Database Users

A few notes about the camera (it isn't bad)

Lots of people are unhappy with the camera on the Z. I'm into photography and I thought I'd have a play with it to see what I could find out. I thought I'd post this as it may help people get more out of the camera and understand why they are getting bad results. I was initially very unhappy with low light shots, especially compared with my old Xperia Arc. I am now getting vastly better results.
1. "Superior Auto Mode" SUCKS. Really, really sucks.
Why?
First, it applies some sort of hyper-aggressive noise reduction/sharpening to most images. This means that even if you get a good capture, this mode then does its best to ruin it for you by artificially stuffing up details and actually adding noise (via over-aggressive processing).
Second, it does really stupid things with ISO. You may notice that on manual settings, ISO only goes up to 1600 (which is still way too high for this sensor). However, in auto, the camera will go up to at least ISO 2500 (confirmed by checking exif data). This is extremely bad for image quality and introduces huge amounts of colour noise which simply cannot be overcome by post processing. In addition, in auto mode the camera is very "high ISO happy", so it will bump up the ISO very quickly even in moderately good conditions.
What's more, while you can't use the (dubious) image stabilisation at manual ISO settings, you can you HDR. So you can get good night or dusk shots by using HDR and (say) ISO 400 in normal mode, which I deal with below.
Overall, I would avoid this mode unless you are in bright conditions or just need to get a basic shot without caring about quality.
2. HDR mode is real, but the images it takes are not taken simultaneously.
I'm sure I read Sony claiming that the sensor was in some way three layered and therefore that it could take HDR shots instantly. The reality is that while HDR mode works (weakly), it actually takes three separate shots over the space of maybe half a second.
The problem with this is that if things are moving in your image, they will either blur or have ghosts of themselves in the photo.
I verified this by taking an HDR shot of traffic at an intersection. I was able to see very dark and very light 'ghost' images of moving cars, even though the rest of the image was sharp and clear.
From this I am guessing that Sony has implemented an edge-matching algorithm to process the three exposures into one. This can cope with some camera shake, but cannot cope with actual fast moving objects. This theory is supported by the fact that the image size drops by one megapixel for HDR, i.e., the camera is giving itself a "border" to allow for shake.
It is also apparent that the level of HDR processing is very weak compared to what is possible with a proper camera and proper software. The exposure range and the amount of weight given to the high and low range exposures is very weak (confirmed by the level of saturation of the "ghost" cars in my test image, which were fairly faint).
Others have reported that the video quality suffers with HDR on. This is consistent with the HDR having to take triple the exposures then process them on the fly.
3. Image stabilisation is a gimmick
In manual mode, you can turn on image stabilisation. However, when you do this, you can't set a manual ISO level and can't use HDR. This strongly suggests that all that "image stabilisation" is really doing is messing with your ISO settings (as per "superior auto mode") to increase shutter speed in difficult conditions by ramping up ISO. This, of course, destroys quality.
4. You can use normal mode to control the ISO and get much better results, including at night
If you choose "normal" shooting mode, and then go to settings and scroll down, you will find an option to set the ISO of the camera manually.
Playing with this, I have been able to get much, much better results from the camera than are achievable either in "superior auto" mode or in any mode where ISO is set to "auto".
Specifically, I would say that the camera produces fair to excellent results (for a phone camera) at any ISO below 400, and acceptable results at 800 in some conditions. However, 1600 produces very noisy images and should be avoided if you are after image quality (as should 800, to be safe). That is consistent with the size of the camera and sensor. Even fairly good consumer DSLRs struggle at or above 1600, so it is not surprising that a tiny phone camera struggles at or above 800.
Using the camera at ISO 400 I have been able to take shots in very dark conditions which look great and show relatively little noise.
The lens is f/2.4 at its fastest, which is not ultra fast, but fast enough to capture a decent amount of light at ISO 400 or 800. You are better off sticking to these ISO levels and trying to physically stabilise your camera (i.e., balance it on something solid) than killing you image quality with higher ISO settings.
A comparison suggests that "normal" mode doesn't apply the stupid levels of sharpening and noise reduction (so called) that superior auto mode does. Shots seem to retain most of the natural sharpness and detail that the camera is clearly capable of producing.
5. The flash is bad but better than most
Direct flash generally sucks, and mobile phone flashes generally suck. Combine them for a lot of suckiness.
However, Sony has done a solid job with this flash, given the baseline difficulties with any direct flash. It doesn't seem to blast its subject and it seems to be at a low enough level to let ambient light fill in the background. I was able to get acceptable results in normal mode at ISO 400.
6. Metering
The metering on the camera is quite aggressive in its centre-weighted variation. If you are finding that photos of a light or dark object are causing the rest of the scene to blow out or go too dark, try the full averaged metering mode (which is slightly dark, but does a decent job).
7. My suggested settings
A. Daytime: Normal mode; ISO 100; HDR off (to avoid ghosts on moving objects); flash off.
B. Nightime: Normal mode; ISO 400; HDR off unless taking pics of buildings and holding camera v steady; metering full scene; flash off.
C. I want to produce horrible photos then complain: Superior Auto Mode.
I hope this helps someone! Using setting A above this camera produces some stunning pictures in good light. Using setting B it produces very good night pictures for a camera phone, particularly if you shoot at the highest resolution then resize later.

One other thing - what I would like to see Sony do to improve the camera so that users get the most out of it...
1. Dramatically reduce the default image processing in auto mode
2. Add a smart ISO setting, where the user can control the maximum ISO that the camera will select on "auto ISO". E.g. allow the user to set ISO800 as a cap, but have the camera use a lower setting if suitable for the conditions.
3. Add advanced options to allow the user to contol noise reduction and sharpening.
4. (In fantasy land) add a full manual mode.

What do you mean by "metering full scene"? Do you recomendo "multi-point automatic focus"?

