Hi all
I have been debating with myself for awhile rather get the xperia 1 3 or the oneplus 9pro, also considering the op9 or nokia 8.4 although I know specs are downgraded from first two.
Do u have any insights for me?
thx in advance
the-light said:
Hi all
I have been debating with myself for awhile rather get the xperia 1 3 or the oneplus 9pro, also considering the op9 or nokia 8.4 although I know specs are downgraded from first two.
Do u have any insights for me?
thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can assure you that you won't be disappointed if you choose Xperia 1 III. I think I don't have to polish the quality, it's a Sony the display is superb as always. Camera is a masterpiece, especially in manual. If you know what you're doing then you shot photos you couldn't with any other and the colours are the most realistic you can get. Performance is outpacing all other phones. I didn't have any lags, hesitation or slowdown ever. Multi-tasking is a killer, doesn't matter how many apps you use simultaneously, apps won't crash. I replaced my Xperia 1 and I didn't regret it. Not to mention that my Xperia 1, Xperia xz premium, xperia z3 still run like new I don't have any pros or cons regarding the other phones you mentioned.
LaceeWearsPrada said:
I can assure you that you won't be disappointed if you choose Xperia 1 III. I think I don't have to polish the quality, it's a Sony the display is superb as always. Camera is a masterpiece, especially in manual. If you know what you're doing then you shot photos you couldn't with any other and the colours are the most realistic you can get. Performance is outpacing all other phones. I didn't have any lags, hesitation or slowdown ever. Multi-tasking is a killer, doesn't matter how many apps you use simultaneously, apps won't crash. I replaced my Xperia 1 and I didn't regret it. Not to mention that my Xperia 1, Xperia xz premium, xperia z3 still run like new I don't have any pros or cons regarding the other phones you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank u for the reply. it is helpful
If you're into this kind of bleeding edge device; either way you'll be disappointed, just less with this one I think.
Reasoning: Android is just becoming more like IOS on both the hard and software side.
DRM, lack of sdcard port (why I decided to pick the 1III over the 9P), locking down systems as much as possible.
Funny enough that ain't whats killing the 1III or the 9P, these companies share more source code than most, it's the tiny community which might have made it worth for me to get the S22 Ultra instead.
I did get a terrific deal tho; €888 for a snapdragon 888, how fitting.
I don't know about OnePlus, but my Xperia has a definite "beta" feel that never goes away.
What the Sony really has going for it is:
Fast CPU burst speed launches apps quickly
microSD card for old apps and some apps not from Google Play Store
Solid feel
Stereo speakers and headphone jack
Fast WiFi 6
Quick camera button
Long battery life
Water resistant
Notification LED
Very fast USB connection
Not so good:
Some people have problems with phantom screen and fingerprint touches
Fingerprint reader will false-positive a LOT
Minimal carrier support, if any. Cellular reception is not the best.
Minimal CPU cooling, quick throttling
Dated camera quality, worse camera software
Very "stock" Android, and that's a bad thing for Android 11 and 12. Google's recent work is a dumpster fire.
microSD crippled for recent Google Play Store apps (see previous item)
Several gigabytes of setup shovelware on some models. The downloads have to be cancelled to get started.
Rough software and some bad updates. Can be frustrating to use.
Flashlight is dim
4K screen resolution is restricted to a few uses
The Sony by my experience excellent.
A few sites to confirm this.
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sony-xperia-1-iii
Sony Xperia 1 III | EISA – Expert Imaging and Sound Association
eisa.eu
Sony Xperia 1 III - TIPA
Xperia 1 III utilises expertise of engineers from Sony’s Alpha cameras. It offers four focal lengths, including the world’s first Variable telephoto lens paired with a Dual PD sensor– reaching up to a focal length of 105mm from 16mm, as well as delivering 12MP and RAW formatted images. Each lens...
www.tipa.com
Very happy with mine. Been a champ. Learn to yield the camera and you will be trated with excellent images.
Led notification
3.5 connection
12/256 config on the base model + sd-card support
4k FLAT screen - no notch or punch-hole
Great camera hardware - excellent manuel controls - 4k 120fps
Great battery
Stereospeakers with punch and good balance
Also a great looking phone beautifully buildt.
Why open new threads like this always and mess up the entire forum... Even for a single new update if there is only a monthly security update
kevinmcmurtrie said:
I don't know about OnePlus, but my Xperia has a definite "beta" feel that never goes away.
What the Sony really has going for it is:
Fast CPU burst speed launches apps quickly
microSD card for old apps and some apps not from Google Play Store
Solid feel
Stereo speakers and headphone jack
Fast WiFi 6
Quick camera button
Long battery life
Water resistant
Notification LED
Very fast USB connection
Not so good:
Some people have problems with phantom screen and fingerprint touches
Fingerprint reader will false-positive a LOT
Minimal carrier support, if any. Cellular reception is not the best.
Minimal CPU cooling, quick throttling
Dated camera quality, worse camera software
Very "stock" Android, and that's a bad thing for Android 11 and 12. Google's recent work is a dumpster fire.
microSD crippled for recent Google Play Store apps (see previous item)
Several gigabytes of setup shovelware on some models. The downloads have to be cancelled to get started.
Rough software and some bad updates. Can be frustrating to use.
Flashlight is dim
4K screen resolution is restricted to a few uses
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi 6 really is fast No other phone can do this. At my workplace they couldn't believe how is this even possible
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I've even reached 2,6Gbps download speed once. Sadly, I didn't taka a screenshot
Apart from the dim flashlight, I didn't face any of those issues. This phone really is a beast Can't imagine that I'd buy any other manufacturer's phone.
I had a lot of Flagships in my hands. For 1 year ago a had a s21, s22 , S22 Ultra, Zfold3 , Mi11 Ultra, Mate/P 40 Po... I can easily say that 1||| is not the best at all but...
