yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z1 General] kantk20111:
The Z1 camera is infuriating to use because it's obvious that the hardware is a beast. It's the best camera hardware you can get on an Android device. However, the software is a hit or miss. Superior auto is okay for daylight pictures but is almost unusable for lowlight pictures. However, if you take a bit of time to learn how to use the camera in manual, you will have no problem getting excellent images from the Z1. Lowlight performance is decent, better than the LG G2 but worse than the HTC One, it's just you cannot rely on Superior Auto mode to get you the best pics, usually they end up very noisy.

In daylight there is no contest, the Z1 is one of the best out there. 90% of the time Superior auto does the job well. The other 10% of time there is overexposure or noise but then you can use manual or try again and it should come out okay. Low light is tricky.

If you want a camera that 'just works' I would suggest looking at the HTC One or LG G2. However, if you are willing to spend a bit of time to explore the camera's features and functions you will love the Z1. It's definitely the most fun camera phone to use. Don't get me wrong, it's not 'bad', it's just not as good as it could be. Also, the viewfinder is one of the smoothest I've used. 60fps of awesome.

The thing about the Z1 is that is one of the best 'allround' phones. You get a premium feeling, waterproof body with the fastest processor available and an extremely good camera. There's almost nothing like it. The iPhone 5S and HTC One are probably the only other ones that can compete with the all-roundedness. The LG G2 is really good as well but IMO has a horrible, cheap looking and feeling body. For me looks matter as much as the internals because I have the phone on me at all times and is a part of me, so I want it to reflect who I am. The Z1's sharp looks do just that :).

Hopefully KitKat will stabilize superior auto and make it better because it's infuriating having poor software when you have unbeatable hardware.
[Xperia Z1 General] minhajmsd:
I will have to say that while the Camera software disappoints it really isn't that bad at all..

As far as low light pics are concerned, for me superior auto does the job well enough..and of course low light photos have the element of noise as on any camera phone but don't let it bother you too much. You will just have to compare for yourself lowlight photos between the G2 and the Z1 to see if its up to your expectations.
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
The

night sky

shot you took with the 1020 has a shutter delay of 4s.

Z1 has a max shutter delay in night mode of 0.8s. This is the best you have currently with android. Also the Z1 has a 2.0 aperture to the 1020's 2.2. So about 25% larger.

bear in mind the nokia's can go as slow as 4s shutter delay because WP8 allows it. So even mid range WP8 phones with nokia camera app can get the 4s shutter delay. Android at this time does not even if the hardware can support it. I see no reason why this cannot be done in the future with android if mid range WP8 phones presently allow such low shutter delay. It's an OS limitation. Another limitation with android is its not possible to manually set shutter speed or do any manual focus unlike with WP8. This limits to a certain extent or makes it harder than it would have been been with say Nokia camera.

Whereas the slowest shutter delay with the G2, note3, N5 or S4 is around 1/8s (6x faster than 0.8). What they then do is take a HDR. They cheat. This means a relatively stable hand held low light shot but if an even slower shutter speed is required then you cannot do it. Has the low light video improved on the G2 since ? as the video from examples i'd seen earlier was mostly not usable.
[Xperia Z1 General] amorek13:
i have a g2, ordered z1s, z1s is beatiful phone, liked the screen and mostly everything, little snapier then g2, for some reason z1s felt a little big, battery life i was not impressed, on the first charge, 15 min screen time and down 6%, comparing to g2 where you will loose 2% tops, great phone but going back to g2, will wait for somerhing else with better cam then g2
[Xperia Z1 General] robamacaf:
Just as a side note, the LG G2 DOES have manual focus where you can move a slider (sorta like the 1020) to focus on things.

Thank you all for the opinions. I'll have to get hands on with it I think to really get a feel for it but I'm really leaning towards it. I'd get the HTC One again in a heartbeat if it had higher MP to actually have details in the photos
[Xperia Z1 General] shem2409:
Check out this video mate:

[YOUTUBE]GkQ15hpetac[/YOUTUBE]

The pictures were taken on the initial software release, the software has slightly improved since then but it should gives you a good idea on how well the camera perfomes.
[Xperia Z1 General] robamacaf:
Thanks for this. You put a lot of info into that video. I also watched the 3 min one you made with mostly low light pictures. Looks like the Z1 is def worth getting
[Xperia Z1 General] shem2409:
I absolutely love it :)

I only wish the screen was better. It's not bad by any means but due to poor viewing angles the experience is not on par with other devices (oppo find 5 etc)
[Xperia Z1 General] karmamule:
universal

I had a G2 and while I liked it I decided to not keep it. Just got my Z1s on Monday and was very impressed with the handful of shots I took, and find I like the Z1s all-around more than I did the G2: better design, better android skin, better battery life & performance (and the G2 was no slouch in either of those two areas), and at least based on first impressions better camera.

