The iPhone 5S Camera

So, the weekend had been spent taking the 5S through its paces and the main focus was on the camera. How much if an impact it was?

The quality of the 4 compared to 3GS was huge. And the jump was maintained when the 4S was released. I had been happy with the 4S until I got my hands on the HTC One and as a camera phone, the One was not short of awesome. But it remained what it was. A mobile phone with a camera. It's nowhere near my X-Pro 1.

So, in came the 5S. Does the camera present a big jump compared to its predecessor? Bear in mind that I jumped from the 4S, the quality increase was expected. I do not have a iPhone 5 to compare it to, so I did the next best thing. Comparing it to the HTC One. But I would leave that to the next entry.

Let's just look at the camera on its entirety. The snaps were good. And coupled that to the Camera+ app, the photos were really good. The focusing speed was faster and they tend to find the right focus points as well.

But I found that the snaps tended to be underexposed and cooler temperature-wise. Nothing that Camera+ couldn't fix.

Is it spontaneous enough? Unfortunately I did not. I found that snapping photos were fiddly for some reason. Compares to the HTC One, the photos tended to be warner and brighter. Maybe it was just the screen, but the same was seen on the computer monitors as well. I tended to like the HTC One snaps better, and tended to get the photos I wanted first time.

Maybe it was an unfair criticism for the new iPhone since I only had it for one weekend. I understood the HTC One's quirks better having used it since May. I might change my mind in a couple of months.

I will post up comparison photos between the HTC One and the iPhone 5S on my next entries.

Ed - the comparisons are here in not one, two, three or four, but five instalments!

Good Morning

Switching to the One

After putting off the switch for quite a while, it had finally became official. I would be retiring my Nexus 4 in favour of the HTC One.

After using the One for the last couple of months, the difference became rather obvious. First of all, the speed as far as blogging was concerned. The main drafting app I use is called Writer. The speed between the two devices were very obvious when I type. The One was definitely superior.

Then came the camera. Not much difference between the two camera-wise although One took better photos off the sensor, but when it post-production, using Snapseed was definitely a better experience on the One. Since the file was smaller - the sensor chip was only 4 MP - editing was snappier.

But the main killer was battery life. It was abysmal on the Nexus 4. Snapdragon Battery Guru helped a bit, but not much.

I might still be visiting the Nexus especially if it had the 4.3 upgrade pushed down first. But for daily use, I had to use the One. There were just to many reasons to switch.

4.2.2 on the 1

After a couple of months using the device, finally HTC One received the update I had been waiting for, the 4.2.2.

It took almost an hour of downloading and a further 15 minutes of updating. And finally due to the use of HTC Sense 5.0 shell, there were hardly any difference to the interphase.

The camera seemed to have an upgrade now, mainly allowing me to meter and focus from separate area. Good for my kind of photography. There was also an update to the Zoe system but I had yet to use it. Sadly, I have yet to find a way to enable the famed panoramic stitching I got on the Nexus 4.

The software seemed to be OK so far. No crashes. No incompatibility issue as yet. Will update more after a couple of days use, and we shall see of there were problems.

Out with the One

The haze was clearing up nicely last weekend, and listening the reports that it nay return, I could see horde of photographers coming out during the weekend with their gears around their neck. With the Ramadan coming soon, I guessed most people would take this last couple of weekend to go out in the hot sun, while still able to dine outside.

I took the One last weekend as I left my camera at the Gombak house. I went for a walk around Pavilion and Bukit Bintang, and there were certainly plenty of stuff to look at. I also managed to enjoy some lunch while I was there since I was mainly alone all weekend, while Anita and the boys were still in Ipoh.

I should have some time off this coming weekend as well. I would definitely be going out as well. Last year, I took the camera out to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman to visit the market. Best to it the first weekend of Ramadan when the crowd wouldn't be as crazy yet .....