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I'm planing to get SGS3 soon, thus i would like to collect comments from all of you. Since experienced users are all gathered here. How do you think the overall design, and performance of the SGS3?
your feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
Coming for the S2 this new S3 has big boots to fill. Can it fill them? I'm not so sure....
The things I'm a bit disappointed in are:
Compared to the S2 the screen on the S3 is relatively dim especially in broad daylight.
Wi-Fi connection problems. my rooter often needs a reboot but this does not happen with my other devices.
Very poor sound quality when recording a video
Low memory/RAM which means the homescreen has to redraw after pressing the home button.
keyboard not as easy to type on. More errors than typing on S2.
Rear speaker not as loud as S2
S2 is so much faster even on stock. S3 feels laggy in comparison.
It feels like the S2 is the upgrade and not the other way round. The screen is sharper than the S2 but thats about it. I'm glad I didn't sell my S2. I have three days to sent the S3 back and that's looking very likely.
Sorry to be negative about it, but that's my experience.
mwatson said:
Coming for the S2 this new S3 has big boots to fill. Can it fill them? I'm not so sure....
The things I'm a bit disappointed in are:
Compared to the S2 the screen on the S3 is relatively dim especially in broad daylight.
Wi-Fi connection problems. my rooter often needs a reboot but this does not happen with my other devices.
Very poor sound quality when recording a video
Low memory/RAM which means the homescreen has to redraw after pressing the home button.
keyboard not as easy to type on. More errors than typing on S2.
Rear speaker not as loud as S2
S2 is so much faster even on stock. S3 feels laggy in comparison.
It feels like the S2 is the upgrade and not the other way round. The screen is sharper than the S2 but thats about it. I'm glad I didn't sell my S2. I have three days to sent the S3 back and that's looking very likely.
Sorry to be negative about it, but that's my experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
r u kiddin bro??/
if you start all your applications still you will not find a single lag on mobile i bet..
In my opinion this device rocks!!
Here's what I think after 2 weeks of using.
Super fast and buttery smooth. Really. Making the phone faster than this would be overkill for day to day usage. Games like NOVA3 runs with very little lag. Though the 1GB RAM is a bit disappointing (a upgrade from S2 would have been nice), apart from a few reloading apps, multitasking is pretty flawless. I am using Apex launcher and rarely suffer redraw issues.
The build quality is solid and feels solid too. I didn't like the design when I first saw the device on May 3rd. But after having it in my hands, it's SEXY. Super thin bezel and very good ergonomics. The curved design was made to fit right in your hands. Landscape and portrait. Feels pretty thin too although it's a bit thicker than the S2. But the back cover is a real fingerprint magnet (I have the white one) and my volume rocker is a bit squeaky but nothing serious.
The screen is a bit dim at max brightness as mentioned. But I really like the 720p res even though it's pentile (Really. I can't really tell the difference unless I have the screen in my face)
Camera is the best phone camera I've ever used. I really like the super fast no lag shutter though it is a bit of a hassle when you have to delete the many unwanted photos because it kinda makes you trigger happy (especially when using burst mode). I didn't really test the camcorder but based on videos on youtube they look really great (especially with the 30mbp bit rate mod). The colors are a bit saturated, but that's the way I like it.
As for extra features, S-voice is just gimmicky and kinda useless (like all other voice controls). Pop-up play is nice to have and works flawlessly but I don't see much use of it. Smart stay works most of the time (and I wear glasses) and is a little bit more useful. Direct call works and handy. But the number one thing I like about it is the RGB notification LED. It is soooooooo useful when paired with Lightflow!!!!
TouchWiz is just ok. Though I prefer Apex launcher more with its customization options. The notification toggles are useful to have especially when you want to toggle something in the middle of an app even though I only use wifi, gps, mobile network, and screen rotation toggles.
The battery is very good. It gets me through the day with moderate usage. (And I use full brightness too).
I can see a lot of potential in the GS3 especially when it comes to rom development. Samsung did a good job releasing the source code early. I'm interested in what the devs would cook up in the future.
Now that some of you have played with the sg3, do you wish you waited a bit longer or would stay of sg2?
One or two apps have crashed on me but overall I really struggle to slow the phone down. Its incredibly fast..
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
lostsoul565 said:
Now that some of you have played with the sg3, do you wish you waited a bit longer or would stay of sg2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hell no. Its better than the S2 in every way and I freaking loved the S2!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
mwatson said:
Coming for the S2 this new S3 has big boots to fill. Can it fill them? I'm not so sure....
The things I'm a bit disappointed in are:
Compared to the S2 the screen on the S3 is relatively dim especially in broad daylight.
Wi-Fi connection problems. my rooter often needs a reboot but this does not happen with my other devices.
Very poor sound quality when recording a video
Low memory/RAM which means the homescreen has to redraw after pressing the home button.
keyboard not as easy to type on. More errors than typing on S2.
Rear speaker not as loud as S2
S2 is so much faster even on stock. S3 feels laggy in comparison.
It feels like the S2 is the upgrade and not the other way round. The screen is sharper than the S2 but thats about it. I'm glad I didn't sell my S2. I have three days to sent the S3 back and that's looking very likely.
Sorry to be negative about it, but that's my experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also come from an S2 which was by far the best phone I've ever used. The S3 had very big shoes to fill. I can now say for sure that it has filled them.
*I've had no issues with screen brightness either indoors or out. The screen overall is light years ahead of the S2.
*In 3 weeks I haven't had a single problem with wifi.
*Audio in video recording will likely be fixed by Samsung soon. If not the devs will.
*Never had a ram problem. I use ss launcher so don't have any homescreen redraw, which will also likely be fixed soon.
*Llike on the S2, the only keyboard I can use accurately is GB keyboard. Got it from the KitchenPro app (checkrom).
*I find the rear speaker volume quite good. Not worse than the S2. But I installed the speaker mod, also from kitchenpro and the rear speaker blows my old S2 to bits.
*At first I also believed the S3 would never match the raw speed I achieved on the S2. But now on Checkrom + Siyah + ss launcher I can confirm it is faster. The phone is absolutely flying. I can't imagine anything being faster.
Up until I installed checkrom, every time I opened titanium I could read the text as it was initializing. Requesting root bla bla. Now the entire sequence is a blur. Like it was on the S2 but twice the speed.
What's more, the camera destroys the one on the S2, especially low light. The sound quality on headphones is amazing. Using playerpro the sound is miles ahead of my old S1 with voodoo. I still have it. Tested both side by side yesterday and after thinking the S1 could never be matched, it literally sounded crap. Imaging how the S3 will sound when supercurio finishes with it. The phone also looks better and feels better in the hand.
