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[Q] [Xperia V] To buy or not to buy

Hi everyone,
For months I am eagerly waiting for the Xperia V to be released in France (it will be this week, with JB on board). But this morning I found a review from a quite serious blog (in French) and it sort of discouraged me :
- They had major 3G connectivity issues, which is a huge turn-off for me
- They say the screen is not that great after all (too yellow-ish, despite BRAVIAEngine 2)
- They found lots of non-uninstallable bloatware (Adobe Reader, McAfee, some games, etc.)
- They found lots of bugs (camera focus, SOD when using GPS and music player), despite the JB ROM !
Now I'm wavering :
- Is this Xperia V a good choice ? From what I can read on XDA forums, owners of this V seem happy with their choice, but for example, has someone experienced any 3G connectivity issues since the JB upgrade ? Are the other bugs really annoying ?
- I was planning to wait a few months before getting rid of Sony software and get CyanogenMod on this Xperia V ; now that I see the bugs I want to get CM as soon as possible, but is it safe to avoid the warranty of a smartphone right after spending €500 for it ?
- In a nutshell : is the Xperia V a good choice ? (I want a phone that runs JB smoothly on a minimum-300dpi screen, with a micro-SD slot, a removable battery, LTE-compliant, and that I can handle with one of my small hands )
Thanks to anyone who can help me decide whether to buy it or not...

David Guillot said:
Hi everyone,
For months I am eagerly waiting for the Xperia V to be released in France (it will be this week, with JB on board). But this morning I found a review from a quite serious blog (in French) and it sort of discouraged me :
- They had major 3G connectivity issues, which is a huge turn-off for me
- They say the screen is not that great after all (too yellow-ish, despite BRAVIAEngine 2)
- They found lots of non-uninstallable bloatware (Adobe Reader, McAfee, some games, etc.)
- They found lots of bugs (camera focus, SOD when using GPS and music player), despite the JB ROM !
Now I'm wavering :
- Is this Xperia V a good choice ? From what I can read on XDA forums, owners of this V seem happy with their choice, but for example, has someone experienced any 3G connectivity issues since the JB upgrade ? Are the other bugs really annoying ?
- I was planning to wait a few months before getting rid of Sony software and get CyanogenMod on this Xperia V ; now that I see the bugs I want to get CM as soon as possible, but is it safe to avoid the warranty of a smartphone right after spending €500 for it ?
- In a nutshell : is the Xperia V a good choice ? (I want a phone that runs JB smoothly on a minimum-300dpi screen, with a micro-SD slot, a removable battery, LTE-compliant, and that I can handle with one of my small hands )
Thanks to anyone who can help me decide whether to buy it or not...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The points you list at the end overlap quite a bit with my criteria for picking the V, and I don't regret it at all. I was hoping Sony would push this model more than they have and that it would get strong sales so that "smaller" phones might not end up in a low-spec ghetto. Anyway, to address your points:
- The 3G connectivity issues may very well have to do with the network settings being set by default to connect to LTE. I had major issues until I changed the settings (my contract doesn't include LTE). Since then, no problems. If the review unit had this setting on, that's probably what happened.
- The display quality seems ok to me. This isn't honestly that huge a thing for me, so maybe somebody else has a stronger opinion on it than I do.
- There's no such thing as "uninstallable" . There is a (somewhat complicated) method for rooting the V without unlocking the bootloader, so as not to void your warranty. I didn't have any of the bloatware that you listed on mine, so it must be carrier-added bloat. I'm new to Xperia and I unlocked mine after about a week, so I may be wrong about this, but I think you can flash .ftf's with a locked bootloader, and just use a generic version of the firmware and voilà - no more bloat!
- I've never had a SOD. The only bug I've dealt with since upgrading to JB is long pauses between tracks when using the Walkman app. Admittedly a pretty big deal for me, I can only hope that since "Walkman" is pretty much synonymous with "Sony", they'll get this one sorted sooner rather than later.

Satisfied with everything except for the battery consumption while on data. Came from Galaxy Nexus. I leave data on for the whole day with my Nexus and it lasts. With this Xperia V, i turn off the data and switch to GSM when not in use.
Sent from my LT25i using Tapatalk 2

Carriers are well-known to add in lots of bloatwares. Nothing to do with the phone. But currently there's no working version of CM10.1 (JB 4.2.x), though.
The FreeXperiaProject are on it, albeit not high in their priority list.
Those who tested the current testing version of CM10.1 reported that the ROM is too damn smooth. xD
So for us to have a working version of CM10.1, it will take some time...

Disclaimer: I don't personally own a V, but a T instead.
- Among all the phones I have used, I personally haven't ran into any phone with connectivity issue. Most of the times, it's due to either telco bad signals or half-baked ported roms (i.e. CM10.1), which is probably the less of your concern. However, I heard that V was equipped with 4G (whereas T was not), so you might want to explore this more.
- V screen is far superior compared to T (and maybe Z as well), according to comparison videos and videos I have seen so far. I'd love to have the V display screen.
- From what I saw, V and T shared the same bloatwares. Most of the bloatwares on T are Sony media connection utilities, which are not that annoying. EA Games, OfficeSuite and other stuff I don't really use can be deleted. Coming from a Nexus, I'm surprised that bloatwares did not annoy me at all.
- T suffers from a Walkman bug, that's all. I'm not sure about V.
Yes, you should buy it. It's the only phone with 720p resolution and ergonomic screen size, yet maintain a decent performance, and better yet, an SDCard slot.

