[One (M7) General] BarryH_GEG:
I haven't seen a single review, even those that rate the One's camera extremely highly, not mention the lack of detail due to it being 4MP and that the larger photosites take a toll on bright light perfomance. Just like I haven't seen a single review that doesn't say the SGS4's got a comparitively narrow FOV and is at best average in low and very low light situations. Both camera's have limitations. Which one's "best" depends on what strengths and weaknesses are important to people on an individual basis. It's misleading to people that want to understand what the camera's capable of to sweep its limitations under the rug. It's one thing to say the limitations may not be important and another to say they don't exist.

This is from another thread...

While low light performance is impressive, photos captured with the One do suffer from

plenty of image noise

. You won't notice this if you're using your photos to upload to Facebook and Instagram

but when you want to zoom or crop images the quality isn't as crisp as we'd like

.

http://www.computerworld.com.au/art...c_one/?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=taxonomyfeed​

That's all nice to have, but it doesn't change the fact that the pictures I took on the One just don't look very good. Sure, shots are bright and colors are good, but it's clear

noise reduction processing is running roughshod all over the photos you take

, leaving them soft and mushy even in good lighting. Nothing looks sharp or crisp, no matter the situation.

Things look fine at Facebook or Instagram sizes

, which HTC is clearly betting is all you need, but when you zoom or crop, photos lose a lot of their luster.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/11/4086390/htc-one-review​

Sadly, the performance isn’t quite as stellar when it comes to everyday photography.

Whether it’s due to the lack of pixels

, or some other less-than-stellar component in the camera assembly, the One’s photos aren’t particularly sharp.

They’re fine viewed on the phone screen or Facebook, but blow them up any bigger, and everything goes a bit marshmallow-soft.

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/03/htc-one-review-damn-near-close-to-perfect/​

In more ideal conditions,

the One’s shots suffer if you blow them up

and compare them side-by-side with higher-megapixel images. The 4-megapixel sensor simply lacks the resolution to compete on that level. Nonetheless, at more typical levels of crop, we’re left impressed by the standard of stills from the One.

http://www.slashgear.com/htc-one-re...=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+slashgear+(SlashGear)​

In short, even though it's not perfect and

we'd love to be able to get more detail from zoomed-in shots

, the One's UltraPixels methodology appears to be completely sound.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/12/htc-one-review/​

There's a lot of noise thanks to the lower pixel count at times

, but the range of light levels you get to shoot in compared to other camera phones is excellent. And the photos we took looked stunning at times on the phone screen, which HTC says is where most of them stay - which we agree with to a degree.

However, on the computer screen things are oddly different

, with higher exposure and some loss of detail. You probably won't look at many photos this way, but if you're thinking of uploading them to Facebook, you probably will get some people checking out your efforts at a larger size.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-one-1131862/review/7#articleContent​

However, when taking shots outdoors

we noticed the limitations of the HTC One's low megapixel count

. Photos were fine at short and medium distances, but detail tails off significantly in the distance, leading to smudgy details.

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/smartphones/1298431/htc-one/3​

However, compared to top-end camera phones like the Nokia Lumia 920 and Sony Xperia Z,

photos taken on the One do look slightly fuzzy and less vibrant when zoomed in on, or displayed blown up on larger screens

.We're guessing this is because while the pixels are bigger, there still aren't as many of them, meaning that image quality on blown up photos is still reduced.

This isn't a problem for people who just want to view the photos on the phone or other small screen devices

. But for those looking to use them for work or business purposes, for example to upload them to a company blog, or branded Facebook page or Twitter account it is an issue.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/review/2254225/htc-one-review/page/4​

As a stills camera,

the HTC One doesn't escape from the problem of noise

. In low light, there's still plenty of noise, but we noticed that it preserved colour better than some rivals in the same situation. That said, even in perfect conditions, you still have noise blighting things like blue skies.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/6200/htc-one-review​

As you can see, the megapixel count and the resolutions are much lower than most other 8 and 13-megapixel cameras out there. In reality, though, high resolutions are only required if you plan on using a device's camera for large prints.

For most people, 4 megapixels are just enough - definitely enough for sharing on Facebook and for small prints

.

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/HTC-One-Review_id3269/page/3​

4MP is just not enough, despite HTC’s claim that “Megapixels don’t matter.” Of course they matter. Consider this. The Nexus 10′s screen is a full 4.0 MP (at 2560×1600).

If you pull up a full-resolution photo you’ve taken on an HTC One on the Nexus 10, you can’t zoom in because there is no more image data. Do this on the iPad (which has a slightly lower screen resolution), you’ll get similar results.

Even if you zoom in on the One’s 1920×1080 (that’s 2MP) display, forget about being able to zoom in on a photo of a group of people to see detail in an individual’s face.

There’s just not enough data there at 4MP.

http://pocketnow.com/2013/02/20/megapixels-matter-htc-ultrapixel​