Related
Hi
just bought the bought the Xperia z for£500 everything seems good apart from
the camera the low light shots are terrible far worse than my Xperia t, also when I take pic on low light the screen is really grainy, when outdoors the camera takes decent photos prob on par with my t,
feel abit gutted to pay all that money for the camera to be poor, has anyone else found the camera poor or could I have faulty device? Or have I got to do to something in settings to make photos better
thanks
maka
Read the many other camera / image quality related threads then compare with yours.
Also, this is not the troubleshooting section
Sent from my gorgeous White Xperia Z
Sorry but my experience of the camera is the exact opposite of yours. It's the thing that pleases me most about the phone. Mine only struggles in very very dark rooms like if I take a picture in the room with only the tv on.
Everywhere else, I've been pretty blown away by it. Totally rips my S to shreds. Maybe you timing is poor and your blaming the camera for it. If you look at the pics and videos from the HTC One camera, you'll know what poor means.
Maybe you should switch away from superior auto, sounds like you don't give it enough time to do its thing before hitting the shutter button.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
zodiac100 said:
Sorry but my experience of the camera is the exact opposite of yours. It's the thing that pleases me most about the phone. Mine only struggles in very very dark rooms like if I take a picture in the room with only the tv on.
Everywhere else, I've been pretty blown away by it. Totally rips my S to shreds. Maybe you timing is poor and your blaming the camera for it. If you look at the pics and videos from the HTC One camera, you'll know what poor means.
Maybe you should switch away from superior auto, sounds like you don't give it enough time to do its thing before hitting the shutter button.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this, superior auto needs a second or something to recognize scene... you can try with just hdr or manual settings perhaps
My camera takes decent photos outdoors...
maka12 said:
Hi
just bought the bought the Xperia z for£500 everything seems good apart from
the camera the low light shots are terrible far worse than my Xperia t, also when I take pic on low light the screen is really grainy, when outdoors the camera takes decent photos prob on par with my t,
feel abit gutted to pay all that money for the camera to be poor, has anyone else found the camera poor or could I have faulty device? Or have I got to do to something in settings to make photos better
thanks
maka
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience it's best to avoid using superior auto.
Hi,
- I also received my XZ for £499 + £50 cashback, got it yesterday after an express delivery from Amazon via Citylink after Herpes failed to deliver 3 days after expected with no information from them regarding it just rudeness (they arrived 2 hours after Citylink on Saturday morning, and I, put mildly, told them to get the fudge out).
- After a day playing with my first Droid, and phone since my LG Cookie, I can say that the phone is, as expected, very snappy. No games I played (MC4, Real Racing 3, GTA:III) stuttered at all and the large screen limited how much my hands blocked it out, a big problem on iTouch and iPhone 5's for me.
- The camera easily blows my brother's iPhone 5 out the water, and the front facing camera is excellent, far better then the SIII's. I'd definitely say anything about the screen has been blown out of proportion - compared the SIII and iPhone 5 there wasn't any noticeable contrast differences (on the Fruit Ninja homescreen to make it a fair test) and the screen doesn't get washed out anywhere near as much as people say it does.
- I'm also left handed, and have normal hands, but found the extra size to be helpful more then hindrance. Web browsing on it is excellent, I've found the 5 inches to breathe new life into HD adult videos.
- The loudspeaker wasn't usually muffled, to cover I had to hold it in an unnatural way, and the battery life has been excellent.
- I use stamina mode, and easily went an entire day and a half from full charge with lots of email use, web browsing, using facebook, streaming HD video over youtube and listening to youtube. I did this at the lowest brightness setting, I found that the difference between minimum and maximum isn't as large as on any Retina iDevices.
That's my thoughts on it so far. An excellent phone, and with a better UI then any Samsung's I've briefly used.
iDroid8 said:
Hi,
- I also received my XZ for £499 + £50 cashback, got it yesterday after an express delivery from Amazon via Citylink after Herpes failed to deliver 3 days after expected with no information from them regarding it just rudeness (they arrived 2 hours after Citylink on Saturday morning, and I, put mildly, told them to get the fudge out).
- After a day playing with my first Droid, and phone since my LG Cookie, I can say that the phone is, as expected, very snappy. No games I played (MC4, Real Racing 3, GTA:III) stuttered at all and the large screen limited how much my hands blocked it out, a big problem on iTouch and iPhone 5's for me.
- The camera easily blows my brother's iPhone 5 out the water, and the front facing camera is excellent, far better then the SIII's. I'd definitely say anything about the screen has been blown out of proportion - compared the SIII and iPhone 5 there wasn't any noticeable contrast differences (on the Fruit Ninja homescreen to make it a fair test) and the screen doesn't get washed out anywhere near as much as people say it does.
- I'm also left handed, and have normal hands, but found the extra size to be helpful more then hindrance. Web browsing on it is excellent, I've found the 5 inches to breathe new life into HD adult videos.