It is definitely a step up from the S2.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I never used s2 but I had HOX until it had yellow corner so I waited for s3 n paid a little more it truly was a good decision. Just rooted before but not tried a kernel or Rom yet but when I do I'll give it a real ragging (just getting my head around odin & triangle away as never seen them before)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA
Going from S1 to S2 was like moving from analog to digital, but apart from slight speed increase and bigger screen the S3 really isn't noticeably much better, but on it's own it is still a great phone.
I'm going to wait, so, i will stay on SGS2. SGS2 is rock for me, ultimately modded with super fast performance and good battery life. And, my SGS2 have dropped many times and, it now still working super great.
thanks for all of your feedback!
Decided to pick up an LG G3 on Thursday... So far, I am mostly pleased. Here's a review/comparison...in random order:
The display is nice and large, but doesn't feel like a bulky 5.5" in my hand. Easier to hold than my Galaxy S5, believe it or not...I definitely don't think about it as much, probably because of the thinner bezel and body.
While it is high quality, I wouldn't say the display is most amazing screen on the planet - considering the impressive specs on paper. You'll just have to see it. On several occasions, I've noticed that text looks fuzzy/washed out on white backgrounds. But I think now that it's actually an issue with certain apps not being able to produce high enough resolution - not the display's fault.
It does very well in bright sunlight, and seems to have the most reactive light sensor compared to the Galaxy S5 or the Moto X.
Removable battery and wireless charging back (coming soon) are handy conveniences. It also has an IR blaster, which I really missed from the Galaxy S5. Believe it or not, I actually use it very regularly.
I picked up a 32gb MicroSD... The phone can handle up to a 128gb...'nuff said
Photo quality is definitely above average. Night and day compared to the Moto X - even with the most recent Moto X firmware updates. I'd say the G3 is on par with older iPhones; which has always been the one to beat. Stunning? No, but closer than most any Android phone I've owned. Better than the Galaxy S5... The laser focus feature is somewhat noticeable, though I'd say it helps the camera act more like my expectations than being a substantial bonus.
LG has made quite a few tweaks to 4.4.2. Most all are complimentary, and freshen up the interface in a better way than most. Like many though, I was very surprised to find the stock launcher a bit slow and stuttering - especially considering that the phone is quad core with 3gb of ram. I suspect they'll update things in a revision soon... Overall, the phone is snappy. And other than the stock launcher itself, everything else performs very well/fast. I really don't perceive anything negatively as "bloat".
I dearly miss the breathing Moto X notifications. LG does make up for it to some degree by offering the knock-to-power-on convenience. If you aren't familiar, you can simply double tap the screen to turn it on...no buttons to fumble for and press. So this helps to check things very quickly. The notification light on the front also compliments...
The stock keyboard is zippy and performs as well as the Google one. I like that you can change the color scheme and some of the button format, as well as the fact that it has a number bar at the top all the time.
I've been able to root the phone, which has helped to satisfy some of my hacking nature. I quickly got a bit burned out with custom roms on the Moto X - partly because things tend to glitch more than I wanted, and surprisingly because the Moto X actually has a very limited development community...even for my Developer Edition model.
I'm slightly concerned that LG has not announced any support for Android L yet.
Battery life is on par with the Moto X and Galaxy S5...probably because it's powering such a large screen.
Physical build quality is great. And I have quickly embraced LG's genius of placing all the buttons on the rear of the phone. They're very convenient, and you can even program long-press actions (with a hack) to quickly launch the camera or an app from screen off. And again, the knock-to-power-on is by far my favorite. While the Galaxy S5 uses higher quality materials, I definitely find the G3 more attractive and convenient.
I also like that the headphone jack is on the bottom of the phone.
The Moto X speaker blows away the G3. The G3 is on par with the Galaxy S5...somewhat quiet and boring. This affects music and the speakerphone negatively. Call quality on the G3 is disappointing with the earpiece as well (non-speakerphone call)...tinny and dull. Too often I find that I have a noticeably harder time hearing people than on the S5 or Moto X.
Overall, I am pleased. Tradeoffs outweigh disadvantages, and I love that I didn't have to install a ton of add-on apps to improve functionality and remove bloat. If I could unlock the bootloader, increase battery life about 3 hours, and improve the speaker/earpiece quality, it would just about be a perfect phone...
I have a moto x and am really struggling on whether or no to get the g3 or wait for the moto x+1. The g3 is only 100 now but I'm sure that price will be offered again with the iPhone coming soon.
I really like the moto x; size, features, battery life.
I guess my main concern is the size. I remember when the note 3 came out I said I'd never get a phone that big and the g3 is pretty much the same size haha
hijax2001 said:
Decided to pick up an LG G3 on Thursday... So far, I am mostly pleased. Here's a review/comparison...in random order:
The display is nice and large, but doesn't feel like a bulky 5.5" in my hand. Easier to hold than my Galaxy S5, believe it or not...I definitely don't think about it as much, probably because of the thinner bezel and body.
While it is high quality, I wouldn't say the display is most amazing screen on the planet - considering the impressive specs on paper. You'll just have to see it. On several occasions, I've noticed that text looks fuzzy/washed out on white backgrounds. But I think now that it's actually an issue with certain apps not being able to produce high enough resolution - not the display's fault.
It does very well in bright sunlight, and seems to have the most reactive light sensor compared to the Galaxy S5 or the Moto X.
Removable battery and wireless charging back (coming soon) are handy conveniences. It also has an IR blaster, which I really missed from the Galaxy S5. Believe it or not, I actually use it very regularly.
I picked up a 32gb MicroSD... The phone can handle up to a 128gb...'nuff said
Photo quality is definitely above average. Night and day compared to the Moto X - even with the most recent Moto X firmware updates. I'd say the G3 is on par with older iPhones; which has always been the one to beat. Stunning? No, but closer than most any Android phone I've owned. Better than the Galaxy S5... The laser focus feature is somewhat noticeable, though I'd say it helps the camera act more like my expectations than being a substantial bonus.
LG has made quite a few tweaks to 4.4.2. Most all are complimentary, and freshen up the interface in a better way than most. Like many though, I was very surprised to find the stock launcher a bit slow and stuttering - especially considering that the phone is quad core with 3gb of ram. I suspect they'll update things in a revision soon... Overall, the phone is snappy. And other than the stock launcher itself, everything else performs very well/fast. I really don't perceive anything negatively as "bloat".