David Guillot said:
Hi everyone,
For months I am eagerly waiting for the Xperia V to be released in France (it will be this week, with JB on board). But this morning I found a review from a quite serious blog (in French) and it sort of discouraged me :
- They had major 3G connectivity issues, which is a huge turn-off for me
- They say the screen is not that great after all (too yellow-ish, despite BRAVIAEngine 2)
- They found lots of non-uninstallable bloatware (Adobe Reader, McAfee, some games, etc.)
- They found lots of bugs (camera focus, SOD when using GPS and music player), despite the JB ROM !
Now I'm wavering :
- Is this Xperia V a good choice ? From what I can read on XDA forums, owners of this V seem happy with their choice, but for example, has someone experienced any 3G connectivity issues since the JB upgrade ? Are the other bugs really annoying ?
- I was planning to wait a few months before getting rid of Sony software and get CyanogenMod on this Xperia V ; now that I see the bugs I want to get CM as soon as possible, but is it safe to avoid the warranty of a smartphone right after spending €500 for it ?
- In a nutshell : is the Xperia V a good choice ? (I want a phone that runs JB smoothly on a minimum-300dpi screen, with a micro-SD slot, a removable battery, LTE-compliant, and that I can handle with one of my small hands )
Thanks to anyone who can help me decide whether to buy it or not...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I love my Xperia V, there is no phone I would have rather bought. Well maybe Z. It just feels awesome in my hands, looks awesome, is really snappy, the camera is a beast in my opinion and the waterproofig is a plus too.
There are some disadvantages of course, the main one being the lack of developers. I know, I shouldn't "whine" about it, they do it for free and because they want to and I should start deving my self if I'm not satisfied. But I won't. Coming from HTC Desire I was a bit disappointed (shouldn't use that word) to see the lack of roms and mods etc. The battery is a bit too small too, I thought that smartphones would last longer nowadays, but nah, it's a minor upgrade to HTC Desire for example.
Another problem is that my phone seemed a bit bugged right out of the box, orientation sensor would sometimes get stuck and not rotate the screen. I took it to Sony care, let's see what they can do about it. Probably nothing, since the it happens very randomly.

vokkE said:
...Coming from HTC Desire I was a bit disappointed (shouldn't use that word) to see the lack of roms and mods etc. The battery is a bit too small too, I thought that smartphones would last longer nowadays, but nah, it's a minor upgrade to HTC Desire...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I loved my old HTC Desire. What a great phone it was.

I'm hoping to buy an Xperia V this weekend, too. I'm worried about battery life; has anyone bought an extended one?

I'm using an Xperia V, and I have rooted, added cwm, debloat the wares, still locked bootloader.
I heard that V have two kinds of screen too. And my screen's black color is truly black, not gray like T .
I've tested a film on my phone and my laptop, I just have to say that BE2 is great, it enhances the colors on the film, which is very nice, I've made a comparison with my friend's Xperia T, the BE2 sometimes enhances the colors too much which makes it a little bit unreal, but to tell the truth, most of the time, it makes u feel that the image is greater than the original xD
I'm from Vietnam, we only have 3G. But the connection speed is great, it doesn't take me long to download apps from Play Store . I think it may depends on your signal and the network provider speed . Cuz it depends in my country, if you have full signal, you will got speed around 6-7.2 mbps, but I usually got around 3-5mbps .
About Sony apps, Walkman has some bugs with playing, soon it will be fixed. SoD appears suddenly, I don't know if it just with GPS ). But this is a serious problem, it will be fixed soon either. And about the camera, I myself love the main camera with it's great speed of shoot, but the front camera sucks :|, I love the front camera of Xperia S more
One little thing I want to say that I love the water proof of this phone ). My friends' iPhone can't do that, and that's the way I troll them with my Xperia :laugh:

Thank you all for your feedbacks, just bought my Xperia V this morning for €429 (great deal on Sony France e-shop, due to the loooong wait) !
I'll receive it next week, will root it as soon as possible to get rid of bloatware, change the networking settings since my contract isn't 4G, and wait for CM 10.1

I'm eagerly waiting for Xperia SP, or should I buy this Xperia V?
Plus of Xperia V : water/dust resistant, 13 MP camera
Plus of Xperia SP : bigger screen and battery capacity, higher CPU and GPU
Any suggestions?

mewtwo68d said:
I'm eagerly waiting for Xperia SP, or should I buy this Xperia V?
Plus of Xperia V : water/dust resistant, 13 MP camera
Plus of Xperia SP : bigger screen and battery capacity, higher CPU and GPU
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy the SP. The V's flaps will soon fall out. Mine is already sticking out. If you want a waterproof one get the Z as they use a different and stronger material for their flaps. However if you're on a budget get the SP. It's high CPU ans GPU makes up for not having waterproof.
Sent from your backyard...
Slender watches what you do...

There are two things I hate about the Xperia V: 1) Disappointing battery performance on data connection (WiFi is significantly better), 2) Lack of development.
Came from a Galaxy Nexus.
Sent from my LT25i using Tapatalk 2

help
blackcat510 said:
And about the camera, I myself love the main camera with it's great speed of shoot, but the front camera sucks :|, I love the front camera of Xperia S more
One little thing I want to say that I love the water proof of this phone ). My friends' iPhone can't do that, and that's the way I troll them with my Xperia :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how is the front camera compare to the iphone 4s front camera ? is it worst or kind of the same? and i guess the main camera it's much better than the main camera of the iphone 4S... right?
and i bit off topic does it have usb otg ? and what about the hdmi have you tried it?
PS: im going crazy trying to decide which phone to buy :silly: (i own a 4S right now )

sdam87 said:
how is the front camera compare to the iphone 4s front camera ? is it worst or kind of the same? and i guess the main camera it's much better than the main camera of the iphone 4S... right?
and i bit off topic does it have usb otg ? and what about the hdmi have you tried it?
PS: im going crazy trying to decide which phone to buy :silly: (i own a 4S right now )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy the Xperia SL
Sent from your backyard...
Slender watches what you do...

xperia v
-SlenderMan- said:
Buy the Xperia SL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i thought about it but missing sd card, no water resistant and the old s3 snap dragon processor, made me look for another device :\

sdam87 said:
i thought about it but missing sd card, no water resistant and the old s3 snap dragon processor, made me look for another device :\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The LED strip and GPU is good. I mean it has an old processor but it's 1.7Ghz Dual Core. It's fine for me. It's also faster than the V. I have the V and overtime you'll lose water resistance as the flaps will fall off. Mine is already sticking out.
Sent from your backyard...
Slender watches what you do...

