Shoot-out: Sony Xperia S vs. N8-00
Just going to put this out there first thing; ironic how we’re weeks away from the release of the highly rumored N8 successor yet other phone manufacturers are still competing to catch up with the N8; word of advice, don’t bother you’ll always lose when it comes to cameras.
So anyways dialaphone.co.uk have pitted the Sony Xperia S against the N8, if you recall the Xperia S was launched last month as CES alongside the Titan2 with it’s 16MP shooter (go back to the original post and you’ll see that I called out the Xperia S a greater threat to the N8s throne than the Titan)- sadly I was right.
Honestly you have to give Sony credit for getting such quality pics from a lens that small, honestly didn’t think it was possible, both devices where compared in Macro, point and shoot as well as landscape attempts (even though the Xperia got the win in Macro and Point and shoot, the Landscape shots where a deadlock)
Both handsets excel when putting together landscape images, with each playing on their respective strengths of high quality optics and a top-end sensor in order to create photographs with clarity and depth. The larger 4.3-inch screen of the Xperia is of some benefit here; the N8’s 3.5-inch display meaning composition is slightly more difficult. However, this is a small gripe and we see it is a dead heat between the handsets in this department.
When it came to basic point and shoot, the main factor that knocked off points from the N8w as the sluggish OS and the lag time it takes to get the camera running (would like to know what Version of s^3 they had running on the N8- Belle should have eliminated most of those problems). Honestly I can’t see much of a differnce between the point and shoot comparisons.
As for Macro mode I have to admit that the Xperia S seemed to have pulled off a better job by getting a more detailed image without loosing focus (Macro has always been the N8s weak spot in my opinion, I find the macro on the Lumia 800 better sometimes, provided the lighting is good).
Check out the full review here:
http://blog.dialaphone.co.uk/2012/02/13/12mp-camera-phone-comparison-sony-xperia-s-vs-nokia-n8/
Once again, I can’t wait to see what Nokia has got in store for us at MWC, blow this Xpria S right out of the water and give the throne back to it’s rightful owner.
Cheers HaugMedia, thanks for the tip 
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Heyyo, names Ali- Currently a third year Dental Student from Chicago; studying in Jordan. I love all sorts of gadgets (Have = Green Nokia N8, Cyan Lumia 800, Black N9; Want: White 808 & Stromtrooper Lumia 900- yes I'm greedy) oh and cookies.. don't forget the cookies. Follow my twitter handle '@AliQudsi' - no pressure. Thanks.Subscribe
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Bye bye N8…
hellooo Xperia s
Are you serious?? two weeks!!!!! Nokias going to blow Sony HTc and any other company that thinks it can make camera phoens out of the water. after all who else has Damien Dinning on their side?
I don’t think Sony or any other manufacturer tries to compete with Nokia in camera department. Sony can make N8 killer camera phone if they like. Remember the Symbian Sony Ericsson Satio with a 12MP and Xenon flash released 2 years prior the N8? That is even better than the N8.
Sorry, did you just say the Satio is better than the N8? Not just being a fan of Nokia, but lots of independent tests were already done to show Satio was better than N8. My housemate for over a year unfortunately has had a satio (endless problems with S^1 for him) and no it does not take as good pics as N8. But it is very decent. Inclusion of video light is quite nice along with Xenon that is ok too
is this true or sarcastic?
I used to own a Satio for about 2 months, I agree that the pictures weren’t as good as on the N8. They were, however, the best in class for their time. But Satio is old news and the technology used there is, by comparison, quite archaic.
If by “2 years” you mean 1 year and if by “even better than the N8″ you mean not as good as the N8 you would be correct.
Here you go.
http://www.gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=2&idPhone1=3252&idPhone2=2683
N8 is better in camera. Arc S, in everything else.
Oh yeah, true.
What about battery life?
That’s a good question.
Symbian is always more battery friendly :3
That being said, its compensated by N8 having a small battery =.=
Not a really good comparison. It’s like some crappy shots and no real evidence to back up any claims.
Speed of the camera app they most likely are correct but that’s about it
The whole comparison seems to be sponsored by SE.
I’m not complaining about the Xperia S picture quality.
But using a N8 with PR1.0 is just unprofessional.
He could have done it with Belle, but Anna + additional N8 camera update would have been the minimum for a comparison.
And especially the macro shots are just badly made. Very badly. I’m not a pro photographer at all and even I’m able to do stunning macro shots in nearly every surrounding.
So maybe the XperiaS is a really good cam phone and maybe it takes better pics than the N8 (at least in some aspects), but this so called comparison is just a bad joke and I don’t give a **** about it.
The macro shot wasn’t even focused (red rectangle on N8 screen @ 1:49 if you look closely). This is pathetic.
