Database Develop

[Q] Buy Xperia Z or not?

Hey folks,
I'm currently using the HTC One S which is the worst and buggiest of a so called "smart"phone I've ever used. It often crashes, if the camera works is a gamble and the strange home button bug, which constantly presses the home button by itself, annoyingly interrupts everything.
It seems to be the time to get a new phone. This time I want to be sure to really get a smartphone which is not only smart but does not have that much bugs, too. To put it short I'd like to have a phone I can trust. I think the Xperia Z might be the phone of choice, but I also read many reports and threads talking about bugs like "sudden death" or problems with wifi when bluetooth is enabled.
With this post I ask you, as Xperia Z users, to tell me your honest opinion about it. Are you satisfied with it? Would you buy it again? Would you recommend it? Is it relaiable? Are there any bugs constantly interrupting you?
Another candidate for me might be the Galaxy S4 but since I do not really like Samsung and hate the phone's outer appearance I'd better like the Xperia. Do you agree?
I'd be very grateful if you reply to give me another point of view on this awesome (?) phone.
Greetings Max
P.S. I'm from german and I mostly read or hear english texts, but do not write them on my own so please forgive me any error I did. I hope you can understand me.

Wait for the Honami before making your decision. Some say that the Honami will come out in some parts of Asia at the end of this month.

Dsteppa said:
Wait for the Honami before making your decision. Some say that the Honami will come out in some parts of Asia at the end of this month.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the hint but I think I won't be able to get the phone in Germany when it is published in Asia or am I wrong? Another doubt I have about this phone is that it and its bugs would be unknown when published. I bought my current One S on the first day it was available since everyone was sure it'll be a great phone. Nobody new about the s*** HTC did to it. Learning from that I'd rather take a phone which has been out for a while, like the Xperia Z.
Besides all this I'll keep the Honami in mind so thanks again for the information.
Max

Well if s4 is an option then why Vue consider ONE, i know your experiences with HTC might have made up your mind not to go with another HTC device anytime soon btw do check our reviews and forums of one its loads better than one and looks like HTC has learnt and rectified a few of their mistakes. Now coming to Z - i wouldn't really recommend going for Z at this point of time not that Z is bad or has any deal breaking bugs but still its outdated compared to today's flagships devices and hence one needs to be skeptical about how future proof it is. Having said all this my advice would be to wait a bit longer because there are rumours afloat of even a refreshed Z with more recent SOC

MrDuvet said:
Thanks for the hint but I think I won't be able to get the phone in Germany when it is published in Asia or am I wrong? Another doubt I have about this phone is that it and its bugs would be unknown when published. I bought my current One S on the first day it was available since everyone was sure it'll be a great phone. Nobody new about the s*** HTC did to it. Learning from that I'd rather take a phone which has been out for a while, like the Xperia Z.
Besides all this I'll keep the Honami in mind so thanks again for the information.
Max
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nein! The phone will be released in Asia first and then the rest of the world will follow. So it would just be a matter of waiting.
If you still want to go for the XZ then I'd still suggest to wait till the Honami comes out, that might make the XZ cheaper
nikufellow said:
Well if s4 is an option then why Vue consider ONE, i know your experiences with HTC might have made up your mind not to go with another HTC device anytime soon btw do check our reviews and forums of one its loads better than one and looks like HTC has learnt and rectified a few of their mistakes. Now coming to Z - i wouldn't really recommend going for Z at this point of time not that Z is bad or has any deal breaking bugs but still its outdated compared to today's flagships devices and hence one needs to be skeptical about how future proof it is. Having said all this my advice would be to wait a bit longer because there are rumours afloat of even a refreshed Z with more recent SOC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's true.
I'd also choose between the S4 and the XZ
S4: Lots of custom roms, lots of updates to come because of the Google edition.
XZ: Looks way better then the S4 in my opinion, but also a bit more fragile?
Lots more updates to come because of the Honami ports, Google Edition.
Have a more unique phone compared to most people that have either an iPhone or a Samsung.

