Which mobile phone

gman

gman

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Graham
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It's been a long time since looking at phones as my Sony Xperia XZ Premium has been great, but it's now time to upgrade. I've got it narrowed down to three (choice is limited as it's a business contract) and would appreciate any advice or thoughts in addition to my own below as I'm considerably out of touch with it all:


Google Pixel 6 Pro
Excellent cameras, especially the telephoto resolution
I've heard there can be WiFi and 5G connectivity problems?
Poor battery life
No card slot

Samsung S22+
Fast charging
Telephoto resolution not the best
Is it worth the highest cost?
No card slot

Sony Xperia 1 IV
Seamless optical zoom
Main camera is only 12MP
Has card slot
Overheating issues?
Fingerprint sensor issues?


I do like Sony based on my current phone, but that fingerprint sensor issue could be a problem as I use it a lot, unless has it been fixed?

Any thoughts most welcome as I'm sure there will be plenty I've missed.
 
gman said:
It's been a long time since looking at phones as my Sony Xperia XZ Premium has been great, but it's now time to upgrade. I've got it narrowed down to three (choice is limited as it's a business contract) and would appreciate any advice or thoughts in addition to my own below as I'm considerably out of touch with it all:


Google Pixel 6 Pro
Excellent cameras, especially the telephoto resolution
I've heard there can be WiFi and 5G connectivity problems?
Poor battery life
No card slot

Samsung S22+
Fast charging
Telephoto resolution not the best
Is it worth the highest cost?
No card slot

Sony Xperia 1 IV
Seamless optical zoom
Main camera is only 12MP
Has card slot
Overheating issues?
Fingerprint sensor issues?


I do like Sony based on my current phone, but that fingerprint sensor issue could be a problem as I use it a lot, unless has it been fixed?

Any thoughts most welcome as I'm sure there will be plenty I've missed.
Click to expand...
I've had many Samsungs over the years and never had any complaints, I still use an old S6 for vlogging in 1080p, and a few stills.
The recent Google phones do seem to be very impressive camera wise, but never had one myself.
 
It did cross my mind about the Google phone re. privacy concerns. But I'm quite sure we are all tracked to death anyway! lol

The poor battery life I can handle as I'm usually near a charger, but the connectivity concerns are a worry and that really puts me off. I've had a Samsung in the past and it kept losing the GPS, but that was my only bad experience with them.

Sony is tempting, I'm not too fussed about camera resolution because they will only ever be shown online and not printed. The overheating doesn't concern me either as I don't really stress my phone but the fingerprint sensor is a problem.

I actually noticed the iPhone 14 there and it looks very good value for money considering the specs, but I just don't seem to get along with Apple stuff.
 
I've just switched from Samsung to a pixel 6. It's very nice indeed. Camera is good and editing on it is astonishing - magic eraser really works.

No 5g round here so that doesn't bother me. Wi-fi seems very reliable. Not sure what people mean by poor battery life. It lasts all day and charges pretty quickly on a qi desk stand. Haven't bothered with a fast charger.

Re the no card slot...on my s8 I put a cheap 128gig card in. 4 years later the phone memory and card were at 46gb used. So I realised I didn't care about by card slot on a 128gb phone.

Very nearly bought an S20 note instead. So far, I'm happy I didn't.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I've just switched from Samsung to a pixel 6. It's very nice indeed. Camera is good and editing on it is astonishing - magic eraser really works.

No 5g round here so that doesn't bother me. Wi-fi seems very reliable. Not sure what people mean by poor battery life. It lasts all day and charges pretty quickly on a qi desk stand. Haven't bothered with a fast charger.

Re the no card slot...on my s8 I put a cheap 128gig card in. 4 years later the phone memory and card were at 46gb used. So I realised I didn't care about by card slot on a 128gb phone.

Very nearly bought an S20 note instead. So far, I'm happy I didn't.
Click to expand...

How is connectivity? I'm seeing a lot of posts online about people having issues with connecting to the web? Apparently, Google have used some crappy Samsung modem that Samsung won't even use in their own phones? I'm not sure if it's just 4G/5G or WiFi as well?
 