- The loudspeaker wasn't usually muffled, to cover I had to hold it in an unnatural way, and the battery life has been excellent.
- I use stamina mode, and easily went an entire day and a half from full charge with lots of email use, web browsing, using facebook, streaming HD video over youtube and listening to youtube. I did this at the lowest brightness setting, I found that the difference between minimum and maximum isn't as large as on any Retina iDevices.
That's my thoughts on it so far. An excellent phone, and with a better UI then any Samsung's I've briefly used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i sign that
i have same experience with my Z tho i havent used any iDevices i can confirm your statement
What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Of all the phones I've had I might just be the best. Battery life is good. I unplugged it 10 hours ago (8:15 am to 18:15) and I'm down to 70% in that time I've sent a few texts, emails, listen to podcast in my car over Bluetooth for half an hour. Taken a few pictures and listened to 20 mins of music. Not bad really. It's been on wifi for most of the day which is less taxing than 3G.
The screen is very sharp and colours are good. The screen looked a bit washed out for the first day or so, but that's because I've been using amoled for the last two years. Anyone thought the same? I'm already used to the new screen now though.
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
The speakers are amazing! Listening to music on this just blows everything else away. Call quality is again a bit hit and miss. I've heard the odd hissing, popping and sometimes the caller sounding muffled, but in fairness the muffle could have been the caller's end.
So far I've not seen the slightest hint of any lag. This phone is very snappy and looking at the used and available RAM, the management looks good. Whenever I've checked there has always been over a gig of RAM free. Why do I keep looking? Because I've come from a Galaxy S3 which was crippled by its measly RAM. This is nothing like that I'm please to say. It looks premium and feels premium too. I can't think of anything else to trump it at the moment. Go get it!
A step forward
MrSteez said:
What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is a Smartphone and not a phablet like the Note 2. If you want a top end Smartphone this is the One to get. Love the screen clarity and music playback. Will be using the my One a lot for music playback. Battery life so far better than I expected. Got through a work day with 60% left. I replaced the standard launcher with Nova and I am much happier now.
Read the stickied thread about reviews to see what users have to say. Mine is on the last page aswell.
Sent via my HTC One using XDA Premium
mwatson said:
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
hamdir said:
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true! optimism, denial on my part maybe maybe?...
My personal verdict: From a scale from 0 to 10 I give a 10000
Superfast, beautiful design, good materials used, best-looking user interface (I even like it more than vanilla android), awesome stereo speakers, perfect screensize for me. Also important is 2GB Ram (1GB is out of date, apps get closed in the background too fast) and LTE...yes, there are some phones also with 2GB Ram and LTE but for me the HTC One is the best one of them, so I chose it as my next phone ^^ Never have been so satisfied by a phone
Screen: In a word, stunning. Once or twice in the past 2 weeks I have almost gone into a daydream like state looking at this thing.
Audio: I have never heard audio of such a quality from any mobile device. It literally makes people ask "what is that". If I had one small complaint, it would be that the lowest volume level is not low enough. The granularity of the incremental volume levels is too coarse. Maybe 24 levels and not just 10-12.
Battery: I have been pleasantly surprised by the battery life. I get through a day fine with it. If you play Real Racer a lot or wish to make a blockbuster movie with the thing then battery will not last as long.
Camera: Superb for a phone. If you wish to print out your shots then you will not be able to get higher resolution images out of it. This is not the job of a camera though. The video and snaps are fantastic I have found. HDR is pretty good also.
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
If you are getting this thing soon... if you have it on order... you will really like it. It just oozes quality. It just feels like a supremely well made piece of hardware. Oh... it looks amazing also.
Ok, they are having some trouble getting this thing out of the factories to the stores... but when they do... people will forget the frustration. It is superb.
Beautiful, lag free, awesome speakers - nuff said.
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Had mine for a week now, I am a heavy user (not games, but lots of music /Internet/twitter /texts.
No lag at all yet.
I have had the nexus 4 and it even beats that and that was quick.
As someone said earlier, this is the nearest to the ios lag free feeling from any android phone. (even ios lags sometimes)
For me the only thing is the camera which I have not made my mind up about yet, I have had some amazing results but also some poor (probably more good than bad though) I need more time with the camera but overall I think it will be acceptable.
I have had a lot of phones and I have to say this is in the top 3 and I think it will be my number 1 but need more time with it before it gains that honour
crawlgsx said:
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is smooth. But lack of smoothness is Google issue as the first version of Butter was better but they changed for some reason. It is also faster than the Note 2.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
This phone marks the end of the race in terms of screen quality. The camera is excellent if you have the time to make a quick couple of adjustments before you shoot. Blinkfeed is a consumer orientated gimmik aimed at users who have never heard of flip board. Lag is a thing of the past. Battery life is about what you expect from a top end smart phone, you'll see the day out with average use.
