The Canon G1 X: Big Sensor, Major Disappointments

You know why people carry around those big black S.L.R. cameras, don’t you?

Trust me: it’s not for fashion’s sake.

No, they carry them around because the cameras contain big sensors. If there’s one statistic that predicts photo quality, it’s not megapixels: it’s sensor size. Big sensors mean great photos in low light — and the ability to create that pro-style blurred background behind your subject.

The most exciting camera developments of the last two years have been smaller camera bodies with big sensors in them. I was incredibly excited, in particular, to hear about the new Canon G1 X: a coat-pocketable zoom camera with a huge sensor: 0.92 inch diagonal. That’s nearly the size of the APS-C sensor found in S.L.R. cameras like the Canon Rebel. It’s 16 percent bigger than the Four Thirds sensor used by Olympus and Panasonic, and over six times the size of the sensors in previous Canon G cameras (and most other compacts).

The G1 X is the latest in a long line of the peculiar cult-classic cameras in Canon’s G series (G10, G11, G12 …). Peculiar because it’s a one-piece camera with lots of features that high-end photo nuts want: metal body, a hot shoe for accessories, full manual controls, lots of buttons with amazing amounts of customization, and an actual eyepiece viewfinder. You don’t swap lenses on this thing. Like its predecessor, the G1 X has a fantastic hinged screen that lets you shoot over your head, down at waist level, or even facing yourself.

But the huge sensor makes the G1 X a whole new ballgame.

I’ve spent a couple of months with the camera I was dying to love, and I have to say that I’m a little disappointed.

Which is hard for a true-blue Canon nut to admit.

First of all, it’s a homely, ungainly contraption, full of corners and bumps; in a wind-tunnel test against the world’s other cameras, this one would come in dead last. But that’s O.K.: fans of the G’s don’t buy them for their looks.

The viewfinder is another matter. It’s great that Canon hasn’t completely surrendered to the modern trend of eliminating the eyepiece viewfinder, which is still an advantage in bright light or very low light. What’s not great is that on this camera, if you can believe it, the lens barrel actually blocks your view. I’m not kidding. You hold this thing up to your eye, and maybe one-fifth of the scene is blocked by the lens itself. It’s impossible to compose a shot accurately this way.

Now, when you’re fully zoomed in to the full 4X, the lens is no longer visible. But still — how could you design a flagship camera and not notice that?

If you know what you’re doing, the photos are excellent, although they’re rarely as good as an S.L.R.’s. The blurry-background effect — technically, shallow depth of field, caused by a wide aperture — isn’t easy to achieve. What’s the point of a huge sensor if you can’t get the soft-focus background?

More concerns: The battery lasts only two-thirds as long as its predecessor’s: 250 shots on a charge, which is very low. Focusing is frustratingly slow, especially when you’re zoomed in.

The zoom seems to take a moment to engage after you push the lever (which surrounds the shutter button). The burst mode is an astonishingly slow 1.6 shots a second. (There is a 4.5 frames per second mode — six shots maximum — but you give up control over exposure, white balance and ISO, and the screen goes completely black while you’re shooting!)

The weirdest thing, though, was that I kept getting motion blur while in Auto mode. That is, if any part of my subject was in motion, it came out blurry, even in good light. That’s something we haven’t seen for years. And on a camera with a jumbo sensor? It made no sense!

I was so baffled that I wrote to Canon about it, and got this prompt reply: “Full Auto on the PowerShot G1 X is designed for snapshots of stationary subjects.”

Wait, what!? $800 for a camera that’s designed for still lifes?

Yes. Canon suggests that if you want to take a picture of something moving, you should switch to P mode and increase the light sensitivity (ISO), or switch to Scene mode and choose a mode like Sports. Strangest thing I’ve ever heard.

Video should be fantastic. The camera records in full 1080p high definition, has a dedicated start/stop button for video and has stereo microphones. It can also change zoom and focus while filming, which is still a relatively rare talent for a camera.

In practice, the zooming and refocusing are so slow, they ruin many a shot. It takes six seconds to zoom 4X while filming, and about as long to refocus. Painful.

O.K., I admit it; I’m harping on the flaws. There’s a lot of stuff to love in this camera, too: fantastic ergonomics, buttons just where you want them, and superb photos, among other things. (You can see some sample shots here.)

But nonetheless, for $800, I think you can do a lot better. Sony’s incredible NEX series comes to mind, for example. The bodies of these cameras are far smaller than the G1 X’s, yet they have full S.L.R.-size sensors inside. Of course, the NEX’s interchangeable lenses stick out and add bulk. But over all, these cameras will disappoint or frustrate you far less often. And they offerSony’s incredible Sweep Panorama mode, which is just incredibly useful.

