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So after using the G3 for about a week, I picked up an S5 also to compare it to. My G3 will be replacing my HTC One M8.
Performance initially was disappointing, seemed to microstutter everywhere which gives a perception of a laggy device. At first I was very upset but after putting all 3 devices side by side and running and opening apps ect., the G3 is just as quick, if not quicker then the S5 and M8 when opening and switching apps, the key difference here are in the animations.
The S5 and M8 are very consistent with smooth app opening, closing and switching animations. Always seems to run fluid 90-100 percent of the time, the G3 struggles to render them smoothly consistently. The animation stutters, stutters, then closes and vise versa when it opens on many occasions. Drove me insane! In-app performance are pretty much identical between the 3 with scrolling a tiny bit smoother on the S5 and M8.
Screen quality, I would have to give the win to the HTC M8 out of the box, because of the weird over sharpening high contrast setting LG decided to use, text on the G3 looks lower resolution than the HTC as a direct result. Colors on the G3 also looks a little washed out compared to the M8 and S5 out of the box, BUT...you can change the contrast ratio on the G3 in the accessibility menu and make the colors pop to your hearts desire. Very nice.. M8 also has better black levels than G3.
Don't get me started with the S5's screen, I can't believe one report actually gave it the "best display ever tested" title. Looks like garbage compared to the G3 and M8. No matter what setting I chose, adapt display, professional, cinema ect, it was way over saturated to the point where the colors look almost neon like. Everything looks lower resolution also, I blame TouchJizz mostly because once you switch to a different launcher like Nova, the icons look sharper but still not on par with the M8 or G3. The S5's display looks "Okay" once you crank the brightness past 75 percent, anything under that and the screen just looks terrible. Maybe my eyes have gotten accustomed to IPS LCD, I can't see myself going back to AMOLED. If this is the best that AMOLED can offer at the moment.. NO THANKS!
Camera, lets make this simple. The S5 takes the best pictures overall. It also records the best video with options for full 60fps in 1080p. G3 is a close second but the colors just doesn't seem to look as nice as the S5's, clarity and details are similar but the S5 exposes the picture better. HDR is also better on the S5. M8 takes very nice close up and macro shots but sucks big time when you try and take a scenery shot I really haven't tried much night time photography so I can't comment on that.
Battery life, S5 and G3 seems to be neck and neck lasting my entire work day with heavy use, the M8 trails behind and needs to be plugged in for my drive home.
Design and in hand usage. This is very subjective, I find the S5 the most comfortable to hold but it's also the most godawful looking. There's no denying it, the S5 is one ugly phone compared to the other two. Looks and feels terribly cheap, huge bezels giving the phone a very dated look. M8 looks great, build quality is nice but it's also very uncomfortable to use. It's slippery, the edges are sharp and it's just a pain (literally) to hold on to. It just doesn't give you a reassuring feel when using it especially over any hard surface. It also feels a lot heavier. The G3 is the perfect blend between the two, it looks beautiful, perfectly weighted, comfortable to hold, feels solid in the hand and has just enough "grip". Hands down I think it looks the best, just gorgeous.
Audio, as you guessed it the HTC One M8 tops it here, it sounds great with the Boom sound external speakers and with headphones plugged in. Bluetooth audio streaming also sounds very clean with the M8, the G3 matches the M8 in headphone audio output and bluetooth streaming quality but obviously gets smoked when it comes to external speaker quality. G3 still sounds very loud and pretty full for having only one rear firing mono speaker. The S5 is the worst performer here, headphone audio performance is just dismal compared to the other two even after playing with the built-in EQ. Bluetooth audio streaming on the S5 is also weak, audio tracks sound very degraded over bluetooth. Another weird issue I had with the S5 was it didn't play nicely with my Lexus Mark Levinson system, I had to crank the volume to twice the level to get the same output as the M8 and G3. (Yes, the bluetooth output volume was set to max on the S5) The S5's external speaker is also the tinniest, almost painful to listen to at higher volumes. It has piercing highs with no mids or lows. I guess when you make the phone IP67, sacrifices must be made.
Conclusion, as you can see all the phones have their pros and cons but overall I think we all made the right decision with the G3. I've been on a search for the "perfect" phone since I can remember, for me at the moment, the G3 is the closest one yet. I'm sure performance will improve with updates so I am excited for the G3's future. I'm also glad I gave it a second chance, I literally had it all boxed up with the return label slapped on it back to T-Mobile. Looks like it will be sticking with me for a little bit longer.
Woot
Here's my copy and paste from another site reviewing the same three phones. This may be a good thread for people to detail their experience with the three big players.
"Alright so I've had it a few days now and here's what I think of it. Out****ingstanding.
Hardware - The metal looking plastic back is actually pretty nice. I think it actually has some metal in it, it doesn't feel plastic and cheap in the hand like the GS5 does. It doesn't have the heft of the M8 but it's also not as slippery as the M8 either. It's just about right. It's removable so it's easy to throw a spare battery in your car or camera bag or pocket or whatever if you're going to be out all day. That being said, the battery life is surprisingly good given the resolution/size of the display. Which brings me to the display. It's also outstanding. The first G3 I got had a weird yellowish tint to the display, did a little research and it seems there's some inconsistency among the displays from manufacture, I took it back to T-Mobile and they swapped it out without any hassle. It's huge, it's bright, it's incredibly sharp. There really isn't much bad I can say about the display. The buttons on the back took a little getting used to, but after a day you're used to them and it's actually quite natural to use them. The camera is awesome, I think it's bright light capabilities are on par or better than the M8 and definitely better than the S5. Under lower light it's at least on par or slightly better than the S5 and ****s on the M8. The OIS and "frikkin laser" focus is awesome, makes it really easy to pull it out and snap a pic really quick without the fuss the other two give. Wireless charging is available with an appropriate back cover, but more on that later. The single rear speaker is similarly placed to the S5 but it's much louder and your hand doesn't muffle it in regular use. Clarity is much better than the S5 as well. The M8 destroys all comers in this area with it's front facing speakers.
Software - The LG overlay is actually quite nice. I think it's just as good as HTC's Sense and kicks Touchwhiz in the grundel. It's easy enough to disable most stock LG apps if you want to. There's a faint touch of lag to the OS, not as bad as Touchwhiz but just a hair worse than Sense. If you kick the animations down to 0.5x from 1x in developer options it goes away. There's a health app, the people on xda seem to like it a lot but I don't use it.
Daily use - This thing really shines. The size is marginally bigger than the others in one dimension or another, but the shape of the back cover makes it perfectly comfortable to use and it doesn't feel at all as big as it actually is. The M8 feels really skinny next to it and the S5 feels like a giant, rectangular brick. Easy to use one handed, especially with the rear buttons. The OIS of the camera is really quite good and it's probably the first Android phone I've used that I think has a camera comparable to the quality output from the iPhones under all scenarios. Battery life has been great, I can easily get through a whole 12 hour shift at work and have plenty of battery to spare and I use the phone quite heavily and have music playing probably 10 of those 12 hours.
