Database Users

My oppinions after 2 weeks of use: screen, sound, battery, wifi, etc

Some reviews mislead me to believe there was something wrong with this phone, I nearly regretted buying it due to the rumors of "bad" screen, low sound, bugs, performance, lag, battery life, and other concerns, but after several days of usage I must say:
1.- I am very pleased with the screen, my fears are gone. Comming from an Xperia S, this screen looks sharp, bright and the colours are beautiful. AMAZING. Viewing angles are not the best but they were OK enough to impress me and my Samsung/Apple-fanboy friends. The Barvia engine does an incredible job making pics and vids look vivid and alive. Cool. My sammy/apple-loving friends will never put me to shame again over screen quality: the screen made them drool ("is that really a Sony phone?").
- Not the "best" screen out there but at least adequate for a high-end phone, and a GREAT improvement over my previous Xperias.
2.- Bugs and lag. WiFi bug? What WiFi bug? Mine works flawlessly ( :fingers-crossed: fingers crossed). Lag? Camera does have some lag when starting, but nothing to die for (and it makes way better pics than any of my previous phones). I miss the "pinch to see al the widgets floting" screen but I apprecite the fact that Sony didn't change the new ICS/JB buttons layout and functions. I can make folders in my app drawer and many other goodies. The Album app shines and it's a plleasure to use it.
- Polished minimal Sony skin over the vanilla Android UI.
3.- Despite the bigger screen and the quad core, battery life is WAY BETTER than the Xperia S and SGSIII; no charges required during the day for me, and I am a moderate-to-heavy user. I have not messed with Stamina mode yet. My previous phones needed a charge by noon, this one goes all the way to about 6 pm.
- Nice battery life for such a big HD screen. A bigger battery would ruin the slim profile.
4.- I was very affraid of the sound level, but despite being waterproof the loudspeaker sound is OK, not as good as my Xperia S or the SGSIII but good enough, good enough for the alarm to wake me up (and that's a lot :cyclops: ) and good enough to be heard when in my pants pocket or to watch some youtube videos with my friends around in not-so-noisy environments. In-call sound is clear and it has some goodies to enhance the sound, be sure to check them in settings.
- The loudspeaker sound volume takes some sacrifices for being waterproof, but it's still enough for me. I'm not a DJ.
5.- WATERPROOF !!! (or splashproof or water resistant or whatever you want to call it). Boy I should have made some pics of my friends' faces when I submerged this baby in my glass of beer Take that SGS and Apple fanboys! Your phone is rubbish; mine is a shiny piece of waterproof polished cool looking purple glass
- Having a waterproof phone is definitively a BIG plus, especially in a rainy environment.
6.- Build quality is Sony-grade.I made a bet with my fanboy friends: let's drop your iPhone5s, your SGSIIIs, and my Xperia Z from only one foot high. They declined I did it just to show off. From two feet.
- Just what I expected from Sony: it not only looks but feels premium.
7.- Finally, the looks and cool factor. This phone is a chick magnet! They love it in purple. Ice-breaker, conversation starter (Lucky enough I'm not that kind of guy :angel: ). The WOW factor is assured with this phone, not ubiquitous but exclusive.
- I don't know if the SGS5 will come out with a rocket-fuel propelled chip or a mind-controled UI, but this phone is simply the best-looking-phone.
CONS?
Well, I found that the loudspeaker volume went very low after the phone got submerged in water.
At first I was shocked, I thought I may have forgotten to close the seals properly and I thought I could have got some water damage, but after double-checking I realized the reason was very simple: the loudspeaker gets soaked in water.
To recover full sound level I had to:
a) suck the water out of the speaker or
b) warm the phone through a charge.
Now let me put my flame-retardant suit on and let's wait for your oppinions. Your mileage may vary, but mine has been great to date. Just my oppinions. Have fun.
.

amazing phone I felt the same way with all those negative reviews and if truth be told I did cancel my order but felt like I make the biggest mistake, had bad feeling in gut when I cancelled order and found myself taking it out on mates so I called back the next day and re ordered.
I am so happy now I love the phone its amazing. all this bull crap about screen people are missing the point in having a reality display it means the most true to life experience you can get and the xperia z delivers colours are real and they are awesome.
I can see it now samdung galaxy users replacing handsets because of water damage while wishing they opted for the xperia z lol
---------- Post added at 06:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:48 PM ----------
to clarify I have had no issues with the phone apart for the camera everything else is great. the speaker however is another story its not as good as the sony xperia s but its definitely nothing to be worried about its adequate, but im sure there is a mod floating around that sorts it out but since that's the case then im sure sony will tweak that in next update just don't hold your breath lol

I agree.
I've had a long list of phones android blackberry and iPhone and this puts them all to shame.
Most recently I had an sgs3 4g, battery was so bad.
This phone is big but very good
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium

Ta
Thanks for your clear, concise, real-word opinion. I'm getting mine today and I've read a number of the niggle this, niggle that reviews so was getting a little worried but now I'm excited all over again.
First thing I'm planning on doing is putting the camera on timer then dunking it in my beer (actually probably someone else’s, don't want to waste my pint). My first ever bubble eye view from a pint!

EXACLTY
The reviews actually scared me off this phone for a while slamming the ports, the screen the battery life and "buggy" software. I was all set to buy and HTC One and then they got delayed in my country and the price they quoted was more than the Z so I bought the Z and I do not regret the purchase.
I love the screen, way nicer than the cartoony AMOLED of my Gnex, and Battery is amazing, Stamina mode when used correctly literally means when the screen is off 0% is used. its amazing, my phone uses about 30-40% per normal day!!!
I have loaded it up with triple the amount of music that I had on my Gnex (thanks to expandable SD) and my only issue was music quality which was quickly remedied by the ACID mod but my Gnex had **** music quality and i used a mod to remedy that also.
Camera is good, better than the Gnex and better then the HTC one was going to be but i dont use cameras and I have come accross no bugs, also its hacker friendly something the S4 and the One are not
LOVE IT

Agree with all of you guys.. Great phone great materials it feels so premium, good sound and battery.. Love it
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

I totally agree. It's the best phone I've ever had, and there isn't anything on the market that I'd rather have.
The screen is amazing. Not overly saturated like Samsung. I don't understand why anybody is complaining about the viewing angles — it's absolutely fine for me. Foreshortening becomes a problem before the "washed-out" colours do. And 5" is just the right size. It's big, but still easy to handle.
The battery life is great, even without stamina mode (which I haven't played with yet). It's better than my Xperia S, or the Samsung Galaxy R I had before that.
The sound is ample enough for me. I don't put it at 100% volume, and it's loud enough. I don't know what I would do with more...
My only complaints are minor:
1) the gray background for the navigation buttons should be black and not as high (but this is fixable with a mod, I know) and
2) the camera seems to have high-quality hardware but Sony messed up the software side with over-processing (but burst mode gives better results) — hopefully they fix this in the 4.2 update.

All I wanna say......
The smartphone I've always dreamt of. Thank you Sony for giving us this master piece!!!!
Sent from my C6602 using xda premium

Great review, I also love my Z. I Soak the phone in water to show my coworkers also and they were all amazed :laugh:.
But I don't dare to drop it like you did hahah.

