I'm pretty interested in the Xperia Play because it has really nice specs for a phone considering the price, even ignoring the focus on gaming. Less than £180 new and sim-free is ridiculously good. Up till now I've been using a ZTE Blade, which is okay but the camera is terrible, sound is weak, and it can be sluggish at times. I know the camera and sound is going to be better because it's a Sony Ericsson phone, but some reviews really laid into the phone for the crashing and lag.
So this phone's been out a while now and I've been hearing that Sony Ericsson have actually made efforts to improve this phone. What's the situation nowadays? Much improved? Also, can this phone play Flash? Last question; I heard this phone is great for retro gaming but the relevant software for it is being systematically removed from the Android Market. Is this true?
The Play is an excellent phone. Not a hardware monster but who really needs it.
Personally I think the camera in the Play is very very bad. Both software and hardware. The software often frooze for me, and the images are a noise-reduction fest in anyting than optimal light situations. By the way my camera doesn't even work anymore it's that bad. Always freezes when taking a picture and it doesn't save the image. Lucky for me I never use the camera in the phone I have a DSLR for that.
I have not experienced any crashing or lagging at all. Not more than any other Android phone. It's very stable and SE's launcher is fast, simple and nice looking. The sound is also very good with stereo speakers. In the 2.3.4 update you also get an "x-loud" option which makes the speakers volume very high.
SE has recently officially stated that the Play will get updated to ICS, the new Android platform. SE has shown they are serious in the Android business as they have become the best there is when it comes to updating their phones.
You can still find good emulators in the market but most of them has been removed yes. Though you can still download them from the internet and then just install them anyway. So not much of a difference really.
Cheers that's what I was hoping to hear. The camera bit's worrying though, because the camera is unfortunately quite important to me; I too own a DSLR and a couple of point and shoots, all of which are comfortably sitting at home whenever I find myself wanting them. Does anyone else have this bad an experience with the camera? If so I'll have to give it a miss.
I've never had the camera crash at all and mine takes decent pictures for what it is, its definitely not as bad as buddy is making it sound. He might also just have one of those problem phones where everything systematically crashes over time. I think its a great phone for what it is I'm running the latest build of cm7.2 with a custom kernel oc'd @ 1.5ghz and I couldn't be happier
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
My Camera is pretty decent, Its nothing special but its not that bad.
The camera is pretty good for a 5mp, Much better than the 8mp in my old Desire HD, The camera flash works alright too. As for performance, Device performance is very good, the play lacks ram but makes up for it by having dual channel DDR2 ram. some emulators were removed from the market because the dev failed to keep to the GPL, but emu's like FPse are still there. also paulscode on xda is making an excellent port of a open source linux n64 emulator and has hinted when finished he will be looking at porting nullDC android.
Judge for yourself. I consider myself having pretty steady hands. At least with my DSLR.
In my opinion, this is very bad image quality with noise reduction all over the place.
http://dj-hostings.com/images/cam1.jpg
http://dj-hostings.com/images/cam2.jpg
http://dj-hostings.com/images/cam3.jpg
The camera is the only thing that has given me issues on my phone. They could have given us more of the Arc's software/hardware and it would be fine.
dannejanne said:
Judge for yourself. I consider myself having pretty steady hands. At least with my DSLR.
In my opinion, this is very bad image quality with noise reduction all over the place.
http://dj-hostings.com/images/cam1.jpg
http://dj-hostings.com/images/cam2.jpg
http://dj-hostings.com/images/cam3.jpg
The camera is the only thing that has given me issues on my phone. They could have given us more of the Arc's software/hardware and it would be fine.
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Really? You think that's BAD?? I thought your camera was gonna be crap, like this picture... http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/501783062_260b774424.jpg
ff7fan4eva said:
Really? You think that's BAD?? I thought your camera was gonna be crap, like this picture... http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/501783062_260b774424.jpg
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Yes I think that's bad. Maybe so I am spoiled by my DSLR and expecting too much. Not comparing the two though that's really unfair. I do not really take photos at all with mobile phones. To me the photos looks like a blur without any details. If all mobile phones have this photo quality then I can say I do not think any phone will have a "good" camera. Maybe that's just me.
For a phone, I think the camera quality is actually quite good. Maybe my Moto Backflip's camera is just that bad, but the PLAY's camera is 20x better than it (both are 5mp)
I'd say the Play's camera is pretty good and if you ever find the phone too slow, which you won't, you can easily crank it up with DoomLord's kernel quite easily.
dannejanne said:
The Play is an excellent phone. Not a hardware monster but who really needs it.
