yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
As I said, I had Xperia 5 II - couldn't stand it for more that 1 month. Luckily I sold it quickly enouth and avoided huge money loss. I would mention another fatal flaw of Xperia 5 II which I found straight away when I copied data from Pixel 4. Xperia screen appeared to be noticeably worse than the one on Pixel 4.

I personally prefer computational power over hardware since it's clear that powerful hardware (on a smartphone with tiny lenses) doesn't guarantee excellent photo quality and Sony proved it twice :). Modern Compotational photography means natural, true to life photos, corrected and processed the way to reproduce the picture as close as possible to what we see with our eyes. You can put into the phone the best hardware available in the world but you will never get any good photos without computational power / proper post processing. You can't cheat basic physics laws by hardware only having such miniscule lenses and sensors.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
I agree that computational photography is good but I disagree completely with comment that it produces natural true to life close to what we see with eyes photos, it actually creates punchy high contrast photos which look better (to most but not me) but far from natural.

We can have this debate for long but still I am loving that extra manual control I get with Photo Pro. Now Normal Camera can be improved but it is not like it is useless.

And you can't cheat physics laws by hardware only but same is true for software only. Software is just a top layer but you definitely need good hardware for that software to work.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
Just a friendly advice, get the very first Pixel 1 (~$50 now), make few shots and compare it with $1k Xperia 1 II / 5 II. I was shoked to be honest. Sure Xperia has cool Photo Pro app with tons of manual settings. I played with them a lot, than spent quite long enough time with Lightroom but unfortunately I was unable to come close to what Pixel does it full auto. And it's underdstandable. Behind the Pixel's software magic is the work of dozens of programmers. So the Google Pixel can cheat the physics for sure!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
Can you give comparison photos to prove your point?
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
I have few comparison shots to show. And I have a hell of a lot pretty bad photos came from Xperia 5 II using Proto Pro app and with HDR on when it was obvious to use it. First couple of shots taken by Xperia 5 II and Pixel 4. I can tell you that berry and foliage color in real life was exactly like on Pixel shot. Several other shots are taken in condition a bit different from perfect (which is not a problem for Pixel, LG V series or iPhone). Just look at the Sony Xperia "quality". I couldn't believe my eyes. I even didn't include the photos of the people at overcast / early evening conditions..... And trust me, these examples aren't just one off shots at all.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
Hmm interesting, though your pixel photo look high on contrast your Xperia 5 II looks bit washed out, either you have faulty camera or something is amiss in your Xperia 5 II.

I will post comparison photos from my Xperia 5 II (Normal vs Photo Pro) along with Pixel 4a 5G when I get time but definitely my Xperia 5 II is in close competition with Pixel(can't beat computational photography though) and I get bit more control with Photo Pro where Pixel lags in certain situations.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
Aha-ha-ha-ha! Everytime I post crappy photos coming out of expensive Xperia flagship phones someone always suggests that I have got a faulty unit :). That's not the case here. And I'm not even a rookie who was born yesterday and grabbed the camera for the first time. I can assure you that half of photos came out of X5II where like that - out of focus, blurry, blurry parts of the photo (especially further from the centre), overexposed or underexposed, blown out highlights, horrible lens flares, chromatic abberations, "oil painting" at low light etc. Having all generations of Pixel phones in the past (except Pixel 5) I never ever saw something like that regardless of shakeness of my hands or anything else. I'm sorry but I think Sony just laughing at us.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
And what is your phone model for Xperia 5 II?

I am not pro but I am able to take good photos without fiddling around much. As I mentioned earlier after A11 camera looks improved to me.

You can laugh it out but if my photos were washed out I would be most concerned to the point that I would return/replace the phone which is not the case.

If Xperia 5 II's camera is indeed worst then how many professional photographers are praising it?
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
Just standard XQ-AS52 on Android 11. I don't want to say that I didn't get any good photos from it at all. I said that outcome around 50-60%% good photos is not good enough for $940 camera-focused smartphone. I had the same issues with Xperia 5 (I had two of them:)) and Xperia 1. All "professional photographers" praised Xperia phones just for money. They had been paid for it, no doubts. Also I can't see a real pro protographer using .... a smartphone to take shots. Finally it seems that Alpha team deliberately messed with Xperia cameras to not undermine real Alpha camera sales or it's just a marketing trick :).

P.S: I can't claim warranty for this phone because it was parrallel imported - Sony doesn't sell smartphones in my country as well as in the many others. I think Sony is selling their phones in a handful of countries around the world - the fingers of your hand might be enough to name them. Actually most people don't even realize that Sony make phones :).
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] robi101012981:
You're 100% right, I also have AS52 and I'm very disappointed regarding the camera quality coming from the P30 pro, and I'm thinking to replace it with a Find X2 Pro cause it's on the same price range with Xperia 5 II. Too bad that the cameras are awful, otherwise it's an impressive phone
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
Mine is XQ-AS62 and here are some photos for comparison. First 3 are from Pixel 4a 5G. Next 4 from Xperia 5 II normal Camera. Further are from Photo Pro on Program Auto with Ev adjustment on low ISO. Second last 2 are from Normal Camera vs Photo Pro to show where Photo Pro is useful.

