I love the phone concept and phone elements of the Sony phones: the wrist strap, the real camera, the micro-card memory, the screen, the size, the build, blah blah blah. The battery life and heating issues are fatal flaws. Screen brightness is probably a flaw for me here in Indonesia. I lived with a Sony travel camera for a few years where I learned to accurately estimate what I was shooting, because I couldn't see the shot on the screen in the sunlight. When Sony solves battery life, heating, and screen brightness... count me in.
I could agree partially on battery life and heating.
I have none of those issue or at least they are not fatal to me.
I end the day around 20% battery with 6 hour screen on time (and playing some CPU/GPU intensive game) and i have no overheating issue. I feel more heat only when charging during play with the option to bypass battery when you play and charge.
the sunlight issue is a common issue, and it can't be solved. Even pretty much every pro Reflex and mirrorless have visibility issue of the display if you use it in sunlight.
Thanks for the intelligent reply. I am encouraged to continue with your response. I am quite exacting in my needs this purchase. On the other hand, is it too much to ask of 1 phone? I don't game and am very careful to manage battery draining apps. But I do want to be able to spend time long periods on Goofle maps for nav, 40 K bike trips, video & photo, and WhatsApp for communication in Bali without carrying 2 phones and lots of gear with me . I also listen extensively to classical music concerts that I collect. I'll take a look at the phones in Singapore in Jan-Feb but I do want to be able to see what I am shooting on the camera / video apps. I do have a predisposition for the Sony as I must say though, poor battery life and over heating is boring. Do the engineers real life test the pre-production builds? The other thing is that time is on my side. I would expect large sensors be a big part of 2022 offerings. I temper that grass is greener 2022 thought though. I don't care for the processed photo/video looks of other manufacturers.
If they managed to solve all those with a perceptible increase in the already hard to swallow price, will you still go for it?
The heat is all Qualcomms fault. The only thing Sony can do is install a more effective heatsink, at the cost of higher price and thicker body. it is well know that Qualcomm is not caring about heat management at all in the last few generations of their socs and this wont change anytime soon seeing they have an effective monopoly. You simply have no other choice if you want a soc for a flagship camera phone.
The screen is hard to say. The only way to fix this is that they should stop using their 4k screens. I believe the main issue is that this is a very small niche. There are some people that maybe can enjoy such a high dpi screen to its fullest. Because they are the only brand buying up supplies of such small 4k screens, they can't really pour in that much money into RnD to their screen supplier. They have to take whatever their supplier offers them. The supplier will demand alot more RnD money compared to other screens, seeing that once they invest time and money into improving their tech further, in the end the only customer is Sony, they have to recoup all their costs somehow.
Losing their 4k screen however loses their niche market attraction, which is what Sony is riding on now. I doubt they'd abandon it and just slowly accept whatever minor improvements they get from newer 4k screens, if they get any. Without catering to this niche, why would you buy a Sony?
Lastly, the battery life. This is mainly tied to Sonys choice of 4k screen. And I'm not just talking about the resolution or the fact it only runs a fixed 120hz. Im talking about the overall power consumption of the entire screen system. There are many other components that make up a screen, contributing to its power consumption. As mentioned above, without pouring more money into RnD to improve power consumption of the screen, Sony is stuck with whatever they are supplied with.
All this can of course be remedied faster with money. Are you willing to pay for an even more bigger price increase when such an improved phone comes? So many of Sonys advantages mentioned above, you notice they are not available on nearly all other flagship phones. Being a niche, means they have less power to dictate the prices of those components. The other option is to drop all those Sony niceties you mentioned, which will give more RnD money, more chassis space for a bigger battery and better cooling, as well as getting better power efficient components that are mass produced to perfection.
edit:
I for one, will still buy a Sony phone when the time comes even though those same disadvantages are there. They are not fatal. It is something we deal with. I rather deal with those and keep all the nice things Sony still have on their phones, rather than deal with the lack of those things on other phones, which for me is a real deal breaker.
Thanks for the very detailed and intelligent comments. Chips: Yah, SDragon deosn't give a rat's ass about heat generation. Let's see if Sony responds in coming iterations with a heat sink and if SDragon can breath less fire. But, didn't Apple, Goofle, and reportedly other phone makers design their own chips. Certainly Apple has killed it with their new chips. Goofle I think is demonstrating that less power and performance are possible with some of their recent and phones.
Niche phone: Yes it is. And they are assembling components like many other makers. I don't know their unit numbers, but the numbers probably break fractions below 1%.
Fatal: OK. Not fatal. You have a point and all the comments have been moving me that way. So I have taken the moved Sony off the fatal list and back to the living choices. I probably won't get to the Sony store in Singapore until late January or early February. And who knows with the pandemic travel rule changes. Maybe Sony will put out another iteration to really confuse me! Best. Thanks again.
marcus01432 said:
Thanks for the intelligent reply. I am encouraged to continue with your response. I am quite exacting in my needs this purchase. On the other hand, is it too much to ask of 1 phone? I don't game and am very careful to manage battery draining apps. But I do want to be able to spend time long periods on Goofle maps for nav, 40 K bike trips, video & photo, and WhatsApp for communication in Bali without carrying 2 phones and lots of gear with me . I also listen extensively to classical music concerts that I collect. I'll take a look at the phones in Singapore in Jan-Feb but I do want to be able to see what I am shooting on the camera / video apps. I do have a predisposition for the Sony as I must say though, poor battery life and over heating is boring. Do the engineers real life test the pre-production builds? The other thing is that time is on my side. I would expect large sensors be a big part of 2022 offerings. I temper that grass is greener 2022 thought though. I don't care for the processed photo/video looks of other manufacturers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I really don't want photo processing made by the camera application. The less processing made before saving the photo the better. I usually take photo with manual with only RAW file when photo quality matter. I use basic/auto with jpeg only when i have to photograph documents or other stuff for work.
Btw yeah, this SD with the 4k display are an issue when using phone a lot. I was used to keep BT and GPS off when not using it but i imagine that if someone use a lot gmaps that's a problem. screen always on plus GPS could kill your battery juice very fast.
Real life test? NOPE, never. That's the same of MPG or KPL on cars. I NEVER, and i say NEVER drived a car that is coherent with carmakers declaration XD
Same for phones. Probably they all think that people use phones something like 2 hours per day XD
Evil_Sephiroth said:
Same here. I really don't want photo processing made by the camera application. The less processing made before saving the photo the better. I usually take photo with manual with only RAW file when photo quality matter. I use basic/auto with jpeg only when i have to photograph documents or other stuff for work.
Btw yeah, this SD with the 4k display are an issue when using phone a lot. I was used to keep BT and GPS off when not using it but i imagine that if someone use a lot gmaps that's a problem. screen always on plus GPS could kill your battery juice very fast.
Real life test? NOPE, never. That's the same of MPG or KPL on cars. I NEVER, and i say NEVER drived a car that is coherent with carmakers declaration XD
Same for phones. Probably they all think that people use phones something like 2 hours per day XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha... I carefully learned to restrict applications unless I am using the app on the first 3 Goofle phones I owned. I don't think those phones had any battery at all. That brings us to the big takeaway here. Xperia gives us many legacy items that never should have been taken away: the. 3.5 audio jack, micro catd memory, audiophile listening camera button.... Why not a replaceable battery in the next iteration?
marcus01432 said:
Hahaha... I carefully learned to restrict applications unless I am using the app on the first 3 Goofle phones I owned. I don't think those phones had any battery at all. That brings us to the big takeaway here. Xperia gives us many legacy items that never should have been taken away: the. 3.5 audio jack, micro catd memory, audiophile listening camera button.... Why not a replaceable battery in the next iteration?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
replaceable battery are TOP, but with all the "new" recent features like water resistant, wireless charging and aluminium/glass body it's a problem.
