Expectations on the upcoming Xperia Pro II

[kzagham]

Feel free to jump in, adding in your own thoughts, views and expectations for the upcoming Xperia Pro II, later on this year. Well, fingers crossed for a new Xperia Pro I MK2 (I for Imaging, Imagination and the Inquisitorius 😉). So let's jump right into it! 

1. All for the new Exmor T brand! Hopefully we see some new, innovative sensors across the board. All new sensors, exclusively for the Xperia Pro II. It shouldn't be a reshelled Xperia 1 V but have it's own identity as the flagship beyond, something that sits above the iPhone 14 Pro Max's and S23 Ultra's of this world - going into Fold territory. Did like the idea of different aspect ratio for the main camera on the Xperia 1 V, so no longer a 4:3 sensor. Hopefully that same innovation and boundary pushing approach can go into the Xperia Pro II. I for one, wouldn't mind a 24mm main 21:9 or 18:9 sensor either. 
2. More AI/ Computation chops - don't think there is anything quite like Apple's Deep Fusion off the bat. This is something Sony needs to work on, the Xperia 1 V has seen quite a few AI improvements, hopefully it gets taken another step up for the Pro II. An example of an area AI could be used is taking a picture using a non primary camera, quickly take a picture, then take a picture with the main 24mm and try taking a picture with the other lens again. In most cases, the second picture with the non-primary camera turns out better. As the AI picks up on it, but AI needs to be proactive not just reactive. 
3. Remembering the I stands for Imaging (Both Photography & Videography). Whatever that needs, more RAM, onboard sensor RAM, bigger dimensions, more thickness - no stone left unturned to squeeze the best out of the device. 
4. Zoom, the Xperia 1 V missed an iteration on the Continous Zoom lens, hopefully an evolved form can be used in the Xperia Pro II. 
5. Better auto HDR, the auto mode isn't the best on the Xperia 1 IV. It normally darkens the image a lot or if it is bright enough will overexpose. The only way to get proper HDR is to use manual mode to get to a higher brightness that isn't too underexposed in the lower boundary of brightness areas and the overexposed background will fix itself. This needs to be more automatic in auto mode. Take the best picture possible. 
6. Built in photo/ video - editing software. That is self-explanatory.
7. The stuff/ tech capped at 4K 30fps recording, be that Wider Dynamic Range, better stabilisation, tracking features and whatever else is making 4K 30fps perform at its best carrying over to 4K 60fps, including seamless zoom when recording video (not sure how much of that has made it's way to the Xperia 1 V, but whatever is left can also be upgraded for the Pro II) 🙂
8. Higher bitrate video recording option (can be a toggle, but the phone should allow for the highest bitrate output regardless of storage sacrifice). The removable SD card can be put to some good use here!
9. Improved selfie camera, the addition of 4K 60 fps is amazing! However, the sensor size and performance can use a boost.
10. Some collaboration with Google, for streaming onto chromecast devices in better quality. The Xperia Pro II would be built to make & share content, so it would be good to see some work in this area. With the standard Xperia, the colours are always picked incorrectly and there is a massive dip in quality on-screen. Even if that's a seperate option (export current video into shareable/ castable version).

In either case, Sony is undoubtedly working on something amazing, double the trouble with the Mk2! Look forward to seeing what other surprises Sony have in mind for us!

[kzagham]

P.S. Hopefully a Purple color option makes a return!

[Lord_viridis]

1. Different aspect ratios on sensors have been on a few sony devices since z5, it's much more likely to be 3:2 which is sonys preferred aspect.

The 14 pro and s23u are not aimed at reality, both employ heavy A.I processing which is not what sony is about. I hope to god sony never jumps on that bandwagon.

2. See point 1, A.I fails more often than I'd like, I have the s23u and often find pictures coming out overprocessed and missing details thanks to abhorrent use of noise reduction and fixing what the camera "thinks" the picture should look like.

3. 12gb ram is more than enough, and I believe the on sensor stacked ram was slower than today's gddr offering that is connected to the sensor much better than it used to be. Sensor readout speeds is what could be of real benefit (see 😎

4. Yeah, continuous zoom is a big one, and vastly needed in videography.

5. Dual iso could definitely help this by correctly exposing both the highs and the lows, of course it would be best served in videography but photos could also benefit from a dual native iso solution 

6. No point, there is already better solutions out there and people will forever use what they use. A tie in with lumafusion would be very much welcomed as that is probably the best mobile editing software in existence.