Signal strength - So I originally got the AT&T version before realizing those ****s disabled Qi charging in favor of PMA so I actually have some experience with the d850 (ATT) and d851 (TMo). The modems are the same between the two, the only hardware difference between the two devices I believe is AT&T's hardware removal of Qi. Both phones were on the same rev and they picked up signal the same as the S5 and a little worse than the M8 on AT&T. I have all Qi stuff so I said **** it and switched to TMo and have been quite pleasantly surprised. Their service in my area is great (better than AT&T coverage was) and the calls/sms/mms over WiFi is actually awesome, especially at work as most of the hospital is well insulated from outside communication. I also have unlimited everything for about $40/mo less than I was paying for 4gb at AT&T.
Advanced nerdy stuff (root) - If you root the phone, which is available for all variants and most with a one click utility, then the thing outshines the other 2 on all fronts. There's a mod for camera quality that kicks the image quality above the other 2 under all lighting conditions and increases the video recording quality to 1080p/60 and increases the bitrate of the 4k recording. There's a tweakbox that lets you customize the LG overlay to your personal taste and with a couple minor tweaks it is fastest experience of the 3. You can tinker with the volume of the speaker and the volume increments which is needed (30 vs stock 15 options). Then of course you can use Titanium Backup to freeze/uninstall all the carrier bloat. Xposed Framework of course brings hundreds of mods for just about anything you'd want to do.
Overall - Out of the box within confinements of not being rooted 9/10
----------- After root 10/10"
I agree with most of what you said, except I think the S5 has a better screen overall. I came from a Note 2, so I am used to the saturated colors. But regardless of your preference of saturated vs natural colors, I think most people would agree that the S5 has better brightness and viewing angles. I also think text on the G3 is oversharpened/overprocessed.
I think LG got the "feel" of the G3 just right. The S5 is a freaking brick and looks like it was beaten with an ugly stick. The M8 is disproportionately tall, and also heavy & slippery.
As far as sound, the G3 falls in between. The S5 speaker is anemic. The M8 blows everything else out of the water. I always listen to music via headphones or my car system. But if you absolutely *must* listen to audio via speakerphone, then the M8 has no equal. I must admit, sharing videos with friends is a much more pleasant experience on the M8. The G3 speaker does a respectable job, but you still have to cup your hand around the back to hear anything (at least at my age).
Despite its flaws (which are very minor), I think the G3 is the phone to beat this year. The Note 4 will no doubt offer some serious competition, but I think the Note line targets a different demographic. People that don't want or need the Note's special features will probably find the G3 to be an almost perfect compromise of size, features and performance.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Dan37tz said:
Camera, lets make this simple. The S5 takes the best pictures overall.
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I don't have my G3 yet, but based on images I've seen online, I, ever so slightly, prefer the G3's photos as it seems to get slightly better detail. What I mean is that, at least from what I'm seeing, it looks like the S5 is trying to over-sharpen details in software instead of just using what is available through the sensor. For instance, outlines of leaves in front of the bright sky shows a tiny bit extra outlining to me.
Oddly enough, this shouldn't be the case since the S5 has a slightly larger sensor, more megapixels and a slightly wider aperture @ f/2.2. Perhaps that new isocell sensor isn't all it's cracked up to be or maybe they just haven't fine tuned the software for it. However, with the G3 you also get dual flash, which is a feature that might come in handy for macro shots, and there is that laser focus thingy the G3 has. So, I dunno, I was leaning towards the S5 myself, but after seeing test photos and reading reviews about all the other aspects of the phone itself I went with the G3.
Perhaps completely manual shooting with the S5 would render better results than the G3.
In the end though, I just wanted something that could compete with my old T-mobile 4G Slide. My Google Nexus 4 certainly didn't and I'm glad it's paid off and done with.
Dan37tz said:
Camera, lets make this simple. The S5 takes the best pictures overall.
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Have to disagree there, I think the G3 pictures are better. I took some pics of my car today and was actually quite impressed with how they came out compared to similar shots at the same place and same time of day and same subject matter. I do agree the HDR shots from the S5 are better, but who uses that anyway
boosting1bar said:
Have to disagree there, I think the G3 pictures are better. I took some pics of my car today and was actually quite impressed with how they came out compared to similar shots at the same place and same time of day and same subject matter. I do agree the HDR shots from the S5 are better, but who uses that anyway
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I wonder if it is due to the lens itself?
Perhaps the G3 is using a better lens (Sony?) and it is of better quality than what Samsung is using on the S5. There is actually a list of people with cracked and broken S5 lenses, so I'm guessing the glass they are using isn't very good.
From what I've seen, the M8 appears to take cleaner night shots, at least with macro and no flash, However; I do not know how low the ISO settings will go with it. I think the G3 can do ISO 50, so if the image stabilization is as good as LG claims and the focus laser is really fast it should end up taking pretty good night shots in manual mode.
In the end I think all three are good cameras for a cell phone, I just feel like the G3 has more options for covering different kinds of shooting. Then again, I haven't used any of these phones personally yet.:silly:
I suspect with the XPOSED module Viper4Android, you can tweak the sound on the G3 to be on par with boomsound or even better.
Also, have you taken many pictures in low light? It's my understanding that the g3 has a much better camera for low light than the s5. It's not as good in direct sunlight, but better everywhere else making it a better "overall" camera. I don't have an s5 to compare the G3 to, so I'm just going off what I've read. It would be nice to hear from someone that has both.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
I must not be getting the same bluetooth results as you...
This is the worst I've heard in the past few years, as far as bluetooth media pairing goes..
it sounds like the bit rate of a 320 mp3 goes down to 96 or 128.
I'm quite concerned about this...
I'm pairing up to a VW/Dynaudio setup.
Iphone, GS4, lumia 925...all sound 10x better.
did you do any bluetooth tweaks?
sic0048 said:
I suspect with the XPOSED module Viper4Android, you can tweak the sound on the G3 to be on par with boomsound or even better.
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Click to collapse
The M7/M8 have front facing stereo speakers. The G3 has one small speaker on the back, facing away from the user. Sorry, but no amount of mods will make the G3 external speaker sound like the M7/M8.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
I'm wondering if my phone is defected or is HTC serious about this camera? This takes pictures like a phone from 2008 or prior. I'm talking blackberry pre 2010 era wtf!? Almost every picture snapped is blurry and not at all crisp. I have to switch it to manual and mess with a lot of settings to maybe get a decent shot (maybe). All m8 owners, how do you deal with this f'n thing? Everything else about the phone is near perfect then there is this deal breaker. What were they thinking?