I am exchanging my Z1s because of some difficulty getting it to acknowledge long press while holding the phone (started a thread on that), but other than that was very happy with it and am looking forward to getting my replacement.
[Xperia Z1 General] robamacaf:
Any opinions on the battery life? I know the G2 and Z1 and the same sized battery and so far I've had the G2 off of charger for 6 hours and it's only at 91%. I've made some phone calls, checked emails, sent hangout messages through out the day. Connected to WIFI and 4G. It's fantastic
[Xperia Z1 General] kantk20111:
Battery life is not G2 good but it's still excellent. I usually get 6-8 hours screentime on, which is much better than most phones out there.
[Xperia Z1 General] shook187:
Tough decision for me, sell my G2 and payoff my EIP or keep it and sell the Z1S and profit a bit and wait for something else.
[Xperia Z1 General] ashouhdy:
Check My Low light photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77173783@N00/sets/72157637726566185/

you will also find Htc One set and Comparison Set between note3 vs z1

Me also swapped the htc one with the z1

reason: Purple tint camera and very long time focusing during night and mostly out of focus

how do i compare : Z1 blew away Htc faster lock never out of focus and Better lowlight

you can see in the sets both taken with htc and z1 ... Just to mention i never used Superior Auto i always use manual [MENTION=535343]all[/MENTION] auto .. except if i want to capture a night landscape or scene with longer exposure i choose Night Mode from scenes and rest my arm on somethings

by the way

note3 camera at night it Cr@p !
[Xperia Z1 General] robamacaf:
Wow! Those are fantastic! Thank you
[Xperia Z1 General] Kirkymole:
I've had a play with a G2 and it's a cracking handset, but not a patch on the Z1 in terms of the on screen user experience, the LG skin looks too much like Touchwiz, which is hideous. The camera rocks, all round anyway, no phone camera I've ever come across actually performs perfectly, but the Z1 comes close.
[Xperia Z1 General] Steve_max:
The Z1 is really the best camera in an Android phone. The flash sucks, specially compared to the 1020's (and the 808's, still the best camera phone by a huge margin) xenon, of course; but it's bad for a LED. However, its low light, non-flash performance is way above the rest of the pack. More comparable to the 1020's non-flash pics than to the G2's. You will also have the benefit of some lossless zoom. As a camera, it's definitely an upgrade over the S3/One/G2, and a clear downgrade all around from the 1020.

This is an interesting comparison of the Z1 with Nokia's last few cameraphones:

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/18845_Smartphone_camera_shootout_the.php

Note that no non-Nokia phone had ever beaten the N8 on that site. But I'd suggest you to rate the pictures by yourself. Assign points to each, then assign a factor of importance to each category, and sum up the scores (multiplied by the importance of each category). You may come to a different conclusion than Steve.

Another interesting data point is this:

http://connect.dpreview.com/post/44...1-vs-nokia1020-vs-lgg2-vs-samsunggalaxys4zoom

Which includes a direct comparison between the Z1 and your previous two phones. I suggest the same approach, assigning your own scores and importances to come to your own conclusion.
[Xperia Z1 General] fmmsf:
Sorry to hijack the topic here but how does z1's camera compare to iPhone 5s' then? I was under the impression z1's was better even before the FW updates but after reading this thread I am not so sure..
[Xperia Z1 General] Steve_max:
Yes, it's WAY better. I don't have the shots with me, but when we went on vacations, my Z1's pictures were always better than my wife's 5S's. The Z1 focuses better (and faster), isn't as noisy, and exposes much better on low light. Also, the 5S has an annoying tendency of keeping the flash on for 1-2 seconds while it focuses, while the Z1 does it way faster; that much time with the LED on makes the subjects uncomfortable, and spoils the images. Whenever we took pictures of the same scene on both phones, mine were better (so much better that most of hers were instantly deleted). I usually don't shoot videos, so I can't comment on video quality.
[Xperia Z1 General] fmmsf:
Ah, that's awesome! And how long does it take for the phone to bring up the camera app after you press the shutter button on the Z1? (That's a feature, right?)
[Xperia Z1 General] dakunclear:
You hold the shutter button for 2 seconds and the camera is pulled up instantly
[Xperia Z1 General] ashouhdy:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2615131
[Xperia Z1 General] fmmsf:
Hmm.. Two seconds is good enough, I suppose.. Do you guys use the stock xperia camera app or is there a better one out there?