JPWOA said:
What do you mean by "metering full scene"? Do you recomendo "multi-point automatic focus"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that's focus mode (which I don't have strong views about - I prefer single point for more control, personally). I.e., the way in which the camera picks the subject which will be in focus.
I'm talking about exposure, i.e., how the camera works out how bright or dark the scene is. In "normal" mode, if you go to settings, then scroll down, you will see a metering option. The choices are centre, average or spot.
I'm suggesting that at night "average" will be most useful as "centre" or "spot" take a limited part of the image and base exposure on that. At night a limited part of the image is likely to be extremely dark or light, which will make the exposure go nuts.
During the day "centre" works ok for specific subjects, and average is good for evenly lit scenes.

Thank you very very very much for your review.
I'll own a Xperia Z in a few days and, since i'm into photography too, I was worried about the quality pics I've seen.
Did you try the burst mode? Have you seen the post about burst mode avoiding (almost) all postprocessing and daylight pics look awesome?
What do you think? Does normal mode avoid this kind of overprocessing in good light conditions?

caitsith01 said:
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Agreed on pretty much most of what you say, in addition other camera apps that allow you to save 100% jpg quality or save as png also help.
f2.4 not ultra fast hmmm, I am sure you do not have very many lenses in your arsenal that are faster for your camera. I know I only have one, my F1.2 50mm lens, the rest are f2.8 or F4, they have to do for me because they don't make any faster sir, and if one day they even did, I am telling you I could not afford them .
Apart from that some good information shared.
---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------
juanmaasecas said:
Thank you very very very much for your review.
I'll own a Xperia Z in a few days and, since i'm into photography too, I was worried about the quality pics I've seen.
Did you try the burst mode? Have you seen the post about burst mode avoiding (almost) all postprocessing and daylight pics look awesome?
What do you think? Does normal mode avoid this kind of overprocessing in good light conditions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no, because Sony are still processing the image to create the jpg files, and not saving at 100%. Think of RAW, I always shoot in RAW because then I am in control of the processing on the image WB,Sharpness,Brightness... not my camera.
Burst mode is great, because the Sony algorithms don't have time to apply all the settings to all the photos before they are written, so just pretty much write the file (like jpg in raw jpg). So a combo of all these things will significantly help further. To better this even further there are other camera apps that allow you to save at 100% jpg or even png for RAW like capture to a lesser extent

danw_oz said:
f2.4 not ultra fast hmmm, I am sure you do not have very many lenses in your arsenal that are faster for your camera. I know I only have one, my F1.2 50mm lens, the rest are f2.8 or F4, they have to do for me because they don't make any faster sir, and if one day they even did, I am telling you I could not afford them .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I have a couple which are faster. For DSLR stuff f/1.4 and f/1.8 are only a couple of hundred bucks, and there are compacts available in that territory too.
For really solid low light performance at an acceptable ISO you really need something around f/2.0 or lower. Either that, or a better sensor which can produce minimal noise at ISO 1600.

juanmaasecas said:
Thank you very very very much for your review.
I'll own a Xperia Z in a few days and, since i'm into photography too, I was worried about the quality pics I've seen.
Did you try the burst mode? Have you seen the post about burst mode avoiding (almost) all postprocessing and daylight pics look awesome?
What do you think? Does normal mode avoid this kind of overprocessing in good light conditions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen that thread - in my opinion the burst pics look similar to those I have been able to achieve in normal mode, i.e., nice clean edges, not a lot of detail loss, not a lot of noise added by over-sharpening.
I imagine the reason is that the camera isn't fast enough to ruin... er... process pictures when shooting in burst mode. Burst mode has some resolution limitations, though, plus who wants 10 copies of every photo?
To be honest many of the daytime shots I've taken look pretty close to what you would expect from an enthusiast compact, like one of the Leica-Panasonic or Canon G-series cameras. Not quite there, but close (and obviously lacking optical zoom).

Well i don't know but i took some samples for a quick compare. Though even the BURST Mode pics are a bit smaller in size, they give you still the most detail and Pictures overall look much better. That's at least my impression.
1- Burst Mode
2- Snap Camera (PlayStore)
3- Supperior Auto
4- Normal Mode ISO 100
5- HDR Kamera (PlayStore)
Decide for yourself.

caitsith01 said:
Actually I have a couple which are faster. For DSLR stuff f/1.4 and f/1.8 are only a couple of hundred bucks, and there are compacts available in that territory too.
For really solid low light performance at an acceptable ISO you really need something around f/2.0 or lower. Either that, or a better sensor which can produce minimal noise at ISO 1600.
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Click to collapse
I am talk serious gear, not cheap 50mm lenses. And I didn't ask you if you could find cheap lenses, I asked you how many lenses you have faster than f2.4.
For solid low light performance, I would not be using a smart phone, nor would most others I am sure. Most people are using phones for snap shots nothing serious, or to capture that once off shot because you didn't have a better camera on hand.
Not any phones that I am aware of below f2.0

caitsith01 said:
Actually I have a couple which are faster. For DSLR stuff f/1.4 and f/1.8 are only a couple of hundred bucks, and there are compacts available in that territory too.
For really solid low light performance at an acceptable ISO you really need something around f/2.0 or lower. Either that, or a better sensor which can produce minimal noise at ISO 1600.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, thanks for your detailed explanation. i have one concern, though (just food for thoughts). you said that in superior auto applies more processing on the pictures. for what i've seen (and the examples provided by higgings are clear enough), the processing applies as well, but we have (dramatically) less colour shifting and probably less noise. the problem, to me, is still aliasing and lack of detail (if you compare in higgings pictures, burst mode, the door phone, you can clearly see the name plates, which isn't the case in the other pictures
anyway, good job, and thanks again

