[Xperia Z3 General] bart-videophile:
Well, yes, in that case, I understand. Not to play devil's advocate though, and I know I'm really harping myself on getting every part of the image as pixel perfect as it can be, but should the background really matter that much? I don't recall which user, I think One Twelve, tried to make some foreground comparisons (of some statue), i.e. the area that usually matters the most, and I believe the Z3 performed at least as well as the Note 4 (or iPhone, don't remember which). To tell you the truth, I find it a bit hard to use this line of reasoning myself, but perhaps it's a more realistic way of looking at it, and a way to appreciate what the Z3 does in fact do well. If we focus on a certain subject in the foreground, and it comes out perfectly, should we matter that the background suffers? (Disregarding for a moment the sometimes unnatural colors)

I thought the size would have been an issue for me too. Phablets always seemed ridiculously big to me. Whenever I would see someone using such a device to actually make a phonecall on the train or bus, I would giggle. However, the Z3 is quite big already, and I got used to it pretty fast. And moving from the Z3 (regular size, that is) to the Note 4 is not that big of a jump in size (compared to the S2 > Z3-jump that I did). I've held it in my hands in the store, and I think I would be able to live with it quite comfortably. I also got quite enamored by the s pen after seeing all the practical, convenient and fun stuff you can do with it. Only, now I'm beginning to see and hear more and more reports about lag, which is also something that can quite annoy me (as I found out on my S2. However, I managed to virtually get rid of it by installing another launcher). The Z3 is, besides the camera, such a joy to work with, so if not 'necessary', I'd rather not part with it. So, that is also why I'm desperately finding ways to be alright with the camera. That remains difficult though, when I (still) hardly can see an improvement over my S2-camera.

Again, the video quality is something that still has the potential to keep me in the Z3-camp, so to speak. I just saw a video though, that praises its daytime video recording (and gives it the edge over the IP6), but slams its autofocus abilities while recording video (well, compared to the IP6). So, I'm trying to find out if there's a way, software/app-wise, to speed up this process. Anyway, the judge is still out on wether I want to keep the Z3 or ditch it for something else. Partly because I cannot really decide on which phone would be a (significantly) better alternative, (still + motion) camera-wise (that would not make me regret the move, because of a host of other problems).

I have tried this. It didn't make that much of a difference, to be honest. And I still got the color aberrations in the actual videos (if not shooting in cloudy WB-mode, that is).

Yep, that's what it comes down to, I'm afraid. :) Nobody here will probably have the end-all argument or opinion for me. Well, if a thread like this would exist for Z3's video [recording] it would have been a bit easier. (Now, the only thing left for me to do is make a huge amount of vids, trying out each and every setting, and every possible tweak and app to see if I can be happy with it and if the result will be satisfying enough on a big screen tv...). But some compromise or other will have to be made regardless...

Thanks for all your thoughts in any case!

---------- Post added at 11:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 PM ----------

I would have happily lived with a bulge or a slightly thicker phone if this would have improved the image quality. What a sham(e)...