Interesting comparison, thanks for sharing! The reason I asked how does the z1 compares to the iPhone 5s is because on dpreview.com the latter's camera is held as the one to beat on the smartphone arena.

Wanted to ask you something else, owners: does the camera app save the user settings every time you close it?
[Xperia Z1 General] Destroyedbeauty:
Yes.
[Xperia Z1 General] dakunclear:
That stock camera app is pretty good but I use manual mode more often then not, just cause it makes the pictures turn out the way you want if you do want to get away from the stock app then I would suggest going with camera mx
[Xperia Z1 General] Arthur Hucksake:
Had the phone a day and already contemplating taking it back.

Just cannot get a good picture indoors, the battery takes an absolute age to charge, not impressed with the screen at all and the phone although sturdy.... is too much of a brick. I get wrist ache just texting.

Not the phone for me. No idea where I go from here tbh.

Got rid of the iPhone 5, the S4 was good but the Samsung bloat ruined it, used a HTC One which I like but no expandable storage.

It's either S4 or nothing, that is basically my options right now. A half decent camera is a must.

I may actually be entering a phase of not having a mobile phone, will feel strange in the modern era but i'm not commiting to a 2 year contract on any of these so called "flagship" devices.
[Xperia Z1 General] dakunclear:
Not sure what the issue is I would ask Sony cause the three photos that I'm showing you are all taken indoors
[Xperia Z1 General] epsix:
Something is wrong with him. I have S4, I like Sony cam better than my S4. I buy this phone is because of the Camera and water resistance and its superior looks.
[Xperia Z1 General] Arthur Hucksake:
Yeah, there is something wrong with me ....clearly.

Had I done a little more research and wasn't a rush job in a store (which it was) then I would have seen the reviews in more detail.

The manual mode is great, but the auto snapper on this phone is a disaster.

Don't even get me started on the viewing angles, and yes that does matter. When I will reach to glance at my phone at work or have my son sat with me watching something on this phone, only one of us will get a clear view of the display.

One thing I will note, the idle battery life is superior to any Android phone I have used to date. Dropped 1% over night... that must be the newer CPU. The S4 would drop at least 4-5% overnight.

And what is wrong with this speaker? It's so so quiet. Like Galaxy Nexus quiet even.
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
Litchfield's been quite fair in this comparison, by not considering the purezoom, trying to keep things as level as possible. Also its interesting to see that he's considered giving the Z1 another chance due to firmware upgrades. Usually reviewers do not return to phones after the buzz. Whatever they've said when it launched is set in stone, not so in this case.

What isn't clear is whether the Z1 was taking photos in manual or SA. Since he mentioned improved firmware (.257 was used), my assumption is his field tester went with SA. He confirms as much in the comments later..

Even though the day was gloomy, the first two Z1 shots have an ISO of 50 and relatively quick shutter speed. It might look gloomy but the Z1 had plenty of light to take the shot. If SA got these shot then very good. Third pic of the gnome is 320, manual could have got that one at ISO 200. Still not too bad.

The fourth photo has an ISO of 80, again acceptable. However the last one with flash has an ISO of 1600. The 1020 in comparison has an ISO of only 100. The flash being more powerful got the ISO down but looking at the shutter speed, that photo could have been also taken with ISO 400 which would have got a better score. which means the different in points between the Z1 & 1020 is less than 10%.

