Database Users

Best of Sony... is not really great..

First, I'd like to say that I'm not trying to hate on Sony or bash them, just pointing out that what they call "the best of Sony" isn't exactly great or better than the competition, though I really just want to point out about the display and camera. I moved on from the Note 3 to the Z1 (lost my Note 3, wanted a good phone with a good camera for a low price so I got an Xperia Z1), and here's what I've noticed.
Display:
Well, there's no other way to say it: for a flagship phone, the Z1's display isn't that great. Viewing angles are poor, and viewing it at even small angles puts a whitish hue over it that just doesn't look good. It might be good for privacy, but otherwise it's plain to see that they're using an inferior IPS tech than other manufacturers. The Note 3 or the Nexus 5's displays are clearly much better, and so is the one on the HTC One from early 2013. I've heard that the Z1 Compact finally has a great screen among Sony devices, so that's great, but I feel that many Sony fans are clearly ignorant of how much greener the grass in on the other side when it comes to displays.
Camera
To be honest, this is the biggest disappointment I've had with the Z1. I don't know if Sony was focusing purely on lossless zoom when adding the 20MP camera, but when it comes to resolved detail and visible noise, the Note 3's camera was better despite no fancy tech and standard sensor. Sure, it has a 13MP camera while the Z1 takes photos at 8MP after downsampling, but in general its photos are clearer and more detailed. I've tried taking 20MP pics, and they just do not come out as great as one would expect (if they focused on lossless zoom, even that hasn't worked out well in general outdoor photos), and Sony has basically squandered a nice opportunity.
But on the flip side, I love some things about the camera. It's fast to open (mainly thanks to the camera button), it's smooth, and is quick to change modes, which helped a lot on my weekend trip with my family.) I don't like that HDR isn't a dedicated mode and is simply a switch when you select 8MP photos in Manual, but other than that, it's pretty good overall. In fact, the quickness and the shutter button are what make me ignore the fact that in quality I've come down to a noticeably not-so-great-at-capturing-detail camera (the Note 3 took ages to select modes, open the camera app, and open pictures.)
That's something that's true in Sony's software overall: it's beautiful, sleek, and quick and responsive. I do miss some features from the Note 3 (Multi-Window, Smart Stay (extremely useful when you can't be bothered touching the screen to keep it awake), some camera modes, and the better multitasking (my Z1 is abysmal at holding apps in memory, and not because it's just 2GB of RAM.) It feels good to use, and that's a pretty good thing.
But again, the screen and camera have let me down considerably. Again, on the flip side, I love the phone's build (though it's a bit too bulky, but then it is waterproof), and things like the lanyard slot and camera button (conveniences manufacturers have forgotten in their quest to copy and follow Apple since the first iPhone arrived on the market).
So in the end it's clear that "the best of Sony" just isn't the right thing to say when your tech is behind the competition in some things and just isn't as great as owners of flagship devices of the competition have become used to. The pricing is great, though, but I kinda don't think I'd want to save a few bucks next time I want a phone, not unless Sony focuses on making the hardware more complete regarding awesomeness.
Sorry for the rant, and again, I wasn't bashing, overall I like my Z1, just don't love it (yet)!
P.S.: My Galaxy Gear is also now sitting idle, but I guess we can blame Samsung for making its watch incompatible with other devices. It's a useful watch, but not in use anymore. There is a hack to make it work with others, I tried it with the Z1, but most stuff just doesn't work. So I guess I'll buy Sony's smartwatch next. :silly:
P.P.S.: I hope KitKat comes soon. I like that Sony takes time to test its software, but with Samsung and HTC moving pretty quick with KitKat despite having heavy skins, and Samsung has even managed to not introduce any quirky bugs (they disabled third-party accessories, but an update over the weekend reversed that), I really want KitKat to come quick. I want wireless printing support (Samsung had this even before KitKat, one of the few reasons I appreciate Samsung's bloat sometimes, it has some useful features), and it might also solve the issue of lack of RAM on the Z1, even if only a little bit.

This is what you do on Sunday afternoon? We know Z1 is not best like expected.

eclyptos said:
This is what you do on Sunday afternoon? We know Z1 is not best like expected.
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It's Sunday night where I am, and I had to get my thoughts out there after using the Z1's camera extensively the last two days (I bought the phone on Thursday.)

addicted2088 said:
It's Sunday night where I am, and I had to get my thoughts out there after using the Z1's camera extensively the last two days (I bought the phone on Thursday.)
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Saturday Night? You should be in some club! ..ahah...just kidding...I know...I am really disappointed by the camera too....what I can surely said is that the problem of the camera quality is related to the Software, but I don't know if we will get better pictures. Many telling me that the Z1 make amazing pictures but mine is not fake and I still not get clear pictures like it should be. Full of Noise, and with Unlocked Bootloader get even worse.

I understand what you're saying, and you have valid points, but these type of complaints come up with every phone out there.
The HTC One has exactly the same Camera complaint that you do. The UltraPixel was a big disappointment for some. The thing about the Z1's camera is that it CAN be improved. The camera is actually extremely good if you use it in manual, and the pictures that come out are the best I've seen on an Android phone. Superior Auto is a bit of a mess though. That's a software problem, not hardware, so we hope kitKat can fix that.
The display is a valid complaint, but I feel head on it's better than the Note 3. The Z1 has one of the most color accurate screens out there, which I prefer over AMOLED oversaturation. The viewing angles personally for me isn't a problem but yes, it is a negative about this phone.
So in the end it's clear that "the best of Sony" just isn't the right thing to say when your tech is behind the competition in some things and just isn't as great as owners of flagship devices of the competition have become used to
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Well, the Z1 IS the best of Sony...not sure what you're trying to say. I still feel like the Z1 is one of the best phones out there. Although lacking in some parts, the overall package is hard to beat: Snapdragon 800 processor, great battery life, great camera (Yes the camera is still very very good, just not as good as advertised), and best of all premium feeling. There is really no other phone that has all that together in one package right now. The Note 3 is better in some respects but for me feels cheap, and that is a HUGE con for me that overshadows anything else. The Nexus 5 has meh battery life and camera. The HTC One has a meh camera and lower end specs. The Galaxy S4 is no longer talked about when discussing high-end phones.
The point is there's no 'perfect' phone, and I concede that the Z1 does have weaknesses, but so does every other electronic device out there

addicted2088 said:
First, I'd like to say that I'm not trying to hate on Sony or bash them, just pointing out that what they call "the best of Sony" isn't exactly great or better than the competition
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Uh huh.
My advice to you, since it appears you wrote this to practice the writing career you're hoping to have, is to consider other career options. You're not good at this.

learn to make the picture and you will find Z1 camera is great. all the comparatives with Note 3 and the other smartphones take Z1 on the top of Android world
display is very good. poor viewing angle are not a gap, but I can assume it is subjective.
when I watch photos and videos on Z1 display they are much nicer than on other displays.