I dearly miss the breathing Moto X notifications. LG does make up for it to some degree by offering the knock-to-power-on convenience. If you aren't familiar, you can simply double tap the screen to turn it on...no buttons to fumble for and press. So this helps to check things very quickly. The notification light on the front also compliments...
The stock keyboard is zippy and performs as well as the Google one. I like that you can change the color scheme and some of the button format, as well as the fact that it has a number bar at the top all the time.
I've been able to root the phone, which has helped to satisfy some of my hacking nature. I quickly got a bit burned out with custom roms on the Moto X - partly because things tend to glitch more than I wanted, and surprisingly because the Moto X actually has a very limited development community...even for my Developer Edition model.
I'm slightly concerned that LG has not announced any support for Android L yet.
Battery life is on par with the Moto X and Galaxy S5...probably because it's powering such a large screen.
Physical build quality is great. And I have quickly embraced LG's genius of placing all the buttons on the rear of the phone. They're very convenient, and you can even program long-press actions (with a hack) to quickly launch the camera or an app from screen off. And again, the knock-to-power-on is by far my favorite. While the Galaxy S5 uses higher quality materials, I definitely find the G3 more attractive and convenient.
I also like that the headphone jack is on the bottom of the phone.
The Moto X speaker blows away the G3. The G3 is on par with the Galaxy S5...somewhat quiet and boring. This affects music and the speakerphone negatively. Call quality on the G3 is disappointing with the earpiece as well (non-speakerphone call)...tinny and dull. Too often I find that I have a noticeably harder time hearing people than on the S5 or Moto X.
Overall, I am pleased. Tradeoffs outweigh disadvantages, and I love that I didn't have to install a ton of add-on apps to improve functionality and remove bloat. If I could unlock the bootloader, increase battery life about 3 hours, and improve the speaker/earpiece quality, it would just about be a perfect phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree the LG UI is laggy/stuttering. Some people say they don't see it..must be magic phones.
I am confused as to why you said you missed the IR blaster on the S5? Maybe it was a mis-type, but it has an IR blaster. I agree with a lot of what you said, but I find the G3 to have worse battery life than the S5, also less polish. I miss little things (lock screen text preview vs "New Message", Native flashlight, call reject, facebook calendar sync, etc) I sold mine, but I'm actively trying to work out a deal to trade my G3 for another S5.
The headset 'loudness" on the g3 is on par with the G2 IMO, which is pretty lack luster. The M8 was the best (obviously).
For me the G3 is amazing. The only time I get any lag is when I first unlock the phone. It takes a little bit of time for the on screen buttons to come up and if I try to swipe down the notifications it stutters. But after that it is like butter. I have grown tired of Samsung. I had the S4, it was a good phone, but I am over Samsung, I needed a change and this is a change in the right direction.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk
I still haven't seen any lag on mine. I must have a magic one, lol!
Best phone I have had imo, granted it is not head and shoulders. I loved my g flex for entertainment purposes, but in the end was to big for my new job.
Parents are rocking that and now I am on this, it's a beautiful phone!
Also it's smaller than the Note series. I had a n2 and n3 for a short while and this I can use one handed. The other two, no way!
Rippley05 said:
I agree the LG UI is laggy/stuttering. Some people say they don't see it..must be magic phones.
I am confused as to why you said you missed the IR blaster on the S5? Maybe it was a mis-type, but it has an IR blaster. I agree with a lot of what you said, but I find the G3 to have worse battery life than the S5, also less polish. I miss little things (lock screen text preview vs "New Message", Native flashlight, call reject, facebook calendar sync, etc) I sold mine, but I'm actively trying to work out a deal to trade my G3 for another S5.
The headset 'loudness" on the g3 is on par with the G2 IMO, which is pretty lack luster. The M8 was the best (obviously).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not one bit of lag on mine, must be one of the magic ones that you speak of....
thegrants82 said:
Not one bit of lag on mine, must be one of the magic ones that you speak of....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea..,suuuure. No lag, at all. Ok
Rippley05 said:
Yea..,suuuure. No lag, at all. Ok
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This lag issue I think is very hard to gauge from user to user. What someone thinks is a perfectly fast phone could be considered a laggy phone for someone else.
I have my G3 almost completely Debloated. .I use Nova Launcher and have Animation scales at .5 and the only perceivable lag I see is sometimes going into Settings or Recents. It's definitely not anything major to me and could probably just be me nit-pickin lol
Hard to say though across the board for everyone since people have their phones set up so differently. Just my two cents my friend....
- Sent From My G3
Mistertac said:
This lag issue I think is very hard to gauge from user to user. What someone thinks is a perfectly fast phone could be considered a laggy phone for someone else.
I have my G3 almost completely Debloated. .I use Nova Launcher and have Animation scales at .5 and the only perceivable lag I see is sometimes going into Settings or Recents. It's definitely not anything major to me and could probably just be me nit-pickin lol
Hard to say though across the board for everyone since people have their phones set up so differently. Just my two cents my friend....
- Sent From My G3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This x100!
Some people just notice every little bit of everything. I am glad I am not one of those people as it would be hard to be content with anything.
It's ok guys. It started with me mentioning the lag that myself and several others experience. Then the fanboys follow me from thread to thread to remind me that they have "no lag". I'm ok with people not having the same experience , most people would just rather lie and argue about it than admit their beloved device isn't perfect.
I'm having a hard time deciding between my galaxy S5 and my LG G3. My experience is a little different from most because i'm coming from the other flagship:
S5:
-In my opinion the screen is MUCH better. colors, contrast, viewing angles and most importantly brightness. In sunlight the S5 is so much easier on the eyes than the G3
-daytime photography: overall nicer photos and more detail from shots with great lighting
-Slightly better battery life
-slightly better 4G connection
-Smoother UI
G3:
-noticeably bigger screen
-really good standby (screen off) battery life
-preferring the back buttons over side buttons as well as knock code
-night and low light photos: major improvement over S5
-video recording audio: clear vs distorted audio from S5
Rippley05 said:
I am confused as to why you said you missed the IR blaster on the S5? Maybe it was a mis-type, but it has an IR blaster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The comparison was between the G3 and the MotoX (see the title of the thread.)
hijax2001 said:
It also has an IR blaster, which I really missed from the Galaxy S5. Believe it or not, I actually use it very regularly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP is saying that the IR blaster was used a lot when the S5 was owned. After moving on to the Moto X, the IR blaster from the S5 was really missed. BUT! YAY! G3 has an IR blaster!!! Back to being "that person" that changes the channels on the TVs at the bars again!