7. Anything that's capped at 30fps would be due to heat, sensors have long had higher spec ratings than the current software allows, but the byproduct of that is heat. Each time they get the heat down they unlock better features. Not too sure what is currently capped at 30 fps at present though as most recording support full 60fps minimum.

8. Bit rate can be a funny one, on one hand there is a lot of v30 cards out there that support 250mbps on continuous write which would work very well with high bitrate recording, but also there are still people clinging on to old cards that are maxing out at 120-150mbps. They bring the average user write speed down. Not to mention the recording at that higher speed increases heat.

I'd like to see thermal solutions around the sd slot and a recording of 150-200mbps even if limited to certain recording modes.

9. I'd like to see the selfie camera gone. No one is recording professional videos with a selfie camera.

10 google build casting around the lowest supported denominator, they won't change it, not until the supported range changes.

What you could have is a higher quality casting form to sony tvs using their own software, this software could be made as an app I guess for other smart tvs but... I have a feeling it would still need to use the cast protocols anyway.

What I'd like to see myself though 

1. Larger ultrawide and tele sensors. Bringing the size of these sensors up a notch would massively improve image quality and low light performance 

2. True 10bit s-log readout and recording from all sensors.

If this is for pros, give them pro files to work with. 

3. Seamless zoom while recording between all sensors.

[kzagham]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! The seamless zoom does seem to be in video pro (not in cinema pro if that’s where you are looking) and it is locked to 4K 30 and below so can be easy to miss for 4K 60 shooting. But if you mean more gradual transition to different focal lengths, definitely 100% agree, it can be jittery to switch and the speed/ zoom isn’t smooth.
- Oh nice! Didn't realise that was the case - that is pretty cool! But it might have reset with the Xperia 1 - seems like they went back on the drawing board with that one and then built up again.
- AI wise, it's not so much the sharpening, colours or aggressive noise reduction - I was thinking more along the lines of passive AI (rather than active) - what I mean is always having all three cameras input feeding into the processor at all times (when any camera app is open). Kind of like what Apple does, so in video or even photos (using wide-angle) the camera can predict any incoming objects and can adjust for when they get into frame. Other things they can use AI for is focus, especially to judge distance, there are instances where the lenses struggle to focus on objects or randomly pop in and out of focus (more so on the telephoto lens). Again having all three cameras active can help track where objects are and what needs to be in focus. A few other AI applications are exposure adjustment, say you are standing a few metres away from a window that looks outside on a sunny day, there is a subject walking towards that window that you are recording, when you pass by the window the subject - first the camera will pick a lot of light and you get a super over exposed background and then suddenly the camera compensates so you get a very dark subject. That's the kind of situation - where you'd want the camera to be a bit more smart and when the ultrawide camera detects an over exposed background incoming can start to gradually compensate for that. That is another thing AI can help with - the concept of "gradually" - gradually adjusting exposure, zoom etc. When you try to change zoom it is very jerky on the Xperia (at least on the Xperia 1 IV I use) - it needs some kind of focus-pull equivalent where it slowly dials into a pre-selected zoom level or you can choose a zoom level and it pans in & same for zooming out (you need to be able to change the zoom speed). Especially when the lens changes it becomes jerky and can skip frames. The colours still don't match across all 3 lenses, most prominent in video and that's another thing having all three camera's on can help with (colour science), trusting the data the primary sensor provides and matching colours from other lenses to the same input. This and many other passive quirks of AI can help with the overall experience. Not to mention object recognition and detail (when recording on ultra-wide, data from primary sensor can help bring up more detail on objects in centre frame). With the way Sony operates and that professional use case in mind, these can all be toggles that you can turn on or off according to the situation. Another area Sony isn't yet leveraging is Sony TV/ Bravia - the chip in the TV can upscale images and videos (recognise hundreds of thousands of objects and scenes) - they could 100% use that AI in their image processing (exclusively for Xperia).
- I do think they need more RAM, especially as more features are being added (e.g. 30fps burst shot, higher bitrate video etc) and I'd rather they introduce a Very High Dynamic Range Mode that combines a few pictures into one for 4K 60fps video (considering they can now do 30fps burst shot photography). So they can add more Dynamic Range for select video scenarios, whatever can add more flexibility to the wider system.
- Haven't heard of Dual ISO before, but could be interesting.
- Fair enough - though at least there should be HLG to SDR conversion on device, so you can have two separate copies for sharing in different use cases.
- With the Pro series, the Vapour Chamber and added thickness should help against any heating. The Stabilisation and Wide Dynamic Range aren’t available above 30fps as of Xperia 1 IV. Not sure if anything changed in 1 V. We could use an external fan, something like the Xperia Stream but with the camera open.
- Yeah that’s a good idea, having different video quality (bitrate) options. Or they could opt for a workaround, e.g. record onto native storage first and then transfer over when device not in use. Or send and receive files from SD and time that to get speed and see what bitrate the inserted SD card can support.
- The selfie can be useful, but if they made the vlog monitor bigger and added stabilisation to the vlog kit (made it essentially a gimbal) that would make the selfie redundant. However, it is good to have a solid selfie cam when needed if not possible as of yet.
- That’s a good idea! Hopefully can see something from Sony – maybe some development of the “ecosystem” – they have a good thing going with the phone and cameras, hopefully can push that in other areas too.
- Those would definitely be useful upgrades! It is amazing to see the wide use cases of Xperia users and they do seem to be going in the right direction!
- Something I missed in the initial post, a much improved cinema pro app. It was the one I most used on the Xperia 1. They do need to add a true auto mode that brings that 21:9 aspect ratio into a more accessible audience. Changing exposure on the fly isn't easy. In my ideal scenario - I'd like to be able to stack the Venice look with S-Cinetone in 4K 60fps (not sure if possible yet), that can be used natively or slowed to half speed for a slight slow motion affect. But in general I'd like to have a lot of the cool tech going into Video Pro to transition to Cinema Pro.