Beautiful und one hand useful
Camera with a bit of knowledge is the best in the terms of colours and really really to convey the real atmosphere and mood of the scene. Hey this is not a flat and too bright Samsungs way. Other like a hand painted Huawei and Pixel way.
And up to 5 zoom ist the best because ist not so dependent from various constant zoom cameras. It have a variable zoom and this make a lot of difference.
Also is a lot more agile and smooth than Samsung in terms of software.
I have never had a One+ device but with the Chinese i find always annoying flaws.
I don't understand why people are comparing this phone so much with other phones.
The sole reason I bought this phone is because it offers a very unique featureset.
I wanted a fingerprint scanner on the side or back.
Can find lots, but typically only in higher-end models.
I also wanted wireless charging.
Also lots, but typically only in budget models.
I wanted a flat screen, no curved edges.
Removes a lot of phones too.
I preferred a headphone jack and notification LED (if possible).
Removes even more phones.
With all these requirements there is literally no other phone available.
None
I couldn't care less about camera quality, yet I bought it.
Me? I'm happy with it. But unless you want some specific features that only this phone offers I just would not recommend it because it's, imo, WAY too expensive compared to the competition.
You should not buy this phone because you want a "flagship model", you're better off with OP, Samsung, Google or Apple (dare I say it).
I will admit that Sony devices are unicorns, so you can buy it for the hipster factor I guess.
Related
Here comes some of my initial impressions and pictures including photo and video samples from the Sony Xperia Ultra.
Build quality and impression
The device feels extremely solid and luxurious - in fact even better than the Xperia Z. The aluminum sides makes a noticeable difference and the lids feels more sturdy and reliable. Sony improved the design, which is good since there has been reports about leaks on the Z (like wet SIM card despite closed lids). Another interesting thing is that the weight is perfectly balanced, which makes the device easy to hold without showing any tendency to tip in any direction. The 212 grams feels light because of the large size so there's never any impression of heaviness either.
I am completely satisfied with the build and design of it. The Sony omnibalance design is just great.
Screen quality
The screen is absolutely magnificent. It offers a very realistic color reproduction with a warm and natural color balance. It is an improvement over the Z even if I am perfectly happy with that screen (I just don't get the complaints about it even if I made comparisons with the HTC One and Galaxy S 4). Nevertheless, the Ultra is an improvement with a more natural, warm color balance and great whites (white backgrounds are really white without getting any blueish hue). The size of the screen also makes it great for reading books, magazines and documents. Portrait mode is useable with this screen estate, unlike smaller devices where landscape is must in order to get an adequate text size.
Camera quality
The new 471 firmware is an improvement when it comes to picture quality. I notice sharper, more detailed pictures compared to the older 461 version. Before I bought the Ultra, I was skeptical about the camera but it has been satisfactory to me. The Xperia Z takes better pictures with the latest ROMs, especially with the leaked Honami camera apk but the Ultra still hold its own well (from now on, the Z will be my main camera and the Ultra takes care of the rest). The Superior Auto mode seems to work good on the new device and can take some pretty nice pictures even if I think that manual is even better when the settings are adjusted for a better result.
The only thing I noticed is that it can be tricky to compensate for the sunlight, the pictures has a tendency of becoming to dark at times when attempting to get the blue rather than white sky in place. My impression is that the Z handles that part better, it is easier to compose pictures with a clear sky without ending up with everything else being very dark.
Having a huge screen is very nice when photographing and it makes it easier to get the composition in place.
Sound quality
I have tested the sound quality with Grado PS1000 direct connected to the Ultra and later with RS-2 through the SBH20. It sounds very good in both cases and can drive those headphones well. The sound is clear with good detailing and balanced frequencies. PowerAMP sounds great with different kind of music.
My general impression is that it sounds similar to the Xperia Z in most cases.
Battery life
Since I got the device three days ago, the battery isn't run in yet but my initial impression is pretty good. I managed to get 1 hour and 23 minutes out of it when it showed 20% two days ago. Exact measurements hasn't been taken yet since I want to put it through some charge cycles before making any judgments but I think it holds up well for now. I was afraid that it would suffer from short life but I think it copes well with high demands like downloads over WiFi, browsing etc.
The Stamina mode seems to work well too. It has been sitting with 67% for two hours and 18 minutes now and is absolutely cool. The heat problem that affects the Z (that I avoided on my device through UV) seems to be solved. The Z Ultra doesn't heat up that much even with prolonged use. I guess that the aluminum sides etc improves the situation and helps to dissipate some of the heat. I don't feel an acute need for undervolting yet even if I will do it when custom kernels become available.
Software
Personally, I prefer to use custom ROMs (especially PAC) so I don't go into detail when it comes to stock ROMs, especially not with the phone mode. I look forward to the day when I can put the Ultra into phablet mode with apps in tablet mode - that will be the day when I feel that it is ready for prime time. Now, the screen estate is wasted by the phone mode.
Beside that, the Sony apps (Album, Walkman, dialer etc) is great and nice additions.
The stock ROM seems to be very stable, which is promising but it isn't exciting compared to PAC, a ROM which I think is absolutely great with decent customization options that make the device much more efficient.
I am not very much into reviewing stock ROMs, it is necessary to get root and Xposed Framework with App Settings before I feel that I want to judge it.
Where I bought it
I bought my C6802 at AtGSM, Bowery Street, New York. It is the store that provided me with the Xperia Z back in March.
Unpacking pictures
The package.
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The back of the package.
Open box.
Charger, cable, headset. I expected the SBH52 here.
The device itself. I think the white version is better in the case of the omnibalance but the black one fits my black cases I usually have (wallet or flip) and was in stock so I got it rather than waited for the other one. I think it looks great in black too.
The Ultra seen from the rear.
Device comparisons and photo samples with the 461 ROM
Side by side view of the Xperia Z and Xperia Z Ultra.
They run my usual configuration based on Nova Launcher, Beautiful Widgets etc. The Z runs the PAC ROM, 0726 build.
