It's a shame that Pixels suck in major ways, because look at it (9 Pro). It's hard to find a device that would pack the camera array so densely under the island. The supposed Vivo X200 Mini won't be so kind and employ a typical big circle instead. An ergonomic "camera flagship" remains as a rare item to have. In my mind, I'm only able to name two current considerable devices that seem ergonomic to me: OnePlus 12 and Moto X|Edge 50 Ultra. And they're far from compact.

The previously mentioned Vivo X200 Pro mini – a device with impressive battery capacity for its size and the expected humongous camera island – is a sad and very interesting example of a small scale trend. Wherever you look (and I really mean it), OV64B (a Quad Bayer sensor that happily bins to 16MP Bayer) gets replaced by IMX882, aka LYT-600, which is a 50MP QB sensor. The question is, why would anyone willingly lose resolution while keeping the same format, especially on a telephoto?

Despite a small chance of a major coincidence (all module vendors suddenly started to like IMX882), I believe that Sony targeted OV64B in particular, matching or undercutting its price. Device vendors are pragmatically cruel and will absolutely pick a worse sensor if they got a good deal on it, while getting the bragging rights for use of TOP1 vendor component.

Yes, IMX882 got a 12-bit ADC mode. But otherwise, it's slow and lacks any particular superpowers that would compensate for the resolution loss.

So if you want a good telephoto and know very well that the type of device you're going to buy won't get S5KHP9 or something comparable, the best moment to get it is now, OV64B is still among us. 🙏

The new JN1

Move to iPhone to escape server-dependant AI, only to find fancy animations that send you to Google Lens.

https://fxtwitter.com/betaprofiles/status/1849153662364561430

Okay, fair, I'd want to see the user click "Ask" while in airplane mode, don't spank Tim Cook just yet 🙏

Did you know that this thing is a... surprisingly good device?

I experienced S50 Neo (globally known as G85) for ~3 weeks, the black variant in particular, and I can certainly say that it offers top notch ergonomics, a likable panel with likable subpixel rendering and calib, a system that runs surprisingly well despite the SoC and features that actually make sense. The rumors that Moto somehow drifted far apart from AOSP are completely untrue, even on the Chinese system.

It's so good that it's a shame that:
1. The SoC can't hw decode anything beyond 1920x1080 at 60 fps
2. The camera is boring and hosts my personally hated IMX882
3. The global price just sucks (please don't buy it for anything over 200$)

If you buy it for 200$ or less, for whatever reason, just ask your friends to stop sending you 4k videos, and you'll be fine. 😆

To solve it whole, IMS profiles should be at worst as configurable and easy to load like APNs, and at best, actually obey a universal profile available on existing devices. Until it happens, 2G or 3G absolutely has to stay. Australian government and carriers disregard this reality.

https://9to5google.com/2024/11/12/zerocam-zero-process-camera-launches-on-android/

It literally doesn't work. Doesn't even set EDGE_MODE_OFF nor NOISE_REDUCTION_MODE_OFF. If you want something lightweight that does offer these two, stick to Aperture or Open Camera.

Actually, lemme do a quick experiment (no, I can't recommend it, denoising is still extreme)...

So:
1. The app seems to attempt reducing sharpening, despite white haloing visible in viewfinder, I give them that.
2. Either "We shoot in RAW and process your photos to remove all artificial effects, delivering soft, pleasant-to-eye images." is a lie or the app is written by a genius who predicted that instead of 4096x3072 Bayer, the app will receive a 1920x1080 one without breakage (I forced an incorrect sensor mode, API doesn't snitch and returns a corrupted image).
3. The denoising is stock level kind of awful.

As much as I'll stop digging at this point and some of the app behavior is interesting (viewfinder in particular), it disqualifies itself for the purpose of giving you uncooked images. They're not (again, unless the app author is a hidden genius) coming from raw stream and they're denoised much more than needed, more than with NOISE_REDUCTION_MODE_OFF (which is respected by every modern device I know), basically being as bad as stock cameras (or worse).