[kzagham]

Adding to this - no signs of the Pro II yet. Hopefully this means a lot of work is being put into R&D to nail it's execution. The new iPhone 15 Pro's can now record in HDR, SDR & amazingly, also in Log!

If the Xperia Pro II could also add some kind of log profile to video shooting that would be incredible! The main bit though is on board (on device) video editing. Love the fact that the new 5 V can locally convert the higher quality HLG footage to SDR! If the same could be done for a log profile (i.e. pre-selected LUT's to convert to a preferred look) into SDR that would be a game changer! Most people wouldn't mind propietary encoding (similar to ProRes) as long as it can be converted to SDR on device whenever needed.

The iPhone 15 keeps the LIDAR sensor for 3D video (for it's own VR/ AR headset). It would be good for Sony to also push in this direction, returning with new and improved tech (maybe a replacement for the iToF). The ability to record 3D video would be really pushing the envelope - especially if it's supported across VR solutions! Maybe all Sony needs is to ignore video recording size - optimise for the best possible video quality regardless of space. That is the direction tech is going, it also gives the opportunity to add a 1TB variant and provide support for fast on board micro SD card reading (wouldn't even mind that being propietary like the cameras, as long as the photo/ video quality makes up for it) and that can be recorded natively on the external micro SD card. 

Another thing that needs work is noise in both photos and videos, even in day conditions there is more noise than competitors and at night Sony is lagging behind by a large margin. Hopefully this gap can be bridged in the next upcoming device. Fingers crossed, keep us on the edge of our seats Sony!

[Mozaje]

Hello Sony team. I am a very loyal to sony xperia and I buy all the flagship models every year my last one was Sony Xperia IV and I stopped my self from buying the new model for two reasons.

1. the phone has very bad reception of the the phone calling services in some problematic areas I can see that samsung and apple iphone can take and make phone calls while I can't . I hope you can change that on the upcoming sony xperia flagships.

Thanks

[AlexandruRai]

Never fixed Xperia options were:

1. The bad noise management of the processing overall photo and video from stock (some third party apps are cracking it, but lacking others);

2. Locked front camera API2 for modded Gcam camera apps that lower devices like 10 models and Ace models have it all unlocked, and very low torch led for filming videos. All these are open to any other Samsung model or Xiaomi models available, even for the cheapest ones.

These too must have a good solution from now on for Xperia devices!

Thank you!

[hajrexha]

Build on the LCD for main camera 📸

[Andre_]

For me the most important is that Sony supports (OS upgrades/ patches) their (flagship) phones as long as Google and Samsung are doing with their recent phones. Especially Samsung is doing here a good job, they are providing updates for phones they did not commit to provide that long support.

[hola1182sony]

Y mientras tanto Sony atenderá a las dificultades que les notificamos los usuarios del Xperia 1 V ???