A side shot that shows the viewing angles.
Xperia Z Ultra compared with Xperia Z, Xperia X1, P910i and HD2.
A comparison of the thickness between those devices. Even if the Ultra is thin, I think it is easy to hold it with a safe and steady grip.
Visiting Android Central. I think the Ultra works perfect with my hand size.
Here are some photo samples taken with the old 461 ROM.
Those pictures are taken at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, NYC.
Two street views.
A small picture comparison between the Xperia Z (PAC) and Z Ultra (461) is here.
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/834/ac5x.jpg/]
[/URL]
This picture of the Commodore PET 2001 is taken with the Ultra.
This picture of the PET 2001 is taken with the Xperia Z with PAC 0726 ROM.
Photo samples taken with the 471
First is two sample videos in 1080p I took.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW9sjAYOabA&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfKXiPX7syE
Here are the pictures:
I think the S 4 ad is funny. "The ultra-advanced S 4" - I wonder where that leaves the Xperia Z Ultra? Mega-Awesome-Ultra-Advanced??
Stylus compatibility
I have played with the digitizer today and found a graphite pen that works great for jotting things down, drawing etc. I like this feature very much and the ability to use different pens are great. The only thing that should be implemented is palm rejection. It is necessary to avoid touching the screen while using a stylus since it can cause the drawing of some very strange lines.
The Sony Sketch works very well and I took some notes today, which worked great when I found the proper way.
I will post more information when everything develops (root etc).
Root status
The Ultra isn't rooted yet. I cooperated with DoomLord on getting root on my device but we failed. The only response was a blank screen when root kernels and packages was flashed. It is obvious that more work has to be made here.
I unlocked the bootloader in order to try the rooting; I would have done it regardless since I want custom kernels and ROMs like PAC on it later on. Keeping the bootloader locked is therefore no options for me. The screen is so great that I don't even miss Bravia Engine either. It looks great when I view pictures in QuickPic or videos with BsPlayer.
Size
To me, the size is perfect and I can carry it on my pants without any problems. It just fit their pockets and it was the first thing I checked when I bought it. I was a bit worried about taking such a big jump upwards when it comes to the size but it went very well.
Thanks for the impressions! Just waiting on more concrete battery life information for it to seal the deal.
Sorry to hear that root is not working yet. Hope you get some luck ^.^
Planning to buy one soon too.
Absolutely awesome post, and impressions. Thanks for that, I also agree with you on everything.
Also glad you got a black ZU too, what lead you to that decision? Is it because you had a white Z?
gunblazer said:
Absolutely awesome post, and impressions. Thanks for that, I also agree with you on everything.
Also glad you got a black ZU too, what lead you to that decision? Is it because you had a white Z?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The black Z Ultra was selected because the store (AtGSM) didn't have the white in stock and I realized that the flip case I ordered will be black so the color is more practical. Otherwise, I think the white color is better for this "omnibalance" (what Sony call this design) since it accentuates it more.
Now I must say that I like the black design more than I did before. It looks really high tech and sophisticated.
The fact that I have the white Z also played a role, especially since I am going to use it as my main camera further along the road.
When root (at least) is out for the Ultra, I am going to reflash the Z with Monxdified and make it my main camera (I have a lot of stuff on my memory card so using the Z for picture and video shooting solve a problem to me) and I think it looks great in white. So the need for a white Ultra isn't present.
great review
E90 Commie said:
The black Z Ultra was selected because the store (AtGSM) didn't have the white in stock and I realized that the flip case I ordered will be black so the color is more practical. Otherwise, I think the white color is better for this "omnibalance" (what Sony call this design) since it accentuates it more.
Now I must say that I like the black design more than I did before. It looks really high tech and sophisticated.
The fact that I have the white Z also played a role, especially since I am going to use it as my main camera further along the road.
When root (at least) is out for the Ultra, I am going to reflash the Z with Monxdified and make it my main camera (I have a lot of stuff on my memory card so using the Z for picture and video shooting solve a problem to me) and I think it looks great in white. So the need for a white Ultra isn't present.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much this is very informative. I would like to know whether you have any experience of using the NOTE with a stylus and how the stylus input compares to that?
darthmaul40 said:
Thank you so much this is very informative. I would like to know whether you have any experience of using the NOTE with a stylus and how the stylus input compares to that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cool thing is that you can lay a piece of paper on the screen and write/draw on it, and the screen will sense it and you'll get the same thing both on paper and on screen. So if it's a little weird to write, or whatever, directly on the screen (slippery), just add the paper on top of the screen and write with a pencil or whatever you choose so you'll get some friction.
Mine is supposed to be here. I also ordered the black but looking more and more at it the white might be a better option because you probably cannot see the fingerprints as much.
When the LTE version comes out in September I might sell this one and go for the white. It will also be good to play with it for a few months before he Galaxy Note 3 comes out to decide then between he LTE version or the Note.
Do you think they used the same crappy screen protector as the Z? I instantly started getting scratches on the Z and had to get a screen protector.
darthmaul40 said:
Thank you so much this is very informative. I would like to know whether you have any experience of using the NOTE with a stylus and how the stylus input compares to that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the Note N7000 and a Note N7100 is here with me. I think the Z Ultra works great and I actually prefer the Sony concept with flexibility compared to the S-Pen. Writing works well for me but takes a little bit of training before the proper technique is applied.
The S-Pen on the Note is nice to use but it is too proprietary to my liking and too heavily tied to TouchWiz.
I know it's way to early, but where on a scale from 1-10 would you rank the ZU as a whole?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4
If you dont mind me asking you, how much did it end up costing you?
I also live in nyc and was looking to buy this, was thinking about ordering for ebay or a site, but would rather buy in person, any more details would be great to hear!
thanks again
I bought mine from Negri Electronics for around $750.00.