Alternate Apps
puma1 said:
I'm wondering if my phone is defected or is HTC serious about this camera? This takes pictures like a phone from 2008 or prior. I'm talking blackberry pre 2010 era wtf!? Almost every picture snapped is blurry and not at all crisp. I have to switch it to manual and mess with a lot of settings to maybe get a decent shot (maybe). All m8 owners, how do you deal with this f'n thing? Everything else about the phone is near perfect then there is this deal breaker. What were they thinking?
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Try downloading a 3rd party app and see if it's a physical or software issue you're having. It might help.
Tried with Google camera. Was worse. You own this phone? How are your pics?
I've very recently had a moto X and N5...and now the M8. I find the M8 blows those both away. For what I do with it anyway.
But I learnt the hard way, missing out on good pics and a video (all blurry in the dim light and all the dancing) at my daughters dance recital.... to bring my $99 Kodak and an inexpensive camcorder I recently got, anywhere I go where I fully know I want great pics and videos.
All phone cameras are pretty crap compared to cheap cameras and camcorders. That's life. ?
You'll always be disappointed at some point when you miss something important with your cheap phone camera.
KJ said:
I've very recently had a moto X and N5...and now the M8. I find the M8 blows those both away. For what I do with it anyway.
But I learnt the hard way, missing out on good pics and a video (all blurry in the dim light and all the dancing) at my daughters dance recital.... to bring my $99 Kodak and an inexpensive camcorder I recently got, anywhere I go where I fully know I want great pics and videos.
All phone cameras are pretty crap compared to cheap cameras and camcorders. That's life. ?
You'll always be disappointed at some point when you miss something important with your cheap phone camera.
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I agree. You meant the m8 blows away the moto x camera? I don't know about that but I know the nexus 5 camera was better than this by far. A little disappointed but everything else is great.
frogman22 said:
I agree. You meant the m8 blows away the moto x camera? I don't know about that but I know the nexus 5 camera was better than this by far. A little disappointed but everything else is great.
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Well, for me, I'm thoroughly impressed compared to all my past devices anyway.
But I still will never count on my phone to capture important moments. Never again.
My iPhone 5S takes much better pictures than my M8.
AUSTIN3:16 said:
My iPhone 5S takes much better pictures than my M8.
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What defines better? The M8 can take pictures in dim lighting perfect whereas they are not even viewable on other phones including the 5S.
I would rather be able to take pictures in ANY setting than print out a huge picture.
IMO, HTC is brilliant in making sure their phones are able to take a picture ANYWHERE. Other phones struggle badly in low light to point if being useless.
Also, this is the first phone I have ever had where people who take pictures for me actually comment on the quality. Don't fall for the MP gimmick/bandwagon, HTC knows what they are doing.
There is clearly something wrong with your camera if the pictures are blurry. Are you talking about flares or blur? If you removed the AR coating of the camera, then you're going to get horrible flares. HTC had the film to aid in reducing glare but people are removing it which is puzzling.
richii0207 said:
What defines better? The M8 can take pictures in dim lighting perfect whereas they are not even viewable on other phones including the 5S.
I would rather be able to take pictures in ANY setting than print out a huge picture.
IMO, HTC is brilliant in making sure their phones are able to take a picture ANYWHERE. Other phones struggle badly in low light to point if being useless.
Also, this is the first phone I have ever had where people who take pictures for me actually comment on the quality. Don't fall for the MP gimmick/bandwagon, HTC knows what they are doing.
There is clearly something wrong with your camera if the pictures are blurry. Are you talking about flares or blur? If you removed the AR coating of the camera, then you're going to get horrible flares. HTC had the film to aid in reducing glare but people are removing it which is puzzling.
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Anywhere? I am struggling to find one place or situation it does excel. All the pictures are really poor again reminds me of pics my old Bold Blackberry used to take. Low light, outside, indoors.. it's really bad. Iphone 5s and s5 are much better at taking pics anywhere, including low light compared to this phone. I been trying all night to take pics and find even a few that are more than decent. Was the HTC One like this or better?
I would suggest you remove the coating on your camera lenses and see if the pictures quality have improved.
I moved this thread to Q&A because it's really a question. Please keep the discussion focused on how to take better pictures or otherwise overcome the shortcomings of the camera. If this becomes a bash HTC or compare devices thread, I'll have to close it and I don't really like doing that.
Thanks,
coal686
scorror said:
I would suggest you remove the coating on your camera lenses and see if the pictures quality have improved.
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Do NOT do this. It removes the anti-reflective coating on it and will produce horrible glare. It seems HTC put it there to compensate for increased lighting from the UltraPixels. If its blurry, then it is certainly defective. Take a look at the camera thread in the general section to see how clear pictures are suppose to be.
i got all happy thinking there might have been a plastic peel off on it.. nope:/
puma1 said:
i got all happy thinking there might have been a plastic peel off on it.. nope:/
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Sucks that you have a defective unit. I would give HTC a call or chat via their website support.
richii0207 said:
Sucks that you have a defective unit. I would give HTC a call or chat via their website support.
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I don't think it is defective. I will keep trying a few things, I mean this is a 4 mega pixel camera, so the pictures are probably not meant to be zoomed in on or anything. I like this phone and prefer not to swap it out.
puma1 said:
I don't think it is defective. I will keep trying a few things, I mean this is a 4 mega pixel camera, so the pictures are probably not meant to be zoomed in on or anything. I like this phone and prefer not to swap it out.
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If its blurry, then it had to be defective. Pictures should be coming out like they are in the pictures thread.
richii0207 said:
Do NOT do this. It removes the anti-reflective coating on it and will produce horrible glare. It seems HTC put it there to compensate for increased lighting from the UltraPixels. If its blurry, then it is certainly defective. Take a look at the camera thread in the general section to see how clear pictures are suppose to be.
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Click to collapse
Known and common issue, the coating starts to scratch very easily (sometimes within weeks), which horribly blurs the photos. Removing using a variety of methods (toothpaste is common) is recommended IMO. Some folks have gotten warranty repair, but others have not (think HTC cited physical wear and tear). And who is the say the new lens cover won't just do the same after a few weeks?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/general/how-to-fix-htc-one-m8-camera-issue-t2803825
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/how-to-fix-scratches-camera-lens-t2816807
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2715784
---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 PM ----------
puma1 said:
How are your pics?
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some truly beautiful pics by the M8 have been posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2694621
Pics with the M8 are pretty sharp under a variety of light conditions. Although its pretty subjective, many will say this phone is comparable to other current devices. If you have a fundamental issue of blurry photos, look at the camera lens and see if the coating is scratched, as I've mentioned. It should be pretty obvious to see, if this is the case.
puma1 said:
I'm wondering if my phone is defected or is HTC serious about this camera? This takes pictures like a phone from 2008 or prior. I'm talking blackberry pre 2010 era wtf!? Almost every picture snapped is blurry and not at all crisp. I have to switch it to manual and mess with a lot of settings to maybe get a decent shot (maybe). All m8 owners, how do you deal with this f'n thing? Everything else about the phone is near perfect then there is this deal breaker. What were they thinking?
