Hi. I have had Xperia Z phones in the past and although i was generally satisfied there were a few disappointments. I wanted to inquire and discuss about the Android Lollipop update for the Z3 Compact:
1. Camera
Based on my own experience (with the Z1 & Z2) the camera bootup is still slower than expected, the shutter button is slower than expected and the picture quality is cooler, somewhat unnatural and an overexposed flash when night shots. This experience is equal to the reviews i have read. Has this been addressed & improved?
2. Speakers
I underatand the waterproofing would somehow make the speakers muffled and it has always been the case with Z phones. Has the sound somewhat improved with the Lollipop update?
3. Music/Walkman
Has there been improvements on the music player such as Flac support, gapless playback and general sound enhancements?
4. Does the Z3 compact support HD voice? And are there any improvements on incoming call quality?
5. Is there a "Cancel All" button on the multitaking pane?
6. Any improvements on battery life?
7. Is there an option to auto set installing of apps & files on the SD card?
8. Any improvments on the initail bootup times? My Z2 lasts 20 seconds. The iPhone lasts less than 10 seconds with an inferior specs.
9. Did the Lollipop update brought back the full Silent mode? (similar to what Samsung did to the S5)
I am not into rooting or ROMs. I don't depend too much on benchmarks either although figures does help. And you can't help but compare to the compettition which is the iPhone 6 and i am curious as to what Sony has come up with taking in complaints & suggestions and translating those into updates. I have not found my answer when i rung Sony Mobile UK. The UK Sony Mobile website also does not provide answers instead very vauge/general information hence i'm curious to discuss and get users' opinion on my query.
Please advice. Thanks.
1-3. No idea / didn't put attention / didn't ever care to remember what was before. The camera quality doesn't seem any better than before, no visible improvement there.
4. No idea, and the call quality was good enough to begin with.
5. Yes, in the later small update.
6. At least as good for me, but the usual YMMV applies. I did go over settings and make sure everything was OK, forced update of Google Services, etc.
7. Not sure, didn't try. Probably the same pm setInstallLocation as before, not something in the menu.
8. Initial bootup isn't a phone's use case - you're not supposed to turn it off. If anything - with the switch to ART the boot time going to deteriorate rather than improve. Comparing it seems as useless as it can be - I have 10 year old Nokia that boots in 3 seconds, beats the crap out of iPhone with its 10 seconds and just about any Android ever, so what exactly does it say? You can boot bare Linux on the phone and it takes ~6 sec to complete, won't help much either. Boot time mostly depends on the OS, and I'm not aware of any efforts in Android to reduce it (unlike, say, Windows, in which it still is the main use case).
9. No, the same modes as any Lollipop - full silent is selected only through volume button. Some programs seem to be able to force it, but it's not a default setting.
Related
It really bothers me because I am deciding between z3+ and the s6, and I've seen that z3+ gets high temp warnings when using gps for ~30 minutes; and as I'm planning on using gps a lot, that would be a major problem for me. Should I just go with the s6?
Thanks!
It's hard to tell. Some had zero heat issues. Mine rarely gets hot. I use my GPS, lte, you should be good because I heard it's with the previous firmware.
I don't think it's really fixed. I'll be buying a new phone next month maybe.
Z3+ is a good phone. Good specs but the heating issue is really bad for me even after a software update and also changing the set to a new one within a month of purchasing this.
It's still ok if you are a light user.
From my experience:-
1.) Camera is a disappointment. Quality is good but it over heats so quickly and the phone hangs. Not just video but for photo taking as well. For me this is a big issue since I do make use of the camera during functions, events etc. Didn't have any issues with my previous android and iphones.
2.) Notification tone is loud which is a good thing but ringing tone is sinfully soft. Have missed calls many times.
3.) Phone also gets hot when i'm playing games and/or using any other apps (Internet, chatting etc)
Besides these,
The photo and video qualities are good (even though the phone hangs quickly due to quick overheating).
Software experience is smooth and I never experience any lags.
The reason i bought this over a samsung is because:
1.) Z3+ has a micro sd card slot. ( Personally i need it)
2.) I like sony's music quality better than samsung.
But since the overheating is a big problem for me, i'll need to get another phone soon.
Still scouting.
Hope it helps.
Hey guys i need some suggestions regarding upgrading my xperia z3+ to nougat as i am now running mm without any issues ?
Hope u guys help me in this ?
I personally wont upgrade until Xposed is available, not worth it for me without that.
yes, its a good update.
Yes and No.
