Hey all,
Been away from sony phones for a little bit, but got an XZ premium from my carrier, and am pretty impressed with it. Loving the screen, form factor, etc.
Have some questions before jumping into customs roms and stuff.
1. When you unlock bootloader now, is there still a loss of DRM? - is there a way to manage this?
2. I noticed the ported Pixel 2 camera app doesnt seem to work without some further adjustments / mods. For those that have done it, is there significant improvement? Side by side with my HTC U11, the XZP looks comparable initially, but cropping or zooming in, there is a big loss of sharpness and clarity. Seems Sony's processing still isnt top notch - Does the Pixel camera app do any better? (the front camera is better tho!)
3. If one was to wish to return to full stock, is EMMA still the best/easiest way? - do DRM keys return?
4. In a custom ROM, I'd be looking for something near stock in look and feel, improved battery management, better camera experience (via 2 or some other tweaks), wide VoLTE support. ANy recommendations to look at?
cheers!
Yes you will loss DRM keys but there is a DRM fix
sephstyler said:
Hey all,
Been away from sony phones for a little bit, but got an XZ premium from my carrier, and am pretty impressed with it. Loving the screen, form factor, etc.
Have some questions before jumping into customs roms and stuff.
1. When you unlock bootloader now, is there still a loss of DRM? - is there a way to manage this?
2. I noticed the ported Pixel 2 camera app doesnt seem to work without some further adjustments / mods. For those that have done it, is there significant improvement? Side by side with my HTC U11, the XZP looks comparable initially, but cropping or zooming in, there is a big loss of sharpness and clarity. Seems Sony's processing still isnt top notch - Does the Pixel camera app do any better? (the front camera is better tho!)
3. If one was to wish to return to full stock, is EMMA still the best/easiest way? - do DRM keys return?
4. In a custom ROM, I'd be looking for something near stock in look and feel, improved battery management, better camera experience (via 2 or some other tweaks), wide VoLTE support. ANy recommendations to look at?
cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
1- There is a patch that sToRm // you can use it without any fear;
2- For the camera, personally, I find it well, I had no problem with it;
3- If you want to come back in stock rom, there is no better than xperirm (you can flash it with new flash);
4- For sony devices there is no better than a rom stock, for other custom roms, personally, i don' like them.
Related
Is anyone experiencing this, I don't see many threads?
Tonight I did a camera comparison with a friends IPhone 6 and the IPhone 6 was far superior in every sense. Images from the Z3 generally seem grainy and lack detail and sharpness.
I see a few people have mentioned that the camera is better of you manually set the options. This isn't what a smartphone is for when you need to snap a quick shot, by the time you've done all that you've missed the moment.
I swapped my LG G3 (which also took better shots) for this and I'm really underwhelmed by the camera on the Z3, which ironically is its main selling point.
Can anyone suggest some third party camera apps which would perform better?
Also do you think Sony will fix this, i owned the original Z and can recall having some camera issues. I didn't think they would still be present 4 years on.
The Z3 camera was hyped up so much, I really can't see why. Great on paper, not so good in the real world.
Xperia Z3 D6603
rm83855 said:
Is anyone experiencing this, I don't see many threads?
Tonight I did a camera comparison with a friends IPhone 6 and the IPhone 6 was far superior in every sense. Images from the Z3 generally seem grainy and lack detail and sharpness.
I see a few people have mentioned that the camera is better of you manually set the options. This isn't what a smartphone is for when you need to snap a quick shot, by the time you've done all that you've missed the moment.
I swapped my LG G3 (which also took better shots) for this and I'm really underwhelmed by the camera on the Z3, which ironically is its main selling point.
Can anyone suggest some third party camera apps which would perform better?
Also do you think Sony will fix this, i owned the original Z and can recall having some camera issues. I didn't think they would still be present 4 years on.
The Z3 camera was hyped up so much, I really can't see why. Great on paper, not so good in the real world.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
superior auto mode is basically a 8 mp with hdr and flash with some adjustments better go with the manual so you can choose a higher mega pixel.
nolihowell said:
superior auto mode is basically a 8 mp with hdr and flash with some adjustments better go with the manual so you can choose a higher mega pixel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed Pro Capture and it seems a lot better. Sony is doing half a job. You cannot supply excellent hardware and not take advantage of it with the software. It seems most people are impressed by the specs of the camera more than its ability to actually take a picture! I cannot believe how much hype surrounding this camera there was.
