How Sony fails in marketing the XZ Premium! - Sony Xperia XZ Premium Guides, News, & Discussion

For 2 minutes, forget about everything and just imagine an Alien comes to Earth and asks "Hi! I want THE Smartphone with the best specs... Which one should I get?"... A Simple answer is "Xperia XZ Premium". It has the best screen, 4K HDR, Stereo Dual Speakers supporting High Def Audio, can shoot 960 fps at 720p, can shoot 4K HDR at 30 fps, IP68 water resistance, etc... Technically, it's by far the phone with the best specs.
....
And yet, the only thing that we can hear about is Samsung's Note 8 and Apple iPhone 8. And that's because of Sony's bad marketing and absent marketing strategies.
What I will try to explain below is how Sony fails miserably at marketing it's product and even in supporting them.
Btw, my previous phone was the Note 7, and i had to give it back for obvious reasons. Before that I had the xperia mini pro, and before that the xperia mini, and before that a samsung phone. So if one thing is clear, it's that I really can't care less about both companies. It's just a frustration on Sony's weak approach of marketing.
First of all, let see how Samsung handles its marketing.
------------- Samsung:
- The Note 7 exploded because they couldn't fit a Battery into the phone properly. And yet, they didn't even bother Re-branding. They just recalled, apologized and moved on. They even re-released the same phone as Note FE. And the Note 8 is the most expected phone right now. They faced a Tsunami, they didn't even flinch, they just surfed on it.
- Samsung is advertising its S8, S8 plus and Note 8 Infinity Display like they invented some kind of teleportation device. They even came up with the slogan "Unbox Your phone!" cause their latest phones have no bezels, even though they totally have bezels on the top and bottom and very little on the sides. But hey! Who cares! They somehow managed to make everyone jump on the bandwagon and love that useless overly extended display which has no use for media whatsoever.
- Next, Samsung brings a new Resolution! QHD+ Resolution which is 2960 x 1440. Yes. QHD+. And yet... THERE IS NOT EVEN ANY MEDIA FILE AT THAT RESOLUTION!!!! Not one video, not one wallpaper, nothing. There's no media for that Resolution. Even QHD is not a widely adopted resolution. 4K is by far more popular. But Samsung doesn't care. The S8 and S8 Plus show digital bezels to play any media with usual resolutions. You could fit the media to the screen but then you will lose some top and bottom pixels on your image or video. But does Samsung care? Does anyone care? Of course not. It's Marketing. "Hey! We brought more Pixels! It's QHD+". That's exactly like Apple's "Retina Display". Just name a Resolution and make it sound like you invented something new, although it's completely useless.
- Samsung bought Harman. You know the company that excels in Audio. So you'd expect that the Note 8 will come with excellent Dual Speakers for better audio experience right? Well, of course not. The Note 8 will come with the same useless speaker they use on any of their device since Samsung was founded. But instead, what they will do is make you pay more for the Note 8 cause they added earbuds. Harman earbuds. The Note 8 new feature: Harman earbuds we put next to it. It could have been worse though. They could have put the earbuds IN the Note 8 itself. Oh! They already did something like that with a Stylus.
- The S-Pen. If you like the Note, it's because of the S-Pen right? You'd think "yeah the S-Pen is awesome. Very productive tool, you can draw, etc...". Well, did you know that ALL the features of the S-Pen (like the 4096 pressures sensitivity) actually belong to the S-Pen itself? And that the Note, neither its display, has nothing to do with it? Think of it like Samsung is selling you a Stylus, but makes the Note look like a whole unit with the S-Pen just because they opened a hole inside to put the pen in it. And guess what you have less of, because of that pen? Less battery. Ask yourself this. Imagine you have a smartphone like the note, and they tell you, "hey, buy this stylus. It's useful. But we will open your phone, take some features out and put the pen inside cause we dont want you to carry it in your pocket". What would you say? But if a marketing manager elaborates the principle and put it differently, you'd say "YEAH!". (Even I did. I bought the Note 7 cause of that Pen).
And that's Samsung for you. Marketing. They are no different than Apple. They sell you yesterday's technology, and tell you that it's the new hot thing and you should buy it. If you're not a Tech enthusiast, you will fall for it easy. (Ok. They're not as bad as Apple. But still, every year they get closer and closer to Apple's marketing strategy).
Now it's time to see how Sony handle things...
----------------- Sony:
(where to start...)
- 4K HDR Display. Everywhere on the internet you will read "4K useless on a phone, you can't see the difference between a 4k and a HD display". You will read "LCD is not good for VR because of this and that". Both of these statements are false.
First let start with the 4K perceivable or not: Once you watched a 4K video on the XZ premium, you know you saw the difference. You know. Anyone that watched a video on the XZP knows. But does any other person on the planet know? Of course not. Why? Cause Sony didn't bother telling them. I mean, look at Samsung's new slogan for the Note 8: "Do bigger things". "Unbox Your Phone". So where's Sony's Slogan for the 4K Display? Where is the marketing strategy pushing the idea that 4K on a phone is not only perceivable, but it's now essential and if your phone doesn't have it, it's garbage cause you will miss all the media of the world. Even Youtube is 4K now! Well, Sony didn't bother. They just don't care. So no Slogan. Nothing. The only thing they could come up with is "4K HDR looks nice, please buy our phone".
Second, let see how the XZP does in VR and what is the fuss about LCD and VR. Samsung is pushing VR like a pregnant woman giving birth to twins. And yet, their QHD+ resolution is still weak for a VR headset. But the Xperia XZ Premium has a 4K Display. And once you try 4K VR, you understand that 4K is THE Resolution VR needs. And that rumor which says "LCD Display is no good for VR" is completely false. You understand it when you try and see it. But let say you couldn't try it to see it for yourself. Then here's a piece of information that will help you know. Pimax (which is a VR company that designs VR headsets for PC, competing with Occulus and HTC) is now releasing a VR headset with 8K resolution. The Display they use is an LCD display.
So, all these said. What has Sony have to say about that? You'd expect a Sony VR Headset and a lot of noise on that awesome 4K VR. I am sure you all tried 4K VR with a 3rd party headset right? You'd think Sony would push the XZP VR capabilities even further. Well they don't. Sony just doesn't like doing things. It's boring for them.
Maybe you may think "Yeah but Samsung has Occulus behind them". True. But I wonder what Sony has in their own ecosystem... Hmmmm... What was that thing called again? PLAYSTATION? and even Playstation VR with many VR titles???? But no. Sony wouldn't do that. It would be wrong to advertise the most capable Smartphone in the market and support it with its own ecosystem. Let 3rd party software and headsets worry about VR and all. Sony doesn't even need compliance with Google Daydream. They're fine. Leave Sony alone.
- Stereo Dual Speakers supporting High Definition Audio. Of course Sony puts only the best in its phone. As a hardware. But what about the software? I mean, if there was a volume problem with these speakers, Sony would immediately remedy that right? Right? RIGHT? Cause they support their product and care right? Naaaah. Just go to the google playstore and find some 3rd party app to increase that volume you are so fond of. Don't bother Sony!
- Sony has the best camera sensors. Even Samsung buys Sony camera sensors. And in the XZP they put an excellent Camera that can shoot 960fps at 720p. And 4k HDR at 30 fps. But what if somehow, their awesome, (no sarcasm), wide lens had such a distortion, (which is completely normal btw), that some may see it as an issue? Cause you know that a wide angle camera that tries to get anything will obviously distort the image and this must be fixed with a software right? RIGHT? I mean Sony would have thought to code a proper software for that... Right? Of course not. Forget about that, they don't even advertise there slow motion camera properly. Why would they care about that? Instead, enjoy a nice paragraph where Sony explains that this distortion is normal and acceptable in the current market. Of course writing 1 paragraph is way easier than writing codes and then updating the phone etc... Stop annoying Sony with your useless demands.
- Sony has the best possible ecosystem any phone manufacturer would dream of. Samsung's Occulus? Laught at that. Sony has PLAYSTATION! Yes. I don't know if you heard of it, but Playstation belongs to Sony. I specifically write it down, because if you know Sony only from the Xperia phones, than you may not have heard about that. You see, Samsung automatically starts the Occulus app when you put it in the GearVR which is a Samsung Headset made in collaboration with Occulus. They do it so you feel like their VR experience belongs to an ecosystem. Does Sony's Playstation, which belongs to "Sony", (no really, it does), collaborated with the Xperia department, (which also belongs to Sony), to push VR headsets on Xperia devices and completely destroy any competition because they have like all the titles they need? No. Sony doesn't care about that. They don't like to do... things. They have enough money. Stop annoying them with your nonsense childish requests.
- Forget about VR. Sony has an excellent service called Playstation Now, which streams PS3 games onto your PC. They could easily make it available on any Xperia device. How I know that? Cause a company called Liquidsky is now doing it with PC Games. Yes you can play streamed PC games on your android. And no, there's no latency. I played and finished a PS3 Sony exclusive title called "Beyond two souls" on my windows 10 laptop. Yes I streamed the game from a country that is not supported by the Playstation Now cause its too far, and played and finished the game with almost zero latency. So will Sony bring that to the XPZ or any other Xperia device? Of course not. Sony doesn't like to do... things. It's boring to them. They'd have to make an APP for that. Oh oh oh slow down. They already made an App for PC last year. It's not like they gonna make an app every year for a different device!
------------------------------------ Conclusion:
If Samsung had released a 4K Device with dual speakers, and had a department called Playstation I can't tell you what would happen to the world: Samsung would declare that they now possess the Korean government and would start to engulf neighboring countries. And no one would resist them cause everyone would be too busy playing 4K Playstation games in VR on their Note 13 devices.
Sony's marketing is so terrible and misses so many opportunities that even that Alien mentioned earlier would think that Samsung makes better phones and would opt for that S8 Plus cause it has a big display.
I am sure that there are many many so called "Logical" and "Rational" explanations why Sony fails so bad in marketing. But it doesn't matter, cause they are just failing and I don't think that Disney will come and fix their next Xperia phone for them.

Quote from OP:
Sony's marketing is so terrible and misses so many opportunities that even that Alien mentioned earlier would think that Samsung makes better phones and would opt for that S8 Plus cause it has a big display.
I am sure that there are many many so called "Logical" and "Rational" explanations why Sony fails so bad in marketing. But it doesn't matter, cause they are just failing and I don't think that Disney will come and fix their next Xperia phone for them.
—-------------------------------------------- end of quote.
I agree with this. In fact the last form of advertising that I remember seeing relating to an Xperia phone was at a Tmobile store and that was a dunk tank with a Z3 (I think). It's a shame too because Sony phones are consistently awesome.
The real problem now rearing it's ugly head is the lack of VoLTE calling and WIFI calling compatibility (US). This is a great reponse to your "Galaxy 8" statements. Why would average consumers choose a less compatible phone and what would motivate a sales associate to sell a less compatible phone.(US again) I honestly can't say that I would.

