Best camera & battery life - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi. I'm looking for a phone with the following features in the camera:
1. Optical Image Stabilisation
2. Burst mode and very quick in-between shots/shot-to-shot times (zero lag)
3. Tapping on screen when taking 1080p video
4. Full stereo recording
5. Wide aspect ratio in photos
6. Low noise/artefacts when zoom
7. Fairly good low-light capability
A power-saving option in the Settings and a more than 2 days standby time. Better optimised OS.
And it must be a 4G-LTE, quad-core phone with 2GB RAM.
I'm thinking of a Nexus 5, Xperia Z, Moto X, HTC One.
Any advice please?

gino_76ph said:
Hi. I'm looking for a phone with the following features in the camera:
1. Optical Image Stabilisation
2. Burst mode and very quick in-between shots/shot-to-shot times (zero lag)
3. Tapping on screen when taking 1080p video
4. Full stereo recording
5. Wide aspect ratio in photos
6. Low noise/artefacts when zoom
7. Fairly good low-light capability
A power-saving option in the Settings and a more than 2 days standby time. Better optimised OS.
And it must be a 4G-LTE, quad-core phone with 2GB RAM.
I'm thinking of a Nexus 5, Xperia Z, Moto X, HTC One.
Any advice please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously you didn't think of the xperia z1 or z2 20.7 mega pixel camera. Battery saving stamina mode. 2gb ram 1080p video display pretty good phone.... Be careful which version you get because they have versions for different GSM bands.

I have an Xperia SP and i found the battery life to be pretty good for the tasks and routines i do everyday. It seems that Sony has properly optimised the OS and battery life on their phones.
But the biggest issue of my Xperia SP was the camera. Zoom is atrocious and near abysmal with lots of noise and artefacts. Burst mode and shot-to-shots/in-between shots was non-existent. Lag was a mile wide.
Is the Z1 camera zoom unlike the SP's?

Related

A few more days with the camera...

I've been taking some test shots with the mini pro camera, and I have to say I'm a bit let down.
Turns out the camera is a bit slower than I initially thought, and the pictures come out to be a pixelly mess.
I thought the dithering artifacts where only due to low light scenes, but it turns out I can see there artifacts with well let subjects.
The still frame camera does better than the video, but both suffer. Maybe Sony could do us a favor and have an option to remove in camera noise reduction. This would give us a chance to do better noise reduction in post to try and produce better quality results.
The video also suffers from cadence issues when outdoor light is very bright. I've seen this in dedicate video on stills cameras, it results in choppy video. I'd rather have smoother better quality low resolution video as compared to this dithered choppy mess of video.
Most of these artifacts are masked if you view video on the camera itself, but when you view them on your HDTV they are quite obvious.
Anyone have ideas on turning off the NR, I'd be happy to hear them.
Things you can do to help performance.
Set camera to fixed or infinity focus for faster response.
Use the sports mode for higher ISO shots, faster pics.
Use center weighted focusing.
Another interesting thing to note, I also happen to have the X10 mini pro. Looking at the phones side by side, the x10 has a slightly larger lens. I was a bit surprised at this change. I hope Sony makes an effort to bring better quality photo and video to the smart phones. Heck, they can make it their market differentiator.
Mike
hardware or software?
is it hardware problem or software? can video recording be improved through software upgrade?
irumbustalin said:
is it hardware problem or software? can video recording be improved through software upgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly.
But you also have to realise that this is just a mobile phone, of course it isn't going to be as good as dedicated hardware.
irumbustalin said:
is it hardware problem or software? can video recording be improved through software upgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say if software is an issue, but I'm certain hardware is an issue.
1 thing they could do from a software POV is to have an option to remove noise reduction. Sony may be not want people to see what the photos look like without NR.
2: It's a physics thing, the lens is tiny and the sensor is even smaller. The sensor technology is another issue. The sensor can only collect so much light, this directly impacts it's a ability to produce better photos. Note that Sony has a higher quality sensor Exmor they decide to reserve for other cameras.
I was hoping the phone could produce video quality to rival something like a flip phone.
3: Keeping the lens clean. It's hard to do this with a phone you constantly hold in your hand without some sort of lens shield. My old W580i hid the lens when it was in the close position. It also had a nice smooth easy to clean lens surface. It was only 2MP, but took excellent photos.
There are a few more things I could play with in my quest for better photos. For one, I should make sure the image stabilizer isn't on when I take well lit photo samples.
One other interesting thing I noted is the maximum shutter speed I've been able to produce. The camera may max out at 1/125 sec. I was a bit surprised, that's kind of slow. I haven't gone to see what my other camera phone can do, but that in itself shows the weakness of the phone.
Several of the shots I took under what I would call bright/normal lighting produced 1/16th shutter speed. This makes it hard to get a blur free photo due to subject movement and camera shake.
I was able to compensate some using sports mode, but that increases the ISO which = more noisy photos.
Mike
Comparison to x10 mini pro
Just had the opportunity to take a look at a few photos my wife has taken with the x10 mini pro. Actually, based on the experience with this phone, I decided to wait for and buy the mini pro 2.
I was happy and at the same time sad to see how much better photos taken with the x10 mini appeared vs. the mini pro 2.
The colors, focus, as well as resolution was better. Also noted that the photo size was larger, near the 1.5M size I expected out of the mini pro 2 photos.
Also noticed the x10 mini is capable of ISO 40.
I compared the panorama type shot, the X10 fared better, but still not great in panorama detail, I guess that's o.k.
Also noticed the x10 camera options are significantly fewer than those on the mini pro 2. That's fine since the photos are of decent quality though it would be nice to have a bit more control over the photo options.
I'm certain Sony could at least do something about the photo compression being used in the Mini Pro 2, it would be nice if the camera could at least equal the x10 mini pro photo capability.
Mike