I bought mine from AtGSM in their store in Bowery Street. They charge $769 and with sales tax, it ended at $837. They have it in stock and when I bought it, they were expecting more devices the day after.
I also bought the Xperia Z there and I can recommend the store. The staff is nice and knowledgeable, they have a great selection of devices and the shopping experience is a bit particular since the store is an office. It is on the 4th floor in the building and it is really an office. There's no device displays, just regular office furniture. You tell them what you want and they will go and get the device for you.
It is different and great in my opinion.
Then there are MobileCityOnline in Walker Street. Also a great store but they are slow with the Ultra, it is not in stock since they are waiting for the C6806. AtGSM is usually much quicker when it comes to carrying new devices. They are also a bit cheaper but MobileCityOnline is still recommended.
LordManhattan said:
I know it's way to early, but where on a scale from 1-10 would you rank the ZU as a whole?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is early but I would rank it 10/10. The reason is that it is excellent in all areas I want it to excel in. It is fantastic for watching movies, reading documents, browsing the Internet, playing games, using apps etc. It is a great mini-tablet simply put.
The only thing I don't like right now is that the UI is in phone mode and I look forward to being able to change it into tablet mode.
I will now put some more photo samples up.
Here is a picture taken with manual settings and white balance sunny (it was sunny but with clouds when I took it).
This picture is taken with the Superior Auto mode.
A close up shot. I can't find a macro mode when I check the camera settings.
Now follows three pictures taken with Superior Auto for reference.
Do you know if the new version that comes out in September with LTE will be supported on AT&T's network for LTE?
Hardcore73 said:
Do you know if the new version that comes out in September with LTE will be supported on AT&T's network for LTE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The C6806 should have full support for AT&T LTE with the 700/1700/2100. The C6833 offers the 1700/2100 but not 700.
The LTE bands are as follows:
LTE 700 / 850 / 900/ 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 - C6806
LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 - C6833
T-Mobile customers can buy the C6833 while AT&T customers that wants the 700 MHz band need the C6806.
Europe will get the C6833 while North America (USA/Canada) and some other markets will get the C6806.
Would you mind posting some darker images, say in your house with lights lower or something so we get can idea of what it will do without a flash.
Thanks for all the input.
I took some test pictures in low light conditions now.
Some of them is taken with Superior Auto, others are in Manual mode.
With and without Superior Auto:
The lack of a flash is evident.
On the other hand, in order to take decent shots in darkness, a xenon flash is necessary. I would say that the best option for darkness is to get a Sony DSC-WX300 camera that can be connected to the Xperia Z Ultra through WiFi and Sony PlayMemories, something that means that pictures can be taken with the camera, controlled by the Xperia. I.e. you use the Xperia screen as the viewfinder and shutter control so it is like the camera is the integrated one.
Personally, I am considering that option but my plan is to use the Xperia Z reflashed with Monxdified as my camera.
Awesome pics thanks. I don't mind them not looking perfect when it's dark out. It is good enough for me if I will be able to see the people I am shooting.
Besides if I need light I would make sure it was somewhere well lit for a better pic.
Most of the time when the flash goes off it just blurs everything out anyways because I am taking close pictures with it on.
I am getting more and more excited to get mine tomorrow! Fedex has it on hold at my location so I can pick it up tomorrow
---------- Post added at 10:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
New York looks really cool btw. Like there would always be something to do. People everywhere, not sure I could get used to that. I live in Michigan so there is never crazy traffic and people all over lol.
Please note this is my opinion and experience with the phone. I love trying all kinds of smart phones.
I wanted to love this phone...
Being a heavy google apps user and a lover of customization and android, I recently switched back to android from the iPhone 6 Plus (previous phones as well include Blackberry Passport, Note Edge, Note 3, LG G3, Oneplus One, Xperia Z1, Sharp SH-03G (Docomo), Ascend Mate 7 to name a few). The C5 Ultra caught my attention with it's good looks, 6" screen and Sony's boasting of it's great front and rear facing 13mp cameras. Both cameras sounded perfect for me to take photos of my 2 year old and family selfies with the front camera. After a week of use here are my thoughts:
Pros:
- Beautiful design - very sleek with edge to edge (sides have little to no bezel) glass on the front making this a tall looking phone
- Dual Sim - great when I travel overseas
- Separate MicroSD card slot - some manufacturers force you to use the second sim slot but not Sony
- Unlocked
- GPS accurate
- Wifi reasonably strong
- Call quality good
Cons
- Screen (Innolux) lacks contrast and does poorly with blacks, colours are dull and washed out. There is screen backlight bleeding especially around the bottom edges.
- Camera Images - What a disappointment. Perhaps mine is a dud but colors are dull, photos over exposed, highlights blown out, photos are not sharp, even taken in daylight.
- Camera Performance - It doesn't matter how beautiful photos are a camera CAN take if it CANNOT catch the moment. The lag on the phone is terrible. Camera app slow to open. Focus slow to acquire. Shutter terribly slow. After focusing on an object which is slow to do, I press the shutter and the camera tries to focus again then shoot taking more than a second to do so. Because of this I keep missing the moment even outside in broad daylight.
- Camera Software - Slow, occasionally crashes. Doesn't stay on the last setting you used if you reopen the app.
- Battery life - very disappointing. I am not a heavy user. I take maybe 10-15 photos, read some email, browse the web. Rarely watch videos or listen to music and the phone struggles to make it 12-13 hours. Charges very slowly whether plugged in via usb or directly into a wall.
- The iPhone 6 Plus battery and Blackberry Passport I previously had blow this away when it comes to battery.
- Phone performance - Occasional lag or stutter opening apps, swiping between home screens
- Auto brightness is very inconsistent, in an evenly lit room, it is constantly adjusting up and down brightness.