The fan fact is that Sony has the most pattents in VR technology but still haven't released any VR Headset for the XZ Premium. This is very sad because this was the very purpose of this device.

Regardless how they handle marketing I will continue to buy Sony products because there's simply no other phone that can beat Sony.

You know I find your post very special AND interesting! And I need to say that I'm a huge Xperia fan (since the Z) but I mostly agree with what you write. There are indeed some mysteries in their way of handling what they do. I feel like they have the expertise and skill -maybe the best of the world!- to manufacture top-end components and devices but once this is done they have no idea how to manage all of this. Somehow like an "autistic savant" (not sure how to make it sound like in french ) but they obviously need to hire competent poeple for after the production. I find it crazy that many people around me even don't know what Sony exactly does, let alone smartphone.. and yet for me too, they just do the best! But with something like this, the odds are good that it will be rather low succesful (I wouldn't too buy a flagship from a brand I almost only know they build cameras and TV..)
You still didn't mention some other things like dual SIM, stereo recording, camera button, quick capture (with lockscreen bypass!), noise cancelation, LDAC, DSEE HX, S-Force, PS4 remote, side fingerprint sensor, etc.. (even mirror:victory when you put the S8 vs the XZP. Then you said something pretty interesting with the VR (I actually opened the "Daydream" thread here) and I wish to know more about this, really.

Aerocap said:
You know I find your post very special AND interesting! And I need to say that I'm a huge Xperia fan (since the Z) but I mostly agree with what you write. There are indeed some mysteries in their way of handling what they do. I feel like they have the expertise and skill -maybe the best of the world!- to manufacture top-end components and devices but once this is done they have no idea how to manage all of this. Somehow like an "autistic savant" (not sure how to make it sound like in french ) but they obviously need to hire competent poeple for after the production. I find it crazy that many people around me even don't know what Sony exactly does, let alone smartphone.. and yet for me too, they just do the best! But with something like this, the odds are good that it will be rather low succesful (I wouldn't too buy a flagship from a brand I almost only know they build cameras and TV..)
You still didn't mention some other things like dual SIM, stereo recording, camera button, quick capture (with lockscreen bypass!), noise cancelation, LDAC, DSEE HX, S-Force, PS4 remote, side fingerprint sensor, etc.. (even mirror:victory when you put the S8 vs the XZP. Then you said something pretty interesting with the VR (I actually opened the "Daydream" thread here) and I wish to know more about this, really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, I completely forgot about half the features you mentioned and didn't know about the other half! That's Sony for you!
About the Daydream VR, i went to your original thread to answer you!

I've always wondered why Sony don't do any marketing for their new phones - I saw ads for the S8 and iPhone whatever everywhere but nothing for the Sony phones (at least here in Australia anyways)

Sony Mobile should takes some marketing courses at Playstation division.

@nomailx You are in here all the time complaining about Sony and misunderstanding features that this phone has. Look at all this tl;dr... why you rant to us? Go rant this to Sony in an email or something.