kantk20111 said:
I understand what you're saying, and you have valid points, but these type of complaints come up with every phone out there.
The HTC One has exactly the same Camera complaint that you do. The UltraPixel was a big disappointment for some. The thing about the Z1's camera is that it CAN be improved. The camera is actually extremely good if you use it in manual, and the pictures that come out are the best I've seen on an Android phone. Superior Auto is a bit of a mess though. That's a software problem, not hardware, so we hope kitKat can fix that.
The display is a valid complaint, but I feel head on it's better than the Note 3. The Z1 has one of the most color accurate screens out there, which I prefer over AMOLED oversaturation. The viewing angles personally for me isn't a problem but yes, it is a negative about this phone.
Well, the Z1 IS the best of Sony...not sure what you're trying to say. I still feel like the Z1 is one of the best phones out there. Although lacking in some parts, the overall package is hard to beat: Snapdragon 800 processor, great battery life, great camera (Yes the camera is still very very good, just not as good as advertised), and best of all premium feeling. There is really no other phone that has all that together in one package right now. The Note 3 is better in some respects but for me feels cheap, and that is a HUGE con for me that overshadows anything else. The Nexus 5 has meh battery life and camera. The HTC One has a meh camera and lower end specs. The Galaxy S4 is no longer talked about when discussing high-end phones.
The point is there's no 'perfect' phone, and I concede that the Z1 does have weaknesses, but so does every other electronic device out there
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Not so sure about that ...
HTC has the best software updates ATM and fastest after Google.
It has the best low light camera + best smart flash with the 5 modes
Average daylight shots
best front cam with wide angle
The best mics hdr mics
The best speakers
The best headphones sound
It's the most quality phone
It has the best screen in overall
It has unmatched feel in the hand
Ir blaster
Ois
60 fps video + zoe + really working hdr video
BlinkFeed which is still unmatched with copies
Decent battery life
Great xda development
Most of these things aren't yet matched by the competition which is shame imo since htc one is 1 year old and it's still considered the best overall package phone even in 2014 and I doubt anything but HTC one 2 will surpass it which is only a month or two away.

A lot on that list are gimmicks and a few items there are disputable. If HTC were as ahead of everyone as you make them appear to be, then that's extremely incongruent to the terrible shape the company is in.

Another "OMG Sony why did you do this to me" thread.
Sony rules!!

Shan89 said:
Not so sure about that ...
HTC has the best software updates ATM and fastest after Google.
It has the best low light camera + best smart flash with the 5 modes
Average daylight shots
best front cam with wide angle
The best mics hdr mics
The best speakers
The best headphones sound
It's the most quality phone
It has the best screen in overall
It has unmatched feel in the hand
Ir blaster
Ois
60 fps video + zoe + really working hdr video
BlinkFeed which is still unmatched with copies
Decent battery life
Great xda development
Most of these things aren't yet matched by the competition which is shame imo since htc one is 1 year old and it's still considered the best overall package phone even in 2014 and I doubt anything but HTC one 2 will surpass it which is only a month or two away.
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I don't want to get in a fight about whose phone is better, but everyone's got different preferences in a phone. A lot of the points you mentioned are opinions, and really can't be said in a comparison.
The most 'quality' phone and 'ummatched feel' is extremely subjective.
The Z1 is no less in quality than the HTC One and has as premium materials.
The Moto X and Z1 compact both have better feel, just because they're smaller.
Z1's battery life has been much better for me than HTC One in my experience.
Headphone sound is exactly the same for me. Beats is a gimmick and just a equalizer preset which I can also set on my Z1.
I will admit the HTC One's speakers is miles ahead of the Z1's and the display is better.
Camera as well is a lot better in the Z1 in daylight, but I remember you're the guy who wrote that HTC One vs Z1 camera test and I don't want to get in a fight again about that, so I won't go there. HTC One's better in low light, but the Z1 isn't that bad either.
The Z1's camera has a ton more features as well that are pretty cool to play around with. Gimmicks? Sure, but they're still fun. Also the Z1's viewfinder is much smoother.
All front facing cameras suck equally and don't believe there's a 'best' front facing camera.
edit: Oh, also concerning updates: This is the first time HTC have actually done well with updates. We'll see a year from now how they treat HTC One users. One X and One X+ users are stuck with official 4.2 while the Xperia T, which came out around the same time+, just got updated to 4.3. Sony might be slower at giving updates but they support their phones longer.
See, I just refuted half of your points. Of course you will disagree with me, but that's what's great about Android: everyone has different preferences and different opinions on what's the best. The HTC One is a fantastic phone and is my number 2 after the Z1, but it's still not the best for me. Nothing wrong with that.

omnius1 said:
A lot on that list are gimmicks and a few items there are disputable. If HTC were as ahead of everyone as you make them appear to be, then that's extremely incongruent to the terrible shape the company is in.
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What exactly is gimmic ?
Ir blaster is very useful
Ois is very helpful in low light / movement or any other type of using the camera / 60 fps video is smooth as camera app on z1 and looks like you're looking thru the glass when watching an video / hdr video is awesome as well at low light , so is the zoe especially if you wanna take out some snaps after which are full sized , I forgot slow motion video as well which is fun tho.
Smart flash is very useful indeed and can take photos from 5cm in pitch black up to 10 meters , with the walls it can go even further
Stereo frontal speakers ...how is this a gimmic lol , anything you do on a phone sounds crazy good + loud + it hits you in the face.
Full metal body is always a good thing , it screams premium ...
Feel in the hand indeed is unmatched due metal + device shape
hdr mics pick up the sound you wouldn't believe that the phone is doing it.
I've forgot also talking via phone is unmatched as well , you get stereo sound + you can talk in super loud environment perfectly fine.
Headphones sound wouldn't be a gimmic as well lol ... Ppl just use that ...on daily bases ..
Software updates is definitely not an gimmic we all want fast and working updates ASAP ,which is not the case with the Sony , it's far from it.
Xda development for me personally is very important since I love to flash + the fact HTC one has about 9/10 times more development it's a must have for me.
The only gimmicky thing would be if you don't like the the BlinkFeed that'd be all which can be turned off.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

We have to open a thread " @@Shan89 VS @kantk20111 " ..hahah..
Ladies and Gentlemen may I present, Shan89 from HTC Section VS kantk20111 from Sony section, Round 2.
FIGHT!
:laugh:

lol
I had Xperia z1 , camera sucked , phone was too hot and screen is utter **** , so I changed to HTC one for the same stuff you wrote here!

Honestly I am huge fan of HTC but actually I do not brought HTC One, which was cheaper, just because there is no micro SD Slot, and when Apps to SD will be available on Z1, or even Apk on internal and Data on SD on Custom Roms, I will not have regrets to have Z1.

eclyptos said:
We have to open a thread " @@Shan89 VS @kantk20111 " ..hahah..
Ladies and Gentlemen may I present, Shan89 from HTC Section VS kantk20111 from Sony section, Round 2.
FIGHT!
:laugh:
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Nah mate it ain't fight Lol. I was just pointing that there are devices which are quite more complete. Of course I can't think of anything else besides z1 that comes equal to m7 pretty much all devices lack design and quality which both z1 and htc have.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

eclyptos said:
We have to open a thread " [MENTION=3721363 [user=4914682]@Shan89[/user][/MENTION] VS @kantk20111 " ..hahah..
Ladies and Gentlemen may I present, Shan89 from HTC Section VS kantk20111 from Sony section, Round 2.
FIGHT!
:laugh:
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Click to collapse
No more fighting lol, just 2 guys who really love their phones alot . For me the HTC One and Z1 will always be the top of Android, with Samsung, LG and the rest way below. Sony and HTC have style along with awesome hardware.
edit: @Shan89 beat me to it

Came from the GSIII and this phone blows it out of the water, so I'm happy.
Sent from my C6916 using xda app-developers app

I came from htc one to z1 for reasons like low battery camera quality purple tint issue and worst of all its easily breakable body which produced dents on a simple fall
Sent from my C6902 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Shan89 said:
HTC has the best software updates "ATM" and fastest after Google.
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Coming from a T-Mobile HTC One S and being left hangin' with no further updates from 4.1 Jellbean...I jumped off their bandwagon and upgraded to the Sony Xperia Z1S.
I'm glad that HTC is finally wiling to support their top tier products, but a bit too late for me...HTC lost in my book.
The clear winner (for me) is Sony! :good:

Wired magazine review of the Z3

Please take a look at this review from Brent Rose from Wired and voice your opinion in the comments section of the article. I have never seen such a slanted/poor review and think he should be called out on it.
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/sony-xperia-z3/

what an unusual review

The speaker/camera comparison was somewhat accurate though it seems a little exaggerated, but the rest of the review was crap. The Z3 UI is better than stock where you can't even custom arrange the app drawer. My Z3 is rock stable, I even went through 3 of them for cosmetic defects (on my 4th now) and none ever crashed. If you look at the comment section you can see most of them pointing out that the review was bad.