A removable rear could lead to lot of problem for normal user in opening the device to change battery, the same go for removing the display to access the battery, too many possibility to tear the flat cables.
Another issue is that people want slim phones and a removable battery, even if a little could lead phones to be a little thicker.
I will exchange a little more thickness with a swappable battery anytime, but that's just me.
Jesu Krikey. You are an engineer's worst nightmare. Don't over think this. You obviously never had a phone with a removable battery.
You peel the back off and chuck the live charged replacement cells in for the dead ones then put the back on again. Then we can make money selling waterproof cases for the stupid phone and a charging case. It's a slam dunk. We can also sell crap replacement batteries so the punters have to keep ordering more. I already made up at leat 2 new businesses. Like I say, "slam dunk." Shouldn't we talk to marketing about this?
marcus01432 said:
Jesu Krikey. You are an engineer's worst nightmare. Don't over think this. You obviously never had a phone with a removable battery.
You peel the back off and chuck the live charged replacement cells in for the dead ones then put the back on again. Then we can make money selling waterproof cases for the stupid phone and a charging case. It's a slam dunk. We can also sell crap replacement batteries so the punters have to keep ordering more. I already made up at leat 2 new businesses. Like I say, "slam dunk." Shouldn't we talk to marketing about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahahahahah i work in the repair business for computer and phones as an ACIT and ACMT certified technician for Apple now and before for Dell. When off work i just make the same work for friends and people willing to pay a little less, and that's why i'm overthinking about this (Brain burned from disambly and assembly hardware all day from 18 to 34 year right now.
Mmmmh i think that some (Famous) company already arrived before you on crap replacement to earn more Ahahahahhaha
All this tech stuff needs a Saturday Night Live subsidiary. We take it all too too seriously. And the companies take our money too easily. Going to sleep here in Bali. We're all ways at least 13 hours ahead of you punters. Stay in touch. Best.
hi everyone,
i need to know about mobile signal and downloads, using 4g or 5g please
as we know sony xperia 1 ii had lots of mobile signal issue
thanks
alleshi said:
hi everyone,
i need to know about mobile signal and downloads, using 4g or 5g please
as we know sony xperia 1 ii had lots of mobile signal issue
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Italy no signal problem with the main operator under 4G. 5G lack signal coverage in lot of area then i can't help you on that
Evil_Sephiroth said:
In Italy no signal problem with the main operator under 4G. 5G lack signal coverage in lot of area then i can't help you on that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you my friend
marcus01432 said:
I love the phone concept and phone elements of the Sony phones: the wrist strap, the real camera, the micro-card memory, the screen, the size, the build, blah blah blah. The battery life and heating issues are fatal flaws. Screen brightness is probably a flaw for me here in Indonesia. I lived with a Sony travel camera for a few years where I learned to accurately estimate what I was shooting, because I couldn't see the shot on the screen in the sunlight. When Sony solves battery life, heating, and screen brightness... count me in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True all you have said.
Sadly, sony is not interested in solving the problems. Same problems are with xperias since years and I can tell you they did literally NOTHING to fix it. Poor screen brightness and battery life is something Sony is known for in mobile industry. They also decided to cut the costs on software hence removed almost all the apps we loved.
Nowadays not that much is still "xperia". It's rather chinese random device with ugly stock Android and "sony" name glued to it.
They still are not able to add 21:9 mode in pictures which is their screen sie lol! So you have to take shots with huge black bars on the left and right. That's really stupid...
Brightness there were rumors mark 3 will be 1300nits brightness. Ended with little over 600 that is one of the worst results in industry.
If you add huge price all together will result in sales and tell you where sony is positioned in global market share. I think it is 0.2%?
Not all is bad with these devices but for sure there are better options. Especially in software. It degrade each year more and more.
In past they copied new iteration of Android from google to their flagship device in December, before year end. And this year where is it? December ending and there's no any word on it ...
marcus01432 said:
Hahaha... I carefully learned to restrict applications unless I am using the app on the first 3 Goofle phones I owned. I don't think those phones had any battery at all. That brings us to the big takeaway here. Xperia gives us many legacy items that never should have been taken away: the. 3.5 audio jack, micro catd memory, audiophile listening camera button.... Why not a replaceable battery in the next iteration?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3.5 audio? I tried to use it with older sony headphones that has jack a d it does not work at all. Stating "device not compatible". Why? Because new mark 3 degraded audio jack and it no longer supports noise cancelling hence any headphones that has additional pin for noise cancelling will not work... Hence it's useless. You can throw away all your noise cancelling jack headphones into garbage.
All of this thank's to sony!
marcus01432 said:
Thanks for the intelligent reply. I am encouraged to continue with your response. I am quite exacting in my needs this purchase. On the other hand, is it too much to ask of 1 phone? I don't game and am very careful to manage battery draining apps. But I do want to be able to spend time long periods on Goofle maps for nav, 40 K bike trips, video & photo, and WhatsApp for communication in Bali without carrying 2 phones and lots of gear with me . I also listen extensively to classical music concerts that I collect. I'll take a look at the phones in Singapore in Jan-Feb but I do want to be able to see what I am shooting on the camera / video apps. I do have a predisposition for the Sony as I must say though, poor battery life and over heating is boring. Do the engineers real life test the pre-production builds? The other thing is that time is on my side. I would expect large sensors be a big part of 2022 offerings. I temper that grass is greener 2022 thought though. I don't care for the processed photo/video looks of other manufacturers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Large sensors?
Don't you know sony cannot make a good camera that takes best pictures?
They included physically 1" sensor in xperia Pro-I and geuess what? They failed again as they packed it with 12MPx only which means camera can only make use of part of entire 1" sensor ... Entire world is laughing. What a shame such a flop.
They constantly make flops here and there, many old issues not fixed. A lot of advertising on their cameras used in Xperias and results are still worse than those made by shamesung or apple. And Pro-I has no any proper zoom. But does it hurts? For some for sure. But looking how poor is max 4.4x zoom from mark III not sure it is worth. They should use proper zoom as huawei does with mirrors. Old P30 Pro still has better camera and zoom than mark 3 :/
They had their great 960fps memory stacked camera that was great, only xperia gad it with 1080p. Instead of packing it with software that can combine each of those short videos into one with nice transitions between they did what? Removed it from next xperia...
Sad but true.
decomposed said:
They still are not able to add 21:9 mode in pictures which is their screen sie lol! So you have to take shots with huge black bars on the left and right. That's really stupid...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Cinema Pro system application creates 21: 9 images
Great, you need to start recording video in separate app that in order to take a "screenshot" of 21:9. Not to mention all possibilities / adjustments available in Photo Pro are not available there...
Thank's but that's not what I need.
Looks like it is a huge challenge for sony devs and business to make such decision to add 21:9 ratio to Photo Pro app... + ...
Pathetic.
no need to start recording a video
Related
Hello,
I'm currently a proud owner of HTC Tattoo (running android 2.3.7) and I'm looking to buy a new phone. There are few phones that I had in mind, but mini pro is currently my favorite. I love the fact that it has a real qwerty keyboard, 1Ghz processor, and the small screen (I like a phone that fits in my pocket).
But, I have few questions:
Do the newer versions have the noise issue ?
