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I am contemplating using my upgrade for this phone. I am coming from a Galaxy S3 on VZW. MOST of the reviews I've read on VZW or Amazon have been pretty good.
How's battery life? Is it difficult to root (for backup purposes)? It looks to be a fairly vanilla Android; is it? Is 16 GB enough for you, should I look for a 32 GB?
Game changers for me...
Radios: I live in a fringe area and always had dead spots around home and in town with my Nexus 4. Not anymore!
Trusted Bluetooth/Skip: Now have the best of both worlds... keeping my phone secure with a password, and not having to mess with it when I am home and in the car.
Speaker/Mics: Speakerphone is the best I have ever used in a smartphone. Folks I talk to over it don't even know I am on speaker... even in my truck. Plus I can actually listen to podcasts on speaker.
Camera: Love having to just shake it to open the camera app, and touch anywhere to snap. I find myself using the camera more and more.
Other things I like...
Active Notifications: Love them.
Touchless Control: Like in the commercial with the guy talking to the phone on the nightstand. It works that well. Still learning to use it more and more everyday.
Cons...
Display: Hard to see it in sunlight.
Camera: While the camera is capable of very good results, the always on auto white balance is often fooled (but it is simple to fix in post). Also miss Photosphere, and the ability to take smaller dimensioned photos and vids.
Can't comment on rooting... I have no need. And I have never needed more than 16GB on a phone (but I don't keep a lot music and vids on it). I have everything I need on it and still have over 8 GB free space.
Simply... it is the best smart phone I have ever had (Nexus, iPhone). It is the perfect size and feel, and just addresses some usability issues other phones don't... plus the actual "phone" part of it is stellar (where way too many smartphones are just barely acceptable).
1. Battery life is better than the S3
2. I personally don't think it was difficult
3. It is mostly vanilla with some fantastic add-ons from Moto
4. 32gb
nhizzat said:
1. Battery life is better than the S3
2. I personally don't think it was difficult
3. It is mostly vanilla with some fantastic add-ons from Moto
4. 32gb
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Click to collapse
Agreed besides the storsge part is up to the OP and there needs, im coming from a Nexus 4 which i loved dearly but my moto x is great and i love how the added on features are useful.Feels great in the hand also better than than nexus 4 imo and S3
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
Thanks, guys! I appreciate the input. A lot of the posts are old and I was looking for some more recent opinions. How is the camera? The MP is higher, but I've been reading that the pics aren't that great. I take A LOT of photos with my phone.
If you know how to take good photos, the camera rarely disappoints, but is not very good at makingbad photos good (ala iPhone, Galaxy).
Compared to your S3, you'll see less saturation and less in-camera sharpening applied, and as previously stated, white balance can be off in tricky light. The look is decidedly Nikon, as opposed to iPhone and galaxy's Olympus look. As a Nikon fan, I see some advantages to the less aggressive exposure and post processing, but quick and dirty snapshots will more often than not, be more pleasing from an S3 or iPhone.
There is a photo thread here with plenty of examples of how good (and bad) it can be.
I LOVE my X. I personally have the VZW dev edition and can't say a bad thing about the device. As mentioned, the camera might not have the post-processing of some phones, but that's not a deal breaker for me. The touchless controls make the phone though. soo much safer for hands free EVERYTHING.
The X is smartphone done right. Everyone that checks mines out always comment on how nice and how much they like it. It honestly was worth the $400 no doubt about it. Worthy investment. Motorola regained me as a customer after not having a phone of theirs since Jr school.
Take mines and everyone's thoughts about it old or new. It does not disappoint.
I figured it might be a good idea to share my thoughts on the Note 4, since I always put a lot of research into smartphone buying and someone might find it useful There are some of you that are still leaning toward different flagships all of the time (like I did!), so I hope this helps.
First of all I would like to mention that about a month ago I made up my mind to give up my LG G2 and switch to a new smartphone.
The Xiaomi mi4 came up first.