Speakers are the best of any device yet, just don't expect HiFi. Sense and indeed the initial stock and custom ROMs are very embryonic. I.e. when paranoid android breaks for this device it will open up a whole new world.
From a phone enthusiast who started with a Phillips savvy and one day traded a sony Z for a HTC canary.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
As a One X owner who intended to keep his phone for the full 2 years, I originally didn't have much interest in this phone...but the build quality is striking, and my One X is definitely feeling the limitations of its 1 GB of RAM.
Really looking forward to trying this out when it finally gets released in the US.
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
constructorx said:
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it faster than pure android though?. Looking at N4, that also seems instant & fast imho.
I give it 500 out of 10 it's awesome
Only let down my video recording has hissing on it new phone from 3 coming today
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Scootmien said:
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any lag with live wallpaper?
msterner123 said:
Any lag with live wallpaper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy to report that no, there is no lag on my device with live wallpaper enabled.
Wow! So this phone basically sounds about as amazing as I keep reading online. But the one thing I keep hearing about is the camera.. I'm going from an EVO 4G LTE (so basically a One X)... Is the camera quality going to be better or worse? From what I hear it's hit or miss but on average would you say it's an improvement?
I mean I really only use my camera for Instagram pics so I'm not really expecting 100% professional quality but I just want to make sure it's not a decrease in quality from my phone.
I just want a release date for Sprint now
Isn't this the big Question?
Never have I been so fuzzy about choosing a phone. I have got hold of LG G2 (which got warm, produces antutu scores of louzy 20 000, has aggressive noise reduction on photos and a screen that did not survive a 20 cm droptest after 24 hours - now in repair) and currently a 48 hour old Z1 that produces a little less noise and does not get overly hot dueing captures after the last update, but eats away battery when capturing photos. These new devices. I was actually seriously considering requesting my old xperia S back!
After googling for 12 hours I could not find answers to the following question, so I sent the questions to Sony and are waiting for an answer:
1. Is it a sensor\hardware or a software issue that produces this amount of grain and noize, particulary in the 50% peripheral part of the picture?
I used the perfectly evely lit computer screen matrix to test before and after the update. There is an actual improvement. A macro shot before the update showed marked noize in the periphery. It still does after the latest update, but it is far from as bad! It is still worse than note 3 i suspect.
This makes me inclined to say that the lenses (under macro shots at least) has peripheral distortion. The best optics one always gets when having as few lenses as possible in the objective. I guess there are quite a few in z1 compared to the competition?
2. Some rumour say that different batches of phones are of different quality. Needless to say: this has been the case on some previous massproduced gadgeds, and different fabrics might have different production quality. I have read that low quality items often are sold slightly cheaper on Ebay. So; anyone got some more "evidence" to prove such a suspicion for Z1? If so: what batches should we try to avoid?
krimskram said:
I think this is the big question. Never have I been so fuzzy about choosing a phone. I have got hold of LG G2 (which got warm, produces antutu scores of louzy 20 000, has aggressive noise reduction on photos and a screen that did not survive a 20 cm droptest after 24 hours - now in repair) and currently a 48 hour old Z1 that produces a little less noize after the last update, but eats away battery when capturing photos and occasionally gets so warm that it shuts down the camera app. Crikey! These new devices. I was actually seriously considering requesting my old xperia S back!
After googling for 12 hours I could not find answers to the following, so I sent the questions to Sony and are waiting for an answer:
1. Is it a sensor\hardware or a software issue that produces this amount of grain and noize, particulary in the 50% peripheral part of the picture?
Without uploading any picture: the computer screen matrix is evenly lit and "perfect". A macro shot before the update showed marked noize in the periphery. It still does after the latest update, but it is far from as good. This makes me inclined to say that the lenses (under macro shots at least) has peripheral distortion.
2. Some rumour say that different batches of phones are of different quality. Needless to say: this has been the case on some previous massproduced gadgeds, and different fabrics might have different production quality. I have read that low quality items often are sold slightly cheaper on Ebay. So; anyone got some more "evidence" to prove such a suspicion for Z1? If so: what batches should we try to avoid?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have used a g2 and the z1 quite a bit. The Z1 seems to have better software. I don't care about benchmarks as they all cheat anyway. But the better software definitely makes the z1 feel snappier. I haven't noticed any major difference in apps though. The lg launcher is slow.
The camera on the g2 is OK. It is decent all round and in good light can be stunning. It takes consistently decent shots. The camera on the z1 feels totally broken even with the latest software update. I suspect there must be a hardware fault. I have yet to take a single picture I am happy with in any light conditions and it is useless in low light.
Does anyone else think we have a hardware issue here with the Z1?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
The Jones said:
So I have used a g2 and the z1 quite a bit. The Z1 seems to have better software. I don't care about benchmarks as they all cheat anyway. But the better software definitely makes the z1 feel snappier. I haven't noticed any major difference in apps though. The lg launcher is slow.
