May I suggest that there's just a new learning curve with this phone? I'm not a professional photog, but it definitely took me some time to realize how close to get to a subject - I have taken some really good pics and some really crappy ones (before I had time to understand the new camera) - I absolutely refuse to read forums/threads with ANY complaints until I explore the phone myself. My phone has "all the issues I've read about" - the placebo is strong with this one... Lol
Here is an example of how I tested one day in a diner I was in. I had three levels of depth, and I tapped on each to decide where to focus. Cup, ticket, dude in the background...
You can see it handled it easily but I honestly had to fiddle with it before I was happy...I now know what to do to get the pic I want. It's taken me a full day to adjust from the note 10+ (camera)