case study for absurd software

Robert Triggs

OpinionPost

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I've been spending some time with the Sony Xperia 1 II lately and it's a phone I've really tried to like. He is

undeniably elegant

, offers a very minimalist take on Android, and even though the 21:9 display is very large, the phone feels great to hold. You can read all this and more in our

Xperia 1 II review

, but I have a personal gripe with Sony's new flagship: I can't board with the camera phone and that's a major deal breaker for me.

It's not that the Sony Xperia 1 II isn't up to snuff in the camera hardware department. The phone comes in a familiar premium triple-lens setup and takes some great shots at times. See our camera shots against the

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus

and

Huawei P40 Pro

below for some sample images and analysis. My issue is that the camera is inconsistent and difficult to use, and most of these issues can be traced to Sony's infuriating software choices.

Sony Xperia 1 II Camera Pictures:

vs Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus

|

vs Huawei P40 Pro

Exhibit A: Less is more

For starters, Sony offers not one, not two, but

three

applications dedicated to photography and video. There's the default camera app that does a bit of everything and that's what most consumers are going to turn to. The Camera Pro app, meanwhile, offers advanced photographers a full suite of customizable ISO, EV, focus, white balance, and other options, but sadly no bokeh mode. Finally, Cinema Pro provides advanced shooting options for videographers, including ISO, shutter speed, white balance, cinematic color calibrations, focus, and more.

Here's the problem, all of these apps lack important features that can be found in one of the others. Users shouldn't have to master multiple apps to get basic functionality. The experience would be much better if Sony provided a universal camera app that did everything in one place.

Each app lacks important features that can be found in one of the others.

Default camera app

Camera Pro app

Cinema Pro App

Mobile industry photography leaders use just one app without sacrificing flexibility and ease of use. Pro modes remain popular for a reason, but usually never require a separate app. Sony over-complicates the need for options for novices and professionals alike, reducing the user experience in the process. At the end of the day, results matter far more than the marketing associated with a branded app.

Exhibit B: HDR Processing

One of my biggest complaints about the Xperia 1 II camera is the exposure and< /p>

HDR processing

. Highlights are often overexposed or shadows become too dark and lack detail. Irritatingly, there's no HDR option in the default app. You have to use Camera Pro, which actually offers two hidden options in the settings menu. Useful, industry-standard multi-frame HDR technology must be manually enabled via

Camera Pro > Menu > Exposure/Color > DRO/Auto HDR

.

Talking about hidden, but this is an extremely important feature. Just take a look at the day and night difference this setting makes to a heavily backlit scene.

Default app - No HDR?

Camera Pro - D Range Optimizer

Camera Pro - AutoHDR

Although it may not be perfect, it is clear that AutoHDR offers the best exposure. Users who opt for the default camera app, which is probably the majority of Xperia 1 II owners, are stuck without the ability to capture a nice image in this common scenario. Frustratingly, there's no reason the AutoHDR option can't be included in the default app as well. Especially since there is an HDR toggle in the video shooting mode!

Why is there a basic HDR toggle for video but not photo?

Exhibit C: Zoom and Lens Change

There's another major usability issue with the Sony Xperia 1 II that may be the worst of the bunch. Using the wide-angle and zoom cameras isn't as easy as with pretty much every other smartphone.

For starters, pinch-to-zoom doesn't actually activate the lenses, leaving you with a lower digital Zoom. You must click on the icon specific to each objective to access it manually. As you might expect, the difference in quality for zoomed shots using optical zoom versus digital zoom is huge.

It's somehow even less user-friendly in the Camera Pro app, where you have to manually choose the focal length. Worse, using the pinch-to-zoom scroll wheel to select 70mm also doesn't activate the zoom camera. You have to tap on the separate 'lenses' option and select 70mm, which then activates the lens and, confusingly, allows the zoom wheel to further extend the digital zoom. The same goes for the 16mm wide-angle camera. It's ridiculously unintuitive and again has a huge impact on image quality. Just check out the comparison below:

Again, users end up with lower image quality due to software issues that you don't experience with other phones. Virtually every other smartphone has mastered seamless lens transition when zooming. By comparison, Sony's software is both underdeveloped and overengineered.

There are also many questionable software choices when it comes to video. For example, you can't zoom in and out at all after hitting record in Cinema Pro, but you can in the default app when shooting video. There is the option to choose x264 or x265 4K video compression in the default app, but this is missing from Cinema Pro which defaults to x265. However, you can record 4K 60fps video in Cinema Pro but not in the standard app. Why? Only Sony knows that.

To get the best image, you have to switch between applications. A situation that is undesirable to say the least.

Sony, please KISS

Sony aims to leverage its pro-grade camera features for the Xperia 1 II and cater to more advanced users, but in this has failed to keep it simple, stupid. The 101 software design allows users to achieve the best results as easily as possible. In my experience with the phone, getting the best picture or video for a given scenario involves navigating between three different apps. A situation that is undesirable to say the least.

Sony, please forget several apps for brand's sake and go for a basic camera app.

It's ultimately a huge shame. These seemingly small software design decisions add up to undermine what is otherwise a good phone with solid camera hardware. Especially since the Xperia 1 II dramatically improves low-light, color and zoom performance

compared to previous generations

.

Of course, Sony has the form for this kind of over-engineering. To cite just another example, there are at least seven different PlayStation apps on the Play Store – for Remote Play, Messages, and more. – where a single unified app would surely do the trick. If anyone from Sony is reading this, forget the need for multiple branded apps and focus on one complete camera software. Your users, fans and critics will no doubt thank you for it.

Notice

sony

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Sony Xperia p>

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