Camera update? Are they going to fix it?

[Toymaker02]

I like this phone except for the camera...it is so bad I don't think I can keep it.

The main issues are photographing people (especially children) and the autoexposure. The auto exposure cannot expose the auto focus subject correctly. The shutter speed is too slow to shoot kids, which is a major selling point to parents. Motorola's press materials indicated this would be a fast and sharp camera...it is not.

I did a side by side with the Moto X against an old iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 took a much much better picture. The 3Gs was better.

Is there any news on an update to the software? If not I'm going for an iPhone 5s for the camera alone.

(PS - anyone considering this phone be warned that the camera is really that bad)

 

[tonymhoffman]

I do side by sides with my girls s4 and my moto takes better pics part of the time..you are stretching for an ip4 taking better shots..my nexus 4 took better photos than my girls ip4 and that thing is bottom of the barrel.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[guesswhat_567]

I like this phone except for the camera...it is so bad I don't think I can keep it.

The main issues are photographing people (especially children) and the autoexposure. The auto exposure cannot expose the auto focus subject correctly. The shutter speed is too slow to shoot kids, which is a major selling point to parents. Motorola's press materials indicated this would be a fast and sharp camera...it is not.

I did a side by side with the Moto X against an old iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 took a much much better picture. The 3Gs was better.

Is there any news on an update to the software? If not I'm going for an iPhone 5s for the camera alone.

(PS - anyone considering this phone be warned that the camera is really that bad)

Enabling tap to focus and disable HDR might help

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Toymaker02]

I've tried tap to focus (too slow) and I've tried disabling HDR, neither help much.

Shooting my kids this evening with the Moto X yielded unusable pics (dark and blurry). I found an old iph4 and used it instead and got fine images. I'm not making this up.

Any news on a camera update...?

 

[guesswhat_567]

Moto did say that camera improvements are coming soon ...not sure soon is how long ..but should be coming eventually ..within a month maybe..

 

[clankfu]

I thought the shutter speed was supposed to one of its strong points.

 

[duke1231]

I bet the camera improvements will come with android 4.3

 

[THARD]

No disrespect but I just tried this with my daughter's iphone 4 and the X pictures were much better and took much faster.

 

[nemov]

Is there any news on an update to the software? If not I'm going for an iPhone 5s for the camera alone.

(PS - anyone considering this phone be warned that the camera is really that bad)

The issues with the camera are well documented; however, why would someone change from Android to iOS based on the camera on one Android device? I'm always a little dubious of new threads by people who have only posted a handful of times with comments like the one above.

Also, the Moto X camera doesn't compare as well as the GS4 and HTC One. It supposedly better than the Galaxy Nexus with is what I own now.

 

[akhi216]

The issues with the camera are well documented; however, why would someone change from Android to iOS based on the camera on one Android device? I'm always a little dubious of new threads by people who have only posted a handful of times with comments like the one above.

This.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[droidguy15]

I agree with you one hundred percent. I bought this phone on Saturday and returned it last night. The camera is absolutely horrible. The imager is full of noise, the tap to shutter (focus) doesn't work very well, and the general picture quality is just plain bad. My previous phone was a Samsung GS3 and it took great pictures. I love this phone very much, but having a sub-par camera is unacceptable. I really don't know what Motorola was thinking. This phone is awesome aside from the bad camera. Unfortunately, I had to return it and go for a GS4. Although, I really want this phone and I hope they somehow "fix" the camera problem. I'm just glad to see that I'm not the only person who has experienced the camera problem with this phone. No offense, but anyone who thinks it takes comparable pictures to the iPhone or GS2, 3, or 4 is completely wrong.

I like this phone except for the camera...it is so bad I don't think I can keep it.

The main issues are photographing people (especially children) and the autoexposure. The auto exposure cannot expose the auto focus subject correctly. The shutter speed is too slow to shoot kids, which is a major selling point to parents. Motorola's press materials indicated this would be a fast and sharp camera...it is not.

I did a side by side with the Moto X against an old iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 took a much much better picture. The 3Gs was better.

Is there any news on an update to the software? If not I'm going for an iPhone 5s for the camera alone.

(PS - anyone considering this phone be warned that the camera is really that bad)

 

[dpw2atox]

From what I gather the main issue with the camera seems to be the post processing algorithm that Motorola uses. A firmware update "should" be able to resolve all the issues people are reporting with the camera. I'd go as far to say that while the phone is amazing, we won't really see its full potential until we get the first OTA which hopefully will give us 4.3. We will get official BT4.0 support (as opposed to the buggy Moto implementation), OpenGL ES 3.0, etc.... but as with any phone when they are released there are 2 big bug lists which are sometimes leaked and give timetables for the bug fix. Typically the first update provides the "critical fixes" such as performance improvements, battery life improvements, reduction of soft reboots, updated kernel and modules, etc... and this update is usually released within 1-1.5 months after the phone comes out. The 2nd update then is for more complicated issues and usually is released 3-5 months after the phone is released and makes most phones just work.