The camera on the g2 is OK. It is decent all round and in good light can be stunning. It takes consistently decent shots. The camera on the z1 feels totally broken even with the latest software update. I suspect there must be a hardware fault. I have yet to take a single picture I am happy with in any light conditions and it is useless in low light.
Does anyone else think we have a hardware issue here with the Z1?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well not mine, I also used G2 and now z1. My z1 takes better photo in low light.
Maybe its your z1 only...
Sent from my C6903 using xda app-developers app
marc_ecko28 said:
Well not mine, I also used G2 and now z1. My z1 takes better photo in low light.
Maybe its your z1 only...
Sent from my C6903 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe. I do wonder if I have a faulty unit. It is so poor and shots have no detail, a ton of noise, poor focus.
Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk
That's a real issue of viewpoint. In and by itself the Z1 camera isn't "bad" and the 245 firmware update fixed many issues, such as the purple fringing and the oversharpening. It doesn't however, bring the camera into "amazing" land.
Sony's much-touted DxOMark scores aren't all that cut out. While video pulls the device in second place, after the Nokia 808 and before the iPhone 5s, if you look at images alone it's 6th place, after Nokia, iPhone, and the Samsung Galaxy S4. In terms of clarity, if you neglect autofocus, the iPhone 5, non-S, beats it as well.
That's still great for a phone camera, it's just sad that the much hyped November model, running on excellent hardware, gets beat by the June model from Samsung. If you do a lot of video in good light and shoot only manual then you have a decent camera phone. If you want to go out and replace your point and shoot with this thing on a field trip or vacation, there are six or seven older phones that beat the Z1 in picture quality.
Now, I believe that 99% of those issues are software issues. Technically Sony's approach is sound. The BIONZ processor is one of the best IP on the market in this bracket, the Exmor RS backlit sensor used in the Z1 is also used in the iPhone 5s and RX100, and a powerhouse. So that stuff is there. The mini G-lens has great spatial properties and is one of the best when it comes to luminance. What doesn't seem to work so well is all in the software portion of the equation.
I am not giving up on Sony. I have great hardware, I hope firm- and software will catch up.
Software is something they will change, even though Sony have a bad track record in Software you should have seen the Xperia S, I had it for a few days before I had a refund, software was unbearable with the random reboots. There getting better every time.
I was not very happy with camera until last week but I received latest update and I can't be happier
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I'm still amazed that these threads are popping up. It's like I'm using a completely different product from the rest of you, I swear.
Sure, low-light images can be a little noisy and grainy but guess what; so are ones from my point-and-shoot - there are very few stand-alone cameras in this bracket (around the £150 mark) that are entirely noise free in low light. The noise is far from "terrible" especially with the most recent firmware, and the up-side to it all is that I'm able to take picture in far lower lighting than I've even been able to on a phone before.
Here's the thing: Superior Auto, though now very much improved, still uses an ISO that borders on the insane. In low light, just put the phone on manual (I'd recommend 4:3) and snap away. Less noise and very detailed results. Indeed, the latest firmware means that both 20mp and 8mp manual shots are very respectable in low light.
I was walking around the National Railway Museum in York yesterday, taking pictures with both the QX10 and the Z1 - in many instances, the Z1 was sharper or, at least, just as sharp. And the lighting was poor.
I also did a side-by-side with my old C905 the other day. Until this point, I would've (still) put it up against any smartphone camera on the market (to me, it was Sony's last "great" camera phone). The Z1's 8mp shots were consistently better, with the exception of the Zenon Flash shot.
In response to the OP, however; the G-lens is highly convex. This results in some barreling in the corners of the image and means that the centre will always be ever-so-slightly sharper than the rest of the image (the effect is small, however). Nothing can be done about this - many point and shoot cameras and DSLR's are the same. I've had quite outstanding results from mine.
Sounds like your camera might be better than mine. Maybe what we should to is to compare shots where everyone takes a photo of the same item? I cannot think of anything easier an more available perfectly lit surface than a computer or notepad screen completley white on max luminance.
Anyway, even though my camera has some obvious distortion, it is nothing more or less than what is revealed in the numerous reviews. However - some morons have posted, what seems to be, og DSLR photos on the xperia blog an some other places claiming it to be produced with a Z1. I guess some people live to annoy other people.
Regarding the last awesome cameraphone from Sony I will give xperia S my vote. It did get a lot of pepper but it shined after several updates, and after I realized there was a prefabric screenprotector that were scratched, not my screen. Not using 2 screen protectors did help. The camera on X S excelled i macro shots and were great allround. For most users sony HOWEVER decided to kill the phone with the last update making it slow and less responsive. It lost the premium feel. An obvious sales trix. Sony replied to my question about the slow XS that "It is to be expected as your phone is too slow to effextuvley handle our new update". Well well.