Is the touch screen responsive ?
Is battery life good, and is battery overheating ?
Is reception good ?
Is the phone generally fast ? (I'm tired of Tattoo's occasional lags)
So what do you think, should I buy it ?
Kind regards,
Andrew
Some have reported that they still have the electrostatic noise even after updating to 2.3.4 although Sony Ericsson have stated that it's fixed. Of course, as an owner of a Sony Ericsson Xperia mini Pro sk17a, after finally updating, I still get the electrostatic noise.
I've seen much improvement with the touchscreen after updating to 2.3.4. As in its pretty responsive.
In terms of battery life, it's decent, I can get several hours of movie watching on it (like 10 hours) and it still hasn't reached 15%. Charging is really fast, you can probably charge the phone dead to full in an hour. The battery won't overheat unless you're playing games on the beach. I haven't seen the phone go above 42C.
Reception depends on location, carrier, etc, factors like that. I'm getting full bars right now so I guess it's good.
The phone is generally fast, but you will see a difference comparing to your old phone or to a high end phone like the SGS2. I haven't seen much occasional lag. And those were very occasional.
Do you like the 3-inch screen? The thick form factor?
Whether you should buy it or not, it's your choice. It's a pretty good mid- ranged phone.
Feel free to ask more questions.
AndrewB. said:
Do the newer versions have the noise issue ?
Is the touch screen responsive ?
Is battery life good, and is battery overheating ?
Is reception good ?
Is the phone generally fast ? (I'm tired of Tattoo's occasional lags)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Newer" phones have had a hardware fix - according to Sony Ericsson. The jury is out on that one though as there's no confirmation of the build number's that have the fix and there's no real agreement on whether it has "gone" or merely been reduced to a lower level. In fact, there appears to be at least two different noise problems - a rythmic pulsing and a higher-pitched clicking noise - so it's often difficult to know which people are talking about when their posts aren't detailed.
Touch screen - excellent. I've had no problems with it - even with a screen protector attached.
Battery life - difficult question. If used as a phone, it will last for ages. If you use wi-fi and other heavy draws, it will obviously reduce battery life. Even then, it's very difficult to make a fair comparison with any other phone - you'd have to have a genuine like-for-like comparison - even the signal strength and line speed from the network source will impact on how much work the phone has to do. As a purely subjective opinion - it's acceptable. I often leave wi-fi on all day and play games, watch videos and generally "play" with the phone for a full day - I just recharge it at night - and it's never run flat. Regarding heat - I've never noticed it even getting more than vaguely warm.
Reception - an odd one. It does seem well able to pick-up on the weakish signal where I live but it has a strange habit of losing the connection even when there is a string signal. It doesn't do that all the time and it appears to me to be a software rather than a hardware problem as it seems to happen after using certain apps or performing certain functions. Having said that, I've yet to lose a call.
Is it fast - hell yes. A 1GB single-core processor is hardly going to break any records but the phone "feels" great - I've yet to find anything that suffered any obvious issues as a result of the CPU speed. Considering the price - which has recently halved in the UK - it is miles faster and more responsive than anything else I could find. Video playback is smooth and seeking within vids is instantaneous, webpages are rendered very quickly - including graphics and - of course - the phone supports Flash properly so that includes animated graphics. The games I've played have been smooth and I've not noticed any feeling that the phone is holding me or the game back. There is an occasional, very slight, stammer if playing a game which has banner-adverts popping up but I've seen that happen on phones with faster CPUs - and switching off network connections (or rooting and installing an ad blocker) stops that anyway.
Overall - you can't buy £500's worth of performance for £130 - but I reckon this phone delivers twice what it cost. If you need top-of-the-range performance, you have to pay top dollar - but if you are looking at a phone in this price range, I don't think there are currently any serious alternatives.
One thing - the small screen is something you have to take into account - and that is entirely down to what you expect to use the phone for. Bear in mind that although the screen is small in size, the resolution is actually pretty good compared with most phones at this price. It's not ideal if you want to do a lot of reading or browsing - text is lovely and clear but no screen this size can compete with a larger screen where you can see more than a paragraph at a time. For general browsing though - checking the news and reading through forums etc - it's perfectly good.
It's worth mentioning too that the keyboard is great. The keys look tiny but there's plenty of space between them so accurate typing is pretty easy.
There's one big downer for me with this phone and even though it's something you didn't ask about (and may not matter to you), it deserves a mention. The camera - still and video - is awful. The still camera produces lifeless, soft pictures that look like they came from a sub-1M camera from ten years ago. The supposedly "HD" video camera is just about acceptable in the brightest of natural light - otherwise it is soft, grainy and about as "good" as the average 1.3M webcam - only the pixel size of the output film is high - as if it filmed at 1M and then stretched the film in software. This is one of the most common criticisms of this phone and it is hoped that SE can fix these problems as they appear to be down to the software over compressing the photos and vids to reduce file-sizes. A "quality" setting for the camera (often found on higher resolution cameras) would be the obvious solution - and should be easy to add.
And then there's the BIG upper for a lot of people - SE are already working on getting Android 4 - Ice Cream Sandwich - rolled out for this phone. It is hoped that we'll start seeing that within a few weeks. If nothing else, that will protect the resale value of the phone - you should be able to get a good price if you sell the phone in a year's time because it will still be fairly up-to-date - the same doesn't apply to many other phones in this price-range.
Hope that helps
Thank you for helping me decide.
I bought the phone and I love it.
AndrewB. said:
Thank you for helping me decide.
I bought the phone and I love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
congrats man! =D
I'm thinking of getting the Z2 but I'm worried after seeing how many people have problems with overheating, bad build quality, self cracking so on so forth... I just wanted to know whether every Z2 has these issues or is it a game of luck? And does the batch number have anything to do with these issues? AND, did they fix the camera overheat problem (in normal, non 4k mode) via the updates or no? If not then I think it's... I don't know, lame? there's no other phone, no matter high or low end that can't stay in camera without overheating, I guess we have to pay 700$ to get that exclusive "feature" then.
Also, off topic, how is the speaker quality compared to iPhone 5S and/or Note 3? And is the amp powerful enough to power high end headphones decently?
Mk-Raul said:
I'm thinking of getting the Z2 but I'm worried after seeing how many people have problems with overheating, bad build quality, self cracking so on so forth... I just wanted to know whether every Z2 has these issues or is it a game of luck? And does the batch number have anything to do with these issues? AND, did they fix the camera overheat problem (in normal, non 4k mode) via the updates or no? If not then I think it's... I don't know, lame? there's no other phone, no matter high or low end that can't stay in camera without overheating, I guess we have to pay 700$ to get that exclusive "feature" then.
Also, off topic, how is the speaker quality compared to iPhone 5S and/or Note 3? And is the amp powerful enough to power high end headphones decently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is very obvious and understandable to have this doubt which you are facing right now. I had the similar apprehensions before and also post purchasing the Z2. However, the truth is far from it.
A few points we all need to understand:
1) Users on XDA Z2 forum are only a fraction of all the Z2 owners in the world. The issues depeicted here are majorly very minor when the ratio is compared to the whole lot of Z2s sold so far by Sony.
2) Had it been that majority of Z2s facing the mentioned issues, Sony would have been trashed across all the global forums, blogs and other tech portals.
Camera overheating issue is a bug. Again, this is not so rampant. And not that everyone will use 4k recording all the time for video shooting, as I can say this for all, not all of us own a 4K TV or monitor to enjoy the video. 1080p still serves the purpose.