Video was not considered here, had it been the Z1 would have matched if not beaten the 1020. Dxo puts Z1 10 points ahead of 1020 in terms of video.
[Xperia Z1 General] Steve_max:
If you're buying a phone with the camera as your first concern, go with the Nokia 808 if you can find one. If you can't find an 808, get the 1020. There's no way to beat physics, and those phones have huge sensors and optics to match. Both are much better than most portable point-and-shoot cameras.

The Z1 is, by far, the best camera in an Android phone, or in a non-Nokia phone for that matter. Auto mode is always bad on every camera or phone, simply because no electronics will ever be smarter than a human being. IMHO, it gets the job done for those quick snaps, which are where a phone camera are more useful. When I need something more complicated, I have some low light parameters as default on my manual mode; just switch to it, and I have my "low light" mode (and I can tweak them later). When I need something even more precise, I'll have my DSLR with me. So, for me, the camera is good enough; more so than any other phone I've ever had. It doesn't replace my DSLR, but I don't expect it to.

On the screen: you probably got one of the bad screens. Try using maximum brightness when you need to share the screen (there's an Xposed module that allows you to change the brightness by sliding over the notification bar, so you can change that easily, as a patch. You might want to get your phone replaced with one of those with better colour rendering, since that helps with the viewing angles.

On the speaker, it's quiet by default, yes. Custom kernels (for example, DoomKernel) allow you to use more of the audio capabilities of your phone, with either digital pre-amp or analog amplification. Try that, you will get more out of your speakers and headphones.
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
Much better in terms of what ? Neither have optical zoom and future phones are unlikely to have them. The flash on a compact is more powerful than on a phone. Course if you don't need these, then the you get a computer & phone thrown in as a bonus. Clear zoom of 3x is a range frm 28mm - 80mm which should cover a lot of uses.

In terms of image quality these phones are matching high end compacts from five years ago. Sensors on many compacts are still 1/2.3. Makes for cheaper & portable optical zoom.

These phones have BSI sensors so better low light. You can achieve a similar result with non-BSI sensors provided you can keep the shutter open long enough.

Any comments on how safe this wrt speaker life. it's not over driving the speakers but its playing them louder than Sony intended. Maybe a moot point if you replace your phone on a 2 yr cycle.
[Xperia Z1 General] nb31b:
Battery takes an age to charge?? Mine charges to full from single digits in like 3 hours...
[Xperia Z1 General] Steve_max:
They don't use optical zoom (so no moving parts), but have lossless zoom by using a smaller part of the sensor. You can use all 41 megapixels to build a noise-free 3264x2448 image, or only the central 3264x2448 pixels. You lose the benefit of reducing noise by resampling, but without the resolution loss associated with digital zoom.

Note that I'm comparing the phones with the kind of portables they actually replace: the small, ultra-portables. In Canon terms, the "ELPH" series, not the G/S/SX series (and definitely not the EOS). They're the kind of cameras you have always with you, not the kind of cameras you plan on taking for specific occasions. And the 808/1020 (and Z1) compare favourably with most of the current cameras from that series, offering one huge advantage: you'll be carrying one volume with you all the time, not two. You're thinking about higher-end, bulkier cameras (and with more bulk you get more light, therefore a better image. Physics can't be beaten). I can't remember a point-and-shoot camera that is as small as the 808/1020/Z1 with better all around image. Even bigger cameras (such as most of the ELPH range) can barely match their images.

On the speaker: I hear no obvious sign of distortion when applying analog amplification. Digital amplification obviously carries a fair amount of distortion, but that's expected (and comes from the software side, not from the hardware). I see no sign of speaker overdrive, either on the headphones or on the speaker.

---------- Post added at 04:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 PM ----------

Mine takes ages to charge if I'm charging while I run Antutu on a loop. Coming from the I9300, where I could go to sleep with 15% battery and wake up 8 hours later with 60%, the Z1 charges absurdly quickly.
[Xperia Z1 General] fmmsf:
What are those analogue amps you refer to?
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
Yes, and its good for 28-80mm or 3X. To go beyond that the compacts will win if they have more than 3x zoom. many do going as high as 10x. But zoom of this type is niche. For most uses up to 80mm is adequate. I wish there was a way to figure out the equivalent of 35 & 50mm with the Z1. The lowest & max are easier. Changes the way you take the pics and makes you work more on composition :)

Source for my 5 yr comment is

here

.

