Sony Xperia Z1 Hands On Review: Powerful processor comes at best price

Light, Camera and Action!

Before Sony Xperia Z1 made its debut at this year's IFA tech show, the device camera was talk of the town. In reality the Sony Z1's camera is not exciting, and that's the truth. Generally, Sony made camera lens is best in the business. The question here pops up is that what goes against with the Xperia Z1. Of course, it's the 20.7MP rear-facing camera. It has the highest resolution camera sensor backed in a smartphone. In clear words: it's a sheer waste.

The 20.7 MP was rumored to deliver the most amazing camera experience. In our tests, GizBot found that the camera performed underwhelming. Forget about indoors as well as outdoor settings, the camera performed not up to the standards. Sony has modified camera UI and added tons of features- but does that really matter to you. Low light performance is again very frustrating and a big letdown for Sony fanboys.

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GizBot feels that the disappointing camera performance could be linked to software issues. As of now, Sony hasn't come up with any press statement which proves that the lackluster performance of camera is related to software. The basic problem here is that not a single picture taken with the Xperia Z1 was sharp enough. We were expecting some miracle might happen especially with macro shots.

First let's discuss the camera specs in detail: The Xperia Z1 houses a fairly large camera sensor - at 1/ 2.3". The camera is backed by backside illuminated sensor (BSI). There's a single LED Flash, though, logically Sony would have added something like Xenon flash. On paper, the Xperia Z1 features a terrific camera, but in reality that's not the case. The G lens with BIONZ image processor is enough to give an outstanding camera experience- but the situation is opposite to it.

The camera interface is very impressive, although, at sometimes gets over the head. It's neat and simple to understand for a beginner. The most used modes: the Superior Auto and the Manual mode, let you take a picture automatically (with prefixed settings) or you can set right settings accordingly (manually). It sounds awesome at first sight, but excitement fizzles right away after a deep look.

The camera limits you to take pictures in 8MP (16:9) and 20MP (4:3). There are tons of shooting modes given. The Sweep Panorama mode is just okay. The Augmented reality mode is nonsensical for adults, but kids do find it crazy. The Picture effect mode is funny in parts. The info eye mode took a lot of time to track a text or a monument or even a barcode. The camera's video capability is, however, impressed us. The rear-facing camera is capable of recording videos in Full HD 1080p video recording at 30fps.