Wow that review is so ridiculously invalid

That was such a horrible review. There are some cons to the phone, but over-exaggerating them at the level is so unprofessional.

This is very similar to my Z3C experience and in that regard all bias off I believe everything he wrote was correct...This is the reason Z3c went back and I was reluctant to even try Z3 since the internals are the same with bigger screen which would result in even worst battery than z3c
-Goran

The review wasn't that bad. I pretty much agree with everything said, except for the stability issues. Not once did I have to reboot the phone due to apps crashing.
Don't get me wrong, I like this phone a lot. There is not a single phone out right now that I'd choose over the Z3.

Love the phone but the first thing I did was switch to nova because of the rubbage skin.
Also the camera post processing on auto is garbage too.

mfpreach said:
Love the phone but the first thing I did was switch to nova because of the rubbage skin.
Also the camera post processing on auto is garbage too.
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Similarly, I've disabled many of Sony's stock apps, threw Nova on as the launcher, and have been plenty happy. I haven't had a single app crash, and I've gotten between 1d 16h and 2d 6h of battery. Sony says up to 2 days, so yeah, I'm good.
Besides, I can't remember the last time I trusted "Wired" for a review. Maybe they purposely did a negative review just to get a reaction for page views and ad impressions.

Absolutely agree with this review (except for the good points regarding the camera), its very accurate and the conclusion is spot on. Out of the box it is terrible, and not for Joe Public.
If it wasnt for the ps4 features, looks, waterproofing and memory card slot and me wanting to get away from Apple I would have something else. It could be much better. I've replaced or uninstalled all the pointlessly "Sony-ed" pre-installed apps, the Sony version of the calendar would constantly crash to desktop, the camera apps are horrible, the camera app is slow, clunky and terrible to navigate and all of it, really cheapens this phone. Coming from iPhone this was a very poor show.
Thankfully, after several hours of customising nova launcher, adding a new lock screen and notification handler its improved. Still lacking in many areas.
Still, I prefer this freedom over iOS so I can't complain too much! Well... apart from....
Excuse the rant here but this is the biggest issue I have with the Z3 (maybe android in general). There is one very glowing thing that the Z3/android still haven't really "got it down" on. The camera, I've noticed this on a few phones (S4, LG G2, HTC One M8, Z3, Nexus 5) too.
I'm an amatuer photographer in my spare time and without any bias I very quickly noticed that despite the extra megapixels, manual options in the software, upgraded lens etc etc the camera lags (lag the keyword) very much behind in the camera stakes to apple! The speed of opening the camera and taking a photo, the colours, the jpg processing profile, the autofocus speed and accuracy are all way way better even on an aging iPhone 4S in my mind. Its a phone, not an dslr, its designed to be there to take a "good" photo fast and I've not seen an android phone do this well. Especially in low light.
I was talking to an HTC One M8 owner who absolutely refuted this, so I asked a simple challenge, pull your phone out on 3 and take a photo of your bar snacks as quick as you can, he agrees... 3-2-1 bam, my old, slow iphone 4s (which I'm using while my broken z3 is awaiting repair) is out of my pocket at the same time but I'm done while his is trying to take focus (its as slow as my Sony as I tested this too) but not only that, his doesn't look great focus wise, colour wise etc, the iphone has sharp focus on the subject and a smooth defocused background, nice depth of field and really good colours, processing looks "interesting".
This is my general experience with a non iphone camera, in particular the Z3 and frankly the ONLY thing I miss :crying:

Lol I've been using the z3 for 3 days ago and I haven't had a single problem. Yes apps do crash but not the pre-installed apps.
Battery last me more than a day on heavy use. I still have about 32% after two days on normal use.
Camera has no washed out pictures like in the review.
The review is a load of bull.
Sent from my D6616 using XDA Free mobile app

batousan said:
Absolutely agree with this review (except for the good points regarding the camera), its very accurate and the conclusion is spot on. Out of the box it is terrible, and not for Joe Public.
If it wasnt for the ps4 features, looks, waterproofing and memory card slot and me wanting to get away from Apple I would have something else. It could be much better. I've replaced or uninstalled all the pointlessly "Sony-ed" pre-installed apps, the Sony version of the calendar would constantly crash to desktop, the camera apps are horrible, the camera app is slow, clunky and terrible to navigate and all of it, really cheapens this phone. Coming from iPhone this was a very poor show.
Thankfully, after several hours of customising nova launcher, adding a new lock screen and notification handler its improved. Still lacking in many areas.
Still, I prefer this freedom over iOS so I can't complain too much! Well... apart from....
Excuse the rant here but this is the biggest issue I have with the Z3 (maybe android in general). There is one very glowing thing that the Z3/android still haven't really "got it down" on. The camera, I've noticed this on a few phones (S4, LG G2, HTC One M8, Z3, Nexus 5) too.
I'm an amatuer photographer in my spare time and without any bias I very quickly noticed that despite the extra megapixels, manual options in the software, upgraded lens etc etc the camera lags (lag the keyword) very much behind in the camera stakes to apple! The speed of opening the camera and taking a photo, the colours, the jpg processing profile, the autofocus speed and accuracy are all way way better even on an aging iPhone 4S in my mind. Its a phone, not an dslr, its designed to be there to take a "good" photo fast and I've not seen an android phone do this well. Especially in low light.
I was talking to an HTC One M8 owner who absolutely refuted this, so I asked a simple challenge, pull your phone out on 3 and take a photo of your bar snacks as quick as you can, he agrees... 3-2-1 bam, my old, slow iphone 4s (which I'm using while my broken z3 is awaiting repair) is out of my pocket at the same time but I'm done while his is trying to take focus (its as slow as my Sony as I tested this too) but not only that, his doesn't look great focus wise, colour wise etc, the iphone has sharp focus on the subject and a smooth defocused background, nice depth of field and really good colours, processing looks "interesting".
This is my general experience with a non iphone camera, in particular the Z3 and frankly the ONLY thing I miss :crying:
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I have the HTC M8 right now and the pictures are realy bad. It's a hardware issue with the lens. Sounds from all the reviews that the Xperia camera is decent, but not great. Would you agree?

dspcap said:
I have the HTC M8 right now and the pictures are realy bad. It's a hardware issue with the lens. Sounds from all the reviews that the Xperia camera is decent, but not great. Would you agree?
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In my opinion m8 has one of the fastest cameras in the market. Definitely faster than old iPhone 4.
Z3 biggest problem is how slow the camera is.