Thanks for your detailed replies!
@nikufellow: You are right. I don't trust HTC anymore and although I like the design of the One the missing sd card slot bothers me. The One S teached me how annoying it is to always watch the space. E.g at the moment I have to move some music to my notebook in order to be able to do a nandroid backup. That sucks. So thanks for your advice but I'd rather stay with a device providing the ability to extend storage.
Anyway a Xz with updated SOC or Honami would be really great but I think I can't wait much longer. Firstly I'd like to sell my One S on ebay as long as it brings in some money and secondly I get freaking crazy with this bug...
I guess an updated Xz won't be able to run the currently available ROMs but I love CM and would like to run it on Xz, too. Do you think that devs will make the work to port the current Xz's CM to the updated one? There are also two types of One S with different SOCs and the S3-One S is mostly put in second place meaning less ROMS and Kernels. I'd like to avoid this with Xz...
Max

Get the HTC One, and I say this as a guy who for the last month was considering getting the Z, but today I had them both in my hands, and it is obvious(atleast to me) the One is superior, not just specswise. Sure I'll miss the water proof/dust proof features of the Z, but the One is awesome.

It's my plan to visit a store an watch them all in reallife and include this experiences into my decision. But currently that's not quite possible since I'm stuck on an island for holyday Relay nice but no tech stores
Thanks anyway for the advice. I'll pay attention to the One.

After reading and watching dozens of reviews on the HTC One it really seems to be a pretty and fast device. I'll have to see it in real life to decide if it's worth it to give HTC a second chance. But there is still one thing that really bugs me. Why the hell did they just put two buttons on the damn phone?! It was a desaster on the One S to always have the three-dot-menu-button-bar at the bottom of every unsupported app and even though HTC fixed that in 4.2.2. it's still not acceptable to have two buttons instead of three -.-

Such few development for such a good dvice.

This is a brilliant device. Unfortunately so few development going on...
Sent from my One S using xda app-developers app

yuan_1202 said:
This is a brilliant device. Unfortunately so few development going on...
Sent from my One S using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
It is brilliant, so brilliant that I moved to this from my Nexus 4. Sony UI is something I can live with for a very long time due to everything being minimalistic and close to stock but better than stock in every way. If I wanted better development I would move back to Nexus 4 in a heart beat but I don't think I will ever go back to Nexus.
Sent from my C5503 using xda app-developers app

I agree
Its so bad that this device hasnt got the attention it deserves. I have pm krabbapel and he said he was going to make his carbon rom in the future, and doomlord said he didnt have the device so he wont be developing for it

FXP are already developing an CM rom for the ZR so this is a good start

I do agree even though SONY has its flagship Z1 Z and Z ultra, this is the sleeping giant workhorse that they need to highlight.

Starlith said:
It is brilliant, so brilliant that I moved to this from my Nexus 4. Sony UI is something I can live with for a very long time due to everything being minimalistic and close to stock but better than stock in every way. If I wanted better development I would move back to Nexus 4 in a heart beat but I don't think I will ever go back to Nexus.
Sent from my C5503 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Same here, I came from a Galaxy Nexus (Nexus S, Nexus One, and HTC G1 before that) and although I prefer stock Android, it lacks so many features. I found Sony's UI clean and refreshing without trying too hard. I haven't found a need to root this baby yet. My ZR on 4.1 does way more than my GNexus on 4.3 (minus the root features of course) out of the box. The small apps and killer camera are the icing on the cake. With that said, I like Sony's design and UI that I'm willing to upgrade my nexus 7 to an Xperia Tablet Z in the near future.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

zytres said:
Its so bad that this device hasnt got the attention it deserves. I have pm krabbapel and he said he was going to make his carbon rom in the future, and doomlord said he didnt have the device so he wont be developing for it
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Click to collapse
It might be a long shot, but it was successfully done with the Oppo find 5 and the Faux Kernal...(I think!)
What they did was organise a donation fund to get Faux the phone...after that he was happy to develop his kernal for the phone.
Perhaps you could give Doomlord a poke to see if he would be willing to accept such a thing and then ask the ZR community to take part? (Or maybe ask the ZR people first to see if they would do it...then see if Doomlord would accept...)
Random idea, could work...

