well with one of them in certain angles, less so with another finger and very poorly on others. Frustratingly, when I press lock key only to look at time without wanting to unlock it often does just that, more frequently than when i do want to unlock.
Size, ergonomics, hardware quality, waterproof certifications - I'm real happy and see few if any competitors on the market. Software could be better and updates much more frequent, but apart from above mentioned issues my phone is quick and snappy, no lags. Pleased with the general UI, but wish more customization was possible and more bloatware was optional or uninstallable.

Regarding poor performance of fingerprint sensor it seems, thanks to michal89chz, that I have found a solution. I had tried to re-register fingerprints before without seeing much of a difference. It seems that registering a fingerprint in all kinds of different angles greatly improves the performance of the sensor, now hit rate has gone up from 4/10 to 9/10. If it keeps up take that off the list of complaints. Though Sony ought to have made it clear in the settings when you first register your prints that this procedure is necessary for a good performance.

Heres my take.
The camera is better than z3c when ready but takes so long to launch that the moment is usually gone long before the phone is ready.
Oh and from time to time the camera won't launch because according to the error message some other app is using it. I've only been able to solve that issue by rebooting adding insult to injury for the already ridiculous camera launch times.
Thats really the only advantage.
It gets way hotter and lags like crazy seemingly at random.
My guess is that Snapdragon 810 is just a piece of **** and I hope Sony makes a z6c with 820 which i will happily buy..
I'm so frustrated that Samsung S7 starts to look good but it's bigger than the HTC One m7 and I found that too big

FlipFlopHHJ said:
Heres my take.
The camera is better than z3c when ready but takes so long to launch that the moment is usually gone long before the phone is ready.
Oh and from time to time the camera won't launch because according to the error message some other app is using it. I've only been able to solve that issue by rebooting adding insult to injury for the already ridiculous camera launch times.
Thats really the only advantage.
It gets way hotter and lags like crazy seemingly at random.
My guess is that Snapdragon 810 is just a piece of **** and I hope Sony makes a z6c with 820 which i will happily buy..
I'm so frustrated that Samsung S7 starts to look good but it's bigger than the HTC One m7 and I found that too big
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Xperia X Performance

About that auto brightness bug, you guys could try Velis Auto Brightness app from Play Store, works great for me.

- Auto Brightness bug here. (I can't believe I'm using Manual Brightness in a 2015 hi-end phone).
- Poor picture quality with the camera with low or medium light and with close/mid pictures, specially close-ups. (In general, the camera is terrible is the worst thing of this phone, the main reason I can't wait to upgrade the phone. Never used flash in two years with my previous phone with HDR+, now I need flash again to see some details at MEDIUM light!!).
- Performance issues, mainly because of Lollipop. But also they'll need to improve the kernel.
----
I do not have any reboots issues, nor temperature problems.

thanks a lot everyone on your replies i`v read it carefully thanks for helping me to decide <3
after today MWC and the the release of X series and the overpriced phones i think its time to step aside from sony but my heart will always be there Thanks for sharing your experience and being 100% honest
i`ll wait till M.M but its also gonna take few weeks according to sony statement today then i`ll come back here and check your feedback it will help everyone

Tinup93 said:
thanks a lot everyone on your replies i`v read it carefully thanks for helping me to decide <3
after today MWC and the the release of X series and the overpriced phones i think its time to step aside from sony but my heart will always be there Thanks for sharing your experience and being 100% honest
i`ll wait till M.M but its also gonna take few weeks according to sony statement today then i`ll come back here and check your feedback it will help everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are going for a Galaxy S6, I'd rather go for a Nexus 5X. You won't have the size and the battery you have with the Z3C....but in everything else is a win. And it's not an expensive phone.
There are no alternatives to the Z5C at the moment in the compact range. It's the only one I'd buy (and I still don't like it).

