Camera wars continue: OnePlus One vs. Sony Xperia Z1


Besides the Snapdragon 801 CPU and 3GB RAM, it is the camera on the OnePlus One that has managed to attract most attention. It’s a 13 mega-pixel Sony Exmor sensor, with some cutting edge tech baked into what OnePlus thinks makes an all-round performer.

We’ve previously seen the OnePlus One camera battle the older-gen OPPO Find 5 and a full-blown camera in the form of the Nikon D3100. Although the unit used to produce pictures used in the comparison wasn’t the retail version of the OnePlus One, but it still managed to impress most especially with the low-light performance.

This time round, we have another imaging giant in the form of the Sony Xperia Z1 (the devices have a bit of a history) pitted against the wallet friendly OnePlus One. The Xperia Z1 as we know packs an Exmor sensor as well, but a 20.7 mega-pixel at that which dwarfs the 13 mega-pixel on the OnePlus One. However, this isn’t 2010 and we know that it isn’t just the megapixel count that defines how good pictures from a camera will be.

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OnePlus One vs. Sony Xperia Z1 camera shots

In all fairness, I’m quite impressed by the OnePlus One camera yet again. The Xperia Z1 was announced as a purely camera centric smartphone, and still carries a price tag much higher than what the OnePlus One will sell for.

What I particularly like is the focus, which appears to be sharp and precise in almost every picture. Not usually a fan of HDR (colours at times look ‘synthetic’ to me), I can say that the OnePlus One has impressed in that regard as well.

That was for us, let us know what you think!

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43 Comments

  1. Porscheproletos
    May 9, 2014

    To speak frankly….OPO is starting to bother me. yes..exciting…yes..nice piece of tech. OPO here..OPO there… o_O Its so wonderful…its so perfect….yes. fine. can I buy it? nope! and still marketing machine is running. sorry….Its a release without a realease. Just nonsens like…get 100 items for one dollar. get invitations… yeah…eat my shorts. i am tired of OPO kindergarten!

    • Airyl
      May 9, 2014

      Good things come to those who wait, so they say.

    • Yury
      May 10, 2014

      while OPO will come on market, we will see mi3s with 805

  2. highwind
    May 9, 2014

    OnePlus One is probably the best unavailable smartphone in the world

    • Cuerex
      May 11, 2014

      kek

      • highwind
        May 11, 2014

        nice selfie!
        taken with your oneplus one? xD

        • Cuerex
          May 11, 2014

          YISS

          DIS MA BOIFREND

  3. Qwerty
    May 9, 2014

    Comparing a new unreleased smartphone with an 1-year-old smartphone isn’t exactly competitive.

  4. Ruub
    May 9, 2014

    LoL, they cost the same by now… As the price of Z1 has fallen since it was released

  5. Porscheproletos
    May 9, 2014

    To speak frankly….OPO is starting to bother me. yes..exciting…yes..nice piece of tech. OPO here..OPO there… o_O Its so wonderful…its so perfect….yes. fine. can I buy it? nope! and still marketing machine is running. sorry….Its a release without a realease. Just nonsens like…get 100 items for one dollar. get invitations… yeah…eat my shorts. i am tired of OPO kindergarten!

    • Airyl
      May 10, 2014

      Good things come to those who wait, so they say.

    • Yury
      May 10, 2014

      while OPO will come on market, we will see mi3s with 805

    • Yury
      May 10, 2014

      while OPO will come on market, we will see mi3s with 805

  6. provokanter Tabellenführer
    May 9, 2014

    OnePlus One is probably the best unavailable smartphone in the world

    • Cuerex
      May 11, 2014

      kek

    • provokanter Tabellenführer
      May 11, 2014

      nice selfie!
      taken with your oneplus one? xD

    • Cuerex
      May 11, 2014

      YISS

      DIS MA BOIFREND

  7. Guest
    May 9, 2014

    Comparing a new unreleased smartphone with an 1-year-old smartphone isn’t exactly competitive.

