Made the switch from iPhone. Not happy at all

[aokusman]

I made the switch from an iPhone 5 to the s6.

I'm currently vacationing in Paris and thought it would be a great opportunity to test the camera. Photos turn out great.

I use vscocam and Instagram constantly. Its the best place to share my photos and I thought what could be better than pairing up those apps with the s6 camera?

Turns out android has TERRIBLE apps. After noticing that something really weird was happening with my photos as I post them I started googling and kept finding links like these.

http://phandroid.com/2014/06/04/instagram-6-0-still-uploads-poor-quality-photos-for-android/

Turns out both vscocam and android have terrible image compression due to androids limitations on what compression algorithms are available or something. Whatever the reason, it has basically rendered this otherwise nice phone into a useless piece of junk for my needs as a recreational photographer.

I'm actually resorting to sending my photos to my iPhone from my s6 so I can actually post them without gagging.

Just wanted to warn anyone else who wants to make the leap to android due to the s6s camera and use Instagram as heavily as I do.

You lost me at android apps are garbage.

 

[Coney718]

I've taken plently of pics with the S6 and they come out fine on Instagram. No loss of quality at all. For reference I'm also coming from a iPhone and the pics on Instagram look similar. You can try lowering the resolution on the S6, try taking them at 12mp instead of 16mp.

 

[Almeuit]

@ Steve - I would try posting your photos elsewhere. If the compression doesn't happen then you can narrow this down to the Instagram app -- not the phone. I upload my photos to Google + and other places and they do not receive this compression so it very well could be the app. Test it out and see .

 

[Almeuit]

The OP. I love how iPhone owners new to the GS6 come flying on to the forum when it appears they haven't spent time with the camera or even the device itself. I know that for some, a single feature drives their purchase but, come on.

Well by going what you said .. If that one feature doesn't work for them I can easily see that causing a huge issue with the phone. Such as when I had my HTC M7/M8. I personally had no complaints with the phone itself but the photos were horrible. I am no pro-photographer or even a constant photo taker .. But when I go to take a photo I don't want it to look horrible or have to work with changing a ton of settings to get it. I just want a good pic by point-and-shoot. My iPhone 6+ did this fine .. so far my S6 has as well. He could be having an issue with the app as it could be compressing the image... if it is an app he uses a ton it may be a deal breaker.

We all have different needs.

 

[chriscookz]

I made the switch from an iPhone 5 to the s6.

Turns out android has TERRIBLE apps.

Try being someone coming from a Windows Phone to the Galaxy S6... I think these apps are fantastic!

 

[LeoRex]

Turns out both vscocam and android have terrible image compression due to androids limitations on what compression algorithms are available or something. Whatever the reason, it has basically rendered this otherwise nice phone into a useless piece of junk for my needs as a recreational photographer.

First... there is no limitation on Android... the problems are 100% the fault of the developers of either application, not Android, Google or Samsung. Sadly, these are all-too common problems... Dev houses spend more time developing and refining apps on one particular platform and do little to improve the other. Frankly, this is incredibly stupid and shortsighted, particularly when the platform that gets the short end of the stick is Android (which alienates the majority of the market).

Have you poured through the settings in the Instagram app? There are a few settings there that might be screwing around with your pics.... "Use Instagram Advanced Camera" and "Use High Quality Image Processing"

That second one sounds dubious to me.... the S6 takes fine pictures... no need to have them fuss with it.

 

[stevelam]

First... there is no limitation on Android... the problems are 100% the fault of the developers of either application, not Android, Google or Samsung. Sadly, these are all-too common problems... Dev houses spend more time developing and refining apps on one particular platform and do little to improve the other. Frankly, this is incredibly stupid and shortsighted, particularly when the platform that gets the short end of the stick is Android (which alienates the majority of the market).

Have you poured through the settings in the Instagram app? There are a few settings there that might be screwing around with your pics.... "Use Instagram Advanced Camera" and "Use High Quality Image Processing"

That second one sounds dubious to me.... the S6 takes fine pictures... no need to have them fuss with it.