Reasons to updrade:
- Better UI (smoother too)
- Multi-window support
- Better STAMINA Mode functionality
Reasons not to upgrade:
- Poor camera quality (touch to focus does not really work that well, overall image quality is a hit and miss)
- Low volume from speakers (even more so when playing videos from YouTube)
- Some CPU cores are allegedly turned off
- Image enhancement takes a while to kick in when browsing photos
It would have been a definite yes had Sony managed to bring over at least the same level of performance for both camera and sound quality in the Nougat update. Just my opinion anyway.
Thx bro i will wait until we got fixes ?☺
Hello , for me its YES! .. i feel faster, better batery, camera in low ligth, stamina mode wasome, in general better than MM, heat
got better.
Can i update my z3+ now to latest nougat. 33... Is everything fixed? ??
Wait to the next update, .33 is better, etc. speakers are fixed, youtube application dont show overheat sign, but they dont fix x reality rendering, its take about 7-10 secs, in contacts app scrolling is little laggy..
I've just been sent a replacement Z3C by Sony following water ingress (surprise surprise).
The one they've sent me looks pristine and I'm pleased with it except for this one thing.
When I scroll, swipe, slide or otherwise see animations, they're ever so slightly jittery. It's subtle, but they're not buttery smooth like my other one.
It's best demonstrated using the volume slider:
This my problem Z3C: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-NY0iUv-qI0YmpPbjFmWUZPaDQ
This is a normal Z3C: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-NY0iUv-qI0dmp5S0RmMDA5QUE
General use screen recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-NY0iUv-qI0SF9MRERQM0NWU1U/view
I have another Z3C (that I smashed the screen on, but a bluetooth keyboard/mouse works). I can directly compare the two and the new one is definitely worse.
The jittering shows through on screen recordings, so I guess it's not the screen hardware itself.
I also notice the slightly poor FPS on the purple boot animation
I don't have Image Enhancement enabled
I don't have Stamina mode enabled
I've compared Geekbench CPU and GPU benchmarks with my other Z3C and they're pretty much identical
It's a bit annoying when I know it can be better. I also expect it'll fall on deaf ears if I return it to Sony.
Anything I can try?
Hi,
We might need some more information. Is your phone on stock ROM / rooted / modified? Do you have plenty apps installed?
If it's all stock and there're no resource hungry apps installed, you can try the following:
// before doing anything: Backup. Backup. Backup. I'm not responsible for any lost data.
1) Enable developer options, activate developer options, go to 'hardware accelerated rendering' (I don't know if it's correct translated from German to English), enable 'force GPU-Rendering'. See if it helps.
2) If that doesn't work, factory reset your phone.
2.1) Try a debloat script to get rid of some preinstalled apps (increases performance and battery life as well)
3) If that doesn't work, flash a 'clean' stock ROM with flashtool
Hi guys
I am currently using a Z5 since its release in September 2015. Now I want to buy a new device.
I think about buying the Xperia 10 but I am struggling a bit. How do you like this phone? Is it worth an "upgrade". What about performance? Is it comparable or even better than my Z5's?
My Z5 has stereo speakers in the front. The Xperia 10 has one speaker at the bottom. How does it sound like?
My Z5 got a new mainboard, camera and battery in 2017.
I like the fact that it has the fingerprint sensor on the side. I don't like it on the back.
Thanks for your advice.
Hey, I was just in your shoes. Unless your z5 is annoying you too much, I'd avoid getting this phone and wait for next gen. Here's my experience.
Had the z5c, and got fed up with slowing performance and battery life, and replaced camera lens last year (build up of film causing blurry images) only for it to require another replacement less then a year later again. I bought Xperia 10 and likely will trade up for a 5g phone within the year.
I can deal with the long length. But 21:9 is just unnecessary. I don't need cinematic Netflix experience on my phone. I don't like seeing black bars now on all YouTube videos since hardly anyone uploads into that ratio. I could enjoy the split screen but it's gotten complicated to activate in Pie.
I bought this phone because: price, side button unlock, familiar OS (which was not correct, Pie is way different). Here's what I can't get used to:
No longer simple to move current app into split screen (recent apps button removed in android Pie), no way to get do not disturb activated from volume rocker (must create and use a shortcut which is inconvenient when I'm in meetings), finger print sensor is no longer on power button (separate on Xperia 10) which leads to accidentally unlocking in my pocket if my hand in holding my phone, no longer possible to change long pressing home button to activate preferred Duckduckgo search.
I'm tolerating the phone. But I refuse to buy anything more expensive and don't like the girthy phones from nearly every other company. And not buying Apple (have an apple for work phone and hate it)
Hope this helps
roobs123 said:
Hey, I was just in your shoes. Unless your z5 is annoying you too much, I'd avoid getting this phone and wait for next gen. Here's my experience.
