My 1020's Camera is Sub-Par

I'll have to try doing some more shots this weekend so I can do the comparison...I deleted the photos on my dad's phone immediately after I e-mailed them, so I don't have access to that data anymore.

Yeah I would probably do what most other people have said and a) try to take two photos with THE SAME manual settings and then b) revert back to stable 8.0 software and see if it makes a difference.
 
Actually, the EXIF data is available in both embedded images. Your dad's image is taken with a much lower ISO, therefore the image will look cleaner with less noise. The downside is that the image will be darker and appear under-exposed. This is quite apparent when you look at the distant walls where your image is much brighter.

HOWEVER, his image is brighter at the Coke bottle because flash was fired from his camera, while it wasn't on yours. I can't be 100% certain about this, but there is a very bright light reflecting off the Coke bottle in his image which I'm guessing came from the flash. Another clue is that in your picture the label on the other side of the Coke bottle can be seen, while on his image you can only see the white insides.

Having said that, I generally prefer to avoid using flash if possible. Introducing artificial light source can make the image look less realistic. The downside is that higher ISO will be used and the image will be noisier. If you can hold your camera steady, you can use manual setting to force a lower ISO to be used.

Dad's EXIF:
Shutter speed: 1/30
ISO: 100

Your EXIF:
Shutter: 1/26
ISO: 400
 
On my 1020 I often take a closeup,eg in sunlight, place the focus point on eg a leaf of a tree and take the photo. After I zoom in on the photo its obvious that the focus point is not where I placed it. That's kinda frustrating...
 
Actually, the EXIF data is available in both embedded images. Your dad's image is taken with a much lower ISO, therefore the image will look cleaner with less noise. The downside is that the image will be darker and appear under-exposed. This is quite apparent when you look at the distant walls where your image is much brighter.

HOWEVER, his image is brighter at the Coke bottle because flash was fired from his camera, while it wasn't on yours. I can't be 100% certain about this, but there is a very bright light reflecting off the Coke bottle in his image which I'm guessing came from the flash. Another clue is that in your picture the label on the other side of the Coke bottle can be seen, while on his image you can only see the white insides.

Having said that, I generally prefer to avoid using flash if possible. Introducing artificial light source can make the image look less realistic. The downside is that higher ISO will be used and the image will be noisier. If you can hold your camera steady, you can use manual setting to force a lower ISO to be used.

Dad's EXIF:
Shutter speed: 1/30
ISO: 100

Your EXIF:
Shutter: 1/26
ISO: 400

exactly as I thought ;-) thanks for confirming ;-)
 
On my 1020 I often take a closeup,eg in sunlight, place the focus point on eg a leaf of a tree and take the photo. After I zoom in on the photo its obvious that the focus point is not where I placed it. That's kinda frustrating...

make sure you are 15cm from the subject or the 1020 will focus on just behind the subject or around the subject that is 15cm away ;-) I know what you mean though it can be a little annoying when you think you have the bee or something in focus and then boom when you look back the bee isn't in focus meaning when you zoom in its more blurred etc :-/ but when it is in focus ...... wow ;-)
 
make sure you are 15cm from the subject or the 1020 will focus on just behind the subject or around the subject that is 15cm away ;-) I know what you mean though it can be a little annoying when you think you have the bee or something in focus and then boom when you look back the bee isn't in focus meaning when you zoom in its more blurred etc :-/ but when it is in focus ...... wow ;-)

This a million times over is one of the many reasons I long for Nokia to release a plenoptic camera where everything is in focus at all times.