Yep I tried toggling settings of Instagram (HQ processing) and it made no discernable difference. Its an "experimental feature" that apparently is very hit or miss depending on the android device you have. This setting does not exist on the iPhone side.

Vscocam claims it is an android issue. I personally have no idea except all I know is posted photos from my s6 look awful *in comparison* to uploading the exact same photo (taken by my s6) from my iPhone.

For those of you who are saying it uploads perfectly, you should try uploading from an iOS device. It is miles better. Less compression. Lines don't become huge jagged messes. Certain patterns maintain their clarity.

I'll upload a comparison photo when I have some down time in Paris!

 

[Almeuit]

Yep I tried toggling settings of Instagram (HQ processing) and it made no discernable difference. Its an "experimental feature" that apparently is very hit or miss depending on the android device you have. This setting does not exist on the iPhone side.

Vscocam claims it is an android issue. I personally have no idea except all I know is posted photos from my s6 look awful *in comparison* to uploading the exact same photo (taken by my s6) from my iPhone.

For those of you who are saying it uploads perfectly, you should try uploading from an iOS device. It is miles better. Less compression. Lines don't become huge jagged messes. Certain patterns maintain their clarity.

I'll upload a comparison photo when I have some down time in Paris!

I did have an iPhone 6+ -- I didn't have an issue uploading pictures from it to Google +... just like I don't from my S6. I really am going to have to blame the apps here (at least that is my opinion) because I have no issues with the apps I use to upload. I just don't use instagram or anything so not sure on that one.

 

[chezm]

For those of you who are saying it uploads perfectly, you should try uploading from an iOS device. It is miles better. Less compression. Lines don't become huge jagged messes. Certain patterns maintain their clarity.

Like i said uploading from my wifes iPhone 5S looks just as "good" as my S6 uploads. Your complaint isnt valid until you upload some of the photos here for us to view. Heres an example of one i uploaded to Instagram, does it look bad?

 

[LeoRex]

Vscocam claims it is an android issue. I personally have no idea except all I know is posted photos from my s6 look awful *in comparison* to uploading the exact same photo (taken by my s6) from my iPhone.

Then Vscocam is trying to sell you a box of BS, frankly. They don't want (or care) to fix the issue, so they are trying to send you on a fool's errand. There is no technical limitation on Android that would cause them to have to screw up a jpg.

 

[stevelam]

Then Vscocam is trying to sell you a box of BS, frankly. They don't want (or care) to fix the issue, so they are trying to send you on a fool's errand. There is no technical limitation on Android that would cause them to have to screw up a jpg.

https://vsco.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200323170-VSCO-Cam-Are-my-images-in-full-resolution-

For Android:

Depending on the available memory of your device, minimal image scaling may occur.

Most Android devices are quite constrained in memory despite some having upwards of a few gigabytes of memory, but applications are not allowed to use all of that available memory and thus we have to make due with what is given to us from Android.

Large images may be downsized up to 50% when importing depending on the device you are on and available memory. If you are wanting a specific crop without losing quality, the best thing to do would be to crop the image before bringing it into VSCO Cam.

Our image processing techniques are very memory and processor intensive and allow us to achieve a quality not found in other applications and therefore we continue to push the boundaries of these resource constrained devices, but we are continuing research and work to improve the ability to import larger photos.

 

[chezm]

Starting to look like someone is claiming to be in "Paris" and "own" a S6. Where are the pictures? You have enough time to post things from websites but not upload a picture so we can all see it?

 

[othersteve]

Of course they're going to blame Android for it if their Android app is currently inferior to their iOS app. It's the easy way out; the same thing every single software developer does in every situation where their program is not functioning as it should. Blame someone else until we figure it out.

I see it every day; I am a self-employed technology consultant of over 10 years.

Problem is, it's BS. You can write an Android app to compute whatever resizing/scaling/filtering you need I'm sure via the CPU through other approaches. They just haven't done it is all. They'll figure it out eventually as competition obligates them to do so and then all of a sudden their claim will disappear.