Related

Why I Chose The Xperia Z and not HTC One

I've posted this before on the Xperia Z reviews thread, however, I've been reading lots of posts about the Xperia Z vs the HTC One and I'd thought I'd share my opinions on the Xperia Z and why I chose it instead of the HTC One. I've modified some information in the review to tell you more about why I chose the Z. The original can be found here: [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40061336#post40061336]
My Honest Sony Xperia Z Review
Why I Chose The Xperia Z
I had the Xperia Z for a month or so and I'm ready to make my review on it. I was up for an upgrade last month(March) and was browsing through phones that may appeal to me. I am coming from an iPhone 5. In the end, there were only 3 phones that caught my eye. The Xperia Z, the HTC One and the HTC Butterfly, or Droid DNA in the USA. The Butterfly was the first to go as it lacked LTE and NFC. The Xperia Z and the HTC One remained. Luckily, I found a HTC One demo unit in one of the Carriers, Singtel(Plaza Singapura if any fellow Singaporeans wanna check it out). Well hidden in a corner, I should say and it was the Black one. At the same time, The Xperia Z just launched like, 2 days ago(At that time). Picking up the HTC One, I realized how solid it feels, and boy, premium was written all over it. I turned it on and played around with the software. It was good, lag-free and looks great. I tried the camera and I have to say it was horrible. No joke. It was not clear and most details looks fuzzy. Maybe thats just me, but it really looks not on par with phone cameras these days. Sense 5.0 was alright, it was clean and fresh from the previous Sense versions. BlinkFeed was just a Flipboard like widget on the homescreen. Sense 5.0 does looks nice, but it was not for me. I am also afraid of the build of the phone. I am a careless person. I have to admit. My iPhone 5 was covered in scuffs and dents all over the place. Having the full aluminium body makes me shudder every time I imagine dropping it. Wanted to know more but the HTC rep was nowhere to be seen. Next, I went to the Xperia Z demo unit. The Sony Xperia rep there gave me a run through on the specs and features. I was actually pretty impressed and excited by the fact I could take my phone to the shower and use it while showering. To me, what it means by having a good phone is having a good experience. When I picked up the phone, I immediately realized how realistic the colors looked when playing video and viewing images. Outside of that, it looked rather dark. The design was sexy. REALLY sexy. It felt extremely good in the hand and is durable. VERY durable. Dropped it a few times and not a scratch. The thing that closed the deal was the UI. I like the stock UI. In fact, I love it. The Xperia Z's UI is extremely close to stock. The Nexus 4 is not available here, so it was out of the question. The UI is neat, smooth and looked fabulous. Unlike HTC's Sense 5.0, which is an extremely heavy skin and does not appeal to me. With the water resistance, it was clear which is the phone for me. I hope after reading my review, you'll know which phone to get. We are all brothers here at XDA Developers and I hope that whichever phone we use, we may contribute to the developer community and not flame each other because of our personal preferences. XDA Developers is a place for developers, by developers. Lets not let our choice of phone affect that.
The Beauty Meets The Beast
The Xperia Z packs a SnapDragon S4 Pro Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor, Adreno 320 GPU and runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. It sports an all glass design, similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The Xperia Z has excellent build quality and looks absolutely fantastic. The ports are covered by flaps, which may prove to be an annoyance for some but with good purpose. The most prominent feature of the Xperia Z is probably the on/off button. Its large, and ridiculously well placed. It stands where the thumb rests on the phone, or the index finger if you're using your left hand and is incredibly convenient to press compared to the stretch you'd have to make on other phones. Below that is the volume rocker, also easy to access when needed. The speakers are indeed placed in a horrible position, as its easy to mute with your palm unintentionally but its not an issue for me as I use my phone with my left hand.
Overall, the design turns heads and the hardware don't fail to deliver. Feels solid in the hand, BUT might be a problem for people with small hands as it may cut into it and make it uncomfortable. Very, very impressive Sony.
User Interface
Sony's UI is probably the closes you can get to stock android, and I love it. It's simple, nothing fancy and neat, although, I'd like a Black theme rather then the Grey. There are some UI lags here and there though. The lack of Android 4.2.2 also disappoints me a little but its coming, and I'll wait for it. After all, Good things come to those who wait.
Performance Powerhouse
Lag is a thing of the past with the SnapDragon S4 Pro as everything is buttery smooth, with minor UI lags here and there. Problem solved with one of the launchers. I've also noticed a little waiting time when launching the camera. Games run smoothly and without issue, not to mention looks AWESOME on the Full HD display. Although, I'd prefer to see the SnapDragon 600 on the Xperia Z as a future proof maneuver as games get increasingly power hungry.
Camera, Video and Screen
Video playback is amazing on the Xperia Z, as a result of the Full HD 1080p screen. Words are crisp and I rarely see any pixels other then low-res images. The Camera doesn't disappoint either with a 13MP back camera and a 2.1MP front facing camera. Both camera film 1080p videos as well so vlogging on the phone will definitely be great. However, I did notice that the colors are not on par with other phones and look rather dark. The Bravia Mobile Engine 2 does help and actually make the colors extremely realistic, but only when viewing images and videos. Low contrast ratio here doesn't help either. Had no issue using the phone in daylight. The viewing angles are GREAT. Only having some colors being washed out, I don't see any issue with viewing angles. Even if there is an issue with viewing angles, who cares? Nobody, NOBODY uses their phones 90 degrees unless you're a total idiot.
Connectivity
No issues here. LTE, NFC. What else could you ask for? Have to say though, kudos to Sony on having a campaign on promoting NFC usage and even launching new TVs with NFC compatibility. Wi-Fi is great, only had issue when it keeps dropping on free public Wi-Fi access points. But hey, free Wi-Fi, who knows. No issues with the Wi-Fi at home.
Its Music To My Ears
I listen to music. A lot. Everyday to and fro school, when travelling, heck, even when I'm bored. The bundled headset, The MH-EX300AP is AWESOME in providing high quality sounds. Sony also has ClearAudio+, which is like Beats Audio on the HTC, makes the experience all the more awesome. You can say its like having an orgasm in your ears. Eargasm if i may.
Speaker & Microphone Quality
The speaker, is actually quite the disappointment as number one, its placed in a horrible position. Next, its not as loud as I'd like it to be. There's xLoud, but it sacrifices quality for volume. Considering the quality without xLoud, I'd rather have it disabled. Lastly, as said before, the quality isn't all that great. However, I got the NFC Wireless Speaker, The SRS-BTV5 for free, which solves all the above issues, thus no complaints from me. But its kinda inconvenient to carry a speaker around with you all the time, so yeah. It is an issue.
Call quality is great, however. I can hear the other party clearly and they can hear me clearly too. No issues with dropped calls.
The Xperia Z Runs Far, With Great Stamina
I start my day at 4:30AM and end at 6PM. With 80% battery left. Stamina mode is no gimmick, it really does help with the battery life. Awesome battery life. If the screen is mostly off that is, which is usually the case. I find that if LTE is enabled, battery drains extremely fast, which makes me resort to using HSPA+, which isn't that all bad in my country. HSPA+ use nearly 3 times as less battery then LTE on my set. Location Based Wi-Fi is AWESOME. Its really cool to have your Wi-Fi turn off automatically when you leave the house and turns on then you're back. Not to mention the convenience. The phone will probably last me 2 days or so, but I still charge it every night anyway. Don't we all do?
Prepared For Accidents
The Xperia Z is IP57 certified - dust and water resistant with water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes. Let's be honest here. We all had times where we wished we could take our phones into the shower or bathtub. That wish is now fulfilled. I take the Xperia Z into the shower with me everyday and text or watch YouTube videos while showering. When the phone is dirty? No sweat. Rinse it under washing water. Now you also do not have to worry about dropping your phone into the water or bring it camping in the desert(whatever the reason LOL). Plus, you can wow your friends or freak your parents out by pouring water on the phone or dunk it into a glass of water. Heck, even take it swimming. Be careful about salt water though, Sony does not recommend dunking it in salt water. With Wet Finger Tracking technology, you don't have to dry your hands to use your phone, although it does get a little jumpy at times. The phone is also quite durable as I've dropped the phone a few time and there's not a scratch. That a plus as I'm usually very careless.
Take note that the phone disables touch input while underwater so, no texting while swimming.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia Z is a great phone. Its not for everybody, and it has it's fair shares of ups and downs. I am throughly satisfied with it and do not regret not waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One. Its great for the average user and is definitely good enough for me. The water and dust resistance is not necessary but its nice to have. Its smooth, provide great music listening, plays games like a champ. I would recommend it to anybody, but hey, its your call. You have the decision to which phone is right for you and nobody can force you to take the Xperia Z or any phone for the matter. For me, I made my choice, and I have no regrets whatsoever.
Therefore, I dare say: I'M A PROUD SONY XPERIA Z OWNER
Thank you for taking your precious time to read my review. I'm still a noob, and I hope I may be more useful to the developer community here.
P.s Feedback on my review?
Thanks for your input. I suggest you take a look at the AnandTech review of the HTC One and you'll find the camera is excellent, if not the best available. I really like my Z but I find it unrealistic to say the camera is better if Sony doesn't fix the extreme post-processing. In low-light conditions the One wins hands down. Not so weird with optical image stabilization and pixels that are twice as big.
I'd suggest taking a picture (in auto mode) of a tree or bush at lets say 2-3 meters distance and then look at the picture at 100%. You'll see it's smeared out. Funny thing is, try the same in burst and you'll see it looks MUCH better.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2221246
Great review. I agree with most parts.
Only issues for me with Z, which are a real shame to me, are the mic and ear piece speakers which do not provide the best call clarity, callers and myself experience weird overprocessed sound and issues when on calls, but they are minor, and the waterproofing accounts for this I imagine.
The only other issue for me, which again is a big shame considering the phone is made by Sony, is the music quality.
The music through the earphones is far too quiet, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired.
Say what you will about Beats audio on HTC phones, but the HTC One X beats the Z into the ground on volume and sound quality.
One X has no distortion at volume levels twice that of the Z! Max volume on the Z is around 30% too quiet, and the sound quality
is a little underwhelming, with the EQ having a strange volume limiting effect on walkman player.
Aside from those, and the little lags on the phone, which occur not only in the launcher, but also in the UI such as apps and settings menu's etc, the phone is great.
Knowing me, I will love the Z for a while, but then the little issues will grow louder and louder until deafening and i'll have to go off again in search of greener pastures.
HTC One is looking good, barring the sub standard camera.
I wasn't interested in the One, till I saw on in the shop yesterday, compared the speed (which is lag free and superfast), and a HD movie on Youtube side by side with my Z and was left open mouthed at how much better the One was in those departments.
Great review ! Some of things i don't understand ( and i've seen this a couple of times already ) are :
1. If you don't like the UI of any android phone there are Launchers . I , for example , don't like the sony launcher . No problem , i went with Nova launcher wich is as closest to stock as I can get. I'm sure you could have done the same on the One.
2.It's an open comunity => I flashed mine with Purexaudio mod and now my loudspeaker is too damn loud on max haha ! ( no bootloader unlocked , just rooted )
_JT said:
Thanks for your input. I suggest you take a look at the AnandTech review of the HTC One and you'll find the camera is excellent, if not the best available. I really like my Z but I find it unrealistic to say the camera is better if Sony doesn't fix the extreme post-processing. In low-light conditions the One wins hands down. Not so weird with optical image stabilization and pixels that are twice as big.
I'd suggest taking a picture (in auto mode) of a tree or bush at lets say 2-3 meters distance and then look at the picture at 100%. You'll see it's smeared out. Funny thing is, try the same in burst and you'll see it looks MUCH better.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2221246
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have to say the Z has excellent low light capabilities when flash is not required. I am not impressed with HTC one camera or samples at all and have read reviews that rubbish the HTC One camera.
As for burst mode, I have never ever been able to get anything buy a noisy image out of it, and it offers zero improvement in clarity. Interestingly, my pics are generally pin sharp when HDR is off.
The HTC One blurs trees in the distance though.
Thanks for that. I am deciding between the One and Z, and slightly leaning towards the Z at the moment. I do like HTC and Sense UI but then I like what Sony has done too. The Zoe features on the One do look good, but I am sure I could find alternative apps to do similar things, albeit not integrated like on the One.
I do like to flash different ROMs my phones so I guess it might come down to what has the biggest development support.
L0cke said:
Thanks for that. I am deciding between the One and Z, and slightly leaning towards the Z at the moment. I do like HTC and Sense UI but then I like what Sony has done too. The Zoe features on the One do look good, but I am sure I could find alternative apps to do similar things, albeit not integrated like on the One.
I do like to flash different ROMs my phones so I guess it might come down to what has the biggest development support.
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Hmm... Then I would recommend the Xperia Z. Its bootloader is easily unlockable. But if you prefer the HTC One, there's the Developer edition that ships with the bootloader unlocked, but its not on contract, so you might have to pay more as there are no Carrier subsidies.
biffsmash said:
I would have to say the Z has excellent low light capabilities when flash is not required. I am not impressed with HTC one camera or samples at all and have read reviews that rubbish the HTC One camera.
As for burst mode, I have never ever been able to get anything buy a noisy image out of it, and it offers zero improvement in clarity. Interestingly, my pics are generally pin sharp when HDR is off.
The HTC One blurs trees in the distance though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! When I take an image with the HTC One, details that are in the background isn't very clear and is noisy. Glad to see that someone has the same opinion as me. As for the Xperia Z, I usually use it in Superior Auto and under 9MP. Images are very clear while burst mode are just blurry images.
fookea said:
Great review ! Some of things i don't understand ( and i've seen this a couple of times already ) are :
1. If you don't like the UI of any android phone there are Launchers . I , for example , don't like the sony launcher . No problem , i went with Nova launcher wich is as closest to stock as I can get. I'm sure you could have done the same on the One.
2.It's an open comunity => I flashed mine with Purexaudio mod and now my loudspeaker is too damn loud on max haha ! ( no bootloader unlocked , just rooted )
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Click to collapse
True, but then again, whats the point of buying the particular brand or model then? Why not go for the one that has the best specs. Just my 2 cents.
Gonna try Purexaudio. Thanks
biffsmash said:
Great review. I agree with most parts.
Only issues for me with Z, which are a real shame to me, are the mic and ear piece speakers which do not provide the best call clarity, callers and myself experience weird overprocessed sound and issues when on calls, but they are minor, and the waterproofing accounts for this I imagine.
The only other issue for me, which again is a big shame considering the phone is made by Sony, is the music quality.
The music through the earphones is far too quiet, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired.
Say what you will about Beats audio on HTC phones, but the HTC One X beats the Z into the ground on volume and sound quality.
One X has no distortion at volume levels twice that of the Z! Max volume on the Z is around 30% too quiet, and the sound quality
is a little underwhelming, with the EQ having a strange volume limiting effect on walkman player.
Aside from those, and the little lags on the phone, which occur not only in the launcher, but also in the UI such as apps and settings menu's etc, the phone is great.
Knowing me, I will love the Z for a while, but then the little issues will grow louder and louder until deafening and i'll have to go off again in search of greener pastures.
HTC One is looking good, barring the sub standard camera.
I wasn't interested in the One, till I saw on in the shop yesterday, compared the speed (which is lag free and superfast), and a HD movie on Youtube side by side with my Z and was left open mouthed at how much better the One was in those departments.
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The mic and speakers are alright to me though. Maybe its just me. About the earphones, yeah, they are kinda soft, but loud enough for me. They output the same volume level as I had set before on the iPhone 5 when I was using it. I don't really like my music loud. About Beats Audio, I did not say anything bad about it? I was trying to explain that the ClearAudio+ is similar to Beats Audio on HTC phones that is just a setting that you enable/disable. Don't get me wrong, Beats audio is great. I agree with the little UI lags on the Xperia Z. Its kinda irritating? I don't know. But it does annoy me a little. About the HTC One, yes, its a fast phone, but Sense 5.0 is not for me and no, I won't use launchers. Period. The screen is better? I don't know. Thats what reviews and people that own it say. It actually doesn't matter to me, at least. As long as the screen looks great, who cares if there are other better ones out there. I like my Xperia Z screen just fine, thank you. Call me dumb, but this is just my opinion. And the above is YOUR opinion, and I respect that. Everyone have different views on different phones.
Thanks for letting me know what you think