gtrab said:
Some reviews mislead me to believe there was something wrong with this phone, I nearly regretted buying it due to the rumors of "bad" screen, low sound, bugs, performance, lag, battery life, and other concerns, but after several days of usage I must say:
1.- I am very pleased with the screen, my fears are gone. Comming from an Xperia S, this screen looks sharp, bright and the colours are beautiful. AMAZING. Viewing angles are not the best but they were OK enough to impress me and my Samsung/Apple-fanboy friends. The Barvia engine does an incredible job making pics and vids look vivid and alive. Cool. My sammy/apple-loving friends will never put me to shame again over screen quality: the screen made them drool ("is that really a Sony phone?").
- Not the "best" screen out there but at least adequate for a high-end phone, and a GREAT improvement over my previous Xperias.
2.- Bugs and lag. WiFi bug? What WiFi bug? Mine works flawlessly ( :fingers-crossed: fingers crossed). Lag? Camera does have some lag when starting, but nothing to die for (and it makes way better pics than any of my previous phones). I miss the "pinch to see al the widgets floting" screen but I apprecite the fact that Sony didn't change the new ICS/JB buttons layout and functions. I can make folders in my app drawer and many other goodies. The Album app shines and it's a plleasure to use it.
- Polished minimal Sony skin over the vanilla Android UI.
3.- Despite the bigger screen and the quad core, battery life is WAY BETTER than the Xperia S and SGSIII; no charges required during the day for me, and I am a moderate-to-heavy user. I have not messed with Stamina mode yet. My previous phones needed a charge by noon, this one goes all the way to about 6 pm.
- Nice battery life for such a big HD screen. A bigger battery would ruin the slim profile.
4.- I was very affraid of the sound level, but despite being waterproof the loudspeaker sound is OK, not as good as my Xperia S or the SGSIII but good enough, good enough for the alarm to wake me up (and that's a lot :cyclops: ) and good enough to be heard when in my pants pocket or to watch some youtube videos with my friends around in not-so-noisy environments. In-call sound is clear and it has some goodies to enhance the sound, be sure to check them in settings.
- The loudspeaker sound volume takes some sacrifices for being waterproof, but it's still enough for me. I'm not a DJ.
5.- WATERPROOF !!! (or splashproof or water resistant or whatever you want to call it). Boy I should have made some pics of my friends' faces when I submerged this baby in my glass of beer Take that SGS and Apple fanboys! Your phone is rubbish; mine is a shiny piece of waterproof polished cool looking purple glass
- Having a waterproof phone is definitively a BIG plus, especially in a rainy environment.
6.- Build quality is Sony-grade.I made a bet with my fanboy friends: let's drop your iPhone5s, your SGSIIIs, and my Xperia Z from only one foot high. They declined I did it just to show off. From two feet.
- Just what I expected from Sony: it not only looks but feels premium.
7.- Finally, the looks and cool factor. This phone is a chick magnet! They love it in purple. Ice-breaker, conversation starter (Lucky enough I'm not that kind of guy :angel: ). The WOW factor is assured with this phone, not ubiquitous but exclusive.
- I don't know if the SGS5 will come out with a rocket-fuel propelled chip or a mind-controled UI, but this phone is simply the best-looking-phone.
CONS?
Well, I found that the loudspeaker volume went very low after the phone got submerged in water.
At first I was shocked, I thought I may have forgotten to close the seals properly and I thought I could have got some water damage, but after double-checking I realized the reason was very simple: the loudspeaker gets soaked in water.
To recover full sound level I had to:
a) suck the water out of the speaker or
b) warm the phone through a charge.
Now let me put my flame-retardant suit on and let's wait for your oppinions. Your mileage may vary, but mine has been great to date. Just my oppinions. Have fun.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thanks for your opinion!
Can you post wath is your device settings for optimal battery life..
I newbee in android word i've XZ from 2 days..
What i've to do?
bluetooth can still always on or is drain battery?
wifi can i use the gps option or is better to turn off manualy?
i don't use stamina because i need the led notification..
i've disable the google now..
Can you give me some tricks to expand my battery life.. thank you so much.. and excuse me for my poor english..

andrewx said:
Hi thanks for your opinion!
Can you post wath is your device settings for optimal battery life..
I newbee in android word i've XZ from 2 days..
What i've to do?
bluetooth can still always on or is drain battery?
wifi can i use the gps option or is better to turn off manualy?
i don't use stamina because i need the led notification..
i've disable the google now..
Can you give me some tricks to expand my battery life.. thank you so much.. and excuse me for my poor english..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your battery stats to see what's draining your juice. To me, it was the screen and my mail apps. I stay in 2g (EDGE) unless I want to navigate the web, and I disabled google+ auto pic upload. Also, I changed to auto bright screen. I keep GPS on. BT goes on when I'm driving (smart tag) and WiFi turns on at home & office (another smart tag).

Happy.
Yep I think it knocks the socks off my Razr i for the quality of its wi-fi and fm radio reception. Screen absolutely fine, and camera too when I get to grips with it. Little annoyances are the caps over every orifice that make it look like it's held together with string (it's actually very sturdy) and fingermarks, fingermarks, everywhere. (And I can never get the last few key-location bubbles out from under the screen protector). Unfortunately mine is on a contract with the mickey mouse Three UK's stupidly named One Plan so mobile data and phone is pretty much a waste of space, but since it seems everyone in the overpopulated UK is falling over themselves to provide wi-fi services I can live with their let-down.

First, I love this Xperia!
I'm on stock 350 and rooted. Most of the time the phone works perfectly. However, 2 or 3 times already the phone gets a bit hot, and consuming a lot of juice, for instance using xda app on lte network. SetCPU identified 41 deg Celsius. I was checking battery usage and it gave me a good share for app Devices.
I was looking for info about this app (has the same icon as Movies) but nothing. I blocked it now with Titanium, will I miss it?
Sent from my Xperia Z

How to replace battery on xpwria Z???
Sent from my ST26i using xda premium

The only problem I have is Socialife.
This is unreliable software which has basic problems with fetching updates from Twitter etc.
Shame SONY! And the previous software worked like a charm (Timescape)

The phone is average at best. Already can pick one up for £270 used on ebay
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

You could get it for free and still be an awesome piece of technology, which it is!
Sent from my Xperia Z

akuma2012 said:
The phone is average at best. Already can pick one up for £270 used on ebay
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me guess, s4 will knock your socks off? Lol
Sent from my LT29i using Tapatalk 2

Obvious troll is a troll
Don't feed 'em
.
.

Why is anyone who rightly critcises a medicore device a troll? What does the z have that the n2 doesnt other than a water gimmick?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

Positive experience of Z1

So many negative threads about how the screen sucks, the camera sucks etc etc. Would be nice to hear from the people who actually like the Z1. Write down your experience with the phone. It doesn't have to be all rosy but hopefully it will give a little bit more nuance.

Sure.
Last Saturday I got my Z1, I've had a Gnex for a long time and my first impressions are very good. The device is amazingly fast, everything works as it should, multitasking is very good, all performance related things are nothing to complain about.
The screen 'dead-on' is also nice the viewing angles people are talking about is something I don't really see as a problem. I just held the phone in an angle and when the colours start to wash out it's an angle I would never use my phone at. Other than that the camera does have noise issues, although it's not too bad IMHO. (do bear in mind I come from the Gnex so pretty much every new device is a big upgrade) I don't think the noise issues aren't too bad though, as Sony can easily fix the noise issues with a software update. Speaking of updates, the Z1 already had 3 updates. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is up to you, but to me it sounds like it's well supported by Sony.
Battery... I feel mixed about it. It's better than my Gnex, but again, pretty much every device is. I did expect a lot more from a 3000 mAh battery though. I had about 23 hours of standby and roughly 4 hours of screen on time. That is with 3G on all the time, wifi on most of the time and applications like Twitter, Whatsapp and Facebook running in the background. It's a weird thing though, the xperia ZR gets 11:30 (11 hours and 30 minutes) of browsing in the GSMarena test. While the Z1 gets about half of that. I have the feeling Sony has to do some software optimization, since they can pull it off. (note: the ZR battery is 2300 mAh) How long this will take, and if Sony will even do it, I have no idea. If the problem is related to Qualcomm it may take a long time though since they're not very keen on doing things in a different way. (look at the Nexus 7 2013 and binaries)
Overall I personally think the Xperia Z1 is an amazing device. It's super fast, the build quality is amazing and it feels really good.(get a case though!) There are things to improve on such as battery life and it depends on whether you trust Sony to fix these issues or not.