Have you tried the xposed module 'superiorauto 20mp'? which forces the SA mode to shoot at 20megapixels?
Hi all.
This looks like a great community and I wanted to look for your advice.
I'm a longtime iPhone user looking for a way into Android.
I wanted a cost effective, smallish, good battery, dual sim of decent quality. The 4C looks like a good choice.
I want to know how difficult it would be to flash it to run native android the same way the Nexus phones do. I don't want all the bloatware, and since I'm buying online I want a clean install. (No malware)
Is there anything you like about MIUI that I should consider keeping it?
What results should I expect? Will everything work? No dead camera or weird glitches?
Can I do the flash on my Mac?
Any recommendations on where to source my tools?
Sorry for such a basic Q, but I haven't seen it asked in this detail.
I'd like to know what I'm getting into, but definitely want to get off iOS. It's been good but I don't want to carry two phones anymore.
brndnryn said:
Hi all.
This looks like a great community and I wanted to look for your advice.
I'm a longtime iPhone user looking for a way into Android.
I wanted a cost effective, smallish, good battery, dual sim of decent quality. The 4C looks like a good choice.
I want to know how difficult it would be to flash it to run native android the same way the Nexus phones do. I don't want all the bloatware, and since I'm buying online I want a clean install. (No malware)
Is there anything you like about MIUI that I should consider keeping it?
What results should I expect? Will everything work? No dead camera or weird glitches?
Can I do the flash on my Mac?
Any recommendations on where to source my tools?
Sorry for such a basic Q, but I haven't seen it asked in this detail.
I'd like to know what I'm getting into, but definitely want to get off iOS. It's been good but I don't want to carry two phones anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xioami MI 4c seems like a good fit for you. My iPhone-centric friend said that my phone (the Mi4c) is the Android phone he hates the least
It is very easy to flash an AOSP based ROM (what you called "Native Android") such as CyanogenMod 13 on the Mi 4c. However, it might not be necessary as there are good debloated ROMs available based on MIUI and MIUI has a lot of nice unique features. There are instructions on how to do this on each thread, but message me if you have problems.
MIUI (and ROMs based on it) has far superior camera quality than anything else available for this phone. It also has a lot of manual features (manual focus, exposure, sharpening, saturation, focus tacking, numerous filters), though its long exposure is limited to 2 seconds and focus bracketing can't be manually adjusted. However, audio performance out of the auxiliary port is much better in AOSP based ROMs (MIUI has some audio processing that messes up the audio). Keep in mind that in general the phone feels more snappy on AOSP based ROMs, but in both cases there are very little to complain about.
My recommendation is that you try the MIUI ROM from this site (it is clean, debloated, and properly translated) for a week:
https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/6-9-8-9.34062/
then switch to CM13 (the nexus-fy version on this site) and decide for yourself which you like better.
I didn't find any bugs in these ROMs, but you'll have to read the respective threads to see if there are problems and if they have been fixed (and how to fix them if it isn't already). Luckily it's very easy to switch ROMs if you encounter problems.
All the tools necessary can be found on this site, but you might need to install "Flashify" from the play store in order to get a custom recovery on your phone if the conventional methods fail (ADB tools).
Things to keep in mind:
- The back cover is nice to touch but scratches easily, so either get a cover or keep in mind you can replace it if you have to.
- The front glass may be vulnerable (no official protected glass is disclaimed), get a tempered glass screen protector.
- The volume and power buttons are plastic
- Battery life is decent but not great (about a days usage, 5h screen on time)
- Camera is great in medium to good light, average in low light - feel free to ask samples
- Audio is great out of the port, and good from the speaker
- Display has stellar contrast, good colour, average brightness and is a bit difficult to read under direct sunlight
- Performance is generally good (there are some hiccups), but by far the best for the price
- The 16GB model is half the price of the 32GB model($110 vs $220 ), check Kimovil to get the best deal (I've used Geekbuying reliably through the years)
- Build quality is good otherwise (barring the above issues). I've used this phone brutally without a cover and it never gave me any problems.
- If size doesn't bother you too much, the Redmi Note 3 Pro is a great alternative. It costs $150, has better performance, awesome battery life, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and a micro-SD slots. Its cons are you lose out on the camera and audio quality, and the display's contrast isn't as good (1000:1 vs 1600:1). It also gets lots more love from Xda and already have an Android 7.0 Nougat ROM.