When it comes to the macro mode, even the N900 with FCam drivers can knock the N8 to its knees. I am baffled how Damian and his team didn’t manage to squeeze more out of the N8′s sensor. Perhaps they didn’t deem it that much important…
EDoF cameras definitely suggest they don’t think it’s that important.
Too bad for me EDoF is better for anything I want to take a picture of (I’m not a camera person), but when I need to take a picture it’s always macro.
What? N900 can knock the N8? You must be kidding me. Either you have a faulty unit or then you are doing something wrong. I own both devices and my N900 is nowhere near the N8, marco or landscape. And, for stunning macro shots with the N8 look no further than here:
http://thehandheldblog.com/2010/09/30/nokia-n8-review-camera-includes-75-camera-samples/
I dare you to match these with the N900.
The N900 can get way closer Macro shots than the N8. I too am let down by the N8s Macro distance and focus limitation. We are not talking about the quality of the picture but just the ability for extreme macro shots. The N8 simply cannot focus as close to an object as the my N900 or even my Lumia 710.
I have ALWAYS had an issue with the focus limit since day one. As a result I have hundreds of Macro shots with my N900 and N82 yet only a few dozen with my N8 and I’ve had it since 2010.
Ah, I see what you mean now. For some reason it’s never bothered me and I’ve found shots within 15-20cm to be very good, no problem. Remember that you have to treat it as a real camera, meaning you need to avoid unnecessary shake and to use the Macro mode where appropriate. The Auto mode doesn’t necessarily focus when too close, sometimes it does and sometimes doesn’t.
As Deaconclgi said, I’m not only comparing the quality, but the ability as well. The N900′s optics / sensor combo is more suitable than the one in the N8 for macro, and for real macro shots the N900 will always focus better – better focus = better image in the same conditions.
Of course, the N8 will take the cake in plenty unfavorable conditions for the N900, but if you have a good lighting, and need a really close close-up, the N900 will almost always take a better picture.
Still, I think there was place for improvement in the N8 because it sometimes, at certain conditions, can take a really great macro shot despite its optics handicap. The camera team probably didn’t think it was as much important as fixing the other areas where the N8 downright trumps all the others, so the macro mode on the N8 left a lot to be desired.
And while we’re comparing, sometimes the N9 murders the N900 in macro mode, but it’s way too light sensitive and you need to have the perfect conditions to do so. Despite its weaknesses, the N9 has a lot of room for improvement, too bad I don’t see Damien and his team focusing (sic!) on it…
It’s is pobably a consequence of the huge sensor and the lens. Focal length limitation?
What would have been interesting in that flawed comaprison to take the macro shot from a distance that it could take a sharp photo and then crop it to see the possible differencees.
But in the end it does not matter to me as I don’t give a shit to their comparison anyway
“And while we’re comparing, sometimes the N9 murders the N900 in macro mode, but it’s way too light sensitive and you need to have the perfect conditions to do so. Despite its weaknesses, the N9 has a lot of room for improvement, too bad I don’t see Damien and his team focusing (sic!) on it”
Yeah sadly they seem to be talking much more about improving the 800 & future WP’s, than the N9.
At least publicly it seems that way…
Could just part of all the hype too, I really hope so.
If they don’t do much more….
Then hopefully there’s room for the F/OSS community to improve things.
But no doubt there’s big limitations as-to-how much it can do.
guys u all have seen the compairsion video N8 Vs sony xperia S but u all guys didnt seen that N8 Os is not updated to belle i have Xperaia S as well as N8Belle N8 gives more gud pic as compare to Xperia S in every mode..
pls i need someone to compare again very well…
xperia only won in macro mode. point and shoot, landscape n8 is clearly the winner…
Am sure n8 with belle was used for the comparasion, anyone here noticed that n8 camera’s quality decrease with belle update? why can’t they use anna for the photo shoot out? lololololzzzzzz n8 rulz
I told you symbian is dead… the Os killed the camera quality… its time to throw away your symbian device and get the wp 7 nokia…
Yes, Lumia 800 is famous for its camera quality
Careful there. Sarcasm dosn’t translate well across the internet~
I don’t understand the source article. I scrutinized the images they took and found the N8′s to be superior. But I wouldn’t argue that N8 lost in the interface area. But when it comes to raw image quality, I found the N8 more superior. Especially in high dynamic situations. The Xperia S blew out images in those situations. Great challenge though. Can’t wait to see the N8 successor.
This guy its using Symbian ^3 (PR 1.1) Are you kidding me? With Nokia Belle the N8 becomes the all mighty!