I liked the design, UI, price, specs. Everything about the mi4 is just above average, but thats about it. It didn't have that even slightest "wow factor" that I needed to push me to buying one. It's a very good phone, but the warranty would require me to send the phone far into the unknown in case something was wrong, I wasn't sure If I would pay tax as well. Nobody had the 64 gb model either (16gb and no card expansion, really?!). I decided that this would probably be a wise choice but it didn't offer anything more than what I already had on the G2, and in some cases, it was worse (camera). I passed.
My second choice was the LG G3.
So like always, I started researching, checking out different variants and prices, digging through the specs, looking for its strong sides and flaws. I liked the quad hd display at first, the SD 801 SoC, good camera with laser autofocus. The UI was a nice upgrade from the LG G2's cartoonish look. The 32 gb model seemed a good option with its 3gb of ram (although I didn't like the design as I wanted something different from the G2).
As I started to dig deaper though, I noticed that the display isn't all that awesome, as there is more to it than just resolution. I think they might have made the phone much better if they sticked to a 1080p panel and focused on other aspects like color reproduction, brightness, power consumption. I found out that the 801 chip is stretched to its limits (even over them..) with that display, which caused overheating, throttling and lagging in demanding tasks and games. I believe a smartphone should be able to handle anything you throw at it so I dumped the G3 from my plans.
Then the Z3 came up.
So again- researching, digging, looking at the cons and pros. I liked the design a lot better than the G3 (besides the plastic corners, although I can justify the reason they used them for). The display was beytter than the Z2, with very good brightness and color reproduction after making some adjustments to the stock settings. The audio quality is superb as well, the whole phone is waterproof and its battery life was very well above the current smartphones.
The camera in the Z3 is top of the line, but I didn't like how it overheats. Making the phone thinner wasn't necessary in my opinion and sony might have thought about the component allocation in the device, as putting everything in the top part of the phone wasn't too smart of a choice. The UI was something that I didn't like the most though. I know I could throw a custom ROM at it in a while, but I wasn't sure how that would work with the camera, battery life and other features sony offered in the stock ROM.
I almost made my mind up on the Z3, as it had everything I wanted and I could live with its cons but then the price came into my mind: 515 pounds including tax.
Thats the part the note 4 came into play.
I watched the Note 4 presentation: the phone impressed me in overall, I liked the design, UI, hardware etc. So I started digging again.
I've always wanted the best out of my phone, no matter if I was going to use all of the functions it had or not. I used my phone for calling, texting, making notes in google keep, gps, playing games, listening to music, browsing the web, taking pictures. Usually I endep up rooting it and putting a stock like ROM on it (although I used the stock LG G2 ROM all the way). The design of the phone was always important for me, thats why I had an iphone 4s and 5 for a month before ditching it cus of the awfully simple and boring OS.
The Note 4 seemed to be a very good phone that offered what I wanted and much more beyond that:
1. The display
It's resolution could have been not increased. Samsung could have stayed with a 1080p panel. But thats not whats important about this panel. This is what the DisplayMate test results are:
"The Galaxy Note 4 delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance: it is the first Smartphone display to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories (except one Yellow for a Brightness Variation with Average Picture Level) since we started the Display Technology Shoot-Out article Series in 2006, an impressive achievement for a display. The Galaxy Note 4 has again raised the bar for top display performance up by another notch. "
The display is a window through which you interact with your phone, and it is a component that must be top of the line. There should be no compromise here. Samsung exceeded my expectations in this matter.
2. Performance
There are 2 variants of the Note as most of you know. I'm still having a hard time with both of them. At first I thought the Snapdragon is an obvious choice considering it was superior to all of the other chips last year.
But then the 64-bit affair came into place. Anyone would like their phone to be futureproof, and a 64-bit SoC would be a wise choice. The exynos and snapdragon chips offer pretty much the same performance. I tried looking at the benchmarks, real world usage, gaming, but one outpaces the other in different things and it is very hard to tell the difference. I believe the fluidity of the UI and overall performance must be taken into consideration the most, as I believe both chips will handle anything you throw at them when apps and games are optimized. The choice is either taking the 20nm exynos and hope for better battery life and 64-bit support OR the snapdragon one and expect better dev support.