Darkfall231 said:
It might be a long shot, but it was successfully done with the Oppo find 5 and the Faux Kernal...(I think!)
What they did was organise a donation fund to get Faux the phone...after that he was happy to develop his kernal for the phone.
Perhaps you could give Doomlord a poke to see if he would be willing to accept such a thing and then ask the ZR community to take part? (Or maybe ask the ZR people first to see if they would do it...then see if Doomlord would accept...)
Random idea, could work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xperia sp forum members donated funds to doomlord, and he developed for xSP maybe you could ask him first if he's on to the idea

+1.
Nice idea for our future.

I remember DoomLord replied that he probably won't be developing for XZR since he doesn't own the device.
Not sure if donation can help that though...

with such good specs at a low price i dont get why this is a low activity device...:crying:

yeah.. i think we can blame sony itself for this problem... I really like the ZR and I have it now.. been so satisfied with it... but, yeah, too few development.. and it will get only worst because sony will be launching the z1 mini.. which is really comparable to the zr... sony is trying to follow samsung - flooding the market with too many models that are closely similar to one another..
if someone heads up a donation box for Doomlord for him to buy the zr, I would gladly donate 50 dollars...

CressKH said:
I remember DoomLord replied that he probably won't be developing for XZR since he doesn't own the device.
Not sure if donation can help that though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well try pm-ing doomlord about "donating" him a phone maybe its okay with him
---------- Post added at 12:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
izzner said:
with such good specs at a low price i dont get why this is a low activity device...:crying:
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Click to collapse
its not available everywhere, if this continues (very few users and low development) the device will end up like the acro S look at the Acro S forums+ the fact that almost no RC or RD or RT are present in XZR forum makes it more likely that development will die after fxp supports ends

ngoralph said:
well try pm-ing doomlord about "donating" him a phone maybe its okay with him
---------- Post added at 12:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
its not available everywhere, if this continues (very few users and low development) the device will end up like the acro S look at the Acro S forums+ the fact that almost no RC or RD or RT are present in XZR forum makes it more likely that development will die after fxp supports ends
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Click to collapse
there's 4 page development on Acro S! It's not much but still for a phone that expensive yet doesn't seem to have any great hardware it's quite much developments!
but for this phone that runs smoothly and better comparing to Xperia Z, ZL and has less size and less resolution (about 1/4 times which makes battery run double times) and less mass I think this device get fairly low attention comparing to others!! even for a developer this one must be much more exciting than Xperia Z!

sijav said:
there's 4 page development on Acro S! It's not much but still for a phone that expensive yet doesn't seem to have any great hardware it's quite much developments!
but for this phone that runs smoothly and better comparing to Xperia Z, ZL and has less size and less resolution (about 1/4 times which makes battery run double times) and less mass I think this device get fairly low attention comparing to others!! even for a developer this one must be much more exciting than Xperia Z!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sort of, however, sony priced the zr as if a flagship. truth to be told, it's marketed as a flagship in japan (xperia a), and it's no slug. still, with the relatively small price difference between z and zr, it's easy to see why people will get the z instead. the z is also released 6 month earlier.
besides, zr isn't released in as many markets as z.
as i've said before, since zr shares much with z, as long as development for z is there, zr will likely be supported as well, but without a dedicated dev using zr him/herself, it's hard to picture a very good development environment.
unless sony discount the zr significantly very soon. this is likely to continue.
(before you ask, japanese seem to have their own commnity and aren't participating in xda, so their large nos. mean nothing to us)