Speaker quality is great. I say this post comparing it with S5, Iphone5s, Note 3, Nexus. However, you cannot compare it to HTC One (Both M7 &M8).
I hope I could settle a few concerns you had here. I would end saying this. Buy any device, any phone. But only when you are sure about it 100% (50% heart + 50% Mind)
-unease
unease said:
It is very obvious and understandable to have this doubt which you are facing right now. I had the similar apprehensions before and also post purchasing the Z2. However, the truth is far from it.
A few points we all need to understand:
1) Users on XDA Z2 forum are only a fraction of all the Z2 owners in the world. The issues depeicted here are majorly very minor when the ratio is compared to the whole lot of Z2s sold so far by Sony.
2) Had it been that majority of Z2s facing the mentioned issues, Sony would have been trashed across all the global forums, blogs and other tech portals.
Camera overheating issue is a bug. Again, this is not so rampant. And not that everyone will use 4k recording all the time for video shooting, as I can say this for all, not all of us own a 4K TV or monitor to enjoy the video. 1080p still serves the purpose.
Speaker quality is great. I say this post comparing it with S5, Iphone5s, Note 3, Nexus. However, you cannot compare it to HTC One (Both M7 &M8).
I hope I could settle a few concerns you had here. I would end saying this. Buy any device, any phone. But only when you are sure about it 100% (50% heart + 50% Mind)
-unease
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying.
I'm all up for it (heart wise) but the brain part still worries me because I'm not that rich to just get a new flagship after few days because mine is faulty.
My concern about the camera wasn't about the 4K overheating, my brother's Note 3 has 4k too, it NEVER gets used. I'm just worried because I've seen some people both on XDA and other forums/YT having overheating during normal photo shooting in SA mode.
Mk-Raul said:
Thanks for replying.
I'm all up for it (heart wise) but the brain part still worries me because I'm not that rich to just get a new flagship after few days because mine is faulty.
My concern about the camera wasn't about the 4K overheating, my brother's Note 3 has 4k too, it NEVER gets used. I'm just worried because I've seen some people both on XDA and other forums/YT having overheating during normal photo shooting in SA mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello there, well so far (I am using the Indian variant D6502 with .314 rom) I haven't had any concerns while using the camera. So can't comment on that. Maybe, you should visit nearest retailer and play around with a demo piece before committing for a purchase.
Sent from my Sony Xperia Z2
Hello . I got my Z2 the other day and no problems. I configurated it, updated to latest firmware, rooted and it's been working great.
I saw some issues with it overheating when charged but I didn't get that. So far no screen crack either.
I was worried about the self cracking as well but in the end I got it anyway. I really hope I won't experience it. I had a Z1 and Z ultra previously who both were great.
The speaker/mic quality sounds worse but I don't really care seeing as I will be talking with a headset anyway.
Ive just got the phone and have it for 4 days now.Switched from Xperia ZR. To be honest yes the phone overheats more when you use the camera,videorecording / 4k or 1080p doesnt metta. (comparing with the ZR). And yes,ive read alot about the cracked screens before taking the phone also but..thats the price for its classy look.you need to be careful even if you take a case / protector. The ZR had the same overheating problems when it first came out but sony gave us an update that fixed it.Soo lets hope they will manage to make 1 for the Z2 too On the other hand the Snapdragon is very close to the camera sensor so thats the thingy thats cousin the overheat.And afterall its an No fan device. Uh and for the speakers,yes,they are nice,but not the best as Unease said,but.still louder than prev Z series.cheerz
Thanks for asking these questions Op as I also have the same concerns about buying the Z2 (as I'm sure many others do as well).
Any large purchase, especially with a 2 year contract, is daunting but rest assured that the vast majority of Z2's are problem free. Certainly my week old model hasn't had any problems.
its only early model xperia Z2s which have problems, and if its a problem then sony has to replace it or repair it since its in the warrenty
All Sony Mobile device issues that are Sonys fault is covered by their 2 year warrenty, and modifacation of the device will result in a warrenty void.
Thanks for all the replies, guys.
I've waited way too long and now it's time for Z3 to be released... I know it doesn't offer much more than Z2 but I'm kinda between 2 rocks at the moment. I'd hate to spend 700$ on a flagship if it's going to be "outdated" after 20 days... I think I will though. :\
Mk-Raul said:
Thanks for all the replies, guys.
I've waited way too long and now it's time for Z3 to be released... I know it doesn't offer much more than Z2 but I'm kinda between 2 rocks at the moment. I'd hate to spend 700$ on a flagship if it's going to be "outdated" after 20 days... I think I will though. :\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
buying a z3 instead of a z2 is pointless, they just look different, not much performance wise
only thing sony is doing with z series is trying to find that perfect phone by trying different things
Envious_Data said:
buying a z3 instead of a z2 is pointless, they just look different, not much performance wise
only thing sony is doing with z series is trying to find that perfect phone by trying different things
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Click to collapse
That's exactly what I think to be honest. And the fact that rumored pictures of Z3 show that the speakers aren't front facing is enough for me to take Z2 instead.
How long do they keep updating their phones? I mean will my Z2 get its updates after Z3? and if it will, will they take ages? I haven't owned an Xperia device so I don't know how their support works for older phones.
Apart from Camera Overheating issue , I have ZERO problems for my phone dated 14 W18.
Mk-Raul said:
That's exactly what I think to be honest. And the fact that rumored pictures of Z3 show that the speakers aren't front facing is enough for me to take Z2 instead.
How long do they keep updating their phones? I mean will my Z2 get its updates after Z3? and if it will, will they take ages? I haven't owned an Xperia device so I don't know how their support works for older phones.
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Click to collapse
18 months standard, some devices get more or less depending on their popularity for support time and updates are there when they can update, not tooo often but when a version is busted they try to get another update out as soon as
Mk-Raul said:
Thanks for all the replies, guys.
I've waited way too long and now it's time for Z3 to be released... I know it doesn't offer much more than Z2 but I'm kinda between 2 rocks at the moment. I'd hate to spend 700$ on a flagship if it's going to be "outdated" after 20 days... I think I will though. :\
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If z3 truly is thinner I wouldn't be surprised to see overheating, or at the very least CPU throttling, to be worse than z2
ghostofcain said:
If z3 truly is thinner I wouldn't be surprised to see overheating, or at the very least CPU throttling, to be worse than z2
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Click to collapse
heating is caused by bad motherboard design
cpu is next to the camera, neither have any breathing space for cooler air, hence the extreme heating when not using the camera and even worse with using the camera
Envious_Data said:
heating is caused by bad motherboard design
cpu is next to the camera, neither have any breathing space for cooler air, hence the extreme heating when not using the camera and even worse with using the camera
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Click to collapse
And when you are forced to cram them closer together by having a thinner casing it gets worse, don't forget a waterproof sealed casing has little air movement.
ghostofcain said:
And when you are forced to cram them closer together by having a thinner casing it gets worse, don't forget a waterproof sealed casing has little air movement.
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there is also no heat pipes like found in HTC or iphones
im hoping sony learns from their mistakes, they are slowly learning from some mistakes but not all, they seem to only listen to the majority of complaints, aka poor camera qualitys, bootloader issues
for some reason not enough people complain about heating and thats one of the biggest issues, yet i see little about this issue
I suspect that's because for MOST users it's not an issue, certainly in the week I've had mine it's got no warmer in general use than my galaxy s3 did, I'll admit I've not done any 4k videoing yet but I've not had any close downs or noticeable throttling.