Xperia S had a troublesome birth and death. For most of the time it shined. I hope this is what we are experiencing with the Z1.
krimskram said:
Sounds like your camera might be better than mine. Maybe what we should to is to compare shots where everyone takes a photo of the same item? I cannot think of anything easier an more available perfectly lit surface than a computer or notepad screen completley white on max luminance.
Anyway, even though my camera has some obvious distortion, it is nothing more or less than what is revealed in the numerous reviews. However - some morons have posted, what seems to be, og DSLR photos on the xperia blog an some other places claiming it to be produced with a Z1. I guess some people live to annoy other people.
Regarding the last awesome cameraphone from Sony I will give xperia S my vote. It did get a lot of pepper but it shined after several updates, and after I realized there was a prefabric screenprotector that were scratched, not my screen. Not using 2 screen protectors did help. The camera on X S excelled i macro shots and were great allround. For most users sony HOWEVER decided to kill the phone with the last update making it slow and less responsive. It lost the premium feel. An obvious sales trix. Sony replied to my question about the slow XS that "It is to be expected as your phone is too slow to effextuvley handle our new update". Well well.
Xperia S had a troublesome birth and death. For most of the time it shined. I hope this is what we are experiencing with the Z1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an Xperia S and, yes, it did take very detailed shots. It's white balance wasn't always the best, however, and it was fairly terrible in poor lighting. I high contrast shots, though, the C905 would give better results - I did quite a bit of testing between the two
For examples of my work with the Z1, please look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157635983420745/
jluster said:
That's a real issue of viewpoint. In and by itself the Z1 camera isn't "bad" and the 245 firmware update fixed many issues, such as the purple fringing and the oversharpening. It doesn't however, bring the camera into "amazing" land.
Sony's much-touted DxOMark scores aren't all that cut out. While video pulls the device in second place, after the Nokia 808 and before the iPhone 5s, if you look at images alone it's 6th place, after Nokia, iPhone, and the Samsung Galaxy S4. In terms of clarity, if you neglect autofocus, the iPhone 5, non-S, beats it as well.
That's still great for a phone camera, it's just sad that the much hyped November model, running on excellent hardware, gets beat by the June model from Samsung. If you do a lot of video in good light and shoot only manual then you have a decent camera phone. If you want to go out and replace your point and shoot with this thing on a field trip or vacation, there are six or seven older phones that beat the Z1 in picture quality.
Now, I believe that 99% of those issues are software issues. Technically Sony's approach is sound. The BIONZ processor is one of the best IP on the market in this bracket, the Exmor RS backlit sensor used in the Z1 is also used in the iPhone 5s and RX100, and a powerhouse. So that stuff is there. The mini G-lens has great spatial properties and is one of the best when it comes to luminance. What doesn't seem to work so well is all in the software portion of the equation.
I am not giving up on Sony. I have great hardware, I hope firm- and software will catch up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that is really annoying thing with Sony, they obviously haven't learnt anything from Xperia Z launch, release substandard firmware in the final release to public that everyone uses to review, therefore gets reviews that are not as good as they could have been, which will loose them sales. If they want to reach their goal of Number 2 Android selling phone. They have to wake up, trawl through the main forums, and review sites and make sure the phone they release is top notch, and make tiny tweaks later on.
Really why can't Sony get their sensor to work as well as Apple? Surely they should be able to get the most out of their sensors than anyone else?
The only substandard part of the hardware that I have noticed moving to Sony is the accelerometer and GPS accuracy, the rest has been robust and fixed with firmware updates.
If you want to get the best from the camera, you must run in manual mode. Because the software makes some pretty bad decisions a lot of the time.
Timaustin2000 said:
I had an Xperia S and, yes, it did take very detailed shots. It's white balance wasn't always the best, however, and it was fairly terrible in poor lighting. I high contrast shots, though, the C905 would give better results - I did quite a bit of testing between the two
For examples of my work with the Z1, please look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157635983420745/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice shots! I've been scratching my head though with one of the shots you had, the one of the food / burger stall.
It seemed REALLY sharp and detailed so I looked in the exif data and saw it was ISO 64 / 100! Shutter speed was just a mere 1/8s so I'm wondering how did that happen with that particular low-light scenario?
The other pictures I can relate to
Here are a couple shots I took (though not as good as yours I am thinking)
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6YHwWcrqzNhbEtLUGFKNmk1SVU&usp=sharing
All taken in Manual Mode too (plant / garden shots are taken in 153 firmware)
bloodfire1004 said:
Nice shots! I've been scratching my head though with one of the shots you had, the one of the food / burger stall.
It seemed REALLY sharp and detailed so I looked in the exif data and saw it was ISO 64 / 100! Shutter speed was just a mere 1/8s so I'm wondering how did that happen with that particular low-light scenario?