 

[Coney718]

For those of you who are saying it uploads perfectly, you should try uploading from an iOS device. It is miles better. Less compression. Lines don't become huge jagged messes. Certain patterns maintain their clarity.

I have a iPhone 6 as well as a S6 and im telling you its the same..at least for me. Every pic I've uploaded to IG from my S6 maintains the same quality.

 

[stevelam]

Screenshot. One is taken and uploaded by the s6. The other is the same photo (taken by the s6) but uploaded via my iPhone. There's clearly a difference. For exampke one maintains the wood floor lines way better than the other.

(The one uploaded by the s6 I just did again as a test, screenshotted it and then deleted it)

There's something wrong or poorly optimized with the way android/app devs compresses photos.

Edit: fixed uploads

 

[erasat]

https://vsco.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200323170-VSCO-Cam-Are-my-images-in-full-resolution-

For Android:

Depending on the available memory of your device, minimal image scaling may occur.

Most Android devices are quite constrained in memory despite some having upwards of a few gigabytes of memory, but applications are not allowed to use all of that available memory and thus we have to make due with what is given to us from Android.

Large images may be downsized up to 50% when importing depending on the device you are on and available memory. If you are wanting a specific crop without losing quality, the best thing to do would be to crop the image before bringing it into VSCO Cam.

Our image processing techniques are very memory and processor intensive and allow us to achieve a quality not found in other applications and therefore we continue to push the boundaries of these resource constrained devices, but we are continuing research and work to improve the ability to import larger photos.

That's valid if your device is a low budget or mid range Android phone with 1GB RAM, that's why they put that disclaimer in there, but talking about a Flagship phone with 3GB ram that's not a valid excuse.

If you want to really see if it's the phone or not, just go to recently used apps and close all apps so you don't have anything else opened, then if you have the Smart manager App, the one that came pre-installed in most versions, run a Clean All or even more specific open the RAM area and END ALL services, that will make sure that your Available Ram is basically available for any app you will open next, then open Instagram and try it again, if you have the same issue, don't look further and call Instagram and complain to them.

 

[LeoRex]

Of course they're going to blame Android for it if their Android app is currently inferior to their iOS app. It's the easy way out; the same thing every single software developer does in every situation where their program is not functioning as it should. Blame someone else until we figure it out.

This.. so much this...

I've been in software development for nearly 20 years, and kicking the can down the road is a time honored tradition. Developers use it to stall while they work on their deliverables, companies use it to avoid having to actually do work. I mean, if a Galaxy S5 lacks the resources and processing power to handle their image processing..... Plenty of other applications manage to figure things out, on far less powerful hardware.

A few years ago, I was working on a product that used a feature in a commonly used OS developed by one of our partners.... we'll call it "Doors".... well, there was a clear memory leak in the "Doors" that was easily seen and reproducible. We contacted the the partner of "Doors" and they blamed our product, even though I could reproduce the leak without even installing our stuff. This went on for months; us saying "Doors" had a bug, them saying it was us and there was nothing wrong. Over a year later, we see a patch released that amazingly fixed an issue that never existed in the first place, supposedly...

Not that this helps the OP and his picture quality woes.

 

[yaddam205]

Screenshot. One is taken and uploaded by the s6. The other is the same photo (taken by the s6) but uploaded via my iPhone. There's clearly a difference. For exampke one maintains the wood floor lines way better than the other.

(The one uploaded by the s6 I just did again as a test, screenshotted it and then deleted it)

There's something wrong or poorly optimized with the way android/app devs compresses photos.

Edit: fixed uploads

Wow.... that is a world of difference. I am quite shocked it's so bad. Thanks for this! I'm going to test myself.

 

[ThyWillBeDone]

The quality should be good on the S6... even when coming from the iPhone 6.

 

[cajunB]

i cannot agree with you more..

application wise,, apple has it better than samsung..