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Click to collapse
Can you post up some samples, then we can help you. There are many people who love bashing HTC because of what paid reviewers have written/said about the camera.. If you always use your camera in "idiot" mode or "Auto" mode as the manufacturers call it, then your pictures will always look rubbish.
have a go at using ISO, EV, Shutter Speed and WB, they are there for a reason..look up basic photography and learn to understand light and how they work.
To me, the M8 walks over the crappy S5 camera.. then goes back for a 2nd go..
redpoint73 said:
Known and common issue, the coating starts to scratch very easily (sometimes within weeks), which horribly blurs the photos. Removing using a variety of methods (toothpaste is common) is recommended IMO. Some folks have gotten warranty repair, but others have not (think HTC cited physical wear and tear). And who is the say the new lens cover won't just do the same after a few weeks?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/general/how-to-fix-htc-one-m8-camera-issue-t2803825
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/how-to-fix-scratches-camera-lens-t2816807
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2715784
---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 PM ----------
some truly beautiful pics by the M8 have been posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2694621
If you have a fundamental issue of blurry photos, look at the camera lens and see if the coating is scratched, as I've mentioned. It should be pretty obvious to see, if this is the case.
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The coating scratches if you do not take care of it. It's as sensitive as the AR coating on glasses or camera lenses. If its scratched, then removing it is the only way. The best way to approach this is to take good care of the AR coating. Removing the coating will cause horrible flare/glare.
The AR coating is there for a reason. This is nothing new in lens manufacturing....DONT remove it.
richii0207 said:
Are you talking about flares or blur? If you removed the AR coating of the camera, then you're going to get horrible flares. HTC had the film to aid in reducing glare but people are removing it which is puzzling.
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Click to collapse
Because a few flares under easily avoidable conditions (don't take pics directly at a light source) is greatly preferable to every picture being horribly blurred.
I held out removing the coating as long as I could (about 3 months of ownership), since I didn't like the idea of intentionally removing it with an abrasive (even a mild one). But not what I have, the image quality is greatly improved, and glare/flares are not an issue.
How would you know if the coating makes such a difference if you've never removed yours? Coating like this don't make as much a difference as you seem to think. IMO, actually little or (more likely) no difference.
---------- Post added at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------
richii0207 said:
The coating scratches if you do not take care of it. It's as sensitive as the AR coating on glasses or camera lenses. If its scratched, then removing it is the only way. The best way to approach this is to take good care of the AR coating. Removing the coating will cause horrible flare/glare.
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Click to collapse
No, it really won't.
I don't "baby" my phone. But I take pretty good care of it, and it was scratched enough to ruin picture after 3 months. I use a TPU case, that doesn't cover the camera, but the cutouts provide some protection. The phone is usually in my pocket (never anything else in that pocket) or sitting on my desk/counter.
Unless you are surgically careful with your phone, its going to happen to yours, too. Its just a matter of time.
So, I picked up a Desire Eye on launch day. I feel like I was one of the few people intrigued by this device when it was announced. Since then, it has received almost zero attention: Few reviews, no posts on XDA, very little buzz on the internet in general. So, if you're even remotely considering this device and want a little info, here's a personal perspective from someone who bought the phone.
Disclaimer: I have owned dozens of flagship phones over the last several years. I'm also quite a fan of Sense UI and HTC in general. I did not buy this phone for the front facing camera. I don't care about selfies, so I'm probably not the target audience. I really just wanted an M8 with a better camera.
Display
The display is probably my one gripe about the device so far. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it looks washed out to me. When I first turned it on in the store, it immediately looked dull. A lot of the HTC wallpapers and themes are a sort of pastel, so it's really hard to tell, but next to my iPhone 6 Plus, and even a Windows M8 in the store, it just doesn't look as vibrant as I'd expect. Compared to my Note 4, it looks positively depressing, but that's to be expected. That said, it does get plenty bright. I just wish I still had my M8 to compare it with because I swear the M8 had more contrast and vibrance.
Camera
My only real beef with the M8 was the camera, mainly the low megapixel count which made cropping nearly impossible. It also had trouble with exposure and focus. I was really hoping that they fixed that with this phone. I know it's not their flagship and is, in fact, marketed as mid range, but it's really just an M8 with a different build and cameras. I have taken quite a few photo samples and compared them online to the Z3 Compact, iPhone 6 Plus, OnePlus One, G3, and Note 4. There is definitely more detail and you can crop in much further than the M8, but it still gets soft when you do. I also noticed the same issues with exposure. If you're not careful about where you tap to focus, you'll get a blown out sky or dark subject. Focus is fast, but not always accurate. It sometimes blurs the subject instead of the background. Definitely not on par with the focusing systems found in the Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus. Colors are good, if not great. They lean toward the warmer and more vibrant side, which I personally prefer. Overall, it's an upgrade over the M8 and on par with phones like the OnePlus One and G3, at least in my testing.
Build
I know a lot of people are fans of metal, but there are advantages and disadvantages to metal and plastic. The advantages here are water resistance and weight. This is a light phone and it feels good in the hand. Coming from my Note 4, it is significantly lighter and easier to hold. It's also fairly grippy. I don't feel the need for a case. My one complaint about build is the size. This thing is big. It's nearly as big as the iPhone 6 Plus and Note 4, which is kind of sad when you consider the 5.2" screen. Part of this is the 13mp front-facing camera. Part is the speakers, even though the grills are much smaller this time around. They still needed that blank "HTC" strip on the front for components and that adds to the overall size. The camera shutter button is very difficult to press. I only see using this thing under water. If you try to use it for normal pictures, you'll get blur because the phone will move when you try to press it. I find this to be a problem on a lot of phones with dedicated shutter buttons, but it's much more pronounced here.
Battery
My other primary concern with this phone was battery. It's the same internals as the M8 with a bigger screen and a smaller battery. While disappointing, so far it's not as bad as I expected. It seems to be about on par with the M8, though I'm not sure how. Standby time is pretty good (in my limited testing so far) and it doesn't drain horribly fast when the screen is on. Since HTC doesn't show screen on time and I had to install GSAM, I don't have any screen on results yet, but I will be testing that over the next few days.
Performance
This is the reason to get an HTC phone, in my opinion. Sense and stock Android are easily the fastest, best performing versions of Android, in my experience. But Sense brings some nice enhancements to the table that I think are worth it over stock Android. There's no lag or delay anywhere on the phone so far. Everything is fast and fluid. It makes my Note 4 look positively slow. Just the gallery lag on the Note 4 alone is enough to drive someone mad. HTC is doing it right. I'm actually a fan of Blinkfeed, too, though I know other people hate it. Since the introduction of Blinkfeed, I almost always end up putting a widget on my left most homescreen of every other Android phone that gives me a full page of news, though nothing quite compares to HTC's solution. I like their enhancements to the gallery, contacts, etc. Very nice overall experience.
Misc.