Picture looks better on the screen and videos than on still photos

I have been very disappointed with the Z Ultra camera, when I'm about to take a photo it looks gorgeous on the phone screen but then it looks crappy after the shot is taken.
There is a big loss of detail, it's almost if some sort of oil paint effect was applied to the photos on.
Today I noticed that the videos have much better image quality than the photos, I can pause a video and see how beautiful the image looks compared to regular shots.
I used to own a T2 Ultra and it had an excellent depth of field which allow me to shoot beautiful macros, the Z ultra has a bright lens on the specs but I can't get the same quality on the macros.
Overall it seems that the camera driver is messing around with the sharpness on the still pictures and screwing up something, is the camera driver source code available from the AOSP project?
I tried many, many other apps but it doesn't help much other than adding post processing tricks on top of the pictures, the problem seems to lie on the camera driver.
Thanks
use a 3rd party camera app that allows you to set the ISO abd set that at 50 or 100 at max. The image will be better, but not perfect. The underlying processor is poor in the ZU
blueether said:
use a 3rd party camera app that allows you to set the ISO abd set that at 50 or 100 at max. The image will be better, but not perfect. The underlying processor is poor in the ZU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I felt that there could be some hope for the camera if the driver could be improved, the specs of the image sensor seem to be not bad compared to it's "brother" sensors: here.
I still believe that the driver is applying some heavy sharpening on the image and not doing a good job as far as of contrast/dynamic range as well as encoding raw image to JPEG inefficiently thus delivering washed out pictures.
IMX134 8 M Exmor RS sensor.
1.12μm pixel size.
IU134F9-Z lens.
f/2.4 aperture.
28mm aperture.

Updates & Improvements?

