GoKawiilWhen Sony announced the Xperia 1 VIII last month, it promoted the phone by sharing some of the worst photos taken on a Sony camera in years. These weren’t just any photos, though: they were taken with Sony’s new AI Camera Assistant. After a week with the Xperia 1 VIII, I’m here to tell you that the AI assistant is exactly as bad as Sony made it look.
After Sony first showed me the AI Camera Assistant during a press briefing for the Xperia 1 VIII, I said it looked “like an improved version of Google’s Camera Coach.” It’s pretty clear I got that wrong. Camera Coach, found on the latest Pixel phones, is a dedicated camera mode that talks you through framing a shot, asking what you want to focus on and giving specific tips on framing, positioning, which camera lens to use, and whether to use Portrait mode or not. I found it underwhelming when I reviewed the Pixel 10A, but it does clearly serve as a basic photography coach.
Sony’s AI Camera Assistant is different. It’s embedded directly into the camera app’s default mode, and pops up automatically while you’re trying to take a photo — though Sony does allow you to turn it off entirely. While you’re trying to take a photo a small box pops up in the viewfinder showing what the photo would look like with alternate settings suggested by Sony’s AI. A quick tap enables those settings, or you can swipe down to flick through another three alternate options.
AI Camera Assistant suggestions pop up inside the viewfinder, showing you realtime image adjustments.
The suggestions pop up before you actually take the shot — this isn’t for editing photos you’ve already taken. Unlike Google’s Camera Coach, the Assistant doesn’t offer any advice on framing or focus, it just applies a filter and leaves the rest to you. It doesn’t even tell you what effects it’s applying, so you won’t learn anything about why the image looks that way or how to achieve the effect yourself.
The suggestions don’t appear consistently. They’re not supported at all on the selfie camera, though I’ve no idea why. Pointing the camera directly at a bright light or a backlit window usually doesn’t bring up any AI suggestions, nor does looking at a blank wall. It doesn’t tend to offer options for macro shots, but occasionally it does. If I try to take a photo of the palm of my hand the AI Assistant has plenty of ideas; if I turn my hand sideways or backwards, those options disappear. If there’s a logic being followed here, I couldn’t tell you what it is.
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