Had the z5c, and got fed up with slowing performance and battery life, and replaced camera lens last year (build up of film causing blurry images) only for it to require another replacement less then a year later again. I bought Xperia 10 and likely will trade up for a 5g phone within the year.
I can deal with the long length. But 21:9 is just unnecessary. I don't need cinematic Netflix experience on my phone. I don't like seeing black bars now on all YouTube videos since hardly anyone uploads into that ratio. I could enjoy the split screen but it's gotten complicated to activate in Pie.
I bought this phone because: price, side button unlock, familiar OS (which was not correct, Pie is way different). Here's what I can't get used to:
No longer simple to move current app into split screen (recent apps button removed in android Pie), no way to get do not disturb activated from volume rocker (must create and use a shortcut which is inconvenient when I'm in meetings), finger print sensor is no longer on power button (separate on Xperia 10) which leads to accidentally unlocking in my pocket if my hand in holding my phone, no longer possible to change long pressing home button to activate preferred Duckduckgo search.
I'm tolerating the phone. But I refuse to buy anything more expensive and don't like the girthy phones from nearly every other company. And not buying Apple (have an apple for work phone and hate it)
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I already decided to buy the Pixel 2 XL.
Just a few thoughts on the A40 after one weeks use. Previously had a Oneplus 3t (with broken front).
What I like:
-Super lite, only 140g.
-Small but still decent size screen (5.9inches) due to the 85% screen to body ratio.
-Cheap.
-Very nice Super Amoled display.
-UI (Samsung One UI is a HUGE stepup from Touchwiz).
-Dark mode (systemwide: settings, notifications etc).
-Fastcharge.
-Bluetooth 5 (no long range support, though).
-Sd card slot
-Fast facial recognition to unlock
What I dont like:
-No Led Notification. You can get a vibrate/sound reminder every 3/5/10/15 minutes until you discard the missed call or sms. Miss the led, though. Tried the Nice Lock app (since Good Lock doesn't seem to work). Unfortunately Edge Lighting+ is the only module that doesn't work. I get a "This app is no longer available" message when opening the module.
-Slow android updates. Not the biggest deal for me. I am just happy it has Android 9, with its app-password-autofill.
-Samsung launcher is pretty good. I prefer Nova Launcher, though. That way I can hide the samsung apps I can't disable/uninstall.
-Speed: could be a little snappier, but its surprisingly fast - even though my phone has the Exonos 7904 (not the 7885). Suggestions: turn on "Reduced animations" under advanced settings. And under developer options (has to be turned on) change the three Animation Scale options from 1x to 0.5x.
Thats all I can think of right now. Overall very happy with this phone!
I have that phone for two week.s I point the same aspects that you mentioned.
Overal to 0-10, i give it an 8.
+ I was surprised by Samsung UI. Touchwiz was a complete crap.
+ Screen is amazing
- Short range of bluetooth.
- I use it without a case and sometimes it reacts on the edges.
- I don't know how, sometimes it unlocks in my pocket and starts typing something. It's annoying.
But overall experience is more positive than negative.
hello,
is always on display working?
daktary said:
hello,
is always on display working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I´m afraid that this device don´t hace always on display, actually I don´t miss it
Anyone having problem with notifications not being delivered after couple of minutes device left locked? (apps added to memory exceptions, battery optimizations/adaptive turned off, high priority notif set in apps etc, concerns all applications regardless the settings) (I have put more details in separate thread in Troubleshooting forum for A-Series)
narcolo said:
+ I was surprised by Samsung UI. Touchwiz was a complete crap.
+ Screen is amazing
- Short range of bluetooth.
- I use it without a case and sometimes it reacts on the edges.
- I don't know how, sometimes it unlocks in my pocket and starts typing something. It's annoying.
But overall experience is more positive than negative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
for the auto unlock problem, I disabled double tape to wake function and it fixed the problem on my side.
Have you try some app to have always on display or use the display to have a "led notification"?
Hi everyone !!!
A40 is a very cool phone. All is fine, BUT, after the October 1 update, fingerprint unlock takes longer than before and also getting to home screen from e.g. open browser by pressing middle bottom button takes also MUCH longer than before.
Before the patch all was instant.
Do you maybe know how to fix this? I also noticed that battery drain is lower than before by 10%, on the positive side.
I am very happy that A40 got its own forum thread now
Going from my trusty pixel xl2 to this phone was a little bit of a shock the xl2 is certainly snappier but the samsung really surprised me.