Personally I think the camera in the Play is very very bad. Both software and hardware. The software often frooze for me, and the images are a noise-reduction fest in anyting than optimal light situations. By the way my camera doesn't even work anymore it's that bad. Always freezes when taking a picture and it doesn't save the image. Lucky for me I never use the camera in the phone I have a DSLR for that.
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I take pictures also as a hobby with my SLR cam together with some of my friends who has SLR also.. but deymm, i never think that our phone has a crappy camera.. it takes somehow good picture using camera 360 app.. you said you are not comparing our phone's camera to a SLR cam, but that's what your doing..
TS, you can still get emulators here https://slideme.org/user/3168/applications/3168
I experienced lag on some few games coz i'm still on stock rom and locked BL, but not a big deal though for me..
Related
I have now owned the xda mini s (wizard) for about 3 weeks and i am very happy with it. I have made some personal changes to the device to customise it to my liking. But there is still one thing that really annoys me! The camera! To be honest i think its rubish! the quality is so poor. Before this phone I owned a samsung D500 and the camera on that was so much better. Iv tried changing settings and stuff but it does'nt seem to make much difference. Inside shots are the worst, which is understandable anyway because normaly the light is poor inside. But still i would of have thought it would of had been better than what it is.
Just wondering what other peoples thoughts on this? also is there anyway of improving this ie software update. :shock:
Camera on MDA XDA all units with opaque flash
These cameras are the worst I have ever seen on any phone. The flash on the camera can be used as a flash light digging for trash in the middle of the night but thats about it.
The quality of the pcitures are terrible. They have to improve these cmos cameras or put a translucent brighter flash with better iso features
Some people wrote here that the camera quality became better after upgrading ROM upto 2.16.
I don't see any improvements at all!
Im glade some people agree with me on this one!
I agree completely.
But it is also amasing that no commercial camerasoftware is made.
It should not be so hard to create better pictures than the **** we have now.
Very true!! the quality of the photos you get out of the XDA mini-s is very very poor for today digital world of photos.
Talking about the software, I don't think its so much the software, its the hardware itself embeded in the phone.
If you look at the back of the phone next to the camara lens and the floodlights, its says 1.3 mega pixel. I don't think that is true.
I compared grandads photos taken with his Agfa-45 analogue camara during the secound world war to one of XDA mini-s out-door photo, and I ccould not fine no diffrence, with the exception of the colour.
Above all the phone itself is pretty cool..
It might be 1.3 Mega pixel, but i did hear from a bloke that was into cameras and he said its not just how many pixels the qulity depends on, its mostly the lense. But yer its a cool phone
Any one else find that for a 5 Mega Pixel camera the desire takes some very good shots :O
"I did have a link to flickr here but as i'm new its not permitted "
Only thing is the focus can be a bit rubbish sometimes , like not being able to focus right on small things even very close up any one else find this ?
Takes quite good photos, though pretty much all current phones are the same. Most of them use the same chips, the biggest differences are in the software.
I'm a bit disappointed with the cam... in bright daylight everything is OK, but with low light there is a LOT of image noise.
You won't find a better camera, x01a4, unless you buy a Symbian phone. But you don't want that, do you?
x01a4 said:
I'm a bit disappointed with the cam... in bright daylight everything is OK, but with low light there is a LOT of image noise.
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Hi, manually set the "ISO" to 100 that should help with the "noise"
taking the back cover off also gives me a huge improvement whit the sharpness and quality of the photo.
Byerss said:
Any one else find that for a 5 Mega Pixel camera the desire takes some very good shots :O
"I did have a link to flickr here but as i'm new its not permitted "
Only thing is the focus can be a bit rubbish sometimes , like not being able to focus right on small things even very close up any one else find this ?
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I have the opposite; mine will only take good macro shots and everything else is very blurred. I don't use the camera any more, it's that bad.
Waiting to hear back from HTC...
I find my Desire's camera is shockingly awful.. all pics are dull. It really bothers me a lot since I used to have a c905 and the camera is excellent, no need for a separate camera. The reason I have a modern phone is so I dont have a need for any separate devices but this is something that is really bothering me about the Desire to the point that I might sell it and get a c905 or a Satio.