_JT said:
Thanks for your input. I suggest you take a look at the AnandTech review of the HTC One and you'll find the camera is excellent, if not the best available. I really like my Z but I find it unrealistic to say the camera is better if Sony doesn't fix the extreme post-processing. In low-light conditions the One wins hands down. Not so weird with optical image stabilization and pixels that are twice as big.
I'd suggest taking a picture (in auto mode) of a tree or bush at lets say 2-3 meters distance and then look at the picture at 100%. You'll see it's smeared out. Funny thing is, try the same in burst and you'll see it looks MUCH better.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2221246
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Hmm... Sure, I'll have a look. In my experience, I find the Xperia Z camera to be better then the HTC One. The Xperia Z takes great pictures. Details are present even far in the background, unlike the HTC One, which is just a fuzzy mess. Maybe its the particular model that I tried out. I'm just content with my Xperia Z camera now. Thanks for sharing your view
Great reviews. I like sony smartphone's special interface very much, and as well as its music. But I just want to experience the Ultrapixel camera of HTC One.
Good review. I did a similar SWOT analysis between the HTC One, the Sony Xperia Z and the HTC Butterfly and finally bought the Xperia Z. Here's the link for those who'd like to see and decide (or comment).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2171584
Dead cookies leave no trails...
I am wondering how many people here that say their pictures with the HTC One looks worse actually own the device and have tested it extensively instead of just a quick pic in the store.
biffsmash said:
I would have to say the Z has excellent low light capabilities when flash is not required. I am not impressed with HTC one camera or samples at all and have read reviews that rubbish the HTC One camera.
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Maybe this is interesting to see: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_software_update_improves_camera_performance-news-5759.php
biffsmash said:
The only other issue for me, which again is a big shame considering the phone is made by Sony, is the music quality.
The music through the earphones is far too quiet, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired.
Say what you will about Beats audio on HTC phones, but the HTC One X beats the Z into the ground on volume and sound quality.
One X has no distortion at volume levels twice that of the Z! Max volume on the Z is around 30% too quiet, and the sound quality
is a little underwhelming, with the EQ having a strange volume limiting effect on walkman player.
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I totally disagree on this point. The quality I've heard from the XZ surpasses every phone (In my opinion) If you're having some issues regarding the sound try out the sound mods in the dev section.
About the volume itself: I'm biking each day to work with music on (earpiece) and most of the times I don't even come near the 75% mark of volume and even then i hear everything perfect. So that's while the wind is blowing in/over my ear. I've heard some more people complain about the volume itself, each time I read it, I ask myself: What have these people been doing to their ears that they find the sound too low, or either you're all 60+ (No offense).
So if you haven't tried any of the sound mods, I'd say do so, it might change your mind. Each and every day I'm amazed about the sound quality.
Sounds mods (require root):
[SOUNDMOD] PureXAudio v10.1
AC!D Audio Engine v2
Dsteppa said:
I totally disagree on this point. The quality I've heard from the XZ surpasses every phone (In my opinion) If you're having some issues regarding the sound try out the sound mods in the dev section.
About the volume itself: I'm biking each day to work with music on (earpiece) and most of the times I don't even come near the 75% mark of volume and even then i hear everything perfect. So that's while the wind is blowing in/over my ear. I've heard some more people complain about the volume itself, each time I read it, I ask myself: What have these people been doing to their ears that they find the sound too low, or either you're all 60+ (No offense).
So if you haven't tried any of the sound mods, I'd say do so, it might change your mind. Each and every day I'm amazed about the sound quality.
Sounds mods (require root):
[SOUNDMOD] PureXAudio v10.1
AC!D Audio Engine v2
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After your and biffsmash posts I got curious. Quickly tried my Jamo in-ears and AKG DJ619. Result: Jamo's were VERY loud and max volume on the AKG was just about enough, really wouldn't want any louder than that. Not sure wether I heard distortion but this was streamed, need to listen to good quality recordings first before I can judge sound quality. From what I can remember from my HOX it wasn't really louder.
Dannyada1988 said:
Great reviews. I like sony smartphone's special interface very much, and as well as its music. But I just want to experience the Ultrapixel camera of HTC One.
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Be sure to drop by your local Carrier retail store to check it out!
Cookie Ninja said:
Good review. I did a similar SWOT analysis between the HTC One, the Sony Xperia Z and the HTC Butterfly and finally bought the Xperia Z. Here's the link for those who'd like to see and decide (or comment).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2171584
Dead cookies leave no trails...
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Thanks! I'll take a look at your post as well.
_JT said:
I am wondering how many people here that say their pictures with the HTC One looks worse actually own the device and have tested it extensively instead of just a quick pic in the store.
Maybe this is interesting to see: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_software_update_improves_camera_performance-news-5759.php
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That is good to hear for HTC One users and potential owners. Its actually pretty bad. I spent 30mins at the store checking it out. But that's before the update though. Maybe its much better now
Well I am using Xperia Z for 4-5 day's now.. It's really beautiful phone and if I can say - something different for me..
After years of using Galaxy ( S, S2, S3, Note 2) I decided to switch to Sony for the first time.. Some things are different, but I was able to do those simple things root/CWM.. (And that all I know how to do, but again those are most important things for me).. I don't want to play with those bootloaders because I don't know what it's doing and I can f..k up my phone - so no ROM's for me now..
What I don't like about phone (or where I am little disappointed) :
SOUND is too low on max volume.. On my Galaxy I could never put it on max volume.. Here on max volume is just - pfff... weak..
(Headphones which come with phone - REALLY STUPID not having volume up/down, so you have to take your phone every time when you want to change volume.. That cord on right earphone sooo long, on the left so short - annoying... )
CAMERA - I did't use it for this couple of day's - but I was looking here on XDA thread with Xpera Z images/photos... VERY disappointing.. Photos are just NOT SHARP at all.. Only thing that I am hoping for is that Sony will fix that with some software update.. Because you can't tell me that one SONY whose sensor has been used by so many other phones - can't make its camera perfect (at least better than competition)..
Those are things for now that I can see.. But as I said I am using this phone only for couple of days now - will see..
_JT said:
Maybe this is interesting to see: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_software_update_improves_camera_performance-news-5759.php
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Might wanna look at this
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_vs_xperia_z-review-917p9.php
Winner: Sony Xperia Z. The color rendering and HDR could have been better, but if Sony tweaks its image processing algorithms, the Xperia Z can put out some pretty good shots. Even as things stand now though, it has an advantage over the HTC One.
The HTC One enjoys a wider FoV, better color accuracy HDR, but the low 4MP resolution limits the resolved detail and image noise eats further into it.
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PokerFaze said:
I've posted this before on the Xperia Z reviews thread, however, I've been reading lots of posts about the Xperia Z vs the HTC One and I'd thought I'd share my opinions on the Xperia Z and why I chose it instead of the HTC One. I've modified some information in the review to tell you more about why I chose the Z. The original can be found here: [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40061336#post40061336]
My Honest Sony Xperia Z Review
Why I Chose The Xperia Z
I had the Xperia Z for a month or so and I'm ready to make my review on it. I was up for an upgrade last month(March) and was browsing through phones that may appeal to me. I am coming from an iPhone 5. In the end, there were only 3 phones that caught my eye. The Xperia Z, the HTC One and the HTC Butterfly, or Droid DNA in the USA. The Butterfly was the first to go as it lacked LTE and NFC. The Xperia Z and the HTC One remained. Luckily, I found a HTC One demo unit in one of the Carriers, Singtel(Plaza Singapura if any fellow Singaporeans wanna check it out). Well hidden in a corner, I should say and it was the Black one. At the same time, The Xperia Z just launched like, 2 days ago(At that time). Picking up the HTC One, I realized how solid it feels, and boy, premium was written all over it. I turned it on and played around with the software. It was good, lag-free and looks great. I tried the camera and I have to say it was horrible. No joke. It was not clear and most details looks fuzzy. Maybe thats just me, but it really looks not on par with phone cameras these days. Sense 5.0 was alright, it was clean and fresh from the previous Sense versions. BlinkFeed was just a Flipboard like widget on the homescreen. Sense 5.0 does looks nice, but it was not for me. I am also afraid of the build of the phone. I am a careless person. I have to admit. My iPhone 5 was covered in scuffs and dents all over the place. Having the full aluminium body makes me shudder every time I imagine dropping it. Wanted to know more but the HTC rep was nowhere to be seen. Next, I went to the Xperia Z demo unit. The Sony Xperia rep there gave me a run through on the specs and features. I was actually pretty impressed and excited by the fact I could take my phone to the shower and use it while showering. To me, what it means by having a good phone is having a good experience. When I picked up the phone, I immediately realized how realistic the colors looked when playing video and viewing images. Outside of that, it looked rather dark. The design was sexy. REALLY sexy. It felt extremely good in the hand and is durable. VERY durable. Dropped it a few times and not a scratch. The thing that closed the deal was the UI. I like the stock UI. In fact, I love it. The Xperia Z's UI is extremely close to stock. The Nexus 4 is not available here, so it was out of the question. The UI is neat, smooth and looked fabulous. Unlike HTC's Sense 5.0, which is an extremely heavy skin and does not appeal to me. With the water resistance, it was clear which is the phone for me. I hope after reading my review, you'll know which phone to get. We are all brothers here at XDA Developers and I hope that whichever phone we use, we may contribute to the developer community and not flame each other because of our personal preferences. XDA Developers is a place for developers, by developers. Lets not let our choice of phone affect that.
The Beauty Meets The Beast
The Xperia Z packs a SnapDragon S4 Pro Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor, Adreno 320 GPU and runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. It sports an all glass design, similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The Xperia Z has excellent build quality and looks absolutely fantastic. The ports are covered by flaps, which may prove to be an annoyance for some but with good purpose. The most prominent feature of the Xperia Z is probably the on/off button. Its large, and ridiculously well placed. It stands where the thumb rests on the phone, or the index finger if you're using your left hand and is incredibly convenient to press compared to the stretch you'd have to make on other phones. Below that is the volume rocker, also easy to access when needed. The speakers are indeed placed in a horrible position, as its easy to mute with your palm unintentionally but its not an issue for me as I use my phone with my left hand.
Overall, the design turns heads and the hardware don't fail to deliver. Feels solid in the hand, BUT might be a problem for people with small hands as it may cut into it and make it uncomfortable. Very, very impressive Sony.
User Interface
Sony's UI is probably the closes you can get to stock android, and I love it. It's simple, nothing fancy and neat, although, I'd like a Black theme rather then the Grey. There are some UI lags here and there though. The lack of Android 4.2.2 also disappoints me a little but its coming, and I'll wait for it. After all, Good things come to those who wait.
Performance Powerhouse
Lag is a thing of the past with the SnapDragon S4 Pro as everything is buttery smooth, with minor UI lags here and there. Problem solved with one of the launchers. I've also noticed a little waiting time when launching the camera. Games run smoothly and without issue, not to mention looks AWESOME on the Full HD display. Although, I'd prefer to see the SnapDragon 600 on the Xperia Z as a future proof maneuver as games get increasingly power hungry.
Camera, Video and Screen
Video playback is amazing on the Xperia Z, as a result of the Full HD 1080p screen. Words are crisp and I rarely see any pixels other then low-res images. The Camera doesn't disappoint either with a 13MP back camera and a 2.1MP front facing camera. Both camera film 1080p videos as well so vlogging on the phone will definitely be great. However, I did notice that the colors are not on par with other phones and look rather dark. The Bravia Mobile Engine 2 does help and actually make the colors extremely realistic, but only when viewing images and videos. Low contrast ratio here doesn't help either. Had no issue using the phone in daylight. The viewing angles are GREAT. Only having some colors being washed out, I don't see any issue with viewing angles. Even if there is an issue with viewing angles, who cares? Nobody, NOBODY uses their phones 90 degrees unless you're a total idiot.
Connectivity
No issues here. LTE, NFC. What else could you ask for? Have to say though, kudos to Sony on having a campaign on promoting NFC usage and even launching new TVs with NFC compatibility. Wi-Fi is great, only had issue when it keeps dropping on free public Wi-Fi access points. But hey, free Wi-Fi, who knows. No issues with the Wi-Fi at home.
Its Music To My Ears
I listen to music. A lot. Everyday to and fro school, when travelling, heck, even when I'm bored. The bundled headset, The MH-EX300AP is AWESOME in providing high quality sounds. Sony also has ClearAudio+, which is like Beats Audio on the HTC, makes the experience all the more awesome. You can say its like having an orgasm in your ears. Eargasm if i may.
Speaker & Microphone Quality
The speaker, is actually quite the disappointment as number one, its placed in a horrible position. Next, its not as loud as I'd like it to be. There's xLoud, but it sacrifices quality for volume. Considering the quality without xLoud, I'd rather have it disabled. Lastly, as said before, the quality isn't all that great. However, I got the NFC Wireless Speaker, The SRS-BTV5 for free, which solves all the above issues, thus no complaints from me. But its kinda inconvenient to carry a speaker around with you all the time, so yeah. It is an issue.
Call quality is great, however. I can hear the other party clearly and they can hear me clearly too. No issues with dropped calls.
The Xperia Z Runs Far, With Great Stamina
I start my day at 4:30AM and end at 6PM. With 80% battery left. Stamina mode is no gimmick, it really does help with the battery life. Awesome battery life. If the screen is mostly off that is, which is usually the case. I find that if LTE is enabled, battery drains extremely fast, which makes me resort to using HSPA+, which isn't that all bad in my country. HSPA+ use nearly 3 times as less battery then LTE on my set. Location Based Wi-Fi is AWESOME. Its really cool to have your Wi-Fi turn off automatically when you leave the house and turns on then you're back. Not to mention the convenience. The phone will probably last me 2 days or so, but I still charge it every night anyway. Don't we all do?
Prepared For Accidents
The Xperia Z is IP57 certified - dust and water resistant with water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes. Let's be honest here. We all had times where we wished we could take our phones into the shower or bathtub. That wish is now fulfilled. I take the Xperia Z into the shower with me everyday and text or watch YouTube videos while showering. When the phone is dirty? No sweat. Rinse it under washing water. Now you also do not have to worry about dropping your phone into the water or bring it camping in the desert(whatever the reason LOL). Plus, you can wow your friends or freak your parents out by pouring water on the phone or dunk it into a glass of water. Heck, even take it swimming. Be careful about salt water though, Sony does not recommend dunking it in salt water. With Wet Finger Tracking technology, you don't have to dry your hands to use your phone, although it does get a little jumpy at times. The phone is also quite durable as I've dropped the phone a few time and there's not a scratch. That a plus as I'm usually very careless.
Take note that the phone disables touch input while underwater so, no texting while swimming.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia Z is a great phone. Its not for everybody, and it has it's fair shares of ups and downs. I am throughly satisfied with it and do not regret not waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One. Its great for the average user and is definitely good enough for me. The water and dust resistance is not necessary but its nice to have. Its smooth, provide great music listening, plays games like a champ. I would recommend it to anybody, but hey, its your call. You have the decision to which phone is right for you and nobody can force you to take the Xperia Z or any phone for the matter. For me, I made my choice, and I have no regrets whatsoever.
Therefore, I dare say: I'M A PROUD SONY XPERIA Z OWNER
Thank you for taking your precious time to read my review. I'm still a noob, and I hope I may be more useful to the developer community here.
P.s Feedback on my review?
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I have Xperia Z for 2 weeks. For me the battery is horrible, it ends up for only one day. I'm thinking to much about HTC One. Now I rooted my Z, removed preloaded apps, battery is fine now
I just could not decide so got both One and Z
Water proof, without that, i wouldn't have bought Z .
daniel.nguyen said:
I have Xperia Z for 2 weeks. For me the battery is horrible, it ends up for only one day. I'm thinking to much about HTC One. Now I rooted my Z, removed preloaded apps, battery is fine now
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hmmm... The battery life on mine is awesome. 8 hours in school and the battery doesn't drop a single percentage. The preloaded apps might be the issue.
mndgz said:
I just could not decide so got both One and Z
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Well, I guess that solves the problem as well
Sent from my Sexy White Xperia Z
I thiink exactly the same, great post

