yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cb474:
I don't know. People can be very smart and technically proficient and have bad judgement. Essential has made a lot of bad choices, not just with the camera.

But, more importantly, I think that Essential has been clear that they are obsessed with the perfectly flat back being some kind of great design accomplishment, It's one of the features of the phone they mention all the time at promotional events. I really don't care about it and I see a lot of people saying the same thing. It's the screen (and very secondarily the titanium and ceramic materials) that make the Essential Phone stand out. But they seem to really think the flat back is some kind of amazing thing. So my impression is that the desire for a flat back drove the decision to use the dual camera setup, and try to get good low light photography and better detail in general that way, rather than do the obvious thing and use better hardware in the form of a 1/2.3 sensor (like all of the best phone cameras, U11, Pixel, S8).

I also really don't see what Qualcomm gets out of pushing their Clear Sight technology on companies. The benefit is to Sony who gets to sell two sensors, instead of one. But Clear Sight seems to be just another thing that Qualcomm has stuffed into their chipset to attract customers. They don't, as far as I know, get extra money for these things. Their strategy is just to put as much functionality as possible in their chipset (whether or not every phone uses them) to make the chipset more attractive to potential customers.

So, I just don't think it adds up. It is far more plausible that Essential made their own design decisions about the phone and the camera and not that component manufacturers forced them into those decisions.

---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:13 PM ----------

That seems largely if not entirely like a gimmick. They say the special self-healing skin can go up against a "brass brush." Brass is actually fairly soft on the Mohs scale of hardness, about 3. The Gorilla Grass on the front and the ceramic on the back both are resistant to much harder materials than that, before they scratch. About 8 or 9 for the ceramic and 6 or 7, I think, for the glass. I wouldn't be worrying about scratches too much with the Essential Phone. I would worry about the ceramic back shattering, since the harder a material the more brittle it is. And in JerryRighEverything's drop test the screen shattered from a fairly small drop, so the Essential Phone may be more fragile than average in that regard.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] 808phoneaddict:
I think if anything, the need for a case is more so needed (at least bumper type) because of the easily shattering screen. Altho, technically I think most phones today all have that same gorilla glass 5 so they should all be as vulnerable to shattering
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cb474:
How the screen is seated in the frame of the phone, the way the bevels around the screen are constructed, the way the sides of the phone are constructed, and the internal structure of the phone can all make a difference in how well the screen survives a fall, even if it's the same Gorilla Glass 5 material.

Anyway, the first instance of a broken ceramic back has turned up on reddit, from someone who didn't even drop the phone. Since ceramic is more fragile to shattering, I still think in the long run it is much more likely to be the thing that breaks more for Essential Phone users on average. Time will tell.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] 808phoneaddict:
Yeah I seen that... Guy said he puts it in his front pocket, made me wonder if it was a pressure thing as u sit when it's in your front pocket I can see it putting pressure on the top and bottom of the phone... Could have been a defective phone also with a weak spot... Not sure... Like you said, only time will tell...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
Here is a post they made on Facebook to someone's question about the camera update...

"...we'll add new features (e.g. Portrait Mode) as well as improve camera performance (e.g. image processing speed, time in between shots) on an ongoing basis. These improvements will be added to the existing camera features that include dual sensor image fusion for rich and detailed images, dedicated monochrome images using the monochrome sensor, 4K video, slow motion video and burst mode for rapid capture of stills. Thanks for your interest in Essential!"
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] takertx:
There is also that heft and weight behind the smaller size of the Essential phone while falling on its face which causes it to crack easier. Where a phone such as Galaxy S8 or the Note 8 with the same glass might not crack so easily mainly to being lighter and the weight distribution being wider compared to the frame size

---------- Post added at 04:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:22 AM ----------

You care to share a link to that post? I looked for it on but couldn't find it myself

thanks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] 808phoneaddict:
Seen it in reddit. Sorry still learning to use reddit, can't find it just yet
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cb474:
But I think the internal frame of the phone (not just the external edge) is also made of titanium making the phone very stiff. I believe JerryRigEverthing tried to bend the phone in his first video about it on YouTube and showed how hard it was to bend. I could be wrong, but I think the Essential Phone should be less prone to this sort of damage. Unless the ceramic is just incredibly sensitive to any flexing.

That's a good point. I hadn't thought of that. All things being equal, a lighter phone will have less mass and so less force when it strikes the ground.