I wanted the Exynos for the wolfson chip, as I like good quality music from my phone. I'll be using good headphones and PowerAmp so I figure I wouldn't notice much difference anyway. At least not enough to pay extra and import the exynos variant.
I'm pretty much set on the Snapdragon 805 as I believe the battery life should be good on both (the andreno 420 is powerful with lowered power consumption). Like I mentioned earlier I might change the ROM after a while if something good comes out. It's a matter of personal taste- NOT performance of the chips. Thats my opinion on the matter.
3. User Interface
Touchwiz was out of the question for me up until I saw the Galaxy S5 UI. I actually liked the flat style and functions it offered. The note 4 UI is pretty similar. I really like the S-Pen experience, it should be a great change for people who haven't used it before. I love taking notes and I'll use it often. I like the functions it offers, the selection in different UI elements, the ease of copy/pasting, more precise touch input.
Touchwiz has a lot of useless apps that I might not like, but I'm sure it will be possible to get rid of the ones you don't like later on, the dev community in here will surely help. I could go on about the stamina mode, multi-window, the ability to resize apps etc, but you've all seen that on videos. The most important fact for is that touchwiz had been improved, it is eye pleasing, smoother and faster than ever. It is the best custom android OS you can get atm.
4. Camera
On paper both of the cameras looked really good to me, but I wanted to wait and see the real world results. I wasn't disappointed. there were some early comparisions done, but some of them were pictures or videos not taken with the note 4, so getting a correct view at the performance was quite hard. We have these results now and the note camera is a top notch performer. I find day pictures top of the line, the details are there, colors are popping, OIS helps as well. 4k shooting isn't all that important to me but its a nice addition. The camera seems to be very capable and will perform great in a day-to-day user's hands as well in an experienced person ones.
You may find the night shots worse than of the lumia or z3, but thats just terribly trying to find a flaw to me. Come on- who the hell is going to photograph a piece of paper in the dark of the night!? insane. There are pictures taken with the note at night, i like how the lights aren't blurred and everything seems very crisp and detailed. Do remember what you'll be using the phone camera for, and the Note 4 delivers more than I want in those terms.
5. Battery life
Many people find this very important. I thought the Note 4 might get bad results cause of that screen so I checked out some vids of the LTE-A Galaxy S5 with the higher res display. The results were the same as the standars S5.
I am not sure if its the chip that is more power efficient, some power saving changes in the OS, or the screen, or maybe all of these at once, but the results people are having on the Notes they recently picked up are very pleasing to me.
Final words
I probably shouldn't, cause its so ridiculous, but I'll mention the gap gate as well- I don't give a crap about it. I wont even notice it. Especially with the case I'm going to put on the phone. And its something that samsung probably addressed already in the new batch of phones. There are other things I should maybe mention, but these 5 are most important for me. I really like the performace of the Note 4, its UI, functions, metal frame design, micro SD storage expansion, camera, battery, IR blaster and everything else that seems to be a full package that many will find good enough to put their money on. I surely will. On the black one of course
You have really done some good work digging up info and comparing them.
Just to add couple points to OP's excellent write up:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already.
The gap between screen and frame around might be by design, due to combination of plastic, glass and metal having different expansion rate due to temperature changes. My thinking is that if the phone was brought from very warm room into very cold outside, metal frame would cool and shrink much faster than the rest and could even possibly crack the glass, doing so. The gap possibly allows for contraction/expansion without doing any damage. Either way, outside of aesthetics, it doesn't affect anything and it's a non issue. Probably blown out of proportions as an attempt to shift attention away from bendgate.
pete4k said:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he was referring to the increased GPU load due to the higher resolution which is a valid concern.
But as it has already been said, even the S5 LTE-A with its Snapdragon 805 and QHD resolution has the same battery life as the regular S5 with Full HD and Snapdragon 800.