Positve
Got mine yesterday.
S/W: problems yet
Performance: Extremely quick 9/10
Screen Quality: 8/10 but too early to say if I'm just being jaded by all the moaning.
Camera seems pretty good to me, what a blessing a proper camera button makes.
Shame I can't upload samples of photos / videos etc. I will find a way if request. Anyone wanna buy a Galaxy 3? ho ho..
Oh one thing I don't like, is having to uncover the charger port to charge it up (i know its re waterproofing).
My options are :-
Cut the cover flap off or buy a magnetic charger unit £30.00 !!!!! (I probably will.)
So far pretty dam good phone.
Paul

I've had my XZ1 since Saturday 21st sept, and so far I love it, the camera is good but has issues like the grain and noise which prevent it from being a great one.
Love the sharpness and colours of the screen and it's resolution makes browsing the Web or forums so easy.
I've gotten used to the waterproof tabs after having my Xtz before I got the z1 but at least if you don't like having to keep opening the flap you can use a magnetic charger cable or dock.
That's all I can think of at lol
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium HD app

screen is best... best contrast and color you can get... no yellow tint or extra blue. no issue at all..
screen performance not so good from an angle... but who use it like that... 98% i use head on... 2 % ready to sacrifice. for head on awesomeness..
battery is a ****. (Wifi and bluetooth on, may be due to this)
Auto mode of camera is a ****..
play around with ISO in manual mode to get best shot for each scenario...
sound from speaker is not so good... even headphone sound (wired) is not good...
performance... nothing can beat it... samsung s4 struggles before this beast..
i am still on 518 firmware and no software issue so far.. using wireless headphones...

jos_031 said:
screen is best... best contrast and color you can get... no yellow tint or extra blue. no issue at all..
screen performance not so good from an angle... but who use it like that... 98% i use head on... 2 % ready to sacrifice. for head on awesomeness..
battery is a ****. (Wifi and bluetooth on, may be due to this)
Auto mode of camera is a ****..
play around with ISO in manual mode to get best shot for each scenario...
sound from speaker is not so good... even headphone sound (wired) is not good...
performance... nothing can beat it... samsung s4 struggles before this beast..
i am still on 518 firmware and no software issue so far.. using wireless headphones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it's this above plus
Weird touch screen issues where it goes a bit bonkers when doing the pattern unlock.

Wow a positive thread about the Z1, do my eyes deceive me?
Seriously it's nice to see positive in all the threads of doom and gloom.
Nice
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

My showers have become a lot less of a chore and more of a pleasure;
https://vine.co/v/hvY5MVFTLXd?fb_action_ids=10151847100714799
Just add 2 hooks with a little bit of sugru

So I got mine yesterday.
Hardware: I can't tell you how gorgeous this phone is if you haven't seen it yet, the blend of pure vanilla white with the aluminium frame is a spot on direct hit in my eyes. Under the hood HW is even better. The S800 chip seriously flies and it's been a long time but Android is now becoming just as fluid as iOS and WP and it's great to see that.
Software: I am a big fan of the Sony UI simply because it's easy and it looks pretty vanilla, I haven't installed a Homescreen in 2 years now ever since I got a Xperia S and I am not changing that now. There is some minor SW bugs where some dialouges just doesn't show up but I can still press them(if I know their real position)
Camera: The camera is a serious SW mess because I know and I see that Sony has a good camera HW-wise BUT their SW and esspecially Auto mode is seriously one complete mess. Other than the major problems with the noise the camera app is fluid and it's quite promosing to have some nice options like AR and the Livestream mode.
Sound: THe loudspeaker is decent and nothing you would cheer about but it's better than my old XS of course. The headphone jack for me is perfect and I hear absolutely no difference when playing the same song on my XS or my Z1
Screen: THe screen for me is supersharp, I can only see a little difference in sharpness between my XS and Z1 but that is expected but still it's a nice feature. The colours are almost accurate(I had to increase my blue level by +3 to +4), viewing angles aren't the best but they are clearly better than my XS besides head on is the way to go in my world.
Battery: Battery is a mixed bag; Standby is EXCELLENT hours can go and the phone is still on the same percentage. However and this is a big one the battery during Web browsing or other minor things is seriously underperforming. Clearly this is also something wrong with the SW because other Sony phones does not have the same problem.
I hope this gives a good view on the phone, clearly Sony needs to fix the battery and the Camera and for some swap out faulty screens. Other than that my money was well put!

I got my XZ1 on monday and I love it so far! Yeah the viewing angles aren't the best but who is gonna use their phone from those angles? The camera is good, yes it needs some improvements but it isn't unusable.
The waterproof tabs take some getting used to after coming from a Nexus 4 but my battery lasts me about a day and a half almost 2; so I don't have to undo the tab to often.
I like the speaker, it isn't as loud as the one on the Note 2 I had but it is WAY better than the Nexus 4. I really like the notification LED also, its in a really discrete location and its pretty visible; and paired with light manager it is really useful for me.
Wifi has also been good for me, at least compared to my old N4. The overall speed of the phone is awesome! This thing rips!
Coming from the Nexus 4 this was a SOLID upgrade for me. SD card slot, better camera, Snapdragon 800, better speakers (ear piece also), and its waterproof? I can't really complain on my end!
I think people are just being a little too picky. I mean come on the phone has only been out for almost a week now. What else can you expect? Sony has been releasing updates pretty frequently so hopefully everything will get better soon.

So i will do that short: Sony Xperia Z1 is just good. Not perfect. but good and defently better as my old Xperia S. (Whiches i aso not so bad if i compare to to other cellphone from this timewindow)

Mine is good so far, only got it for 2days will test camera etc some more
One thing I can say about the screen:
I went to local store and compared to ZU screen, both on full brightness and my Z1 screen definitely has better colors and details then Z1. I tried the Sony sample pics and compared those.
Better details is due to 5" vs 6.4" I guess. But colors are really better on Z1, also in video I noticed the same result
Sent from my C6903 using xda app-developers app

Love the z1
Got the Z1 on pre-order, arrived the 17th.
- First thing i notice, phone is not bulky (in oposition to what reviewers say). Second thing, sony actually provides screen protect (Awsome)
- Phone turns on great and continues to perform great, Loving 4g and the speed and smoothness of the whole system.
- Screen contrast is not superb, lost in comparison to the s4, but during video streaming/playback, it performed amazingly as being hit directly by sunlight it was still very clear.
- Overall The phone is amazing, everyone says constantly i can't stop playing around with it (so true).
The only negative i have is battery life. Due to my constant use it drains very very quickly. But i think i'll be able to fix that.

B1nny said:
Sure.
Last Saturday I got my Z1, I've had a Gnex for a long time and my first impressions are very good. The device is amazingly fast, everything works as it should, multitasking is very good, all performance related things are nothing to complain about.
....
Overall I personally think the Xperia Z1 is an amazing device. It's super fast, the build quality is amazing and it feels really good.(get a case though!) There are things to improve on such as battery life and it depends on whether you trust Sony to fix these issues or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see you're from the Netherlands. Could you confirm we are still on 14.1.G.1.518 firmware? It seems everyone who has been able to upgrade to 534 firmware has far better camera results, yet I cannot update to this new firmware, still stuck on the old one. I'd love to update the firmware to get better camera results but I do not want to root this phone. I'm on Vodafone RED 4G btw, dunno if it mathers.. Thanks.

bramgg said:
I see you're from the Netherlands. Could you confirm we are still on 14.1.G.1.518 firmware? It seems everyone who has been able to upgrade to 534 firmware has far better camera results, yet I cannot update to this new firmware, still stuck on the old one. I'd love to update the firmware to get better camera results but I do not want to root this phone. I'm on Vodafone RED 4G btw, dunno if it mathers.. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am. I can confirm I didn't get any updates on my unlocked Z1. I updated to 534 manually via flashtool though. (doesn't void warranty) I have no idea why we don't get the updates pushed to our phones.

thought i'd give my 2 cents here as i have been seeing a lot of negative comments, especially from people who judge way too quickly. Back when the Z came out i followed it madly and already had it on pre-order but i ended up getting a htc one. Ive had this phone for 2 days now and compared to my htc one it is a definite improvement. The only thing im getting used to is the size of the phone, i have small hands so you can imagine its not a 1 handed affair, but you cant fault the build quality, i love the fact that sony puts its own screen and back panel protector on (remember the x10). Call quality is amazing i have to say, loud and clear. performance is amazing, i can see the improvements in the chipset s800 has over s600 (was in my htc one), in real life you wont notice it too much but its defo there, games run amazing no lags and hits a very good fps (wild blood, real racing 3 in particular looks and plays amazingly). I've not really played with the camera much but its better than my htc one, that was the only thing i was disappointed with that phone. Now i have been constantly messing about with the phone so cant really give an accurate example of battery life, but what are you supposed to expect from a phone specc'd like this, yes it has a bigger capacity battery, it also has a big screen and a powerful cpu too, if i get a full days use out of it il be happy.

The Z1 is easily the best phone ever built. Its so nice to hold and use. Definitely my favourite phone to date and I have owned nearly all the previous flagship phones from most companies.