If all Z2's had problems then mine would as well... But mine doesn't, ergo, not all Z2's have problems...
Hello there,
After much inquiry, I've become undecided about this phone. I have been looking for a 4.7-5in phone with a good and snappy camera, battery, USA bands, and micro sd support, and the z5 compact seems to fit the bill. However, I keep reading problems about this device mainly concerning its software and camera. I really like the device given all it has to offer but I'm just not inclined to dish out $500+ on a device that has a problematic camera i.e. blurred edges caused by software or hardware, no warranty (here in the USA), over-heating, sony ui, etc. I currently have an LG G4 which absolutely meets my needs but like I said, I'm looking for a smaller phone for traveling and one hand handling.
So my question for those who own the Z5c, is it really THAT bad and will the firmware update fix the purported problems of this device? I'm concerned about the blurry edges being a hardware issue and perhaps Sony is just covering their tracks by saying that an "update" will fix that problem. If you have updated your device, could you post a sample of the fixed camera or at least let us know here?
Really appreciate your time and input!
Coming from the z1 compact and z3 compact, although I loved those phones I did find the camera sub par, and the external speaker volume too low and muffled, the front and back screens were finger print magnets and easily scratched.
But I love the compact series and put my hope and money back into the z5-compact.
Had mine for 2 weeks now (Arctic white) and I love the new design, the no finger print frosted rear glass and the front screen also just doesn't seem to attract finger prints either!, improved and much louder external speakers, the camera has improved dramatically. I have none of the reported issues of blurred edges, slow camera opening etc it's all good. Oh and the fingerprint scanner is awesome!
I love this phone to death it's perfect in my eyes. It will be hard to part with this when it comes time to upgrade to the z6 compact ☺
Woza72 said:
Coming from the z1 compact and z3 compact, although I loved those phones I did find the camera sub par, and the external speaker volume too low and muffled, the front and back screens were finger print magnets and easily scratched.
But I love the compact series and put my hope and money back into the z5-compact.
Had mine for 2 weeks now (Arctic white) and I love the new design, the no finger print frosted rear glass and the front screen also just doesn't seem to attract finger prints either!, improved and much louder external speakers, the camera has improved dramatically. I have none of the reported issues of blurred edges, slow camera opening etc it's all good. Oh and the fingerprint scanner is awesome!
I love this phone to death it's perfect in my eyes. It will be hard to part with this when it comes time to upgrade to the z6 compact ☺
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the software seem good and fast? No stutters or lag?
Thanks
Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk
Notchr302 said:
Does the software seem good and fast? No stutters or lag?
Thanks
Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There were stutters and lags, but since the last update they all are gone.
Drakorcarnis0 said:
There were stutters and lags, but since the last update they all are gone.
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Click to collapse
I'm so confused because some say there is still lag after the update. Ugh lol
Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk
I am one of those who would say that the lags are gone after the update. And whatever that guy said, I agree wholeheartedly. This phone is a beast. I also come from a Z3 Compact and I am loving the Z5c. Especially the camera
It was a little stuttery straight out of the box but I downloaded Sony PC companion (just googled it) and then downloaded the latest firmware 32.0.A.6.152 (it took a couple of hours, which by all reports is normal) then updated my phone.
Happy to report it is buttery smooth with no stutters or lags all super fast.
Interesting to see that the pre installed photo analyzer app (Sony) which was reportedly causing some lag, had disappeared in the latest firmware.
I hope this has helped you with your decision.
Cheers
Do you still have the blurry edges or has it been fixed?
moist_line said:
Do you still have the blurry edges or has it been fixed?
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99% sure it's good. You be the judge. Just a quick picture, tried to place items on every edge/corner.
I'm sitting at the park, it's dusk and a little cloudy. No flash, superior auto, 8mp.
I've had the Z5C for a week now and I can't comment too much on certain details because this is my very first Android phone - I am coming straight from a Nokia 808. The phone is compact, slick-looking, seems incredibly fast to me and I am liking the Android experience as a whole, although a few things Symbian had were simpler and more elegant (changing phone profiles, searching for contacts under phone, for instance).
The one issue I have, and that is a big one and it is so big of an issue that I registered today on XDA to ask for help, is the extremely poor photo/camera quality. I cannot understand what is going on here. This is a $600 2015 brand new release phone. Something must be wrong either with the software or hardware on my phone, which sucks since I purchased it for US operation (no warranty). I do not know how to express in words how disappointed I am with the camera. Let's just say that my 2012 Nokia 808 takes photos comparable to my SLR system. I was expecting at least equivalent photo quality from a modern/newer phone.
OldSkewler said:
I've had the Z5C for a week now and I can't comment too much on certain details because this is my very first Android phone - I am coming straight from a Nokia 808. The phone is compact, slick-looking, seems incredibly fast to me and I am liking the Android experience as a whole, although a few things Symbian had were simpler and more elegant (changing phone profiles, searching for contacts under phone, for instance).
The one issue I have, and that is a big one and it is so big of an issue that I registered today on XDA to ask for help, is the extremely poor photo/camera quality. I cannot understand what is going on here. This is a $600 2015 brand new release phone. Something must be wrong either with the software or hardware on my phone, which sucks since I purchased it for US operation (no warranty). I do not know how to express in words how disappointed I am with the camera. Let's just say that my 2012 Nokia 808 takes photos comparable to my SLR system. I was expecting at least equivalent photo quality from a modern/newer phone.
Click to expand...
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What are your thoughts on the quick photo I posted? All standard settings in quite average light? Do you see any of the issues you are experiencing on your phone?
Woza72 said:
What are your thoughts on the quick photo I posted? All standard settings in quite average light? Do you see any of the issues you are experiencing on your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the resolution posted, I dont see any issues. What I see on my photos is some sort of sharpening which causes details to be lost when zooming in. And believe me, I am not even remotely pixel-peeking, just basic cropping for creative purposes.
I'll try to post some sample photos to illustrate what I am facing here.
Cheers,
BB
OldSkewler said:
The one issue I have, and that is a big one and it is so big of an issue that I registered today on XDA to ask for help, is the extremely poor photo/camera quality. I cannot understand what is going on here. This is a $600 2015 brand new release phone. Something must be wrong either with the software or hardware on my phone, which sucks since I purchased it for US operation (no warranty). I do not know how to express in words how disappointed I am with the camera. Let's just say that my 2012 Nokia 808 takes photos comparable to my SLR system. I was expecting at least equivalent photo quality from a modern/newer phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you haven't already, you might want to check the main Xperia Z5 subforum about this issue, specifically this thread where they talk about the camera, and the best settings for particular lighting. It could be you have a defective camera though, and if so, I feel for ya since I also imported my device.
Adrift98 said:
If you haven't already, you might want to check the main Xperia Z5 subforum about this issue, specifically this thread where they talk about the camera, and the best settings for particular lighting. It could be you have a defective camera though, and if so, I feel for ya since I also imported my device.
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Click to collapse
Exactly how my photos look like! Thanks for linking me to this thread, even though what I learned from it is not exactly great news!
OldSkewler said:
Exactly how my photos look like! Thanks for linking me to this thread, even though what I learned from it is not exactly great news!
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Click to collapse
Same problem for me. It's a very expansive phone and you have to read pages of forums to understand how to make the most of it.
But still, the camera to me is a complete disaster. The app is cheap, very laggy, menus are terrible and the most improtant part, it takes poor photos.
Oversharpened and zooming in a tiny bit on a 23Mp pictures is just horrible.