1. Minor annoyance, but the stock email client makes you tap to show images on every HTML email. Since I actually use it, it's kind of annoying. I wish they would at least give an option in the settings to "always show".
2. Some of the camera features are really need, like face merge and photo strip. I do miss slow motion video and 4k recording, though.
3. Internal storage is only 16gb. You have a little over 9 free out of the box. This is the only other con to this phone, in my opinion.
4. I'm a pretty big fan of the screen on gestures. I basically never have to use the power button. And now we can launch straight into the camera, too.
5. I received an update yesterday and it auto installed. There's no info anywhere on what it was. The phone just rebooted and installed with no warning.
6. There is a ton of bloatware on this thing (AT&T). Seriously, brace yourselves. It's even more insulting with only 16gb to start with.
7. Bootloader is unlockable at HTC Dev so, there's at least hope that we'll get root soon. The main issue will be S-Off, as usual. But I really only want/need root.
8. The front-facing speakers are every bit as good as you'd expect, despite the water resistant membrane and smaller grills. It's pretty impressive how small and unnoticeable they are.
Wrap Up
Overall, I really like the device. My main concerns are camera quality and battery life, which I will continue to test. I really like the user experience overall, though, and it's one of my favorite phones of the year. I don't think this phone is really getting the attention it deserves. Even the tech bloggers seem to be ignoring it. I hope this helps anyone who's on the fence about this phone and/or looking for more information.
Obligatory Camera Samples
Here are some camera samples. XDA is compressing them, but you get the idea.
Thanks for the review and photos. The camera was better than what I was expecting from the sensor HTC is using, to be honest. The only downside from what I've read in your review is the screen: while I don't like oversatured screens, I also don't appreciate "dark" screens (it hasn't to do with brightness, but with the white tone).
Regarding the speakers, I know you don't have a M8 to compare, but do you notice much of a difference between the devices?
Can you please confirm that it has MHL and it works?
For what it's worth, I held my One M8 side by side with a Desire Eye in store and compared the screens while displaying the same images and websites. They looked pretty much exactly the same to me other than a slight difference in size. Didn't think it looked dull. Of course, the lighting in AT&T was pretty harsh so it wasn't the best environment for comparison. Maybe you just got used to the super punchy over saturated colors of the Note 4?
gtg465x said:
For what it's worth, I held my One M8 side by side with a Desire Eye in store and compared the screens while displaying the same images and websites. They looked pretty much exactly the same to me other than a slight difference in size. Didn't think it looked dull. Of course, the lighting in AT&T was pretty harsh so it wasn't the best environment for comparison. Maybe you just got used to the super punchy over saturated colors of the Note 4?
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Click to collapse
That's actually what I was thinking too. Not a bad display by any means.
Thank you for this mini review! Really helpful.
Could you please state in which degree you can use the phone with one hand?
Would it feel closer to the use of a One M8/Galaxy S5/LG G2 or would it compare more to a One Plus One / Iphone 6 Plus (which is for me slightly to big).
The 5.2 inch of the LG G2 is of perfect size, but that phone had way smaller bezzels, so this is in fact something that scares me of the HTC desire EYE.
Waarez said:
Thank you for this mini review! Really helpful.
Could you please state in which degree you can use the phone with one hand?
Would it feel closer to the use of a One M8/Galaxy S5 or would it compare more to a One Plus One / Iphone 6 Plus (which is for me slightly to big).
The 5.2 inch of the LG G2 were perfect.. but this phone had way smaller bezzels, so this is what scares me of the one M8.
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Click to collapse
It's definitely closer to the OnePlus One or iphone 6 Plus size wise, but it is MUCH lighter, which does make it easier to handle with one hand. Unless you have gorilla hands, though, you definitely won't be able to reach all four corners of the screen with one hand.
It's tall, rather than wide.
I got the Desire EYE in the mail 2 days ago, it's a really good phone, really fast, takes nice pictures, overall I'm happy about it, the only downside about it is the internal storage, it has like 7 gb out of the 16 dedicated to the OS and stock apps... But other than that, really good phone!
To start off, I will say I am a big HTC fan. I talked about 7 people into buying the One M8 over the S5 this year. I love Sense, Blinkfeed and the snappiness of their devices. I have since sold my One M8 earlier this summer, around May, and have been jumping around to different devices. I strayed from the One M8 mostly due to the camera and the fact that I like to try the latest and greatest devices. I have been using an iPhone 6 since it launched. When I saw the Desire Eye was announced, I got excited. I was really hoping for an M8 Eye, which I think would have been the perfect smartphone for 2014, but this was almost as good. I picked one of these up on Friday at an AT&T store. The guy kind of looked at me funny when I said I wanted one, I don't think he was trained on the device or knew what it was. I didn't open it until Saturday night, but in the store, when playing with it, the first thing I said was, this screen looks washed out. I think it has something to do with the default theme, when I changed it back to one of the same Sense stock themes on the One M8, it didn't look as bad. It is something to do with that pink color they are using. I am torn on the device, it is like 2 steps forward, a couple steps back. I didn't like the first few indoor pictures without flash I took of my 3 month old daughter, so I switched back to the iPhone 6 yesterday because it was her baptism and I didn't want to miss any shots, or risk them coming out badly. One thing that Apple knows is how to make a camera that focuses fast and gives you good pictures. The Boom Sound is also a bit of a disappointment. The bass and clarity seems to be lacking compared to the M8. I played some Vevo music videos on the demo models in store. I am currently thinking about trying to find a second hand M8 Google Play Edition in mint condition (so I have full T-Mobile support for the $30 SIM I have for my play phone line), and keep either it or the Eye and my iPhone 6.
Y2J
Thanks for the review!
The camera doesn't seem bad but for some reason i was expecting it to have a bit more "wow" factor, don't know why and they the shots seem good enough.
You mentioned no-slow motion (i had actually talked about this in the other thread) and the info i read was that it didn't have. However, i was just watching a video review of the desire eye and in the settings i noticed the slow motion icon and the review actually pressed it and it sayed it was slow motion (its an italian video, i actually looked it up to see the translation lol). It was in the camera interface under the " ... " icon and on the modes (it usually says auto) it has the slow motion icon/cartoon - Here is the video @ 11:45
Still no mention of 4k, so that is not from stock but maybe with a mod.
griffin_1 said:
Thanks for the review!
The camera doesn't seem bad but for some reason i was expecting it to have a bit more "wow" factor, don't know why and they the shots seem good enough.
You mentioned no-slow motion (i had actually talked about this in the other thread) and the info i read was that it didn't have. However, i was just watching a video review of the desire eye and in the settings i noticed the slow motion icon and the review actually pressed it and it sayed it was slow motion (its an italian video, i actually looked it up to see the translation lol). It was in the camera interface under the " ... " icon and on the modes (it usually says auto) it has the slow motion icon/cartoon - Here is the video @ 11:45
Still no mention of 4k, so that is not from stock but maybe with a mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see a slow motion option anywhere in the settings. The only video options are for the resolution (MMS, 1080, etc). One thing they did do right, though, is put the video record button back on the main interface full time next to the camera shutter button. They were crazy to ever take that away.