In case anyone is interested benchmark numbers here (It's the Non-verified score)
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Bottom line:
Visually a beautiful phone. Functionally a huge disappointment. The hype of a higher end or top mid range phone but not the same performance to back up the hype. Perhaps a lot of this, like the camera performance and the battery life and some OS performance can be tweaked and fixed with software updates. I love Sony products, and my house is full of Sony goods. Sony has a great name and reputation here in Japan but at the end of the day, Xperia phones still let me down and I end up going to solid phones from Samsung and LG. LG G4 on the way...
I feel u bro.
scpion said:
I feel u bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about it a bit and I think it may be that I expected too much... ie coming from many so called "flagship" models I expected the C5 Ultra to perform like one (since it's pretty pricey), but it obviously didn't.
I'm going to ride with it for the rest of the week, trying some 3rd party camera apps and seeing if I can optimize the setup (or wait for a root and custom rom) to see if it would improve performance and battery life.
On the contrary, personally I feel it's punching above its weight.. It's relatively cheap here on contract. Other than the irritating problems I mentioned in my other thread, I think it's pretty ok. Battery have been great for me and performance decently fast. I never had high hopes for the cam anyway though I was hoping for a surprise this time round. Let's not forget the C series had always been a mid ranger.
It's a shame, really. The C5 is the best looking phone I've ever seen. If only the screen was better and the battery was larger I'd consider buying it.
It's even better looking than the Xperia Z5 series and has less bezel.
I'd love to put the hardware of the Z5 into the C5 ultra then it'd be the perfect phone.
I really hope developers will take up interest in this phone. As of now, there are basically nothing on the Web regarding this phone.. No reviews, not even accessories..
The Z5 range has recently been published on gsmarena. I was shocked to see the C5 looks WAY better than the expensive flagship Z5. Issue with the Z5 it looks the same as the Z2 and Z3, too much bezel.
I'm thinking of getting the C5 ultra for it's sexy looks and ultra thin bezel!
I hope a developer/modder can soon release a mod to make this phone output stereo sound. We just need output from the top speaker grill which will then give us true stereo speakers/sound.
The sound from this phone is pretty loud with audio+. Tweaking the white balance gives pretty decent colours as well. The colour just sucks straight from factory.
scpion said:
The sound from this phone is pretty loud with audio+. Tweaking the white balance gives pretty decent colours as well. The colour just sucks straight from factory.
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Sounds good! I currently own the Sony Xperia Z3 D6633. The screen I have is better, sound is stereo, ram is 3Gb, camera is 21MP/video 4k and battery is more (3100mAh) vs 2900...
Should I purchase the C5 Ultra, in many ways it indeed is a downgrade. However, the beautiful design and large screen/thin bezel is a win and I'm thinking of buying one.
The main thing that concerns me is the large 6'' screen and small battery of under 3000mAh. Sony really should of made the battery at least 3500 mAh to power the large screen.
I'd like, if possible more feedback from other users with regards to battery life. Also, how are the black levels and viewing angles of the screen?
How would the camera compare say to a Samsung Note 5/Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and the LG G4?
First up, I really have no problem with the battery. The 29xxmah battery may sound small, I have no problem lasting a full day. I try to post screen shots later. I feel that sony has one of the best optimised system around.
Screen needs some tweaking to get the colours right. Contrast still slightly on the lower side. Viewing angle is ok. No where near the shocking level of gen 1 xperia z. Colour shift at a acute angle similar to N4 if u know what I mean. To me, I think it's acceptable. And it's really bright.
I dun take a lot of picture.. But from my finding, superior auto is a disaster in this case. Manual gives me good results. Details are good and noise keep to a minimum in low light. Pics with flash turns out great as well, surprisingly. The other phones u mentioned are all flagship class so it might be a bit unfair to do the comparison. They can point and shoot and give good results. This, u have to point, tweak, shoot.... Lol. Results are not half bad. At least the last settings are retained so u do not go back to the superior auto by default.
Then again, do not forget this is a "midranger". And let's not forget there is no such thing as a perfect phone.
---------- Post added at 02:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 PM ----------
I am typing this from my Z Ultra. Seriously, if they carry on the Z line in the Z ultra's design and power, I think sony will do much better..
Here u go. these are 2 sets of battery usage. I am getting rather good results from it. Google sync on, Lte all the way. Staminal mode on. Manual screen brightness is at just 15% and its really bright indoors. Outdoors usually at just 40% or auto brightness. This is a really bright panel. On down side, battery charging is pretty slow. Using a 1.5a charger, it take me around 3-4hrs to charge from around 15%. I never tried the supplied 850mah one... maybe I should..
Hey! Theres one more thing that I want to mention for the screen. It FREAKING flickers whenever it tries to play a video for the first 1 sec. It should be a software issue. The display sets have this problem, the set i changed have this problem as well.
Just got c5 ultra. Was trying to connect my 1tb ext hdd, but it always shows "usb storage removed" as soon as i connect it.. However once it did got connected properly and i was able to access files on it but only once and after that i am continuously having the above mentioned problem.. Anyone else tried this? Also i am having some wierd clock ticking voice from my hdd after connecting.. It works fine though on my note 4 without such voice..
Sent from my SM-N910G using XDA Free mobile app
the usb port doesn't have enough power to power your hdd. better don't use it. you might force the hdd to keep reading and might damage the hdd
^ Thanks for the feedback bro. I'm currently living in Dubai, UAE. It seems, unfortunately the phone is not yet released here.
However, it should be released anytime soon. I'm going to call the Sony agent at Jumbo Electronics and see when the phone is due to be released.
As I said before, I'm seriously considering selling my several month old Sony Xperia Z3 D6633 dual sim and getting the C5 Ultra. In many ways it is indeed a downgrade.
That said, I'm also an ex owner of the legendary Sony Xperia Z Ultra which had the massive 6.44'' screen which was gorgeous. My current Z3 on the other hand has a much smaller screen of only 5.2'' and Although the screen is better and brighter, I'm not happy with the smaller screen. It seems Sony will not release a successor anytime soon for the Z Ultra so as of now the nearest option is the C5 Ultra. Though slightly smaller than the Z Ultra, it's the nearest phone to compare.