I don't have lag or overheating. It's quite hot sometimes but still in a manageable level, don't forget every SD810 phone is hot. But I rooted and using Greenify with xposed so I have more free ram than non-root user and I also flashed Tommy-Geenexus's kernel which lower downed the cpu speed to reduce heat. I think MM will improve big.Little cpu for who experienced lag. In my opinions, z1c z5c s6 the battery performance during use is very similar, not as good as z3c but still enough for normal use. My problem on Z5c is battery drain during idle/standby, after flashed the raidoactivefix xposed module been improved but still worse than z1c and s6 at overnight standby.
Some have bluetooth disconnect issues, after used Amplify xposed module to limit a whole beach of wakelock/alarms my Sony MW600 handfree finally suffer from this issue so it may related somethings bad coded to keep DDOS attacking BT devices....lol... On the other hand, my Sony SmartWatch2 seems never get disconnection, maybe smartwatch's cpu is strong enough to defense spam.
What's the most annoyed me is camera. Low light photo is also good but not above 160/200iso range. 200iso already started a bit bad so most people will just said the camera suck. Within 160iso the quality real better than my Z1c, 200 or up my Z1c even performed better in terms of details. My Z1c with 4K mod doing better focus and quality too.
Not real intended to leave Z5c as I like the better screen, white balance and fast focus, I still want to hold Z5c at this time. But since the result is so mixed to me, if MM not fix it, I will stay with Z1c and get some cash back.

I've seen a few issues as well, I've got a white international with no camera blur and no self cracking screen (yet).
I have to have a one thumb phone so my options were limited. I had an s4 mini for going on 3 years, best phone I've ever had. I always wanted to try the z compacts but the z1c didn't have LTE and the z3c had stupid side charging. I gave the z5c a chance with low expectations based on all the negative I heard, and I was still disappointed lol. I will probably be settling with the s5 mini but until I'll be playing with this.
Very short battery life, no replaceable battery, and no wireless charging. Nothing that I didn't know jumping into it but still hard to deal with having to answer calls while on a charger, let alone the heat on my face is almost unbearable at times.
Camera issues are also something I knew before hand, I am coming from an 8mp camera with a broken lens so it's an upgrade to me. But yet the lag has got to be a joke. Right?
Software is kind of cool, reminds me of miui a bit on the notifications, it's miles above touchwiz, and with some xposed tweaks I think I'll really like the home launcher! Root and xposed are a huge deal to me for some of my apps so I'm still carrying my other device for that need while I figure out xposed on the z5 line. I have had a lot of rooted phones and for you guys waiting and relying on a MM update to fix things... I wouldn't and wont be, there will just be new or slightly fixed issues. Happens every time lol
All in all I like the phone, the form is great, button layout I love, and the screen hopefully will not fade out like my other amoleds! Hopefully we can get some cm12 on this platform to play with soon.

E5823 said:
Regarding poor performance of fingerprint sensor it seems, thanks to michal89chz, that I have found a solution. I had tried to re-register fingerprints before without seeing much of a difference. It seems that registering a fingerprint in all kinds of different angles greatly improves the performance of the sensor, now hit rate has gone up from 4/10 to 9/10. If it keeps up take that off the list of complaints. Though Sony ought to have made it clear in the settings when you first register your prints that this procedure is necessary for a good performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hate quoting myself, but when necessary...
Fingerprint sensor has not kept up performance. Just like when phone was new, it works like a charm for a day or two, then regresses badly. I don't know if problem is hardware or software, and don't much care except I guess the latter would be better - if they ever manage to release an update (that actually improves things without introducing more bugs than were fixed...).
Anyway, the sensor now works slightly better than before I re-registered all prints a couple of days ago. Hit rate is somewhere between 5-6/10 depending on angle and finger, but sometimes much worse. Not great. And no, phone or fingers are not grimy. One advantage of water-almost-proofness is you can wash off phone now and again. I'm guessing intent of including fingerprint sensor was not for user to wash fingers and phone before every interaction?

I sorta like that the fingerprint sensor doesn't catch 100% touches because I read about people who were irritated that they were just trying to check the time and every time ended up unlocking the phone. It doesn't happen with me and I'm very happy with it, I can live with the extra half second it takes to try again.

From my point of view, i'd like to agree that some of issues mentioned above are present. Those are:
-Poor camera quality. For me the camera is not an essential feature, so i don't complain, but it is really nowhere near the flagship-quality, imho
-Fingerprint scanner performance. It seems to be extremely sensitive about its own and finger's cleanness. It can work just fine for a half a day and then it suddenly rejects the fingerprint for several times. This is my first and only android-based device with the scanner, so i can't compare with sony's direct competitors, but i never experienced such issues using any of apple devices with fingerprint sensor.
-Auto-brightness issues are completely described in posts above, i totally agree with all that.
-Software was unstable for a couple of months after sales launched. As i said, i don't often use a camera, but there was just one time in autumn when it was necessary for me to record a video. And z5c captured no sound at all. The mic that time was not functional at any applications, and i noticed this an hour later when a person who called me could hear no sound from my side. That was extremely disappointing. Some random reboots were present in early versions of firmware too. It get much better and more stable these days, but some minor software issues can still be noticed now and then.
And then here comes the major issue of them all: z5c just doesn't like winter. It was about -10 celsius outside, and i was there for a couple of hours with a phone in the pocket of my jacket. When i returned home, i saw that the glass on rear panel had a massive crack:
http://cs630129.vk.me/v630129131/11b31/QE0b_6WL5dU.jpg
And this issue with glasses cracking when temperature is low is present on every sony's device with glass on its back since the original xperia z. Every winter there are dozens of reports about glass-related problems on our local pda forums, sony's local office was awared of the problem, so there were hopes that they will fix it in their latest models. Here comes z5, and nothing changed. Those issues are covered by warranty as long as warranty lasts (1 year usually), so i didn't have to pay for the repair, but it took some time to replace the glass.

