10 years ago when I got my first phone, I never figured that we’d be counting the megapixels on ‘em.

Back in 2008, I bought my Sony Ericsson K850i.  I’ve always been an SE fanboy, and, since it was the same week that the C902 got here, the price of the K850i dropped slightly.  It was the first 5 MP SE phone, so it still had kinks to work out.

From the K-series phone, people were expecting a step up in camera performance from the vivid photos of the K800.

What we got, instead, was a fantastic daytime/outdoors camera phone.  In low light situations, the superstrong Xenon flash would wash out the colors of the subject, especially up close.  Colors were pretty bland, which was temporarily remedied by the inclusion of the PhotoDJ app.  But even then, you’d have to fix up the colors in post once you’ve transferred your photos.

Looking for a screen adjustment hax, I discovered Witchking’s Cyber-shot XPerience camera driver.  It replaces SE’s camera driver with one that’s more robust, flexible and adjustable.  One that utilizes the phone’s 5 MP sensor and pushes it.

There are just situations when you don’t have a camera and you need to take a quick photo of something, and since the phone’s always in my pocket — having something else running the hardware to make it better is just.fucking.fantastic.

Here’s a list of added features:  (from the se-nse forums post by Witchking)

*Amazingly vivid colours and quality
*ISO Control
for both flash and non-flash shots
*Advanced Auto-ISO Flash mode
*Shutter-speed control
for both Flash and non-flash shots
*Manual Focus
*Manual Contrast
*Manual Saturation
*Manual Sharpness
*Auto-exposure lock on/off
*Advanced Hue/Tint selection
*Manual Colour balance: Cyan, Red, Yellow, Purple
*Forced flash on/off
*Colour Correction On/off

Shutter-speed control?!  Manual Focus?!  On a cameraphone?!

I’m still getting the hang of it, but here’s a coupla sample shots:

Using the phone’s camera is an entirely different experience already — and I haven’t even gotten to some of the features yet!

So if you have a Sony Ericsson K850i and you’re pretty much disappointed with the camera, (and if you’re feeling BRAVE, because installing this might brick your phone!) give Cyber-shot XPerience a try!

Related posts:

1. what the H?!
2. looking for a new phone / brand loyalty
3. The Samsung Galaxy S II is a Bad-Ass MoPho
4. Bravia S004: Only In Japan
5. The Samsung Corby Puts The “You” In “Youth”

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