Probably the wrong time to buy mi4c as there are better budget phones such as the Lenovo Zuk Z2, great specs for the price. Rom development is another matter though
I got the Mi4s and I'm quite impressed of it. as Mi4s and mi4c is basically the same phone (without fingerprint, mi4s case is in higher quality) I'd recommend you the smiui rom, there you can choose what bloatware/mods you want/don't want and with viper4android the sound is very nice (like on a computer or even better). Also the camera is like in original miui (for me). I get about 1.5 days of normal usage (network always on, 2 sims, whatsapp, y music, telegram, browser, google books...) with smiui rom.
Oh, there was a typo in title, *than
One of the main reason I installed AOSP while breaking my drm is, Google Camera HDR+ makes Xperia Cameras wonderful too
There were several actual photos took by xperia with google camera, so I thought my phone's camera would get great too
However, the photos that I took with my XZP are noisy, and all the small details like small letters got away.
I guess it might be because of broken DRM, since it disables noise reduction function of the camera, but then how can others get better photos with their rooted xperia with google camera.
Do you guys know if there's a solution for this?
Actually I started to regret I shouldn't unlock my phone and keep using it as stock, but my DRM's already gone and DRM fix is just a temporal solution... since my DRM's gone forever.
It's not that bad with my phone, but maybe settings have something to do with it. HDR makes it sharper for some reason and I use:
Support level override: NEXUS_2015
Config Camera: Pixel 2017 (DR Dogfood)
HDR+ burst frame count: 8
The rest is probably default. But you can always return to stock and use storm's drm hack, then you have the normal quality camera again.
I've tried that settings, but the result stays noisy too
It seems like there's no way to improve image quality of XZP
If you install AOSP rom to use Google HDR+, the phone will kill the noise reduction so the result gets terribly noisy since DRMfix doesn't support stock based roms.
If you install Sony stock based roms, you can't use Google HDR+ due to lack of camera 2 API support.
Also as AOSP with Google camera yields worse outcome than stock rom, maybe it's really pointless thing to unlock your XZP to get better image qualities.
But it's too late to regret because my DRM has gone forever.
well you dont have to feel bad true that you lost your own drm keys but installing stock based rom with drm fix is the same as official stock and even smoother and better optimized plus you get all the cool features of root so a guy like you gets the root and drm fix that works the same as official and a guy like me is in official drm but bored cuz its not rooted so in both ways there is a compromise..
as I already said, sony has the best hardware on a device. EVER!
4k HRD? 120hz screen thats MAD but cant use it XD
sony cameras are sold to all companies cuz its the best but they use scripts to make it look worse (on purpose in my opinion)
in other words, sony cares about other companies cuz they make them a lot more money than their customers and as I heard they have a contract with other companies that uses their camera and sony is not allowed to make a device that has better cameras and they dont care you know why? cuz other companies make them ALOT MORE money than their own customers.
and advertising the device as it has 4k that doesnt work all the time, and a surprisingly 120hz support that is useless and a good camera (that sucks cuz of their own software) is just LOW of sony to do! promising cool features that exist but never actually having to use them is just FOR ADVERTISEMENT PURPOSE this is my last device from sony unless its a high end video camera from sony then yes, but other than that, sony is not worth it...
Hey, All...
I'm on the newest 9.5.7 on my 12/256 OP7P that I ordered direct from OP.
Although the updates are making the camera better, I still can't wrap my mind around how there can be such a detail and focus issue between photos and apps on the SAME device. To me, that means that it's software that is the issue, and not actually hardware quality...
Here's a comparison of two photos I took with the same conditions in the same distance in the same lighting. One is from the G cam app on my OnePlus 7 Pro and the other is from the stock camera on my OnePlus 7 Pro How can there be such a difference?
Needless to say, the photo that looks better and has much more detail is from the G cam app
To be totally transparent, I also have a Pixel 3XL that I use
Thanks for helping me understand!
Yay for black cats! I have one, too.
Anyhoo, if you're trying to understand the difference in quality between Google's software and OP's, I don't think it's fair. Google's software for their camera is the best on the market. Even the likes of Samsung haven't beaten them yet (for still images and night shots). Personally, I'm happy with the stock camera performance on this 7 Pro because I don't really demand the bleeding edge camera performance on a phone. Not to suggest that you require that, most of us just want usable pics to share online with each other.