-SlenderMan- said:
The V's flaps will soon fall out. Mine is already sticking out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long did it take for the flaps to fall out ? I have mine for 3 weeks now and despite the fact that they feel a bit fragile, I think if I take care of them they will hold on...
I am really fond of my V, it feels great in the hand, it is quite smooth, the battery life is acceptable, the camera is pretty good, and I dropped a pint of beer on it without any damage !

-SlenderMan- said:
The LED strip and GPU is good. I mean it has an old processor but it's 1.7Ghz Dual Core. It's fine for me. It's also faster than the V. I have the V and overtime you'll lose water resistance as the flaps will fall off. Mine is already sticking out.
Sent from your backyard...
Slender watches what you do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ummm no. The SL is NOT faster than the V either CPU or GPU wise.
Sent from my Xperia T using Tapatalk 2

[Q] In-depth questions and queries

Hello guys.
I'm a long time reader but a new member.
Almost two months ago, my HTC One V was stolen by pickpockets in a crowded Mumbai train.
Since then, I was looking to buy a new phone. Soon, phones like Xperia M and L caught my eye. While I was browsing to phones, I saw Xperia SP, and the bang for the buck it gave, made me decide that this might be the phone I might buy.
Now, as I was looking and going through stuff, I came to know a lot of the cons of the phone, while pros outnumber the cons, the cons were quite important in this case. I've gone through a lots of threads and have known a lot, but some questions remain. Hence, I'm asking some questions in order to solve my queries and give a better view about it. Wish to get proper replies.
1. What version is the Indian variant. C5302, C5303 or C5306.
2. Lots of people say it's heavy. How do you feel about it.
3. GSM Arena wasn't happy with the loudspeaker, does it ring loudly? I see all the phones having a speaker in the back, causing it to ring very quietly.
4. Now an important one. On my HTC One V, I had an option to move apps to SD card. As I was browsing, through the forums, I came to know that it's not possible anymore without rooting. And rooting is something I do not prefer as of now (I had huge plans for One V, but unfortunetely, it was stolen before I decided to root it after the warranty was over).
On One V, I was having loop boot problem after moving the files to the SD card, however, that's not an issue here. Thing is, on One V, I had used AppMgr III (App 2 SD) to move my apps to SD card.
So now is my question. Will App 2 SD work without rooting? Has anyone tried using it without rooting? The Apps 2 SD page mentions this:
Move apps function may not work on your device as manufacture removes the function of moving apps to SD from Android system (not support: S4, S DUOS, Note2, Tab 2, L5-L9, OneX, 7-10" tablet)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this apply to Xperia devices too?
This is very much a concerning thing to me, as 5.8 GB isn't a lot if one likes gaming.
5. Has the lack of sufficient space, just 5.8 GB, ever caused concerns for you?
6. Again, important one. How bad is the WiFi? I live in a 1BHK house in a suburb. While I mostly use WiFi (and internet for that matter) near my router and PC situated in the hall, my One V never did well for reaching the bedroom, something I was expecting SP to do well until I came to know about the problem.
Same situation here, I do not prefer to root my phone. Can the WiFi be fixed in any other way? Different channel / mode?
7. Does the WiFi fixes available here actually fix your WiFi? After using the fixes available, is it comparable to other phones' / laptops' reception? What do you think, it's software problem or hardware problem?
8. Do you expect Sony to fix the WiFI problem in in future?
9. People who have rooted then flashed their phones to latest Android should not having any WiFi problems right?
10. I remember some version of iPhone having grip of death for WiFi. Do you guys think SP's bad WiFi reception is due to this?
11. Now the camera. I've seen enough photos / graphs to say that Xperia SP probably has the worst smartphone camera I've seen. Comparing it to my HTC One V, One V was like godsent camera phone. So what to you guys think, is the camera something that is acceptable or just total deal breaker?
I personally do not have any use for the camera. However, my sister is a big camera selfie lover. While I see that the camera takes some beautiful vivid pictures outside, my use the camera would be mostly indoors.
From what I can understand is that the camera is over-compressing the images? I've seen photos very in-depth and have concluded that, one, SP pictures lack details, two, have lots of noise.
Those who wanna compare it on GSM Arena, don't use to ISO chart, see the camera on the color poster: gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=3&idPhone1=5364&idPhone2=5363&idPhone3=5375.
Compare it something like HTC One V and see the difference of quality of images.
While I've photoshopped and removed noise from the pictures I've found from the internet, from Xperia SP, I don't know if it's worth it, so I'm confused.
12. I've read some users saying that they tried 3rd party camera apps like ProCapture and they immediately saw that Xperia SP started taking great pictures. Can you say the same for yourself? Has anyone tried doing such?
13. Have people who have rooted / flashed SP to latest Android see any improvements in the camera?
14. What do you think. Is Xperia SP's crappy camera about hardware quality of the camera or the software?
15. Do you, being realist here, expect Sony to fix the camera with an update?
16. Now about rooting. Will rooting void the warranty? I read somewhere that if you do not unlock the bootloader, you do not void the warranty. Is it possible to just root the phone without unlocking the bootloader without flash it?
17. Noob question. Do you receive updates if you have rooted the phone? If yes, lets say, I made changes to the WiFi file, and then I updated the phone, will the root stay? If not, will the changes made to the file stay?
18. Now about the CPU. I know the phones are moving very faster these days. However, I'm making a big investment if I buy Xperia SP. So SP being so powerful of a phone it is, do you expect it to stay good to play generally powerful games for lets say, next 4 years? I'm not a person who likes changing his phone every year or two, nor do I have money to do that.
19. Some people are reporting screen touch issues when charging or when putting on desk. It is said to be fixed, is it true?
20. I compared the phone to Galaxy S3 and found that S3 had more contrast ratio when playing videos, however, Xperia SP seemed more bright, what to you guys think?
21. How is the front camera? I don't care about the resolution, but clear enough for video calling?
22. Any other problems / things anyone feels worth mentioning?
That's pretty much it for the phone, however, I have more questions.
23. I'm willing to squeeze out more money for a better phone like Xperia ZR, Galaxy S3 and such. However, they have their own problems. Like, S3 is nowhere to be compared with Xperia SP as SP's graphics is top-end.
As for ZR. I have two problems with it, one small, one big. The small one being people calling it's loudspeaker muffed and the big one being it not being Gorilla Glass. To understand what I'm concerned about it, see this: youtube.com/watch?v=4GzYnDnZDRg and this: youtube.com/watch?v=Q2qdwsFd-Qw. It shows that ZR screen is neither tough / shatter-proof nor, thanks to the sheet, scratch proof. And removing the sheet means warranty void. I've seen that even Xperia Z has the same thing, which makes me think how people manage with this?
24. What alternative phones to SP price range (Rs. 20500 to 22500 here - $330 to $360) or Galaxy S3 / ZR price range (Rs. 26500 here - $425) do you guys recommend?
25. Is the phone worth it? Will you recommend it to me?
Anyway, sorry for huge post. As so many days of sadness for the loss of my HTC One V, I'm asking this, so please bear with me. All these questions have been churning in my mind from almost month and a half now.
Any help with the questions will be greatly appreciated.