CandyAndy said:
In my opinion m8 has one of the fastest cameras in the market. Definitely faster than old iPhone 4.
Z3 biggest problem is how slow the camera is.
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wth are you talking about? slow? with my Z3 I can take a picture from sleep, in less than 2 sec. .

rspy said:
wth are you talking about? slow? with my Z3 I can take a picture from sleep, in less than 2 sec. .
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Click to collapse
So take a picture while you are moving and let's see how it looks.
It doesn't look good. M8 has faster camera and you can snap away while walking

I went through the review, and i am with him for most of the flaws except the STABILITY issues.
I had the Z3 for 15 days, and then i had to sell it off and back to Samsung S5 as it was not rootable.
The Camera definately is not as good, and even the phone body - especially the back glass, was too slippery for me, and i did drop it a few times, and its also a mega fingerprint magnet. I say the plastic back of S5 is way more superior.
Even the front speakers were just OK, yea, they were loud, and front facing, but thats it. the clarity isn't there and sounded very "tinny".
Otherwise, the performance, speed, os, battery were all brilliant!
I am now on the S5, and just a general comparision against the Z3, i like the size and finish of the S5 more better than the Z3. The S5 back (Especially the Black one) has a leather/slightly rubbery feel to it, which enhances the grip. The Camera in the S5 is excellent, capturing superb pictures! battery life is very good, though Z3 has better life. Performance wise, though the S5 has 2gb ram, never felt it under stress. Maybe it would be if i am playing some really heavy games, but as such never had a problem in regular usage.

CandyAndy said:
In my opinion m8 has one of the fastest cameras in the market. Definitely faster than old iPhone 4.
Z3 biggest problem is how slow the camera is.
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The issue here is the comparison is an iPhone 4 which was released in June 2010, there should be no excuse for any delay in camera boot 4 years on with much more powerful hardware.

batousan said:
The issue here is the comparison is an iPhone 4 which was released in June 2010, there should be no excuse for any delay in camera boot 4 years on with much more powerful hardware.
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Well I have allergy for Apple products so I cannot comment [emoji2]

CandyAndy said:
Well I have allergy for Apple products so I cannot comment [emoji2]
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That doesn't mean you should bury your head in the sand on something so fundamental, surely thats just as bad than blindly buying apple products year on year? :laugh:

batousan said:
That doesn't mean you should bury your head in the sand on something so fundamental, surely thats just as bad than buying blindly buying apple products year on year? [emoji23]
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Well I never compared z3 to iPhone.
In fact I am right now on my way to buy my second z3 since I can't stand this current note 4, buy which I originally made because z3 camera wasn't good enough. But now I realize that I can live with a bit worse camera if everything else is so fantastic.
I am shocked how quickly the battery drains with the note, and it is supposed to have quite a good battery also

Moving from Sony Xperia Z2/Z3 to Galaxy S6 - your feedback

Hi Boys and Girls!
It's been a while since I last posted on XDA, maybe since I have been very content of my Z2 which was ticking almost all of my requirements. This phone is ALMOST all I need - legendary battery life, good camera, waterproofness, stereo speakers and so much more.
I want to upgrade and S6 is one of the options - others being considered are Galaxy S6 Active, Xperia Z4 later this year.
I would like to hear opinions from those of you who made the switch and it would be great if you gave some comparison on the following:
- Camera quality,
- Screen quality (sun legibility),
- Speaker LOUDNESS,
- Battery life.
My biggest worry is battery life. I know that Z2 has almost 25% more battery capacity, but Samsung has more energy efficient elements so really curious how this looks from your personal experience.
Any feedback from you and examples (your usage Z2 vs usage on S6) would be really appreciated!
Do you regret and if yes/no - why?

Already have forum.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3043183
Moved to S6 from which device & why
Read forum rules and do use search..
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app

That topic is garbage, not only opinions but much off topic.
I am targeting this to more specific user group so no, don't think I have violated any rules and I have done search...

valdigre said:
That topic is garbage, not only opinions but much off topic.
I am targeting this to more specific user group so no, don't think I have violated any rules and I have done search...
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Click to collapse
I agree.
I had a Z2 then went to a Z3 C and then to a OPO and then to a SGS 6.
I much prefer the SGS 6 over any of the other devices.
For the sake of this topic I will compare it directly to the Z3C.
- Camera quality
SGS 6 hands down kicks the arse off of the Z3 C.. I believe the sensor on the Z3 is capable of competing with the SGS 6 but the processing done on the SGS 6 is unbelievably gorgeous, plus the 1.9 aperture really REALLY helps it out a lot. Oh and the pink spot issue was ridiculously bad as well.
Best camera in a mobile device. Simply as that.
- Screen quality (sun legibility)
Never had any dramas with the Z3 C in this regard, but the SGS 6 is marvellous in sunlight.. The Super AMOLED screen simply cannot be beaten in any way shape or form.
- Speaker LOUDNESS
Plenty loud enough, when I first got it and copied some music across I started listening to it (couple slider notches from maximum) and it was heaps loud enough while sitting at my desk. My ringtone volume and message tone sits at 3 notches from maximum and I can easily hear it across the house. Even while using my electric shaver! Plus the sound quality is spectacular.. By far the best I have ever heard on a mobile. HTC can bite it.
- Battery life.
The only point of the SGS 6 that isn't spectacular.
Medium usage it will last a full day easily enough, in fact I'd say the only time you'd have trouble with the battery not lasting a full day is if you were heavily gaming all day.
It really is not bad at all. It will easily get you a full day and two days light usage and Coming from an OPO that is a pretty strong opinion.
To be honest, I've owned an arse load of devices and have used/tested so many I can't even remember half of them and this device blows them all out of the water, it has every good quality you could possibly want from a device. The lack of removable storage I don't care about (OTG EXISTS PEOPLE!! AND ITS FASTER AND CHEAPER THAN MICROSD!!!) the lack of battery I don't care about, it's plenty enough for me. Buy a portable battery pack if you're paranoid or need to be out of electric power point range for a week.
I went off Samsung because I didn't like the whole plastic casing design choice, and I am glad to say I am back on the bandwagon with this beautiful device
By the way.. The Xperia devices are significantly let down by the lack of hardware buttons. Really pisses me off having such a nice large screen and having a chunk of that taken away with terrible soft keys.

I currently have a Z2, and I am almost certainly going to jump to the S6. Probably solely for the camera. The Z2 never really seemed to fulfill it's potential camera-wise. It takes aaaaaages for the thing to focus - a toddler will only sit still for so long!. The video is also a bit disappointing on it - it's a bit too mushy (not sharp enough) even in good light. The software stabillisation really helps eliminate handshake for videos, but again, it adds to the mushyness of the image.
Although, really well made, it's also a bit too blocky. I think the S6 looks about the right size and shape.
I will miss the battery though, which is fantastic - I still can't believe sometimes how much juice is left at the end of the day.

le_lutin said:
I currently have a Z2, and I am almost certainly going to jump to the S6. Probably solely for the camera. The Z2 never really seemed to fulfill it's potential camera-wise. It takes aaaaaages for the thing to focus - a toddler will only sit still for so long!. The video is also a bit disappointing on it - it's a bit too mushy (not sharp enough) even in good light. The software stabillisation really helps eliminate handshake for videos, but again, it adds to the mushyness of the image.
Although, really well made, it's also a bit too blocky. I think the S6 looks about the right size and shape.
I will miss the battery though, which is fantastic - I still can't believe sometimes how much juice is left at the end of the day.
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Haha yeah the blockiness was absurd! Forgot about that!
It was like carrying a thin brick in your pocket.