Thanks for this really informative thread.
One question though. In normal mode, the viewfinder, ie the screen, is really dark. I could barely make out any details in a well lit room but when I take a picture, the image comes out well lit. Increasing the exposure to 2.0 helps but not a great deal. The screen looks fine and bright in superier auto though. My settings are the settings you recommended. ISO at 100 and flash, HDR off. Any idea what's the issue? I've included a couple of photos to better illustrate this. Note, the dark picture which is in normal mode is attempting to focus on the same object as the superior auto mode in the same lighting situation.
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totally agree, most of all on superior auto...
normal mode, same photo,auto is 400 iso...manual iso 200 (just a little darker) superior auto 800/1600 iso
superior auto can be good only on daylight (difference between 40 and 100 is really small)

sacredsoul said:
Thanks for this really informative thread.
One question though. In normal mode, the viewfinder, ie the screen, is really dark. I could barely make out any details in a well lit room but when I take a picture, the image comes out well lit. Increasing the exposure to 2.0 helps but not a great deal. The screen looks fine and bright in superier auto though. My settings are the settings you recommended. ISO at 100 and flash, HDR off. Any idea what's the issue? I've included a couple of photos to better illustrate this. Note, the dark picture which is in normal mode is attempting to focus on the same object as the superior auto mode in the same lighting situation.
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Click to collapse
Hi
I think this is a flaw with the camera software. It happens on mine too. It is trying to guess what the image will look like at that ISO. So the slower you set the ISO, the darker the preview. However when you take the picture it does its best to get a good exposure and generally succeeds.
So basically not much you can do about this, but it does make it hard taking shots in very low light. Another thing Sony should fix!

fartlec said:
hi, thanks for your detailed explanation. i have one concern, though (just food for thoughts). you said that in superior auto applies more processing on the pictures. for what i've seen (and the examples provided by higgings are clear enough), the processing applies as well, but we have (dramatically) less colour shifting and probably less noise. the problem, to me, is still aliasing and lack of detail (if you compare in higgings pictures, burst mode, the door phone, you can clearly see the name plates, which isn't the case in the other pictures
anyway, good job, and thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that you can resolve those nameplates better in the burst mode picture, even though I think it might be slightly lower resolution (?). The "normal" mode shot looks softer, but looks to me like it still has less aggressive noise reduction/sharpening than the "superior auto" shot. I would like to know what ISO these were at - unfortunately the EXIF data has been stripped out.
Another area where the three pictures are noticeably different is the curtains in the lowest row of windows. The burst mode output is noticeably sharper. Normal mode is a bit more smudged and has the characteristic "painted" look of over-aggressive noise reduction, and superior auto mode is even worse in this regard (as well as the colour being completely different).
I obviously don't know exactly what's happening inside the camera, my original post is just what I've tried to work out from playing around with different settings.
I can say for sure that there was a drastic difference in noise for me taking the same dark night scene using superior auto and then manually dialling down the ISO. Using superior auto the noise in darker areas was so bad that the image was unusable, even for social media etc, whereas at ISO 400 it was acceptable and could have come from a reasonable quality compact camera. It may be that the ISO level is the primary problem, and that the aggressive denoise/sharpen algorithms make the problem worse (because running these on a super-noisy picture will produce messy results). So it might be running the same level of denoise etc in both modes, but because superior auto produces such messy base images the filters then make the pictures look shocking.
It really needs a "raw" mode, either producing real RAW images or producing "straight out of camera" JPEGS with minimal filtering.

caitsith01 said:
Hi
I think this is a flaw with the camera software. It happens on mine too. It is trying to guess what the image will look like at that ISO. So the slower you set the ISO, the darker the preview. However when you take the picture it does its best to get a good exposure and generally succeeds.
So basically not much you can do about this, but it does make it hard taking shots in very low light. Another thing Sony should fix!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah thank you. So for indoor pictures, if I wanted to see the preview, I don't have a choice but to increase ISO? That sucks really

I've flashed a 4.2 camera from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1970957
I found the quality is way better than the stock one, even it shot at 5MP

sillypilot said:
I've flashed a 4.2 camera from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1970957
I found the quality is way better than the stock one, even it shot at 5MP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exemples ?

I also use the 4.2 camera. For me it's faster and the photos it makes are on par with the ones made using burst.
I've patched the 4.2 camera to support all of the resolutions Z/ZL support (9, 13, etc).
I'm uploading it now.
Update: here's the link

A few shots from yesterday.
At the car
Burstmode, mid.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/Bil%20Burstmode.JPG
iAuto
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/Bil%20iAuto.jpg
At my parkingspace
iAuto
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/Parkering%20iAuto.jpg
Burstmode, mid.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/Parkering%20Burst.JPG
Normal, 100ISO, HDR On
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/Parkering%20Normal%20100ISO%20HDR%20On.jpg
Window shot
iAuto
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/F%C3%B6nster%20Auto.jpg
Burstmode, mid.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83964459/F%C3%B6nster%20Burst.JPG
So what do you think? There are some differences between the pictures indeed.

Xperia Z camera video quality and HDR

So i took a vid with my Z in an indoor enviroment and whilst it does have detail, smoothness it comes at the price of huge noise.
now i know this is a smartphone, but my previous phone, an HTC One S, did excellent shots even in indoor and poor light conditions.
i believe one answer to this might be the fact that HDR is hardcoded in staying on at all times. i believe this messes up with the exposure values and eases noise to make way in the vid.
i tried tinkering with the settings, best i found was to put exposure at -2 and iso at 100/200 but still the noise persisted.
do you have any tips/tricks to improve low light video?

Warmo said:
So i took a vid with my Z in an indoor enviroment and whilst it does have detail, smoothness it comes at the price of huge noise.
now i know this is a smartphone, but my previous phone, an HTC One S, did excellent shots even in indoor and poor light conditions.
i believe one answer to this might be the fact that HDR is hardcoded in staying on at all times. i believe this messes up with the exposure values and eases noise to make way in the vid.
i tried tinkering with the settings, best i found was to put exposure at -2 and iso at 100/200 but still the noise persisted.
do you have any tips/tricks to improve low light video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any proof to show HDR is enabled at all times? I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that HDR which is supposed to get more accurate colour intensities can let noise enter the video. I would say that compression is a more likely culprit than that, given that you tweaked the settings and still got noise. What say you?