The photo shared a few post back in the park is just awful too, sorry bro no offense, but it's not a defective camera it's just what is sold.
When you come from other brands, you are automatically disapointed.
P.S. videos are quite amazing though, especially in 60fps and the management of the edit app of videos is very good too.
I just switched to the nexus 5X, and there are no comparaison. Much much simpler, you don't need to test every little setting to take a good pic and zooming in is incredible, the best.
Yet I really loved the compact shape and overall build quality of the z5 device.
Comments non related to the camera is : the system is quite good as it is very similar to stock android but a little disappointed too by the performance.
I don't speak about lags and everything as it is quite fluid, but it just takes time to open or reload apps compared to my other devices.
I am still keeping the device to see if there will be improvement (there should be a major camera app update this month) but i don't believe in miracles, i don't think that will solve the pictures quality.
If you know how to use it (8mp at SA for darker scenarios, 23mp manual for bright daylight) it's been reviewed in a number of places as the best camera currently on the market. It's interesting to me how polarizing the camera is for people though. People either think it's the second coming, or the antichrist. I imagine that the improvements to the software promised with the Marshmallow update will go a long way to getting a lot of naysayers to give it a second look.
Adrift98 said:
If you know how to use it (8mp at SA for darker scenarios, 23mp manual for bright daylight) it's been reviewed in a number of places as the best camera currently on the market.
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Click to collapse
That is a very interesting perspective on the topic; so basically it boils down to misuse by users! And I suspect this is from someone that has never even tried the phone!
Let me propose the exact opposite, and I suspect a portion (if not majority) of people complaining about the imaging performance on these Z5 phones are actually far from amateur photographers and do understand what is achievable and should be expected in terms o quality. There is no way to slice this or put a twist on it, and I don't care about DXO ratings.
OldSkewler said:
That is a very interesting perspective on the topic; so basically it boils down to misuse by users! And I suspect this is from someone that has never even tried the phone!
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Click to collapse
No, it's certainly been by those who've tried the phone. By the looks of it you didn't get too far into that thread I previously recommended, but Timaustin2000 and a few others in that thread really turned the tone around with their investigations on the ability of the camera, and comparison shots. They've even had an influential effect on reviewers. So for instance, it wasn't till TimAustin pointed out to the reviewers at Android Authority that they were crippling the phone by using the 23mp in low light scenarios that they took into consideration the supersampling of the 8mp default settings. From there a number of other reviewers, bloggers, vloggers, and the like took a second look at the camera in the phone and tested appropriately with often very very positive results (many of these reviews and videos are also mentioned in that thread).
Let me propose the exact opposite, and I suspect a portion (if not majority) of people complaining about the imaging performance on these Z5 phones are actually far from amateur photographers and do understand what is achievable and should be expected in terms o quality. There is no way to slice this or put a twist on it, and I don't care about DXO ratings.
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From the recent reviews that I've been reading and watching, that doesn't appear to be the case, but of course, you're free to come to your own conclusions.
Haven't had much experience with the Z5C camera yet, only had it for a week.
But one thing, it takes so long to open. This is my 1St Android phone, been an ios user for around 4.5 years & the iPhones were just easier to access their camera. Slide up, click camera & it opened. On the Z5C, you press & hold the camera button, feel it vibrate, let it go... & wait.
After a second or so, the screen goes black, then the camera opens, then the screen starts to set itself up.
Just tried then & it was around 4 seconds.
I love the phone so far, but it seems to really struggle with normal usage.
By normal usage, for me, I mean it lags. Playing YouTube videos, it lags, I'm in Oz & we have an online streaming movie/TV service called Stan.... It doesn't work on the Z5.
Switching between tasks can give the phone a heart attack. For example, I was playing Clash Of Clans & some one tried to call me, the box popped down, I clicked answer & nothing happened.
I clicked answer two or three more times, before clicking back to the home screen, the phone call went to message bank while my phone locked up, went black & I had to wait around 30 seconds for it to sort itself out.
Even typing this it lags every now & then.
8 Ball Pool is laggy... If messages pop while playing, it gets even worse.
I do love the phone, I am enjoying Android (I miss a few ios advantages), but I just wish that the phone didn't feel like it was made with enough Ram to run the OS & one app at a time.
Oh... The audio is quiet, it doesn't go as loud as my iPhone 4 did, with my Bose head set & it lacks the same bass, but does sound alright.
The included Sony ear plugs are uncomfortable, have no sound advantages, have annoying different length ear cords & no volume control.
No supplied quick charger.
The back of the phone tends to get quite hot.
Sid3wayz said:
Haven't had much experience with the Z5C camera yet, only had it for a week.
But one thing, it takes so long to open. This is my 1St Android phone, been an ios user for around 4.5 years & the iPhones were just easier to access their camera. Slide up, click camera & it opened. On the Z5C, you press & hold the camera button, feel it vibrate, let it go... & wait.
After a second or so, the screen goes black, then the camera opens, then the screen starts to set itself up.
Just tried then & it was around 4 seconds.
I love the phone so far, but it seems to really struggle with normal usage.
By normal usage, for me, I mean it lags. Playing YouTube videos, it lags, I'm in Oz & we have an online streaming movie/TV service called Stan.... It doesn't work on the Z5.
Switching between tasks can give the phone a heart attack. For example, I was playing Clash Of Clans & some one tried to call me, the box popped down, I clicked answer & nothing happened.
I clicked answer two or three more times, before clicking back to the home screen, the phone call went to message bank while my phone locked up, went black & I had to wait around 30 seconds for it to sort itself out.
Even typing this it lags every now & then.
8 Ball Pool is laggy... If messages pop while playing, it gets even worse.
I do love the phone, I am enjoying Android (I miss a few ios advantages), but I just wish that the phone didn't feel like it was made with enough Ram to run the OS & one app at a time.
Oh... The audio is quiet, it doesn't go as loud as my iPhone 4 did, with my Bose head set & it lacks the same bass, but does sound alright.
The included Sony ear plugs are uncomfortable, have no sound advantages, have annoying different length ear cords & no volume control.
No supplied quick charger.
The back of the phone tends to get quite hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Previous iPhone only user here too. Have you updated to the latest firmware? My camera takes about 2 seconds to come up pressing the side button since the update. Further improvements are expected with the Marshmallow update.
Also, I have no lag since the latest firmware, but I'm also using the Nova Launcher which you can get for free in the Play Store (not sure if that makes any difference or not).
I also have a problem with the volume, especially from the front speakers. Thought having two speakers instead of one, as I did on my iPhone 2G, 3G, 4S. and 6S would make it louder, but it's not. Still, honestly, I don't find it much quieter than those devices either. the 6S was maybe a tick louder, but not by much. I still want more punch from the front speakers, and I'm hoping that's something I can fix by doing some sort of ROM tweak. If not, I suppose I can live with it, but its the biggest disappointment about the device for me, not because its so much quieter than my iPhone devices, but because it doesn't stand head and shoulders above them.
I don't know about you, but my Sony ear plugs are way way wayyyyy more comfortable than my iPhone headphones. In fact, they're the most comfortable in-ear headphones I've ever worn. The different length on the cords I don't really have much issue with, since I usually drape the longest cord behind my head to my right ear (which is how I'm assuming they're meant to be worn). I will admit that they seem slightly cheap-ish, and I was hoping that where the volume button was (which I DO have on my pair) also had a mic so I could answer in-coming calls, but overall, I think they're pretty okay. Again, they're much more comfortable than the headphones that came with my iPhones. As far as loudness in the headphones is concerned, they're loud enough, but I definitely wouldn't mind if they were louder. I'll probably end up getting some sort of thin amp/dac like the dragonfly or the Aqua to boost the volume. Shame I have to do that, but oh well.