I have the Pixel 6, never once had a problem with connectivity, works flawlessly with WiFi 4 and 5G.

Battery life is fine lasts me at least a day and a half.

Also Google phones get android and security updates first (been on Android 13 a couple of months now) and some Android features are pixel phone only.

Remember with a Google phone you get pure Android, no bloatwear, on my last phone I couldn't get rid of linkedin or outlook, simple drag and uninstall on pixel

My previous phone was a Motorola and always took a few seconds to get GPS in apps like Strava, the pixel is instant.

Memory card slot are become a thing of the past on top range phones.

I think the camera is very good for the price (an apple 14 is nearly twice the price) no optical zoom on the 6 but is on the pro, just out of curiosity I had a go with astronomy camera mode, it very very good IMHO.

Pixel 6 and 6 pro are out of production now, pixel 7 are available to order on goggle site.
 
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whiteflyer said:
I have the Pixel 6, never once had a problem with connectivity, works flawlessly with WiFi 4 and 5G.

Battery life is fine lasts me at least a day and a half.
Click to expand...
Yes, maybe I'm lucky but don't see anything to complain about with connectivity (except there's no 5g here :) )

I actually bought the Pixel 6 partly because the P7 came out - lovely condition grade B from CeX cost me about £250 after trade in which I think is pretty good for a top tier phone. P7 would have cost me £500+.

Now I'm waiting to see if somebody who buys a P7+ wants to sell me their pixel watch :D
 
Thanks, I'll put the Pixel 6 Pro back on the list and keep researching.
 
I honestly love the pixel line-up, I'm running a pixel 4 xl myself which you can still get some cracking photos from. I think google generally provides better software and support for their phones than any other brand I've used so I'd definitely consider it.

They've recently come out with the 7 lineup as well, so if that's within your budget it's definitely worth checking out
 
Had a watch of this video and a little concerning re. Pixel Pro 6. I know you'll be able to get videos like this on anything, but I got the impression he's not alone.

The Sony is definitely off the list now as there's strong suggestion that the fingerprint sensor problem is due to cheap/faulty hardware being used by Sony. Apparently it can be fixed under warranty, which perhaps suggestions that ordering a new one may have updated hardware - unless old stock. But that along with the overheating issue puts me off.

S22+ seems to be top of the list now with it's reliable ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. The S22 Pro would have been an option but I don't like that bevelled/curved screen design. I could check to see when the Pixel 7 hits their stock list, but then will it be a horrendous price?
 
For me, I find the tech so amazing in mobile phones these days. I use an iPhone 8 plus that is four or five years old, and it still blows me away! My wife is still on her iPhone 5SE!

The Pixel 7 on Google is showing as 125gb standard £599 pro £849 and 256gb standard £699 pro £949, will there be deals to be done elsewhere?

It will be interesting to hear what you decide!
 
I was very close to getting the S22+ and at the last minute came across some threads and videos about their batteries expanding after a few years. Seems to be a common issue, although most references were for the S20 and earlier. I've got a Note 2 stored away somewhere for what must be a long time now so better check.

The Pixel 7 Pro is now in my sights, will need to check when available to me and also what the low light quality is like as the 6 Pro didn't look great.
 
I have a Pixel 6 (non-Pro) and the camera quality is excellent, by far the best I've ever had in a phone. It has quite a large sensor for a phone (1/1.31"), far, far larger than the one in the S22+. Low light quality is great, easily as good as anything else on the market.

Mine does have absolutely shocking cellular connectivity, by far the worst of any phone I've ever had. This seems hit and miss though, lots of people have them and say it's fine so there was maybe a bad batch of P6 & 6 Pros. Software can be buggy, there have been two borked Software updates that took Google a few weeks to fix. The January update killed cellular connectivity, and the Android 13 upgrade absolutely destroyed battery life. All fixed now but it has at times been a challenging phone to live with. I never update straight away now, always wait a week to see if there are any issues.