@Irving…But the N8 was supposed to be the all mighty anyway; it was deemed the all mighty when the N8 was first released in 2010. And even before Anna and Belle, whenever the N8 was put up against any other cameraphone, and won, N8 owners rejoiced. But when the same phone (software 1.1 and all) is put up against another cameraphone, but is criticised on some aspects of its photos, why cry ‘foul’? The N8′s camera has outperformed, hands down, almost every other cameraphone released, even before the Belle update, so why does the N8 need Belle to outperform the Sony Xperia S?
Anyway, as someone mentioned, GSMArena and PhoneArena are sure to do cameraphone comparisons between these two.
As far as I have noticed there isn’t quality differences between Anna/Belle photos. Only thing that has changed is the camera UI. The photoquality comparison was flawed and also the camera UI comaprison was flawed when they did not use the latest camera SW version available.
Hah good try.. There will be other, way better reviews of those two soon, this one is kind of joke. Even if the xperia is better, it will be by a very small margin at certain conditions, and that is not worth $400 more.
This comparison sucks. Even to the naked eye, its clearly visible that N8 kicks Xperia S in the first 2 comparisons.
in the 1st picture Xperia has a slight blue tinge all over it, obviously it messed up its White Balance, Winner:N8.
in the second picture, no doubt, Xperia purely sucks, N8 blows it out of the water.
Winner:N8.
In the third picture, The guy doesn’t know to use N8 for macro photography. Lemme tell you guys, i have shot numerous Macro shots with my beloved N8 and it rocks.
Loser:Photographer.
According to me, N8 is still the king. The only phone which can be a real threat is the Nokia N8 Successor
Got to say the Nokia N8 is a great camera phone but lacks in close up mode for photos and video. If you try taking photos in close up mode and there is a white background it lacks in focusing always displays the red rectangle outline box.
However I don’t think manufactures are competing with Nokia in the camera section since the launch of Nokia N82 when this was better than competitor Sony Ericsson K850i.
However the only decent 5MP or 8MP camera I’ve seen is on the the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Samsung, HTC, they have good camera phone but not great.
iPhone 4/4S has quite a decent camera module, but they destroy what it captures with the post-processing – it oversaturates the images (especially the 4 with green oversaturation which is the most noticeable to the eye) and adds artificial sharpness to the dark areas to appear as catching more details in low-light – sometimes it produces a visually stunning result, but it doesn’t produce a visually correct image; and at worst, it introduces some really bad artifacts.
I’d love for the manufacturers to allow RAW capture on all their devices – that way we could correctly judge the optics and the sensor and see where the flaw lies / what should be improved for better results… Then again, maybe that’s why you can’t capture RAW on most of the cameraphones *whistle*
Not very impressed by 4S’ camera, N86 produces better pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41150345@N06/sets/72157627766596659/?page=2
N86
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6237/6246434717_7139efa5a6_o.jpg
4S
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6113/6246955548_232d87c5d4_o.jpg
With all due respect that comparison was a bullshit!
The guy had an outdate software, he didn’t switch to Macro mode on the N8. He didn’t switch the image sharpness to hard.
He didn’t provide the actual samples.
How do these people get a job in the industry when they’re so clueless?
He definitely looked as if he was paid by Sony uk pr team because xperia s will be soon available in uk
You’re standing by Nokia’s side?
Now that’s a shocking news
*brb lottery time*
No, I simply don’t take sides.
If a product is better, I say it. It does not matter if it’s a Nokia, the iPhone or whatever.
May as well ignore the video. In the macro shot comparison the N8 is still set to ‘Auto’, and fails to get a focus lock.
Considering that the Nokia N8-00 was announced and released more than a year ago, it’s funny to think about any other manufacturer struggling to compete and take the spotlight from this smartphone, in the camera department. It took them so long to figure out how to make it right.
Now, the Sony 12MP shooter is slim and has no bump on its back. If they can pull off a great camera phone with that elegant and slim design, will Nokia be doing the same? At least their future Lumia and mid-range Symbian devices should have that MP count as the standard.
Long live N8-00 and 808 Pureview
I am happy that sony are able to make a good lens in such a small thin phone. it give us an idication into good lenses that galaxy s3 and future thin phone will/can have
Pretty useless “comparison”. he didn’t provide full samples, he’s unable to focus objects. But even in this crappy snippets of pictures you can see, the n8 is catching more light.
@Jay & Co
Don’t give this clueless and useless crap the stage and audience here on MNB! It’s not worth for it.
blabla… look closely when he shot in macro mode but with N8 its auto mode not macro.
lame test.
beside of this: Sony makes really nice photos.
I’m skeptical. The N8 macro shot looks out of focus.
Doesn’t it seem telling that at the end of the video there’s a link to buy the Xperia S? Come on …