Again, its interesting to me how varied people's reactions are to this device. I'm FAR more happier with this device than I am my previous iPhones. Its not perfect, but it hits so many of the checkboxes for me that its hard to complain.
Edit: Oh, also, I got a quick charger with my device, but I bought the Taiwan version, so maybe that accounts for the difference in headphones and charger.
Lastly, after the initial setup, and especially after the update, my phone doesn't get very hot. Maybe I'm not using the same intensive programs that you are, though. The phone gets a little warm with Candy Crush and Asphalt 8, but my iPhone 6S also got pretty hot just using the camera (which is something my mother noticed when I handed her the phone to see some pictures).
Review from Engadget is up, and looks like most of it is good except low light performance of camera. Hope there is fix for this.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/30/zte-axon-7-review/#gallery=419900&slide=4003963&index=14
I'm still not sure why people seem so obsessed with low light camera performance. When I look at my album, less than 5% of the pictures are of low light scenes. I'm not going to let such a menial metric determine whether or not I buy this.
Adiyel said:
I'm still not sure why people seem so obsessed with low light camera performance. When I look at my album, less than 5% of the pictures are of low light scenes. I'm not going to let such a menial metric determine whether or not I buy this.
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Doesn't matter what % you take in low light. low light pictures are the best how you know your camera is good.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Adiyel said:
I'm still not sure why people seem so obsessed with low light camera performance. When I look at my album, less than 5% of the pictures are of low light scenes. I'm not going to let such a menial metric determine whether or not I buy this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it takes good pictures in low light, then it will probably take great pictures in brighter conditions. Some of us take more pictures at night time, at concerts, or simply want the option to take better quality pictures.
Apropos camera quality, I've almost never liked my iPhone 6's low-light shots, but have absolutely no complaint about the other 98% of the times I take a picture during daylight. So in case you wanna measure it "as of worst case", sure, but I don't think there's a clear way to translate that performance directly to "quality". Specially for a tiny smartphone sensor without interchangable lens etc.
When it comes to the Axon 7's camera, exposure (pictures come out darker from what I've seen) and that grain I see in some pictures are the only "worries" I think I might have when I switch (currently waiting for UNKNOWN EU shipping dates). And both of those problems might as well be fixed via software.
MKBHD [1] said it a couple of times, nowadays we tend to measure smartphones by what's wrong with them, instead of what's right about them. So I understand, why people complain about a not so good low light camera performance.
But I'm with @Adiyel. It's the same for me, I almost never take photos in low light, so I don't care about low light camera performance.
[1] Quote from MKBHD's OnePlus 3 Review
Axon 7's low light photo results is the only con I know Axon 7 has at the moment....well.....beside the availability problem here in Europe at the moment.
We are judging phones from their flaws since if you see phones with relative similar price, you will start to compare the pros and cons. Since phones these days are already good, looking for their cons are the better comparison rather then going over their pros. In the end, you simply want a the best phone for your money.
aaa said:
Axon 7's low light photo results is the only con I know Axon 7 has at the moment....well.....beside the availability problem here in Europe at the moment.
We are judging phones from their flaws since if you see phones with relative similar price, you will start to compare the pros and cons. Since phones these days are already good, looking for their cons are the better comparison rather then going over their pros. In the end, you simply want a the best phone for your money.
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Click to collapse
Well then from both of you and Cypher's points of views, other phones don't have dual-facing speakers with DOLBY ATMOS AND High-End DAC, so all of them are out of the question. See? Not the best way to compare things...
I don't know about reviews and how it is done, but atleast in real life use I think camera is decent and this is coming from someone who have used Lumia 1520, iPhone 6 & LG G4 in past. My fiancé got same phone and we were texting back and forth on whatsapp yesterday and few selfie she sent in pitch black dark room with just the screen light looked pretty decent to me on my LG G4. If you go pixel peeping even you can find flaws with pics of D800 and 5D mk iii. I think when I get mine from B&H I'd not be upset with the camera atleast based upon what I saw yesterday.
Low light is an issue imo because night-life is a popular time to take pictures for a large amount of phone users. The majority of this forum might be married with kids and/or cave-dwellers but let's not rationalize away things that could use improvement.
macallik said:
Low light is an issue imo because night-life is a popular time to take pictures for a large amount of phone users. The majority of this forum might be married with kids and/or cave-dwellers but let's not rationalize away things that could use improvement.
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Yeah sure you can complain all you want. Was just throwing in my two cents, and I'm really sad that you won't be able to take great pictures in the dark, where you should be drinking and getting on with the girls instead Coming from a "cave-dweller".
P.S. People should check their upgraditis once in a while. 400 bucks get you this far, and I think you won't find so much more features, if any, in many other phones with the same price.
MeggaMortY said:
Yeah sure you can complain all you want. Was just throwing in my two cents, and I'm really sad that you won't be able to take great pictures in the dark, where you should be drinking and getting on with the girls instead Coming from a "cave-dweller".
P.S. People should check their upgraditis once in a while. 400 bucks get you this far, and I think you won't find so much more features, if any, in many other phones with the same price.
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Click to collapse
Night-life is about doing things at night, not just being in a bar/club.
Personally, I think the Axon 7 suits my needs greater than the OP3 (a similarly priced phone) in most ways. Photo quality is an area that the phone is being outperformed however.
macallik said:
Low light is an issue imo because night-life is a popular time to take pictures for a large amount of phone users. The majority of this forum might be married with kids and/or cave-dwellers but let's not rationalize away things that could use improvement.
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Click to collapse
No I'm not trying to rationalize low light performance. All I'm saying is what I've seen so far is good enough for my use, yes there is always room for improvement. But I don't see any other device in this price range with all this feature set giving any better low light pictures then what Axon 7 does at this period of time, There might be devices in future that will beat Axon 7 for price feature category. But at present I feel this is best value for your money. And with more RAM + more powerful processor - point I don't get is if you are not a gamer, does it really matter ?
macallik said:
Low light is an issue imo because night-life is a popular time to take pictures for a large amount of phone users. The majority of this forum might be married with kids and/or cave-dwellers but let's not rationalize away things that could use improvement.
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Click to collapse
I agree with this. Have you seen Linus Tech's review of the Axon? For night scenes, most people are rocking iPhones, Galaxies, LGs, and oddly enough, ZTE phones (4th largest in the USA). Only recent phones really have passable lowlight, and it's easy enough to spend a couple minutes in snapseed and make a night photo really usable.
I also think a problem our generation has is that we judge this phone's lowlight based on other phones, but its performance wouldn't change if these phones didn't exist (the 2016 galaxies).
Like the other guy said earlier, the performance is passable. And lowlight isn't an indication of how good a cam is...it's more indicative of how versatile and stable the performance is across different scenarios. Look at the TechRadar review, and look at the walkway scene. The Axon pulls in far more detail than the S7. Period. Lots of small pixels has a tradeoff for great daytime detail and performance. Large pixels and lower resolution has compromises, too.
Overall, the Axon does so many things right for so little money. How many phones can say that? How many offer what the Axon 7 does at or below is cost? The list is VERY small, trust me.