Hope this helps.
t1n0m3n said:
The comparison was between the G3 and the MotoX (see the title of the thread.)
OP is saying that the IR blaster was used a lot when the S5 was owned. After moving on to the Moto X, the IR blaster from the S5 was really missed. BUT! YAY! G3 has an IR blaster!!! Back to being "that person" that changes the channels on the TVs at the bars again!
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, I did see the title. He worded funky I guess.
Im asking for myself, as well as for others in the future.
the first photo I took after unboxing the phone was missed. horribly. the camera seems so slow. If compared to a note 5, iphone etc.
Using auto for settings. i figured itd be at least almost as fast as comparable flagship devices.
Can anyone provide a decent list of settings for those "gotta take it fast" settings?
I have no problem at all. Just open and the camera app and shoot.
Haven't had any problems here. I used it all weekend to take picture of fall leaves.
Only thing that was "slow" was opening it by way of the double press of the down volume button. Not as fast as I'd like between the press and the actual picture.
But just opening the camera from the icon (i have it on my second screen) was very fast! The actual picture taking is blazing fast too. It was especially appreciated when taking panoramic pictures. My note 2 is pretty slow for those.
Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
Any way to make the camera app on the second screen when main screen is off? That would be awesome. Btw I didn't even think out putting camera on second screen. Thanks!
I have the camera on the second screen when the screen is off.
Screen off defaults to the date/time/battery display but swipe to the left and it's (sound) (wifi) (flashlight) (camera)
I don't remember setting it that way. I thought I was just by default...
Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
I have problems with the camera on the LG V10 too. For stationary stuff it's fine, but my Note 4 was much faster to take a camera shot on auto, and the picture always looked much better, with much less noise and blur... I have a 3 year old. So he moves fast, and I don't want to carry my expensive camera with me everywhere. I really thought this would be at least as good as the Note 4 on auto but it isn't. I really love the LG v10 overall, and don't like the thought of losing the removable battery, SD memory expansion, the DAC, and other great stuff, by moving to a Note 5. But I'm just that disappointed in the camera. Anyone think I might have a defective phone? I mean I hit the camera button to take a picture, and it just lags. And the result is blurry more often than not.
sigmundfreud1 said:
I have problems with the camera on the LG V10 too. For stationary stuff it's fine, but my Note 4 was much faster to take a camera shot on auto, and the picture always looked much better, with much less noise and blur... I have a 3 year old. So he moves fast, and I don't want to carry my expensive camera with me everywhere. I really thought this would be at least as good as the Note 4 on auto but it isn't. I really love the LG v10 overall, and don't like the thought of losing the removable battery, SD memory expansion, the DAC, and other great stuff, by moving to a Note 5. But I'm just that disappointed in the camera. Anyone think I might have a defective phone? I mean I hit the camera button to take a picture, and it just lags. And the result is blurry more often than not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had none of these problems that you speak of...You might try to exchange your device....sucks bro.
Make sure OIS is on.
Make sure it's saving picture to phone
This camera is not as fast as note 5 when it comes to shooting quickly. Auto focus is nice but remember note 5 had camera api running in the background constantly so it's easy to open camera and snap.
It seems to have a slight lag with focusing in auto mode, especially compared to note 5.
I use it mainly for manual shots, but I also have note 5 too.
V10 has many more camera and video options than note 5, but is slightly slower
I have no problems with the camera at all.. Its fast and amazing. I came from a note 4 that became very slow after a half a year. N4 took 20 sec just for the camera to get in focus after opening the app. V10 Manual mode is the shiiz
Totally agree
sigmundfreud1 said:
I have problems with the camera on the LG V10 too. For stationary stuff it's fine, but my Note 4 was much faster to take a camera shot on auto, and the picture always looked much better, with much less noise and blur... I have a 3 year old. So he moves fast, and I don't want to carry my expensive camera with me everywhere. I really thought this would be at least as good as the Note 4 on auto but it isn't. I really love the LG v10 overall, and don't like the thought of losing the removable battery, SD memory expansion, the DAC, and other great stuff, by moving to a Note 5. But I'm just that disappointed in the camera. Anyone think I might have a defective phone? I mean I hit the camera button to take a picture, and it just lags. And the result is blurry more often than not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on this. I was debating on the note 5 and this. i love the big screen and removable battery and sd card and the storage is awesome but the camera pictures really disappointment. very much noise and blurry on the ends. like it just focus on the middle. Im thinking of returning it but i don't want to loose the whole other features..
agree
headcreepz said:
I've had none of these problems that you speak of...You might try to exchange your device....sucks bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree have the same problem. I wa sdebating on the note 5 and this but I love the whole big phone, storage and memory so I went with this. but since I am in the 14 day trial period I want to return it and get the note 5. just yesterday i took pictures and it took for over to take so when people saw the first flash they assumed it took and moved and yeah not good. IS there a setting or something?
The Nexus 6P is my first nexus device after using HTC and Samsung as my main Android devices. I've also had most iPhone models so I'll be using my experience from both sides of the camp to make my comparison. I am writing this in the hopes that someone will be able to get a better idea of the device from a user’s perspective and see if it is the right device for them, as well as the issues that they could potentially face and decide if it’s worth replacing their device.
HARDWARE
The first experience was a bit annoying as I needed to RMA the first device due to the plastic piece on the back having a rather annoying hump on the left side. Google support for Canada was great. 2 days is all it took to get my new device. Sadly that one too had the same issue but it was far less prominent so I decided it didn’t bother me enough for a second exchange and I kept it. I also don't know if one speaker is louder or not, some videos make it sound that way while others don't. Music seems fine on it so I assume it's OK. They sound fine regardless but I know that's an issue. Neither one had any extreme issues with sound from my experience thus far. The volume with headphones on was exceptionally loud. I usually don't need to keep it super low but on this phone I did, super happy about that, same with calls over an earpiece, very loud and clear. Likewise with using the phones speaker. No issues at all.
Both of them were perfect hardware wise aside the hump. No scratches or issues with bends. The first phone however felt hollow on the back. The second one felt fuller, sturdier. If I tap the back it felt heftier vs a more empty feeling. Not sure if I'm the only one who noticed something like this, sound off in the comments. For my sized hands it feels great. The phone is a bit big but still manageable in a case (Ringke fusion). My only real issue with the hardware, more specifically the internal hardware, was the vibration. It is very weak, especially when compared to my Samsung s6/edge and iPhone 6. I've missed phone calls while on vibrate and in my pocket because I just don't feel it while I'm walking. If anyone else has similar experiences I’d like to hear your input on this.