The idea of a nearly S.L.R.-size sensor in a coat-pocketable camera is a sort of holy grail; I’ve been longing for it for over a decade. It’s an amazing engineering feat, frankly.

So let’s hope that Canon considers the G1 X a trial balloon, a learning experience — and blows its own first attempt out of the water with next year’s model.

How to Track Your Smartphone Data Usage

As more and more cellphone owners are herded from unlimited data plans into the capped data plans, keeping tabs on how much you’ve used your phone this month is an increasingly urgent task. If you go over any of your monthly limits — calling minutes, text messages or data — you’ll pay overage charges.

Now, I’ve always believed that part of the carriers’ scheme is opacity. They don’t want you to know how many minutes you’ve used of your monthly allotment, how many texts you’ve sent or how much data you’ve used. After all: If you knew where you stood, you’d be less likely to go over your limits and pay extra.

Of course, your usage information is available — if you’re willing to burrow into a Web site and log in with some password you made up the day you bought the phone, or memorize a special dialing code that generates a cryptic text-message usage report.

The trouble is, these techniques require you to remember to do them. I’d guess that very few people have made it a habit to use them. (Besides, the text-message code — #DATA* or whatever — reveals only your data for the month, not calling minutes.)

But the other day, I stumbled onto the My Verizon app for iPhone. There it is, on a single screen: crystal-clear bar graphs for Calls, Texts and Data. If you’re on a family plan, as I am, you can swipe your finger across the screen to flip to each other family member’s information.

Everybody should have this: a way to quickly, visually and easily see how close you are to your monthly limits. This app also clearly displays the details of your current plan, shows your current bill and even lets you pay it.

(Further kudos to Verizon for its latest My Verizon Web site. In one place, it offers 16 clean, clear buttons that take you directly to the things you’d most want to do: “View Usage.” “Change Plans.” “Block Calls and Messages.” “Suspend Service.” And so on.)

As it turns out, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile offer very similar apps. All four carriers offer the app for Android, and all but T-Mobile for the iPhone. (T-Mobile doesn’t offer the iPhone.)

I think it’s commendable that the carriers took this step. Now, I don’t really see why a “how much you’ve used this month” feature can’t be built right into the phone — but the next best thing is an app that clearly shows you this information with a simple tap.

Even here, though, I have a beef: The Sprint and Verizon apps don’t show you your usage until you type in your full phone number (or username) and password! Every time you open the app!

That’s insane, for two reasons.

First, why should I have to enter my phone number? The app knows my phone number. It’s running on the phone issued to me by the carrier, with a number it gave me. Surely it can figure out the phone number of the phone it’s on!

It’s as though every time you swiped your credit card to make a purchase, you also had to type in your 16-digit credit card account number.

Second, even if the app could store my phone number, why should I have to enter my password? Security, yes, I know — but for what? In case an evil office co-worker sneaks up, grabs the phone from my drawer, scuttles away and looks up how many text messages I’ve sent this month? Heaven help us!

The solution is simple: Let me decide whether I want to store my password or not. That’s how the T-Mobile and AT&T apps work. They can memorize both your User ID and your password, and the world hasn’t ended. So what’s the harm?

The beauty of usage apps is that they remove the roadblocks between you and seeing where you stand this month. So why should they install new roadblocks in the form of this phone number/password business? (Tip: In the Verizon app, I’ve used the iPhone’s text-shortcuts feature to type out my phone number when I type “vz,” so at least that’s half the battle. But the shortcut feature doesn’t work in password boxes.)

Even the carriers themselves aren’t sure why all the security is required just to check your usage for the month. (“Why is this necessary? That’s a good point,” wrote Sprint’s P.R. person. “I don’t have an answer, other than to say that we are always looking at ways to enhance customer experience.”)

Until they come up with a good answer, here’s a tip: Get a usage-tracking app from somebody else.

For Android phones, DroidStats displays usage graphs for minutes, text messages and data, all on a single screen. It does what the carriers’ apps should have done all along: shows you, instantly, your current data usage and minutes-used tallies. No username, password or red tape.

For iPhone, there’s DataMan and VoiceMan. The Pro versions, 50 percent off until Sunday (now $1 and $2), are well worth the money. They show you which apps are eating up how much data, and they give you real-time automated alerts when you hit certain warning thresholds that you set up. Voice Man is even smart enough not to include evening and weekend calls if those calls are free, as they are on most plans.

I wish DataMan and VoiceMan would track your text messages, too; that’s coming, says the developer. (A rival app, Cell Minute Tracker, is free and shows all three stats — minutes, texts and data — but it’s for AT&T only.)

The bottom line: It’s your information. It’s important information — you’ll pay dearly if you exceed your allotments. So you shouldn’t have to battle to get at it.