The other pictures I can relate to
Here are a couple shots I took (though not as good as yours I am thinking)
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6YHwWcrqzNhbEtLUGFKNmk1SVU&usp=sharing
All taken in Manual Mode too (plant / garden shots are taken in 153 firmware)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The burger stall image was actually taken with Superior Auto (I know!). It decided to throw the phone into "Spotlight" shooting mode and that was the result. A very good result.
By the way, I really like your Garden party image. Well exposed, nicely detailed.
I completely agree with the comments, above, about Sony missing a trick by releasing hardware with incomplete software. There was a very distinct feeling of the camera firmware being unfinished on release. It is now firing on all cylinders but the review damage has been done.
You can see the difference when you look at GSM Arena's initial review of the phone and their following camera comparisons, post update. One is "disappointed", the others are full of praise.
And Sony have no-one to blame but themselves, for that.
Timaustin2000 said:
The burger stall image was actually taken with Superior Auto (I know!). It decided to throw the phone into "Spotlight" shooting mode and that was the result. A very good result.
By the way, I really like your Garden party image. Well exposed, nicely detailed.
I completely agree with the comments, above, about Sony missing a trick by releasing hardware with incomplete software. There was a very distinct feeling of the camera firmware being unfinished on release. It is now firing on all cylinders but the review damage has been done.
You can see the difference when you look at GSM Arena's initial review of the phone and their following camera comparisons, post update. One is "disappointed", the others are full of praise.
And Sony have no-one to blame but themselves, for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, basically everyone so far think it is a software issue.
I took some afternoon shots driving in 80 . The camera performs - now- without noise and got a crisp picture at what must be a really low shutterspeed. WTF?!
A situation Im never likøey to ever use the camera in again. Sigh, at drive by shooting it excels.
At indoor shots, it is agamble. Even with thenew firmware. It i proves markedly by manual exposure.
A total conclusion: it would be interrestimg having raw file possibilties. The camera is markedly better after the firmware update, and having the features in the camera button I am very pleased, however, where Im likley to use the camera most , indoors, it really needs an overhaul. I dont aleays have the time to enter manual mode! It is annoying that it defaults to full auto. Let me diecide!
Any other opinions
krimskram said:
So, basically everyone so far think it is a software issue.
I took some afternoon shots driving in 80 . The camera performs - now- without noise and got a crisp picture at what must be a really low shutterspeed. WTF?!
A situation Im never likøey to ever use the camera in again. Sigh, at drive by shooting it excels.
At indoor shots, it is agamble. Even with thenew firmware. It i proves markedly by manual exposure.
A total conclusion: it would be interrestimg having raw file possibilties. The camera is markedly better after the firmware update, and having the features in the camera button I am very pleased, however, where Im likley to use the camera most , indoors, it really needs an overhaul. I dont aleays have the time to enter manual mode! It is annoying that it defaults to full auto. Let me diecide!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, any other opinions?
krimskram said:
So, any other opinions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One: you can set your camera to launch in Manual from the launcher dock without having to re-set it. Just add a "shortcut" to your homescreen, select camera and select manual. Pop that in the docked section at the bottom of the screen and you'll always have quick access to it.
Just a shame they don't give you the option to launch camera in manual by long-pressing the camera button.
Oh, and to the fella above who says that there are "6 other models" from earlier in the year that will beat the XZ1 in good light? With respect, I'm going to disagree: There's no way that an S4, One or G2 can beat the Z1 in good light - and I'm not sure I could point to any other Android that does. (note: the iPhone 5 isn't as good but the 5s comes darned close,... in good light. Thought it over-saturates light a *****).
The S4 over-saturates, the G2 has even worse post-processing than Sony (it's artifact central on a G2 - FAR too much artificial sharpening) and the One? Well, it's the One, isn't it? Yuck. And the Z1 has better detail and dynamic range than all of the above in good light - it has been remarked on numerous times in a good many reviews.
The only place it really falls down is exposure - sometimes it blows out light objects if left to it's own devices. But you have an exposure toggle to fix that so problem solved.
In all honesty, I don't think I've ever been as happy with a phone camera. In any light.
I was debating and then I was like "what was I thinking" though the camera is mediocre, and speakers are Ok, everything else is fantastic.
I was going to wait for the HTC one2, and realized that more than likely no other phone soon will be able to last as long as the z1 with their battery saving software.
to be honest with you, as much as I complain about my Z1, overall there isnt one device out there for me that tops it. Just hope that the new update will do something to the Camera and 4K vid recording is something I really really wanted, but not enough to move be back to Samsung.
I have Z1, SGS4 and used the nexus 5 for a day and a half, I will compare them below
Nexus 5 best performance but lack features
SGS4 worst performance (too much lag and stuttering) but has lots of features (most of which are useless and no-one actually uses them except to show off)
Z1 excellent performance (almost identical to the nexus 5) and has some useful features like camera apps, small apps ...etc
Although the Z1 is not perfect (nothing is perfect), but it is the best overall phone out there. I will get chance to play with the HTC ONE for few days in a week or two then I will probably be able to say what is the best phone currently available (apart from the LG G2 which I haven't had the chance to play with).