Quality is okay. It's about on par with the OnePlus One and G3, in my testing. Most of the shots I took were on an overcast day, so not the best testing environment, but overall I think it's acceptable. I think I'd still grab my Note 4 or iPhone 6 Plus if I was going somewhere to take a lot of pictures, but I don't feel like I'm carrying around a bad camera when I have this phone.
griffin_1 said:
Thanks for the review!
The camera doesn't seem bad but for some reason i was expecting it to have a bit more "wow" factor, don't know why and they the shots seem good enough.
You mentioned no-slow motion (i had actually talked about this in the other thread) and the info i read was that it didn't have. However, i was just watching a video review of the desire eye and in the settings i noticed the slow motion icon and the review actually pressed it and it sayed it was slow motion (its an italian video, i actually looked it up to see the translation lol). It was in the camera interface under the " ... " icon and on the modes (it usually says auto) it has the slow motion icon/cartoon - Here is the video @ 11:45
Still no mention of 4k, so that is not from stock but maybe with a mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I was totally wrong about slow motion. I just found the option. It was not where I expected, but I'm stoked to see that it's there!
Great Slow motion on htc is good, at least if its like on the m8. I think only htc and sony in Android lets you record 120fps and then edit what parts to slow down, which is how slow motion should be. Glad to see its there and websites like gsmarena should mention it and update the specs info with that.
battery update?
G1_enthusiast said:
battery update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery is really good for the capacity. Idle drain with my apps and setting was about 3%/hr. With the screen on, it does seem to lose battery pretty fast, but I was still able to get about 10-13 hours of use with around 3 hours screen time. That's not much worse than most of my other phones do, actually.
I would post screenshots, but I no longer have the phone. As much as I really liked it, I just couldn't live with the camera quality. I was really hoping for better. But if camera isn't your #1 priority, this is a great all around phone. Camera is definitely better than phones like the Moto X. I was just hoping for closer to Note 4/iPhone quality.
How do the camera quality and pictures compare to Samsung S4 or S5?
Thanks.
struff said:
How do the camera quality and pictures compare to Samsung S4 or S5?
Thanks.
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Click to collapse
My mom has the S5 And I prefer the Eye´s camera, It´s just... sharper and more clear.
sidle said:
My mom has the S5 And I prefer the Eye´s camera, It´s just... sharper and more clear.
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Click to collapse
I'm going to politely however completely disagree. There's no comparison. S5 is one of the best cameras you can get.
Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using Tapatalk
robstunner said:
I'm going to politely however completely disagree. There's no comparison. S5 is one of the best cameras you can get.
Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
And yet, I like this one more.
Front HTC Desire Eye:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143110-image/HTC-Desire-EYE.jpg
Front Galaxy S5:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143127-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5.jpg
Back HTC Desire Eye:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143113-image/HTC-Desire-EYE.jpg
Back Galaxy S5:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143130-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5.jpg
Let the photo's speak for themselves. The HTC Desire Eye clearly wins this battle, or even HTC in general. The S5 is litteraly crap in low to medium-light area's.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Firs...-HTC-One-M8-and-the-Samsung-Galaxy-S5_id61506
Fair enough, but in better lighting the s5 proves much better and rarely overexposed the pictures.
Coming from M7 I know it's camera limitations and one thing I was expecting that shifting away from Ultra Pixel sensor would mean a much better performance. Unfortunately looking at the images from Barcelona I was scratching my head if what I saw was M9 images. The lower light photos in my opinion look quite bad. Lots of artifact, nasty noise, blotches of unprocessed information. So to say about normal daylight images though not as bad but still below average. So what's your take on this matter? Will the software update sort it out , is it worth waiting for couple of months? I don't think I am going to upgrade to M9 which I sincerely want to. Camera is deal breaker for me.
I honestly wouldn't base an opinion of this device with its current software situation, its gonna get hot, this is a pre release model. Also I bet its been on charge all day with the screen on, tester after tester messing with it. Not to mention the kernel and rom probably aren't optimized to deal with heavy load, I can see HTC making this a great device with further updates, I look forward to having it.
nebulaoperator said:
Coming from M7 I know it's camera limitations and one thing I was expecting that shifting away from Ultra Pixel sensor would mean a much better performance. Unfortunately looking at the images from Barcelona I was scratching my head if what I saw was M9 images. The lower light photos in my opinion look quite bad. Lots of artifact, nasty noise, blotches of unprocessed information. So to say about normal daylight images though not as bad but still below average. So what's your take on this matter? Will the software update sort it out , is it worth waiting for couple of months? I don't think I am going to upgrade to M9 which I sincerely want to. Camera is deal breaker for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not the only one making a question out of the camera performance of the M9. The big issues with the new sensor is the increased resolution of 20mp vs the 4mp on the HTC One M8, which (as you noticed) makes images in low-light conditions quite bad. This has nothing to do with HTC though, it's the same story for everyone who cramps in such a high resolution in a sensor that is way to small. A normal DSLR camera (Canon 600D, Nikon D7100 etc.) struggles with the same thing although they got a massively bigger sensor to cope with the resolution. Based on this, I guess they may be able to fix the daylight quality quite a bit along the way. The low-light however, not as convinced due to the issues I said above. They may very well be able to make it BETTER, but not as good as it was with the M8 in my mind. Just look at the Note 4 and Z3 (and Z4 I guess) with massive resolutions on their cameras aswell, the Note 4 (16mp) is brilliant in daylight although it's worse in low-light compared to the iPhone 6 (which got a 8mp sensor). It will get better along the way, but I don't think we will ever see the M9 do low-light shots without some of the issues you asked about, like artifacts, noise and details failing to stand out. Although I do hope I am wrong about it
I hope Jonny too but I can't entirely rely on hope here. Can you give me reasonable example of how HTC improved camera in the past? I am not here to bash the brand that I love but I want to be reasonable. I still have purple fringe on my M7 for that reason I sent it back just a couple of days ago.
n3tr0m said:
You're not the only one making a question out of the camera performance of the M9. The big issues with the new sensor is the increased resolution of 20mp vs the 4mp on the HTC One M8, which (as you noticed) makes images in low-light conditions quite bad. This has nothing to do with HTC though, it's the same story for everyone who cramps in such a high resolution in a sensor that is way to small. A normal DSLR camera (Canon 600D, Nikon D7100 etc.) struggles with the same thing although they got a massively bigger sensor to cope with the resolution. Based on this, I guess they may be able to fix the daylight quality quite a bit along the way. The low-light however, not as convinced due to the issues I said above. They may very well be able to make it BETTER, but not as good as it was with the M8 in my mind. Just look at the Note 4 and Z3 (and Z4 I guess) with massive resolutions on their cameras aswell, the Note 4 (16mp) is brilliant in daylight although it's worse in low-light compared to the iPhone 6 (which got a 8mp sensor). It will get better along the way, but I don't think we will ever see the M9 do low-light shots without some of the issues you asked about, like artifacts, noise and details failing to stand out. Although I do hope I am wrong about it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know M9 has Toshiba sensor which being used for the Nokia High end Lumias which perform quite well. The other thing is I can set my camera permanently to 16 Mp or even less so to relief sensor from strain if that helps to get a better image. It's perfectly fine to have 8MP, personally speaking. For instance Iphone 6 Plus currently outperforms pretty much most of the phones in the market.