Now this is what I am talking about!
Thanks people and keep it comming!
Batter life worries me. If you get a full day of medium usage and end up with <10% battery life then in the long term, this will not be good for the battery... This stops me from going for it... Still thinking

Stevles said:
Haha yeah the blockiness was absurd! Forgot about that!
It was like carrying a thin brick in your pocket.
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Stevles,
Do you have any feel for how it captures images of people in less than ideal light? I'm thinking specifically about taking photos of my kids indoors.
I remember I had a G2 a while back and it was TERRIBLE at this. Because it had OIS, the camera would always keep the shutter open way too long to let more light in. The downside of this is of course that any movement resulted in a blurry mess. Z2 is better at this, but still not very good.

le_lutin said:
Stevles,
Do you have any feel for how it captures images of people in less than ideal light? I'm thinking specifically about taking photos of my kids indoors.
I remember I had a G2 a while back and it was TERRIBLE at this. Because it had OIS, the camera would always keep the shutter open way too long to let more light in. The downside of this is of course that any movement resulted in a blurry mess. Z2 is better at this, but still not very good.
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Click to collapse
Yeah the shutter speed goes to around 1/10 in low-light. Highly recommended to switch to "pro" and manually adjust the shutter speed to around 1/30 - 1/50 while keeping the rest of the "pro" settings on auto to account for it automatically. It will result in slightly noisier pictures but at least they won't be fully blurry like auto mode provides in fast-pace low-light situations.
Ultimately, best bet would be to either a) use flash b) pro mode with manual shutter speed c) Sony A7S (current low-light king MILC costing around $2600AUD)
With the SGS6 it will let you either use tracking focus OR Optical image stabilization, not both at the same time. Although I'm pretty sure that only effects the video taking, not 100% sure.
I'm sure you'll work something out

I think anyone coming from a z3c will be massively spoiled by its battery life. Its a freak. My s6 battery is average tbh but it's super fast and the camera is awesome. Sammy cam and picture software is really on point here

Stevles said:
Yeah the shutter speed goes to around 1/10 in low-light. Highly recommended to switch to "pro" and manually adjust the shutter speed to around 1/30 - 1/50 while keeping the rest of the "pro" settings on auto to account for it automatically. It will result in slightly noisier pictures but at least they won't be fully blurry like auto mode provides in fast-pace low-light situations.
Ultimately, best bet would be to either a) use flash b) pro mode with manual shutter speed c) Sony A7S (current low-light king MILC costing around $2600AUD)
With the SGS6 it will let you either use tracking focus OR Optical image stabilization, not both at the same time. Although I'm pretty sure that only effects the video taking, not 100% sure.
I'm sure you'll work something out
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Click to collapse
The s6 has two types of stabilisation: OIS which is mechanical and you can't turn off. This used for photo and video. The second is EIS (electronic image stabilisation) which is software stabilisation and can be turned off. This is only for video. Both can be used together for video. EIS is type is the one that can't be used with tracking focus, but the camera is still using OIS (as it isn't something you can switch off).
Apologies if you knew all this already.

le_lutin said:
The s6 has two types of stabilisation: OIS which is mechanical and you can't turn off. This used for photo and video. The second is EIS (electronic image stabilisation) which is software stabilisation and can be turned off. This is only for video. Both can be used together for video. EIS is type is the one that can't be used with tracking focus, but the camera is still using OIS (as it isn't something you can switch off).
Apologies if you knew all this already.
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Click to collapse
Ah that makes sense, thanks. Knew there was something a bit "this sounds wrong" about my post lol

I owned z3 since its release although sold it two moth ago and got s6 last week. I can say this, s6 is vastly superior in every aspect except the battery life. You can really tweak z3 setting and that battery would last two days easy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I mostly agree with everything that was already said. Battery life is far from equivalent to the z3c. Also I should mention size and one hand usability in favor of the Sony. Also another missed function that Samsung just doesnt want to implement is Tap to unlock the screen. I dont really use the photos on the laptop screen, so from a small screen point of view I sometimes liked the photos of the z3c more that those of the S6. Colors combinations and the final result was more eye pleasant for me on the z3c (many times). Sure S6 has a great overall camera.
Lack of microsd is annoying, but I solved it with OTG.

I still have both because I cracked the screen on the Z3 and I won't sell it until I get it repaired. But my opinion pretty much reflects what everyone else said.
The S6 does pretty much everything better except for battery life.
I love the fingerprint scanner. Way easier than having to use lock pattern or password.
I tested the speaker with the same youtube video and the S6 was actually louder. But the Z3 sounds better when you're watching something that pans from left or right.

Interesting, z3 louder than S6?
My z2 seems very quiet in comparison to other phones. My gf's 2013 motto g seems louder on 50 percent than z2 on 90 percent... No comparison with z3, maybe they actually made it louder.
I am also really tempted to wait on z4 but I have this bad feeling that nothing will change in terms of camera software and screen... Also worried about overheating snapdragon.
I guess z4 will not beat s6 in those regards and as you said, s6 is better in everything but battery...
If I only knew when S6 active is released and will it have better battery and same screen and camera...

Was just going through some videos I took recently with my Z2 and remembered another issue: the autofocus during video capture is diabolical. It's either out of focus or constantly going in and out of focus. It really affects the watchability of the recorded videos.

le_lutin said:
Was just going through some videos I took recently with my Z2 and remembered another issue: the autofocus during video capture is diabolical. It's either out of focus or constantly going in and out of focus. It really affects the watchability of the recorded videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. I noticed this as well, especially in worse lighting.

I've only owned my S6 for about 8 hours, but compared to my Z3,it blows it out the water. The only thing I preferred on the Z3 is the mostly stock Android UI, and the battery life. The camera on the s6 is crazy good. When you take a picture of say a cat or a dog, the amount of detail it picks up is amazing. My Z3 took some really nice pictures when the lighting was nice and sunny, but it was very inconsistent. The S6 is better in every condition by far. .
Display wise, the Z3 has a very bluish white balance, while the S6 is warmer. I haven't directly compared brightness yet but they both get bright enough in direct sunlight. The S6 kills it when it comes to resolution, and also them gorgeous deep blacks. The S6 display is easily the best display on any smartphone that I've ever seen. But that's not to say the Z3 has a bad display, it just isn't as good when directly compared.
Build quality, I would say they're both really nice, and I'm hesitant to give the win to either of them.
Ergonomics go to the S6. It's a smaller size, and just feels better in the hand as opposed to the square shape of the Z3. They're both quite slippery though.
Performance goes to the S6,but not by much. My Z3 was no slouch, and never lagged, but the S6 does seem faster by a little, and the animations are smoother more often.
Overall I would say the S6 is definitely the better phone. But if battery life is very important to you, and you really do prefer stock android to Touchwiz, then the Z3 is the better option. Honestly though, they're both awesome phones, and the only massive difference is the camera, and the S6 is noticeably better.

I came from an Xperia Z2 and the camera on this S6 is 1000x better. The focusing is fast and the pictures are sharp even in low light. The slow focusing speed on my Z2 drove me insane...

How's Your Xperia Z doing?

After my Z ultra screen cracked,the people at service centre are giving me a new Xperia Z as replacement with 1 yr warranty(FREE? ofcourse NOT,i paid 7500 INR for it)..so my question is how is the 2013 flagship phone performing now?
Is it good for daily use(browsing,facebook,whatsapp,small-medium gaming)??
And mainly how's the camera??
As I'm a former z Ultra user, i've become used to with the lag free usage,Will it be the same for Xperia Z?
The camera in z ultra was really very very bad,so i think Z will have a better camera...