DISPLAY
The display is where things got interesting. The first phone I got was immediately put into sRGB mode because one thing I love about iPhone is the attention to color accuracy. While not perfect has been better than all other phones I've had, even the Samsung Galaxy s6 and s6 edge. (To my eyes of course)
The Nexus 6P was to my surprise really good. While some colors were maybe a bit washed out looking when compared to my IPS monitors at home, it did a great job. The whites have been really good, and the blacks of course are perfect thanks to the amoled panel. Tilting the display down showed a greenish hue while tilting up showed a pinkish hue. Looking at it dead on I don't really notice the color shift but it was present on both models. Everything on the display is super crisp. Images, especially colorful ones are a joy to view. Everything pops and looks outstanding. I don't watch a lot of video but that was a real treat as well. Even compared to the S6, the larger display really helps in that regard.
Once the replacement arrived though I immediately noticed the difference in calibration. The new phone, which I'm keeping, had noticeably better and deeper colors on sRGB mode. The first and most noticeable was the notification menu. It was darker grey. I immediately started comparing side by side and noticed that the new phone made the old one look washed out. The colors were more accurate on the replacement and that to me was a huge win. It might be what made me not care for the smaller but still noticeable hump on the plastic. The whites on the second phone have been a bit odd as the pinkish tone is sometimes more noticeable on tilting but again, minor issue for me. On max brightness both had near perfect whites, and colors as gorgeous as ever. At around 50%, which is what my phone is always on (auto brightness turned off), the whites while still good, are toned down. It's as if a small hint of silver was added to the whites. Again, still white but you can notice the difference from the brightness levels. Lower brightness was OK, colors aren't special but then again they aren't meant to be at the level. Good for reading at night though! The rest of the colors manage to retain their consistency despite the drop. Kudos to Google and Huawei for doing a great job on the colors, I'm very happy with the results over all.
SOFTWARE
Software so far has been awesome. Only thing to crash so far was Facebook... Because it's Facebook. Everything is insanely fast. Even compared to Samsung and iPhone. Every time I think I opened too many apps or I need to reopen an app worrying it might lag, it doesn't. And it's left exactly where it was, it doesn't reload or even stutter. The experience has been such a joy. It's my first Android device to be this smooth and reliable. I still obsessively close apps but, I do it less often now. For those wondering I use nova launcher, so I can't really comment on Google launcher but I'm sure it's fine. I wish Google would have kept the dark theme but that's just me being picky and somewhat spoiled by the themes option on the new Samsung phones. I also don't root or bother with roms anymore (last one being the HTC One M7 to turn it into the Google edition).
So far I'm very satisfied with the software and lack of bloat ware. Looking forward to timely updates as well, unlike some other Android manufacturers out there....
The finger print sensor is easily the best one I've ever used. The fact that I don't need to turn the phone on to use it and get access to my home screen is just fantastic. It feels so natural for me as well since my finger naturally goes to that spot. It's fast, insanely accurate and convenient. When I get low on battery (and that's coming up, don’t worry) battery saver mode is great. It makes standby that much better and I can have enough juice for emergency phone calls or gps if needed.
CAMERA
The rear camera has been great although different on my two phones. The second phone being better. The first phone I noticed had issues doing macro shots and focusing properly when you try to get too close to an object. However on 8mp instead of the 12, it focused way better on macro and caught better details because of it. The second phone had no such issues and performed as I expected. Marcos were great on either resolution and had great colors and detail. Just an odd issue to have and I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. I have not tried video so I can't comment but from what others have posted it seems really good, minus the lack of OIS.
I haven't taken many selfies but the front camera looks great, tons of detail, lots of visible imperfections to look your ugliest, highly recommend
BATTERY
Battery life has been the biggest surprise.
Having an iPhone 6 which has been the only phone to get me through a day with battery to spare, I have always been skeptical of Android and its poor battery life for my usage. To clarify, I use it for mainly texting, Facebook and it's messenger, phone calls, music, web browsing and maybe a video or two. WiFi is always left on regardless if I'm home or not, and Bluetooth is always off with location settings set on high. My brightness (which almost no one seems to point out) is always at 50%, auto turned off. Very rarely at night when I'm already at home will I turn it down but again, very rarely.
With most Android phones, my SOT has been 3-3.5hrs. Maybe 10-12hrs of standby. Pretty awful. With iPhone, I get 14-15hrs of standby on the same usage type. Now, iPhone displays usage differently from Android and on iOS I get about 8-10hrs of usage. Whatever that actually means. All I know is it got me through the day with life to spare. I'm extremely happy to say that the Nexus 6P is the first Android phone (since the note 2) to get me through a full day and have reserves left in the tank. My first full day, I got 4.5hrs of SOT with 15.5hrs of standby, 2hrs of phone calls and about 2 hours of music. Battery saver was on at 15%.
Overall I couldn't be happier with this phone, it has excellent battery life for my usage, it feels and looks great. The minor issues I had can be easily overlooked by someone less ocd than myself so it's a phone I highly recommend to anyone. Now if only we had more variety with accessories...
Hope you liked my review and if you have any questions please feel free to ask
Nice review. It's getting harder and harder waiting until Monday to receive mine
Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the review!
Great review, waiting for my own and I'm pretty sure I'll love it
Skickat från min LG-H815 via Tapatalk
Hoping to hear more about the vibration strength. I have a oneplus one, and I absolutely hate the vibrator inside it. The vibration is so weak and makes the phone feel cheap compared to my M7.
Good review. I was using the iPhone previously and this phone feels little dim with compare to iPhone. As you mentioned white is good, could you please post a snap of Nexus 6P and iPhone side by side with 100% brightness and auto brightness off.
What headphones were using?
My phone doesn't really push my 60 ohm Sony's to "loud".
Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk
Sound quality and loudness in headphones is the only thing that's worries me about both 5x and 6P. Because I'll try them out before root I can't just install V4A the first thing I do. Except for loud sound, what do you think of loudness if you compare to the iPhone (using loudness eq)?
Thanks.
Skickat från min LG-H815 via Tapatalk
What about the yellow tint?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Free mobile app
Can you tell me how is the GPS? Does the gps works properly?