May I also ask, how does the C5 Ultra screen compare to the Z Ultra. Please tell me it's as good as if not better.
Unsure about you, but the best on screen time I've had with my previous Z Ultra was 5 hours and 44 minutes! Not bad for a phone having almost 6.5'' in size and a 3000mAh battery...
I think I would prefer the Z ultra's screen over this, at least for now. I personally like how much we can adjust the screen contrast and colour on the Z. Colour adjustment can be make to be very close to my Z but C5 still lacks the deeper colours.. Dpi is smaller as well so I can see more things. Think the C5 dpi is at 480. It's a waste of screen estate. We seriously need development on this to make it a great device.
Yeah, the device is still too new. I'm sure that with some development and custom roms, it'll be even better. Sadly it'll take some time...
At least they've improved the sound quality and finally the output is better than previous models.
Then there's front and rear flash which the Z Ultra completely lacked.
I've seen many brand new C5 Ultra's for just £250 in ebay, around 300 euros. For a 6'' mid range device the price is fantastic...
How does battery life compare to the Xperia Z Ultra? How is the quality/sharpness of the camera? Image noise low and under control?
I usually get around a full day with 3-4hrs screen on time with Z ultra. C5, that kind of timing is usually when I am at around 40%. I never finish my day with a flat battery for C5. I dun play games. Just lots of browsing, Facebook and YouTube. Cam is a mixed bag. Most of the time, details and colours are pretty good. Sometimes overly exposed. Superior auto is a disaster though. But overall, good pics can be achieved with manual without much trouble.
Finally bought my C5 Ultra last night! Overall I'm satisfied with it and there is more good than bad.
Screen is actually great AFTER calibration. By default the whites and colours are dead. For me, white balance is as follows; Red 38, Green 49 & Blue 40. Colour as well as the white and blacks are great and not far off from my Xperia Z3. So bear in mind the display does need a good calibration to get decent results.
After going through some high quality pictures and full HD 1080P movies and animated cartoons, colour is strong and black levels do actually look great, screenshots below of Shaun The Sheep Movie. Viewing angles are brilliant.
Speed. Generally the device is fast and responsive. It does at times pause and there is a slight delay. However, this should be fixed in a future update and when we get root access and recovery!
Looks. This was the key reason I bought the device. Specification is high mid range, a step above the Xperia Z Ultra, however, I wasn't bothered with the specification, it's gorgeous looks lured me into buying the device! As internet photos show, the left/right side of the phone literally has no bezel, the stunning display stretches out right to the edges. The top/bottom of the phone are still thin and the upper part is mostly taken by the huge 13mp camera with it's flash.
The bottom of the screen is still pretty thin and compared to my Xperia Z3, though a bigger phone, the bottom bezel of the C5 Ultra is still thinner!
As explained above, the screen by default is lifeless, colours are wrong and whites are more warm. You will have to calibrate the white levels in order to get decent looking whites and other colours...
Camera. I've not had the time to fully experiment, however, it is decent and photos are sharp and clear. Others have mentioned the camera is slow especially if selecting the memory card to store the images. Completely wrong. I took several pictures last night, one after the other and other than a split second delay, it was ready to take the second and the third picture. it's fast and responsive, no lag whatsoever when taking photos whether you select the memory card slot or the internal memory.
The flash is VERY bright and even when using the light/torch mode, the light was excellent, stronger than my Xperia Z3.
Gaming. Aside from Ski Safari, I didn't try any other game. However, colours were great, whites were excellent and there was no lag or delays at all. Nice and smooth.
Whether surfing the web, gaming or using the camera, there was no sign at all of overheating, in fact, the phone never even got warm when using for long periods! So no need to worry about overheating or getting warm.
Body/Build quality. Although the rear of the phone is plastic, it's a very high quality plastic, very strong and it's appearance is good. The sides of the phone are a solid aluminium and the front is entirely glass. Build quality is very sturdy and overall excellent. There are no gaps around the phone/bezel and the sides are well put together. So far the best design I've ever seen from Sony.
I was actually going to wait and purchase the Xperia Z5. Once I saw the design was VERY similar to the current Z2/Z3 series I thought why buy the Z5 when it looks too similar to my current phone? I wanted something different, unique and affordable. This is where the C5 Ultra fits in, perfectly...
Battery. Unfortunately, since I've only just used the phone for several hours, I'm yet to comment on battery life. In fact, I've still not even charged the battery, not even once. Battery was around 61% when the phone was first turned on. After around 2 hours of on screen time, some wi-fi, phone calls, sms messages and camera use, battery is still around 22% .
Speakers/sound - I'd say decent but not loud. My Xperia Z3 having dual speakers was around 25% louder. That said, we can only pray that sooner or later, a developer can release custom sound for louder, clearer audio having dual loud speakers when listening to music, watching movies, gaming or simply when making a phone call. We simply need audio output via the upper earpiece to give us stereo sound. Lazy Sony, unfortunately didn't bother doing this...
Verdict. Based on the above, I'd give the phone 8.5/10 for overall use/features/looks/battery, etc.
Some screen shots of the phone and screen:
Ok so i've had my C5 Ultra for a few days now here in the UK and have had a few ups and downs but i've solved the problems I had with the phone.
I'm coming from the Z3 which I had an original sandisk 128gb micro SD card in. (Bear in mind I have tried several different Micro SD cards and I always buy original good ones)
Problems I had:
1. With the Z3 taking pictures was very quick whilst having the default storage to Micro SD card, DO NOT set the camera storage to micro SD on the C5 Ultra it takes 5 times longer to write to the micro SD card than the internal memory, so if you want to take photos in quick succession then don't save to the external memory.
2. Again an external micro SD card problem.....I have lots of apps and games, games especially taking up loads of space. I thought id be clever and install some big games and use lollipops feature of transferring them to the external memory to gain some space. This will slow the entire system down. DONT DO IT TRUST ME, pick your favourite apps and be done with!!