I would prefer an artificial light / indoor light review as I class that as low light. So many recent phones I have had are awful inside the house and loads of my photos are I doors with my children just having fun and of you want a camera test that would be a great one. Best phone so far including s7 and s7 Edge for taking photos of a baby bouncing in a bouncer is any of the Sony xperia Z range using timeshift burst. One click and an instant 40 photos (I think) 20 before shutter and 20 after now that's amazing at freezing moving images just a shame resolution was a little low and phones heat up) all the same it's a clever bit of software ahead of its time.
... the price! Those phones can't possibly be twice as good as the Axon 7 to justify such a price. I for one can't wait to see what the Axon 8 will look like. My wish list:
A screen a little bit bigger.
(Having used a 6.4" Z Ultra for a long time, I find the AX7's display rather limiting. And the trend is towards bigger displays anyway, as the S8 and S8+ demonstrate.)
Illuminated hardware keys.
(For ****'s sake how hard can that be?)
A camera a little bit better.
(A flash on the front camera and a dedicated camera button - like on Sony's phones - would not be bad ideas either).
Keep the speakers and sound quality!
(Absolutely don't mess with that, ZTE, it's absolutely perfect as is.)
Waterproof.
(I know speakers are hard to waterproof but the rest of the phone shouldn't die if it gets dropped in water.)
A bigger battery!!
(The battery is never big enough.)
That's about it! The rest of the AX7 is pretty close to perfection.
The only thing I agree with is the camera although the one in the Axon 7 is okay.
Illuminated buttons I don't like. I always kept them disabled on the Note 4.
What I'd improve is the vibration motor, which sucks and makes the phone feel cheap every single time I type a letter... It's too strong and makes an annoying audible sound.
Way overpriced.
How is this related to forum?
ГАСООП said:
How is this related to forum?
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It's not, but also not forbidden.
Should be moved to general I think.
On topic now:
Seems like the actual improvements in the smartphone industry have decreased over the years, and so, most companies do whatever they brainstormed at the labs, and call it revolutionary and try to reinvent the wheel, year after year.
I don't like the S8, I personally think it's pointless.
Not to mention the fact that it's overpriced as hell.
Negligible differences over the S7.
Nothing major going for it really.
aLexzkter said:
Illuminated buttons I don't like. I always kept them disabled on the Note 4.
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To each their own. If the illumination can be turned on and off, then everybody's happy.
I probably wouldn't consider touching the new Samsung devices with a ten foot pole.
As for the Axon 8, I agree with you about needing illuminated hardware keys, a (much) better set of cameras with their own dedicated flashes, the same or better audio quality, and waterproofing (because why not). I would also like an updated SOC, a screen with better viewing angles, and less proprietary crap going on. It kills me that this phone is handicapped on custom ROMs because ZTE wanted to use their own stuff rather than going with standard APIs (e.g. camera software).
Oh, don't get me wrong, the S8 looks like a nice (and gorgeous) device. Samsung always seems to do hardware right. Bixby might be good, but I generally assume most people I'll replace it with Google's offerings.
For $750? Fat chance. No way is a phone worth that. Hell, a person could spend just a bit more than the price on the Plus' tag to get any number of great computer components, the greatest laptop of the year, or something else actually worth close to one grand. I don't understand how these expensive phones continue to sell.
I also couldn't willingly choose a phone without official support for an unlocked bootloader.
Here's to hoping the next best thing comes along and actually fulfills the requirements of that title.
aLexzkter said:
The only thing I agree with is the camera although the one in the Axon 7 is okay.
Illuminated buttons I don't like. I always kept them disabled on the Note 4.
What I'd improve is the vibration motor, which sucks and makes the phone feel cheap every single time I type a letter... It's too strong and makes an annoying audible sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can turn down the vibrate in Gboard settings it doesn't suck it's too powerful
gtshiftin6 said:
You can turn down the vibrate in Gboard settings it doesn't suck it's too powerful
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I turned it all the way down and it's still way too powerful. And it makes a high-pitched sound like the phone is not well constructed.
PiArc said:
I would also like an updated SOC, a screen with better viewing angles, and less proprietary crap going on. It kills me that this phone is handicapped on custom ROMs because ZTE wanted to use their own stuff rather than going with standard APIs (e.g. camera software).
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You don't know what you're talking about. The camera software can be used on LineageOS, first phone I have that can do that (LG G2 and Galaxy Note 4 couldn't)
Better viewing angles? It has the same display as the Galaxy S7, an amazing AMOLED screen, which have the best viewing angles possible. And this is not even a TV anyway so it's not a crucial thing.
I've never felt like the viewing angle needs improvement. But a few times while using the phone outside in broad sunshine I found myself wishing for more brightness.
aLexzkter said:
You don't know what you're talking about. The camera software can be used on LineageOS, first phone I have that can do that (LG G2 and Galaxy Note 4 couldn't)
Better viewing angles? It has the same display as the Galaxy S7, an amazing AMOLED screen, which have the best viewing angles possible. And this is not even a TV anyway so it's not a crucial thing.
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By no means am I saying the device is a bad phone or anything. In fact, this honestly is probably my favorite device ever.
Still, I would greatly appreciate DNG support, which the device would have if ZTE had used Google's camera API 2. Unfortunately --as far as I know-- raw photos are only supported through the ZTE's own camera in manual mode. That bugs me. I don't like being forced to use things I wouldn't otherwise in order to get the experience I want.
If you use Lineage you know the camera is not the sole or even the most apparent place in which ZTE's awkward implementation of software and drivers has caused trouble for development. I only chose it as my example because it affects me the most, but issues such as the one any non-stock based ROM has with audio distortion are only present because ZTE either didn't stick to standards or chose to complicate their drivers and stuff.
Customizability is Android's core selling point for me, so being unable to use whatever I want exactly as I want it detracts from a device's appeal. I should be able to use whichever camera app I want with DNG support. I should be able to listen to good quality music in a non-stock ROM. ZTE made it harder for developers to give users those options than they should have.
As for the SOC and the screen, I'm just adding stuff to a wish list for an updated phone. Again, by no means are either the screen or the chip poor. Quite the contrary, they were perfect last year. However, there's no point in the 8 having anything other than the best of this year's silicon if it is to be marketed as another flagship killer. There are people who would choose not to buy the phone just because the number 835 looks greater than 820. The Axon 8 deserves just as much consideration as every phone that comes out, and not choosing to upgrade the SOC would unfortunately place it at a disadvantage (despite the fact that the 820 is a magnificent beast in it's own right).
The viewing angle thing is literally the world's slightest grievance. I spend a lot of time reading on my phone because I haven't got a dedicated e-reader anymore. If I'm lying on my stomach with the display pointed a bit away from my face there is a very slight blue tinge. It is extremely minor and no worse than what I've seen on any phone (much better than many). Just, moving forward I'd rather see the screen further refined rather than changed to something bigger or with a higher resolution or something else unnecessarily showy just for the hell of it (as will likely have to be the case for marketing purposes).
Sure a phone isn't a TV, but they're being used increasingly for media consumption and the like (hence the push for fancier aspect ratios and all that this year). There's no reason to leave a display that will be used for media consumption with an inaccuracy due to narrow viewing angles that will widen a bit by simply using a more recently manufactured screen.
On another note, I wish the 2.5D glass were just flattened so that tempered glass screen protectors could be properly compatible. I tried to get my nephew to upgrade to an Axon 7 rather than an iPhone and the only thing that kept him back was his bad luck breaking devices and the tendency to slap on a tempered glass protector that emerged from the same. That basically completes the list of what would make this phone perfect for me, if not necessarily for other people.
None of that is to say the device is bad. With some very slight refinement, the Axon 8 should once again be a serious contender for the best phone of the year.