Speed, performance on games/apps: 8/10
Tried most of new games and heavy apps... Sometimes its lag, but mostly because I have other apps working on the background
It have problem with heating, and battery is like waterfall when you use it heavy, but for daily use and gaming... I have no idea why people want more powerful hardware if this one in XZ is actually still top of the line...
Of course benchmark people gonna start complaining but real life is not benchmark :] So if someone want to fight for 200 more points in Antu... antutu... that crappy app for people that like numbers... feel free to fight for dead in the name of holy "top10" xD
Camera quality: 3/10
It was always crap, still no matter in what condition m taking pic, my old Xperia Arc S is still taking better pics, other phones also take better but its nice comparison to old=new.
To be honest XZ with android 5.0 taking the same pics as old Xperia Neo V(sometimes even worst)
I can make comparison with arc s and neo V, but I dont see the point, if someone think that XZ have good camera... its probably never used other phones.
Its also not that fast, average it take 3-5sec to open it from lockscreen, and alos 3-4 from homescreen.
Autofocus is not that great in low light conditions, and Automatic mode is good only if you want to snap pic of your coffee or Lunch and post it on Instagram
And to be more funny, like most of new phones, when you try to play with functions(colors mods etc) its stop after few minutes with really nice window: "phone need to cool down", hilarious that instead of fixing it, they spend time to make this window...
Also HDR and stabilization option is worst I'v seen, object that move faster than snail have annoying ghosting effect and colors and shadows are like after nuclear attack when you use HDR.
Screen: 9/10
Still its one of better I used, even compared to new models. And viewing angles? Dont care...
Battery: 3/10
Almost one and half year I have my XZ, still the same battery. Battery on LP is crappy as F. Some fanboys say that its ok... but to be honest I think this people spend most of their time in home or use their phones once per few hours. When you use your phone to work and media, AS MOST OF PHONES ARE ADVERTISING... its dead after 5-6h of usage.
Build quality: 4/10
Mostly because of crappy cover flaps, they are dead after 2-3 months. Also that mat painting on housing can peal off after few months on corners
Is also good to mention that XZ have back panel problems... I actually changed back cover three times, I found out that its mostly because of heat and crappy glue method...
So even if I love my Xperia Z, its really average device with really annoying "small" problems and today with the same price you can buy better phones, few days ago I found in one of market in Spain Xperia Z1 compact that cost less than XZ... :]

I'd have to disagree with you on almost all of the things you just said
Speed - 6.5/10 The device actually does stutter because of the old and "slow"(by today's standards) CPU. But most of all, bad coding and bad software is pissing me off, for example recent apps with smallapps usually takes about 2-5 seconds just to show after pressing the button. I'd say speed is OK, the Z won't piss you off, most of the time but compared to lets say nexus 5 its slow as a ****ing snail.
Camera - 8/10 I really have no idea how can you rate this camera so low. What were your criteria really for grading the camera?
Yes, it's not on par with current flagships, but if you go back to 2013, it was right there with back-then flagships, except for low-light photos.
BTW, you probably got a bad phone, since i never got the overheating message, nor did my friends that have/had the Z.
Screen - 5/10 Out of all the things that are actually good, for the only thing that is really bad on the Z, you say its good.... Seems to me you never held more than a few serious phones in your life but OK...
Screen is OK, but lack of contrast, oversaturated screen which needs to be adjusted so it isnt all yellow on white background, and those ****ing viewing angles.... the screen is just OK, nothing less, nothing more.
i dont even agree with build quality, because it seems to be different for different batches of phones. My phone for example is perfect for almost 2 years now, and material usage is cool for me, because it would be fatter with metal edges(like the Z1).

You can agree or disagree, I really dont care.
Why I say that camera in XZ suck? because I compared it to bunch of other phones, and most important to my older phones, and its not that great.
Someone say that its my model have problem... nope. Getting other xz to compare was first what I do.
And for gods sake of course Im not comparing it to new phones... (Jesus Christ... really you thought that Im compare it to new phones?)
Maybe you dont care about things like HUGE chromatic aberration, about good color balance, about algorithm that F up anything that is green or blurry shoots made in day light condition, or ghosting when HDR is enabled.
Maybe you use your camera to shoot selfies or random stuff when you are in park and after that you add massive amount of instagram effect.... Then you can put any camera n your device and you would say that its amazing... Its good for you, really. But other people actually care about image quality, because when your phone have good camera you can actually use for work.
Also no I dont expect that my phone need to shoot DLSR quality images... but there is a line when you get phone that its after all flagship(back then) its need to make a bit better photos than your older phones(after all that why we pay for evolution of phones?)
Other people can like or dont like my opinion, but they need to know that I speed lots of time with this camera and overall with mobile photography and such things is annoying. Im doing loots of pictures in car show and races(I work in car shop and we travel a loot with our cars) and few years ago I actually stopped using normal camera because no one saw difference between image quality(after small processing them in PC of course) and with xz... its just annoying to use it.
And about CPU... most of problem that you pointed out its more about android update(LP or KK im guessing) and its not because old hardware, I really cant stop laughing because of this saying "old hardware" in most of cases its 99% problem of lazy system and app devs that instead of optimizing their work, they use raw power to hind all crappy coding and after that not only battery is dying but CPU is just pissing it self because it just cant handle of laugh looking at what it need processed...
Its really remind me a bit Unity Engine that I need to use for one of project... Effect-Resource Usage ratio of it is just hilarious.... no matter what you doing...
People like to saying crap about hardware instead of bashing crappy software...
You used iPhone? with half of power that Android have you still get the same or better experience, yes its different platform but dont you thing its funny? especially in games? And IM not talking about new iPhone... I mean old models compared to new Android phones....
PS...
Seems to me you never held more than a few serious phones in your life but OK...
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I need to say that I didnt expect such childish sentence in xda forum :] You actually understand that we live in world when we can just go to shop or friend... and use for few mnutes other phones? Or just buy them?
Just because I use old xperia Z it doesnt mean that I didnt use other phones... Some people like me dont see the point of bying phone every year... XZ have few annoying bugs but its still good phone... You get that right?

OK since i took the time reading you rubbish kilometer post i gotta answer.
i never saw noticable chromatic abberation.
you do know how proper HDR mode works? it pieces together 2 photos? ofcourse you are gonna see ghosting if you move the ****ing phone while shooting.
BTW blurry day shots are because of superior mode yet again, because it automatically activates HDR if there is high contrast on the picture.
check some tests that professionals did. the camera is GOOD, except low light. colors are oversaturated on superior mode. But 90% of users and reviewers are probably crazy, yeah, the camera on Z is ****
the OP asked if it was better than his previous Z ultra. it is miles better.

I'm selling my Z soon. If I had known I'd have so many problems, I'd never have bough it. I changed USB cover flap 2 times already, changed back cover because it cracked (that was my fault, though, didn't have a case and dropped it on the floor, but still), had to peel off the ASF because it scratched pretty quickly and bought a screen protector to replace it. To top it off, my camera has started to get more and more dead pixels, and it's very noticeable. The quality of photos has gone from good to horrible. It's like I'm not even using what used to be a flagship. Front facing camera is pretty bad as well. Battery life is poor, but it's an old chipset, so not much can be done in that department. Screen is okay, I don't really care about viewing angles. Multitasking is fine, too. A bit slow compared to the new phones, but still fast enough (I don't play any heavy games on phone). Typing is for some reason a nightmare at times. I type more accurately on my old Xperia Arc and my boyfriend's Meizu M1 Note than on XZ.
Xperia Z feels like a heavy test subject for latter Z series. Personally, if I had to choose a phone from this series, it would definitely be Z2. I liked its design the best. But for now, I'm staying away from Sony products. Not only because they have disappointed me again (Xperia Arc had build quality issues to begin with), but are also out of my price range now.
Even though I liked Z in the beginning, I somewhat regret spending so much money on it.
Sent from my eXposed C6603