Why worry.. as long as there is Z development, we can port almost EVERYTHING to ZR (including ROM's an Kernels)
One more reason is that people who do contribute are not thanked properly I think.

totally agree

well i had a few devices before and now i have htc one s S4, galaxy s4, xperia ZR, iphone 5
before xperia ZR between all of my phone i would stand and say htc one s and iphone 5 have best batteries between my devices, between xperia x8, xperia acro S, Xperia go, xperia V, galaxy S3, iphone 5, galaxy s4, but now i can say ZR beat my one S battery and not only on battery it beats the battery on my one s it beats the performance of S4 it beats the options of all of my previous xperia phones, and when it comes to heat it even beats the hell out of my iphone too it hardly produce any heat in my hands specially compared to xperia V and galaxy s4.
this is an amazing device guys no doubt about it but why were we looking for development in the first place? when we had good hardware and sh**** software with cra*** software support we would come here and look for help, but we still have updates and support and this device is almost (not fully) complete it doesnt need overclock it doesnt need more battery saving options it doesnt need so much bug fixes.
the only thing it need is a better front camera which is impossible with firmware and kernels so most of all a few ports and customizations remains which is not totally important right?
when i first had my xperia acro S it didnt have any custom firmware for a very long time the only thing was available = rooting my device! believe me for a very long time it was like this.
so my advice is to take your time guys relax if something came out use it if not dont be disappointed you wont miss so much you still have a great device with so many good things on it.

dragunov_lq said:
this is an amazing device guys no doubt about it but why were we looking for development in the first place?
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I absolutely agree!! Even I found nothing in the kernel to tweak

dragunov_lq said:
well i had a few devices before and now i have htc one s S4, galaxy s4, xperia ZR, iphone 5
before xperia ZR between all of my phone i would stand and say htc one s and iphone 5 have best batteries between my devices, between xperia x8, xperia acro S, Xperia go, xperia V, galaxy S3, iphone 5, galaxy s4, but now i can say ZR beat my one S battery and not only on battery it beats the battery on my one s it beats the performance of S4 it beats the options of all of my previous xperia phones, and when it comes to heat it even beats the hell out of my iphone too it hardly produce any heat in my hands specially compared to xperia V and galaxy s4.
this is an amazing device guys no doubt about it but why were we looking for development in the first place? when we had good hardware and sh**** software with cra*** software support we would come here and look for help, but we still have updates and support and this device is almost (not fully) complete it doesnt need overclock it doesnt need more battery saving options it doesnt need so much bug fixes.
the only thing it need is a better front camera which is impossible with firmware and kernels so most of all a few ports and customizations remains which is not totally important right?
when i first had my xperia acro S it didnt have any custom firmware for a very long time the only thing was available = rooting my device! believe me for a very long time it was like this.
so my advice is to take your time guys relax if something came out use it if not dont be disappointed you wont miss so much you still have a great device with so many good things on it.
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Click to collapse
This is EXACTLY why I'm still on locked BL! but anyway our device has lack of roms like Cyanogen Mod, AOSP, PAC MAN, AOSPA (Paranoid) and also bug free miui port! (which I like Pranoid and miui so much) I'm currently working on a port for miui (stock based one) but this is something hard to get! currently I'm getting bootloop at kernel and as I don't want to unlock my bootloader (I love BE2 ) it's really hard to get it booting, and I'm not sure if any developer wants to contribute or if I get any further than this but I'm trying to make it bookable at least
EDIT: good news is I just saw the miui boot screen, bad news is it's not more than 2 sec and still I don't have adb
EDIT: Do you guys have made or downloaded any rom based on stock 4.2.2? would you mind give me updater-script in your zip file /META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
Thanks
EDIT: another good news is, got logcat ( have permission problems ) it would be great if anyone can give me an updater-script from downloaded or made stock rom (both 4.1.2 and 4.2.2 are welcome) please pm me

.