Still, it would be interesting to see the battery life on a Snapdragon 805 device with only a Full HD display.
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
han4mi said:
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I would agree that FHD 1080p would be more than enough. However, since the GN4 is going to host the Gear VR, with magnifying lenses, I'm happy it went for the QHD
Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk
Audio Quality
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
ymmp said:
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
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Click to collapse
I have the same question, ´cause I am afraid, that speeker-quality will be on low level and I am used to fantastic stereo sound of my current htv one m8.
I think, the price for Note 4 ist extremly high. Meanwhile Samsungs flagships are playing in the same €-league with the latest iphons. So I want to hold it in my own hands first before buying it. In center of Europe the Note 4 will be available in about 2 weeks.
Maybe the new Nexus 6 has a better balance between price and specs. We´ll check it out.
Just read Phone Arena's review. Here's a quote:
"Unfortunately, the audio portion of the media experience isn't so spectacular. The single speaker of the Galaxy Note 4 is rather quiet and lacking any depth, making it sound thin and weak. It's not too bad, but it's far from the best we've heard"
How disappointing! The new Moto X is supposed to have an amazing front speaker. I just wonder if it is more like the Note 2 or 3.
I believe the speaker will be good enough to play the ringtone I choose. I prefer earphones+ Poweramp for my music. Like I said, it depends what you're expecting to use the phone for. The Note 4 meets my demands in key aspects and thats why I'm going for it. I don't want THE BEST PHONE. Such a phone does not exist. All of the flagships have their strenghts and weaknesses and a smart person would take the one with the most personally suitable set of features.
Make the encryption optional
Make the LED light work without rooting
-Camera software tweaks to improve shutter speed, vid recording in Hangouts, etc
-Unlink notification/ringer sounds
-Make the ascending ringtones optional!
-Optimize the sw to get better battery life.
optional ascending ringtones
Faster Autofocus/Picture taking
Better focusing in Video
Yes, better battery life is a must also.
Better video quality ,it looks really bad . improve the camera its all software issues that need fixing. My battery life is better than my note 3 so no complaints about that. Change the really big dumb icons to a normal size. The DPI on this phone should be between 400/450. Make the dial app one process to get to instead of two. I shouldn't have to click the dial icon to have to click another icon just to get to the dial.
Better battery
Much slimmer body (7mm or less)
Best QHD/4K Display (dont want it, but it will happen regardless...so might as well make it the best display possible, unlike the N6's sub-par one)
4gig DDR4
64bit top processor
Front facing speakers
Tiny front bezels
6.2inch screen in the same body size as a Nexus 6
IR blaster
Camera software that actually can better an iPhone 7 in all lighting conditions; optimize the stock camera software to Apple/Samsung levels.
20mp rear dual camera with dual tone flashes (dual camera phones are producing better images)
5-10mp front camera with flash
NFC
Wireless charging
Completely water proof
Notification LED
Fingerprint scanner (the same kind as the iPhone where you press your finger, not swipe it)
Better designed phone in terms of aesthetics, the giant NEXUS logo is a bit tacky
Full metal phone
support for the fastest LTE available and fastest WiFi & Bluetooth
Battery life that lasts 3days at least
4K video recording that works
OIS - but an advanced version
Decently priced
The list goes on...
In all seriousness while my list is completely doable and Google is capable of making such a phone, it likely wont. This is not how companies work - since when did any company release a phone that perfectly matched what your expectations were? In my opinion, never, there is always something left out which could've been added. For example the PS4/Xbox One were made on a budget to be cost effective, and as a result they are not powerful machines like their predecessors were when released. The next 'Nexus' phone (or whatever it will be called) will be a minor upgrade on the Nexus 6. Sure, it will likely have 64bit processor, a new camera sensor and different design. But it will also likely be outclassed by other phones on the market, like the Note 5, just like how the Nexus 6 is outdone by the Note 4 in terms of features (not just talking software; Note 4 has a better screen, camera hardware and arguably better quality battery despite being the same size). Phones are increasingly receiving smaller and smaller upgrades. Are phone cameras from 3 years ago dramatically worse than today? Not really. Are phones from 2+ years ago that much slower in normal use (calls, texts etc) compared to today's new phones? They are slower, but in normal use, completely fine and not that bad. The rate of progression in phones is slowing down a little, so the next Nexus wont be a huge upgrade in terms of everyday use.