3. I have a Sony Smartwatch 3 and paired it with the phone and installed the Lifelog app. Currently (10th September) this app will slow your C5 Ultra down, it may not be optimised for Mediatek processors yet. Id wait for the app to be updated before you use/download it. Use the Google Fit app which works fine and can be left on even in stamina mode.
4. Don't expect the battery to be as good as a Sony Xperia Z3, its close and you will be happy with the C Ultras battery life but don't expect flagship battery life. (this may change as the battery on my C5 Ultra has not been run in plus I've been using this phone constantly!! Also the phone is on 5.0 lollipop and not 5.1.1 so the memory leak bug is probably there.) The good news is the battery life is better than the Z Ultra!
5. The phones 3g/4g signal is pretty weak, I thought the Z3 was bad but this is worse, hopefully in the next firmware update this will be resolved.
6. The takes a long time to charge. Probably about 3 hours from flat, quick charge plugs dont charge it any faster.
7. I miss the magnetic charger and the dock, im a massive fan of these. I have the dk52 dock for the c5 ultra but im always weary ill scratch the case around the micro usb.
The good:
Being a heavy phone user and my previous phones being : Xperia Z, Z Ultra, Z2, Galaxy note 2, 3, 4, Nexus 6 and Xperia Z3 I can honestly say now that I have solved the phones problems, this is the best phone I have owned, its the perfect size and price for me.
1. The Screen is gorgeous, its that bright i have it on the lowest setting! Picture quality is great even at near harsh angles.
2. Both cameras are great, youll need patience with them, dont be expecting to be taking great sports shots though.
3. the in call speaker is better than the Z3, id go as far as saying its the better than the Z series!
4. I got the official dock as well and love the portrait orientation.
5. Games and movies look brilliant in landscape and apps are a joy to use on this 6" screen.
6. Bluetooth music quality is brilliant, I stream to another stereo via bluetooth and the quality is near cd.
7. That selfie cam is brilliant, great wide angle shots and finally great selfies on nights out with low light!
As you can see the Phone completes the rest of my Sony setup (Yep my whole house is a Sony Shop LOL!)!! Anyway, enjoy and if your after a phablet sized sony phone then this is the one to have. Thanks.
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From Left to Right: Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, Xperia C5 Ultra, Xperia Z3, PS Vita.
An unedited Picture taken on Manual 13 Megapixel, Flash Off, ISO 200, Exposure Time: 1/33s
Aperture: f/2 (These are all default manual settings)
From Left to Right: Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia C5 Ultra, Xperia Z3, PS Vita.
Great review.
using Z ultra here.. guess im going to switch!
inflamess said:
Great review.
using Z ultra here.. guess im going to switch!
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Thanks, ive just added a few comparison shots with the Z Ultra! [emoji6]
Sent from my E5563 using Tapatalk
JKWR said:
Thanks, ive just added a few comparison shots with the Z Ultra! [emoji6]
Sent from my E5563 using Tapatalk
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I recently bought my C5 Ultra several days back and I'm more than impressed!
Surprisingly the screen is VERY bright. At 15-20% it's as bright as my old Xperia Z3 at 50-60%
Black/white levels and colours all look great once properly calibrated via the white balance settings.
Camera is excellent and the flash is strong. Only issue with the camera is the inability to shoot at 50 iso, the lowest is 100.
Speaker is loud and clear when watching movies, playing games and listening to music.
Voice calls are loud and clear, surprisingly the loudspeaker is crisp and sharp.
Hopefully soon someone can make a sound mod which not only improves and increases sound but also gives us stereo sound out the upper earpiece. There were several of these mods available for the Xperia Z Ultra and the sound was great.
Battery is excellent. I've got around 93% and the phone has been around 12 hours turned on and only lightly used.
I wish we get a working custom recovery with root since half the apps I have require root access. I miss Xposed, Greenify, GMD Autohide Soft Keys & most of all Titanium backup.
That said, the device has only just been released so realistically we need to give it weeks if not more for development to roll.
Front camera.
OP. Can you post some pics taken by the front cam of this device? Im a sony fan and this baby got my interest. Maybe ill be buying this as a christmas gift for myself :cyclops:
Hi, do any of you get that screen flicker bug b4 playing videos (ie, youtube, faceboo/insta vids)?
@JKWR re signal - my phone is giving me very good Lte and 3g signals, better than my previous phone which was the 6 plus.
Hi, since you have the z3 and c5. Is it possible for you to give some comment on which one haa better camera? Im looking ti upgrade from oneplus one since its camera just fall apart in low light. My choice is either z3 compact, z2, c5 or m5. And do you have self cracking issue on your sony product?
Heres some front facing camera pics, sorry I look severely hung over on some!!
Sent from my E5563 using Tapatalk
Iqlas said:
Hi, since you have the z3 and c5. Is it possible for you to give some comment on which one haa better camera? Im looking ti upgrade from oneplus one since its camera just fall apart in low light. My choice is either z3 compact, z2, c5 or m5. And do you have self cracking issue on your sony product?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The C5 in my opinion takes better pictures than the Z3 in any situation. However taking photos in quick succession the z3 is better at. Z3 is quicker at opening the camera app and switching back and forth from the gallery to camera etc.
Z3 is hands down better at taking videos. Its leagues ahead.
