topic Gallery sorting issue in XPERIA archive

Gallery sorting issue

rozhy2k — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 22:14:54 GMT

WHY!? Why did you have to destroy the gallery!?

Don't you know the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!?

I have bought Z1 and now all my photos from previous Xperia Z messed up. The sorting seems to be random. I've got photos taken a few years ago, that traveled from device to device without a problem during these years, now being places with photos that I have taken a few days ago. There seems to be no sane rule to sort them. They are just all mixed up together.

You seem to just spit on file dates (and your users), putting current date to copied files whenever they get onto the device. So, I've tried to erase them all and copy them over, making sure the newest pics get on the phone latest. I've tried to erase data for applicatoins that seem to be connected to the gallery application. But the photos just end up being mixed up with no rational order. I've got ~20 oldest photos at the beggining of the gallery. Then 20 about from a month ago, then a few from a year ago, then from two months ago. How do you expect us to like your device, when you make such frustrating bugs!?

This makes the device to be unusable in terms of a photo manager/keeper. I can get better luck printing all my photos and then just scatter them all over the floor, there would be more order in that, than in your new gallery.

Is there any way to fix it? I've spent about 3 hours now, trying to get the pictures in order they were on Xperia Z, but they come back to the same chaotic ordering.

I love the device, but now I'm so frustrated and mad, I consider returning it. I really do, because these types of errors is something you can't ignore, yet they give an impression or rookie developers and QA.

Please, help!

Re: Gallery sorting issue

GeoffH — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 04:13:38 GMT

you have probably moved stuff around which changes the date of the files, there's 2 things you can do to fix this, there are a few date fix programs designed for photos or download quickpic from the playstore - it has the date function build in

Re: Gallery sorting issue

Rickard — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 06:03:28 GMT

The album in Z1 still sorts pictures according to date taken based on the pictures EXIF information while videos are sorted after file date. When you transfer videos and photos to a new phone videos may be sorted wrong as file date is changed but photos should still have correct sorting. What happens if you open one of your photos, tap menu and then go to Details. Does it show correct date?

Re: Gallery sorting issue

rozhy2k — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 13:14:03 GMT

Regarding the dates of the files. I've "redated" them in the order I wanted them to appear in the gallery, but when I copy them over to the phone through explorer (which uses some kind of a driver that represents the device) the date of each file changes to the moment of the file transfer (creation time).

Regarding EXIF information. The first time I've encoutered the problem, was just after I've transfered "everything" using the XPERIA Transfer application (which has its own issues, but it's a whole different story). That's when my files got messed for the first time. Then, I've copied them manually off the Xperia Z to my HD and noticed that once they go onto Z1, the date switches to the moment of file creation on the phone, discarting current file date. What is most annoying is that you can't even copy files in a specific order, which would make them appear in the right order on the phone. Something messes up even then.

I've never changed the EXIF info. Temporarily I've fixed the issue by copying the files over to my SD Card, which uses real file system and keeps the original file dates. Files that are stored on the SD Card, seem to be sorted correctly.

In any case, I think it's TOTALY wrong to even touch file dates, overriding them and assign your own, whichever you feel like to apply to. Also, I don't want to keep my files on my SD, I want them on my phone.

Any thoughs?

P.S. I'll try the survey.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

Rickard — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 13:58:53 GMT

I'm not sure if it's possible to keep file date when you transfer a file using MTP. I can forward this as feedback but it might be a limitation of MTP. Not sure if it works different but you could try moving the files using ADB with a software like MyPhoneExplorer (www.fjosoft.at).

But are pictures also sorted wrong? Pictures are sorted based on the EXIF-information, not file date so pictures should be sorted correctly (as long as they have correct EXIF-information).

Re: Gallery sorting issue

rozhy2k — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:26:56 GMT

Maybe. But why would files that were just copied from one phone to another, changed their EXIF info or sorting order?

Also, why would copying them onto an SD card (also over USB, yet using MSC), didn't mess up the order?

I'll try the ADB method, maybe it will work.

In general, I've discovered that the MTP driver is pretty messed up. For example, just minutes ago, I've spent 20 minutes to ceate a folder. Whenever I atempt to create one, explorer hangs. I go to the phone and see that one core of the CPU is at 75% and another 25%. Explorer, probably waiting for the driver to respond just stays there, not responding. Whenever I unplug the phone, everything goes back to normal. After replugging, there is a new folder named New Folder (and not what I've named it). Eventualy, after a few attemps (including rebooting the phone and restarting explorer and wasting a ton of nerve cells), I've created that folder through File Commander on the phone itself. Only then was able to copy my files into it.

I know it's a different topic, but could you redirect that issue too?

Thank you for your help.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

Rickard — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 06:10:08 GMT

The EXIF information in pictures should not change when you transfer them with MTP which is why i asked if this happens both for videos and pictures. Could you please confirm if the problem with sorting also happens with pictures or if it only happens with video files?