G1sanju said:
Good review. I was using the iPhone previously and this phone feels little dim with compare to iPhone. As you mentioned white is good, could you please post a snap of Nexus 6P and iPhone side by side with 100% brightness and auto brightness off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly I no longer have the iPhone 6 as I sold it to get this phone. I'll see if I can get a picture with some help from friends regarding that.
@chrisexv6: I have Bose On-Ear, Monster DNA, Apple earpods, and I HAD Skullcandy 50/50. The Bose are still my favorite and at least for me, they are pretty loud. This being pretty subjective I can only go by my experience but I rarely push beyond half way on the volume slider. Phone calls I’ll sometimes push it up due to the environment around me but even that I find I have to turn it down because it gets too loud for my ears
@dondavis007: I have not had a chance to play with the eq so I can’t comment but in general it is definitely louder than my iPhone 6 was. I have a much easier time hearing this thing from across the room.
@Dbj.Dhaval: On my 2 units I have not seen any yellow tint thankfully. I don’t know how common that would be but hopefully it’s only in small portions.
@aygul12345: GPS has been perfect for me. I have not had any issues inside maps or the Transit app that I use daily. I’ll be sure to mention if that changes however everything is solid so far.
dondavis007 said:
Sound quality and loudness in headphones is the only thing that's worries me about both 5x and 6P. Because I'll try them out before root I can't just install V4A the first thing I do. Except for loud sound, what do you think of loudness if you compare to the iPhone (using loudness eq)?
Thanks.
Skickat från min LG-H815 via Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed quite a difference with sound loudness when using Music Volume Equalizer BUT I do not know if it is the app or the phone itself, with my wired earbuds I get NO equalization difference no matter which option I choose. I say wired because with Blue Tooth it is fine. I may post another thread with this wired question.
Thanks for the review.
@G1sanju
I have added a photo comparing the brightness on the iPhone 6S and the Nexus 6P, hopefully this will also give an idea as to the colour reproduction on both. Nexus 6P is set to sRGB mode in this photo.
Both phones are at 100% brightness. From in person, the iPhone did look a bit brighter but not by too much. hope this helps!
resetoriginal said:
@G1sanju
I have added a photo comparing the brightness on the iPhone 6S and the Nexus 6P, hopefully this will also give an idea as to the colour reproduction on both. Nexus 6P is set to sRGB mode in this photo.
Both phones are at 100% brightness. From in person, the iPhone did look a bit brighter but not by too much. hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, Not much of the difference on sRGB Mode. I think its more visible on the white, because of little warm color production on Nexus 6P.
@resetoriginal Would you mind posting your build date? I, too, had to RMA my first device due to a protruding lip on the bottom panel. My replacement still has it, but, like yours, is much less pronounced. I'm just curious if it's a certain batch. My replacement device was built on 10/25.
goffmj said:
@resetoriginal Would you mind posting your build date? I, too, had to RMA my first device due to a protruding lip on the bottom panel. My replacement still has it, but, like yours, is much less pronounced. I'm just curious if it's a certain batch. My replacement device was built on 10/25.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone's built date is 10-21-2015
I read a lot of reviews and opinions here about the Z5C that are from people that were or still are using a Sony device. The Z5C is usually compared in terms of the Z3C or even the Z1C. Those comparisons are good if you own those devices, but I have no prior contact with Sony. My current device is a Moto G (1st Gen).
So I'd like to know what people who had no prior contact, or at least not in the past years, with Sony say about the phone. How does it feel and how much "crap" is on a Sony phone compared to a Nexus or Motorola phone? How good/bad are the Sony-Apps ? What "oddities" do Sony phones have?
Thanks for your opinions.
I came from a Moto G (2nd Gen) to the Z5C which is my first Sony phone. So a similar path to what you are considering. It comes with way more "crap" on in than the Motorola did. Where my Moto G (2nd Gen) might have had 5 Motorola utilities, the Z5C has maybe 30. Many of them are app/tools that seemingly connect you into the Sony Sphere. PlayStation stuff, Dinosaur images pop up in the camera you can stamp on your photos and super cheesy Japanese schoolgirl emoticons for your text input.
If you like the clean native Google apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Photos messaging and so on you will find yourself having to disable the Sony versions.
One oddity my Z3C has is that is is fussy about which micro USB cable will charge it. So if like me you have a collection of micro USB cables and chargers from previous phone they may not all work. I guess this may be due to tighter tolerances required water proofing the charge port. Not a biggy but worth knowing.
I find the Xperia Keyboard gesture input (aka Swype input) to be a PITA. Miss rate is too high and deleting errors is tedious. Shame becuase it works very well on other phones.
Small size is great. Can easily slip it in a front trouser pocket.
BUT I have yet to feel "vibrate on for calls" when it is my pocket. When someone does call when Z5C in pocket when I am doing somehting noisey like mowing a lawn, I dont feel the vinration alert, it seemingly wakes the phone and thereafter movement leads to random screen presses. So when I eventually retrieve it form my pocket an hour later the screen is still on and it is in some weird screen such as the camera or emerg dialer. Perhpas I am missing something here though. Oh and definitely don't buy it for the camera if you are expecting a point and shoot with a high % of great shots.
That's my thoughts.
Coming from a nexus 5, I love this phone! Never charge it from the mains only from my car every day(1 hour commute each way) and it keeps going strong! Pretty quick and feels good.
Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk
Coming from Samsung S3
This Z5 is very bad...unstable sw, no optimization, really slow...bleah! I think i will never buy again a sony device. Oh...customer care is bad too.
Camera is slow and poor quality, GPS is very inaccurate, BT disconnet and reconnect every 15 secs (i think the problem is trhow but i can't disable it...)
So...i'm not a satisfied user..
Thank you all for your replies.
logger said:
I came from a Moto G (2nd Gen) to the Z5C which is my first Sony phone. So a similar path to what you are considering. It comes with way more "crap" on in than the Motorola did. Where my Moto G (2nd Gen) might have had 5 Motorola utilities, the Z5C has maybe 30. Many of them are app/tools that seemingly connect you into the Sony Sphere. PlayStation stuff, Dinosaur images pop up in the camera you can stamp on your photos and super cheesy Japanese schoolgirl emoticons for your text input.
If you like the clean native Google apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Photos messaging and so on you will find yourself having to disable the Sony versions.
One oddity my Z3C has is that is is fussy about which micro USB cable will charge it. So if like me you have a collection of micro USB cables and chargers from previous phone they may not all work. I guess this may be due to tighter tolerances required water proofing the charge port. Not a biggy but worth knowing.