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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:
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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:

Z2 Canada no MDR-NC31EM headset and maybe no 4K video recording

Just noticed this:
http://store.sony.ca/xperia-z2-zid3...artphone?vva_ColorCode=000000&_t=pfm=category
It does not mention 4K video recording, and the box apparently does not include MDR-NC31EM headset.
I just wonder if they forgot to mention the 4K video recording, or if there is a change in the hardware.
To open that link from a mobile phone: http://m.store.sony.ca/en/products/31-Z2GENERIC~
Does seem to be mentioned under the features section though
Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk
That's weird! 4K is one their biggest highlight for this phone, how is it not listed?!
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Len_TAb said:
Just noticed this:
http://store.sony.ca/xperia-z2-zid3...artphone?vva_ColorCode=000000&_t=pfm=category
It does not mention 4K video recording, and the box apparently does not include MDR-NC31EM headset.
I just wonder if they forgot to mention the 4K video recording, or if there is a change in the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.sonymobile.com/ca-en/products/phones/xperia-z2/specifications/#tabs
here it clearly says 4K is there....get it from store do not buy online if you not sure and u will find 4K logo at back of retail box and noise cancelling at front...if they are not there sony might have removed them
Well, from what I see on this page (the link in the first message) at least, it seems to me that Sony has decided to retract their claim about the "coolness" of 4K video recording to some degree, and remove it from the front page so to speak. They do not want people to focus on 4K anymore because (let's face it!) the 4k video recording is more or less a 'problem' the way it is right now. You can use it only for a few minutes (usually around 5-6 minutes), and the phone gets hot as you are recording in 4k, and the camera stops after that. This whole thing does not sound like a cool advertisement aspect for Z2.
My suggestion to Sony: to make up for this, it is better to include the noise cancelling earbuds in the package; this way Z2 buyers would feel more like forgiving you for the video recording problems.
By the way, I personally do not consider this as a major flaw in Z2. The 4K technology is kind of new and it needs time to be perfectly functional in mobile phones for long periods of time. Nevertheless, this certainly is a problem for Sony because they first claimed something, and then (it seems to me that) they retracted their claim to some degree. This kind of behaviour makes customers unhappy; so to make them happy again, in my opinion Sony should go the extra mile and offer something more in terms of hardware (and not just software).
http://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Products/Sony-Xperia-Z2
This is from a mobile company in Canada. 4k is available.
Sony store told me unlocked version of z2 won't be available until July, anyone preorder their phone?
He has a fair point, listed underneath the full spec... 1080p Video Recording...
The thing is that it seems to me that Canada Sony page has been designed in a way that it kind of "hides" the 4K video recording capability of the Xperia Z2 phone, which means Sony (or at least Sony Canada) is kind of ashamed of this capability of this phone!
You find nothing directly about 4K on this page; there is a small section about Features on the right side of this page after you scroll down the page, and there you find a list of features, and the third link says this: "Videos four times sharper than Full HD", and only when you click on this link, a very small window opens up in which it mentions 4K video. It is interesting that even in this small window, it says that you can "...relive that special moment..." which to my ears means that the 4K video is only good for a few moments!
[The Canadian laws for consumer protection are somehow different from other countries and one possibility for this weird behaviour of Sony Canada might be that it has something to do with a fear of being sued by customers.]
Whatever is the reason, the end result is that Sony does not want to talk about 4K anymore.
**********
Bell is a phone company in Canada and they are going to offer Z2 with a 2 years contract. Bell wants to sell the phones for its own financial gain and so Bell does not care if the camera has a problem or not as it is not going to be Bell's problem. That is why Bell mentions 4K video recording as the very first feature of Z2 on the very top of its web page about Z2 whereas Sony Canada (which offers the unlocked version of the phone) hides this feature on the first page of its web page about Z2 and only when you click on a link (among many other links) it says something about moments of 4K recording.
**********
The "official" video recording specification of Z2, according to Sony Canada, is "1080 p" which you can find at the bottom of the Sony Canada page. This means that either Sony lied when they advertised the phone as a 4K video recording device, or if we want to be overly optimistic, they did a terrible mistake by introducing Z2 as a 4K video recording device.
By the way, it is not our duty as the customers of Sony products to put our detective hats on and inspect every single link in a product's webpage to find a hidden window which mentions a watered down version of a feature that once was considered as the very first and the very best feature of Z2.
I can CONFIRM that the Bell Z2 is NOT BOOTLOADER UNLOCKABLE (it is locked down by Bell, which i never understood why since SONY LETS YOU DO IT!), and also the phone DOES NOT come with the nice MDR noise cancelling headphones (only some ****ty old school looking earbuds, not even the in ear kind).