I'll miss android too much tho
If you want really great pictures go get a compact camera or DSLR it is after all a phone with a camera not a camera with a phone. Hee hee hee.... having said that a lot of phones on the market have cameras which take so so pictures only, not many phones are able to take nice pictures. This is mostly due to the software of the camera not so much the hardware part.
Hello all,
Do you think the issues with the Galaxy Nexus camera are due to software issues or is the camera sensor just really that bad? It seems that the low light capability of this camera is even worse than that of the Nexus S. I've never had any issues with my camera phones in the past producing such crap photos as the one this phone produces(HTC Sensation, Nexus S and original Nexus). I'm thinking about just going back to my Nexus S and selling this one.
I've attached two photos that someone posted on Google+ illustrating how bad the Galaxy Nexus compares to the Asus Transformer Prime's camera. This is really frustrating and if I were Google and/or Samsung, I'd be embarrassed.
Not the same angle, not the same focus point which impacts the validity of this comparison.
Also note that there is a little bit more detail in the more grainy shot. This is something that actually could be improved with a software update.
Valynor said:
Not the same angle, not the same focus point which impacts the validity of this comparison.
Also note that there is a little bit more detail in the more grainy shot. This is something that actually could be improved with a software update.
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Hmm...each picture look pretty close to the same angle. I'm more concerned with the graininess of the Galaxy Nexus photo. It seems that the camera's ISO is too high which is why it's producing a grainy picture.
oracleicom said:
Hmm...each picture look pretty close to the same angle. I'm more concerned with the graininess of the Galaxy Nexus photo. It seems that the camera's ISO is too high which is why it's producing a grainy picture.
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It mainly comes down to a balance of exposure time, ISO, picture quality level of the sensor at that ISO and noise reduction algorithms/general software post-processing of the image.
I agree that there is quite some room for improvement in this area on the GN camera. I hope Google/Samsung will address this in an update someday.
Apart from this, any phone camera sucks at low light.
I find the camera really good. The only thing I find kind of strange is how photo's look in a dim room with flash on close up.
Videos look godly
Coming from the SG2 the Nexus certainly is a step backwards. What has impressed me about the Nexus camera is the ability to focus and stay focused, and snap shots almost instantly. The SG2 has issues with focus and delays. In movie mode the SG2 would come in and out of focus even when I have not moved the phone at all. Taking photos of moving objects on the SG2 is a real challenge because of its inability to focus, but having said that the photos that are taken properly do come out very sharp and vibrant, especially given enough daylight.
So where the Nexus improved vastly on focus speed, it fails in image quality. Even in moderate light I see more than usual noise from photos taken with the Nexus.
I look forward to the SGIII.
I just remind myself that I'm taking pictures with a phone. So I don't care. I also have not had issues with photos. Especially when I remind myself, again, that I am using a phone to take pictures with.
mzrdisi said:
I just remind myself that I'm taking pictures with a phone. So I don't care. I also have not had issues with photos. Especially when I remind myself, again, that I am using a phone to take pictures with.
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Yeah dude, I agree. If I want yo take sick photo's, I'd use a camera anyway, even if the phone is the best "camera" phone on the market. Its for quick shots. I agree aswell that the Gnex could be better... But I've seen/used worse. = )
mzrdisi said:
I just remind myself that I'm taking pictures with a phone. So I don't care. I also have not had issues with photos. Especially when I remind myself, again, that I am using a phone to take pictures with.
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Amen!
That's why I lug a DSLR around with me when I go away for work.
REAL camera = photography, cell phone = phone with a point & shoot camera built into it.
For indoor pics just set your phone to Party preset. Works best.
You can get similar / better results by manually choosing the white balance and exposure settings depending on your light conditions. But for quick snaps, just select party mode and see the difference.
Camera is more than decent.
Personally I am using Camera Zoom FX for most of the time. But in certain low light conditions, stock camera app with party preset actually does much better job.
This is one of the worst camera I seen in years.
This is what really holds me back from buying a GN these days...I would be interested in your guys thoughts: Do you think that there will be some software based improvements within the next weeks? Or is it just the lense (or some hardware stuff like that, not my terrain here^^), which can´t be improved?
brooon said:
This is what really holds me back from buying a GN these days...I would be interested in your guys thoughts: Do you think that there will be some software based improvements within the next weeks? Or is it just the lense (or some hardware stuff like that, not my terrain here^^), which can´t be improved?
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Hardware is always limiting. No amount of software can make something better than it physically can be. I'm not saying that updates cant fix the issues we're seeing, I actually believe the contrary. There is a lot you can do with software to really tweak things. But you can't compare a phone camera to a DSLR or something like it.