1- I don't know, It could be the 5303 or 5302
2-Yes, its heavier than the Z and ZL at 155 grams
3-Ring volume its OK, better than my previous phone (Xperia pro)
4-No. You cant move apps to the external microSD without root.
5-The internal storage its just for apps, the external for media. Its enough but could be better
6-I've never had problems with the Wi-Fi the last 5-6 months with my SP
7-They are just placeboes
8-I dont think so
9-????????????
10-Could be the metal used on the frame, If thats the reason the Z1 may have similar problems
11-Mediocre photo camera, my old pro (neo,ray and arc similar) took better pictures. Video recording is OK. You may want to use another camera app
12-Even Instagram's camera takes better pictures
13-I haven't seen any improvements
14-Could be both
15-May or may not be fixed when 4.3 arrives
16-In many countries, rooting voids the warranty...but just keep a copy of the STOCK, ORIGINAL firmware and flash it before taking it to a service shop. Bootloader unlock may void the warranty, Its better to ask before doing it because it cannot be undone. Dont worry about flashing, on a Sony phone its very easy
17-Yes, you may receive updates but you will lose the root access. Sometimes Update Service refuses to update if the phone is rooted, sometimes not. After unlockin the bootloader you cant use official sony tools, just flashtool.
18.I'm sorry to hear that...I made a huge investment on my SP too, but electronics, specifically smartphones are not designed or built to last. They are disposable. Right now its a good phone...but next year will be obsolete.
19-I had that issue. I dont know if there is a fix for that, but I tried disabling the glove mode and it seems to stop the touch issues
20-Screen isn't that great, cant compare to LED screens
21-Z and ZL have better front cameras. The one in the SP is still as bad as the one you will find on a 2011 phone
22-Phone overheats, that makes some people feel uncomfortable, up to 47 degrres celcius when playin real racing 3. No big deal for me
23-??????
24-I live in Mexico.
25-Yes, it will be a good phone for the next 12-18 months. After that time you will have to buy a new one.

As cachanilla86 answer almost everything.
for Q9. No - most of the sp suffers from wifi problems. whether rooted or not...
for Q23 Check S4 or xperia Z ultra...