Now Pixel ones are not how blossom, tree or boat looked but bit punchy high contrast ones. Normal Camera from Xperia looks good mostly. And on Photo Pro you need time to adjust everything. The final one is from Normal camera where I was not able see anything due to bright light but camera did a decent job.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] robi101012981:
I think you're just lucky...Mine just refuses to focus correctly on the subjects, so I don't know what to say about this device...And maybe AS52 it's worse than AS62, idk..
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
Could be, do you know in which country your phone was made in? I believe mine says Made in Thailand.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] robi101012981:
I just looked into the box and it says ,,Made in Thailand", so yeah...
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
Pixel did better job in any single shot :). I don't know how you evaluate the photos, mate. Sure all photos look fantastic on a smartphone screen. But on a proper 24" high quality IPS display I clearly see Xperia "quality". Just have a good look at the photo number 3 with a tree by the pound. Xperia's shot is blurry and lacks of details at least. Just double click at the photo and zoom in a bit. You will see the difference. Pixel's photo is much sharper and more detailed. I'm sorry but Xperia delivers photos look exactly like any $200 cheap Chinese lower midrange phone can do. Another example - have a good look at the mess below tree brunches of two evening shots. This is not what $940 smartphome should do.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] robi101012981:
View attachment 5271561

This is the only decent photo that I get from my 5 II, but after a lot of tries and after I edited the RAW in Lightroom
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
True! Pixel did better job but those are not natural real to eye photo. Xperia ones looks real to eyes. My point being Xperia has better hardware but need improvement in Software area (things like giving touch screen button for phot capture in Photo Pro and bit more post processing which will work in low light too). I know Xperia lacks details at times but it's improved on A11 and hoping that it will improve over the time. And the photos at eve was for comparison purpose and in low light Xperia still struggles but I wanted to show when Photo Pro is useful.

If you think $200 phone can do what Xperia can, good luck, go for it (y)

I am reasonably satisfied with 5 II (although wished it should have costed hundred bucks less)
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
I tried hard to be satisfied with Xperia 5 II camera system but gave up. It's not worth it. Images are just inferior even to bloody $50 Pixel 1! And they aren't true to life, natural to my opinion at all. My eyes see brighter, much more sharper and detailed picture - closer to what Pixel or latest Samsung devices deliver. Sure I got few amazing photos from Xperia 5 II but in good light conditions only. Anything different from that, early evening for instance, and the image quality's falling down dramatically - wrong colours, details, dark areas, everything.

Finally Sony is not known for fast updates / fixes like Samsung or OnePlus. So no hope. They even abandoned not that old Xperia 5 which is still on Android 10 (!). Meanwhile 6 years old iPhone 6s is running the latest iOS 14.2 smoothly and makes quite decent photos in good light I'd say - certainly not miles away from Xperia 5 II!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
One more thing I found out recently that due to my "Caseology Vault" case I was not able to press shutter button smoothly and that was causing some shake in camera which in term was resulting in bit blurry images (specially on Photo Pro), I am now working it around using 3 sec timer (can't change case as it already proving a good one for safely and cutouts). After using workaround Photo quality is more increased and as always images look more natural.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
I totally agree in that some people definitely need artificial intelligence and computational photography. Their dream is a totally controlled point-and-shoot camera that takes great photos. I am having more fun with my Xperia 5 II than I had with any of my Pixels or my Huawei P30 pro. The Pixels and the Huawei took great photos. Now, when I take a great photo, I had some input.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
I went through four cases before I found one that worked. The first, the Caseolody, was bad on multiple counts but the worst was it rendered the shutter button useless. I cut the case away from the shutter button and lived with that till I found a case that worked by both giving me good grip and use of the shutter button.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
I'd say most people need AI and computational photography implemented properly on an expensive smartphone / camera-phone. This is one of the points of actually having this device handy everywhere you go. If I wanna spend time taking photos, play with manual settings, modes, use editing tools like Lightroom afterwards etc, I use proper DSLR camera instead of a smartphone.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
I'm glad you have a system that meets your needs. So do I. It is nice to have choices.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
I don't have DSLR and not planning on getting one anytime soon. Xperia 5 II works best in combination of AI(Computational photography) vs Manual control and even though I would like more AI improvements(specially in low light), PRO mode is unique and works best when you can't get what you desired from AI.