spartanm99 said:
Better battery
Much slimmer body (7mm or less)
Best QHD/4K Display (dont want it, but it will happen regardless...so might as well make it the best display possible, unlike the N6's sub-par one)
4gig DDR4
64bit top processor
Front facing speakers
Tiny front bezels
6.2inch screen in the same body size as a Nexus 6
IR blaster
Camera software that actually can better an iPhone 7 in all lighting conditions; optimize the stock camera software to Apple/Samsung levels.
20mp rear dual camera with dual tone flashes (dual camera phones are producing better images)
5-10mp front camera with flash
NFC
Wireless charging
Completely water proof
Notification LED
Fingerprint scanner (the same kind as the iPhone where you press your finger, not swipe it)
Better designed phone in terms of aesthetics, the giant NEXUS logo is a bit tacky
Full metal phone
support for the fastest LTE available and fastest WiFi & Bluetooth
Battery life that lasts 3days at least
4K video recording that works
OIS - but an advanced version
Decently priced
The list goes on...
In all seriousness while my list is completely doable and Google is capable of making such a phone, it likely wont. This is not how companies work - since when did any company release a phone that perfectly matched what your expectations were? In my opinion, never, there is always something left out which could've been added. For example the PS4/Xbox One were made on a budget to be cost effective, and as a result they are not powerful machines like their predecessors were when released. The next 'Nexus' phone (or whatever it will be called) will be a minor upgrade on the Nexus 6. Sure, it will likely have 64bit processor, a new camera sensor and different design. But it will also likely be outclassed by other phones on the market, like the Note 5, just like how the Nexus 6 is outdone by the Note 4 in terms of features (not just talking software; Note 4 has a better screen, camera hardware and arguably better quality battery despite being the same size). Phones are increasingly receiving smaller and smaller upgrades. Are phone cameras from 3 years ago dramatically worse than today? Not really. Are phones from 2+ years ago that much slower in normal use (calls, texts etc) compared to today's new phones? They are slower, but in normal use, completely fine and not that bad. The rate of progression in phones is slowing down a little, so the next Nexus wont be a huge upgrade in terms of everyday use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kinda hard to change all that in a simple software update.
knitler said:
Kinda hard to change all that in a simple software update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read the thread as update to the Nexus 6, did not think of it as a software update.
However better camera software would be good. When I say better, I mean far better post-processing, faster focus and better use of the hardware. Not sure that will ever happen though, since it really hasn't ever happened before to make any major upgrades. Encryption being a choice would be good too.
spartanm99 said:
I read the thread as update to the Nexus 6, did not think of it as a software update.
However better camera software would be good. When I say better, I mean far better post-processing, faster focus and better use of the hardware. Not sure that will ever happen though, since it really hasn't ever happened before to make any major upgrades. Encryption being a choice would be good too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought manual camera from the play store. The app is pretty awesome. It supports raw... Pictures snap instantly. So far im impressed. Huge upgrade over the Google camera.
Smallsmx3 said:
I just bought manual camera from the play store. The app is pretty awesome. It supports raw... Pictures snap instantly. So far im impressed. Huge upgrade over the Google camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Until it supports video it's a no-go for me.
Smallsmx3 said:
I just bought manual camera from the play store. The app is pretty awesome. It supports raw... Pictures snap instantly. So far im impressed. Huge upgrade over the Google camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just read about this app. It appears to be a huge improvement over the stock camera but it does need to have the option to save your settings, use the front camera and use video recording on both front and rear cameras. I'm sure they will implement these features though, it is the next logical step with this app. Happy that someone is making a high quality camera app - it is a good start.