1. Don’t know either
2. Yes its heavy, a manly phone
3. The loudspeaker is fine, may not be the loudest on earth but it’s fine.
4. Apps to SD is a contentious issue – the official line is that Google don’t like external SD cards and from Jelly Bean onwards it was no longer part of any Android builds. It’s the same with hardware navigation buttons, Google would prefer them to be on the screen soft keys. However manufacturers can do what they want – Samsung does what it likes and still uses hardware buttons and has tweaked their builds to allow app to sd. Sony haven’t had hardware nav buttons for some time now and perhaps their love for DRM makes them sympathetic to the idea of stopping users from moving apps around.
Anyway, it doesn’t work without rooting, hell it doesn’t work in the normal sense when you ARE rooted – hopefully a nice CM build will come along and resolve the situation for us.
5. Yes and no – it would be nice to install loads of games without a care, but I only really play one ‘big’ game at a time. Rooting can help too because you can move the data portions of big games to an external sd card with folder mount.
6. Range is excellent for me, the authentication process can take ages though, I had the same problem with my 2011 xperia – when the phone is trying to connect to the router signal strength seems to drop and I think you get into a loop of the phone thinking the wifi is too weak to connect to and it swaps to data, the signal goes up again and you try to connect but the same thing happens again. With my 2011 device most custom kernels, especially ones that were cm10 based, connection was instant – this is almost certainly a software issue.
There is talk that the most modern routers don’t have as many issues.
7. The fix that works best for me is the one that changes the level at which the phone decides the wifi reception is so bad it has to swap to data – the range is and has always been great for me, better than other devices in my house.
8. There have been 3 build versions of the phone so far – I’ve always had to apply the tweak. Don’t think Sony regard it as a problem.
9. There are no custom roms out there that provide the latest version of android, they are all based on 4.1.2. There should be a 4.2 build from FreeXperia at some point and a 4.3 build from some independent developers, but there is no ETA for either of these builds. This is not to say that the developers of existing custom roms haven’t tweaked wifi so it works better.
10. As I said, I’m certain it’s a software issue.
11. The camera’s auto mode is pretty poor in conditions which are less than optimum – you can take a nice photo if you mess with settings BUT in my opinion this is missing the point. If I want to mess with settings I’ll use a proper camera, I just want to take quick snaps with my phone in situations where I didn’t necessarily think I’d need to bring a camera. For the SP (and other Sony phones) the camera doesn’t support this type of spontaneous photography very well.
12. Haven’t heard of procapture, thanks for the tip
13. See my previous comments – the only builds available for the SP are 4.1.2 based.
14. Hope it’s the software – I’m no expert, but people talk about too much processing/compression.
15. I had a 2011 xperia with 8MP and the camera on the SP is not significantly better – I don’t think Sony believe that it’s a problem.
16. Unless the apps/mods/roms you install after root cause hardware damage, you can always just flash a stock rom – so warranty should be unaffected. Of course if you are unable to flash a stock rom because of hardware damage…
17. You do receive updates if you’re rooted. Historically if you updated OTA you kept root, via the PC meant you lost it.
18. The smart phone market is moving so fast that I doubt any phone out today will be able to play the most demanding games from 4 years time without any trouble. The latest iphone has 64 bit architecture and this will soon follow for android. Similarly, I imagine that graphics chips are upgraded once or twice a year – so you might be as many as 8 cycles behind what is considered top of the range. The SP is a midrange phone, with some flag ship properties.
19. There are still some touch issues in my opinion, though this is improving build to build.
20. Don’t know about the S3 – the XP screen is fine though, not mind blowing, but in no sense bad or embarrassing.
21. Fine for video calling, perfect in fact. OK for selfies if close up. Do not use for anything else – as mentioned it would only be an average FC for a 2011 device.
22. Not really you’ve been very thorough
That's pretty much it for the phone, however, I have more questions.
23. Don’t think the S3 is better, the S4 mini is better in my opinion ONLY if you can live with a smaller screen. If you can stretch to the ZR do it.
My last xperia didn’t have gorilla glass – I used screen protectors and after 18 months of use I sold it to a recycling company for the maximum stated value (so they regarded it's condition as perfect). Any phone with a large screen is more vulnerable to being broken than one with a small screen. Most days on the underground and on buses I see people with busted screens - usually S3s, S4s and iphones - but I guess this is because they are the most common phones.
24. The choice for me was this or the S4 mini – I prefer Sony phones though and the bigger screen was the deal breaker. You could wait for the new Nexus, maybe a month to go? This was my plan, but my network provider offered me an early upgrade to move to 4G and I couldn’t say no.
25. The phone is definitely worth it – I’m not mad on photography and am rooted, so can get around the storage issue. After that it has most of the really important flag ship stuff, the things that you need, rather than eye scrolling or the ability to take it swimming, and the user experience is great.

Thanks for the answers guys.
After this, I'm more unsure about SP.
Now, I'm considering ZR or ZL, as both are priced similar here.

DKT27 said:
Thanks for the answers guys.
After this, I'm more unsure about SP.
Now, I'm considering ZR or ZL, as both are priced similar here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unsure too as well now lol.
Might have to look for alternatives to SP with better camera for same price.

King p1n said:
Unsure too as well now lol.
Might have to look for alternatives to SP with better camera for same price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If camera is a priority, then Xperia M has a good camera. However, you may not find any phone with such a powerful processor and graphics card, 720p screen and other features at this price.

I read all the questions wont be answering all, but I'll suggest you to go with XPERIA ZR (Don't go for ZR if you gona be using some mods or different ROM's as ZR is a low legacy device and many don't own it so there are no good devs for ZR) or ZL or either Nexus 4 also about rooting you can root any phone it doesn't voids warranty and also removing the scratch-proof sheet on ZR can be removed it doesn't voids warranty.

RuchRha said:
I read all the questions wont be answering all, but I'll suggest you to go with XPERIA ZR (Don't go for ZR if you gona be using some mods or different ROM's as ZR is a low legacy device and many don't own it so there are no good devs for ZR) or ZL or either Nexus 4 also about rooting you can root any phone it doesn't voids warranty and also removing the scratch-proof sheet on ZR can be removed it doesn't voids warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer.
I might not use any mods or ROMs as of now.
ZR and ZL seem to be priced same here. So I'm leaning towards ZL.
As for Nexus 4, it's good but no microSD card support and ZL seems better.
Thanks again for the rooting issue. However, I read that rooting requires one to change ROMs or something? I'm very much a noob in this so no idea.
About the glass and the scatter proof sheet. One, I want to know whether the glass is actually tough enough to challenge Gorilla Glass or is even near it. I'm scared for the phone hitting the ground and the expensive screen breaking. As for the warranty, see this. The only reason to remove the sheet is, that it's cloth and scratch magnet, which can be fixed by by scratch guard I think.

DKT27 said:
Thanks for the answer.
I might not use any mods or ROMs as of now.
ZR and ZL seem to be priced same here. So I'm leaning towards ZL.
As for Nexus 4, it's good but no microSD card support and ZL seems better.
Thanks again for the rooting issue. However, I read that rooting requires one to change ROMs or something? I'm very much a noob in this so no idea.
About the glass and the scatter proof sheet. One, I want to know whether the glass is actually tough enough to challenge Gorilla Glass or is even near it. I'm scared for the phone hitting the ground and the expensive screen breaking. As for the warranty, see this. The only reason to remove the sheet is, that it's cloth and scratch magnet, which can be fixed by by scratch guard I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need any ROM's for rooting, there are many rooting toolkits by DooMLoRD which easily roots a device, and the shatter proof glass is pretty strong (I feel far better than gorilla), my phone has felt many time (XPERIA Z) and nothing happened except a few scratches on the body but nothing on screen or back and I also have removed the scratch proof sheet and I mostly do so with all my XPERIA's it does not voids warranty.

