After using and reviewing the Sony Xperia XZ Premium earlier this year, and being squarely disappointed by the camera considering its flagship positioning and price, I was expecting much more of the same out of the (relatively) lower-end Xperia XZ1. It after all has the same camera specs as the XZ Premium, so how much could it have improved? Well, as it turns out, a lot has changed — and for the better. Despite ostensibly having the same camera hardware as the XZ Premium, it only took a few shots with the XZ1 to notice that Sony has made big improvements in processing. Something to actually get excited about with a Sony smartphone camera? Absolutely. Here's why. See at Amazon Important photo processing improvements

There's basically one change in the characteristics of the XZ1's camera that makes it so much better than Sony's last handful of attempts, and that's how it detects and processes fine lines and detail in photos. Saying it's "one" change makes it seem like it was easy to fix, but really this is a combination of lots of tweaks to the processing the camera software does, and it's a big change. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines

Sony has finally stopped murdering fine lines and details. On the XZ Premium and the last handful of Sony phones, the camera's "Superior Auto" mode went way overboard in its sharpening and processing of photos, doing what it thought was great work but in reality just completely murdering every last bit of detail in each shot. Otherwise-sharp lines were muddy and soft, and any sort of texture you'd normally find in a scene was crushed to a blotchy mess. I'm not entirely sure why Sony thought this was a good thing, but it was most certainly a bad thing. Sony has walked back that stance dramatically on the XZ1, and to great effect. Lines are actually sharp where they should be, fine detail is much more preserved even when zooming in, and scenes look natural instead of bordering on watercolor interpretations. I actually had the confidence to open the XZ1's camera, take a shot and not second guess whether it was acceptable or switch over to Manual for another shot "just in case" — that alone is a big improvement.