If you have DSLR and you don't want to spend time on Camera phone go for Pixel or similar ones but don't just say that PRO mode is not useful and AI is the only way forward. Sony is doing very good with the improvements 👍
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
AI is clearly missing on Xperia devises or it's poorly implemented at least. That's the problem.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
Fortunately, those who desperately need AI have plenty of phones to pick from. I 'm glad those of us who want it have one phone to look at.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
It's not missing as in proper light condition Photos from Basic Camera Apps are coming very nicely but it differs as per taste. I love this phone more than Pixel 4a 5G.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
Okay then. Good luck with it. You will really need it. Especially when light condition different from ideal. Cheers!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
Why would you think I need it? I have a tripod, over 55 years of enjoying taking photos, and I enjoy the challenge. I realize a challenge is no fun if you always lose.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] WarVic:
I think there is something very wrong with your head if you believe that carrying tripod with you for taking pictures with a smartphone is a good idea, sorry. :) It does look like fighting with wind mills (you might remember Don Quixote guy :)) rather than challenge. What's the point to have this "challenge"? Life is too boring, need to kill plenty of time?? Cheers!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
I understand your need for AI. That's it. Enjoy. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy taking photos with my Xperia 5 II.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] dankcuddlybear:
It's a nice phone, but I think it is in some ways a downgrade from my previous phone (XZ1 compact). I wouldn't recommend it at all. Here's why:

- It's a lot thinner, which means the side-mounted fingerprint sensor has a smaller surface area. It hardly ever works, especially if you have big, meaty fingers like me. When you're told to "wipe the fingerprint sensor and try again" you know they ****ed up. It might as well not even be there. Why couldn't they have gone with a rear-mounted sensor like on the XZ2 and XZ3?

- It's also a lot taller, but is just as wide, which means that the on-screen keyboard is just as cramped but it's still too big and it's a lot harder to reach elements at the top of the screen (like the pulldown menu). Some people call this a compact phone but I disagree with them.

- The vibration and haptic feedback just doesn't seem flagship quality to me.

- Since this is still a recent device, there isn't much support for modding. The only TWRP build available is very buggy and cannot backup/restore or flash ROMs.

- It's extremely slippery. It keeps sliding off the table and I'm scared it might fall down and get broken.

- The camera is extremely good. But you have three seperate apps for taking photos and videos! You HAVE to use the CInema pro app to shoot in 4K 60FPS. There's no 4K 120FPS option, which is a wasted oppurtunity since the phone has a 120Hz display and I also have a computer with a 144Hz display. I've tried ten different camera apps and none of them could shoot 60FPS or 120FPS video due to Sony's unique hardware. Also, there's no proper night mode unless you use Photo Pro. Why couldn't they have combined them into one camera app to take full advantage of the hardware? At least a 4K60 or 4K120 option, night mode and manual focus built into the camera app.

It has a lot of good qualities, like the 120Hz display and the superfast processor, but those features alone does not make it worth buying. It's great for playing games and for making professional looking videos, but that's about all I can think of. I don't recommend it as a daily driver at all. I eventually returned mine after less than a week of use.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
Please, keep in mind I'll be eighty this year, have short-stubby fingers, and am not a phone tech or expert.

Personally, I would prefer the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone like the Pixel. However, I've never had to "wipe the sensor". I've gotten that message twice and ignored it and the next touch worked. I occasionally get, "You've touched the sensor too many times" when I've only touched it once.

The phone is taller than some but it has a one-hand mode that shrinks it down and to one side. Personally, I don't do one-handed with the phone. I have seen guys playing with the phone while they're moving on a motorcycle. I recently recovered from mt latest crash and I've never used the phone when moving--walking, driving, riding, or skydiving.

I know what haptic feedback is but I rarely feel it on any phone. I don't notice it on this one but I don't really care.

I obviously don't do modding, beyond the launcher, and don't know what a TWRP might be.

I have been taking photos since 1962 and thoroughly enjoy Photo Pro. I don't do videos. I find Photo Pro to be a hoot. I'll take cameras less sophisticated and Photo Pro over Huawei P30 pro.

I wasn't awere the Xperia had a night mode anywhere. I don't want one.

As for slippery--my god it's terrible. I swear it has feet so it can fall off a flat surface. I usually lay my phone down on a folded microfiber cloth and it waits till I turn around to jump onto the floor. But, since I dropped my first phone on the second day I had it and got a chip from gravel on the screen, I've always used a case, and a holster.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
Amazon lost the records of when I bought my Xperia 5 II but I bought my case in mid-January. So, it's been roughly a year. I've watched the Xperia 1 III come out and the Xperia 5 III and neither intrigue me. The Xperia 1 Pro-i does but the price doesn't. After a year, I'm still very happy with my Xperia 5 II. I'm happier than ever there is a few options from one company for those who don't want an Artificial Intelligence device to take photos for them.