I'm interested on the Galaxy A3 2017 phone. Specs wise it seems very good on that front. But I have been hearing some issues like:
1. USB Type-C is of the 2.0 version and not the faster 3.0?
2. Strange speaker placement making the sound tinny?
3. Blue light filter not baked in on the quick shortcuts?
4. Overall screen quality poor in direct sunlight &/or has poor sunlight readability?
5. Camera photo quality is slightly poorer/inferior to previous models? No image stabilisation even on 1080p 30fps?
6. Multitasking and apps reload pointing to a poor memory management?
Can someone please confirm or advice? Thanks.
Gino76ph said:
I'm interested on the Galaxy A3 2017 phone. Specs wise it seems very good on that front. But I have been hearing some issues like:
1. USB Type-C is of the 2.0 version and not the faster 3.0?
2. Strange speaker placement making the sound tinny?
3. Blue light filter not baked in on the quick shortcuts?
4. Overall screen quality poor in direct sunlight &/or has poor sunlight readability?
5. Camera photo quality is slightly poorer/inferior to previous models? No image stabilisation even on 1080p 30fps?
6. Multitasking and apps reload pointing to a poor memory management?
Can someone please confirm or advice? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. cant realy confirm but ithink 90-100 mb/s is usb3 speeds
2.the speaker is weird but doesnt sound tiny and isnt bad
3.if u mean that its not on the shortcuts on the notification panel then yes it isnt by default but u can add by simply long press any shortcut
4.the screen is pretty good not the best for its price range but it gets verry bright undersunlight but only on auto for a reasson ,
5.the camera is kinda meh ...for 13 mpix theres no much detail and the photos are kinda fuzzy
overall its an amazing device but thhe premium of its prize goes to the look mostly , u can get better hardware at this price range but a3 is the best looking 4,7 at its price range and its specs arent completly garbage ....
i bought for 3 reasson 4.7 its my size , the hardware is fine , got it as a huge deal for 200$ and my previous phone was a windows phone... if u find it for less than 250 go for it u wont regret it
Screen is Amoled so very good but low resolution. Wish it was 1080p. But it gets very bright. Not as good as S8 but good for it's price. Have seen flagships like HTC10 with less performance.
Camera can make pretty shots in good light but it's not great. Depends on what you expect from this camera. For social media it's good enough. Compared to S8 it's a poor performer. Lack of image stabilisation is my biggest issue.
Look at GSMArena for comparison with other phones.
Considering it's price 250,- I think it's a solid phone. Compact, great build, ip68, fingerprint scanner but camera could be better.
garret1976 said:
Screen is Amoled so very good but low resolution. Wish it was 1080p. But it gets very bright. Not as good as S8 but good for it's price. Have seen flagships like HTC10 with less performance.
Camera can make pretty shots in good light but it's not great. Depends on what you expect from this camera. For social media it's good enough. Compared to S8 it's a poor performer. Lack of image stabilisation is my biggest issue.
Look at GSMArena for comparison with other phones.
Considering it's price 250,- I think it's a solid phone. Compact, great build, ip68, fingerprint scanner but camera could be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a 4,7 inch screen so even 720p is pretty fine u cant really see the pixels maybe closer tan 20-1 can

General In-depth review of OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G

