Sony Xperia 1 VIII’s AI Camera Assistant Disappoints Users

Sony unveiled its new flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 VIII, featuring an AI camera assistant designed to simplify photography. However, the feature has proven ineffective and even disruptive in practice. Rather than assisting with composition or focus, the assistant automatically applies filters, altering exposure, white balance, and contrast without user input or explanations.

The AI assistant’s performance is erratic: it fails to offer options for selfies, macro photography, or bright lighting scenarios. In some cases, the feature doesn’t activate at all, while in others, it applies aggressive adjustments that ruin shots. For example, it may darken photos beyond recognition or overexpose details. Common suggestions include sepia tones or excessive saturation, resulting in unnatural-looking images.

Another issue is the AI’s impact on device performance. Despite the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, the camera frequently freezes when switching lenses or accessing AI suggestions. Users note that disabling the feature improves camera stability. Without the AI assistant, the Xperia 1 VIII’s camera delivers competitive results, rivaling other flagships in image quality.

Sony marketed the AI assistant as a tool that dynamically adapts to scenes and lighting. In reality, the technology fell short of expectations, offering no guidance on angles or lens selection—only random filters. Consequently, most users opt to disable the feature to avoid degraded photo quality and performance issues.