Absolutely blown away by this phone it's just amazing for me.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Xperia Z1 music video

Hi,
I'm totally new to android and the Z1 is my first personal android phone. My expectations where so high coming from many years of All iPhones.
I don't want to start a flame but yes I think android is a little behind (in some aspects) to ios7 BUT this device is actually freaking awesome and looks to me the only one that can beat the iPhone quality.
- High quality. When you touch it you feel that your money are well spent.
- The camera (if we consider is a phone) Is just super good.
- The Sony rom doesn't make me sad as and in a hurry to grab a random 3th party rom
- Display is super good colors looks real and rich. Yes view angles are not awesome but only crazy people use the phone in that way. One thing that NO ONE MENTION is that any phone is close to the iPhone under the sun. Surprise surprise according to phone arena the Z1 is in 2 place. That's for me means A LOT more than insane view angles. The only difect so far is the black. The display show (only in some circumstances) one of the lightest black on the market. You'll may notice it watching a movie (a dark one) in a dark room.
- screen protector: isn't so fragile as many said but yes isn't olephobic
Am I satisfied? A lot!!!!
Sent from my C6903 using xda app-developers app

Z2 after two weeks - comments

So, after two weeks of use, I am still loving the phone overall. I do however have some nitpicks that I would like to share here, just for edification.
(1) The automation software that Sony has written is buggy and I mean really buggy. My main issue is that the state changes don't return the phone back to the way it was before the automated state went into effect. For example, NIGHT silences everything, but if I was silent before and I take the phone off the charger in the middle of the night, it turns sounds back on.
(2) Bluetooth - My bluetooth module crashes EVERY time I am in the car and connected. If I'm on a call, it goes in and out at least once. I would say it is the car's bluetooth, but I've never had this happen with other phones.
(3) Wi-Fi - My wifi connection at work has been spotty, but now I sit directly under an access point. The Z2 contines to go in and out of service for no reason. It still may be the connection at work, as it doesn't happen on my home network. But, I find it quite strange.
(4) Docked - The wake-up screen doesn't switch to vertical when the phone is docked. The home screen does.
(5) Phone screen - Not sure who laid the screen out, but it is too easy to engage the phone pad screen, which in turn starts dialing numbers. The sensor doesn't seem to recognize my big face on it, so it doesn't turn off while in a call. DO NOT LIKE.
(6) Autodimming Feature - doesn't really work as advertised. If I'm in a dark room, I don't need the screen to be full on. And yet, it does.
(7) 4K camera recording shut off AND manual camera (20MP) gets an over heating after a few pictures.
now, the good part...
(1) Screen is great for everything, I don't know what people are complaining about. No it isn't flame on strong like a Galaxy S5, but it works and very well, for whatever I need.
(2) Battery life and performance are phenomenal
(3) Simple Android skin.
(4) Camera quality is fantastic. Even in a dark room I got great pictures.

Thanks for info. Looking at bright side, most of your problems should be solved with software update.

I love everything about this phone except one thing :
I have T-Mobile and before this I had Nexus 5 and mostly I had LTE almost ever where but with this phone that percentage is lowered now and rather than having 90% of LTE everywhere I have like 50% LTE everywhere and mostly H+, I don't know why or maybe that's how's this phone or maybe if they release a better radio or firmware if fix the problem, I hope for it.

Thanks for the info/initial impressions. As already mentioned, most of your problems seem to be due to software issues that could well be fixed in the future. However, the overheating issue concerns me a lot. What if it's a design fault and no ROM updates are going to fully solve it... Idk...

vctrdnl said:
Thanks for the info/initial impressions. As already mentioned, most of your problems seem to be due to software issues that could well be fixed in the future. However, the overheating issue concerns me a lot. What if it's a design fault and no ROM updates are going to fully solve it... Idk...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had the phone for more than a week and I have to say I love it. I can confirm a few niggles here and there, but nothing deal breaking and I can see myself living with the phone for the next few years. I agree with many that the real killer issue here is overheating. While initially restricted to 4k recording, it seems that the issue is more widespread than this, and today it happened to me recording 1080p at 60fps as well as 4k recording. Only a few minutes in each time. No each time the phone did not feel particularly hot, so I suspect this is predominenty related to the threshold set for the software to go in safe mode so that could be fixed if that was inadequate calibration.
Saying that, I find it difficult to believe that an issue like this could not have been picked up during testing... Certainly makes it looked like they did fry up a few phones during development for them to be so overly (?) cautious on this...

I have the same problem with the spotty wifi. It can drop and go back to LTE all of a sudden with no apparent reason. And it has the tendency to lose mobile connection while I'm traveling on the train, I don't get this with my S3. Fortunately I'm sure Sony can fix these issues buy upgrading the radio and software updates. It's just a matter of whether they will take notice.
Sent from my non-Apple device via XDA App

You know I think Sony makes bad radio antenna. cause Xperia SP is also having issues of dropping signals right now with it's latest update.
Once I went out for skiing and I was using Xperia Z and my two friends had HTC Evo 3D and GS3, they both got h+ yet I only got edge which kinda sucked.

Well, Ive had the phone for a week today
I haven't had the same issues as the OP,
the automation software I do have issues with as in night mode it does not turn off notifications and the picture viewer starts, but the way I have got round this is to go to flight mode at night
No problems whatsoever with Bluetooth connections in my S-0max, Freelander or Jag XF, all working perfectly
no problems with wifi, but I did have to uncheck the "Avoid Poor Connections" in advanced wifi setting
no issues with phone pad random dialling or catching it
agree with camera quality, screen quality and noise cancelling headphones are great (but are awful in my ipad, terrible quality on that)
would agree the sound levels are too low, needs an update to increase volume choices

Warkman said:
Well, Ive had the phone for a week today
I haven't had the same issues as the OP,
the automation software I do have issues with as in night mode it does not turn off notifications and the picture viewer starts, but the way I have got round this is to go to flight mode at night
No problems whatsoever with Bluetooth connections in my S-0max, Freelander or Jag XF, all working perfectly
no problems with wifi, but I did have to uncheck the "Avoid Poor Connections" in advanced wifi setting
no issues with phone pad random dialling or catching it
agree with camera quality, screen quality and noise cancelling headphones are great (but are awful in my ipad, terrible quality on that)
would agree the sound levels are too low, needs an update to increase volume choices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I get to pick mine up today. I will say that when I had the z1 that it had low signal issues where it would cycle between LTE, HSPA and no signal in areas where other att phones stay locked on one or two bars of LTE. I'm hopeful this one will be a bit better, but we'll see.

Had my Z2 since Tuesday, It's going back!! Only for a replacement though as I love it.
Reason for going back, the gap is present on the top right on the phone.
other problems I have is the camera. Amazing results but I keep getting overheating message and shutdowns, and the keyboard is a nightmare, keep missing the space bar, but this is no big issue.
The good things, well just about everything else. The speakers are amazing, the screen is absolutely gorgeous, and it is not dim, I spend most of the day with it on auto with slider at the lowest setting. The mrs says it's ugly and looks old, I do not agree with this, it's gorgeous, and looks sleek and elegant.
Would I recommend, hell yeah!!
One further note, when you place it on the stand at night and go sleep, don't leave the bloody vibrate on, man, I sh*t myself and so did the Mrs, followed by me getting a bit of verbal!!!
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app

jayc1980 said:
Had my Z2 since Tuesday, It's going back!! Only for a replacement though as I love it.
Reason for going back, the gap is present on the top right on the phone.
other problems I have is the camera. Amazing results but I keep getting overheating message and shutdowns, and the keyboard is a nightmare, keep missing the space bar, but this is no big issue.
The good things, well just about everything else. The speakers are amazing, the screen is absolutely gorgeous, and it is not dim, I spend most of the day with it on auto with slider at the lowest setting. The mrs says it's ugly and looks old, I do not agree with this, it's gorgeous, and looks sleek and elegant.
Would I recommend, hell yeah!!
One further note, when you place it on the stand at night and go sleep, don't leave the bloody vibrate on, man, I sh*t myself and so did the Mrs, followed by me getting a bit of verbal!!!
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iam thinking of buying this phone asap
Sent From S4 I9500 Crash Rom Final 4.4.2

paras said:
Iam thinking of buying this phone asap
Sent From S4 I9500 Crash Rom Final 4.4.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would too, but the overheating issues are a turn off. hoping the second batch of Z2s would not have such problems