Warmo said:
So i took a vid with my Z in an indoor enviroment and whilst it does have detail, smoothness it comes at the price of huge noise.
now i know this is a smartphone, but my previous phone, an HTC One S, did excellent shots even in indoor and poor light conditions.
i believe one answer to this might be the fact that HDR is hardcoded in staying on at all times. i believe this messes up with the exposure values and eases noise to make way in the vid.
i tried tinkering with the settings, best i found was to put exposure at -2 and iso at 100/200 but still the noise persisted.
do you have any tips/tricks to improve low light video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree with HDR being always on. I tested it with similar condition HDR off and on. HDR which looks like more exposure and is tweaked for low light videos. However the Noise is due to HDR failing to focus faster. In simple words HDR takes time to focus but give better results if your hand is firm and the video is slow mo. however you can uncheck HDR and change other settings like ISO and exposure you can get better results. (Video)

coolrevi said:
I disagree with HDR being always on. I tested it with similar condition HDR off and on. HDR which looks like more exposure and is tweaked for low light videos. However the Noise is due to HDR failing to focus faster. In simple words HDR takes time to focus but give better results if your hand is firm and the video is slow mo. however you can uncheck HDR and change other settings like ISO and exposure you can get better results. (Video)
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Click to collapse
"The new Sony Xperia Z flagship boasts a feature no other phone can brag with, and it is High Dynamic Range capture, but not only for still photography, but in videos as well.
The option is hardwired with the new Exmor RS sensor of Sony."
that last phrase is not exactly absolutely clear, but i assume that if it says "hardwired" it means "hardcoded" so to speak, and usually hardcoded means that it cannot be modified in anyway.
also, everytime i shoot a video i get the HDR tag right next to the timer on bottom-left side of the screen. and that little HDR tag remains even if i turn off the HDR function when in Photo mode.
i might be wrong of course and HDR can be disabled.
If HDR can be disabled please tell me how! I would really appreciate it!

coolrevi said:
I disagree with HDR being always on. I tested it with similar condition HDR off and on. HDR which looks like more exposure and is tweaked for low light videos. However the Noise is due to HDR failing to focus faster. In simple words HDR takes time to focus but give better results if your hand is firm and the video is slow mo. however you can uncheck HDR and change other settings like ISO and exposure you can get better results. (Video)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's simple. Open camera, video camera, hdr off, you can clearly make out that hdr is off as it reduces the color boost and exposure.
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app

[PHOTOS] Post your Z2 shots here - My review is up!