View attachment 914143457575174145.webpHey OPPO Humans,
I hope you all are doing great.
I have been using the OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G as my primary device for almost 7 months now, and here comes a usage experience or we can say an In-depth review of the device. So without any further ado let's get started.
Topics covered in this thread :
Camera
Design & In-hand feel
Display
Performance
Battery Life
Software
My Final Verdict
1. Camera​
Cameras are an important point when it comes to OPPO devices, so its no surprise to see more photo and video features, coupled with capable camera hardware on the OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G. The device is equipped with 64MP Main Camera, along with an Sony IMX 355 8MP ultrawide angle camera and two 2MP sensors – one for macro and the other for monochrome photography. The Reno6 Pro 5G also comes with Electronic image stabilization (EIS). You may be happy to learn that Ultra Steady video mode is available too. It has higher dynamic range, giving backlight shots clearer, more colourful details in both shadows and well-lit areas. The main camera can record 4K 60FPS videos.
Reno6 Pro 5G comes with a 32MP Sony IMX 615 sensor snapper for selfies and video chats. I found the 32MP front camera to be very good, which shoots some clear images with a good amount of details present on the face tones. Selfies taken during the day looked decent, Portrait mode is quite useful. In the evening or night, the performance is also very good, it provide usable selfies with bright enough light sources around.View attachment 914136882299011077.webp
My experience with the camera was very delightful and extra ordinary. It was a perfect blend of all the factors that one wants from a camera app like Saturation, Exposure, Auto-Focusing, Focus tracking etc & the features like Bokeh Flare Portrait, Flash snapshot and many more made the Camera Department stand out from the rest.
2. Design & In-Hand Feel​
The first thing that caught my eyes was the beautiful design. The device come in two color options i.e. Aurora & Stellar Black. I have the Stellar Black variant. It comes with OPPO's exclusive Reno Glow design, providing a unique back design because the AG glass has glossy and matte both in his back as some like glossy textures. Combining Reno Glow glass which using a crystal drilling technique to create millions of pyramid-shaped crystal structures at a microscopic level, and Diamond Spectrum body which is the combination of five core elements, the new Aurora variant could shine a million colors while holding in different angles.View attachment 914137195647074310.webp
And in terms of in-hand feel, OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G weighs only 177g which is quite lighter than any other smartphone and it also has a thickness of 7.6 mm which is much much thinner. The clean, minimalistic, quite elegant design is very comfortable in my hand and gives me a classy premium experience while holding the device in my hands.
3. Display​
OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G has a 6.5" OLED Curved Single Punch-hole display with Refresh rate of 90Hz, Touch sampling rate of 180Hz, and Screen-to-body ratio of 93.4%. My view on display is that when it comes to the display quality of the smartphone, you will not be disappointed by using it to watch videos on various OTT platforms and YouTube. The punch hole doesn't result in much of a hindrance in the viewing experience. There’s also support for Widevine L1, HDR 10+ Certification and thanks to the OLED display, which offers accurate colors. And also it has SGS Eye Care display certification. It was fun to watch content on this phone, the outputs are top-notch. Overall, it's a great combination of design and display.View attachment 914137387368710147.webp
4. Performance​
The phone is packed with MediaTek's flagship processor, Dimensity 1200. The octa-core Dimensity 1200 features one of the fastest smartphone CPUs ever. For all gamers, performance is a most important part. I played a lot of heavy games like BGMI and COD MOBILE and I was able to play both of them on high settings with high frame rate. Even at Ultra frame rate and HDR graphics, BGMI worked like a charm and I didn’t found any heating or frame drop problems with the phone. Thanks to the Multi-cooling system that prevents overheating. So, with the Performance on I don't have any issues and really impressed specially in gaming and multitasking works absolutely fine.View attachment 914137626133659652.webp
5. Battery​
The OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G gets a massive 4,500mAh battery. With moderate usage, I was easily getting somewhere around 8hr of screen on time. And, in order to quickly charge this mega battery, there's also a 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 Charge, which can take it from zero to 100 in about 31 min. Other important feature I can't miss to share with you all is Super Power Saving Mode. With this mode turned ON, the battery life shoots up. Running low on battery? Turn this feature ON to save a lot for later. It shuts down almost every unnecessary operations and gives extra screen on time.View attachment 914137750721527814.webp
The combination of 4500mAh + 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 makes this smartphone survive for a long time whether you play your favorite games or listen to the music or watch videos for hours. When it comes to charging speed I never want to go back after using that 65W SuperVOOC I just simply in love with how fast it gets charged. Yes I'm very happy with the battery life.
6. Software​
The OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G comes with Android 11 and ColorOS 11.3 on board. The user interface is clean, pleasing to eyes, icon designs, smooth animation while opening & closing the apps, everything is perfectly balanced with tons of customisation options found on ColorOS 11.3, But one thing that amazed me a lot is that it comes with native Google stock apps. Yes, we get stock apps like stock dialer apps, messages. Instead of a smart assistant on the left end of the home page now we get Google now. OPPO is seriously leaping towards much cleaner and stock experience.View attachment 914138382828044292.webp
I'm really impressed with ColorOS 11.3, and loved the overall UI experience. Mainly, the sets of customisation it offers are on the next level, being honest this is what I always wanted at the moment.
My Final Verdict​View attachment 914139023155920898.webp
After spending 3 months with OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G and i just fall in love with device. For me it's a beast device at the price point it is available right now. MediaTek Dimensity 1200 Processor which not only gives you a smooth and amazing gaming experience but also a well optimised powerful device. Camera is the mainThis is only smartphone in this price segment having DSLR effect. Bokeh Flare Portrait mode which is a cool new feature no doubt. The battery performance is good as well and the addition of 65W fast-charging makes the deal unbeatable. The way that it looks and sits in your hand is bound to win you over. Plus the gorgeous curved AMOLED display, how smooth and slick it feels in daily usage. It is one of the slim and light device which you really feel in your hands but also looks premium. I feel most users will be happy after buying this phone, especially those who are looking for a stylish, sleek phone. Overall I'm happy and satisfied with the same at the moment
So with that I have concluded the review by my side. Now it's your time! I hope you guys like this device and let me know what you think about the device in the comment section!
Signing off
Thahir
Thanks for the review. Can you confirm if Google MAp's Live View works on it? Thanks!h
Hi I need to root my phone oppo Reno 6pro is there any possibility