I find the Xperia Keyboard gesture input (aka Swype input) to be a PITA. Miss rate is too high and deleting errors is tedious. Shame becuase it works very well on other phones.
Small size is great. Can easily slip it in a front trouser pocket.
BUT I have yet to feel "vibrate on for calls" when it is my pocket. When someone does call when Z5C in pocket when I am doing somehting noisey like mowing a lawn, I dont feel the vinration alert, it seemingly wakes the phone and thereafter movement leads to random screen presses. So when I eventually retrieve it form my pocket an hour later the screen is still on and it is in some weird screen such as the camera or emerg dialer. Perhpas I am missing something here though. Oh and definitely don't buy it for the camera if you are expecting a point and shoot with a high % of great shots.
That's my thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually never use the original cables since I have set up a "charging station". Which cables does the Z5C not accept? Is there a pattern?
And I'm not buying this for the camera, I have a DSLR for that
Tuonorosso said:
Coming from Samsung S3
This Z5 is very bad...unstable sw, no optimization, really slow...bleah! I think i will never buy again a sony device. Oh...customer care is bad too.
Camera is slow and poor quality, GPS is very inaccurate, BT disconnet and reconnect every 15 secs (i think the problem is trhow but i can't disable it...)
So...i'm not a satisfied user..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the newest firmware ? AFAIK a few things should have been fixed with the latest update. What experience do you have with the customer care ?
ricostuart said:
Coming from a nexus 5, I love this phone! Never charge it from the mains only from my car every day(1 hour commute each way) and it keeps going strong! Pretty quick and feels good.
Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How was the Z5C in terms of "snappiness" compared to the Nexus ?
nazgoul said:
Do you have the newest firmware ? AFAIK a few things should have been fixed with the latest update. What experience do you have with the customer care ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, last fw: 32.0.A.6.152
Customer care have reset the phone 4 times. Each trial did not resolve the problem. In the end they told me to bring it to service but they had no idea of the repair time and they not given me any temporary phone.
My phone has only one month and i need it for work...i can't stay weeks without it. For a 600$ phone i think this is unacceptable.
At this time i have the same initial problems...
I hope in Marshmallow ...
Coming from Moto G first Gen (falcon)
Coming from Moto G 1st Gen. This is my first Sony Phone.
I am loving the Z5C.
Few things to note that that will give you an idea between the two phones
1. The flash on the moto g is noticeably brighter and warmer. Idc about cameras, but I find I use the flashlight a lot
2. The chip on the Z5C does feel much faster. Not sure how to describe it other than the UI on the Z5C being more "fluid"
3. The chip on the Z5C does get noticeably warm (but not hot) on the back under certain loads. E.g. running long sessions of RDP or installing lots of apps in quick succession or recording 4K video. Under normal use like browsing the web or watching youtube it does not get warm.
4. The camera is way better than the Moto G
5. The hardware feels really solid. It feels dense. I like it
6. The battery life is significantly better. At my usage, the Moto G will die at about 8pm or 9pm (taking off the charge at 7am). I have yet to kill the Z5C in a single day in my normal use
(my normal use usually has a few hours of music, and at least 4 hours of screen time)
7. The stereo speakers are much nicer, but the stereo effect is small, and they aren't not as loud as the moto g's single speaker
8. The max brightness of the Z5C's screen is about the same as the one on the Moto G. The min brightness is on the Z5C is lower though.
9 The physical dimensions of the Z5C is smaller in width and height. The Z5C does feel thicker because of its more boxy shape though
In terms of bloatware, there is quite a bit. I have a lot of apps disabled from settings or hidden (I use Apex)
There are some features that sony added that are nice though.
1. Built in screen recording
2. "Small Apps" - a bit like floating widgets
3. Nice audio optimizations that make my music experience nicer
4. Being able to customize the quick settings in the notification center
5. Battery percentage in the status bar (this is important to me )
6. The screen colours can be calibrated to your liking
Other things to consider
- The fingerprint sensor is pretty bad, but that could be just my fingers.
- The phone is really slippery compared to the Moto G. A case is highly recommended.
- Stamina mode - I havent tested if this has a positive effect on battery life, but i'm letting the placebo effect take place
- The microsd slot is nice for future proofing, although given that I had a 8GB moto g, and the Z5C comes with 32GB, Im not going to need a microsd in the near future.
- Water proofing
- Of the 32GB, about 10GB is taken up by the android system, and thus we cannot use for our own stuff
- I found the volume button placement on the Z5C wierd until I got used to it in less than a week. Unless you actively need access to it all the time, its not annoying
- I find that everything on screen is too large for my liking, so I have my DPI set to 280, the same as what I had on my Moto G
In response to some of the things said above:
- Bluetooth works fine for me. It has never lost connection to my Microsoft Band when I needed them to be connected
- I've used my Z5C with 3 different usb cables, none of them have a problem.
- Camera does launch slow if Photo Analyser Service is not disabled. The camera launches quite fast now (but admittedly not as fast as say an iPhone 6s)
- The GPS locks quicker than the Moto G, and has yet to be inaccurate for me.
I am really looking forward to Marshmallow
I hope that answers your questions. Sorry for long response lol
I have both nexus 6p and z5 compact. Previously had nexus 6.
I went for the z5c as it had wifi calling, and is a pretty small but powerful phone.
Notables, z5c is under-clocked, could be because heat dissipation on small device yielded unsatisfactory result, could be another one of those battery optimisation things.
It also seems to be on a conservative or power save profile, making it slow to start, but if you launch a game it gets into gear.
It was stuttering even with the OTAs of which i had received two, just a few days ago, even with factory resets it did not go away.
I used the sony PC companion to do a full firmware flash, not an incremental OTA and it became pretty smooth and slick to use again with all 0.5 speed animations and about 20 apps installed. I also disabled all of the original media apps and extra Sony stuff and use my own, poweramp and mxplayer is all i really need.
Pretty good experience to use now. Too bad about it using some sort of powersave profile even with stamina disabled. Good thing i have an nexus 6p to play with too.
you5urf said:
I used the sony PC companion to do a full firmware flash, not an incremental OTA and it became pretty smooth and slick to use again with all 0.5 speed animations and about 20 apps installed. I also disabled all of the original media apps and extra Sony stuff and use my own, poweramp and mxplayer is all i really need.
Pretty good experience to use now. Too bad about it using some sort of powersave profile even with stamina disabled. Good thing i have an nexus 6p to play with too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know how to disable throw?