Z5 returned for a defect...and for good :(

Ok, here we go. I've been (and still am) a HUGE fan of Sony mobile products. You obviously see from my sig that I own the Z3 Compact Tablet and Smartwatch 3, both products that I simply LOVE and believe are the best among the competition. I've also owned three Xperia phones previously (ZL, Z1, Z3). The Z5, killed it for me. KILLED IT. First of all, I really wanted to believe the hype about the new camera and finally say that my Sony phone is as good as my wife's iPhone 6 camera or my friends' other Android phone cameras. Sadly, that is not the case. The sensor might be awesome and new, but unfortunately Sony still can't properly process the images. I read the reviews and watched the videos before buying mine, and I wanted so badly for them to be wrong. However, after playing with the Z5 for 5 days, I came to the conclusion that the new sensor hasn't changed anything. Pictures still come out grainy and soft and fail miserably in comparison to the competition. The new sensor is also fast, as fast as Sony claims, BUT for some reason there is a lag when you press the shutter button that leads to slightly blurred images.
I also have to admit that for some reason or another, the Z5 lost it's sexiness when compared to the Z3. I can go on and mention some of the other little things, but in all honesty, the camera and the way the phone looks did it in.
With that said, I've returned the phone as I was originally planning on doing anyway because of the light bleed issue, but I'm actually ordering the international version of the white Galaxy S6 instead. I use the phone at work daily for mobile app design testing and it is the best phone Sammy has ever released, not to mention one of the best cameras out there. I guess I was hoping that the Z5 would be just that, a S6 with Sony styling and no touchwiz, but I guess I'll settle for the S6 until Sony addresses the real issue behind their weak camera.
This is by no means intended to change anyone's opinion about the Z5, just sharing my observations and reasons. Who knows, maybe next year like now the Z6 will finally be the phone with the camera that everyone will drool over. Until then, I'll still be a loyal Sony guy with my X3C Tablet and SmartWatch 3 (fingers crossed for a SW4 soon).
Did you adjust your position to account for Z5's wide FoV before taking shots for comparison? I have a Z5, Z3+, S6 & they all take cleaner low-light indoor shots than my sister's IP6+ (with OIS)! I'm not a blind Sony fan either. I'd rather get shot than pick a Sony TV (my second favorite) over a Panasonic (Plasma) TV lol
I'm currently a Sony hardcore fan, but i highly recommend you Samsung Galaxy K Zoom for your photography enthusiasm on phone .
For other great feature/design + waterproof phone, get Xperia Z series.
monx® said:
I'm currently a Sony hardcore fan, but i highly recommend you Samsung Galaxy K Zoom for your photography enthusiasm on phone .
For other great feature/design + waterproof phone, get Xperia Z series.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd probably go with something like QX100/30 as they work on both android & iOS. They also stay with you even if you decide to ditch the 'phone'
Not trying to insult you, spielnicht, but you know it's a two-stage shutter button?
I feel like the camera is way better than the Z3s. And that's good enough for me.
Design is preference. I personally find the green one that I have, sexy.
The only gripe that I have worth mentioning is the speakers. They are pretty weak compared to my HTC One M8.
There is no other phone out there that combines what Sony has done with the Z5.
-Pocketable
-Great camera. (works well enough)
-Likeable design (preference)
-Water resistant
-Front firing speakers
-And most of all. The most comfortable fingerprint scanner on the market.
-"premium materials and build"
Sent from my E6653 using XDA Free mobile app
joe_dude said:
Not trying to insult you, spielnicht, but you know it's a two-stage shutter button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh. Yeah I'm aware of that. Regardless of whether you use the physical shutter button or tap the screen, there is a .5sec delay until the picture is snapped and thus leads to blurry images unless you are a robot and don't move the phone at all in that .5sec.
Like I said, no one here needs to convince me that Sony's hardware is TOPS and the design is timeless and of the highest quality. However, you get to a point when you ask yourself whether not being able to take nice pics of your kids is worth living with it. For me, it's not. I am finally willing to try out Samsung since it's going to get me more of the things that I need daily. For my Xperia Z3 Compact Tablet, a camera is irrelevant, so I'm more than thrilled to own that over any other brand.
I just read Sony is building a dedicated mobile factory in Thailand, so fingers crossed that they are putting more R&D efforts and actually work on the shortcomings of the Xperia line. Until then, you'll find me at the Z3 Compact Tablet forum
Sony definitely has work to do on the camera app; I have faith in the new sensor technology but software wise... This planned camera app update in November should hopefully do the trick.
My own observations:
- Holding the camera button to wake the camera (from screen off or even standby) is not reliable. Sometimes requires a second long-press of the camera button. Sometimes this leads to a photo being taken the second the camera app opens.
- Activating the camera can sometimes be practically instant (half a second) or sometimes 2 or 3 seconds - no consistency here at all.
- Accessing your camera roll can sometimes be maddeningly slow.
Hi guys, I switched to Z5 from Z3 and since I have not been able to sell my old phone yet, I have also had some doubts if the upgrade is worth it. If I had the option to return the Z5 I might also go for it, but that's not possible here. However, I think that the Z5 has great hardware and design, and at the moment what is holding it back is the software. After all we are still on the initial release for the device and it's only fare to give a chance to the next software version. Also, the device was released at a time when sony was probably already developing their version of Android 6, and might not have put too much work in the already "outdated" version that the z5 has out of the box. Anyway, I hope the update to Marshmallow brings improvements and I'd really like to see the concept for android software on the Z5.
pavel1_1 said:
Hi guys, I switched to Z5 from Z3 and since I have not been able to sell my old phone yet, I have also had some doubts if the upgrade is worth it. If I had the option to return the Z5 I might also go for it, but that's not possible here. However, I think that the Z5 has great hardware and design, and at the moment what is holding it back is the software. After all we are still on the initial release for the device and it's only fare to give a chance to the next software version. Also, the device was released at a time when sony was probably already developing their version of Android 6, and might not have put too much work in the already "outdated" version that the z5 has out of the box. Anyway, I hope the update to Marshmallow brings improvements and I'd really like to see the concept for android software on the Z5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting that, currently i have a Z3C, love the phone, but my eyes are starting to get a little tired, was going to upgrade to a Z3 or a Z5, but is the price difference between the two models worth it ?
Schumi 01 said:
Interesting that, currently i have a Z3C, love the phone, but my eyes are starting to get a little tired, was going to upgrade to a Z3 or a Z5, but is the price difference between the two models worth it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went from a Z3 to the Z5. To justify the price difference, you would need to consider what the Z5 offers that the Z3 doesn't and see if that matters to you.
What initially helped me justify the move:
Fingerprint Scanner
Normal USB Port
Supposedly Better Camera
What quickly killed the excitement:
Disappointing camera performance during everyday use
Bland design (in comparison to the Z3 at least)
Phone feels thicker
LCD light bleed issues (the final straw for me)
Sony have always had **** camera performance in the Xperia line even though apple etc use Sony sensors and their pics are amazing!!
Sent from my E5563 using Tapatalk
spielnicht said:
I went from a Z3 to the Z5. To justify the price difference, you would need to consider what the Z5 offers that the Z3 doesn't and see if that matters to you.
What initially helped me justify the move:
Fingerprint Scanner
Normal USB Port
Supposedly Better Camera
What quickly killed the excitement:
Disappointing camera performance during everyday use
Bland design (in comparison to the Z3 at least)
Phone feels thicker
LCD light bleed issues (the final straw for me)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much indeed, after reading the above, honestly, i think i will just upgrade to the Z3 and save some money, not too interested in the Fingerprint scanner, but it does sound good, maybe a bit gimmicky for myself, as for the others you have mentioned, again, quite happy with the way the Z3C is laid out.
Could i justify a price a difference of around £150 for a Fingerprint Scanner, and a normal USB port, i really dont think i could.
Z3 it is then, Thanks very much indeed.
Considering any Z1+ mobile produces way better photos than any Iphone in all light conditions (assuming DRM keys are intact and lens cover is not scratched) you probably better off buying a potato and slapping instagram filters on the photo and calling it a day. However SA dark/night mode seems wonky for the Z5 and probably will be updated.

Sony lied about their screen :)

