[HTC One X] waz675:
I saw your ICJ post directing to here :) Well, my view, I 'love' AOSP + AOKP (especially IceColdJelly) JB ROMs, the speed and look is how I like my OS/phone. Just the deal breaker for me, at moment anyway is the photos with flash mainly, there are improvements in photos taken in day but they aren't "miles ahead" like SENSE camera is with photos taken with flash (in dark).

Having a couple kids that heaps of friends and relatives want to see pics of since we moved not too long ago to be closer to our respective parents, friends and outer family members 'need pics' to see us + the kids, it's made a big difference that as you have said, night photos look 'unpolished' compared to standard cameras and SENSE camera on our phone.

I use like 3 or 4 camera apps when I was/am in Jellybean to get the best day pic/video depending on condition, since for me, I really need photos to be of 'best value' comparing look vs speed of photo (the funny moments when kids do something funny or 'milestone', just moments worth remembering that have a tiny window to catch). I use ProCapture for nice still shots, camera jb+ for photos needed in a quick timely succession of each other, LGcamera for the camcorder side of things, the 'lgcamcorder' for me is hands down best video making app on the phone I have come across.

Yet with SENSE, I only need the 'SENSE camera, at least the HQ mod that removes HTCs stupid artificial compression limits. I chose the phone from the specs which included the camera, why limit it software side, bleh, whole different topic though, HTC are idiots for what they do post sale IMO, probably lost me as a recurring customer, but as said, that's another tale/topic :p

I literally moved back to SENSE since warmer weather (I'm in Australia) is coming to us, we'll be out and about in the dark more with the kids rather than 'snuggled up' in cold months at night. I have nerve damage related pain so the cold really exacerbates this, so I don't head out 'that much' in cold nights since it means I need extra pain meds and/or the pain gets to me.

So the warmer months means I'm out lots, probably most nights, we used to eat out/party 7 days a week, my wife managed cafes + restaurant type places, so she was shift work, either finished work early (2-3PM, 6am start), or 9pm to midnight finishes, so most of the time we were never home (or her awake) for 'dinner', so most of our circle of friends are people who are best caught up with "out", so I wanted a phone that was part phone, part computer (ssh etc, been a unix admin over 20 years, can't work due to pain but still have home network and friends hosting places/shells that I ssh to a bit), part camera, the less 'things' I need to carry, the better. When we're like going out shopping, eating, catching up with friends more often than not, it makes sense (boom tish) that the less things I have, the less chance of losing something or scratching it from 'full pockets'.

TL;DR, I love JB ROMs for speed and look, but 'need' SENSE camera (and phone isn't CID compatible for JB SENSE just yet) for the night time photos, I took like 25 GB (maybe more?) last month of photos and videos, having kids means we want lots of pics that capture 'that moment', non SENSE and flash just doesn't cut it sadly enough, ,,|, to HTC for the things they do for 'their platform'

*edit*

Oh, it's not AOSP developers being 'crap' for the camera, it's HTC and their locked down 'SENSE stuff' that they can't (fully?) emulate, use for stuff like you mentioned, SENSE - flash is the biggest thing to mind, I haven't looked, but I do hope the JB SENSE ROMs camera(s) do tap into 'SENSE' for taking photos, or else I'll be "stuck" on ICS SENSE again during summer/warmer months until someone gets the non sense camera to be what I get from sense camera for my particular needs.