  8. Ruub
    May 9, 2014

    LoL, they cost the same by now… As the price of Z1 has fallen since it was released

  9. Yasin
    May 9, 2014

    The 13megapixel oneplus camera makes better pictures then the 20megapixel of the sony z1

    • Frank Wu
      May 9, 2014

      Yah, I m also sick of people singing how good the OPPO is. Show me the phone dammit!!

      • Airyl
        May 9, 2014

        The Oppo Find 7 has been out for a while now.

    • desponent
      May 9, 2014

      I’m not sure, it looks more ilke contrast and filter difference which can easily be done with some post processing apps.

      • Yasin
        May 11, 2014

        maybe i judged it to fast, perhaps you are even right.

  10. Airyl
    May 9, 2014

    According to the OnePlus One review on Engadget, the speaker quality and camera are a little subpar compared to others. Not sure how it compares to the Xperia Z1, but I’ll still take my chances and stick with the fantastic camera on the Find 7.

  11. Guest
    May 10, 2014

    The 13megapixel oneplus camera makes better pictures then the 20megapixel of the sony z1

    • Frank Wu
      May 10, 2014

      Yah, I m also sick of people singing how good the OPPO is. Show me the phone dammit!!

    • desponent
      May 10, 2014

      I’m not sure, it looks more ilke contrast and filter difference which can easily be done with some post processing apps.

    • Airyl
      May 10, 2014

      The Oppo Find 7 has been out for a while now.

    • Guest
      May 12, 2014

      maybe i judged it to fast, perhaps you are even right.

  12. Airyl
    May 10, 2014

    According to the OnePlus One review on Engadget, the speaker quality and camera are a little subpar compared to others. Not sure how it compares to the Xperia Z1, but I’ll still take my chances and stick with the fantastic camera on the Find 7.

  13. Martin
    May 10, 2014

    In each of the 4 sets the Z1 is the clear winner
    -set1: The OnePlus makes the seeds look like pees, way to green.
    Also the leef is to green on the OnePlus, it needs more blue like in the Z1 picture.
    -set2: The Oneplus agan is just to green like in set1.
    More fine details in the Z1 picure.
    -set3: Clouds are purple, the tree in the lower left corner is a black blob and the flowers
    have no details. The Z1 is clearly better
    -set4:OnePlus is just awful; purple clouds, the lower left tree has a halo and overall ther
    is lots of noise

    • desponent
      May 10, 2014

      Yeah, seems like OPO play the good ol game of “moar saturation” to try to fool the mass.

  14. Guest
    May 10, 2014

    In each of the 4 sets the Z1 is the clear winner
    -set1: The OnePlus makes the seeds look like pees, way to green.
    Also the leef is to green on the OnePlus, it needs more blue like in the Z1 picture.
    -set2: The Oneplus agan is just to green like in set1.
    More fine details in the Z1 picure.
    -set3: Clouds are purple, the tree in the lower left corner is a black blob and the flowers
    have no details. The Z1 is clearly better
    -set4:OnePlus is just awful; purple clouds, the lower left tree has a halo and overall ther
    is lots of noise

    • desponent
      May 10, 2014

      Yeah, seems like OPO play the good ol game of “moar saturation” to try to fool the mass.

  15. May 11, 2014

    I presume, the Z1 has the original firmware NOT the updated firmware (backported from Z2).
    The new Z1 firmware is a huge leap in image quality over the original. Not to mention the other software apps also updated to Z2 spec.

  16. Peter Pain
    May 11, 2014

    I presume, the Z1 has the original firmware NOT the updated firmware (backported from Z2).
    The new Z1 firmware is a huge leap in image quality over the original. Not to mention the other software apps also updated to Z2 spec.

  17. Ricardo Franco
    June 10, 2014

    Clearly these are propaganda pics that use over saturation to make the Opo look more vibrant then the Xperia Z1.

    The Z1 is and will always be a clear winner against the Oneplus One cam

  18. Ricardo Franco
    June 10, 2014

    Clearly these are propaganda pics that use over saturation to make the Opo look more vibrant then the Xperia Z1.

    The Z1 is and will always be a clear winner against the Oneplus One cam

  19. Ricardo Franco
    June 10, 2014
  20. Ricardo Franco
    June 10, 2014