Not even considered it, got it sim free and I'm happy with it
I returned mine because I spotted a dead (or maybe stuck) pixel on the screen. I hope I'll have better luck next time.
I am very very disappointed in the camera, the speaker is actually close to top considering its a tiny waterproof speaker but I love every thing else about the Z1 so no, I didn't return my device and I wont be doing so.
Gitaroo said:
to be honest with you, as much as I complain about my Z1, overall there isnt one device out there for me that tops it. Just hope that the new update will do something to the Camera and 4K vid recording is something I really really wanted, but not enough to move be back to Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm interested in knowing why since I was thinking about getting the Note 3.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
DAddYE said:
I'm interested in knowing why since I was thinking about getting the Note 3.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I had the Note 3, it is the worst mistake that I made up until now!
now the problems I had with it are more philosophical than fair, so to make it fair I'll only point out the problems that "others" consider worthy!
1. Not so great looking even though its an improvement over the S4 and Note 2
2. Has A LOT of bloat ware
3. Cheap looking/feeling device (like all Samsungs)
4. Depending on what you do with it scales form lagging a couple of times a day to constantly lagging (I couldn't handle the lag so...)
5. Bigger than most people would want it to be (I actually where okay with it mainly because I didn't called anyone with it)
6. You would look Very-Very stupid talking with it on the street or anywhere else for that matter!
DAddYE said:
I'm interested in knowing why since I was thinking about getting the Note 3.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mostly personally preference but Im coming from a S3 owner, but here are some of the reasons
-touchwiz, hate it with a passion, actually got to play with a real note 3 today at the store and it actually still lag a little bit like seriously lol?! Checked the ram consumption it always over 1.2+ gigs after I clear everything it goes back up quickly no wonder why they keep added more rams for all the galaxy phones. My Z1 has to be on for a couple of weeks to hit over 1 gig and generally around 0.9.
-hate OLED colors, it has gotten a lot better with the pentile problem but still not enough to bring me back. Triluminos looks better to me straight on even if you have to sacrifice the wash out colors in extreme angles which I never look at my phone that way. Plus I see color shifting problems on Note 3, like yellow would turn green in a angle, so viewing angle is not a clear victory on the note 3 neither (same with Nexus 5 and G2 which have their own problems in extreme angle when I played with them today). Didn't get to do out door test with the note 3 not sure if it become unreadable under the sun.
-Built quality, I dont think I need to say much here, just personally when I pay hundreds of dollars for a flashship device I want it to actually feel like a flagship device.
the only features in the Note 3 that I want in the Z1 is the 4K video recording, downsampling 4K video to play on 1080p screen is a huge difference. You don't need a 4K display to take advantage of it. I used to think that the multi screen features from note2 and S3 is going to make me happy with my S3 again, but after the update came out I've never use it once.... Its all personal preference so those my not apply to others.
ahomad said:
I have Z1, SGS4 and used the nexus 5 for a day and a half, I will compare them below
Nexus 5 best performance but lack features
SGS4 worst performance (too much lag and stuttering) but has lots of features (most of which are useless and no-one actually uses them except to show off)
Z1 excellent performance (almost identical to the nexus 5) and has some useful features like camera apps, small apps ...etc
Although the Z1 is not perfect (nothing is perfect), but it is the best overall phone out there. I will get chance to play with the HTC ONE for few days in a week or two then I will probably be able to say what is the best phone currently available (apart from the LG G2 which I haven't had the chance to play with).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm coming from Note 2, Galaxy s4 and HTC one to Sony Z1, apart from note 2 (which I liked) the other's are disappointing s4 has lag and loads of stupid features you turn off, HTC One was boring and battery life was rubbish plus I was scared to scrape or dent the metal (best sound though) . I was wanting Note 3 but too expensive and cant believe it still has lag, plus Knox! (which totally put me off s4)
Sony Z1 feels premium has a decent enough camera and battery is probably the best with the note 2 I've had.
Before I had Z1 I was waiting for Nexus 5 and was going to sell s4, but after seeing it, Z1 is much better.
Thank you all guys you opened (again) my eyes. There are just few things that make me sad about the Z1.
- camera is not so fantastic. Unless you have the stone hand just pressing the hw button from focus to shoot makes the phone shaking and the picture a little blurry. This is almost not noticeable with high lights but as soon start to be a little darker things gets worse. Thus in low lights this camera is totally incapable to take decent pictures, what you see 'good' in your screen will be post processed and 'destroyed'. No manual mode could help ATM.