I'll likely buy it eventually if video recording is supported for both cameras as well as the front camera being supported, naturally. So far, it looks good.
Thanks for sharing this info!
bonebeatz1234 said:
Better video quality ,it looks really bad . improve the camera its all software issues that need fixing.
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Click to collapse
I am an Android fan, and a professional photographer. I know what really upscale gear costs, as I use it almost daily.
The video recording quality of the N6 is atrocious. Very poor encoding, very poor S/N. And this applies to both 1080p and 4k. I know the 4k video recording was a marketing gimmick - a test so to speak - but I fully expected the 1080p to be without the same artifacts and poor S/N when recording.
My beef is easily replicated - the background brightness "stairsteps" instead of smoothly transitioning if you move your camera (up and down slowly - watch the background adjust as the angle changes) to change the angle of view. If a blank wall is behind the subject, you can see the brightness "click" up and down as the brightness/contrast level changes. Same thing occurs with the sky if it happens to be the background. It should be like a smooth volume control, not a click-stop. This results in it being unusable when viewed.
I am not suggesting it work in extremely low light. I'm talking bright, indirect lighting (always better than harsh direct light). It just fails in these mild conditions.
I have no way to know if this can be upgraded in software.
Side by side with an iPhone 6Plus shooting simple 1080p video there is simply no comparison, The N6 sucks, and it otherwise pleases me very much.
I have all of the third party apps and really enjoy the flexibility they impart. My favorite is Cinema FV-5. Unfortunately, they do nothing whatsoever except leverage the APIs. They do not introduce better encoding, etc.
The way this camera behaves with video recording is not even close to parity with other upscale devices. Remember, i am not talking about still photo capture, nor am I referring to video playback. I am perfectly fine with those on this device. I have very upscale gear, mostly I rent Red, and I shoot 4K weekly. I just want reasonable video.
I am hoping for the best.
Insights are welcomed. I love my phone, except for this and it frustrates me to sense video recording is a marketing buzz word versus a core feature.
Multi window.
dan04103 said:
Multi window.
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There are alternatives on the play store, but not as powerful/clean as Samsung's integrated framework of course.
C00lBeanz said:
Make the encryption optional
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Click to collapse
DEFINITELY will not happen. Best you can hope for is HWCRYPTO, which will yield the performance of no-crypto, so problem solved regardless.
Make the LED light work without rooting
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Click to collapse
I realllllllly doubt you'll see this. Google is not known for altering user facing features after a device is launched.
1. No forced encryption.
2.Fix USB OTG so flash drives actually mount.
One hand mode.
bench_strength said:
I am hoping for the best.
Insights are welcomed. I love my phone, except for this and it frustrates me to sense video recording is a marketing buzz word versus a core feature.
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Click to collapse
So you are a professional. What are you expecting?
There is a cost of miniaturization.
The sensors are so small compared to the REDs you use or SLRs.
Phone to phone comparison is probably a better way to look at it. Without looking at the specs and hardware for iphone 6+ and nexus 6, apple just sourced a better camera on the market. It's the same deal with the fingerprint scanner as well. They bought it all up, and left none of the 'good' stuff for moto/google.
8Fishes said:
So you are a professional. What are you expecting?
There is a cost of miniaturization.
The sensors are so small compared to the REDs you use or SLRs.
Phone to phone comparison is probably a better way to look at it. Without looking at the specs and hardware for iphone 6+ and nexus 6, apple just sourced a better camera on the market. It's the same deal with the fingerprint scanner as well. They bought it all up, and left none of the 'good' stuff for moto/google.
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Click to collapse
I agree with your analysis, up to the point where I use the camera for still shots. It works very well, especially with stock HDR+ or with a third party app to control all of the core tools. I am completely OK with it.
Your points about sensors is true, no debating that.
The still photos and the video use the same lens. The photos are tack sharp if care is taken (3rd party) or HDR+ is used exclusively.
The video appears to be almost completely dependant upon processing. Processing is software. I would like to think they could improve this significantly IF they gave two hoots.