here are 2 pictures
1 for running the commands on my Z5 compact (broken screen thats why I bought the xz premium)
the other to see if youtube supports the screen.
now the screen only supprted QHD at 640 PPI after trying to run it at 4k
evidently youtube supported 2k resolution on a 720p screen.
so Sony could be yanking us about their "4k" screen when you can clearly see 1080p phones beating it! heck even this z5c on 720p beats it and on 2k its far destructive over the XZ premium!!
talk about 4gb of ram? the z5c has 2!!! try to reset both phones and see the difference in scroll speed in home screen and in app drawer!! z5c is flawless! fully bright as hell supports 2k and it looks alot better.
so maybe thats why we see pixel grids on the xz premium and thats why its not as sharp as other devices (NOTICEABLY LESS SHARP!!! even on "4k" mod pfft as if it has the right to be called a 4k device)
so disappointing... i paid for 4k screen got a virtual 4k... 806 ppi? guess again! its native ppi is 408 even after 4k mod it says DPI 806 but clearly shows PPI (X) 400+ (forgot the exact number) and PPI (Y) 400+.
I know even on 1080p the xz premium supports 4k videos but what proves us that sony actually added lines to the app to support NATIVE 4K and not VIRTUAL?
screen is supposedly supportive of 120hz? lol even on 60hz its not even showing real 60hz the Z5C is far smoother with worse processor and lower ram performs better, worse screen looks a lot sharper, worse camera (in most cases it is but it is sharper though).
So in conclusion, this is not a 4k screen (i could be wrong or missing something) even if it is 4k, to me, i dont even see it comparable to 1080p... Im sorry but lets not let the lies blind fold us..
To add to that sony phones are rootless, they are but whats the point of rooting if youre gonna lose your camera functionality? I say if you root a phone and it becomes worse, to me its automatically rootless
So to finish my post:
SCEW YOU SONY!! THIS MY LAST DEVICE FROM YOU, YOU CHEAP LYING ADVERTISERS MONEY HUNGRY THIEVES!!
Have a good one people
It really is in 4k using the right apps.
Good riddance. Some dude posted a while back that the XZP community is a bit off compared to the other threads. I guess he was right.
Funny how he goes on about ''It's not a 4K screen, it's not, I swear on my life it's not, [email protected]&* you Sony'', then says, "I could be wrong or missing something". Make up your damn mind, either Sony lied to you for sh*ts and giggles because they had nothing better to do or you are just so damn fixated on proving a point that you simply do not even know how to go about proving that point, contradicting yourself about the resolution on top of that.
Grow up!
Mobfigurz said:
Funny how he goes on about ''It's not a 4K screen, it's not, I swear on my life it's not, [email protected]&* you Sony'', then says, "I could be wrong or missing something". Make up your damn mind, either Sony lied to you for sh*ts and giggles because they had nothing better to do or you are just so damn fixated on proving a point that you simply do not even know how to go about proving that point, contradicting yourself about the resolution on top of that.
Grow up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am grown dude i said my opinion i didnt even swear its not i just said concidering the fact that the emulator can make a 720p screen run at 2k how can we make sure that this 4k is really 4k? Native and not virtual... You say using the right apps its really 4k how can u be so sure? I ran youtube vid on 2k on a 720p screen emulated to 2k so how does that prove anything?
Btw im not mad at the developers in here the other poat stated the sick comunity of unthankful people who are accusing them of not doing a good job, im not mad at them im mad at sony. If i was right with you people would you look me in a straight face telling me you really think this 4k screen looks sharper than the z3? (1080p) dont answer before you check, cuz i did, on 4k enabled, compare it to the z3 and it looks less sharp, and the z3 has whiter whites so i paid for this device cuz of how sony advertised its screen being the best since its 4k but it actually isnt as good so maybe youre mad at me for hating but i paid loads for this concidering what in can deliver according to the advertisements of sony but in actuality it doesnt show it...
I said maybe i could be wrong about the screen not being a native 4k, but even if im wrong this doesnt look 4k to me, look me in a straight face and tell me this actually looks 4times sharper than any other 1080p screen. If you cant tell me that dont judge me for being mad cuz i paid for 4 times 1080 screen and all i got is worse sharpness with pixelated grids
iArvee said:
It really is in 4k using the right apps.
Good riddance. Some dude posted a while back that the XZP community is a bit off compared to the other threads. I guess he was right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No im not a bit off over the devs they are doing a great job im not hating on any dev nor their work cuz this device is a pain in the behind to root it and use it properly.
Im mad straight at sony.
How can u really prove its really 4k? Even if u do, does this screen look sharper than 1080p screens? For god sake i can see pixel grids i get cuz of the pattern of the pixels but i paid for a. 4k screen and i dont understand how you can actually say its sharper than other 1080 or 2k phones.. It isnt i can show you pics of it going against the z3 and the samsung and the htc and this is supposed to have the best screen of all? Im sorry if im coming out as a pain dissing the device but im saying the truth in my eyes and this doesnt look anything like I expected from a 4k screen to deliver... The worst i expected is for it to not be worse than 1080p phones.. But its even worse so im really disappointed.
madshark2009 said:
No im not a bit off over the devs they are doing a great job im not hating on any dev nor their work cuz this device is a pain in the behind to root it and use it properly.
Im mad straight at sony.
How can u really prove its really 4k? Even if u do, does this screen look sharper than 1080p screens? For god sake i can see pixel grids i get cuz of the pattern of the pixels but i paid for a. 4k screen and i dont understand how you can actually say its sharper than other 1080 or 2k phones.. It isnt i can show you pics of it going against the z3 and the samsung and the htc and this is supposed to have the best screen of all? Im sorry if im coming out as a pain dissing the device but im saying the truth in my eyes
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So your judgement is derived from 'limited' tests using an emulator and your visual perception, just because the difference is not discernible to your eyes you believe it is a lie, fair enough, that is your opinion after all. But to come to that conclusion again by limited means of testing, that does not stand true against what other people have tested and examined and again, peoples perception differs, whether it is a figment of someone imagination or a actual fact, but people can see the crispness, clarity, sharpness or whatever you words you want to use.
I myself do not game, watch videos, skype or so on with my phone, I use it purely as a phone, a means of communication and the few times I have displayed 4K content, I have been clearly able to see the difference in what I am looking at, but that by using 4K .MKV files from my NAS and 4K images, maybe, just maybe that is because I do not spend more than a few minutes at a time looking at the screen of my phone, and spend less than an hour a day actually using my phone. Who knows.
Mobfigurz said:
So your judgement is derived from 'limited' tests using an emulator and your visual perception, just because the difference is not discernible to your eyes you believe it is a lie, fair enough, that is your opinion after all. But to come to that conclusion again by limited means of testing, that does not stand true against what other people have tested and examined and again, peoples perception differs, whether it is a figment of someone imagination or a actual fact, but people can see the crispness, clarity, sharpness or whatever you words you want to use.
I myself do not game, watch videos, skype or so on with my phone, I use it purely as a phone, a means of communication and the few times I have displayed 4K content, I have been clearly able to see the difference in what I am looking at, but that by using 4K .MKV files from my NAS and 4K images, maybe, just maybe that is because I do not spend more than a few minutes at a time looking at the screen of my phone, and spend less than an hour a day actually using my phone. Who knows.
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well im not just using "an" emulator im using the only way to show the device in 4k all the time. have you seen youtube videos on "how to enable 4k at all times" which means not just apps that support 4k but all the phone. so my point is using this emulator, the device is not naively 4k, proven! I provided pics of z5c running at 2k when its a 720p, im just saying this is not a native 4k method.
my second point is, yes after running this particular method the device does look sharper than it was, but not sharper than other devices. sharpness is not a matter of opinion nor imagination, if it was a color problem i could be color blind yes, but sharpness is not a personal opinion, its a fact. maybe a few tests arent enough but having an old phone as old as the z3 showing crisper images on instagram and almost any other app or picture, with better white balance against this so called premium phone with supposedly 4k screen just doesnt sit tight in my expectations in fact its worse than the worst you can expect...
not just the z3, but the s8, z5 premium, these are devices i have hold of to compare but if these devices have crisper image than this 4k then you tell me sony didnt lie to us...
and I also have a samsung s5 phone and i went to youtube, got into "4k wild animals" video put on my xz premium 4k settings, and 1080 on the s5 and the s5 looks just as sharp and on some edges even sharper.
does this make sense to you? maybe youre not believing me because there are no display comparisons for this device against others, except the s8, which evidently the s8 has a sharper display (the XZ premium is stated as more realistic but less sharper) so people cant really tell a difference and id be happy to post pictures of comparison.
PS: just a thing to think about for you, do you really think I would go through this much trouble and time trying to prove the device is actually 4k, if the device was as pleasing as I expected? why would I bother? a 4k screen would make you go "GOD DAMN THIS SCREEN IS AWESOMEEEE!" and not "HMM seems fishy I think I should check that out". just saying you should think about that.
madshark2009 said:
well im not just using "an" emulator im using the only way to show the device in 4k all the time. have you seen youtube videos on "how to enable 4k at all times" which means not just apps that support 4k but all the phone. so my point is using this emulator, the device is not naively 4k, proven! I provided pics of z5c running at 2k when its a 720p, im just saying this is not a native 4k method.
my second point is, yes after running this particular method the device does look sharper than it was, but not sharper than other devices. sharpness is not a matter of opinion nor imagination, if it was a color problem i could be color blind yes, but sharpness is not a personal opinion, its a fact. maybe a few tests arent enough but having an old phone as old as the z3 showing crisper images on instagram and almost any other app or picture, with better white balance against this so called premium phone with supposedly 4k screen just doesnt sit tight in my expectations in fact its worse than the worst you can expect...
not just the z3, but the s8, z5 premium, these are devices i have hold of to compare but if these devices have crisper image than this 4k then you tell me sony didnt lie to us...
and I also have a samsung s5 phone and i went to youtube, got into "4k wild animals" video put on my xz premium 4k settings, and 1080 on the s5 and the s5 looks just as sharp and on some edges even sharper.
does this make sense to you? maybe youre not believing me because there are no display comparisons for this device against others, except the s8, which evidently the s8 has a sharper display (the XZ premium is stated as more realistic but less sharper) so people cant really tell a difference and id be happy to post pictures of comparison.
PS: just a thing to think about for you, do you really think I would go through this much trouble and time trying to prove the device is actually 4k, if the device was as pleasing as I expected? why would I bother? a 4k screen would make you go "GOD DAMN THIS SCREEN IS AWESOMEEEE!" and not "HMM seems fishy I think I should check that out". just saying you should think about that.
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I think you may have missed something, the phone is not running 4K full time and if you looked into it before purchase as most 'enthusiasts' do, you would research a device before taking the plunge and splashing out large amounts of money. I purchased my XZP a month or so after launch, after having read many reviews and visited this section of XDA as I had the Z5P before this and I was aware, even from the Z5P that 4K was an 'on-demand' feature only utilised by certain applications. So there is that, but also on your point of clarity, I cannot say whether you are right or wrong in comparison to other devices as I solely use the one phone and only have the need for one phone so there would be no need for me to 'check' against other phones as it does not matter to me how other devices perform, I own a XZP.
I do understand what you are getting at though, the problem is, you have placed far too much emphasis on how other devices perform and to be frank, there are not a large number of people who are in the same boat as you, you may find some feel the same way but look at the majority of users on XDA of the XZP, they have no complaints and even the Devs who I assume are far more knowledgeable than both of us are fine with the XZP.
Mobfigurz said:
I think you may have missed something, the phone is not running 4K full time and if you looked into it before purchase as most 'enthusiasts' do, you would research a device before taking the plunge and splashing out large amounts of money. I purchased my XZP a month or so after launch, after having read many reviews and visited this section of XDA as I had the Z5P before this and I was aware, even from the Z5P that 4K was an 'on-demand' feature only utilised by certain applications. So there is that, but also on your point of clarity, I cannot say whether you are right or wrong in comparison to other devices as I solely use the one phone and only have the need for one phone so there would be no need for me to 'check' against other phones as it does not matter to me how other devices perform, I own a XZP.
I do understand what you are getting at though, the problem is, you have placed far too much emphasis on how other devices perform and to be frank, there are not a large number of people who are in the same boat as you, you may find some feel the same way but look at the majority of users on XDA of the XZP, they have no complaints and even the Devs who I assume are far more knowledgeable than both of us are fine with the XZP.
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well that is true although i did spend quite a lot of time researching the phone not one reviewer said that it doesnt run 4k all the time. i didnt own a z5 so i didnt know, after a while some reviewers stated the fact that it doesnt run at all times, even so mate im not hating nor mad at any one except sony you know why? cuz a lot of customers went on to sony support center asking for enabling 4k at all time, you know what sony suggested? using that emulator I talked about earlier, it was ok at first but i have a sharp eye to notice things, and I did notice that the screen is still not as sharp, so then I tried running the emulator on my 720p screen z5c and it ran at 2k... then I was surprised and disappointed that sony them selves would answer the question of "how to enable 4k at all times" with a virtual emulator rather than to allow enjoy *native* 4k.
thats one point made, second point is maybe im too into my device than any one else, to the point where I go digging on it and comparing it its because its a newer generation.
Im paying for a new phone, if im getting just as good as previews owns then why buy? cuz technology is developing, sony said its 4k, but they tell us to virtually emulate it to use it all the time at 4k, lying to our faces? it worked on the z5c so how is that native? how does that make our device special? I could have sticked to my old phone had my screen fixed for a lil money if im getting 2k at a 4.7" screen is even better than 4k on 5.5" so why sony advertisers are so hype "oh look 4k, WOW damn sony is good JEEZ 4k screen on a smartphone thats some thing else right there thats new thats TECHNOLOGY right there" when its just a software emulating pixels, again, even if the screen is proven 4K, the method sony has provided us to run it at 4k at all times isnt really 4k and they say it is, who knows what else they are lying about keep digging and ill find more trust me.
"only look at your plate, stay out of others plates" that is true, but in this case, the plate company has gave me a reason to buy their plate so I would enjoy what the plate has to offer, once I got the plate, it isnt what I wanted, so I ordered a 4k phone, it didnt look like one, sure to some people it is a great display i think so too, it is VERY good, crisp and is very realistic and natural, but some people and not only me, you can see in a lot of threads that there are a lot of pissed off mislead people because the hype of this phone is 4K HDR.