This is the Sony Xperia Z2 user and reviewer camera thread
Xperia Z2 camera specifications
1/2,3"m 20.7MP Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor
5248x3936 pixel resolution at full size, 3840x2160 in Superior Auto Mode
F2.0 G-lens, 27mm wide angle
BiONZ image signal processor
HDR photo and video
4k video recording, [email protected]
My quick camera review
All my shots are available on my flickr page, full size with EXIF info here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/
Sony mobile sensors are a hit nowadays, from iPhones to LG, Oppo, OnePlus or last year's Samsung flagships, Sony's backside-illuminated (BSI) camera tech is wildly popular for it's excellent per pixel sharpness, good dynamic range and small physical size. Sony struggled however in the past to make it's Exmors work for their own Xperia smartphones, the Z had quite soft images and the Z1, while upped sensor size to 1/2.3" and megapixel count to 20, suffered from over-processing and minor lens inconsistencies. Have Sony got rid of these issues to give it's excellent sensor justice? The answer is a definitive yes, the Xperia Z2 offers fine amount of details with toned back software sharpening and snappier performance, I also didn't experience lens soft spots or distortions.
There's one interesting thing Sony introduced last year: while the large 1/2.3" sensor offers 20MPs, it's new automatic mode, Superior Auto only shoots in 8MP at 16:9 aspect ratio, and even in manual mode HDR or scenes can only be activated at 8MP (either at 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio). Why have a 20MP sensor then if 8 is where you get the most options, good question, but at least the 20 comes handy when zooming, otherwise 8 is good enough for print quality images and processing is faster at that resolution. Speaking of speed, Sony also uses two image signal processors (ISP), so camera speed definitely improved over it's predecessors.
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This is the viewfinder you see when opening an app, and by default the 3840x2160 resolution Superior Auto runs which will choose the preferred camera mode (incl. HDR or night mode), adding some saturation and sharpening after downsampling. Tap to focus, flash settings, timer, burst, and smile shutter are available here. The camera records 1080p videos in this mode.
Moving on to Manual mode, you may choose the maximum 20MPs here (5248x3936) and set up flash, ISO, WB, focus metering, timer and stabilizer, or shoot at 8MP and able to choose HDR, Soft skin, Soft snap, Landscape, Night portrait, High sensitivity, Anti-motion blur, Blacklight HDR, Hand-held twilight, Gourmet, Pet, Beach, Snow, Party, Sports, Document or Fireworks scene modes. You may choose 1080p at 60FPS or 720p at 120FPS in Manual Mode.
The other modes are 4k video recording at 3840x2160, play around slow motion in Timeshift video, blur defocused areas in Background defocus, add 3D objects to the picture like dinosaurs in AR effect, add artistic filters in Creative effect, shoot a 6-second stylish video for Vine, choose best photo out of a burst in Timeshift mode or shoot a 2D Panorama by sweeping the camera. A couple of mode examples:
Image quality in good lights is stellar, details are fine even at 20MPs but especially at 8 which I recommend to use in Manual mode to be able to use HDR and scenes. Focus, white balance and exposure are quite consistent, although under certain conditions like facing directly into lights these can be a little troubled. Overall, images are natural on the slightly cooler side, and Manual mode is less saturated than Superior Auto. Dynamic range is good, and HDR helps in high contrast situations. There are no HDR inconsistencies, though the effect could be stronger. Tap to focus is fast as well as tap-to-snap speeds, and if you need to capture really fast movement you can go for high ISO or choose Sports mode. Overall, you'll shoot many quality images in daylight.
Normal vs. HDR:
Macro and closeups are very good too, there's no need for special modes just move close to the target and either let the camera shoot or tap to focus - the latter does not always hold for the shot, sometimes the camera refocuses before shooting even though you set it up perfectly. Depth of field is good in these situations, and if you prefer softer backgrounds, you can always choose Background defocus.
Low light and night shooting, as always, is where things get tough for small mobile sensors, the Z2 is no exception. The strengths of the new Xperia is dealing with higher ISO with tolerable loss of details and having a strong LED flash to light up small dark areas, so you'll be able to shoot at least usable, but with some tweaks some pretty decent low light shots. What's lacking is of course optical image stabilization, which makes avoiding handshake blur harder, especially at 1/7s exposure, which is the slowest shutter speed I saw. White balance suffers more inconsistencies during the night, there's a slight yellowish tinting, but nothing too bad. High ISO (manually available to choose up to ISO3200, the phone can go up to ISO6400 automatically) can brighten up some really dark places, Night scene and Night portrait scene modes - which requires a longer hold to operate - can also bring out dark details at a heavy loss of details, but you really need to be really steady here. HDR works in low light too. Overall, the Z2 does a decent job in low light.
ISO100 vs. ISO 3200
ISO100 vs. ISO800 + HDR
Video quality is top notch with clean, artifact-free and highly detailed, especially at 4k, and audio is nice and crisp. Steady shot can compensate some of the handshake with surprisingly good results, though OIS would be even better. Tap-to-focus and shooting a photo while recording are both available, as well as using the LED flash as torch light. While moving or with movement in the background sometimes causes refocusing, more visibly during the night - night videos are cool BTW just not as fully detailed as day ones, with some yellowish tinting. 4k is so good that you can choose to print single frames, I uploaded some at full 8MP res., while 60FPS at 1080p gives smoother motion, also uploaded 2 samples. Just note that a single minute of 4k video will take up about 400MB at 56MBit/s + 158kb/s audio, and camera shuts down after a few minutes due to overheating. No such issues at any 1080p mode, and you can shoot in HDR at that resolution.
(any artifact you see on these videos are due to YouTube recompressing)
60FPS video sample #1 (download)
60FPS video sample #2 (download)
4k frame captures via VLC Media Player:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2915/14095570711_b063d9da46_o.png
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2931/14095565711_dd1e27d982_o.png
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7396/13912143277_ac4e88ddbf_o.png
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/14095685952_b126b09fb5_o.png
About that overheating issue... one of the negative surprises I had with the Z2 was the phone overheating and shutting down when I really stressed the camera under the sunlight. Many face the 4k overheating problem which is understandable, it needs exceptional resources and other rivals limit this capture to 5 minutes, but under the warm Spring sun I had camera crashes when taking photos too. We're not yet know how wide-spread this issue is, but I suspect that with ISP and SoC working hard and the sun's heat and 100% screen brightness giving extra heat, things get a bit too hot and the phone chooses safety shutdown. Since the Z2 never got too hot while shutdown, I suspect that Sony set the camera app heat policy a little too conservative, so SW update could get rid of this, or maybe you'll never face this at all.
Overall the Z2's camera is an important step forward for Sony. Faster operation with more details and less post-processing results in higher rate of quality images, and short 4k clips give stellar videos as well let is be 4k, 60FPS or HDR. Low light performance could be improved with white balance and OIS, and some autofocus inconsistencies is video need to be addressed too, but I didn't find any of this too distracting. I would prefer to use all 20MPs for all manual settings and scenes, and video zooming should use the megapixels too and not just zoom into the 1080p or 4k image. But let's be clear: the Z2 produces some of the finest images and videos on mobile and the modes and settings give a lot of options to play with. And if Sony isolates and gets rid of the heat problems, which only come out in special situations, the Z2 and it's camera definitely comes recommended for some serious mobile snapping.
I'd like to thank XXLGSM for the test device, hope you enjoyed my short bit, please look up all my photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/

Thankyou, excellent find :good:
The translated version of the page makes interesting reading , this bodes well for the Xperia Z2 especially as this is a test version and there is still room for improvement from Sony engineers to make even more improvements
Here's the translated version of the page:-
http://translate.google.com/transla...8&u=http://www.ringhk.com/report2.php?id=8273

Those night pictures look pretty bad :crying: my nexus with HDR+ on takes better night photos

Chad_Petree said:
Those night pictures look pretty bad :crying: my nexus with HDR+ on takes better night photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They look pretty good to me - if your shots are this good, you can post them for comparison so we can look at the 100% crops.

Some indoors from the same Hong Kong article
http://www.ringhk.com/report2.php?id=8273

Xperia Z1 vs. Z2 at night from Eprice.com.hk
Source, full size: http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170008/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/
First shot Z1 manual mode, 2nd shot Z2 manual mode, 3rd shot Z2 Superior Auto Mode. The Z1 shot is slightly darker but more detailed with heavy sharpening artifacts (white dots). The Z2 while a bit softer on detail has no over-processing artifacts, though white balance is a bit on the red side. WB is fair on the 3rd shot, Z2 superior auto. Click on images for full resolution.

The 3rd shot is just amazing!

Some MWC shots from two Asian sites
Sources, full size: http://www.sogi.com.tw/mobile/articles/6225507-攝錄、功能再進化！索尼Xperia+Z2實測【MWC+2014】
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8238

z1 vs z2 pics
other pics here :
z1 vs z2
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8285

testnumero said:
other pics here :
z1 vs z2
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8285
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
z1 pics are a lot sharper

more z2, and z1 vs z2 pics :
http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170031/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/

progosu said:
z1 pics are a lot sharper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe the z2 has a stronger algorithm to smooth out/blur the noise, although noise shouldn't be a problem at low iso as seen in the first image.
still the photos are on the newer f200 fimware which has great noise performance at higher isos so that shouldn't be the issue.
just looked at the night shots and the z2 has a 1/13s exp at iso1250 vs 1/16s exp at iso1000, wonder if this slight difference would make such a big difference in 2 photos. Regardless it seems the white balance is better on the z2 at night vs the z1.
For the 3rd night photo, it seems superior auto has opted for the night scene, since it is 0.77s and iso200, the noise level is quite low vs what I am used to on my z1 using night scene.

progosu said:
z1 pics are a lot sharper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the Z1 does have sharper pictures, but mostly due to the severe overprocessing leaving a lot of artifacts. In the end, neither system can have true 20 million pixels of detail, so it's a bit pointless to pack so many MPs in.

