On 2022-07-02 14:17:17, xpr wrote:
I have a white 512GB HK 1 IV (XQ-CT72).
There is a lot to like:
The screen is very good. Seriously impressive.
It's finally bright enough to be used under mediterranean sun in the summer.
4K and HDR 10bit (8+2) are much appreciated as always, and the pro calibration is very good. I had compared it to the latest Dell XPS 17 9720 (top spec) and Xperia wipes the floor with it, at least in terms of color and HDR reproduction and accuracy.
The Dell has a good screen and I'm pretty sure that once I load a calibrated profile it'll do better, but I'm not sure it will be as good as the Xperia in this regard.
It's worth mentioning that mk3 had a green tint in very low brightness when using 120hz. It seems to be gone in mk4.
The speakers were upgraded once more and the whole audio output was upgraded (compared with mk3). I notice some improvements even when I listen to music in my car. I will also mention the haptics which are premium quality in my opinion.
It's very fast and the system is clean as usual.
I like that Sony keeps the 3.5mm and the SD slot. I got myself a 1tb card for a total of 1.5tb. I guess I won't have to worry about storage anytime soon.
The design is great and the tinted white color is beautiful and flatters the device (I think Sony should offer all colors in every market it operates).
Although the design is very similar to the mk3, there are some nice and subtle changes here and there. It would have been great to see a frame like the one on the Pro-i, but perhaps it's reserved for the Pro line. The build quality is truly great!
Battery life is noticeably better. For comparison, the MK2 was better than MK1 but its battery performance was still only mediocre in my opinion. The MK3 was slightly worse (with 120hz) than MK2 and the MK4 is finally 'good' (with 120hz) and probably the best of all 4 generations.
On the face of it, apart from the new zoom and selfie, the camers remained unchanged. But in reality they had received various upgrades under the hood. All of the sensors have a broader ISO range (so I guess the carry over sensors from mk3 are at least an upgraded version).
In terms of speed the upgrade is very noticeable: all cameras support 20fps in stills and 120fps in video; it can be done even with HDR.
Moreover, in previous Xperias, photos shot in burst mode would lose considerably in terms of quality (Bitrate and basically how much info the file contains). In this respect, faster readout clearly has a positive impact on the quality of the photos. Now, instead of 1mb and sometimes even less, the mk4 produces bigger files with more detail and info.
Another thing is rolling shutter- mk3 had lots of it and in mk4 it's basically not there anymore.
Oh and they have improved the selfie cam considerably. This time it produces good results. It's of little importance to me, but clearly an important upgrade for many others.
And yet, not all is good.
At first it was overheating violently and the camera would last only a couple of shots before shutting down. The second issue was horrible focusing of the telephoto cam- the photos were 90% of the time unusable, not mediocre, truly unusable.
An update came in and has improved several issues. The overheating is not as bad and the camera lasts somewhat longer. Sony have partially addressed the focusing issue.
It still overheats quite fast when using the camera and focusing is still not that good. At the moment, the 1 III produces sharper images with its telephoto and it wasn't very sharp to begin with.
Some thoughts about the shortcomings.
I realize that not everything can be perfect right from the start, but I also think Sony shouldn't have released a phone with issues of this intensity. At first the overheating was unbelievable
After the update it's barely bearable. The same thing with the telephoto focusing. I mean, seriously Sony? This is unacceptable. I know some folks that have returned their unit due to one of these issues (or both) and I can understand.
With overheating it was a similar story with mk3 and it was improved to a somewhat acceptable level after several updates. I hope this will be the case with mk4 as well. Oh and I really want Sony to fix the focusing issue. Even though I have a real camera and I do some pro level work with it, I still like to shoot with my phone, but right now I can't*- the results are too disappointing.
*No, the other 2 cameras don't suffer from bad focusing and even though the issue was partially addressed, it still isn't good enough. For me, this ruins the camera experience as a whole.
And one last thing, from my research, it appears that mostly Asian units suffer from this focus issue- I see mk4 samples on the internet with crystal clear results (which adds to the frustration). What's more, since this issue was improved but not enough) in the recent update, it means that Sony are aware of it. So I don't really understand why some units in some markets perform well and badly in others.
Frustrating and disappointing. But I hope Sony will address these problems ASAP.
[ This Message was edited by: xpr on 2022-07-03 13:58 ]
Posted: 2022-07-02 08:25