A Month with the Mix

Currently using it with Nova launcher and stock everything else.
The good:
- The awesome monitor to body ratio is still as amazing as it was the first time I see it, especially when game such as Alto's Adventure allows full screen immersion mode.
- Extremely high build quality, not only does the ceramic feel awesome and polished (feels like glass but smoother), the weight that it adds makes the whole phone feel extremely premium.
- Speaker is surprisingly good, and internal amp drives my full sized Audeze EL8 without any issue.
- Quick charge is as useful as expected
- Extremely quick finger print reading
- Some surprisingly good features, for example the notification bar when dragged down includes weather immediately. Also a great feature to have the battery show as a bar on top rather than an icon.
- Very useful alarm clock apps, sure it's not Sleep. But it has the option to only do alarm in all work days. Meaning it automatic turn off for red day public holiday.
The bad:
- Going into full immersion mode can be troublesome for keyboard. You have to hold your phone lower to get used to the keyboard location.
- Not able to change the default search bar in the notification bar, seriously this would have been so awesome if the default is google.
- Listening call still feels weird at times.
- Google play occasionally crash.
Camera:
Below is the album that I have uploaded from daily shots and from a trip. Without edit and with native app.
http://imgur.com/a/R7cIo
One word: Unreliable.
Good:
Very fast focus and exposure adjustment.
Good selection of modes and with internal filter if you are into this sort of things
Fun to use for selfie, there's a scoring system and guessing age/gender which often leads to laughter (but it is surprisingly accurate)
imo very good HDR mode, with only slightly overexposing the high light.
Bad:
occasionally it set pretty poor exposure values (too high shutter and lead to high ISO etc)
Poor sharpness. Could be the over aggressive noise cancelling.
Some lag after pressing shutter
Poor flair control
Colour is a hit or miss, occasionally very bad colour control (you can see it from the airplane flight shot, the sky is no where that blue)
Final words:
How long has it been that you see a phone with something special? Every phone is only slightly better spec, or different size, there's nothing groundbreaking. Smartphone market almost feel boring in the past 2 to 3 years.
Then come this phone, brave enough not only to include a bezeless monitor, but also put in a high end spec with a ceramic build.
if you are looking for something special, right now in the world, there is only this one phone with all these features, at a price tag that is not outrageous.

lyI agree with most of what you're saying. Major exception, for me, is the fingerprint reader: Works fine for an hour or so, then simple stops reading after that. Diagnosis (* # * # 64663 # * # *) reports it's fine. Have restored system, flashed developer ROM (didn't like it) then returned to China stable, with same results. I have not unlocked the BL, and with nougat on the horizon, it appears, for the first time in many years, I won't have a rooted phone boo-hoo).
I updated to China stable 8.0.12.0 just last night. Supposedly camera improvements (among others), so we'll see on that front.
Love the phone, the size is impressive (big/small) and the overall concept.

I'm loving the phone so far. Although it does have one big 'issue' which is the screen flashing red as I lock the phone, but it only seems to happen when the screen has white pixels.
Examples: http://imgur.com/a/jclHi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3C8j1o4-SE
Anybody else able to replicate this problem?
Apart from that problem though, everything is fantastic. Phone is incredibly fast (I have the 4GB model), it held GTA San Andreas, Torque Burnout, CarX Drift AND GTA Vice City all in memory! Seriously impressive stuff. Phone is very snappy, and very large, but it is very easy to get used to, I held and iPhone 4 the other day and I swear it could have fit into my Mix twice!
Camera is okay with the default app, I have since downloaded Snap Camera which makes the pictures much better and has lots more options. However, I'm not really very 'into' taking pictures with my phone, so my advice is probably lost anyway.