95% same pic z2 in macro semms more details

Hmm..
So What Sony did with the Bionz is, pull the image from sensor, send to Bionz for image processing with sharpening and noise reduction.
Seems quite evident that Sony over sharpen with the algorithm and hence the black crisscross artifact -|-|-| with the Z1 camera which mistaken as noise. The Z2 has less sharpening effect hence the blur at pixel peeping level. I might be wrong though.

We'll see good results in first few firmwares then after that it will be a disaster and a disappointment just like the Z1.
Both phones have the same camera module and I hope they fix this issue.

I just don't think 20MP is justified at such a sensor size, either the lens or the sensor pixel size is causing noise and softness that needs to be processed and it's just more work for the ISP. A 12MP sensor would be more adequate. Anyways, here's a Z1 vs. Z2 comparison, both a bit yellowish in WB, any my edit of what a Lumia would produce. I notice that some of the previous indoors shots are a bit tight on color depth too.

chesterr said:
We'll see good results in first few firmwares then after that it will be a disaster and a disappointment just like the Z1.
Both phones have the same camera module and I hope they fix this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bone I would like u to conclude what do u think of z2 camera when compared to other ANDROID cameras
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app

faraaz3 said:
Bone I would like u to conclude what do u think of z2 camera when compared to other ANDROID cameras
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No conclusion until extensive reviews, or if and when I can test it myself.
Whoever gets the Z2 early, should kindly test speed and reliability of autofocus, white balance and exposure (like how many shots come out good out of 10 snaps). Posting superior auto, full 20MP manual and HDR samples should also give us a clue about overall picture quality, level of post-processing, lens issues if there's any, SW preference of shutter speed and ISO, picture-to-picture performance and so on. Right now we must wait patiently, and share whatever we find online.

A few more from Eprice
Source, full resolution: http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170031/

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Xiaomi Mi 8 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

I don't get it, several persons got the device, but no feedback about the camera until now!

Camera is more than good.
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The shutter speed is too slow in auto mode indoor. It always use 1/17 speed instead of 1/50 and shooting photos with person inside always comes blur and unclear. I have to switch to manual mode and adjust the shutter speed to 1/60 to solve the problem.

Mi 8 2x zoom by Kin Ho, on Flickr
Top is unprocessed.
It is very sharp when taking landscapes including the zoom lens. The main problem I have is that it is too slow, unresponsive, there's at least a second wait before you can take the next picture. Photo options including the manual options are also lacking compared with a Samsung phone.

All unprocessed

How's the focusing on moving targets in different lighting conditions? I want to buy it, but only thing keeping me buying it is the poor camera performance on moving targets in other than bright light conditions. I've read about this in different sources.

catalindobre said:
How's the focusing on moving targets in different lighting conditions? I want to buy it, but only thing keeping me buying it is the poor camera performance on moving targets in other than bright light conditions. I've read about this in different sources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you read the Test of DXO Mark? Its really a very detailed Test of the Cameras:
I am not able to post Links here, so search on Google please for Xiami Mi 8 DXOMark

magnum2323 said:
Have you read the Test of DXO Mark? Its really a very detailed Test of the Cameras:
I am not able to post Links here, so search on Google please for Xiami Mi 8 DXOMark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read every potential review including DXO's, what is concerning me is that I understood that during not optimal daylight the shutter speed is significantly reduced which brings bad pictures. And the camera works very good on fixed targets, not that good on moving ones.
I want to know owner's, not reviewers experience with the their devices.

catalindobre said:
I've read every potential review including DXO's, what is concerning me is that I understood that during not optimal daylight the shutter speed is significantly reduced which brings bad pictures. And the camera works very good on fixed targets, not that good on moving ones.
I want to know owner's, not reviewers experience with the their devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah Ok, now I understand. So I own a Mi8 and i really love to take pictures with Smartphone.
So when photographing moving persons in bad light conditions, you want them to look sharp and not blurry.
For me the pictures in bad light conditions are to bright an dont look natural like it is. and moving persons are kind of blurry.
Maybe the shutter is really slow. But there is a manual mode,
that i want to try next days. I will play with the shutter speed, to see whats the matter of the bright photos in bad light conditions.
I installed the gcam for testing,too.

magnum2323 said:
I installed the gcam for testing,too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wich version of gcam?

The gcam from arnova for the OP6. Found here on xda
The file is named defcomg-fix_OP6v0.3_MGC_5.1.018_FINAL_3.4A

magnum2323 said:
The gcam from arnova for the OP6. Found here on xda
The file is named defcomg-fix_OP6v0.3_MGC_5.1.018_FINAL_3.4A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i will test also
---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:26 PM ----------
defcomg-fix_OP6v0.3_MGC_5.1.018_FINAL_3.4A
works with 8.7.19 rom by xiaomi.eu bit cant choose any model because app is freezing.more test needed.

Ryan_OY said:
All unprocessed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi，huster！

Taking pictures of moving subjects in the dark will always be blurry and this is what happens with every camera phone. Is it less blurry than other phones? Blurry is blurry doesn't matter if it's less or more.