nebulaoperator said:
As far as I know M9 has Toshiba sensor which being used for the Nokia High end Lumias which perform quite well. The other thing is I can set my camera permanently to 16 Mp or even less so to relief sensor from strain if that helps to get a better image. It's perfectly fine to have 8MP, personally speaking. For instance Iphone 6 Plus currently outperforms pretty much most of the phones in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure it is developed by Toshiba, i am not sure if its the same they use in the Lumia series though. The fact that "reducing" the camera down to 16mp or even less to make the images better is something I doubt highly especially with a mobile. I dont see how that would change the outcome when it's still a 20mp physically in there. Might be wrong here, but I don't see right away how that would make images in low-light any better. In my experience with the Z1 it didn't help much dumping the resolution from 20mp down to 8mp (which was the auto-mode setting). Another thing I see as a potential issue for HTC compared to Sony is the fact that Sony makes and develops their sensor themself, and that should make it easier for them to optimize it and make it better. HTC on the other hand does not make it's own sensor and has "learn" or whatever I should say the Toshiba sensor compared to Sony who made them by themself. That should, at least in my eyes, give Sony an advantage in the optimization part. Which they never figured out properly in the Z1 (and Z2 & Z3?) as far as I know.
Let me look in the future..
*starts rubbing my Crystal balls...*
.....
It's getting warmed....
Okay I am seeing something...
The answer for which you are looking for lies within you. You may not know it now but you will in the near future. The key is to follow your heart and don't make weird threads on xda.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
I am looking forward to the M9 as i currently own a M7. To the point, after M7 came out nokia came out with Lumia 925, which had 8MP sensor and took better low light photos than the UltraPixel, One would think that in the last 2 years Htc would have gotten better or improved the MP count of the UltraPixel sensor, but that didn't happen.
As far as the current 16MP sensor is concerned, i hope that reducing the resolution slightly say 8MP and increasing the exposure/shutter time would atleast be able to provide results similar to UltraPixle in a 8MP resolution.
n3tr0m said:
Sure it is developed by Toshiba, i am not sure if its the same they use in the Lumia series though. The fact that "reducing" the camera down to 16mp or even less to make the images better is something I doubt highly especially with a mobile. I dont see how that would change the outcome when it's still a 20mp physically in there. Might be wrong here, but I don't see right away how that would make images in low-light any better. In my experience with the Z1 it didn't help much dumping the resolution from 20mp down to 8mp (which was the auto-mode setting). Another thing I see as a potential issue for HTC compared to Sony is the fact that Sony makes and develops their sensor themself, and that should make it easier for them to optimize it and make it better. HTC on the other hand does not make it's own sensor and has "learn" or whatever I should say the Toshiba sensor compared to Sony who made them by themself. That should, at least in my eyes, give Sony an advantage in the optimization part. Which they never figured out properly in the Z1 (and Z2 & Z3?) as far as I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am looking at some oversampling info on wikipedia. Thats exactly what Nokia did with pure view ,for instance, combining pixels into cluster to make one better pixel with improved characteristics . Then technically speaking reducing mp size can enable sensor to perform better. Thanks for bringing it out about Sony. Your thoughts so much parallel of mine about they inability to nail their camera performance taking into account they sensor plus all experience. This could due to the reason they don't actually work close enough to Sony photographic department and more or less on they own. Not sharing the love between themselve From my observation it's a lot about soft optimization, as you mention in your post , and here I can not to finish my post without mentioning 1+1 camera transformation that occurred in period from release date up until now. Camera performance is very good.
RaXxaa said:
I am looking forward to the M9 as i currently own a M7. To the point, after M7 came out nokia came out with Lumia 925, which had 8MP sensor and took better low light photos than the UltraPixel, One would think that in the last 2 years Htc would have gotten better or improved the MP count of the UltraPixel sensor, but that didn't happen.
As far as the current 16MP sensor is concerned, i hope that reducing the resolution slightly say 8MP and increasing the exposure/shutter time would atleast be able to provide results similar to UltraPixle in a 8MP resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they do something like Nokia did with oversampling pixel it might work ( just an idea) but taking into account they didn't succeed in ultra pixel technology , given two years, I can only hope. I don't really know much about new toshiba sensor and what is it capable of.
badboy47 said:
Let me look in the future..
*starts rubbing my Crystal balls...*
.....
It's getting warmed....
Okay I am seeing something...
The answer for which you are looking for lies within you. You may not know it now but you will in the near future. The key is to follow your heart and don't make weird threads on xda.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Weird "is a strong word but taking into account the amount of humour you used in your reply I take it lightly with a smile on my face
nebulaoperator said:
I am looking at some oversampling info on wikipedia. Thats exactly what Nokia did with pure view ,for instance, combining pixels into cluster to make one better pixel with improved characteristics . Then technically speaking reducing mp size can enable sensor to perform better. Thanks for bringing it out about Sony. Your thoughts so much parallel of mine about they inability to nail their camera performance taking into account they sensor plus all experience. This could due to the reason they don't actually work close enough to Sony photographic department and more or less on they own. Not sharing the love between themselve From my observation it's a lot about soft optimization, as you mention in your post , and here I can not to finish my post without mentioning 1+1 camera transformation that occurred in period from release date up until now. Camera performance is very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrighty then. Thats an awesome feature! Really hope that HTC can make the same magic as Nokia did with their Lumia series based on what you found out on Wikipedia etc. I will be more than pleased if the camera on the M9 outperforms the camera placed in the Z4, that should tell everybody that HTC did an amazing job optimizing it when they beat Sony and their own sensor
I've looked at some comparison photo's from gsmarena and personally I don't think it's much worse than the iPhone 6 shots they posted.
Think the day light pictures will probably be great, but the low light ones may be not so much. Without being any company's fanboy there is a great chance that the M9 camera won't be the best.
I have no idea what HTC did but images are getting very good ...at least in this series : http://www.sogi.com.tw/mobile/articles/6239319-HTC+One+M9、M8兩代旗艦機相機實拍對決！
For some reason when I shoot videos or photos, it's blurry if I try to shoot right away. OR I have to tap on the object just to focus on it. I remember being drunk at a concert and recording some video...it took about 10 seconds of a 2 minute video just to fully focus. Even my s3, m7 and old phones never had this problem. Anyone else have this problem?
btort1 said:
For some reason when I shoot videos or photos, it's blurry if I try to shoot right away. OR I have to tap on the object just to focus on it. I remember being drunk at a concert and recording some video...it took about 10 seconds of a 2 minute video just to fully focus. Even my s3, m7 and old phones never had this problem. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera isn't great, people are probably going to say you're talking rubbish. But I agree.