TorN-d- said:
OK since i took the time reading you rubbish kilometer post i gotta answer.
i never saw noticable chromatic abberation.
you do know how proper HDR mode works? it pieces together 2 photos? ofcourse you are gonna see ghosting if you move the ****ing phone while shooting.
BTW blurry day shots are because of superior mode yet again, because it automatically activates HDR if there is high contrast on the picture.
check some tests that professionals did. the camera is GOOD, except low light. colors are oversaturated on superior mode. But 90% of users and reviewers are probably crazy, yeah, the camera on Z is ****
the OP asked if it was better than his previous Z ultra. it is miles better.
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Click to collapse
totaly agree with u about the camera taking good pics outside when its brite and bad pics in low lite condition. i had xperia Z for about a year, now my mother has it still a good phone but those flaps are bad made and yea i also forgot to say that it has very very i mean very bad quality speaker LOL did they make joke with us back then in 2013...my first thing when i got it was, i rooted the phone and flashed sound mod lol eveything else was fine i think.now im using Z2 for more then a year and im so satisfied with the phone that my next will be from Sony again maybe Z5 or whatever it comes. :highfive:

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Sony Xperia 1 II, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Sony Xperia 1 II is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

One of my all time favorite phones / camera's
So I have been able to play with and use the xperia 1 ii for over 4 days.
this will be a short review and perhaps I will add to it at a later moment.
Main Things I Didn't Test
* Gaming
* Video
Look and Feel
I personally really like the look and feel of this phone. It has some iPhone 4 qualities to it. By which I mean it feels like a device/tool with nice buttons, very high quality materials. It feels like a tool, like a device that is build for usability rather than build for the wow factor (if that makes sense).
It doesn't have a crazy high screen to body ratio. So something like S20 (or the S10 i used previously) is a bit more awe inspiring. But as soon as you slap a case on a S10 this will disappear any way. But what it has is a uninterrupted screen with no notches or punch hols, it has two front facing high quality speakers. It is function over form rather than form over function. That is not to say that it is not a good looking device it is very nice build it look really great. Although I'm not a fan of mirror polishing but you will not notice that as soon as you slap a cover on it (and it looks way better than the ugly blue s10). I have the official Sony case with stand which will still allow you to see the very nice sides of the phone; they are beautifully machined and have a nice color (especially with the purple one).
The buttons of the volume and the power feel really nice, they have a reassuring click to them. The only thing I'm missing is a click for the shutter button. Perhaps it is not implemented to make sure you don't move the phone while clicking. This has a bit of a downside when you don't have a shutter sound enabled. As the camera is crazy fast and it is therefor hard to see / notice if you took the photo or not. A click would have been nice. But when using the phone more often I got used to it.
Screen
The screen is absolutely amazing especially in creator mode. Colors are very accurate and it is a real joy to watch media on this phone be it movies, clips or photos. Because of the very high PPI reading news or books is possible with small letters it basically looks like it is printed. Compared to my old s10 which has a amazing screen as well I prefer the Sony as it has such natural colors and this printed feel to it. Also the colors are good with low luminescence something the s10 could not manage. That being said the max brightness is a bit less than the s10 and I feel that the display is a bit more reflective. But this could be caused by the fact I keep the brightness down with the Sony as thing look really good with low brightness. That being said I did not encounter any problems reading the screen outside on a bright day.
The screen ratio is really handy. I never used split screen a lot on previous devices. But since it is slightly taller than a s10 (while having the same width) it makes more sense to use it and I use it for more often now (watching YouTube while messaging). I don't feel it is a big phone. It is a bit heavier than the s10 but also it feels better build than the s10. Compared to a Note 10+ the height is similar but the width is significantly less.
Sound
Front facing speaker are great far better than the S10 or any other phone I used. Switching on Dolby Atmos is mandatory as without it is not that good. You really have stereo sound and both speakers are equal in terms of loudness positioning and quality.
The sound quality from the audio jack is good and you have quite a lot of options to set the sound to your tasted. As I mostly use wireless atm I have not tested this comprehensively.
Speed
It is fast, sometimes notably faster than the s10. I think is mostly because of faster memory as I don't to that much cpu intensive stuff. That being said I think the most phones for the last couple of years are fast enough for most of the tasks any way.
5G / reception
5G works no idea if it is faster than 4g. didn't run any test as 4g didn't give me any problems. Reception seems to be very good at least better than the S10. Some places where I did not have a great reception or didn't have any reception with the s10 I do have with the 1ii. Maybe this could be because of 5G (as it uses multiple connections), or maybe not, I have no Idea . WiFi is stable and fast. Bluetooth as well.
Call quality.
It is great, voice is really good, again better than the s10
Battery
it is good, I'm a heavy phone user as I use it for lot's of reading, emailing, work stuff, music and YouTube. No complains and even slightly amazed considering is has "only" a 4000Mha battery
Camera (and a little bit about pricing)
Properly the most important part of this phone it the camera. As Sony did not release a "cheaper" version of the phone with 64GB like the iPhone 11 pro it is a very expensive device and the camera is it's main selling point. Although you could argue it should be compared with a 11 pro max which makes the Sony cheaper than a iPhone 11 pro max (256GB) or similar priced to the 64GB version. I don't understand reviewers that give a lower rating because of the price. It should be compared to an 11 pro (max) or S20+ / Ultra. Personally I think it comes out ahead in many comparisons to these phones. The 1ii is a "pro" phone with a pro price. But than again a "pro" phone is a silly concept to begin with (the only pro phone I ever used was the blackberry passport, best professional / work phone ever, but bad at anything else).
First a small disclaimer. I didn't use the android camera at all (only for scanning a QR code) as you get a photo pro app which should be used if you buy this phone. Secondly I like photography I have used many camera's over the years and also may phones. Up till now my two favorite camera phones where the Lumia 950XL for color and the Mate 9 for b&w photography. The Lumia still amazes me to this day and Nokia/Microsoft did not get enough credit for there work. It was the only phone I knew that could really capture light. Also I don't care for AI powered camera apps. I understand that this is really handy if you just make snapshot and don't care about doing photography your self. I don't care for "HDR" images as all it accomplish is that it removes shadows and makes for a equal brightened image regardless of how the scene looks. If you like these things I'm not sure that this is the phone for you as Google, Samsung and Apple are better at these things
The camera app phone combination is amazing. It really gives you the feel that you are using a camera and more importantly that you are in control. It is a unbelievably fast combinations. For instance; I tried to take a photo of a dog and I was sure I mist it. As he started moving as soon as I pressed the shutter button but to my amazement the camera took the picture, it must have been less than a second between me clicking and the dog moving. I think it might be faster than my RX100m6. If you like to tinker and you know what shot you want and how you want it to look there is not better phone atm. (the Samsung pro camera is highly unusable and Huawei sadly doesn't have Google apps).
The 20fps works really good as well, it is amazing to use on a phone and to be so sure of the results (yes I know I'm using the word amazing a lot). Another surprise is the performance of the digital zoom it is far better than expected is highly usable. Also it is quit nice to have a 70mm option, although I feel that it doesn't perform on the same level as the other two sensor / lens combinations it seems a bit softer and not as sharply focused. The hero of this phone is the main 24mm sensor / lens combo it performs the best and has all the possible options. For the xperia 1iii I would like to see a 50mm included as well. The colors are natural and this gives you the opportunity to post processes the picture your self more easily than say a iPhone or Samsung.
There are some things I would like to see in a software update. Mainly the ability to zoom in normal focal lengths instead of continues (so from 24 to 28 to 35 to 50 etc). To change the shutter sound to a soft click sound. The ability to set sharpness , contrast and saturation. Last but not least RAW support. Also I had a couple of times the app freeze on me but as this is the first version I presume they will fix this.
a bunch of pictures with various focal length and lighting conditions:
https://we.tl/t-8rRytOUylm
Video
didn't really use it and on cnet there is a great review about its video capabilities including a nice short movie. It's great; one of the best reviews ever for any phone or product https://www.cnet.com/news/sony-xperia-1-ii-review-yep-thats-a-real-telephoto-lens/
If you have any questions I will try to answer them (I will not install apps to check stuff )

stefanve said:
So I have been able to play with and use the xperia 1 ii for over 4 days.
this will be a short review and perhaps I will add to it at a later moment.
)
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see link in original post for full rez pictures

Really great feedback, thanks. As a prospective buyer who mainly takes photos of friends/family/selfies, how does the 'shoot and point' on the camera pro app hold up? I'm
a big fan of the portrait mode on my Mate Pro 20, does this phone have a similar mode?