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MuF123 said:
Hello,
I am happy user of SGS2 and I now I'm deciding between S4 and Z1. I know that Galaxy family has tons of ROMs updated regulary and how rooting/flashing works and I am kinda afraid to leave that nice ecosystem and so I have few questions.
1.: Does xperia family share developers? E.g. one ROM gets compiled to few devices by same cook? Are there plenty of neat roms to choose?
2.: Is it possible to hardbrick xperia device (by flashing wrong boot)?
3.: Are there any recurring problems with xperia family that only long time user knows?
4.: Is there someone else who switched from Galaxy S2/3/4 to Z1 - if so, why?
5.: By any chance - does Z1 support headphone remote control for iphones?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, welcome to the xperia family.
1. For now, there's not much in the development. Because the Z1 its just been released this september. We still need time, let the developers do their magic. Its just about time. If u want to see for example, go to xperia arc development. You will see many ROMs available.
2. Yup. Its possible. Every device has the possibility to be hardbricked. But dont worry, as long as u follow the instruction, u wont encounter any hard brick. Ive used xperia arc, xperia s, and xperia z1, and never encounter hardbrick.
3. The only problem that i know from the xperia family is that we are late on android updates.
4. I dont know
5. I think its gonna work, never tried it tho ..
Gesendet von meinem C6903 mit Tapatalk 2

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MuF123 said:
Hello,
I am happy user of SGS2 and I now I'm deciding between S4 and Z1. I know that Galaxy family has tons of ROMs updated regulary and how rooting/flashing works and I am kinda afraid to leave that nice ecosystem and so I have few questions.
1.: Does xperia family share developers? E.g. one ROM gets compiled to few devices by same cook? Are there plenty of neat roms to choose?
2.: Is it possible to hardbrick xperia device (by flashing wrong boot)?
3.: Are there any recurring problems with xperia family that only long time user knows?
4.: Is there someone else who switched from Galaxy S2/3/4 to Z1 - if so, why?
5.: By any chance - does Z1 support headphone remote control for iphones?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can answer your question about coming from an S3 to the Z1! I've found the Z1 much much better than the S3! No Touchwiz lag and bloat! Sure I miss some of the gesture stuff but I'll trade the lag free and minimalist changes to the android interface by Sony anytime. Also my battery lasts much longer than it ever did with the S3 and overall I'm quite happy! You might however find the display pannel to be inferior to Samsung's AMOLED screens. To be honest, viewing angles are not as good but still ok IMO... There are people complaining about yellow tint issue with Z1 and I became obssessed with that however after a few days of use, your eyes do get used to it and even in the tests, the whites look white... its a display calibration issue which Sony can easily fix in a firmware update..Also the Xperia Z had a tool to adjust white balance which is missing from the Z1 and should be brought in or will be ported.. Overall, I'll give a 8/10.. There are a few bugs but with the last update, quite a few were fixed.. Sony will keep this up so I expect it to be perfect in 1-3 months!

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MuF123 said:
I had totally lite rom in my S2 since day 1 so I don't mind touchwiz, you can get rid of it pretty easily...
I still struggle with the idea of:
-having larger phone than S4, and yet
-having smaller screen than S4 (because of those stupid software buttons)
Also I'm kinda afraid of the glass... I've had some rough landings with my S2 - 1.5m landing on display on pavement, then scratching another meter on it and - one minor dent on the plastic bezel. No cracked front glass, no cracked back glass (plastic cover sometimes wins )
: confused :
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are struggling with these issues, I think Z1 is not a good option for you... I suggest you try the LG G2... bigger screen (5.2") than S4 with roughly the same size, not glass (also plastic as S4). UI is very close to S4... G2 has software buttons but that's because the bezels are so small, it can not fit a physical button... it has the same chip (S800) as Z1 and note 3... and is 100 dollars cheaper...