Coming from the N5:
Disadvantages:
- Much less free RAM (N5X also has this issue, I think it's related to Android 64 bits).
- Much lower photo quality
Advantages:
- 200% or much more battery life.
- overall quality
- vídeo quality
Sent from my E5823
I am coming from the HTC One M7 which can be considered an old phone now I guess.
Good:
-Battery life finally gets me over the day and sometimes into the second.
-Better camera, but by far not great.
-Better display brightness
Bad:
-Sonys Android design looks like a toy. It lacks the beautiful HTC Sense look and features.
-Even with the latest firmware and fresh format its doesnt feel any fast than the old HTC One. Sense had a nicer flow overall.
-In general, switching between apps is not faster, once in the app, the processor surely shows its power. Antutu gave me 31k on HTC One and 62k on Z5C, so technically twice as fast.
-Having the phone in the front pockets of your jeans just looks stupid with the hard edges. The HTC one with its beautiful round design was basically invisible in your pocket.
The HTC One was far from perfect and had its issues, but my heart is still with that phone and I dont beleive I am gonna buy another Sony phone. I wanted a small powerful phone, but its not easy to like this phone I am afraid.
eivissa said:
I am coming from the HTC One M7 which can be considered an old phone now I guess.
Good:
-Battery life finally gets me over the day and sometimes into the second.
-Better camera, but by far not great.
-Better display brightness
Bad:
-Sonys Android design looks like a toy. It lacks the beautiful HTC Sense look and features.
-Even with the latest firmware and fresh format its doesnt feel any fast than the old HTC One. Sense had a nicer flow overall.
-In general, switching between apps is not faster, once in the app, the processor surely shows its power. Antutu gave me 31k on HTC One and 62k on Z5C, so technically twice as fast.
-Having the phone in the front pockets of your jeans just looks stupid with the hard edges. The HTC one with its beautiful round design was basically invisible in your pocket.
The HTC One was far from perfect and had its issues, but my heart is still with that phone and I dont beleive I am gonna buy another Sony phone. I wanted a small powerful phone, but its not easy to like this phone I am afraid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also coming from a HTC ONE M7 and I'm feeling exactly as you. I have had the phone for 5 days now and I'm seriously considering to sell it and keep using my M7 since I'm seeing the same things than you see.
I have great expectations for this phone but now that I have it, I'm a little bit disappointed...I don't know if it's cause I'm so use to my old phone or cause my old phone is sooo good that I don't see anything new or improved on the z5c...maybe expect for the waterproofing things.
I'll give it another week to see If I can fall in love with it...maybe when the custom roms start showing up I'll start to see the advantages of changing.
I've been used some HTC and got a Z1c and S6. Guys plz give sometime to this phone, my S6 also took a couple of months to improve before got satisfy result. I believe Android 6.0 will give a new life to this phone.
I've only experienced Apple's devices so I came over from an iPhone 3G, iPhone 4S and then an iPhone 6S. I absolutely LOVE this sucker. And I must have gotten very lucky because I haven't seen any of the issues that others have.
Pros:
1. Fascinated by the Android OS. There's just so much you can do with it! So much more freeing than Apple's IOS. They both have a few positive and negative quirks, but I'm not really missing IOS that much. I did miss the Safari left/right swipe browser initially, but found out about the Rbrowser app with built in ad-block and the swipe feature, and couldn't be happier.
2. The device is quick. Compared to my iPhone devices haven't experienced nearly as much lag even under load.
3. I love the camera and video. Takes far better pictures and video than any camera I've ever used before, and with the latest update, the menu selection is so easy to use. I think the side button to open the camera app is a genius. I also never experienced the blur issue that a lot of others complained about.
4. The size and look of the device totally compliments me. I find modern phones like the Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6S way too big and clunky. This device is exactly the right size. Slightly larger than my old 4S, but still comfortable to hold, and type one handed with. I also absolutely love the sharp right angles on the phone. I dig the thickness of the Compact, and I love the bright punky yellow of the case color I selected.
5. The fingerprint scanner is so fun to use. I had one on the 6S that worked maybe slightly better, but that's only because there was more surface area to press, but still having a fingerprint reader makes me feel like a spy a bit.
6. I haven't had any issues with the heat of the phone. It gets warm, but after a month of use, I've never experienced it getting warmer than the 4S or the 6S even while playing graphic intensive games, using the GPS, or recording video. It never gets warm while browsing websites, or doing day to day smartphone things.
7. The device did have a little bit of bloatware, but then, so did Apple's devices. Removing/disabling the bloat was easy to do.
8. So far no unexpected surprises. The alarm works. the phone rings and vibrates as it ought. The apps all open fine. I get all my expected alerts and then some. Messaging works fine. The screen is bright and easy to read and watch. I love the little FM radio app (though I don't use it too much). Haven't had any issues with the GPS. Everything does what it's supposed to do.
Negatives:
1. Coming from devices with only one bottom speaker, I thought that having two front facing stereo speakers would make this device monster loud....it isn't. In fact, it's slightly quieter than the 6S (though louder than the 4S). That said, I do love the stereo effect, and I think having so many audio controls is awesome. I just wish the device was a bit louder. Hopefully when the device becomes rootable I can find a fix for that.
2. The boot up time on this device is pretty slow. From powered off, the 6S starts up in a matter of a couple seconds. It takes like half a minute or longer for the Z5 to start up. Course, this isn't much of an issue most of the time since the device doesn't usually need to be powered off or restarted.
3. The iPhone 6S 3D touch is pretty amazing, and I can see them doing some cool things with it over time. There was nothing about it that was super amazing while I had it. No apps to really take too much of an advantage of it yet, but I can see that it'll be awesome to have some time down the road.
4. The voicemail was a bit odd to set up. I'm used to Apple's easy voicemail integration that just works out of the box. For this device I had to download and setup a "visual voicemail" system that I'm not used to, and that I found a bit annoying.
My first Android phone was a Sony xperia mini. Was worse than Motorola Milestone (gsm droid) that replaced it. I since moved onto Samsung original Galaxy S and then Galaxy Nexus. Then the original Moto X dev edition which is the same size as this Z5C. I love the form factor. Ever since the Nexus 6 which I have one of those, Moto is obsessed with phone size. The Nexus 6 was named Shamu for a reason. I am hoping the just under 5" phones are not s dying breed because this device is the perfect size for me. I also like the subtle tweaks Sony does with their ROM compared to vanilla stock. Its also a fast device and I like the build quality compared to the Samsung devices I have owned. Those are my thoughts anyway.