- freaking hardware buttons
I can't believe that my 5" real estate triluminus 400+ DPI 1080 **** should have a damn waste of space: soft keys IMHO are the android cancer. Now I'm using a pie (after gtm) it's okay but still annoying and uncomfortable. I'll be happy to pay one dollar more and have at least a central hw button. Note that I compared twitter, Google+ and Chrome with the iPhone and on the smaller 4" there is much more space!!! This piss me off!!!!
- unlock the boot loader. I used to pay the retail price in order to not increase the US mafia of carriers. After more than a month this phone isn't really unlockable. No official words from Sony about the fact they are working for a fix or a date. This scares me.
- 2013 and our display is not oleophobic. This makes me sad even more when a friend tell me: cool phone can I see it? And my screen is a finger print fest. Tried almost any good screen protector antifinger print. None of them really works without decrease the screen quality.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Just one tip.
Don't compare N5 and Z1 now.
Wait until Z1 gets 4.4 then you'll see what Z1 is capable to do.
As I said few times, it's better to have great camera (hardware) which is fixable than great software without hardware support.
Z1 has great camera and with 4.4 update we will have the best device money can buy...
Everyone compares N5 and Z1 now and all of them are unique in conclusion - these two devices are similar but remember we are comparing 4.2.2 with 4.4 - so you can just imagine Z1 with a KitKat under the hood
It will fly
Sent from my Z1
I am contemplating using my upgrade for this phone. I am coming from a Galaxy S3 on VZW. MOST of the reviews I've read on VZW or Amazon have been pretty good.
How's battery life? Is it difficult to root (for backup purposes)? It looks to be a fairly vanilla Android; is it? Is 16 GB enough for you, should I look for a 32 GB?
Game changers for me...
Radios: I live in a fringe area and always had dead spots around home and in town with my Nexus 4. Not anymore!
Trusted Bluetooth/Skip: Now have the best of both worlds... keeping my phone secure with a password, and not having to mess with it when I am home and in the car.
Speaker/Mics: Speakerphone is the best I have ever used in a smartphone. Folks I talk to over it don't even know I am on speaker... even in my truck. Plus I can actually listen to podcasts on speaker.
Camera: Love having to just shake it to open the camera app, and touch anywhere to snap. I find myself using the camera more and more.
Other things I like...
Active Notifications: Love them.
Touchless Control: Like in the commercial with the guy talking to the phone on the nightstand. It works that well. Still learning to use it more and more everyday.
Cons...
Display: Hard to see it in sunlight.
Camera: While the camera is capable of very good results, the always on auto white balance is often fooled (but it is simple to fix in post). Also miss Photosphere, and the ability to take smaller dimensioned photos and vids.
Can't comment on rooting... I have no need. And I have never needed more than 16GB on a phone (but I don't keep a lot music and vids on it). I have everything I need on it and still have over 8 GB free space.
Simply... it is the best smart phone I have ever had (Nexus, iPhone). It is the perfect size and feel, and just addresses some usability issues other phones don't... plus the actual "phone" part of it is stellar (where way too many smartphones are just barely acceptable).
1. Battery life is better than the S3
2. I personally don't think it was difficult
3. It is mostly vanilla with some fantastic add-ons from Moto
4. 32gb
nhizzat said:
1. Battery life is better than the S3
2. I personally don't think it was difficult
3. It is mostly vanilla with some fantastic add-ons from Moto
4. 32gb
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Click to collapse
Agreed besides the storsge part is up to the OP and there needs, im coming from a Nexus 4 which i loved dearly but my moto x is great and i love how the added on features are useful.Feels great in the hand also better than than nexus 4 imo and S3
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
Thanks, guys! I appreciate the input. A lot of the posts are old and I was looking for some more recent opinions. How is the camera? The MP is higher, but I've been reading that the pics aren't that great. I take A LOT of photos with my phone.
If you know how to take good photos, the camera rarely disappoints, but is not very good at makingbad photos good (ala iPhone, Galaxy).
Compared to your S3, you'll see less saturation and less in-camera sharpening applied, and as previously stated, white balance can be off in tricky light. The look is decidedly Nikon, as opposed to iPhone and galaxy's Olympus look. As a Nikon fan, I see some advantages to the less aggressive exposure and post processing, but quick and dirty snapshots will more often than not, be more pleasing from an S3 or iPhone.
There is a photo thread here with plenty of examples of how good (and bad) it can be.
I LOVE my X. I personally have the VZW dev edition and can't say a bad thing about the device. As mentioned, the camera might not have the post-processing of some phones, but that's not a deal breaker for me. The touchless controls make the phone though. soo much safer for hands free EVERYTHING.
The X is smartphone done right. Everyone that checks mines out always comment on how nice and how much they like it. It honestly was worth the $400 no doubt about it. Worthy investment. Motorola regained me as a customer after not having a phone of theirs since Jr school.
Take mines and everyone's thoughts about it old or new. It does not disappoint.