DKT27 said:
If camera is a priority, then Xperia M has a good camera. However, you may not find any phone with such a powerful processor and graphics card, 720p screen and other features at this price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
on a 5mp now on Galaxy Nexus and its not too great either and i see the Xperia M has a 5 MP also.
Hate the way Sony skimped on the front cam to only VGA, especially If I finally getting involved in snapchatting and what not it wont be great
I've heard people throw the 8mp camera and software in the same sentence, Im guessing its not the software that causing bad quality images?

[Q] Xperia ZR still worth buying?

Hi All,
I currently own a Acer Cloudmobile, it has horrific battery life even with a huge mugen power battery.
It's fine in standby, but eats battery when I travel by train.
So I've been looking at Xperias. My work has gone crazy for Zs and Z1s.
I was hoping the Z1s would be out by now, but it isn't.
So would you still buy a ZR today? what else would you consider.
I prefer having microSD (I have a 64GB card right now) and a removable battery just in case. I use my phone for the following things in order of priority. I'd also like an official 4.4 update. I have small hands for a guy, I tried an LG G2 and couldn't use the buttons on the back with one hand!
1. Listening to music
2. Surfing the web, emails social networking on a moving train or bus
3. Texting
4. Watching videos
5. Taking photos
6. Making calls
7. Gaming

Chrispynutt said:
Hi All,
I currently own a Acer Cloudmobile, it has horrific battery life even with a huge mugen power battery.
It's fine in standby, but eats battery when I travel by train.
So I've been looking at Xperias. My work has gone crazy for Zs and Z1s.
I was hoping the Z1s would be out by now, but it isn't.
So would you still buy a ZR today? what else would you consider.
I prefer having microSD (I have a 64GB card right now) and a removable battery just in case. I use my phone for the following things in order of priority. I'd also like an official 4.4 update. I have small hands for a guy, I tried an LG G2 and couldn't use the buttons on the back with one hand!
1. Listening to music
2. Surfing the web, emails social networking on a moving train or bus
3. Texting
4. Watching videos
5. Taking photos
6. Making calls
7. Gaming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well!
you have two options, either wait for xperia z1 mini (which i guess you don't want since you can't wait for z1)
or buy the zr, either way if the lg g2 was too big for you z1 is even bigger.
imho the zr is a superb device, good camera (for phones) great battery life, reletavly compact for it's hardware, and i really don't feel like the 1.5 quad core snapdragon is outdated, it works flawleslly switching between open apps, heavy 3d games pdf files etc...
i whould reccomend it.
about android 4.4... sony never said it will come to zr yet... but we already have stable 4.4 rom and CM 11 also going steady soon for zr, besides that xperia z and zr have the same hardware, so most z roms work on zr, so i guess once z gets the android 4.4 someone will make a port for zr.
but you can't count on it if it's super importent for you.

The first android device that i can recommend without hesitation. First phone that i don't even need to flash.the stock rom is very good. Just root and you're good to go.

you know.. your question is quite blasphemous in this forum...
Xperia ZR has the perfect size, weight, ruggedness, performance, battery life (although I would want a battery that never needs charging - one could hope), front facing camera (i need low bandwidth data video calling and i dont do selfies)...
but I would wait for the Z1 mini if I can since you already lost about 4-6 months of us enjoying the ZR...
:highfive:

Had my ZR for about a week now, upgraded from an Xperia Go.
A breath of fresh air after the sluggishness of the Go trying to run Cyanogen ICS, didn't even attempt installing JB.
Biggest improvement is with the camera, it actually takes a photo when I want rather than 10 seconds later.
Well pleased with it, am running the stock 4.2.2 ROM rooted and only had one problem so far - bluetooth handsfree doesn't work with the latest 2.67 update (Several threads in Sony forums about it, so it's not just me).

Not so sure
For me the ZR is definitively a very good device: good size, good power...
May be the batterie could have been better and the internal memory is a bit too small (8g so around 4.5 for user but you can root and transfer app to Sd with FolderMount).
I think you won't be disappointed but my feeling is that the Zr is a already a bit forgotten by Sony.
See the update schedule for KitKat, I m not even sure we ll get it on Zr and when? 2014? It s a joke...
So may be wait for the Z1s if you want to have update in the coming month.
Furthermore, it looks a lot better than the ZR.
This time it is really 'like the big one but smaller'.
You cannot say that when you compare Z and ZR....

z1s no removable battery, right?

Z1s is worth waiting，and ZR is the best choice at this stage.

I'd say, grab it while it's still on market

I just bought a new one. I used to own a HTC EVO 3D
and i would defenitly say it is an extremely good phone
My brother has the s4 mini and defenitly it is inferior to my xperia zr

Hi, I am also planning to buy my first android phone. My usage will me the same as of Chrispynutt except that I am not much into gaming (except for basic games like fruit cutter, temple run etc). Priority for me would be loud clear voice quality and good HD photos and videos
I am confused between Xperia ZR and Xperia ZL. Which of these will be the better performing phones and does Sony plan to countinue it's support/upgrade in 2014 and may be later on?
Also does these phones support 'AutoVoice Integratio​n with Google Now' ( youtube[dot]com/watch?v=wI4bSMiO_xY )

gizmofreakxp said:
Hi, I am also planning to buy my first android phone. My usage will me the same as of Chrispynutt except that I am not much into gaming (except for basic games like fruit cutter, temple run etc). Priority for me would be loud clear voice quality and good HD photos and videos
I am confused between Xperia ZR and Xperia ZL. Which of these will be the better performing phones and does Sony plan to countinue it's support/upgrade in 2014 and may be later on?
Also does these phones support 'AutoVoice Integratio​n with Google Now' ( youtube[dot]com/watch?v=wI4bSMiO_xY )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait for Z1 mini... Sony will launch it in CES
Feel Xperia Z1 F: Strong, brilliant, both hands Google Translate