I found the miui camera app really prefer to drop the shutter speed down to 1/33 sec or below instead of rising ISO to keep the exposure in low light. It produces noise free images for static objects (with the OIS it can effectively stabilize the hand shaking for these slow speeds) - but it is not ideal for humans, where a small movement of head or eye can make the moving parts blurry. Even more prominent when the portrait (2x) lens is choosen: due to only F2.4 aperture, no OIS and easier to shake with the longer focal length. You need plenty of light for the portrait shots with "depth" effect.
For such a portrait shot in the shade or indoor I usually fix the shutter speed to 1/125th or higher. This forces the app to rise the ISO, it can create more noise, but eliminates the motion blur. Unfortunately the app does not offer the "Portrait" effect in Manual mode.
An option for the lowest preferred shutter speed would be very useful.

karaya said:
I found the miui camera app really prefer to drop the shutter speed down to 1/33 sec or below instead of rising ISO to keep the exposure in low light. It produces noise free images for static objects (with the OIS it can effectively stabilize the hand shaking for these slow speeds) - but it is not ideal for humans, where a small movement of head or eye can make the moving parts blurry. Even more prominent when the portrait (2x) lens is choosen: due to only F2.4 aperture, no OIS and easier to shake with the longer focal length. You need plenty of light for the portrait shots with "depth" effect.
For such a portrait shot in the shade or indoor I usually fix the shutter speed to 1/125th or higher. This forces the app to rise the ISO, it can create more noise, but eliminates the motion blur. Unfortunately the app does not offer the "Portrait" effect in Manual mode.
An option for the lowest preferred shutter speed would be very useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yesterday I made some Shots at night and i am not very happy with the quality. Dark Surfaces in the Background have much noise.
Will try another Camera App, as long as waiting for the Gcam working with Mi8.

magnum2323 said:
Yesterday I made some Shots at night and i am not very happy with the quality. Dark Surfaces in the Background have much noise.
Will try another Camera App, as long as waiting for the Gcam working with Mi8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a stable version of gcam mod for mi8 will come along with Pixel3

Does anyone know a working Gcam version for the SE?
I did try the versions that work on the Mi8 but they all have the "camera failure" issue.
Also, I noticed that all the versions after late May seem to be broken on the SE.

Noise Level too high
My Last testing shows that the Mi8 Camera not slower down the shutter too much, but raise the ISO Level as well.
Taking Pictures Indoor at daylight, show high Noise level on Black and other Dark colors.
Setting the Iso level fix at 200 Iso, the black is black without Noise. After testing with the other Isos I could agree that the cam uses
at Indoor an Iso of 800, which is too much. It brighten the Picture and give me to much noise.
karaya said:
I found the miui camera app really prefer to drop the shutter speed down to 1/33 sec or below instead of rising ISO to keep the exposure in low light. It produces noise free images for static objects (with the OIS it can effectively stabilize the hand shaking for these slow speeds) - but it is not ideal for humans, where a small movement of head or eye can make the moving parts blurry. Even more prominent when the portrait (2x) lens is choosen: due to only F2.4 aperture, no OIS and easier to shake with the longer focal length. You need plenty of light for the portrait shots with "depth" effect.
For such a portrait shot in the shade or indoor I usually fix the shutter speed to 1/125th or higher. This forces the app to rise the ISO, it can create more noise, but eliminates the motion blur. Unfortunately the app does not offer the "Portrait" effect in Manual mode.
An option for the lowest preferred shutter speed would be very useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Camera abilities

The A2 camera app is somewhat complex. One of the reviews I read indicated you can manually switch between the 12mp lens and the low-light 20mp lens.
The review also mentioned that the app switches between them under certain circumstances, but it's not known specifically what they are. So went ahead and did the manual switch and had some good results.
Get the menu on the bottom where u can select 'photo', 'portrait', etc. At the end of this list (swipe it left) you'll find 'manual'. Select that to choose numerous options including 'low light camera'.
Note the low light doesn't have the ability to enable HDR, which makes sense as HDR is used in high contrast lighting, which a low light shot won't have.
These results, taken a few seconds apart, show how the 'pixel binning' of the low light lens really helps:
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AsItLies said:
The A2 camera app is somewhat complex. One of the reviews I read indicated you can manually switch between the 12mp lens and the low-light 20mp lens.
The review also mentioned that the app switches between them under certain circumstances, but it's not known specifically what they are. So went ahead and did the manual switch and had some good results.
Get the menu on the bottom where u can select 'photo', 'portrait', etc. At the end of this list (swipe it left) you'll find 'manual'. Select that to choose numerous options including 'low light camera'.
Note the low light doesn't have the ability to enable HDR, which makes sense as HDR is used in high contrast lighting, which a low light shot won't have.
These results, taken a few seconds apart, show how the 'pixel binning' of the low light lens really helps:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tap the 3 horizontal lines button in top right corner, select HHT to manually turn on this feature without using manual mode...

what is hht

veeru1saini1 said:
Tap the 3 vertical lines button in top right corner, select HHT to manually turn on this feature without using manual mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thnx, I'll check that out.
toxotis70 said:
what is hht
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"HHT (Handheld Twilight) mode takes multiple sequential images under low light conditions, aligns them, and then create a single optimized image."
found on the web. Sounds well worth trying.

veeru1saini1 said:
Tap the 3 horizontal lines button in top right corner, select HHT to manually turn on this feature without using manual mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Experimenting with this, surprisingly, it doesn't use the low light lens.
2 ways to determine that; 1st the obvious and most definitive; cover one or the other lens and determine which one it's using. In the case with 'Photo' and 'HHT', it's using the lower lens. But if you go to 'manual' mode I described, select 'low light lens', it's using the lens on top.
2nd is the megapixel size from 'info'. The lower lens (12 mp) results in 9 mp in info, while info for the top lens is 15 mp.
Kind of odd really, as HHT is described as ideal for 'low light', but it doesn't use the low light lens? what?

I don't figure out the different low light camera modes as well.
Hope Xiaomi will bring a camera update soon, to get rid of that camera mayhem.
On the homepage it is said: "Smart lens selection is available for Portait mode only. Support will be added for typical photo mode in a future update."
I think that the back camera is dooing quite good in the darkness - but its not easy to take a good picture quickly , due to the complicated menu...