Overall it's a good phone, I think all phones have bugs and quirks these days. Also, Google almost always do a Black Friday sale on their newest phones, so may be worth waiting a month or so if you can.
 
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Oh, just found out the Pixel 7 Pro can be available to me even though it's not in the device list. Back to the research! lol
 
Oh ffs, this is getting ridiculous. Had a quick look and there does seem to be a few things that can be done to address any overheating. I don't charge overnight anyway, so at least that's sorted!

www.droidwin.com

Pixel 7/Pro Overheating: How to Fix [5 Methods]

In this comprehensive tutorial, we will show you various methods to fix the overheating issue on your Google Pixel 7/Pro.
www.droidwin.com www.droidwin.com
 
Not sure on what you can look at but Oppo have some real stunning handsets.... Worth a look but not sure if part of the list you can look at.

Ice
 
Just buy a phone that's been out for a while. There's a reason they call it bleeding edge.
 
A couple of years ago I purchased a Xiaomi POCO X3 NFC with a 64mp lens & raw shooting option.
October 21, I left my Nikon at home and used only my phone in New York.
I'm very impressed and pleased with my phone's photographic capabilities.
 

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Just another thing to consider if you go the Pixel route..

This morning on my way to work, plug my phone into my car as usual to allow me to use Android Auto on my car's screen for navigation. I use it for live traffic on my way to work to find the quickest route. Well this morning Android Auto would not start, under any circumstances. Restarted the phone, turned the car entertainment system off and on, nothing worked. Tonight it'll probably all work fine. Just something to bare in mind, the Pixel experience can be a tad frustrating. You will find certain things just won't work one day, for no discernable reason.
 
icemanonline said:
Not sure on what you can look at but Oppo have some real stunning handsets.... Worth a look but not sure if part of the list you can look at.

Ice
Click to expand...


This.

The company that make Oppo phones make more smartphones than anyone. They know what they are doing and are great value for money.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Just buy a phone that's been out for a while. There's a reason they call it bleeding edge.
Click to expand...

I thought it was "cutting" edge? lol



No Xiaomi phones to choose from but there was a few Oppo ones including the Oppo Reno 8 Pro that whilst not flagship beating specs it does seem decent spec. However, I had already ordered the Pixel 7 Pro late in the day yesterday as the fingerprint sensor is apparently fixed and all the other stuff seems to be excellent. I guess we will see and I'll certainly be expecting high standards from it.

Thanks for all the help and advice, greatly appreciated.
 
DumfriesDik said:
Good choice I am sure @gman I hope it's not too long before it arrives. You know we want pictures - from it as well as of it!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm actually a little excited about getting it which isn't something I'd normally be all that excited about. I fear my A9 is becoming more and more redundant.
 
It's arrived and can't believe how easy it is now to transfer all the stuff from one phone to the other. That was a pleasant surprise.

Not had a chance to play yet, but did notice the heat as soon as I opened the camera. Once I get a silicone case on that'll take care of that lol
 
Finally got everything set up and now playing about with it. It's a very good phone and the cameras are excellent - scary good in fact for such a small package, especially low light and crazy good when using its 'night sight' option. I thought such a small sensor would suck...I think some serious AI is going on.

The slight anti-climax I'm getting I think is because my Xperia XZ Premium was still a very good phone with a 4K res, a good camera, decent power etc so the upgrade doesn't seem huge in many areas. One thing I've noticed is that the glass has a slight hollow feel to it and I think it may be quite thin (perhaps for the fingerprint sensor?). The Sony and wife's old iPhone had super solid glass. I also don't like how both speaker holes at at the bottom of the phone, they should be top and bottom so when watching something in landscape mode you'll get better stereo (but really, how good can it be from such small dimensions?).

Back to the cameras, here's a quick shot I took in petty low light (although doesn't look like it from the photos) and also the same shot with my A9. I haven't allowed for the sensor size difference when selecting the Aperture of the A9, so the depth of field is way out, but if I didn't go so shallow then the ISO would have ramped up considerably. Somehow the Pixel 7 Pro didn't need to ramp up the ISO and the low shutter speed should have caused motion blur. I don't know how it does this trickery. If shooting is normal camera mode it was darker.