My only two irritations with the Xperia 5 II is the screen brightness or lack thereof and updates. Other than that, I'm having a great time taking photos. I used the basic Camera App when I first got it to see what it would do but after a few photos I set the phone to open with PhotoPro and I really never looked back.

I did download updates to PhotoPro. I don't no if you call them bootleg or unauthorized but they didn't come from Sony. I'm using 1.3.A.0.24 now and it works fine. Sony should be sending the updates for Photography Pro out to users of Xperia 1 & 5 II.

When it comes to enjoying taking photos, my Xperia can't be beat.

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[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] nikocc:
I touch the phone more than my girlfriend 😉. With the case of

Caseology Vault is works great. And since today with Android 12...​
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] Cptnfruitloops:
How do you install the updates to photo pro?
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] patrickt:
I'm 80-years-old and since I'm mostly deaf I was a late arrival with smartphones. I copy the APK file available from XDA and install it. I'm sure someone will add details to this. My only caveat is my last update didn't work until I cleared the caches before installing.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] MrN1484:
I used to get so fed up with the 5 ii, until I bought a Pixel 6. All of the reviews make little mention of the fact that it's an ok camera, which is amazing in low and imperfect light although a bit too HDR-y in other instances, but a terrible buggy mess as a whole.

The P6 has a fingerprint sensor that works 1/100 times, drops calls for a passtime, disconnects from Bluetooth and Wifi and just feels janky and weird. At one point (December update I think) it wouldn't even make calls and the only fix was to unlock the bootloader to install the previous updates Modem firmware. Unforgiveable. And it is so heavy in the pocket.

The 5ii I have is an AS72 which made me think if that was the issue I had with O2 in the UK, I had to speak to them when I first got the phone to get them to enable VoLTE and VoWifi but I never had Visual Voicemail. So, after my P6 experience I googled swapping firmwares on the Sony phone, found a guide on Reddit and flashed AS52 on my 72.

As soon as I rebooted and logged in I got the text from O2 enabling Visual Voicemail and I was up and running, reception was better (1-2 bars to 3-4 bars) and I rarely drop calls now. It still shows 256gb of storage too.

And I started to enjoy taking pictures again, the 5 ii is flawed but fun and it makes you work for a decent picture sometimes, the Pixel 6 could pull out some good pictures reliably but you never feel engaged in the process, I do miss the low light performance though...

The P6 is sold and I'm back to the 5ii, the screen, SD card, speaker quality and fingerprint are easy to under estimate until you get something inferior.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
You're a power user. Can the Sony Xperia 5 II keep up? Rate this thread to express how "healthy" the development scene is for the Sony Xperia 5 II. A higher rating indicates available root methods, kernels, and custom ROMs.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] Undead_Son:
The phone has been released for a month now, but there are 0 development threads. In the past I owned phones like HTC HD2 and Pocophone F1, 5 II is my first Sony smartphone. Ever since the HD2, development has been one of the most important things when buying a phone to me, but this time I didn't see a lot of options. Now I'm worried I won't be able to use the 5 II to it's full potential.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] Mackay53:
Lol should of done your research on Sony Development before getting the phone
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] Undead_Son:
Like I said, Sony seemed like the only way to go. I hate big screens, I'll never use Exynos and I'm done with giving my money to chinese corporations.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
Would you say that the Sony Xperia 5 II is "fast" in day-to-day use? A higher rating indicates that you think the Sony Xperia 5 II exhibits fantastic performance. Like, is it as fast as your tears when you watch The Titanic?

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] lokto7:
Just fast. Once you go 120Hz there's no turning back. Butter smooth everywhere!
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] Yakkosmurf:
The phone is very quick and responsive. I agree that once you turn on the 120Hz refresh rate, you'll quickly get used to it. The phone has excellent battery life, so I just leave the 120Hz on. It easily makes it through the whole day, so why not?
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] XperiAve:
I actually do not see a noticeable difference between 60 and 120 Hz, so I just leave it at 60 Hz.

Overall speed is lovely only the cam sucks (too slow).
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] Federico Bonomo:
Impossible, 120Hz is a lot more fluid than 60Hz
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] PPGX5II:
Same here for refresh rate. On camera part though I use more of Photo Pro and just getting the hang of it(The way to get control over photos is awesome!)

I too don't see much difference in scrolling but definitely it drains battery a lot so I also kept the toggle off.
[Sony Xperia 5 II Real Life Review] XDA_RealLifeReview:
OMG! Kim K posted another selfie with tons of cleavage! Rate this thread to express how quickly apps launch on the Sony Xperia 5 II. A higher rating indicates that even the most intensive apps launch quickly and without hesitation, even if they are no longer in RAM.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
[Touch Diamond, MDA Compact IV General] Wulffez:
Hey! Just transfered a video as I did record with my TD, but I can't play it on windows? It neither says how long the video is, or can see it..