Pixel 3a is $400 and has the second best camera (behind the regular Pixel 3) on the market. For some folks, the camera is the number one reason for choosing their phone. For me, it's like number 4 on my list. I didn't like the 6T performance because even for regular shots that I shared online, it was hot garbage. But they've made enough improvement to it on this 7 Pro to make day to day living and photo shooting fair enough. When I need just that much more quality (especially at low light), I just use the Gcam.
There is a lot of software voodoo going on to improve pictures. It isn't just capture the image, and there it is. Lots of processing goes on to take the raw data and convert it into an image.
Google has some smart people working there to have their code to some real good work.
stuff said:
There is a lot of software voodoo going on to improve pictures. It isn't just capture the image, and there it is. Lots of processing goes on to take the raw data and convert it into an image.
Google has some smart people working there to have their code to some real good work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder how good the actual hardware is on the pixel 3xl camera compared to the OP7P then, lol.
KillerQ said:
I wonder how good the actual hardware is on the pixel 3xl camera compared to the OP7P then, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion, I don't think it's any better or worse tbh. The capability of the camera application is crucial.
Google put all their effort into taking the best "auto" photos it can conjure up. That's why there doesn't exist the ability to manually change it.
But that camera app is also designed specifically for that HW camera (whichever hw model Pixel it is).
Google just knows what they are doing in that dept.
stuff said:
There is a lot of software voodoo going on to improve pictures. It isn't just capture the image, and there it is. Lots of processing goes on to take the raw data and convert it into an image.
Google has some smart people working there to have their code to some real good work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stuff said:
In my opinion, I don't think it's any better or worse tbh. The capability of the camera application is crucial.
Google put all their effort into taking the best "auto" photos it can conjure up. That's why there doesn't exist the ability to manually change it.
But that camera app is also designed specifically for that HW camera (whichever hw model Pixel it is).
Google just knows what they are doing in that dept.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, this means, as soon as someone comes up with an amazing G cam port for our phone, we'll be sitting pretty just like everyone else.
KillerQ said:
So, this means, as soon as someone comes up with an amazing G cam port for our phone, we'll be sitting pretty just like everyone else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't take my word 100% on it, but I believe that is the case.
So I was looking into a new phone I could buy new, had a headphone jack and telephoto lens, and maybe stereo speakers, and came across this phone.
I noticed that the Edge has weekly lineageOS builds too, so I was wondering how is the phone 2 years after release?
- Does performance degrade significantly when on ROMs?
- How is battery life?
- How's the camera, and is there a gcam apk that can use all the lenses?
- what features would I lose if ROM'd the device, and is their any ways to reinstall them or get mods (like thru magisk) to get them back?
For context, I'm coming from a Pixel 3a, and cross shopping with an S10/+/5g and an A72 (4g)
Old thread but for anyone else looking to buy in 2023, as it's cheaper than budget phones brand new:
- LineageOS is noticeably smoother than the stock ROM, whether that's actual performance or just animations is hard to say since it's Android 11 vs 13 (LOS 20.0), but I've never had any slowdowns at all really. Phone is very daily-able
- Battery is good, no problem lasting all day with moderate use; you'd have to try pretty hard to kill it all in 1 day.
- Camera goes back and forth between great and mediocre depending on what you're shooting. The 64MB lens is hit or miss; Wide-angle and macros are great, overall colors look close to RAW so not a lot of fake saturation which is either good or bad depending on what you want. I've only tried one Gcam on stock A11 and I'm pretty sure all the cameras worked, but that same build crashes on A13/LOS20. I haven't tried any others since Moto cam is fine for me.
- Lineage for this phone uses the stock Moto camera app & ports all Moto Actions such as flashlight chop/etc., so you really don't lose anything except edge display customization, but that's pretty easy to live without IMO.
I was trying to buy a new S20 and root it, but when the "brand new" one I ordered was updated past bootloader unlock eligibility, I went for one of these (saved $100-200) and I plan on using it for another 1-2 years, and then I think I'll keep it as a backup/music phone.
It's Achilles heel is definitely the screen, the green tint artifacts are truly terrible but only on certain shades of grey - and if you use substratum to make everything AMOLED black, you will never notice it (apart from when a video has those certain colors of grey).