Sending back my Nexus 6p to replace with op3t been wanting this phone for some time. Aside from asking many different questions my main thing would be the camera . Initially videos and blogs on the camera said it's in n par with a s7 or note 5 quality . But I'm hearing negative talk about the rear cam blur and clarity. Is there a known issue ? A camera mod or fix or is this just bias opinion. I guess I'll find out soon .
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers Legacy app
androidddaaron said:
Sending back my Nexus 6p to replace with op3t been wanting this phone for some time. Aside from asking many different questions my main thing would be the camera . Initially videos and blogs on the camera said it's in n par with a s7 or note 5 quality . But I'm hearing negative talk about the rear cam blur and clarity. Is there a known issue ? A camera mod or fix or is this just bias opinion. I guess I'll find out soon .
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me the camera it just fine , I mean I don't expect professional results it is a phone camera if I want better results go for a pro one
One a bright day the camera is perfect wonderful pics , but as light reduces the camera loss some quality and sharpness
I mean for 439 dlls it a good camera
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk
I love this phone and the latest. Oxygen OS update fixes alot of the camera issues witch were fine according to me but im not a camera guy. I got it for the processor and 6 gigs of ram and so far this thing has only impressed at ever corner you can't go wrong with this phone especially at this price point.
I'd say given good amount of lightning, the camera gets pretty decent performance. Once its in lowlight, it definitely has some catching up to do compared to devices like S7, 6p.
There is apparently an issue with the camera on OnePlus 3T where focus stops working. I have read multiple reports now and I am affected myself. Some say this is a hardware issue and some had their phones already fixed by OnePlus. Someone else said a software update fixed it for him so maybe there are multiple issues at work. But those are all defects where the camera stops working properly. Until this happened, the camera was fine and I couldn't complain about the quality at all.
Outdoor photos with any degree of sunlight are excellent. Indoors, with any amount of sun coming through windows also are great. Indoors, with artificial lighting is where it gets trickier. The lower the light, the longer it takes to auto focus; and if your subject is moving, the pics are more likely to blur. If you have some patience, and know how to take pictures, you can get decent results. And you may have to take several photos, knowing some will have blur.
The best example would be indoor pics of my young kids (which I take a lot) which can never stand still for long, even for a picture. But even with some decent amount of artificial light, and a bit of patience, I get some very good pics most of the time.
Another option on the OP3T, is you can change the camera to "manual" mode. This allows you to manually set the ISO, white balance (type of light), etc. This can get you faster focus and better results in lower light. But not everyone may want to take the time to manually tweak these settings.
I take a good amount of smartphone pics, and the camera is important to me. Overall, I'm pleased with the camera on the OP3T. But given, I'm coming from an older phone, the HTC M8 (which is going on 3 years old). On the other hand, the amount of effort it takes to get unblurred photos on the OP3T is not out of line with when I use my DSLR camera.
Maybe a phone like the Samsung GS7 can take more focused pictures, more consistently, and with less effort. And of course there is something to be said about that. But there is also a price. Most folks who criticize the camera on the OP3T are comparing it to flagships like the iPhone 7 or Samsung GS7 which cost almost twice as much (okay, the price of phones vary a lot over time and by region - but you see what I'm getting at). The OP3T simply can't compete as it lacks the fancy features such as dual camera, laser focus + phase detection etc. which all cost money. But what you have is a phone which competes with the current flagships on almost every level (processor, RAM, build quality) with just a bit of compromise on the camera, screen resolution, and waterproofing.
came from a 6p, have had trouble getting my camera to focus, but still love the phone
Note8 + iPhoneX both have dual rear cameras however in some portrait photos especially your hair, ears etc is blurred out incorrectly. iPhone X seems to do this job a lot better despite having similar hardware specs.
Is this something a software could fix/enhance?
everybodylovesfebs said:
Note8 + iPhoneX both have dual rear cameras however in some portrait photos especially your hair, ears etc is blurred out incorrectly. iPhone X seems to do this job a lot better despite having similar hardware specs.