SexyIceCream said:
i would too, but the overheating issues are a turn off. hoping the second batch of Z2s would not have such problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But then z3 would be announced
Sent From S4 I9500 Crash Rom Final 4.4.2

paras said:
But then z3 would be announced
Sent From S4 I9500 Crash Rom Final 4.4.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol..perhaps a s5 would be the better choice then...but i am really tired of the design language being used by them come on, sony! lets hope the overheating can be solved through a software update

I've had mine since the 17th of April and I haven't experienced most of the problems the OP listed. I've had the 4k over heating force closing camera app but that was only on the first day because I was already using the camera for ages before testing 4k. Since then it's never happened again. Never happened with 1080p video at any point even 60fps.
No problems with lte or wifi. Don't use bluetooth much so can't comment there. Automodes work OK for me. Well it's just the night mode I used so no extensive testing done there.
Z2 rocks, put it this way, I've spent a lot of time criticising most of the Sony Ericsson and Sony devices I've owned but the z2 ain't gonna join that list.
The display is class leading, whites may not be the whitest but they're white enough. The colour reproduction is spot on despite the vibrancy unlike you know who. Performance is boss too. Only notice frame drops in games when the phone gets very hot after prolonged periods.
Sound quality is great too and I for one don't have any problems with notifications. I hear them from the living room when I'm outside. I also like the fact that it automatically adjusts the sound volume depending on what you're doing. It's loudest during gaming. I think that's good because I can just leave the phone on full volume and it automatically takes care of everything. No need to keep adjusting the volume. Another thing I discovered is that you can zoom in on any video you record with the device, not just 4k. Obviously not as much detail is preserved but it's great nonetheless.
The camera for me is the real star of the show. Not really a superior auto man because historically that produced the worst results possible especially with the Z. Not this time though. Manual for me is still king but superior auto has been greatly improved and you can be happy using it. It actually does a better job at white balance under artificial lighting. Something I hope is addressed in manual mode with software updates.
As for photo quality, it's fantastic at 8mp. Sure you can't zoom in as much as with 20.7mp but the quality is much better in ever respect. Detail preservation, colour reproduction, dynamic range etc. Fantastic job done here by Sony. They've certainly joined Nokia in the premier league of smartphone cams. If the lumia 1020 is an incredible 5mp camera, think of the z2 as an incredible 8mp camera.
Took me a while to get used to the size of the phone though but I'm over that now. Z starting to look an feel small now lol!
All in all, it's not only by far and away the best effort from Sony, it's the best smartphone ever built. It's monolithic rectangular design might not be everyone's cup of tea especial those who like to grip their phones but I love it and hope Sony never changes it. To give you some perspective, I absolutely hated the xperia arc design. That's just me I know. The m8 might feel more premium but I think it's butt ugly with those juvenile speaker grills. I actually prefer the s5's look if not feel.
There's more to talk about especially the noise cancelling genius. Works like a charm and does exactly what it claims to do.
It's also pretty solid and rugged. I've dropped mine a few times and it's shown no damage at all. I'm glad Sony went back to the original z design and put a plastic edge around the aluminum frame. My mates z1 is already showing signs of age but the z still looks fab. I think z2 will stand the test of time much like the z did.
For the bad, the phone is way too slippery hence why I've dropped it a lot. It even slides off surfaces on its own lol.
The camera also tries to force the bokeh effect on you. If you have anything that remotely looks dominant and central to the scene, the camera tends to blur out a bit objects in the background. IPhone 5s does this too but is sort of annoying especially when the z2 has a dedicated shooting mode for this. Admittedly one that's not the most accurate. Well even m8 with its secondary depth sensor is inaccurate so let's not take the high ground here.
To avoid rambling on, this is one phone I'll gladly recommend to anyone who isn't worried about size. For those of you that are, just wait for the z2 compact.
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app

zodiac100 said:
I've had mine since the 17th of April and I haven't experienced most of the problems the OP listed. I've had the 4k over heating force closing camera app but that was only on the first day because I was already using the camera for ages before testing 4k. Since then it's never happened again. Never happened with 1080p video at any point even 60fps.
No problems with lte or wifi. Don't use bluetooth much so can't comment there. Automodes work OK for me. Well it's just the night mode I used so no extensive testing done there.
Z2 rocks, put it this way, I've spent a lot of time criticising most of the Sony Ericsson and Sony devices I've owned but the z2 ain't gonna join that list.
The display is class leading, whites may not be the whitest but they're white enough. The colour reproduction is spot on despite the vibrancy unlike you know who. Performance is boss too. Only notice frame drops in games when the phone gets very hot after prolonged periods.
Sound quality is great too and I for one don't have any problems with notifications. I hear them from the living room when I'm outside. I also like the fact that it automatically adjusts the sound volume depending on what you're doing. It's loudest during gaming. I think that's good because I can just leave the phone on full volume and it automatically takes care of everything. No need to keep adjusting the volume. Another thing I discovered is that you can zoom in on any video you record with the device, not just 4k. Obviously not as much detail is preserved but it's great nonetheless.
The camera for me is the real star of the show. Not really a superior auto man because historically that produced the worst results possible especially with the Z. Not this time though. Manual for me is still king but superior auto has been greatly improved and you can be happy using it. It actually does a better job at white balance under artificial lighting. Something I hope is addressed in manual mode with software updates.
As for photo quality, it's fantastic at 8mp. Sure you can't zoom in as much as with 20.7mp but the quality is much better in ever respect. Detail preservation, colour reproduction, dynamic range etc. Fantastic job done here by Sony. They've certainly joined Nokia in the premier league of smartphone cams. If the lumia 1020 is an incredible 5mp camera, think of the z2 as an incredible 8mp camera.
Took me a while to get used to the size of the phone though but I'm over that now. Z starting to look an feel small now lol!
All in all, it's not only by far and away the best effort from Sony, it's the best smartphone ever built. It's monolithic rectangular design might not be everyone's cup of tea especial those who like to grip their phones but I love it and hope Sony never changes it. To give you some perspective, I absolutely hated the xperia arc design. That's just me I know. The m8 might feel more premium but I think it's butt ugly with those juvenile speaker grills. I actually prefer the s5's look if not feel.
There's more to talk about especially the noise cancelling genius. Works like a charm and does exactly what it claims to do.
It's also pretty solid and rugged. I've dropped mine a few times and it's shown no damage at all. I'm glad Sony went back to the original z design and put a plastic edge around the aluminum frame. My mates z1 is already showing signs of age but the z still looks fab. I think z2 will stand the test of time much like the z did.
For the bad, the phone is way too slippery hence why I've dropped it a lot. It even slides off surfaces on its own lol.
The camera also tries to force the bokeh effect on you. If you have anything that remotely looks dominant and central to the scene, the camera tends to blur out a bit objects in the background. IPhone 5s does this too but is sort of annoying especially when the z2 has a dedicated shooting mode for this. Admittedly one that's not the most accurate. Well even m8 with its secondary depth sensor is inaccurate so let's not take the high ground here.
To avoid rambling on, this is one phone I'll gladly recommend to anyone who isn't worried about size. For those of you that are, just wait for the z2 compact.
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your input! but btw, when you mean you haven't faced the overheating for 4k, was it at least 5 minutes? i fully intend to use the z2 for an upcoming concert, so at least 5 mins of 4k would be awesome(for cropping/zooming in) :good:

SexyIceCream said:
thanks for your input! but btw, when you mean you haven't faced the overheating for 4k, was it at least 5 minutes? i fully intend to use the z2 for an upcoming concert, so at least 5 mins of 4k would be awesome(for cropping/zooming in) :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before replying, I started another 4k video to see what happened. It recorded for 5mins 22 seconds and then forced closed. Mind you I've been using the phone all morning so was already a bit hot. I think it all depends on the temperature of the phone. If cool, you can probably record for longer. You can though zoom into any video you record. I would suggest using 1080 at 60fps at the concert or just make sure your device is cool before recording in 4k.
I think it's a threshold Sony set for it. If that's correct then removing or increasing this threshold may result in people pushing it too far and damaging their devices.
If it's not a threshold then who knows, there maybe a fix released at some point. Don't forget, the z2 really hasn't got going yet. Sony is still struggling to make it widely available so we may have to wait a few months for any fixes.
I'll wait for the device to cool down completely and retry. I'll come back to you then.
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app

zodiac100 said:
Before replying, I started another 4k video to see what happened. It recorded for 5mins 22 seconds and then forced closed. Mind you I've been using the phone all morning so was already a bit hot. I think it all depends on the temperature of the phone. If cool, you can probably record for longer. You can though zoom into any video you record. I would suggest using 1080 at 60fps at the concert or just make sure your device is cool before recording in 4k.
I think it's a threshold Sony set for it. If that's correct then removing or increasing this threshold may result in people pushing it too far and damaging their devices.
If it's not a threshold then who knows, there maybe a fix released at some point. Don't forget, the z2 really hasn't got going yet. Sony is still struggling to make it widely available so we may have to wait a few months for any fixes.
I'll wait for the device to cool down completely and retry. I'll come back to you then.
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks loads! haha if it would really take months, the Z3 would be out already(as said by another member above) i still think their 6 months refresh rate is a tad too fast but oh well

Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 11:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------
SexyIceCream said:
thanks loads! haha if it would really take months, the Z3 would be out already(as said by another member above) i still think their 6 months refresh rate is a tad too fast but oh well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the 6 month cycle is disgusting. Nobody benefits from this. Not consumers and not Sony. With all the delays I doubt we'll see z3 until next year. I think z2 compact and possibly z2 ultra are more likely later this year. Sony would just have absolutely no justification for pushing the z3 in September. Even if they do, it'll just be another rough sketch phone like the z1 was. One which I'll surely be skipping and would advise others to do so as well. 6 months is way too short a time to develop a phone. You'll end up with another unrefined rough sketch. Let's be honest, the z1 looks now like an early prototype of the z2. If it was a proper construct, they would have called it the z2. The z1 was the original z. The z1 was a child of pure greed on Sony's part. I'm sure most z1 users will be wishing they'd skipped that device. Doing think there were that many z users who wished they'd waited for the z1 though. We've seen what Sony has to offer for 2014 and you'll realistically have to wait at least a year to any meaningful improvements. Case in point, z2 and z1 have similar camera specs but z2 produces infinitely better results. Why? The z1's camera was just the hardware without the refinements needed. Like I said, it was a rough sketch of what Sony had to come. In my opinion h2 flagships from Sony are nothing but dishonest devices. Sony's basically selling early prototypes to consumers.
Sent from my D6503 using xda app-developers app

Are you guys on the 2.55 or 2.69 firmware? Maybe the 2.69 has some changes to help with the overheating.

Z5C common issues

so guys i`m an owner of z3c a great phone but lacks the build quality and terrible camera...since i broke the screen i`m planing to jump to
samsung galaxy s6 its a premium tbh but i hate samsung.......or z5c both are same price to me....
so i`ve been following the post of Z5c on sony.talk.....and the amount of defected units is way too high..... them blurry images and rarely dead pixles but its more like 7 out of 10 with defected lens .....is it worth it to take the risk and get the z5c? or is there any more bugs found on this phone hope we can discuss it here even though i dont believe the camera is that great even if the phone is not defected

I'll just post my issues with the Z5 Compact:
- Auto-brightness is broken, unlocking the phone with enabled auto-brightness results in a bright display for a couple of seconds --> Sony said that it'll be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update
- Lags and inconsistent performance, disabling X-Reality helped a bit. It just doesn't feel like a fast phone, my old HTC One M8 was flying through the system. My brother has a Nexus 6p with the same processor and it feels much smoother, we compared them side by side (opening apps, loading websites).
- Music and Podcasts from different apps (Spotify, Shuttle+, Pocketcasts) are pausing every now and then (already repaired the phone with PC companion and did a manual factory reset, reformatted my external SD card)
- slow camera launch
- it takes a while to look at a taken picture
- active mobile radio bug --> will be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update, other Marshmallow phones confirmed that
- slow connection to wifi networks (exclamation mark in the statusbar)
- many bloatware apps from Sony (luckily they can be disabled)
Overall im quite disappointed by this phone because of its lackluster firmware performance. I'm hoping Marshmallow fixes the most annoxing bugs (broken auto-brightness is a pain), if not I'm selling it. I like the slim UI, the design of this phone and the camera. My photos are thankfully not blurred.

I've got Z1c, Z5c and S6. If you love small size, Z5c is the only option. The current problem is software not mature, not to the level you can't real use it as a daily driver but enough to annoy you. We are waiting for MM to fix. Me and my friend both owned Z5c and our lens no blur.
S6 two big issues, other than that it's good. First is poor memory management during heavy multi-tasking(light use okay) and second thing is bad color reproduction(over saturation and too much contrast, auto exposure isn't as accurate) compared to Z1c/Z5c. But I know Z3c white balance is quite buggy even worse than Z1/Z2 line.
I always take photo so camera is most important to me and I tend to stick with Z1c/Z5c and going to sell out my S6 soon. But S6 camera is extremely quick and OIS is useful, for the point and shoot purpose no doubt better than Sony but I just can't use it to shoot out any decent photo though S6 camera got little more details but color is too wrong. Casual user may more welcome S6 camera bcoz they just want speedy.
The current problem on Z5 camera is high ISO bad and 4K focus/quality at low-light even worse than my Z1c. But the focus is decent, slightly slower than S6 but blows Z1c/Z3c. Color and exposure is improved too, I'll say the best I've ever seen. However, if the upcoming MM not fix all issues, I'm thinking to stick with Z1c for a little bit more time and wait Z6c/Z7c.

To be honest I expected the z5c to suck when I bought it.
Marshmallow wasn't out yet and to me, it looks like the best strategy for sony would be to release ****ty software because MM update would come soon anyway.
Unfortunately, I'm very dissapointed, I agree that the phone is laggy and tend to get way too hot. Batterylife is worse than Z3C. (I could easily last two days, one day is even an issue on this phone) The MM update should have hit the Z5 family end December at latest.
I still have hopes for MM, if you could wait three weeks I would, let's see how it works out. (but somewhere it already feels like I'm going to get dissapointed, I had such high hopes for Sony but I feel betrayed by them)

30min Wifi Skype call, temperature reached: 50°C.
So consider also that in some situations the phone overheats easily

Wait to see if mm fixes the problems. I went from z3c to z5c. Not very happy. So my tip is to wait for some weeks

KingKonga said:
I'll just post my issues with the Z5 Compact:
- Auto-brightness is broken, unlocking the phone with enabled auto-brightness results in a bright display for a couple of seconds --> Sony said that it'll be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update
- Lags and inconsistent performance, disabling X-Reality helped a bit. It just doesn't feel like a fast phone, my old HTC One M8 was flying through the system. My brother has a Nexus 6p with the same processor and it feels much smoother, we compared them side by side (opening apps, loading websites).
- Music and Podcasts from different apps (Spotify, Shuttle+, Pocketcasts) are pausing every now and then (already repaired the phone with PC companion and did a manual factory reset, reformatted my external SD card)
- slow camera launch
- it takes a while to look at a taken picture
- active mobile radio bug --> will be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update, other Marshmallow phones confirmed that
- slow connection to wifi networks (exclamation mark in the statusbar)
- many bloatware apps from Sony (luckily they can be disabled)
Overall im quite disappointed by this phone because of its lackluster firmware performance. I'm hoping Marshmallow fixes the most annoxing bugs (broken auto-brightness is a pain), if not I'm selling it. I like the slim UI, the design of this phone and the camera. My photos are thankfully not blurred.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From reading the forums it seems to me that the quality of the z5c handsets Sony has put out is pretty uneven, from poor quality control, different build lines, different rev versions or...?
I'm overall happy, no issues of lags, reboots or the like.
Keep mobile data off almost always so not affected by active mobile radio bug, which is really an Android issue more than a Sony issue if I understand it correctly.
No issues with music or podcasts, listen to pods a lot.
No issues with overheating, it does get quite warm occasionally with heavy use but nothing really bothersome. (I don't play games or shoot video.)
Generally happy with camera, no blur issues, no slow launch issues, though watching pictures/launching album from within camera is really slow. I'm not a keen photographer or a very exigent user of the camera, understand from others there are issues of software limiting the hardware. Definitely could do better in low light.
Agree on the bloatware, have disabled most and wish more was possible. Then again, compared to Samsung or most other manufacturers...
So the issues I have are:
- auto brightness bug, common to all z5 and acknowledged by Sony a long time ago. Disappointing it takes months to issue an upgrade or patch.
- wifi management is confusing. Without Stamina mode wifi keeps turning off in standby/sleep, though I have it set to always keep on. With Stamina mode it stays conected?? Seems counterintuitive. Also occasionally it keeps turning off even then, can't understand why?
- I want to keep wifi always on when connected to a known network, off when no network. Previously Sony had a bundled app, Location based wifi, which took care of it and worked really well. Disappointed they no longer include it, after trying several third party apps I believe I have found one that works.
- battery capacity is ok, not great, but only(?) without mobile data on. Regularly get 6+ hours on screen time which isn't bad, more would be better.
- finger print sensor works poorly and irregularly. Apart from not working if fingers are dirty or damp, which is ok and expected, it works poorly in general. I have five fingers saved, it works well with one of them in certain angles, less so with another finger and very poorly on others. Frustratingly, when I press lock key only to look at time without wanting to unlock it often does just that, more frequently than when i do want to unlock.
Size, ergonomics, hardware quality, waterproof certifications - I'm real happy and see few if any competitors on the market. Software could be better and updates much more frequent, but apart from above mentioned issues my phone is quick and snappy, no lags. Pleased with the general UI, but wish more customization was possible and more bloatware was optional or uninstallable.