gizmofreakxp said:
Hi, I am also planning to buy my first android phone. My usage will me the same as of Chrispynutt except that I am not much into gaming (except for basic games like fruit cutter, temple run etc). Priority for me would be loud clear voice quality and good HD photos and videos
I am confused between Xperia ZR and Xperia ZL. Which of these will be the better performing phones and does Sony plan to countinue it's support/upgrade in 2014 and may be later on?
Also does these phones support 'AutoVoice Integratio​n with Google Now' ( youtube[dot]com/watch?v=wI4bSMiO_xY )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest you wait too as voice quality is correct on Zr but not awesome, even quite bad sometimes.
Also the camera is decent but nothing more. 13MP but the iphone is better with is 8MP...
The vga front camera is awful...
I think sony had a great concept with the ZR (quite as good as the big one but smaller size, closer to the iphone) but the ZR was just a first attempt.
The internal memory is too small, the battery average as the camera...
Im happy with it but the Z1s seems to be a lot better deal.
And for support and update, I m still waiting for 4.3 in my country so don't expect much from Sony...
They said ZR will get 4.4 but when? When Android 5 will be released?

[Q] Whether it is worth to buy xperia z in 2015

Hi to all.
I'm planing to by another phone. Budget is limited so there is not to much to pick.
Xperia seems good option because of big screen, LTE connectivity, premium design, important to me a very good camera and at the end is a flagship, but an old one, and that is my only concern.
So, my question is, should i by some newer(new) budget mid ranger or should give a try to Xperia Z? What is your experience with XZ?
Thanks

Ive had mine for a year now and do not intend to replace it any time soon. It runs all the current apps and games!

If your budget is tight, then get a Moto G, or OnePlus One or Nexus 5. Plenty of well specced devices around.

xperia u20i said:
Hi to all.
I'm planing to by another phone. Budget is limited so there is not to much to pick.
Xperia seems good option because of big screen, LTE connectivity, premium design, important to me a very good camera and at the end is a flagship, but an old one, and that is my only concern.
So, my question is, should i by some newer(new) budget mid ranger or should give a try to Xperia Z? What is your experience with XZ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought mine 1 year and a half ago, and I can't be happier.
It's an excellent phone, great processor, ram, camera, water proof, design, development ( I had Lollipop from 1st day like a Nexus ), fullhd, 5"...
No need to spend 500€ to get a "rocket" smartphone.
Sent from my Xperia Z using XDA Free mobile app

Thanks guys for the reply, for now is tight.
I would like to hear more opinions of owners.
What about screen on time? Now when is for example more then one year old? I don't play heavy games, mostly surfing, taking pictures, little facebook, and a lot texting and calling. And flashing roms of course
For me everything over 3 hours is good.

U can get maximum of 4.5 hours if u r not a gamer ( my experience with games 4 hour screen on time).. May b u will get around 5 hours screen on time if u play with some tweaks..

I bought my XZ this last year in November and I couldn't be happier. Ok, screen on time is not the best out there but, at least for me, it's enough. SOT performance goes between 3-4,5 h, which IMHO I think isn't bad. You could also underclock/undervolt it in case you want to expand its autonomy a bit else.

It depends on the price you are getting at, I would say go for z1 if the price difference is minimal. I've used both, choose the one in your budget

dont buy a Sony phone, they about to go out of business lol

I suggest no.
Xperia Z has following cons:
- Back glas went off due to bad glue.
- CPU throtthling while gaming due to thermal problems, games start to stutter. Device is getting hot while gaming. On 4.4.4 it a little bit better.
- Wifi and Bluettooth disconnects. Search for forums with this problem. You will hate that problem when you decide to get a Smartband. There i no fix for that.
- Weak Battery. I heavily modified my stock rom with tweaks for longer lasting battery, i reduced wakelocks, etc, but still only 1,5 days only with normal use (i dont use LTE). It loses too much battery on standby.

G1_enthusiast said:
dont buy a Sony phone, they about to go out of business lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you came here from the HTC forum, proud of that you succeeded in unlocking the achievement? I find this behaviour a tiny bit bizarre, wondering what are you trying to prove? I mean, if you worship HTC, please remain in your little temple there. There's plenty of terrorist everywhere and nobody needs another one to come, terrorise Xperia or potential Xperia users.
Back on topic:
If you like Sony, just get another Xperia. They're not going out of business anytime soon as if anyone bothered to read, they're exploring (highly unlikely though) to start a jv or selling the business to another company. Of course if that happens, which have a remote chance, you're probably still be receiving smartphone support in the new business arrangement.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

jayp57 said:
I suggest no.
Xperia Z has following cons:
- Back glas went off due to bad glue.
- CPU throtthling while gaming due to thermal problems, games start to stutter. Device is getting hot while gaming. On 4.4.4 it a little bit better.
- Wifi and Bluettooth disconnects. Search for forums with this problem. You will hate that problem when you decide to get a Smartband. There i no fix for that.
- Weak Battery. I heavily modified my stock rom with tweaks for longer lasting battery, i reduced wakelocks, etc, but still only 1,5 days only with normal use (i dont use LTE). It loses too much battery on standby.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Back glass just fine, over 1.5 years old
- Name one device that doesn't throttle (and doesn't stutter while throttled)
- Wifi and Bluetooth fine as long as you don't use a smartband
- Battery life is average, not really bad but nothing special either, standy is great with the right kernel
Thats my Xperience, no major problems so far.
But really better deals for the money out there.