DxO is saying the 808 (1/1.2" sensor) which came out in 2012 produces better photos than the G9 (1/1.7" sensor) which came out in 2007.

When it comes to video, galaxy S3 (1/3.2 sensor) makes better video than a canon powershot S100 (1/1.7 sensor) but S100 still image quality, is still ahead of 808. S100 came out in 2011. S3 a few months later. With video the sensor size does not matter after a point, full HD is 2MP, if the sensor can handle that then its down to sensor quality & video algorithms. My proviso here is so long as zoom isn't used only then will the S3 beat the S100. Sony got a 15 place overall jump on DxO rankings with the Z1 over the Z by working on video & photo. This in just 6 months.

Thing is i'm not sure how well one can use DxO ratings (image ratings & video ratings) for mobiles to compare with those of compacts. They are good enough to compare like with like but when you compare with a different animal i think the comparison is harder as the rating criteria will differ. yet DxO is implying with that article you CAN make such apples to oranges comparisons on the basis of the sensor alone. This means interesting comparisons.

Ah, you consider distortion a good indicator for future speaker damage otherwise there is no issue.
[Xperia Z1 General] Shan89:
Not so sure about z1 being the best android camera , here the test between z1 and htc one where all that HTC one used was auto or HDR while z1 was used with manual + 8mp ( check exifs if needed ) and still failed vs HTC One. The only good thing about z1 camera is it being highly hyped while it didn't deliver what was hyped for , tho the hardware definetely is the best among android phones but the software is utter ****.

HTC One vs Xperia Z1 camera test
[Xperia Z1 General] ashouhdy:
Dude ! in all the PICs you posted the Z1 is better (except the indoor shot) ! Better dynamic range better exposure better contrast better details ! HTC one is over exposed with blown highlights it failed even to get the skyline unless using Hdr !!
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
I wanted to review your shots and was making notes...here is how far i got..

First 6 pics are more or less equivalent with the One picking a higher ISO and consequently more exposed image. The problem

with these first 6 is we don't know what the real light was like. Which one is more accurate here. Without a reference shot its impossible to say.

Pics 7 & 8, there are some wierd exifs

HTC one : ISo 125, 1s (!)

Z1 : ISO 50, 1/3,191 (would indicate a very bright scenario but image is underexposed for some reason)

One is pointing in the darker area so takes a very long exposure. There is no way you can take a handheld 1s exposure with no shake.

Z1 metered off the sun here so backlighting is apparent.

Same with 8 & 9

One : ISO 125, 1/9600

Z1 : ISO 100, 1/4973 +2/3

Same thing happens here again, both metered off the sun.

9 & 10 are equivalent 11 & 12 as well.

At this point i realised i got no reliable way to identify which shots taken by are HDR or not going by the exifs.

The other thing is where you focus on the one, can affect exposure of the shot. yes the one is like the apple here. See this

article

since you like to point & shoot.

Basically you have to meter somewhere that is mid tone to get the right exposure. In difficult shots you need EV comps to be done.

The other problem is if your cousins could not get the shot does it mean Z1 cannot do it. I have no answer to this one.
[Xperia Z1 General] ashouhdy:
i will take the Blue/sunset sky in the z1 as a reference .. blown highlights can't be restored ... most (if not all) of the htc is over-exposed for the extense that you get a WHITE (blown up) sky
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
Do you know of a reliable way to identify HDR images taken by one or Z1 going by exif ?

I wanted to eliminate the HDR images from the comparison and just stick to the non-hdr. otherwise its not fair if one does it and the other doesn't.

I would put blown highlights down to operator error rather than the camera. HTC one needs to be tweaked or at least one needs to be more aware to get the right shot. Since the htc guy is himself a P&S guy he does not care, i think better shots could have been had with the one.

There is no blue sky as it was a cloudy day. Not a problem, lots of soft light no shadows.
[Xperia Z1 General] ashouhdy:
the one/z1 takes true hdr not as the samsungs .. so i guess no way to seperate them apart. but from what i see as i owned both. most of the htc one are taken in HDr while none on the z1 in it.

Another thing .. it isn't operator error .. sadly the one over-expose the scene so much to light up dark shades. he may have tried to focus on the sky and lock the exposure by long press then re-frame the image .. its tricky but thats the only way to recover lost highlights... thats why he used hdr in most of the photos.