You can take a good pic and video but not you have to prepare it in certain cases, clean the lens etc.
Camera is just great and it keeps getting better. Make sure you don't have a faulty device or maybe clean the lens and laser auto focus.
Camera experience on mine is awful.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
Compared to my mother's iPhone 6 and my old S6E it takes better photos. I'm not doubting with a few more software updates it'll get even better. I saw that Taiwan got another update recently that reduced glare and further improved on exposure.
I'm going to be honest, the camera is terrible imo. But that's why I carry my DSLR with me if I want to take good pictures. Here is a video I took of my ride to work the other night and the lens was as clean as it could possibly be. Pictures come out the same way https://goo.gl/photos/SS7meVTv2tdA9EuX9
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
In low light condition it might still have the autofocus issue, but in bright situation it's been fixed, I think.
I agree with the fact that in the right conditions it's a great camera, it can take some decent shots. But if the situation doesn't permit then it'll takes some poor ones, this has been htcs issues for a long time.
Agreed.
I had the m7 and m8 and so I was used to tinkering with touching the screen to find the perfect focus spot and waiting and taking lots of shots hoping one or two were good.
Then I had the S7 edge for a few weeks. WOW! Never seen anything like that camera.
I returned because of the bootloader and was really excited hearing how the 10's camera rated nearly as good.
I have no idea what crack they are smoking, but focus is an issue and low light performance is worse than the m8, IMO.
After the Verizon update, the camera is faster to focus for me. I still have far too many optical flares though, and halo effects from fingerprints on the lens. They go away if I spend a minute cleaning it well with a lens cloth, but I'm not going to do that before taking every single photo. The lens is easy to accidently touch.
It's tragic because I feel this is a decent camera -- but they either put the glass too far away from the sensor or didn't coat the lens properly to prevent fingerprints from ruining shots. I've never had this problem with any of my other smartphones.
If I had to do it again, I think I'd likely go S7 (standard.) Unfortunately for me, I'm outside of my return window. My girlfriend has it, all of her photos are better, the phone is slightly easier to hold /much lighter, storage performance is much better, and the phone finally has enough power to overcome TouchWiz. Anyone wanna trade? lol
meringo said:
After the Verizon update, the camera is faster to focus for me. I still have far too many optical flares though, and halo effects from fingerprints on the lens. They go away if I spend a minute cleaning it well with a lens cloth, but I'm not going to do that before taking every single photo. The lens is easy to accidently touch.
It's tragic because I feel this is a decent camera -- but they either put the glass too far away from the sensor or didn't coat the lens properly to prevent fingerprints from ruining shots. I've never had this problem with any of my other smartphones.
If I had to do it again, I think I'd likely go S7 (standard.) Unfortunately for me, I'm outside of my return window. My girlfriend has it, all of her photos are better, the phone is slightly easier to hold /much lighter, storage performance is much better, and the phone finally has enough power to overcome TouchWiz. Anyone wanna trade? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny thing, the M9 camera "Could" take a decent pic. The sensor wasn't actually a bad one.
It just had poor optimisation and that's what let it down.
I have an iPhone for work (I know )
But the camera is superb, for a quick point and shoot, it's hard to beat.
Also a friend has the G5, camera is simply sublime. The wide angle is just amazing, still even with all this moaning I would swap any for my HTC.
Just something really cool about them..[emoji16] its a curse.
IMO the camera is the best HTC has made, but it's still no where close to Samsungs camera, even the original galaxy (SGS Vibrant) is miles better.
It's a choice, camera VS bootloader, mods, roms, etc.
SykesAT said:
IMO the camera is the best HTC has made, but it's still no where close to Samsungs camera, even the original galaxy (SGS Vibrant) is miles better.
It's a choice, camera VS bootloader, mods, roms, etc.
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I agree completely, the camera is htcs best, but still behind the curve. They'll get it one day.
I tried to take a video a few days ago and problem was it kept and stayed out of focus no matter what I tried
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meringo said:
After the Verizon update, the camera is faster to focus for me. I still have far too many optical flares though, and halo effects from fingerprints on the lens. They go away if I spend a minute cleaning it well with a lens cloth, but I'm not going to do that before taking every single photo. The lens is easy to accidently touch.
It's tragic because I feel this is a decent camera -- but they either put the glass too far away from the sensor or didn't coat the lens properly to prevent fingerprints from ruining shots. I've never had this problem with any of my other smartphones.
If I had to do it again, I think I'd likely go S7 (standard.) Unfortunately for me, I'm outside of my return window. My girlfriend has it, all of her photos are better, the phone is slightly easier to hold /much lighter, storage performance is much better, and the phone finally has enough power to overcome TouchWiz. Anyone wanna trade? lol
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What do you mean by storage performance? What kind of scenario in your case?
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Sounds like a there must some defective cameras out there. My camera always focuses instantly and I have taken a lot of photos. Not one of my photos has been disappointing so far and I have taken them in a wide array of condition, both dark and light.
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Sounds like a simple enough idea, and the reason I think it may work is because I think it's htcs optimization of the camera.
Do you think another app would work better? Might give a few a whirl tomorrow, bought a good one not long ago, will try it and let you guys know.
This is the app, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riseupgames.proshot2
Has buttons similar to a DSLR.
richii0207 said:
What do you mean by storage performance? What kind of scenario in your case?
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emmc (HTC) vs usf (what Samsung uses.)
Reads are 35% faster on the S7. Writes are much faster on the HTC10 due to great SLC write cache, but far less important than read speed, in my book.
This improves not only general performance, but file transfers to your computer (real world example: get photos off device without cloud)
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using XDA-Developers mobile app
meringo said:
emmc (HTC) vs usf (what Samsung uses.)
Reads are 35% faster on the S7. Writes are much faster on the HTC10 due to great SLC write cache, but far less important than read speed, in my book.
This improves not only general performance, but file transfers to your computer (real world example: get photos off device without cloud)
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using XDA-Developers mobile app
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I understand that internal storage is faster on the S7, but I asked for a SCENARIO that affects YOU to the point where the speed of that difference shows.
Moving files such as movies, photos, and music to your internal storage seems a bit silly when you have an sd slot.
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I feel like I can take decent to great pictures BUT the phone sometimes has a hard time focusing unless you tap on the screen. If you were trying to take a picture of something quick, most likely it will be blurry. And yeah, I do clean my lenses more than usual. This is my only problem with this phone. I came from a S6E and that phone had a great camera
too bad it's crippled with touchwiz and yes, it still lags from time to time.