General S23 Ultra Photo Comparison with Note 20 Ultra - Beats it but not all situations!

Been comparing shots on the Samsung S23 Ultra I just got to my Note 20 Ultra. As expected, it's not a night and day difference of course. But in most scenes, the S23 Ultra produces moderately better results with the biggest difference when using Expert Raw in 50MP mode both JPG and RAW output (while the latter is going to be better for post editing. I imagine 200MP is good too but I'm passing on that large of file size).
I found what I think though is a limitation in the camera software (or sensor). Hopefully Samsung will fix it in a future update. It is for moderately low light indoor photos (like late afternoon and overcast with no indoor lighting turned on), but where you have a bright scene through the windows (like snowy mountains). I imagine this happens in any room where you have bright window scene and not a bright room.
The normal camera on the Note20 Ultra does much better metering and doesn't blow out the scene in the windows. The S23 Ultra comes very close if using the normal camera in 12MP mode but at best it's equal to the Note in other tests the S23 Ultra totally blew out the window scene where the Note 20 Ultra didn't. In this test scene it got a little worse in 50MP mode. Then it gets even worse in Pro mode. In Expert Raw it is bad too in some circumstances no matter what metering mode you select or exposure setting. If you are lucky to get a decent shot in Expert Raw you can tweak the RAW output in Adobe lightroom, but it's still not as good as the normal camera mode on both phones! Where as most other shot scenes, the Expert Raw in 50mp mode is superior to the other modes and anything the Note 20 Ultra puts out, but you need to zoom in on the photo to really notice the difference. (Safe to say if you're a Note 20 Ultra User (or S21/22 Ultra), you're not missing out much as the 200mp sensor in the S23 Ultra is as I expected part modest improvement and part a lot of marketing hype.)
Here's a comparison between normal 12mp camera output on Note 20 and S23 Ultra, then an Adobe Lightroom edited RAW image coming from Expert Raw on the S23 Ultra in 12mp mode.
So the end conclusion is that in the current state of the software, on the S23 Ultra, for high contrast moderate natural light indoor shots like this, you are best just using the standard 12mp auto mode in the regular camera app. Whereas in most other situations you get the best quality with reasonable file size shooting in Expert Raw at 50mp.
Image comparisons here:
https://imgur.com/a/7bnmcXU

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