Regarding poor performance of fingerprint sensor it seems, thanks to michal89chz, that I have found a solution. I had tried to re-register fingerprints before without seeing much of a difference. It seems that registering a fingerprint in all kinds of different angles greatly improves the performance of the sensor, now hit rate has gone up from 4/10 to 9/10. If it keeps up take that off the list of complaints. Though Sony ought to have made it clear in the settings when you first register your prints that this procedure is necessary for a good performance.

Heres my take.
The camera is better than z3c when ready but takes so long to launch that the moment is usually gone long before the phone is ready.
Oh and from time to time the camera won't launch because according to the error message some other app is using it. I've only been able to solve that issue by rebooting adding insult to injury for the already ridiculous camera launch times.
Thats really the only advantage.
It gets way hotter and lags like crazy seemingly at random.
My guess is that Snapdragon 810 is just a piece of **** and I hope Sony makes a z6c with 820 which i will happily buy..
I'm so frustrated that Samsung S7 starts to look good but it's bigger than the HTC One m7 and I found that too big

FlipFlopHHJ said:
Heres my take.
The camera is better than z3c when ready but takes so long to launch that the moment is usually gone long before the phone is ready.
Oh and from time to time the camera won't launch because according to the error message some other app is using it. I've only been able to solve that issue by rebooting adding insult to injury for the already ridiculous camera launch times.
Thats really the only advantage.
It gets way hotter and lags like crazy seemingly at random.
My guess is that Snapdragon 810 is just a piece of **** and I hope Sony makes a z6c with 820 which i will happily buy..
I'm so frustrated that Samsung S7 starts to look good but it's bigger than the HTC One m7 and I found that too big
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Xperia X Performance

About that auto brightness bug, you guys could try Velis Auto Brightness app from Play Store, works great for me.

- Auto Brightness bug here. (I can't believe I'm using Manual Brightness in a 2015 hi-end phone).
- Poor picture quality with the camera with low or medium light and with close/mid pictures, specially close-ups. (In general, the camera is terrible is the worst thing of this phone, the main reason I can't wait to upgrade the phone. Never used flash in two years with my previous phone with HDR+, now I need flash again to see some details at MEDIUM light!!).
- Performance issues, mainly because of Lollipop. But also they'll need to improve the kernel.
----
I do not have any reboots issues, nor temperature problems.

KingKonga said:
I'll just post my issues with the Z5 Compact:
- Auto-brightness is broken, unlocking the phone with enabled auto-brightness results in a bright display for a couple of seconds --> Sony said that it'll be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update
- Lags and inconsistent performance, disabling X-Reality helped a bit. It just doesn't feel like a fast phone, my old HTC One M8 was flying through the system. My brother has a Nexus 6p with the same processor and it feels much smoother, we compared them side by side (opening apps, loading websites).
- Music and Podcasts from different apps (Spotify, Shuttle+, Pocketcasts) are pausing every now and then (already repaired the phone with PC companion and did a manual factory reset, reformatted my external SD card)
- slow camera launch
- it takes a while to look at a taken picture
- active mobile radio bug --> will be fixed in the upcoming Marshmallow update, other Marshmallow phones confirmed that
- slow connection to wifi networks (exclamation mark in the statusbar)
- many bloatware apps from Sony (luckily they can be disabled)
Overall im quite disappointed by this phone because of its lackluster firmware performance. I'm hoping Marshmallow fixes the most annoxing bugs (broken auto-brightness is a pain), if not I'm selling it. I like the slim UI, the design of this phone and the camera. My photos are thankfully not blurred.
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+1 all the above..
Exactly my thoughts. This is the worst phone you can buy.. Mostly due to software issues.. I was trying to record a video. I opened the app and hit record button and i lost initial 10 seconds of the footage. Thats how worst camera launch time is.
It gets way hotter for everyday tasks. I dont game on my phone still super hot. Lags all the time. Multitasking is terrible. Even if i have 3-4 apps running in background i experienced google maps reloading a couple of times which is terrible.
Wifi is slow as well and music pauses randomly as it wishes. Sometimes bluetooth studdering.. I thought battery life was good initially but it became worse.
This is the worst ever phone from sony. I have a z3c before which is way better despite of its short comings

thanks a lot everyone on your replies i`v read it carefully thanks for helping me to decide <3
after today MWC and the the release of X series and the overpriced phones i think its time to step aside from sony but my heart will always be there Thanks for sharing your experience and being 100% honest
i`ll wait till M.M but its also gonna take few weeks according to sony statement today then i`ll come back here and check your feedback it will help everyone

Tinup93 said:
thanks a lot everyone on your replies i`v read it carefully thanks for helping me to decide <3
after today MWC and the the release of X series and the overpriced phones i think its time to step aside from sony but my heart will always be there Thanks for sharing your experience and being 100% honest
i`ll wait till M.M but its also gonna take few weeks according to sony statement today then i`ll come back here and check your feedback it will help everyone
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Click to collapse
if you are going for a Galaxy S6, I'd rather go for a Nexus 5X. You won't have the size and the battery you have with the Z3C....but in everything else is a win. And it's not an expensive phone.
There are no alternatives to the Z5C at the moment in the compact range. It's the only one I'd buy (and I still don't like it).

I don't have lag or overheating. It's quite hot sometimes but still in a manageable level, don't forget every SD810 phone is hot. But I rooted and using Greenify with xposed so I have more free ram than non-root user and I also flashed Tommy-Geenexus's kernel which lower downed the cpu speed to reduce heat. I think MM will improve big.Little cpu for who experienced lag. In my opinions, z1c z5c s6 the battery performance during use is very similar, not as good as z3c but still enough for normal use. My problem on Z5c is battery drain during idle/standby, after flashed the raidoactivefix xposed module been improved but still worse than z1c and s6 at overnight standby.
Some have bluetooth disconnect issues, after used Amplify xposed module to limit a whole beach of wakelock/alarms my Sony MW600 handfree finally suffer from this issue so it may related somethings bad coded to keep DDOS attacking BT devices....lol... On the other hand, my Sony SmartWatch2 seems never get disconnection, maybe smartwatch's cpu is strong enough to defense spam.
What's the most annoyed me is camera. Low light photo is also good but not above 160/200iso range. 200iso already started a bit bad so most people will just said the camera suck. Within 160iso the quality real better than my Z1c, 200 or up my Z1c even performed better in terms of details. My Z1c with 4K mod doing better focus and quality too.
Not real intended to leave Z5c as I like the better screen, white balance and fast focus, I still want to hold Z5c at this time. But since the result is so mixed to me, if MM not fix it, I will stay with Z1c and get some cash back.

I've seen a few issues as well, I've got a white international with no camera blur and no self cracking screen (yet).
I have to have a one thumb phone so my options were limited. I had an s4 mini for going on 3 years, best phone I've ever had. I always wanted to try the z compacts but the z1c didn't have LTE and the z3c had stupid side charging. I gave the z5c a chance with low expectations based on all the negative I heard, and I was still disappointed lol. I will probably be settling with the s5 mini but until I'll be playing with this.
Very short battery life, no replaceable battery, and no wireless charging. Nothing that I didn't know jumping into it but still hard to deal with having to answer calls while on a charger, let alone the heat on my face is almost unbearable at times.
Camera issues are also something I knew before hand, I am coming from an 8mp camera with a broken lens so it's an upgrade to me. But yet the lag has got to be a joke. Right?
Software is kind of cool, reminds me of miui a bit on the notifications, it's miles above touchwiz, and with some xposed tweaks I think I'll really like the home launcher! Root and xposed are a huge deal to me for some of my apps so I'm still carrying my other device for that need while I figure out xposed on the z5 line. I have had a lot of rooted phones and for you guys waiting and relying on a MM update to fix things... I wouldn't and wont be, there will just be new or slightly fixed issues. Happens every time lol
All in all I like the phone, the form is great, button layout I love, and the screen hopefully will not fade out like my other amoleds! Hopefully we can get some cm12 on this platform to play with soon.