Here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/essential/comments/6zqqyu/crack_on_back_despite_zero_drops_normal_usage/

---------- Post added 14th September 2017 at 12:06 AM ---------- Previous post was 13th September 2017 at 11:56 PM ----------

So basically they are saying, in and undetermined future we will add features. And then they repeat claims about the camera that have been disproven universally in every review: "dual sensor image fusion for rich and detailed images" (except that reviews show the images are much noiser than other flagship phones, both in daylight and especially in low light); "burst mode for rapid capture of stills" (except that the app is incredibly slow and more likely to crash). Repeating how great the camera is, when it has been shown so clearly to be mediocre by every reviewer, only compounds the appearance of dishonesty and PR jibberish on Essential's part. And annoucing that things will be better in the future sounds like empty promises in the hopes that people will buy the phone now.

Essential should be apologizing for how bad the camera is, admit that it may never be that great due to a bad choice to use small sensors, and actually release fixes rather than talk about them. When you get caught out in a lie, coming clean is always the better move.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] 808phoneaddict:
Essential camera app, then Google camera app. No real difference. Taken while at a Stoplight so any blur is more likely from my rush to take it than anything else
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] warea:
Expecting the camera to be as good as the top i.e. Samsung, iPhone, Pixel on first try is kind of wishful, and comparison to a budget Xiaomi is unfair. How is the camera relative to Huawei's P series ? Is the camera hardware as good, better or weaker ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
Not bad at all!

https://twitter.com/jeramiikun/status/908685425853771781
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tw1tch175:
The asphalt is pure noise in the second picture. The leaves on the trees are also harsh and really don't look right.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dca1970:
I think camera is going to be fine.. Just needs some tweaks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] maltydog:
I have had the phone since Wednesday, got latest update. I was using the default camera today and I tried to take a lot of pictures in succession by holding down the camera button. It took a few, then the phone froze. I couldn't get it to respond to any of the buttons. I even pressed the power button with the up and down volume arrows, and nothing happened. The phone was also getting very hot. With my previous phones (my last before this was the Note 4) at this point I would've popped off the back and removed and replaced the battery, but obviously you can't do that with this one. I finally realized that if I held down the power button for a full ten seconds, the phone would finally shut down, which I did and restarted. Anyway, seems to be working okay now, but I will hold off trying a photo burst again.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] graffixnyc:
It looks good like that, but once you zoom in it gets noisy. The buildings aren't clear really and a lot of detail is lost. If this had been taken with a pixel or like cam, you would see all the detail in the buildings when you zoom in.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Symphony0fLife:
To be fair though that happens with almost any phone when you pixel peep, even the Google Pixel. My S8+ that I keep as a backup is noisy even when a shot is taken in ideal conditions if you go full size and actually start to really look.

Folks that want crystal clear images even when pixel peeping need something like a good professional grade DSLR, not ANY mobile phone camera.

I wouldn't be too worried yet on the photo quality and camera app anyway. While the S8+ hasn't improved for me at all since launch, my daily driver OnePlus 5 now beats it in outdoor daylight shots and in many other circumstances too automatic shot for automatic shot. Pro mode still goes to the S8+ however. Software updates can do a lot, or they can do little. Time will tell but there is hope.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] phonematicus:
Does anyone know if they have included a panorama mode with the camera after the updates ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] dpackerz:
Not part of stock camera app still. Works with Google camera.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] graffixnyc:
one of these I took the other night when I was on the Statan Island ferry and then the other of the American Stock Exchange downtown. Taken with the Google camera mod
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jerflash:
Ya those don't seem that good at all... long way to go. I really wish we had a word on the LG v30 release already
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] liquidDroid:
This was taken from a slow moving vehicle on the south side of town.

I thought it was decent, all things considering.

(Don't know why it's rotated?)
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] liquidDroid:
Here's another.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Azdian:
most day light shots look decent, try the camera now in low light or indoors.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] largeselection:
Definitely improved after they released the update to the camera, but still not as good as the pixel camera. Half the time my double click power button to launch camera freezes and then I have to wait for the camera app to crash before I can get it to work again. By then the efficiency gain I was probably looking for by using double click to launch is way gone. I also find the images to be OK, but not great. I agree when you zoom in on these pictures they aren't as sharp and look more painterly. A picture I took of a friend's face in good lighting with this camera and then with the pixel - the essential picture when zoomed in looked soft and lacked details, the pixel picture when zoomed in I could see individual eyelashes. Obviously there was some noise in both, but there was no way close to seeing eyelashes on the essential pic. I also noticed the picture file size was different with the essential pic coming in <1mb and the pixel pic coming in ~3.5mb...