I guess it depends on the price..
But in today's terms the XZ really isn't great. Like others have said, newer mid-range phones have overtaken the XZ.
Battery life has always been the only major drawback for me using the XZ. In this day and age you should be able to use your phone as much as you like, not holding off reading emails / replying to tweets otherwise it'll die before you get home
You're lucky to get 4 hours screen on time, it's not exactly efficient in standby mode either.

the amount of money you are going to spent just get One Plus One or if you are on budget cost wait till you got abit more money to get a better device

Well, it's a wonderful phone, the main issue with it is the battery
As others said if your gaming is at minimum (1 hour Max a day) you can actually get it to work 8 hours, even more if no gaming and used the stamina mode
Other than that, it's easy to root at all times and relatively easy to flash and customize.
And it will be officially update to lollipop.
I say if z1 is in your range get it only for the battery issue.. If not the XZ is great

Z is a great device.. But u can also buy 1+1 since it has Z2 specs and a better front cam.. It lacks Water resistance like XZ though and the multimedia features won't be like a SONY.. So choose ur needs first and then select the one suitable.. Although i haven't experienced any of the issues which are mentioned in the thread yet.. I hope i won't too.. But still my XZ can beat the s**t outta One M7 & all their desire phones, any iPhone, any S**tsung.. If you are a rough handler of the phone, i suggest u to buy XZ coz its built better and 1+1 seems kinda delicate compared to Sony..

G1_enthusiast said:
dont buy a Sony phone, they about to go out of business lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weren't you the one telling me I don't know what I'm talking about because of spelling mistakes?
G1_enthusiast has quoted you on xda-developers!
I'll believe you once you learn how to spell and put in some correct punctuation.
lol what company hire this moron? he cant even finished a sentence correctly.

I most probably will take XZ if i get good offer. But also maybe wait for month or two to see what will came out.
I also considering to buy SGS4 but i prefer Sony over Samsung. Only reason to take S4 will be the battery life. But like i said before i can live with 3+ hours of sot. Currently i'm using LG O4X which have vary bad sot. 2:30 is max that i can get. And all kind of problems with RIL, it's really "demanding" device, thanks to developers i still using him, but i think not for long.
Thanks

Azurren said:
I guess it depends on the price..
But in today's terms the XZ really isn't great. Like others have said, newer mid-range phones have overtaken the XZ.
Battery life has always been the only major drawback for me using the XZ. In this day and age you should be able to use your phone as much as you like, not holding off reading emails / replying to tweets otherwise it'll die before you get home
You're lucky to get 4 hours screen on time, it's not exactly efficient in standby mode either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you spell out some of those mid-range phones that are better than the XZ? my GF wants a new phone, and i cant seem to find a device thats as thin as the Z, has a fullHD 5" screen and 2gigs RAM and a 5.0 update for similar money...
this really isnt a sarcastic question. I just want to know what are those mid-range devices with these specs, so i can buy her a better phone and save some cash?
btw with heavy usage my Z never died on me until i came home(which means the whole day). im sorry if you use battery hogging apps that dont let your device sleep when you turn off the screen...

@Tommy-Geenexus
Do you really suggest that old spec phone to buy someone, with known not solved software problems on top of serious casing and thermal design flaws?
There are better options on the market. For that money you can have a LG G2 or a Galaxy S4 or a Honor 6 or One+ One.

any one help me which phone is best z3 or z3plus

i want to bye sony phone but i m not decide which phone is better z3 or z3plus

sam
plz anyone help me.i dont want to bye wrong device

Sanjay rao said:
plz anyone help me.i dont want to bye wrong device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you can go too far wrong with either.
I went from Z2 to Z3+ and very satisfied (after being iPhone 6 Plus user before that, iPhones the last 5 years).
Main reason I would've got Z3 is that it is cheaper, however the Z3+ is 64-bit and has a cleaner design (waterproof capless USB port) and 32GB internal memory (Z3 still has only 16GB IIRC).
Battery life of my Z3+ so far seems comparable with my Z2 (easily gets through my day), but the Z3+ also has slightly upraded camera sensor (Exmor RS has two digital stabilisation modes whereas whatever is in the Z2 only offers one mode, also autofocus on Z3+ now using phase detection rather than only contrast detection).
So it depends what is important to you. I don't think you'd be disappointed with either. Maybe wait until the Z5 is available at which time all the other Z phones should get cheaper again ...

miker71 said:
I don't think you can go too far wrong with either.
I went from Z2 to Z3+ and very satisfied (after being iPhone 6 Plus user before that, iPhones the last 5 years).
Main reason I would've got Z3 is that it is cheaper, however the Z3+ is 64-bit and has a cleaner design (waterproof capless USB port) and 32GB internal memory (Z3 still has only 16GB IIRC).
Battery life of my Z3+ so far seems comparable with my Z2 (easily gets through my day), but the Z3+ also has slightly upraded camera sensor (Exmor RS has two digital stabilisation modes whereas whatever is in the Z2 only offers one mode, also autofocus on Z3+ now using phase detection rather than only contrast detection).
So it depends what is important to you. I don't think you'd be disappointed with either. Maybe wait until the Z5 is available at which time all the other Z phones should get cheaper again ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but bro overheating ishu

Based on my experience of the Z2 and Z3+ neither phone overheats in everyday use. Like any other phone, they get warm when hammering wifi. The native camera app can make the phones get warm and unlike any other phone the camera app will exit to cool off.
Both phones are warmer than my old iPhone 6 Plus and the Z3+ is warmer than the Z2 - they get warm when they are being worked hard. If you want the least warm phone then get an iPhone if heat is all you are worried about.
Sounds to me like neither Z phone is for you if you are a victim of media FUD. There are plenty of other phones on the market to choose from bro.

After the latest update z3+ heat doesn't exist warm very little like any phone. And i mean little, normal. And the phone is faster than lighting. First sony, i had doubts about this phone but i am very happy with it. So.
ME

please bye z3+
no overheating ishu

i want to bye z3+,but when i read user reviews on gsm arrena max user talking about heat isshu.really i cant be take conform decesion.

trumastanr1 said:
After the latest update z3+ heat doesn't exist warm very little like any phone. And i mean little, normal. And the phone is faster than lighting. First sony, i had doubts about this phone but i am very happy with it. So.
ME
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
r u sure?overheating isshu solve

I'm sure.
ME
---------- Post added at 10:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 AM ----------
Keep in mind I am not a heavy user so my phone lasts day and a half with minimum usage.
ME