It's sad that we unfortunately have to expect all sorts of issues like this to be early adopters but that's the name of the game. I'd say after the first OTA update next month to check out the phone again and see if it is to your liking.

 

[nemov]

I agree with you one hundred percent. I bought this phone on Saturday and returned it last night.

Quick question. In the past you said:

It's nice to hear the One X meets your needs - it is a beautiful phone. Most of us though, like customizations and expandability. The fact that there is no SD card slot and a non-removable battery is a deal breaker for me.

Have you changed you mind about non-removable batteries and SD cards since March? Based on your previous posts it's not clear why you would purchase a Moto X.

 

[droidguy15]

To be honest with you, I decided to give it a try because I really liked it once I checked it out in the store. Quite frankly, I really like it decided to give up on the battery and SD card in hopes that the other features would make up for it. Unfortunately, the camera was a deal breaker for me. Being on AT&T, it has always been a challenge to get a quality Motorola phone, and I was looking forward to this being the one to woo me away from Samsung. But, in the end, I became spoiled by Samsung and was unable to downgrade to an inferior camera and smaller screen. Although, if they fix the camera, I might give it a try again. I am genuinely torn between the two. The Samsung meets all of my needs, but I like the Motorola due to its build quality and feel. Also, it's a super fast phone with almost no bloatware which is a major plus.

Quick question. In the past you said:



Have you changed you mind about non-removable batteries and SD cards since March? Based on your previous posts it's not clear why you would purchase a Moto X.

 

[JungleLarry]

Sorry, you're not going to hear what you want to hear. No one can say whether or not the Moto X camera will be updated, only that some Moto exec said it would be on Google+. No one can say when it will be updated, only that some Moto exec said "real soon" on Google+. No one can say what will be updated, only that some moto exec said the changes would be "many" on Google+. See a theme?

If you can't live with the camera right now, then maybe this isn't the phone for you. Imagine your disappointment if you bet on Motorola updating this camera in a timely fashion, they do, and it still doesn't meet your needs. Even then, you're not guaranteed anything.

 

[Toymaker02]

Thanks to everyone who gave helpful feedback. I'm coming to the end of my return window and need to make a decision.

The fact that I'm lamenting having to give it up due to the bad camera just shows how good the rest of the phone really is. Most new features on phones are gimmicks but the Moto X's are genuinely useful and work well... sad to see such a good phone hindered by the camera.

 

[smcd5213]

I've sort of resigned myself to a reality that I can either get a phone I really like with an average camera or a good camera with a phone I don't care so much for. In the end I'd prefer to like the phone first. Would it be great to have both? Absolutely. But the camera is never going to drive the decision for me personally.

I think the X is capable of taking reasonably good images but it does seem confused for lack of a better term. I was taking shots indoors the other day of my dog sleeping...the first image seemed to replicate what my eyes saw quite well. Second shot followed maybe five seconds later, same position, distance..maybe I moved my hands a little but the picture looked totally different. Grainy, poor color reproduction, weird dark tint over the whole thing. Not sure what's up with that.

Pictures taken outside have largely been quite good, no complaints there.

Maybe there's a "fix" in the works, who knows. I just doubt any phone camera is going to please 100% of people 100% of the time given subjectivity alone. Not to say there isn't room for improvement with the X...I just wonder if expectations have exceeded the technology at this point. There's a reason professional photographers don't use smart phones as their primary cameras, right?

Ultimately, if you can't live with it...find one you can. But to state across the board to everyone as if an irrefutable fact that the X has a "bad" camera...not sure I totally agree with that and certainly wouldn't take it upon myself to tell others not to consider the X because of it.

 

[Strawdawg]

I think the camera is pretty good-especially when compared to the complaints I have read. On the other hand, there are tons of pictures floating around that show it to be even better than I would have expected based upon some of the remarks. Maybe some just got bad cameras? It certainly seems to be capable of taking good pictures of faster moving objects without blurring or losing clarity

 

[Toymaker02]

Interesting, is anyone here getting good shots of real people? The shots I see are of objects in daylight.

My shots fall apart whenever the auto exposure gets involved. (which is most shots.) I'm curious if this is a HW sensor issue or a fixable Sw issue.


Thanks.

I think the camera is pretty good-especially when compared to the complaints I have read. On the other hand, there are tons of pictures floating around that show it to be even better than I would have expected based upon some of the remarks. Maybe some just got bad cameras? It certainly seems to be capable of taking good pictures of faster moving objects without blurring or losing clarity

 

[smcd5213]

Interesting, is anyone here getting good shots of real people?


Thanks.

From the pic thread sticky at the top of the forum page.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/mo...ures-taken-motorola-x-here-4.html#post3040787