Did anyone land on a much better camera app to use that they think works better? And if so, can that camera app be mapped to the double click to launch activity?

Last - for anyone with the 360 camera accessory - do you find the picture quality of 360 photos to be really blurry and not great? I mean I can see the picture, but there is a ton of noise even not zoomed in. I find the video quality to be much better for some reason. The 360 photos are also very small file sizes for all the detail that they should contain. Is there some setting that I missed or something where I can specify what quality pic I want to take???
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] liquidDroid:
I just don't think I can buy into some of the arguments ppl are using against this camera. Why use zoom when you can just get closer. If your shot isn't properly illuminated then you probably shouldn't take the shot. If those two factors are met and you still get a bad picture, get a different camera. That's MO

Ansel Adams Quotes

‘A good photograph is knowing where to stand.’
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] LastQuark:
The camera is actually very good. I'm getting better shots than the Google Camera App.

Photos below are resized significantly by xda. The original photos looks very sharp.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Symphony0fLife:
A lot of mobile "photographers" don't know what they're talking about to be honest. For example I have the PH-1, OP5 and S8+ personally. One was praised wildly and the other two have been widely panned. If they're all in broad daylight the shots are literally indistinguishable from each other. If you pixel peep on ANY of them the photos are equally noisy and have a very nearly identical "watercolor" look with HDR on. With HDR off, none have it and photos actually come out miles better when pixel peeping. In low light the S8+ IS better but only VERY slightly. With flash, all are identical again. Pro mode is missing on the PH-1 so far, but it works equally as good between the OP5 and the S8+. The portrait mode on the S8+ is better by a hair than on the OP5 but being that this is just a gimmick and photo editing apps do a better job than either, who cares? I've posted several examples online to a few professional photography groups on Facebook lately to see if anyone could tell the difference on a wide range of photos and NO ONE was able to accurately guess which photo was taken with which phone. That says it all to me.

Mobile phones are taking the place of point and shoot Kodak disposables. Anyone that buys a phone thinking they're getting something even remotely professional is an idiot. The only way to go if one REALLY cares about the quality of their photos is a proper DSLR with thousands of dollars in gear. It will be that way for the next decade or two. People hype this or that but so far in the real world most of the time it comes down to brand loyalty and Kool-Aid drinking. Nothing else.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] IronRoo:
Update to Google camera port

https://www.xda-developers.com/google-camera-hdr-customization-raw-support/
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bill3508:
Kind of liked this. Playing around with the gcam settings some.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bill3508:
Another.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] TheDethEgineer:
Taken with stock camera. I think it looks fine.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] lsmith1981:
Thank you for this. I get tired of explaining this to people. I keep asking the question " what makes a good smartphone camera and or picture?", and no one can never answer me.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kevinlevrone:
Any opinions about the new firmware NMI81C and the new and improved Camera application ? Any tangible changes in picture quality and shutter lag ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Azdian:
Still the Google camera app gives better low light pictures than the Essential camera app.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] TheDethEgineer:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vfB2YfUSp5JLqBpH2

Some pictures with the latets OS build (81C) and camera .073
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] makapav:
It looks promising considering the challenging environment. I wish you had paired up with a friend (say iPhone, Pixel, S7/8) to also take pictures at the same time for some idea of what percentage of shots turned out better compared to taken.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] TheDethEgineer:
Yeah that would have been great. Still the photos I thinks are good, and the video has a good sound quality also
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] flakko86:
woah woah OT, but is that andrew WK??
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] liquidDroid:
I think the camera is okay and getting better. It's not the killer app yet but at least Essential is trying a different approach.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Elias_grodin:
Hi all, thanks for this thread. I am thinking to buy the Essential Phone from Hong Kong. I just would like to know how the camera in this phone (with GCAM or the Essential Camera app) would compare to that in Nexus 6P where I am coming from in terms of photography. I am very impressed with the overall performance of the camera in Nexus 6P especially the low light photography. Many thanks in advance.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Final-Mac:
Messing around at work with the mono camera. I like the outcome.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] FL0OD:
Test Shots
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] paniro187:
Here
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] danbrown162:
Will this camera eventually take portrait shots???
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Goronok:
Your guess is as good as anyone else's. The hardware is certainly capable.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] alnova1:
Taken with the stock camera app...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] alnova1:
Taken with the Google Camera port...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] WilliamStern:
Just picked up this phone yesterday due to it's new great price. Been enjoying it very much I must say.