E5823 said:
Regarding poor performance of fingerprint sensor it seems, thanks to michal89chz, that I have found a solution. I had tried to re-register fingerprints before without seeing much of a difference. It seems that registering a fingerprint in all kinds of different angles greatly improves the performance of the sensor, now hit rate has gone up from 4/10 to 9/10. If it keeps up take that off the list of complaints. Though Sony ought to have made it clear in the settings when you first register your prints that this procedure is necessary for a good performance.
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Hate quoting myself, but when necessary...
Fingerprint sensor has not kept up performance. Just like when phone was new, it works like a charm for a day or two, then regresses badly. I don't know if problem is hardware or software, and don't much care except I guess the latter would be better - if they ever manage to release an update (that actually improves things without introducing more bugs than were fixed...).
Anyway, the sensor now works slightly better than before I re-registered all prints a couple of days ago. Hit rate is somewhere between 5-6/10 depending on angle and finger, but sometimes much worse. Not great. And no, phone or fingers are not grimy. One advantage of water-almost-proofness is you can wash off phone now and again. I'm guessing intent of including fingerprint sensor was not for user to wash fingers and phone before every interaction?

I sorta like that the fingerprint sensor doesn't catch 100% touches because I read about people who were irritated that they were just trying to check the time and every time ended up unlocking the phone. It doesn't happen with me and I'm very happy with it, I can live with the extra half second it takes to try again.

From my point of view, i'd like to agree that some of issues mentioned above are present. Those are:
-Poor camera quality. For me the camera is not an essential feature, so i don't complain, but it is really nowhere near the flagship-quality, imho
-Fingerprint scanner performance. It seems to be extremely sensitive about its own and finger's cleanness. It can work just fine for a half a day and then it suddenly rejects the fingerprint for several times. This is my first and only android-based device with the scanner, so i can't compare with sony's direct competitors, but i never experienced such issues using any of apple devices with fingerprint sensor.
-Auto-brightness issues are completely described in posts above, i totally agree with all that.
-Software was unstable for a couple of months after sales launched. As i said, i don't often use a camera, but there was just one time in autumn when it was necessary for me to record a video. And z5c captured no sound at all. The mic that time was not functional at any applications, and i noticed this an hour later when a person who called me could hear no sound from my side. That was extremely disappointing. Some random reboots were present in early versions of firmware too. It get much better and more stable these days, but some minor software issues can still be noticed now and then.
And then here comes the major issue of them all: z5c just doesn't like winter. It was about -10 celsius outside, and i was there for a couple of hours with a phone in the pocket of my jacket. When i returned home, i saw that the glass on rear panel had a massive crack:
http://cs630129.vk.me/v630129131/11b31/QE0b_6WL5dU.jpg
And this issue with glasses cracking when temperature is low is present on every sony's device with glass on its back since the original xperia z. Every winter there are dozens of reports about glass-related problems on our local pda forums, sony's local office was awared of the problem, so there were hopes that they will fix it in their latest models. Here comes z5, and nothing changed. Those issues are covered by warranty as long as warranty lasts (1 year usually), so i didn't have to pay for the repair, but it took some time to replace the glass.

My Xperia Z5 review (After 3 months of usage)

Hey there guys I am going to write a simple but very honest review of the Xperia Z5 after owning the device for a little over 3 months. Everything I talk about will be given a score from 1 to 5, 1 being not great and 5 being amazing.
So to start, I purchased the phone in the UK (Belfast is my hometown) and I went with the gold colour. So far the phone has held up very well in terms of durability. The gold colour was definitely my favourite as I was able to get a look at all colours, my decision was either the Green or Gold and I am glad I went with the gold as believe it or not it does get quite a bit of attention! The only thing i'm not so confident in with this colour is the nylon corners look a different shade of gold to the metal frame which looks more of a copper when certain light is on it. However it doesn't bother me too much so I'm still very happy with my colour choice!
For design I would give this phone a 4 out of 5 with the nylon corners being a different colour just edging it out of the perfect 5.
The display on this phone is absolutely fantastic, has to be up there with some of the best displays i've ever seen on a smartphone. Colours are very vibrant and blacks are very deep, with Sony's X Reality engine the screen just pops.
Display gets a solid 5 out of 5 for me.
Software has been quite hit and miss for me, when it was on 5.1.1 Lollipop it was fine with some issues e.g. Auto brightness bug and random bluetooth disconnects with my Moto 360. When I finally got the Marshmallow update it fixed most of the bugs but however I am seeing a problem when I am using the BSP10 Bluetooth Speaker it seems to be skipping a lot when playing music and I am not sure why. Could be a simple fix but i'm not sure!
Software gets a 3 out of 5 just for random bugs and the bluetooth issue.
Performance again with software has been a hit and miss, with the Snapdragon 810 on board the phone powers through almost anything you throw at it, for about 30 minutes at most then the heat issue happens and the phone has to thermal throttle the processor however if just doing simple tasks i.e. Browsing the internet, using Facebook, Youtube etc the phone handles it like a dream.
Performance gets a solid 4 out of 5 for me just with the heat issue not getting it the 5 out of 5.
Battery life has been great on some days and absolutely horrible on some other days. I'm usually averaging 2.5 hours SOT on this phone even after the marshmallow update, best SOT i've had on this is about 4 hours but that was with very light internet browsing. When gaming and the phone gets warm the battery drains like nothing i've seen before, a game I usually play is Geometry Dash and if the phone is on 100% after about 20 minutes its down to about 90% which seems very high battery drain for 20 minutes of usage.
Battery life is a 3 out of 5 just to inconsistent battery performance.
Camera is very good on this phone....if you set it up right. If using the Superior auto mode its hard to get a good shot in my own opinion. The macro focus is very bad too! You have to be a right big of distance away and there still isn't much detail! However take the phone and get a good landscape shot and the camera performs excellently. For landscape photos it's definitely the best camera i've used on a phone.
Camera is a 4 out of 5 just due to the macro focus function.
Overall I love the Sony Xperia Z5, its well designed, the camera is awesome, the audio quality is pretty good, the fact that it's waterproof just gives you a bit more confidence if it gets wet you don't have to worry about it! Yeah there are some niggles with the phone but really everything nowadays had pros and cons! But I would say if you're looking for a well designed, good phone the Z5 is a solid choice!
Hope this review helps some potential buyers! Thanks.

What about fingerprint sensor, i am not satisfied as i wanted to.
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

spaha-bih said:
What about fingerprint sensor, i am not satisfied as i wanted to.
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
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Mine actually worked better in Lollipop rather than Marshmallow, it worked almost every single time I used it however since Marshmallow it does get a lot of misreads.

Good review. I would give similar scores. However, when I first got this phone with Lollipop i was having major issues, battery was horrible, overheating issues, and some other bugs were ruining my experience. When I got MM it seemed everything just magically fixed up (Although I later found out much of my battery woes were due to my Universities WiFi).
Now I have excellent battery life and I can easily get around 4 hrs SOT and sometimes 5+ hrs SOT with the battery lasting me on average 1.5-2 days. Further, I find no more overheating issues and even with extended usage the phone does gets warm, but never hot. Although I don't play graphic intensive games.
I am so happy with my Z5 atm. One of the best phones I have ever owned.
---------- Post added at 11:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------
spaha-bih said:
What about fingerprint sensor, i am not satisfied as i wanted to.
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I personally see no major difference in fingerprint reading between LL and MM. When I first upgraded to MM i did notice a slight increase in the speed and reliability, but after a few weeks, its pretty much is the same. usually its very quick and reliable, but there is that odd few occasions where it just doesn't recognize my finger.

Yes, the same, after upgrading to MM, fingerprint unlocking was noticable fast, but after some time, like it just get worste.
Also the same for heating, my everything was fine at the begining, but after it just get warmer for some reason, and i am on last update.
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