Had it close to five weeks now.
I forgot to point this out when I got it, but the finish on this thing is nothing short of predominant! (Nods to Michael Scott fans). But seriously, just wow.
I have been pretty fortunate with all my prior devices. The one fault I can think of, is that my Z1 has a singel bright pixel. Admittedly, my old TyTn did die after being exposed to the harshness of laying on my desk for a month when I brought a burner to the far east. A slap in the face when service said it had water damage (yaahh, from the high humidity we always experience up north ) which they supposedly had pictures of (they didn't). Wanted me to pay for shipping and service fees to return my dud. Needless to say, I swallowed the guys behind the counter whole, and walked outta there not paying a cent, paperweight in hand.
Sure, there have been some tiny misalignments on some devices. Where screen has not been 100% flush with the front, or other parts minutely sticking out. Albeit, these flaws have been too insignificant to warrant a return. Meaning, you would almost need a magnifying glass to spot them.
I say this to convey that I meticulously go over my devices to check for flaws.
The MiX is the first I can honestly say is totally FLAWLESS! Can't stop caressing this jewel. Toss away your stress balls and just hold onto your MiX.
On the software side, 2 minutes of removing crap = happy camper. Speed and stutter free experience only matched by my m8 on custom kernel and lightweight MM rom. Not had a lot of FC's and continuous toasts of stuff failing and whatnot. A+ again.
The camera is not beating current flagships. I don't snap pics at every waking moment, so I find the stock app to perform very satisfactory in all lighting conditions when in manual. I have yet to see a phone cam work optimal in auto anyway. Iso almost always end up too high, on tripods as well. In video recording, I don't have a ton of material yet to compare this and that in different resolutions, but yeah I have seen better. OIS would have been nice I guess. Will be more exciting to get some footage out and about in a few months, when I have scenery that includes more contrasting colours than just black white and grey.
Battery life is awesome. But I think others with a better device history should comment on that besides me.
Only thing I have to counter all this lovin' with, is the ultrasound proximity sensor. This may only be on mine, but often when the screen turns off, after maybe five or ten seconds it has a tendency to come back on. I have to move it away at least 10-15cm away from my head and wait a second or two before putting it against my ear again. After that it stays off. Odd! That can be a bit frustrating actually. Whether it be the sensor or the software making fudge, I don't know (happened on more than one ROM).
Last I'm gonna say for now is that:
Even though my Sharp gave me even more of "no edge on top" feeling, this slabalicious wonder makes me want to bite down on it just to get another tactile (toothtile?) sensation.
Merry X-mas y'all!

i have the exact opposite opinion as the original poster.
the only things i don't like is how heavy it is. no idea how this is a plus or that its heavy makes one think it is better built. you drop this phone on its corner and the screen is going to crack.
i'm also not a fan of the square bar design, if i pick up my nexus 6 which is the same size basically it feels so so much better in my hand.
that being said, i wouldn't trade this phone for ANYTHING else on the market. these are only very samll minor complaings, as well as i very much want an AOSP rom instead of MIUI. i bought this phone for the huge 6.4 inch screen and the screen is unreal. the battery life and speed are also like no phone i've ever had. this thing flies.

I've had the Mix for just about a month now, purchased from an eBay reseller based here in the US. The Mix came factory sealed with CN Stable 8.0.10.0 installed.
I took a few days on the CN ROM to decide that I didn't want that, and then followed @underlines' excellent guide to install TWRP, root with Su and install the EU ROM. I had applied to bootloader unlock when I ordered the phone.
I love this device. I don't think I've been this excited about a smartphone ever, and I have owned lots of them. My only gripe is the camera, which is fine but not as good as the iPhone 7+ or the Google Pixel or the SG 7 Edge. Though Snap Camera app in manual mode provides very good results and better than the stock camera app.
Otherwise my thoughts are as the other posters in this thread, amazing screen, excellent build quality, battery lasts a very long time and did I mention the screen? I think most importantly this feels like the future. Is it perfect? No. Does it include every LTE band? Apparently not. Is it the perfect size for most hands to hold? No. But everyone who sees it asks "what phone is this?". And that includes Samsung, Apple, HTC and Motorola users.
I would recommend installing TWRP and rooting, MIUI is optimized for the Chinese market and many of those optimizations don't make sense in other markets or negatively impact usability.
Cheers
J
Sent from my MIX using XDA Labs

Database Users

welcome