When the Sony Xperia Z5 line launched, Sony promised an update of the camera app to roll out soon after. Users who look in the “What’s New” section of their Xperia Z5 device will see that Sony has made good on that promise today. The new app is dubbed Sony Camera 2.0 and brings a good amount of updates including a UI overhaul to look more like the promised UI from the pre-launch promo videos, giving easier access to some features and offering new ones at your fingertips. It also seems a bit easier to use in Portrait mode.
The new UI is more minimalistic, with sliders for appropriate settings on offer in the viewfinder. You can also switch through photo and video modes with a simple swipe. Xperia Camera apps are accessible through the app, integrating them seamlessly with normal shooting operations. The new camera also comes with some under the hood changes. For starters, blur on low light photos has decreased dramatically. The crispness and saturation have been improved, but are still no match for Samsung’s handsets, according to one user on XDA Developers. Sadly, this update keeps the limit on manual mode, with no ISO at 20-23 megapixels. The much-demanded manual shutter speed has also managed to miss the boat. The new upgrade seems to be mostly cosmetic, with just a few under the hood tweaks, but most fans seem to agree it’s better than the current version of the app.
It’s good to see Sony keeping their promises in regards to updates, but with their short device cycle and recent trouble in the smartphone field, it remains questionable if there will be continued support. That said, if for whatever reason you don’t have the update showing on your device, there is an APK download in the “Via” link. This will, of course, allow owners of other devices to give the camera app a try, but there is no guarantee of full compatibility or that it will even run. Mind you, it likely won’t be long before enterprising developers start tinkering with the app to disable protections and insert the necessary code for driver access and the like that will allow other devices to run the new app, so if you’re in love with the Sony UI but not their devices, you probably won’t have terribly long to wait.