xperia z1 nooks and cranies

hello guys
is there any site similar to sammobile for the sony department?
also ordered meh z1 in white with casemate case £16-17 on amazon
what things can i do to improve battery life long term, what things i can do without rooting like installing apps (last resort rooting)?
whats the graphics like on the phone and loudspeaker?
can i install themes like back in the day with my sony ericsson c510 and k750i also add bettery audio codec like my walkman phones?
also what sort of headphones do u get with the z1?
appreciate the help guys

tani786 said:
hello guys
is there any site similar to sammobile for the sony department?
also ordered meh z1 in white with casemate case £16-17 on amazon
what things can i do to improve battery life long term, what things i can do without rooting like installing apps (last resort rooting)?
whats the graphics like on the phone and loudspeaker?
can i install themes like back in the day with my sony ericsson c510 and k750i also add bettery audio codec like my walkman phones?
also what sort of headphones do u get with the z1?
appreciate the help guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll answer what I can...
1. better battery life, there are a few threads for battery in the General section. but for me I just turn on the Stamina Mode and I only allow 3-4 apps to use connection while the screen is off. 3-4 hours of standby my z1 only decreased by 2%. screen time not much you can do to increase this other than lower the brightness.
2. Graphics is the best an android phone can get for now.
3. you can install themes, there are almost infinite options. same for all android phones. there are 6-7 built in themes though, the rest you can customize by downloading and installing stuff from google play.
4. you can install better codec by installing Mods, but this for advanced users. I would not recommend for new android users.
5. headphones I use Audio Technica ATH-SJ11... good light weight headphones I can wear without my ears tiring. great sound for the price.

whats the basic to rooting. i have read alot and alot on the forum.
I just want to root and if a new update comes from sony i want to be able to upgrade straight away.
Im moving from a galaxy s3 and back in the day sony ericsson were easy to mess around with (make phone louder, region free firmwares and lot).
what different nowadays with sony or is it same. is there crap like knox being implemented.

tani786 said:
whats the basic to rooting. i have read alot and alot on the forum.
I just want to root and if a new update comes from sony i want to be able to upgrade straight away.
Im moving from a galaxy s3 and back in the day sony ericsson were easy to mess around with (make phone louder, region free firmwares and lot).
what different nowadays with sony or is it same. is there crap like knox being implemented.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are several guides in the general section and some in the dev section on how to root and get onto the latest firmware.
Please read them.
OT
That's about the 12th time I have written that in the past 2 days....

Why is the development of Xperia V still alive?

The phone has been out for three years, and there are still roms of it.
What are the attractions of the phone?

Why shouldn't there be any?....erm
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

houman1209 said:
The phone has been out for three years, and there are still roms of it.
What are the attractions of the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because there are still people who are using this phone, not everyone can afford to have phones like S6, S5, G4, Z3 etc.
Because this phone is still working good, it can run almost every app so far, nevermind of that it is 3 years old.

Camera is quite good for this phone. Many might be waiting out for smartphones which offer better value in price and new technology.
For me, the continuing development of XV gave me a chance to use Lollipop. Sony stopped OTA updates for XV with the last 4.3 build, so many thanks to the community who has been keeping the development alive!

We are in 2016 and i'm still using it !
It is pretty fast and powerful (especially if you are running JB 4.1.2 !) , it has a good camera (1080p / 8mpx), water resistant, battery removable (which is very rare today)...
Even if I had money to afford an S6 or whatever I wouldn't change my phone

Yozil13 said:
We are in 2016 and i'm still using it !
It is pretty fast and powerful (especially if you are running JB 4.1.2 !) , it has a good camera (1080p / 8mpx), water resistant, battery removable (which is very rare today)...
Even if I had money to afford an S6 or whatever I wouldn't change my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you recommend me a good 4.1.2 ROM? I'm looking for a speedy ROM so that I can hook up my Xperia V to my TV with an MHL cable and watch streaming content, having a fast ROM would be preferable to having the creature comforts that come with newer Marshmallow and Nougat ROMs

This phone is special. And amazing. Can not be explained

I'm just happy that the devs still keep it alive.