Is this something a software could fix/enhance?
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1. two TOTALLY different devices
2. I've made some "portrait"-pic's: no problems at all
Ah okay, yes agreed that Note is a phablet and other a phone. However I'd assume that in the camera department at least they would both perform similar.
Particularly, portrait modes where Note 8 blurs out lot more than your face where IPhone X does the same lot more accurately.
They are both phones, the ill-term "phablet" is no longer valid, as it was only referring to big screen sized phones in the days of the first Note, now all flagship phones are even bigger than the first galaxy note, the differences that henklbr refers to, are mainly how both OEM design, build and manage their devices
Found the reason. IPhone uses Kinect like 3D imaging for its algorithm. Samsung uses 2D which unfortunately isn't anywhere as accurate as the iPhone for pleasing bike and portrait photos.
Hopefully the next iteration will have something as good or better.
everybodylovesfebs said:
Found the reason. IPhone uses Kinect like 3D imaging for its algorithm. Samsung uses 2D which unfortunately isn't anywhere as accurate as the iPhone for pleasing bike and portrait photos.
Hopefully the next iteration will have something as good or better.
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The 3D imaging is only for front camera when used to unlock the phone. So no that's not the reason. Its software.
Not according to the internet.
https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/255771-apple-iphone-x-truedepth-camera-works
http://bgr.com/2017/10/02/iphone-vs-android-camera-truedepth-face-id/
What does it really matter.. Ultimately, it's (a camera, any camera), is just a tool.. I've seen terrible (and I mean terrible, terrible) shots with the X, and I've taken some bad ones with my 8 in the learning process. Ultimately, it's up to the user to learn what the camera can and cannot do, and it's shortcomings.
I(and I'm sure many others)don't know why there is always someone "iPhone can do this".. Ok.. and, so what... Go buy an iPhone and see all that it cannot do, that the note can. And then, go post in an isheep (which the op sounds like) forum and see how many sensible responses you get..
We deal with notes.. Not iPhones here.. Who cares what that overpriced and over hyped single task piece of yesterday's hardware can or can't do(which can't, is a massive lot!).. I'll take my note on the worst day and night over that ugly screen and lack of multitasking on that ijunk..
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
the only thing these two phones have in common is that they both have cameras
WaxysDargle said:
the only thing these two phones have in common is that they both have cameras
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And that both can do voice calls and text messaging :laugh:
rodrigofd said:
And that both can do voice calls and text messaging :laugh:
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that is debatable! lol
everybodylovesfebs said:
Not according to the internet.
https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/255771-apple-iphone-x-truedepth-camera-works
http://bgr.com/2017/10/02/iphone-vs-android-camera-truedepth-face-id/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both of those articles are referring to the front facing camera, not the rear cameras.
Geez I'm not an i sheep I've owned s2,3 4 5, s7e, s8 and now note 8. My close friend is however an apple fanboy and likes to compare both and up until the iPhone x I always had the upper hand in most things.
I spent hours trying to find a camera that takes portrait photos(both front and rear) with bit more accuracy when it comes to blurred background.
The 3D imaging is apparently only for the front camera which explains why the front self portraits are a lot better on the iPhone X where as the rear camera portraits are a lot closer in good lighting.
In dim lighting such as a restaurant, the Note 8 selective focus, live focus doesn't fire up due to "no contrast detected.." error.
I'm pretty happy with the Note and use proper mirrorless cameras (a6500 + 18-105 and Samsung NX500+45/1.8) for photography needs however thought I could ask the question here and see if I'm doing something wrong or get some constructive advice on ways to improve the portrait modes. Thanks
Well, yes, your reason is valid, but, in the end, it is always a matter of balance, even the mere fact of using a cell phone to take pictures ultimately reflects this, if taking pictures is the most important factor, a camera is the choice, but you have to pay a price, as I said, it is all about balance, Samsung tried to adress it with the galaxy cameras, but they abandoned it