I refused Samsung due to my s7 screen replacement fiasco I had
(They replaced it, I paid, it stopped working but with Knox tripped before the original replacement they wouldn't fix the non working replacement)
Apart from the bloat wear most of which I've disabled or uninstalled and the slow updates it's not a bad phone.
I miss aod and lack of support for one officially but using an app that does the job, it's far from perfect but I paid £80 for a genuinely good phone.
Can't wait for a little more uptake of the phone and some ROM makers to show us the potential of this little gem of a phone.
What about the camera?
I find the night photos quality, the worst i had for years!
Hardware:
is very good and the only "small" phone currently available with OLED display, 2 SIM cards + microSD card, FM radio, headphone jack and weight less than 150g. With other adjustments i reduced screen size to something around 5.1 inch only as i use phone with "old" fashioned and comfortable one hand control. Camera i dont care much as i dont use it often. Reception of mobile signal is not very good in areas with weak coverage. It is the only phone in term of hardware which can replace my J3 2016 (latest apps are no longer supported due to CPU). It is pity nobody else makes such "small" phone.
Software:
is simply CRAP. I have opposite experience compared to others. All previous UIs (Touchwiz, Experience) from SAMSUNG were way better (nice looking and practical) than ONE UI. I tried a couple of times to get used to it and spent long time tunning it but i always ended up saying no i dont like it, it did not help much. One UI is ugly and not practical UI. Everything is too big and wasting with space everywhere. Long time ago at the beginning of my "design" at my previous job i did this "Bubble rounded" style like ONE UI but after short time i went to way advanced style. It is like kids/begginer low cost design style. Icons are ugly, which could be changed, but bubble style with big blank spaces everywhere no. Samsung apps looks terrible and these are not intuitive.
One UI is slow and lags (almost factory state with very few apps as i still test it and try to get used to). I have Huawei P10 lite (2017) as well and that is way faster compared to A40 and i find EMUI 8 far superior compared to ONE UI, very intuitive, great features and adjustments available within available menus not like ONE UI where you need to download Nice lock and modules, normal "small" size of everything, no needed to scroll all the time where it is not really needed. Huawei Apps looks way way better and moreover with way better controls and menus.
If anybody can port workable and fast EMUI 8 ROM or EMUI 9 ROM to A40 it would be the great phone, i would even pay for that Please port EMUI 8 ROM to A40.
Such a gr8 phone
This phone is too cool but samsung can work better on cpu
maltheman said:
Just a few thoughts on the A40 after one weeks use. Previously had a Oneplus 3t (with broken front).
What I like:
-Super lite, only 140g.
-Small but still decent size screen (5.9inches) due to the 85% screen to body ratio.
-Cheap.
-Very nice Super Amoled display.
-UI (Samsung One UI is a HUGE stepup from Touchwiz).
-Dark mode (systemwide: settings, notifications etc).
-Fastcharge.
-Bluetooth 5 (no long range support, though).
-Sd card slot
-Fast facial recognition to unlock
What I dont like:
-No Led Notification. You can get a vibrate/sound reminder every 3/5/10/15 minutes until you discard the missed call or sms. Miss the led, though. Tried the Nice Lock app (since Good Lock doesn't seem to work). Unfortunately Edge Lighting+ is the only module that doesn't work. I get a "This app is no longer available" message when opening the module.
-Slow android updates. Not the biggest deal for me. I am just happy it has Android 9, with its app-password-autofill.
-Samsung launcher is pretty good. I prefer Nova Launcher, though. That way I can hide the samsung apps I can't disable/uninstall.
-Speed: could be a little snappier, but its surprisingly fast - even though my phone has the Exonos 7904 (not the 7885). Suggestions: turn on "Reduced animations" under advanced settings. And under developer options (has to be turned on) change the three Animation Scale options from 1x to 0.5x.
Thats all I can think of right now. Overall very happy with this phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does animation scale do? Is that the one under 5? Love mine was this or iPhone 7... Do you like full screen or hide notch.
The phone is bad and barely useable. Everything is slow and laggy and I can't believe how poorly this thing performs with how good the hardware is. Good looking screen and a solid build quality that feels good in hand.
Samsung's software is a joke and ruined an otherwise perfectly solid looking phone.
Hi, do you know what max. sound output the A40 phone can provide? I looked all over for the info, but no cigar.
I am planning to buy/use 200 EUR (SONY EX800ST) In Ear Monitors (IEM) which can input max. 500mW.
They are 16 Ohm. Sound pressure sensitivity: 108dB / mW.
The thing with these IEMs is that for HUGE bass they need much power.
THX