Here are some photos I've taken with it so far...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QIlQosQyXnXAOF1z2
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Slash8915:
Were these taken with the stock camera app, or the G-cam port?

---------- Post added at 09:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 AM ----------

Huh... The differences between these and the ones you took using the stock app really aren't as dramatic as I thought they'd be.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] WilliamStern:
They were all taken with the stock camera app.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] sarcoptic:
Curious to hear what others are using for their gcam settings. I have been trying the G6 user recommendations (better testing pool and similar sensor to ours). It varies too much from light to day...just wish there was an overall setting that was descent across the board.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/01/e...deal-in-smartphones-thanks-to-camera-updates/
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
New camera update. 1.082 from play store.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
Taken with Google cam

Taken with 1.082
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] maven1975:
Still terrible

Essential vs Gcam (Essential is the first one)
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] KERKEDAGAIN:
To ensure an accurate comparison..did you take the shot w/ HDR on the essential cam?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] derrick_12341:
Anyone got some lowlight shots with the Google camera apk?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jonathanlc2005:
I used simple camera and it produces a larger image
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mazubo:
Here's a picture in quite d dim lighting using g camera. I didn't make any tweaks, just downloaded the APK, then snapped a few shots..
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] vergilbt:
What are your settings from gcam?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] pialletti:
Genoa is the harbor at night.https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/z...-_btopfkdGwlnQfXjRsdgmdLRNA=w4160-h3120-rw-no
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jonathanlc2005:
Black and White at night. The one photo I look in the field is light pollution in the backround
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] derrick_12341:
That doesn't look bad at all. The wood looks a little muddy but that's no big deal
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mazubo:
The wood is actually pretty spot on. It's that Ikea grey brown color :)
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] pialletti:
genoa is the harbor at night [IMG="genoa"]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zEou25VUHPumS7vsfBbLSgW6ZdRQSjdBucQGV17yHH8IjzOkoxU2-_btopfkdGwlnQfXjRsdgmdLRNA=w4160-h3120-rw-no[/IMG]
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kolembo:
but..... These pictures look great!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] bullfrog527:
Rainy day in Chicago. Google camera app
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jonathanlc2005:
Bars, cars, and a flash of the tar.

Seems like the black and white is the best part of the camera but besides the graininess I don't see much wrong with the night photos like you guys unless I'm wrong on something
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ampink7756:
I have taken some great pictures with the Google camera mod, but unfortunately I cannot post them here yet until I'm no longer a noob...?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Symphony0fLife:
Honestly it's pretty good for photos despite what early reviews would have one believe. The hardware is there, the app just sucks. The HDR+ port brings it up to where it should be. Better than where it should be really for the current price.

A lot of people make a really big stink about mobile photography. Being a person that uses a ton of phones through work, it's mostly just bandwagon hype and fan stuff. I've found that you can show people who rail on and on about a given phone versus another photos taken in identical conditions of the same subject from two different phones and they can't tell which phone took what photo at a rate better than random chance unless they pixel peep and see a side by side comparison. And even then the rate isn't much better than random chance if better at all.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jonathanlc2005:
I used the essential camera app, I don't see anything wrong with the camera but I would like to know what you see
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jonathanlc2005:
A few more
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
The camera is updated. Less compression and portrait mode now. Anyone willing to test it?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] juggaknot77:
Loving portrait mode on the Essential!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] funkthat:
Nice pics!

Did you adjust the the slider at all for these shots?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Murbert:
I'm really liking the results with the Essential camera app, especially monochrome.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] juggaknot77:
Nope just played with lighting a little, kept a steady hand and took the shot. Very happy with the results.

---------- Post added at 01:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 AM ----------

Wow! Now we're talking, this one is good...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] combat goofwing:
First attempt at portrait mode, believe me when I say I'm rubbish at camera stuff ,I literally am point and shoot
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Jahdiel2011:
Portrait Mode Rocks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] indian84:
XMas in Qatar

[IMG="X Mas"]https://photos.app.goo.gl/EgivEGAF8SRc0Nhz2[/IMG]
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] combat goofwing:
2 portrait mode one in good light one in poor light