Sony on the left, Pixel on the right. Both handheld.


A9.jpg Pixel 7 Pro.jpg
 
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Here's a good example; first one is regular camera mode and the second is Night Sight. There's a small circle with a dot that moves if I move the camera when in Night Sight and the dot is to stay in the circle to ensure no blur. There's quite a lot of tolerance so it's easy to hand hold as both of these are.


Pixel 7 Pro Normal.jpg Pixel 7 Pro Night Sight.jpg
 
gman said:
Finally got everything set up and now playing about with it. It's a very good phone and the cameras are excellent - scary good in fact for such a small package, especially low light and crazy good when using its 'night sight' option. I thought such a small sensor would suck...I think some serious AI is going on.

The slight anti-climax I'm getting I think is because my Xperia XZ Premium was still a very good phone with a 4K res, a good camera, decent power etc so the upgrade doesn't seem huge in many areas. One thing I've noticed is that the glass has a slight hollow feel to it and I think it may be quite thin (perhaps for the fingerprint sensor?). The Sony and wife's old iPhone had super solid glass. I also don't like how both speaker holes at at the bottom of the phone, they should be top and bottom so when watching something in landscape mode you'll get better stereo (but really, how good can it be from such small dimensions?).

Back to the cameras, here's a quick shot I took in petty low light (although doesn't look like it from the photos) and also the same shot with my A9. I haven't allowed for the sensor size difference when selecting the Aperture of the A9, so the depth of field is way out, but if I didn't go so shallow then the ISO would have ramped up considerably. Somehow the Pixel 7 Pro didn't need to ramp up the ISO and the low shutter speed should have caused motion blur. I don't know how it does this trickery. If shooting is normal camera mode it was darker.

Sony on the left, Pixel on the right. Both handheld.


View attachment 370945 View attachment 370946
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Hi, funny I have been going through the same thought process as well over the past few months.
I have just bought a Pixel Pro 7.
How do you find the sharpening in portrait mode, it seems very strong and harsh.
 
AMac said:
Hi, funny I have been going through the same thought process as well over the past few months.
I have just bought a Pixel Pro 7.
How do you find the sharpening in portrait mode, it seems very strong and harsh.
Click to expand...

I've rarely used it but I have heard a few complaints online. I have used the Portrait Mode in editing a few times and it's pretty good if you don't push it. I've never tried comparing the two modes though. I was hoping you could edit the RAW and apply portrait mode which may have overcome any AI processing, but alas you can't.

It's a good phone so far and the camera does seem excellent, especially in good light. It does seem to slow the shutter a little more than I would want under low light, it's fine for static but even a little movement can blur so that's a little annoying.

I downloaded a camera app (HD Camera) which has manual controls and I can increase the shutter to remove blur with minimal impact on exposure and noise, so I'll need to investigate this more. I'm also looking at playing with the RAW files. I wish I could have it take just RAW on its own though and not JPG+RAW.
 
Interesting thread. I have an LG G6 and I love it even though it is five years old or more now so I always have an eye on new phones, but I'm still ok for the moment.

I'm the same when it comes to Google Pixel in that their spy ways give me the creeps. It's the same reason I won't buy a Huawei because if Google are creepy, the Chinese are the creepiest of the lot when it comes to surveillance.

I don't like Samsung because their smart TVs get on my nerves with them constantly changing the bar at the bottom and advertising streaming services I'll never use so I've got a downer on them.

I have never really got on with Apple either as I was always put off by their insistence on using iTunes (although I believe they've got rid of that now) to be able to talk to anything else. Plus they put such a lot of effort into their cameras and I hardly ever use a phone to take pictures, I have a Fuji X100V for travel convenience.

My all-time favourite was my Windows phone from years ago as it did everything brilliantly, but no one wrote apps for it so it had to go.

Which leaves...Sony, and I know nothing about their phones at all.

For now the LG carries on regardless, what a shame they stopped making phones.
 