I personally believe google will update the camera but the question is when. Personally I think the camera is great. I think it depends on what you're used to taking pictures with, and how ocd/picky you are about quality. The SGS2 has better camera hardware, but do try to remember the issues it had when it first came out. The camera quality issues of it were patched up really nice with a software update so don't give your hopes up.
EddieN said:
Hardware is always limiting. No amount of software can make something better than it physically can be. I'm not saying that updates cant fix the issues we're seeing, I actually believe the contrary. There is a lot you can do with software to really tweak things. But you can't compare a phone camera to a DSLR or something like it.
I personally believe google will update the camera but the question is when. Personally I think the camera is great. I think it depends on what you're used to taking pictures with, and how ocd/picky you are about quality. The SGS2 has better camera hardware, but do try to remember the issues it had when it first came out. The camera quality issues of it were patched up really nice with a software update so don't give your hopes up.
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Thanks for your input! Yeah I´m coming from an SGSII, atm I´m on a Galaxy Note...so both of my current devices do have better hardware...in the past there was the HD2, which had some terrible software bugs, that have been worked out within months. The last roms I used with the HD2 really pushed the photoquality...
I came from the sgs2 and they are almost identical, I do find the nexus a bit sharper. Great macro
Sent from my francoPhone using xda premium
I started using Shot Control over the stock camera app. It seems to do a better job of with the settings and does give a higher degree of fine tuning them. Give up the panorama mode though, which I love!
People want the highest quality, buy a freaking camera. Or get over it already, stop making this kind of threads.
i am completely dissatisfied with the camera on this phone. I came from a Nexus One to the Gnex. The Nexus one has an AMAAAZING camera on it. Of course HTC uses better hardware. Ill post comparison pics later... damn samsung!
how can i reduce the noise (or grain... i dont know the exact english term) in the pic??
the pics on first posts explain very good the problem.
thx a lot.
daffyno said:
how can i reduce the noise (or grain... i dont know the exact english term) in the pic??
the pics on first posts explain very good the problem.
thx a lot.
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In short...you can't. The hardware in a device this small can't do much more than that.
It really is. I have no idea why so many people whine about it. My girlfriend quite often uses my phone instead of hers for pictures because the camera is so nice. Only time it sucks is if I zoom in at night with zero lighting. Basically have to try to make it anything but amazing. I can capture beautiful pictures of animals mid hop which is hard even with a real camera. OK rant over but I'm impressed by it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
because it is apart of humanity. we as humans always like to find something to criticize about, either that or they are trolls from other phone forums trying to bash the galaxy nexus. kinda like the whole criticism of "lack of sdcard" or "plastic phone". the camera is perfectly fine as long as its focused properly.
best tip is to just ignore them and keep using the phone we all enjoy the most
zephiK said:
because it is apart of humanity. we as humans always like to find something to criticize about, either that or they are trolls from other phone forums trying to bash the galaxy nexus. kinda like the whole criticism of "lack of sdcard" or "plastic phone". the camera is perfectly fine as long as its focused properly.
best tip is to just ignore them and keep using the phone we all enjoy the most
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Hmmm true honestly I forget that people like trolling since I can't see the point. The sdcard thing is my only gripe but I keep seeing things about the camera. When I got this phone I was beyond surprised by how awesome my camera is now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Its definitely better the the LG Revolution. I don't mind the camera.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Gahh Its Lee said:
Hmmm true honestly I forget that people like trolling since I can't see the point. The sdcard thing is my only gripe but I keep seeing things about the camera. When I got this phone I was beyond surprised by how awesome my camera is now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
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honestly i don't see a problem with 16GB, i mean yeah its nice to have a SD card slot. Verizon users have 32GB. The phone itself (in GSM form) should of came with 32GB in my opinion. But it's not a big deal for me.
I don't understand why people need to carry all their movies and music on their phone at the same time. It's not like they're going to watch everything they stored on their phone. And there is always USB OTG where you can plug a USB drive into your phone for expandable storage.
4.0.4 also improved the camera. my same ideology goes with the camera, phone cameras are for CASUAL pictures. if you're going to go out to a important event like a wedding or whatever it is... you'd have a DEDICATED camera such as a canon rebel eos or something of that sort. it would produce higher quality. same thing for GPS etc etc. yes i know its convenient, but we have to all realize that the GN is a phone. Not a superphone that can do everything in one device.
