* Sony Xperia Z3 Compact *

mrk · 13 Sep 2014 at 16:00

Yes in auto mode, who uses auto mode when they're planning on taking decent phone photos?

It's like the Note 3, it will take seriously poor photos in auto mode given certain conditions or certain other partner modes not being enabled. But other times it will take photos where you won't be able to tell if it's a bridge camera or a smartphone. You just need to not use those auto modes and take control where available.

I've seen what a photographer friend has been doing with his Z2 and his images at night time look amazing. I'm quite confident about the new models because of that.

Mobius 1 · 13 Sep 2014 at 16:05

There will be software updates to sort out the camera issues though

eventually

kona786 · 13 Sep 2014 at 16:44

Depends on what your shooting. Many times there isn't enough time to faff with manual settings.

But I understand your point, it should still take good photos.

V4NT0M · 13 Sep 2014 at 18:32

I think for the price the screen should be higher res.

NeilMick · 13 Sep 2014 at 19:25

*edit* Oops was thinking of the normal Z2!

v0n · 13 Sep 2014 at 20:06

Skyfall said:
I think for the price the screen should be higher res.

Are there any phones under £350 with better 4.6 inch screens?

Arthur Hucksake · 14 Sep 2014 at 10:17

I had the Z1 Compact and it fell over with the noise in the auto mode. Taking a quick pic of something you see never happens with that one. Only way to get good snaps was manual mode and that is more fiddly.

Pretty disappointing if the Z3 Compact is exactly the same.

V4NT0M · 14 Sep 2014 at 11:09

v0n said:
Are there any phones under £350 with better 4.6 inch screens?

For a premium phone I would expect around 400ppi these days.

The Moto G's screen is almost the same size and res and that's a budget phone. The Moto G actually has higher PPI.

mrk · 14 Sep 2014 at 11:24

But ultimately worse battery life iirc, much much worse?

m4rk84 · 14 Sep 2014 at 11:37

As I said earlier in the thread I would rather have 720p and exceptional battery life then 1080p and mediocre battery life, especially with only a 4.6" screen...

The fact Sony did this actually was one of the things that appealed to me about the phone, the pixel war right now is stupid for a number of reasons the main one is that the pixel density is ever increasing at a faster rate then battery tech. Imagine how long the battery on the Note 4 would last if it had just opted to keep the more then adequate screen on the Note 3?

It's just a numbers war.

kona786 · 14 Sep 2014 at 11:38

720p is a good decision here. 3 sub pixel layout and 300+ppi.plenty sharp, with mega battery life and brightness to boot.

Mobius 1 · 14 Sep 2014 at 12:13

kona786 said:
720p is a good decision here. 3 sub pixel layout and 300+ppi.plenty sharp, with mega battery life and brightness to boot.

Exactly

using a 4s at the moment and the screen is plenty sharp enough.

McPhee · 14 Sep 2014 at 13:04

I remember seeing a 'Retina Display' for the first time. That was a 'wow' moment - so clear, so sharp. It was a real step up. I don't really get the same kick from 400+ PPI. There's a difference, but it's not immediately noticeable. It doesn't shout out 'look at me'. Considering the cost of high PPI displays, the processing power required to run higher resolutions and the negative impact on battery life, it would be fair to say increasing PPI offers a diminishing rate of returns. Sticking to 300-350 PPI allows money to be spent elsewhere (maybe on a display that is better in more noticeable areas, like sunlight legibility), reduces load on the GPU and improves battery life.

1080p would have been nice, but I suspect the Z3 Compact is a better/cheaper handset for leaving it out.

Fallen god · 14 Sep 2014 at 16:29

kona786 said:
720p is a good decision here. 3 sub pixel layout and 300+ppi.plenty sharp, with mega battery life and brightness to boot.

Depends, I like to run thin font using Nova and it is not good at all at that PPI, compared too my Nexus 5 its much much better.

Warp279 · 14 Sep 2014 at 16:55

Skyfall said:
For a premium phone I would expect around 400ppi these days.

The Moto G's screen is almost the same size and res and that's a budget phone. The Moto G actually has higher PPI.

300+ is fine for me, the G has a smaller 4.5" screen.. this has a bigger, better screen and is even more compact than the G.
Definitely the best premium phone you can get in this size range and the price is excellent, especially after that price drop.

kona786 · 14 Sep 2014 at 18:42

Fallen god said:
Depends, I like to run thin font using Nova and it is not good at all at that PPI, compared too my Nexus 5 its much much better.

Someone will always find faults in anything though. I think the pros outweigh the cons here.

biron_w · 15 Sep 2014 at 00:40

I really like the look of this phone. I think I'll wait til the next Nexus is announced and then decided which of the 2 to get. I just hope the Nexus 6 will have decent battery life, the Nexus 4 sucks in this department.

Arthur Hucksake · 15 Sep 2014 at 12:16

The shutter speed on the Z1C was a bit janky, hope they fixed that.

Anyone seen any demo vids crop up yet?

stoosh · 15 Sep 2014 at 13:35

biron_w said:
I really like the look of this phone. I think I'll wait til the next Nexus is announced and then decided which of the 2 to get. I just hope the Nexus 6 will have decent battery life, the Nexus 4 sucks in this department.

As does the Nexus 5 and why I've gone for the Z3c.

I'd like to see what Google does with the Nexus 6 and if it stays the same size wise like the Moto X (2014). Stock android's always been hard on battery life so I'd like to see what modifications Android L brings to the table in terms of battery life.

For now the Z3c will suffice as I'm done charging my Nexus 5 twice a day even with Franco kernel installed.

Fallen god · 15 Sep 2014 at 14:23

kona786 said:
Someone will always find faults in anything though. I think the pros outweigh the cons here.

There is always a compromise, and I think the battery life and the rest of the device more then makes up for it, it is just something I noticed when I moved back to the Nexus 4 for a tad.

stoosh said:
As does the Nexus 5 and why I've gone for the Z3c.

I'd like to see what Google does with the Nexus 6 and if it stays the same size wise like the Moto X (2014). Stock android's always been hard on battery life so I'd like to see what modifications Android L brings to the table in terms of battery life.

For now the Z3c will suffice as I'm done charging my Nexus 5 twice a day even with Franco kernel installed.

I think the issue is the SoC, battery size, and some google settings. Like disable always scanning for WiFi gave me an extra hour of screen time. The Nexus 5 doesn't benchmark all that badly to be honest.

*** Sony Xperia Z3 Compact ***

* Sony Xperia Z3 Compact *