The battery performance on my five-year-old Huawei P10 just dropped off a cliff so I've been down the rabbit-hole of choosing a replacement. The winner was the OPPO Find X5 with 40% off the price. I should get it tomorrow or Wednesday.
 
I looked at the Oppo as they sell a model in collaboration with Hassleblad and have an xpan camera set up. In the end I decided against it and bought the Samsung s22 ultra with 256gb memory. My last phone was a Huawei Mate 2o Pro and I found as good as the phone was, updates and security patches were sporadic and I wanted something more reliable and 'standard'.

The reason why I didn't get the pixel phone was the monthly costs were silly, even buying direct from Google. My S22 Ultra is on Samsung's 3 year interest free purchase plan. It was £200 off just before Christmas and they have me another £200 off for part exchanging my old device. With my contract with 3 now a sim only plan and the cost of the phone, I'm saving about £15 a month by not upgrading with 3 and I've got additional phone memory.

Never been a shop around kinda guy but it pays to do so as better deals can be had than if you upgrade your handset with your provider.
 
ShinySideUp said:
Interesting thread. I have an LG G6 and I love it even though it is five years old or more now so I always have an eye on new phones, but I'm still ok for the moment.

I'm the same when it comes to Google Pixel in that their spy ways give me the creeps. It's the same reason I won't buy a Huawei because if Google are creepy, the Chinese are the creepiest of the lot when it comes to surveillance.

I don't like Samsung because their smart TVs get on my nerves with them constantly changing the bar at the bottom and advertising streaming services I'll never use so I've got a downer on them.

I have never really got on with Apple either as I was always put off by their insistence on using iTunes (although I believe they've got rid of that now) to be able to talk to anything else. Plus they put such a lot of effort into their cameras and I hardly ever use a phone to take pictures, I have a Fuji X100V for travel convenience.

My all-time favourite was my Windows phone from years ago as it did everything brilliantly, but no one wrote apps for it so it had to go.

Which leaves...Sony, and I know nothing about their phones at all.

For now the LG carries on regardless, what a shame they stopped making phones.
Click to expand...

The whole Google privacy thing was a concern at first, but the more I looked into it I became less bothered as Google is integrated and embedded in so much elsewhere anyway, even non Google phones will still have a ton of harvesting going on. Google owning Android helps with updates.

I watched a video about two phones, one with airplane mode on and other with no sim card in at all, both had location services disabled I think. They travelled around the city all day then when back they hooked up a device that would intercept all data when they connected back to the internet. It showed every location they'd been to in detail and I think even more. I can't find the video again but if you can it's worth watching. I don't think it was a Google phone either. Crazy stuff.
 
Manual shutter speed using the 'HD Camera' app works well, here's my dog not going particularly fast but fast enough to cause blur using the built in camera app. Had it set at 1/2000 in the app.

Manual Shutter Speed.jpg
 
Did a little testing with RAW today and to be honest the AI does a better job, well better than me! I think it will depend on the situation and if overprocessing is going to be utilised by the AI.

I was surprised at how much I could pull out of the RAW file, but in this light and on the big screen it just doesn't have the detail resolving power of a full frame camera (pretty obvious really). But reduced to 1200px wide and all looks nice enough again.


RAW straight from camera with only Abode Colour profile assigned:
Straight RAW Export.jpg


My Edit:
RAW Edited.jpg


Pixel 7 Pro AI JPG from phone:
Phone AI.jpg



One area where I was very impressed was the dynamic range, or perhaps to be more accurate whatever trickery it is doing to create a wider dynamic range. Take this scene below, I have the same shot with the same nice background exposure, but also with my family standing in front and they are also nicely exposed. I was expecting them to be all dark and drenched in shadow yet the phone somehow overcame this.

When using my Sony A9 I would have to go into LR and pull back the shadows in the subjects etc, which almost always worked fine, but certainly not as convenient as being able to just post on the spot straight from my phone to whatever destination. There's even pretty good built in editing tools and filters I can use on the spot as well. But again, all good on phone and tablets but once on the monitor the dimensions really need to be shrunk to get a good photo.

Sunset.jpg
 
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