In good lighting the camera takes good shots. In low lighting the shots are extremely washed out. Coming from a rezound I like the pics better on the nexus in good light...even though the rezound has an on avg better camera. It can pass.
Knocking a phone for having a plastic build is pathetic. Mine is in a case...who cares what it is made of. As long as its in a case no one will ever know lol.
ac29593 said:
In good lighting the camera takes good shots. In low lighting the shots are extremely washed out. Coming from a rezound I like the pics better on the nexus in good light...even though the rezound has an on avg better camera. It can pass.
Knocking a phone for having a plastic build is pathetic. Mine is in a case...who cares what it is made of. As long as its in a case no one will ever know lol.
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Phone actually feels really good regardless if it's plastic. When compared to a Galaxy S1, I feel that Samsung did a really good job on the Galaxy S2 backcover. Can't say too much about Galaxy S3 though. Looks like a downgrade.
+1 with case... Ringke Slim Case + Extended Battery = Perfection!
Why not have a look at photos taken with the phone?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392436
mentose457 said:
Why not have a look at photos taken with the phone?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392436
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You should read the thread before posting.
The OP is not asking if the GN camera is good or not. The OP is stating his OWN opinion about the camera and he feels that the camera is good enough and wonders why people complain about the camera.
Thanks I couldn't find that thread. I think we get some damn good quality for a phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
****ty craftsmen blame their tools.
I've got an ET4G SGS2 until tomorrow. From the pics I've seen here and round the web I'm sure I'll get the same quality (if not better) pictures from this camera...they'll just be slightly smaller.
Also people think they are "tipped off" by their "superior intellect" that the camera must suck because it has 3mp less than most cameras. I see it as having 3mp less noise in the image. I have a 16mp digital camera....that doesn't mean that it necessarily takes better pictures--zoom in the 1:1 pixel-for-pixel and tell me that you really need all 8mp when--even on a good well focused steady shot in great lighting--you see noticeable noise in every shot. Show me a phone camera (or even ANY digital camera) that consistently doesn't do this at all.
I'm not worried at all. I'm a musician....I've been in bands....played out for more than half of my life (I'm 32). Other musicians and band guys will likely know exactly what I'm talking about....lots of people are just about to start a band, project, song, video, production company, etc....but they just need that one last key piece of equipment to get them started. An artist wants to create art with whatever they have, everyone else will blame their tools for not making them great.
zephiK said:
You should read the thread before posting.
The OP is not asking if the GN camera is good or not. The OP is stating his OWN opinion about the camera and he feels that the camera is good enough and wonders why people complain about the camera.
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Apparently you didn't read my post. I simply suggested he admire the great photos taken with the phone by others. Please refer to the OPs post below yours.
The camera on this is great. Just because it has less pixels than most other cameras it doesn't take horrible pictures. I still consider it an upgrade from my 8mp DINC.
I like it too. I installed Camera FV-5 and it has dSLR controls. Good for casual shooting
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
zephiK said:
Phone actually feels really good regardless if it's plastic.
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Agreed. And I don't see it pointed out very often that the HTC Rezound is 100% plastic, the RAZR which claims to be aluminum feels a hell of a lot like plastic to me, the Thunderbolt, Revolution, X, X2, Bionic, Charge, Evo, Evo 3D, Evo LTE and 50 other high end phones over the last couple years - plastic. Even Casio's rugged phones are plastic. It's an illogical complaint, that's my point.
You guys are kidding right? The camera is simply not that good. It's not terrible, but just very disappointing for such a new flagship phone.
It has nothing to do with megapixels. If I read a review that compares cameras solely based on megapixels, I walk away. With the Nexus, it looks great in the viewfinder, but after I take a picture, I zoom in and it's usually blurry. I have gotten into the habit of taking 3 pictures and discarding the two worst ones and almost always the first pic is blurry as hell. I came from a 5mp Sony Ericsson Hazel feature phone with dedicated shutter button and I kinda miss it. I rarely needed to retake pictures like this. I'm only on 4.0.2 right now, so hopefully they did fix it in software.
The sensor is just weak, especially in low light. Annoyingly, our phone also loses to the iPhone 4s in picture quality. will try to find the link later.
It's pretty decent for the phone. You obviously can't expect SLR kind of quality but in good light it's very good.
The ICS improvements have made it very snappy too. Love the panaroma feature if that makes you tick...
zAlbee said:
You guys are kidding right? The camera is simply not that good. It's not terrible, but just very disappointing for such a new flagship phone.