If it also happens with pictures, what happens if you open one of your photos, tap menu and then go to Details. Does it show correct date?

When you want to manually create/move files and folders from a computer i've found that ADB works better then MTP. Not sure what we can do about the MTP-driver as it's a standard driver in Windows but i'll forward the feedback.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

rozhy2k — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 20:14:31 GMT

I've gone through several images on my phone and compared the dates that Z1 shows in details to the dates that the same files have on disk. Turns out that the issue is much more complex and would take some research to be understood, rather than a quick look through the files for half an hour. There are three major dates that affect how the phone would sort the images:

1) EXIF date

2) File creation date

3) File last modified date

Whenever there is an EXIF date, the phone choose that date, no questions asked. But the issue hides within the choice Creation Date and Last Modified Date. The dates for images that don't have EXIF, seem to be picked randomly between Creation Date and Last Mofied Date. On my HD, the Creation Date, for all the files, is the date I've copied them from my old phone to the HD, while the Last Modified Date is actually correct. In the gallery, on the other hand, the main date is either the Creation Date or the Last Modified Date. Looks like that is the reason for ordering mess up. I didn't find any pattern at how these dates are chosen. Didn't look much at the videos, but looks like they have the same unpredictability in their main date choice.

Anyways, I change my phones quite a bit and this kind of thing had never happened before. Z1 is the first phone to make such tricks. Hope this helps and you guys will fix it, because it is really a turn down for me and I'm sure, I'm not the only one who is upset because of this issue.

Please let me know on any ideas or updates on the issue.

Thank you.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

mawdsley1 — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 20:35:43 GMT

I've made several photo albums in my gallery and and arranged them by addin new files in the picture folder and copy/pasting mu pictures in. Takes some time and is a pain cause it only shows file name, not a picture preview but it's finally done

Re: Gallery sorting issue

GeoffH — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 20:47:23 GMT

I don't use the default album app I use quickpic as I have more control over what gets viewed folders etc and it works perfectly for me, there are sort functions and I have about 15 folders with some 500 images on my phone dating back 10 years or more

Re: Gallery sorting issue

rozhy2k — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 20:31:27 GMT

Thanks, that gallery actually did resolve the issues, more or less. At least it's not as annoying anymore. It's a shame that users have to turn to 3rds party gallery software on a product that has image display and the screen as one of the key features.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

GeoffH — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 00:33:19 GMT

I have no issues at all using 3rd party apps - on my Z and XZU I used Quickpic Mxplayer Poweramp and on my Z1 I still use Quickpic and Mxplayer but I'm still undesided about poweramp and Walkman

Quickpic just has more features and is flexible enough to cover almost every senario - the default album app is close but I don't want to have to go into the file system and keep planting .nomedia to exclude stuff I don't want to see and I don't realy want to see movies and TV programs in there either so QP works for me

Mxplayer is the undisputed defacto best player in the android market, not only because of it's rich features but also because it plays every video file type I put on my phone - it is unrivaled

Poweramp is the best music player on the market but it is getting a very tough time with the current version of Walkman on the Z1 even though I paid for PA - the walkman app has improved considerably especially concerning navigation, Poweramp has more features but I'm finding it hard to get the same sound quality as walkman - it's a toss up right now but the walkman is winning today

Re: Gallery sorting issue

djsat21 — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 10:13:34 GMT

I have the same issue, all my photos are EXIF'd correctly but lots of my photos seems to be ordered incorrectly in the stock Album app provided by Sony. Weird thing is, when looking at the image details on ym Z1 the time and date or always correct but the year is what seems to be incorrect, so despite the EXIF syaing it was created/taken on 03/10/2011 @ 2127, the Z1 claims it was taken 03/10/2013 @ 2127!

Re: Gallery sorting issue

dynax73 — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 10:19:28 GMT

I think that a "separate videos and photos" option will be helpfull.

Also a way to set video dates to fix sorting on new copied files.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

rozhy2k — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 17:50:59 GMT

Thanks for the overview. I've used to listen to my music through PowerAmp, back when I was on Samsung, but Sony's player is good enough, so I use the stock app now. The issue was the gallery on Z1 and on Z1 only. I've moved to QuickPic now, thanks to your advice. I always prefer to use vendor's apps though They usually share the same philosophy and design among each other. Also, it had never actually occured to me, that using a 3rd party gallery app, would as good as, let's say, as player custom application. I don't even know why.

In any case, if Sony would fix their gallery issues, it would be great.

Re: Gallery sorting issue

Balage83 — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 06:03:59 GMT

For me it doesn't seem to this photo issue is related to transfering files. Sometimes I take a picture and go to Albums promtly and cannot see the picture on the first place. I find them somewhere down among older photos...
Doesn't matter if it is my Xperia Z or Z3, issue is the same... It is really annoying that your phone messing up your memories... Any solution?