Tmel14 said:
Really great feedback, thanks. As a prospective buyer who mainly takes photos of friends/family/selfies, how does the 'shoot and point' on the camera pro app hold up? I'm
a big fan of the portrait mode on my Mate Pro 20, does this phone have a similar mode?
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I've had the phone for two days. I'd say this is not a phone you'd buy to be "point and shoot" camera. The main camera app takes good photos but not the best. To get best photos, you should use the camera pro app. It is a solid app/camera and I feel like I have a close to DSLR camera in my pocket. Colors are very natural and accurate compared to manipulated photos you get from Samsung or even Pixel camera app. It does have a portrait mode that works fine however in Camera Pro if you learn to adjust focus manually can have similar effect even better.

Thanks for the heads up. Any tweaks you'd recommend to the default settings on the camera pro app?

The pro mode has a auto mode which is quit good. And I used it for a couple of shots I shared. So it can work really well. I guess it is depending on the look of the auto mode settings and if the other pros of this phone are of interest to you

stefanve said:
see link in original post for full rez pictures
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OMG! Sorry man, I'm quite shocked by the quality photos form your X1 II. Seriously horrified! There are a couple of good pics from your sample bunch. All others are out of focus, under / overexposed, low detailed etc. I clearly recognize my personal experience with my current phone - Xperia 5 - hit or miss, around 50% of good outcome. Now I'm fully convinced to not even look at possibility of getting Xperia 1 II . Thanks

Love and Hate from me. Eagerly waited for it since announcement and first adverts. High expectations, not only because of SONY´s promises but mostly because of my experience with and long - term SONY user / devices. Most of my SONY phones delivered good images: my XZ Premium, XZ2 Premium, even my last addition, the X, gives me proper images. Not counting the older device along my lifetime (SE68, W-Series, K-Series and so on). But this MK2 is more Hate than Love. Gorgeous design, screen, speakers. Fast and, finally, more storage (novum at SONY!). But the camera - system is a no-go. Mediocre image quality from all but the main camera, even with the 24 lens it delivers inconsistent material. Videos are simply said...to forget. Focus is a hit and miss game when light conditions are different from sunny - outdoor. From 10 images half is usable, depending what lens was used. Not to talk about the front camera. I just informed Sony about my complain and offered them my image and video material to check it. Dunno if they will give me reply....

WarVic said:
OMG! Sorry man, I'm quite shocked by the quality photos form your X1 II. Seriously horrified! There are a couple of good pics from your sample bunch. All others are out of focus, under / overexposed, low detailed etc. I clearly recognize my personal experience with my current phone - Xperia 5 - hit or miss, around 50% of good outcome. Now I'm fully convinced to not even look at possibility of getting Xperia 1 II . Thanks
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I have to say I really like most out of camera photo's, but they don't sharp the photos or use HDR ( you can switch it on) but I guess in the end is about personal taste. to my eyes they look miles better than anything samsung.
just to show what you can do with the out of camera photos (I hope raw support will be added soon) look at the different versions of two photos.
But indeed this phone is not for some one that wants a camera that " just works"

That's fine then. For me they looks like made by Galaxy S5 really. Old dinky Pixel 1 makes a way better shots straight out of the camera to my opinion. Thanks for sharing photos anyway. You've stopped me from making a very costly mistake.

WarVic said:
That's fine then. For me they looks like made by Galaxy S5 really. Old dinky Pixel 1 makes a way better shots straight out of the camera to my opinion. Thanks for sharing photos anyway. You've stopped me from making a very costly mistake.
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Not sure if you looked at the images attached to the post. but keep in mind that XDA is heavily compressing the images. so pixel peaking is not advisable and I can understand you would say it seems to be at S5 level

stefanve said:
Not sure if you looked at the images attached to the post. but keep in mind that XDA is heavily compressing the images. so pixel peaking is not advisable and I can understand you would say it seems to be at S5 level
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I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.

WarVic said:
I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
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Not saying or thinking you are an idiot, just checking
Funny how different people see different things looking at the same image. That being said if the main reason of this phone is to have a great camera than indeed it's disappointing and it's better to get a RX100V or what ever and a mid range phone for the same money. I guess no phone is worth 1200 it is way to much for any phone and perhaps especially for a android as the long term support is non existing.
I just have fun snapping with it and i am pleased with the output (considering that it is a phone

Noticed gaming performance is dropping, guess I've installed something....
Playing COD, every 10 odd seconds it shows, then goes back to normal.
Notice this in other games to, even silly idle games that should be pulling no demand. One of them even said, drop to low performance mode, your phone is struggling. WTF!
My previous phone, one lower chip model and g card model never had any problems.
Must be done software conflicts, but dunno how to find them

Am I the only one who doesn't see what's wrong with the pictures that have been posted?

They are perfectly fine. But if you are used to processed photos from Samsung, Google or Apple you might not like the look as these are basically not altered by some algorithm.

Burst shot of me Pooch : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=18Os3AQ2j0TuqaFjJ6c9h-TvFGr2zyIk1

WarVic said:
I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
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This guy is not an idiot either
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zevK7xMsYdA&feature=youtu.be
---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 AM ----------
I think the standard photo App is still a work in progress - a rushed unfinished bolt on that is likely to be improved over the next few updates - they wanted to get this phone to market before they lost the window - understandable
I expect improvements and will wait a few months to see if they materialise before I make a purchase
we need to remember what they are pushing in this phone - the Pro Camera availability and I am loving the idea, a new concept in the market
Think of it this way, what if they never included the standard photo app at all and just improved the auto functions of the pro app, that may have been their intention during development but decided to throw in the standard app last minute - you can't please everyone all at once

Geoffxx said:
This guy is not an idiot either
&feature=youtu.be
---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 AM ----------
I think the standard photo App is still a work in progress - a rushed unfinished bolt on that is likely to be improved over the next few updates - they wanted to get this phone to market before they lost the window - understandable
I expect improvements and will wait a few months to see if they materialise before I make a purchase
we need to remember what they are pushing in this phone - the Pro Camera availability and I am loving the idea, a new concept in the market
Think of it this way, what if they never included the standard photo app at all and just improved the auto functions of the pro app, that may have been their intention during development but decided to throw in the standard app last minute - you can't please everyone all at once
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You can't use someone on the Xperia YouTube channel to counter the comment from someone criticising the quality as it'll just be massively biased towards Sony lol
If it's like the Xperia 1 you'll be waiting forever for the improvements to come so I wouldn't hang around.