It has nothing to do with megapixels. If I read a review that compares cameras solely based on megapixels, I walk away. With the Nexus, it looks great in the viewfinder, but after I take a picture, I zoom in and it's usually blurry. I have gotten into the habit of taking 3 pictures and discarding the two worst ones and almost always the first pic is blurry as hell. I came from a 5mp Sony Ericsson Hazel feature phone with dedicated shutter button and I kinda miss it. I rarely needed to retake pictures like this. I'm only on 4.0.2 right now, so hopefully they did fix it in software.
The sensor is just weak, especially in low light. Annoyingly, our phone also loses to the iPhone 4s in picture quality. will try to find the link later.
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I believe they did fix the focusing problems with the 4.0.4 update. Give it a go and see.
zAlbee said:
You guys are kidding right? The camera is simply not that good. It's not terrible, but just very disappointing for such a new flagship phone.
It has nothing to do with megapixels. If I read a review that compares cameras solely based on megapixels, I walk away. With the Nexus, it looks great in the viewfinder, but after I take a picture, I zoom in and it's usually blurry. I have gotten into the habit of taking 3 pictures and discarding the two worst ones and almost always the first pic is blurry as hell. I came from a 5mp Sony Ericsson Hazel feature phone with dedicated shutter button and I kinda miss it. I rarely needed to retake pictures like this. I'm only on 4.0.2 right now, so hopefully they did fix it in software.
The sensor is just weak, especially in low light. Annoyingly, our phone also loses to the iPhone 4s in picture quality. will try to find the link later.
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Its not a flagship phone. The Galaxy S III is a flagship phone. The HTC One X is a flagship phone. The GALAXY Nexus is a REFERENCE device.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
zAlbee said:
You guys are kidding right? The camera is simply not that good. It's not terrible, but just very disappointing for such a new flagship phone.
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I'm only on 4.0.2 right now, so hopefully they did fix it in software.
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And that is why the GN's camera has a bad reputation. People stuck with old firmwares giving their impression even though many camera problems were fixed.
I currently have an M8.
Seriously though, looking at the M9 on Amazon at a really good price. Have researched online and I do see so called overheating issues.
Any real world comments? Probably the hardest I would work this phone would be Google maps, Golf Clash, etc.
Really looking at the camera upgrade as well.
This is not the type of phone if you want a camera upgrade.
I have one and i can say that is my favourite phone so far, but i got used to its gimmicks.
It takes amazing photos in daylight, but at night is just bad. You need a tripod to take photos that actually look decent at night. The shutter speed is not that fast and is an f/2.2 camera.
And it lacks OIS and EIS. Videos are as shaky if you dont have an extremelly steady hand.
If you want a phone for raw performance and features, this is for you. All games run perfectly fine (except Asphalt Xtreme), it has dual speakers, IR blaster, etc, so you dont lose anything from the M8.
It doesnt really overheat that much.
Regular use is at 40℃ and games could go into high 50's. VR games go straight into mid 70's tho.
I wouldnt recommend using it on a higher OS than Lollipop, because on LP two camera mods are available.
You could use MM, but there is only one camera mod available.
NG is very fast, but you lose all custom camera drivers and photos produced by the stock drivers are not that good.
There is also a speaker volume and clarity boost mod, but imo they are loud and clear enough without mods.
I would recommend you get a HTC 10 or U Ultra (sapphire crystal version).
The m9 is not an upgrade from the m8 at all. The m8 is an all round better device but no longer supported and slightly less ram. Better camera, better screen, better sound... I wanted an m8 but production had ceased and I'm not buying a second hand phone under any circumstances.
Beamed in by telepathy.
What phone are you using at the moment? Depending on that, the M9 may or may not be a camera upgrade. If you tend to shoot a lot of indoor or night photos, stay away from this.
The overheating issue is overblown from early reviews, this phone performs very well even for normal games. Of course you're gonna feel the heat as this is an aluminum body phone but I can guarantee that my LG G3 heats up even more crazily when I'm running Pokemon Go. The greatest selling point would be its speakers. It is fast and fluid with HTC Sense. It would have no problem running Google Map and normal games. Battery should last an entire day depending on your usage.
You just gotta make sure that you're buying from a trusted source and it's not refurbished/modified in anyway. The reviews from Amazon points out that some buyers running into problems so I wouldn't say that its the safest place to score one.