It is confusing @deckimbal it does seem xiaomi is working on bug issues, which is great news.
Tested the HDR capability this morning, it seems to do a very good job. The differences are obvious. Should point out, the lens was (set to Auto, so I didn't select this as an option) wide open (f1.7), which creates a 'natural' depth of field effect.
What that means with these pictures is that some parts, unexpectedly, are a bit out of focus. The best focus seems to be where the cars are, zoom into those and you can see that.
Normally, a shot like this would want the largest depth of field possible, not the narrowest, but still a good example of HDR ability;

Another thing, I remember reading reviews that indicated the MiA2 would have a voice activated shutter ability? If it does, I can't find the setting.
Either a voice or hand gesture is kind of ideal for selfies with a number of people in it, using 2 hands on the phone means it has to be closer to the subjects and thus less of a field of vision. One hand with voice activation would be much appreciated
Is the setting there and I am too blind to see it? possible!

Unfortunately, it does not seem to be possible to disable the pixel binning. For comparison, find below details from two pictures taken with the lens manually selected. The first picture was taken with the regular lens. The second picture was taken with the low light lens. Notice that although the resolution in pixels is higher, there is less detail.
regular lens, 12 MP, 4mm, f/1.8, ISO-100, 1/603 sec
low-light lens, 20 MP, 4mm, f/1.8, ISO-100, 1/1032 sec

Very interesting @feklee will have to do some additional testing on that, not what you'd expect for sure.

feklee said:
Unfortunately, it does not seem to be possible to disable the pixel binning. For comparison, find below details from two pictures taken with the lens manually selected. The first picture was taken with the regular lens. The second picture was taken with the low light lens. Notice that although the resolution in pixels is higher, there is less detail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same findings, seems to be impossible to disable pixel binning, perhaps in bright light the phone will automatically toggle that off ?

philipnzw said:
I have the same findings, seems to be impossible to disable pixel binning, perhaps in bright light the phone will automatically toggle that off ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That kind of doesn't make any sense Philip. The lens that does pixel binning is the low light lens only. You wouldn't use it in bright light.

AsItLies said:
The lens that does pixel binning is the low light lens only. You wouldn't use it in bright light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then they could’ve just used a 5MP sensor: There is zero advantage of using binning compared to using larger pixels.
Binning allows for faster read out speeds from a high res sensor. In cameras it often is used for video recording. For stills, of course, one wants the full resolution, even in low light.
A wild guess: The CPU in the Mi A2 is not powerful enough to quickly do demosaicing and noise reduction of a full 20MP image. Also, it is possible that the 20MP module is actually cheaper than a comparable 5MP module. Furthermore, it is possible that Xiaomi likes to use buzzwords and false advertising.
---------- Post added at 08:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 AM ----------
philipnzw said:
perhaps in bright light the phone will automatically toggle that off ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was in bright light. I added details on ISO and exposure to my post with the example images.

Has anyone enabled the Camera2 api for their MiA2? I read somewhere that doing that improves pictures? Not sure what to believe until I try it. Doesn't seem that it should be too difficult to do.
Can anyone confirm that doing so will of course allow installing GCam ports but improve quality of oem camera app?

AsItLies said:
Has anyone enabled the Camera2 api for their MiA2? I read somewhere that doing that improves pictures? Not sure what to believe until I try it. Doesn't seem that it should be too difficult to do.
Can anyone confirm that doing so will of course allow installing GCam ports but improve quality of oem camera app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does, just check the thread in apps and theme section, there is samples

Thanks @dodjob I've read that thread, numerous times. Has a lot of great info for sure. One thing that isn't clear, is there a way to enable the cam2 api and then uninstall magisk and unroot? And have the cam2api remain persistent?
Read something to that effect in one of the MiA1 threads, but there weren't too many posts about it. Maybe just wait until Xiaomi updates it, assuming they ever will? I've had GCam ports on other phones, always an improvement.

Getting a 'true' bokeh effect vs a 'software' created one.
Because the Mi A2 has such a wide aperture lens, it's easy to get the bokeh (narrow depth-of-field) effect. It seems Google introduced the 'software' created one to compete with other mfg's that were using dual lenses to accomplish the effect.
But the natural one just can't be beat, the following photo's are (I hope) good examples:
This first one is a "portrait" shot, which is suppose to be used for bokeh effect: exposure values are 1/30sec, f1.7, iso400
The second one is a normal 'photo' shot with values 1/24sec, f1.7, iso400
The third one is another portrait shot, just double checking the first one really, values 1/24sec, f1.7, iso400
This last one, I think, has the best detail of them all, AND thus the best bokeh effect. It was taken with the 'low light' lens manually selected, all other settings left at 'Auto'. The values are: 1/24sec, f1.7, iso400
So, what are we looking for in the pictures? Look carefully at the 'fuzz' around the sock (that's why it was chosen), it's those fine fibers that 'give away' if the picture has a 'natural' bokeh effect or a 'software' created one. The software basically 'draws and outline' around what's in the foreground, and then puts what not in the foreground 'out of focus'. The results with something like fibers, or hairs, or anything similar, is to miss out on those details.
Where the 'natural' bokeh effect has in focus whatever there is within that depth of field, no matters what it is, nor how tiny the detail, including some 'fly away' hair strand.
What's the point? I think you'll get even better bokeh effects with modes other than 'portrait', you'll even be able to do some digital zooming with the other modes. If you zoom in on the pictures, you can see the excellent job the low-light lens did. Pretty impressive.

Portrait shots are coming dull. The face has no shining. The pictures are a little dark too. Any suggestions how to fix?

hrizuwan said:
Portrait shots are coming dull. The face has no shining. The pictures are a little dark too. Any suggestions how to fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd suggest trying another mode, such as normal photo. Is there something about portrait mode that makes you think it's better? I don't use it so I honestly don't know if there are additional capabilities or not.

AsItLies said:
I'd suggest trying another mode, such as normal photo. Is there something about portrait mode that makes you think it's better? I don't use it so I honestly don't know if there are additional capabilities or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything except the portraits are fine to me. Even the front portraits are beautiful. But when I'm clicking human photos using back camera the results are really poor. Whether it's a normal photo or a portrait the results are really really dull. Not expected from a 20+12 mp camera set up. The colour of the face is so low that it makes me think it is captured may be from a 5 mp old camera. I don't know what's wrong. I'm on stock android with the August security patch.