Autor: daniel

After the firmware and app update more than one week ago, Xiaomi yesterday pushed another app update on android devices.

Now we are at 1.8.1.14363 which adds new filters to the app.

I as user have still to decide to take pictures with really poor image quality but exif data in the newest version or going to the old 1.6.3.xxx version with good quality of the photos but without exif. As I mentioned in a few posts before they changed something on the compression for photos and videos. the last version I could identifiy where the issue not appears was 1.6.3

This is really frustrating what Xiaomi is doing here. Please Xiaomi again, take first care for the really flaws in your software and after that you can add gimmicks like filters and such things for playing around.

Today I got the message that there is also a new firmware getting rolled out.

 

Tests are done so far here are my results after the latest app and firmware:

• video drift is gone! the video stays now stable
• exif data seems corrected also (google maps accepts the photos the same like from my theta s)
• crumpled video and photo still exists (may I have a confirmation from someone about this issue)

 

What I found out until now is that the photo quality is still crumpled… but xiaomi now includes more exif data to the photos which lets google maps inteprate the photo with correct orientation. I am still testing. The next thing will be video and the bad drift… Maybe xiaomi found finally an exit out of their app crisis.

Thanks to Mic from 360rumors.com

So I found out that since short time the photo quality got really messy with the xiaomi mijia.

I found a few minutes to try around what is the cause for that.

first I installed the newest version from the google playstore which appeared a few hours ago. Thanks for the info to Mic from 360rumors.com.

So the latest version on my android device is the Version 1.7.0.13754 which has still ferautres and issues from the last versions. I also use an older app version with the number 1.6.3.12499.
My current firmware version is 1.3.97.85.5.13333. First I thought the firmware causes the errors. But see following screenshots.

The photo on the left was downloaded from the mijia with the old app. since the last two version of the app (as I remeber it started with version 1.6.6.13395) the photos look like the right side.

It does not matter with which version the photos were shot. It depends only which version it is when you download the photo from the cam.

 

Here you can find two screenshots taken with the cam on the same place (untouched)

left side the new 1.7 version right side shot with the old version. both I exported from the camera with the old 1.6.3.xxx version because of the issue I explained here before.

I realize here that there are quite changes between the photos. I assume that they did some lens correction or compensation in the software while stitching. You can see that the right bezel of my screen is more straight in the right screenshot. But again here the left side with the newer app looks worse than the right old version. for me with every new version the quality issues grow over the advantages.

 

PLEASE XIAOMI solve these issues. Furthermore I still miss the exif data in the photo files.

There are still pending issues on this cam.

-photo quality-
Just last week I got a new Firmware and installed it since then the photo quality got really bad. If oyu zoom in the photos they look like crumbled.

but that´s not all.

-Exif data-
The photos are not branded with enough exif data. As a google local guide I take my camera everywhere to make photos for contribution. LAst week I was at the azores Islands (Portugal) and realized that some photos are not shown correctly in google maps on my android phone. This is due lack of exif information in the photo files. I know this can be done manually in postprocessing but is not useful to make on the go photos.
Yes it has more resolution than my theta s but without the correct file information this advance is gone.

-video issues-
The next is that the newer app versions have on the one hand a stabilization feature which is awesome but on the other hand in fixed postition the camera video drifts on the roll axis constantly. without postporcessing of the video the outcome is unuseful. there are workaround for example after switiching on the cam immediatly start recording so in this case the stbilization feature is not active due to an uncalibrated gyro, but also this is not a solution for a enduser product.

Xiaomi please update the firmware and app to a good quality level.I quite love the Mijia Sphere 3.5k but with these issues the camera is not mature enough for daily on the go use. As far as I see these are no dealbrakers because it is only a software thing but as long Xiaomi will not solve these major problems I can not recommend the cam to other people.