sadly if its better than other 1080p phones, it looks the same some times worse, in some cases better but not in terms of sharpness. the more pixels you have the more detailed the display, ive seen more details on other screens.
im stuck with the device i aint selling its pretty good overall im not complaining about the device, but I am mad at sony for pissing me off it is a great device, but my expectations were a lot higher, very disappointing by sony...
thats just the screen, it pisses me off even more knowing that most phone companies use SONY cameras and sony cant even compete with them in terms of photo quality, just shows how low lives money hungry they are... very manipulative and dont care about their customers. telling me to virtually run 4k is actually NATIVE when it clearly can run a 720p phone in 2k!
There are other ways to enable 4K or even 2K on the phone via ADB I believe, take a look around the forum and you might find a better way to run it rather than the emulator.
I have never looked into it myself because I am satisfied with the phone and do not want 4K to be always on and drain my battery. Also, that is another consideration Sony factored in, as on the Z5P and the XZP, 4K and battery life need to coexist, and though the screen is of course a major feature as advertised, they have to find a balance as not all consumers are like us XDA users, most people do not root their phones and mess with them like we do. You have to remember that also, we would love certain features but we need a balance, the XZP could have been even bigger and heavier if they had constant 4K and a larger capacity battery to support it and provide enough juice to last 2 days, you have to remember that battery charge times, in-call and standby times are also major factors, people do buy because of battery life expectations, having to charge less, having greater freedom of usage and not having to worry about charging every hour.
Yah i guess youre right.
The adb is the emulator im talking about.
Yah the phone i awesome after all, even on youtube on 4k i thought it would be more crisp, it is pretty crisp and sharp but i expected more on 4k display thats what dissapointed me cuz my s5 in youtube on 1080p is sharper than ny xz premiun on 4k in the same video so it kind of bugs me..
Overall the quality of the display and colors produce a more natural display but when it comes to sharpness i expected better.
madshark2009 said:
Yah i guess youre right.
The adb is the emulator im talking about.
Yah the phone i awesome after all, even on youtube on 4k i thought it would be more crisp, it is pretty crisp and sharp but i expected more on 4k display thats what dissapointed me cuz my s5 in youtube on 1080p is sharper than ny xz premiun on 4k in the same video so it kind of bugs me..
Overall the quality of the display and colors produce a more natural display but when it comes to sharpness i expected better.
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I completely understand where you are coming from, you built up your expectations from the way Sony advertised the device, the main selling features but it fell short of your expectations, unfortunately, that can happen a lot and there is little we can do about it, I believe the majority of users feel that way about at least one thing on the XZP and that seems to revolve around the Camera itself and how the quality of images is inferior to other manufacturers using the same Sony camera.
Maybe you can go to a store and compare other Sony devices against your expectations for your next purchase, maybe you can save yourself some money and find a 'cheaper' device that meets your expectations because we know how expensive the XZP was and who knows if the next 'Premium' device will be any better.
Mobfigurz said:
I completely understand where you are coming from, you built up your expectations from the way Sony advertised the device, the main selling features but it fell short of your expectations, unfortunately, that can happen a lot and there is little we can do about it, I believe the majority of users feel that way about at least one thing on the XZP and that seems to revolve around the Camera itself and how the quality of images is inferior to other manufacturers using the same Sony camera.
Maybe you can go to a store and compare other Sony devices against your expectations for your next purchase, maybe you can save yourself some money and find a 'cheaper' device that meets your expectations because we know how expensive the XZP was and who knows if the next 'Premium' device will be any better.
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yah Im from Israel, we almost dont have any store that shows you the device before purchasing, you just go to the store and ask for what you want to buy and you cant open any thing before purchase...
so I cant really compare and sony isnt famous in israel when it comes to phones so its hard to find some one who has sony to compare with so I rely on the internet.
I actually checked some youtube videos on speed test against some flagship devices from other manufacturers and I noticed that the xzp does have a crisp screen (could be the camera not catching the best angle for the displays) so in my conclusion all the manufactures are using QHD and UHD displays but their previous devices that has 1080p have crisper displays,either that or before they used over-saturated amoled displays that made the screen look sharper but now are using more natural image producing displays less saturated which caused our eye to believe its less sharp, I dont really understand, still I expected better.
yes camera is inferior due to lack of OIS but in videos in the morning it does perform better than all in my opinion, still hold the device in a tripod it will perform just as good even at night...
Yet Sony is the main camera provider for most of the other manufactures and yet sony devices have lower quality than all, just doesnt make any sense, here I ask my self this question:
Is sony doing this because they get more money from other manufactures buying their camera than costumers buying their phones? maybe they have a contract on which sony is not allowed to produce better images than its competitors otherwise they would stop buying cameras from them? - I actually read that some where...
@madshark2009 Just download AIDA64 from play store.. it reads the hardware spec of the display panel. it clear says the screen resolution is 2160*3840. i guess this answer your question. FYI - this is shown as this while you are running the phone even at stock 1080p mode. so calm down mate XD
sylaw said:
@madshark2009 Just download AIDA64 from play store.. it reads the hardware spec of the display panel. it clear says the screen resolution is 2160*3840. i guess this answer your question. FYI - this is shown as this while you are running the phone even at stock 1080p mode. so calm down mate XD
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Yah bro im calm i do believe its a 4k display.
But:
Its only used in a couple of apps.
And no, adb commands dont turn it to NATIVE 4K.
So yayyyy native 4k is only enabled in 3 apps.
Thats ok to you? They didnt even include an option for us!
Sony stricted using 4k at all times! Heck the display is even a 120hz display and its not even enabled! Aosp reads the screen as 120hz but no one knows how to activate it!
So yah we have 4k display but only used in 2-3 apps and not even in the UI! So yah to me they lied cuz i paid for 4k, not for "sometimes 4k" so really samsung has 2k but at least you can use google chrome in native 2k or instagram or the UI or any thing! Now thats some real 2k! And they add an option to lower!
So why sony stricting us? To me i concider their work not the best in these terms.
And btw read the comments before posting
madshark2009 said:
Yah bro im calm i do believe its a 4k display.
But:
Its only used in a couple of apps.
And no, adb commands dont turn it to NATIVE 4K.
So yayyyy native 4k is only enabled in 3 apps.
Thats ok to you? They didnt even include an option for us!
Sony stricted using 4k at all times! Heck the display is even a 120hz display and its not even enabled! Aosp reads the screen as 120hz but no one knows how to activate it!
So yah we have 4k display but only used in 2-3 apps and not even in the UI! So yah to me they lied cuz i paid for 4k, not for "sometimes 4k" so really samsung has 2k but at least you can use google chrome in native 2k or instagram or the UI or any thing! Now thats some real 2k! And they add an option to lower!
So why sony stricting us? To me i concider their work not the best in these terms.
And btw read the comments before posting
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now that i do agree with you my man.. but then again we have to think of it in multiple ways.. im pretty sure sony was scared of general performance issues and people will nag about it. all and all one pro member here pointed me out that there is a oreo asop rom which utilizes the panel and render the entire ui and apps in 4k ( its a dynamic resolution changer embedded with the kernal) . you should try that
i got my phone like a week ago... will run stock for a week or two more and will start taking the virginity away to try this.
sylaw said:
now that i do agree with you my man.. but then again we have to think of it in multiple ways.. im pretty sure sony was scared of general performance issues and people will nag about it. all and all one pro member here pointed me out that there is a oreo asop rom which utilizes the panel and render the entire ui and apps in 4k ( its a dynamic resolution changer embedded with the kernal) . you should try that
i got my phone like a week ago... will run stock for a week or two more and will start taking the virginity away to try this.
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yah but its still not functional as i read it needs more modification.
and true, it could make performance drop dramatically, but they should add that in options like a switch, and when you enable 4k, a message should appear and say "you may notice stutters and a drop in performance, please do not use for high graphics games to enjoy overall performance" or some thing like that, that way the customer can choose whether to give up on performance for graphics or give up on graphics for performance, I mean its really not that laggy when just surfing the device, and then you can just switch to 1080 when you game, I dont know why they wouldnt do that...
Im waiting for @Miustone he has a good project coming up and ill see the feedback on battery, camera, display and if its worth it then ima give up my warranty.
madshark2009 said:
Yah bro im calm i do believe its a 4k display.
But:
Its only used in a couple of apps.
And no, adb commands dont turn it to NATIVE 4K.
So yayyyy native 4k is only enabled in 3 apps.
Thats ok to you? They didnt even include an option for us!
Sony stricted using 4k at all times! Heck the display is even a 120hz display and its not even enabled! Aosp reads the screen as 120hz but no one knows how to activate it!
So yah we have 4k display but only used in 2-3 apps and not even in the UI! So yah to me they lied cuz i paid for 4k, not for "sometimes 4k" so really samsung has 2k but at least you can use google chrome in native 2k or instagram or the UI or any thing! Now thats some real 2k! And they add an option to lower!
So why sony stricting us? To me i concider their work not the best in these terms.
And btw read the comments before posting
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Click to collapse
Thats great.. please do notify me when the project is done .. i want to be one of the first to test it as well.. cheers mate
madshark2009 said:
yah but its still not functional as i read it needs more modification.
and true, it could make performance drop dramatically, but they should add that in options like a switch, and when you enable 4k, a message should appear and say "you may notice stutters and a drop in performance, please do not use for high graphics games to enjoy overall performance" or some thing like that, that way the customer can choose whether to give up on performance for graphics or give up on graphics for performance, I mean its really not that laggy when just surfing the device, and then you can just switch to 1080 when you game, I dont know why they wouldnt do that...
Im waiting for @Miustone he has a good project coming up and ill see the feedback on battery, camera, display and if its worth it then ima give up my warranty.
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Click to collapse
Pretty much all reviewers that are even somewhat relevant on Youtube outlined that the UI and most of the apps aren't really rendered in 4K.
I was aware of this information when the phone wasn't even released yet, some reviewers got their review samples early, and they noticed that right away, they probably got that info in the reviewer's guide Sony gives them as well, so I cannot imagine how you managed to avoid this very important piece of spec, if you've done the research before purchase, as you said. I haven't seen an XZP review that didn't mention that. If there is one, it's a bad one.
I don't know about you guys, but I don't even consider buying the latest model in the first four to six months of the release, until the dust settles and user reviews come out. I'm not paying that kind of money to be an early adopter. Also, in six months, the prices go down a lot, specially with Sony.
So, my somewhat-informed opinion is that no, Sony did not lie about the screen. Sure, it wasn't specified in the spec-sheet, but still, it was a well documented "feature" upon the release.
And the fact that it's a 120Hz panel, means nothing and doesn't necessarily mean you can run it at actual 120Hz. You might, but it's not a guarantee. Its' just the panel.
I bet you plenty of premium phones out there have panels that are capable of 120Hz, or even more, but to actually enable that and make it work as it's supposed to is not that simple and I'm sure if Sony could pull that off, they would. Because bigger numbers in spec sheets sell phones, bigger numbers are better. Always. Specially in spec sheets.
I know for a fact that my desktop monitor's panel is capable of 100HZ at least, 'cause I have the same panel in my other monitor that runs at 120Hz. But everything else apart from the panel is very very different in those two monitors. Panel alone doesn't make a screen/monitor.
Atrax2010 said:
Pretty much all reviewers that are even somewhat relevant on Youtube outlined that the UI and most of the apps aren't really rendered in 4K.
I was aware of this information when the phone wasn't even released yet, some reviewers got their review samples early, and they noticed that right away, they probably got that info in the reviewer's guide Sony gives them as well, so I cannot imagine how you managed to avoid this very important piece of spec, if you've done the research before purchase, as you said. I haven't seen an XZP review that didn't mention that. If there is one, it's a bad one.
I don't know about you guys, but I don't even consider buying the latest model in the first four to six months of the release, until the dust settles and user reviews come out. I'm not paying that kind of money to be an early adopter. Also, in six months, the prices go down a lot, specially with Sony.
So, my somewhat-informed opinion is that no, Sony did not lie about the screen. Sure, it wasn't specified in the spec-sheet, but still, it was a well documented "feature" upon the release.
And the fact that it's a 120Hz panel, means nothing and doesn't necessarily mean you can run it at actual 120Hz. You might, but it's not a guarantee. Its' just the panel.
I bet you plenty of premium phones out there have panels that are capable of 120Hz, or even more, but to actually enable that and make it work as it's supposed to is not that simple and I'm sure if Sony could pull that off, they would. Because bigger numbers in spec sheets sell phones, bigger numbers are better. Always. Specially in spec sheets.
I know for a fact that my desktop monitor's panel is capable of 100HZ at least, 'cause I have the same panel in my other monitor that runs at 120Hz. But everything else apart from the panel is very very different in those two monitors. Panel alone doesn't make a screen/monitor.
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yes i have done my research, but only after a long period was it discovered that the ADB commands only run it in 4k VIRTUALLY which I didnt think it would be that way (and a lot of others still dont even know what virtual is)
i thought it was native, some thing that makes our device more special than others.
ive seen lots of reviews where they claim this mod is actually 4k because SONY said so, but its not native, so its a lie.
ask in sony forums how to enable 4k at all times, they give you this method and its not even native and they are telling customers its real 4k. you tell me thats not a lie?
I dont care how virtual 4k looks like, I could have bought the samsung having native 2k. I could have bought the HTC or the iphone, I could have even stayed on my previous phone and used the commands and run it at 2k/4k, whats the point of paying extra if you only get native support of 4k for a couple of apps? I actually thought only the XZ premium is 4k so when I had my z5 compact with a broken screen I was like "hey why spend much money on fixing? looks like the new phones are all coming 2k/4k why stick to 720p??" so i bought the xz premium cuz I felt like im oldschool I wanted an upgrade, but if i knew this method works on my z5c I wouldnt have thought of buying a new phone I could have just paid 50$ and got it fixed.

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