Sony Cyber Shot 20.1 MP Digital Camera

At this price point, we can't expect miracles. My other camera is a Sony a-6000, but the DSC-W830 was purchased as a simple-to-use camera for my wife--to replace her 2006 model Canon Elph SD600 (6 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, no image stabilization). The image quality and noise levels are definitely much better than the old Elph with this Sony point-and-shoot. But the remaining question is whether my wife should use this camera or her iPhone 6 while on vacation. On paper, the DSC-W830 should be better: its sensor is 50% larger than the iPhone sensor, and it boasts 20 megapixels compared to the iPhone 6's 8 megapixels. And the DSCW830 sports a Zeiss lens. Using the intelligent auto setting, I shot several scenes using the DSC-W830 (lens at widest setting--25 mm focal length equivalent) and the iPhone 6 (29 mm focal length equivalent) and the standard photo app. In the centers of the photos, the DSC-W830 images were clearly sharper reflecting the improved resolution of the sensor. But at the edges of the photos, the iPhone 6 images were much sharper because of the large chromatic aberration for the Sony product. I haven't tried out the P mode on the DSC-W830 in with various settings (exposure compensation, ISO, HDR changes, etc.), and I suspect that by fussing with the Sony camera I could make it perform close to the iPhone 6--in the center of the image with wide angle. The chromatic aberration appears to be a lens issue, and I haven't tested different focal lengths (levels of zoom) to see whether it gets worse or better when focal length is increased. The iPhone 6 probably has less of a problem with this because it uses a prime lens (no zoom). Of course the DSC-W830 has the zoom capability (an advantage), which the iPhone lacks. I tried out the panorama feature on the DSC-W830, and found the resolution of images to be so bad that the panoramas were useless. The iPhone 6 panoramas are excellent--way, way better. The SCN setting on the Sony camera may be useful, but the 4 picture effects are gimmicky in my opinion. The screen menus are simple and easy to navigate. Based on sensor size and number of pixels, I would have thought that the Sony camera might have been better than the iPhone 6, but overall it is equivalent in some circumstances and worse in others. Did Sony use a cheap sensor and other inexpensive electronics? Is their firmware less sophisticated? I was disappointed in the lens performance (chromatic aberration, softness at the edges of the images). I think that the Sony DSC-W830 is suitable for snapshots made by people who may be technically challenged--Aunt Ida or your 12 year-old pre-teen. It is convenient if you are going to an amusement park with the family and just want some fun shots. But if you don't need the zoom, you can probably get comparable to better results with your iPhone 6, particularly if you install the ProCamera 8 app, which makes the iPhone work more like a digital camera. UPDATE Previous shots were done in the evening, when conditions might have been less than optimal. I tested the DSC-W830 in bright sunlight and with different zoom settings. Results were disappointing. The right edge of the image was blurred at 1X, 2X (equiv. to 50 mm), and 4X zoom. I had thought that perhaps a smaller aperture (resulting from the bright sunlight) might help, or that the lens would have a "sweet-spot" at mid-zoom. The blurring would be just detectable with a 4x6 print, but I wouldn't use images from this camera for any greater enlargement of the whole image. You can have an acceptable enlargement if you crop off the edges leaving the center 50% of the image. One of the photos below (about 1/3 of the whole frame) shows the blurring on the right edge. I'm disappointed.