Nice review, now most of my questions have been resolved and I will buy this phone next month as a Christmas gift
However, currently, I am living in Peru but in 6 days I'll travel to Orlando - Florida as an International Cultural Exchange Program student. The fact is that I don't know If I should buy this phone on a Sony Store (not sure if its in stock), or buy it on Internet (Amazon or eBay). What I really wanna know is if when I come back to my country, I will be able to catch the signal here in Peru . Some friends told me that the phone has to be GSM and obviously unlocked. Thank you in advance and sorry for my bad english :silly:
Darkar18 said:
Nice review, now most of my questions have been resolved and I will buy this phone next month as a Christmas gift
However, currently, I am living in Peru but in 6 days I'll travel to Orlando - Florida as an International Cultural Exchange Program student. The fact is that I don't know If I should buy this phone on a Sony Store (not sure if its in stock), or buy it on Internet (Amazon or eBay). What I really wanna know is if when I come back to my country, I will be able to catch the signal here in Peru . Some friends told me that the phone has to be GSM and obviously unlocked. Thank you in advance and sorry for my bad english :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good news for you:
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra is now out in the US for $319.99 unlocked
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_c5_ultra_is_now_out_in_the_us_for_31999_unlocked-news-15238.php
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Just wondering what is the latest firmware now and did it addresses all the issues?
Great review
Sent from my E5533 using Tapatalk
I recently replaced my Note 2 with a second hand Z2. It's been an adjustment going back to the smaller screen, so I was intrigued by this phone. I went back to Sony because I missed having the FM radio and I thought I was going to get better camera performance. (Pretty disappointed in the Z2, even with non-stock apps or on Superior Auto.) Before the Note I had an Xperia Ion and it took amazing macro shots. How are the macro shots on the C5?
You had a Nexus 6 and you like this one better?? Damn, I miss my Nexus 6. This phone imo is super slow, slower than my Nexus 6. The only thing that is better is the camera and quality of the phone. Hopefully the update will make it faster...
jtp0307 said:
You had a Nexus 6 and you like this one better?? Damn, I miss my Nexus 6. This phone imo is super slow, slower than my Nexus 6. The only thing that is better is the camera and quality of the phone. Hopefully the update will make it faster...
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The update makes it much faster believe me. You will be amazed really, at least I was.
Sent from my E5303 using Tapatalk
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After the successful launch event in London in May, Honor has launched its 2nd flagship device of year 2019 as part of Honor 20 Series, mainly the Honor 20 Pro and Honor 20 along with an affordable Honor 20 lite or Honor 20i on June 11 in India at a launch event in Delhi.
Here are full specifications of the device for quick overview of the feature in case anyone missed it earlier.
Please check this link as full specification is quiet a big and will take up entire page here.
Now let’s start the Honor 20 review. This is my detailed personal review about the Honor 20 unit which I received from Honor as a review unit.
Design- Many may feel that Honor 20 design is nothing new, in fact we are seeing this since Honor 8 era but Honor has not stopped its innovation and HONOR 20 takes that trend to the next level with a mirror glass back that creates subtle patterns and highlights that shine and move alongside different lights and is famous for Dynamic Holographic design which really looks incredible and eye catching. With nearly side bezel-less design, very minimal lower bezel and the punch hole camera set up, Honor was able to give us 91.7% screen to body ratio which gives nearly full screen view and best possible viewing experience. Phone really looks premium and can beat up any flagship design even in half price.
Another impressive design of Honor 20 includes a Side-Mounted Fingerprint Sensor. Initially, I was not fan for front mounted FP sensor as I was used to rear FP sensor mainly for unlocking and clicking photos but then gradually started liking the front FP sensor as it is easy to unlock without even lifting the device, found other of clicking pictures. With Honor 20 side-mounted FP scanner, I am getting used to it but gradually started liking it as response is very fast and accurate. I can unlock my phone even before I start counting to get that milli-second feel.
Display- Honor 20 is packed with fairly large but in trend screen size of 6.26 inch and offers a full view display, thanks to the Punch hole camera design which enables the nearly full screen display. A FHD+ IPS LCD screen with 2340X1080 resolutions gives a brighter and better display with equally good viewing experience. Display supports the 16.7 M colors and equipped with 412 PPI. Overall, the looks way better than my preview phones majorly due to full view display and accurate positioning of front camera which doesn’t hampers the display or any viewing experience while gaming, watching videos or live streaming etc. Display is bright enough to have a better readability under sunlight at full brightness. If you have automatic brightness enabled or have kept it on half way, you may feel some discomfort only under the direct sunlight and not under the bright condition, but this is same with every IPS panel.
Performance- Well, there is no second thought about the performance that you can get from this device. With Latest flagship Kirin 980 Processor. There is no deny that performance will be optimal for end user but sometimes few things are good on paper but not in real life, but Honor 20 is truly optimized with Magic 2.1 (for some they may refer as EMUI 9.1) and doesn’t lag at all. I have played Asphalt 8 and Fortnite and did not feel any lag or frame drop and games were launching quickly and were able to perform as per the expectation. Yet to test the same with PUBG but don’t think that will have any issue as well as Fortnite game size is huge compared to PUBG. I was able to get constant 30 FPS for Fortnite and waiting for update to support the 60 FPS and similar constant 30 FPS in Asphalt 8 with highest visual quality. So, from gaming perspective, I do not see any challenge and games runs smooth on this device without a problem. From Application launch point of view, apps launches very fast and user do not notice much delay or lag if they have selected the right settings in developer mode and disabled the screen animations. I personally did not face much delay while launching or switching across applications. Also, I noticed one improved in Magic UI 2.1 and Honor 20 that apps remain in memory for longer time but yes, the social media apps refresh immediately they are switched to, from any other app after some time. This was the behavior in default mode and I did not even enable the performance mode. No changes were made to the battery setting for app launch and they all were by default (system selected) except WhatsApp, Tapatalk , XDA and Telegram. So, if you are looking for a device which will give you the optimal performance without hurting your pocket, look no further and can go for Honor 20.
7nm Kirin 980 AI Chipset with Dual-NPU couple with 6 GB of RAM is doing the wonders here and device is one of the best I have used in terms of performance and fluidity.
Battery - Honor 20 comes with 3750 mAh battery with which, I was able to get around easilve over 30 hours of regular usage with multiple social media apps, dual Facebook, messenger, WeChat and WhatsApp and exchange applications which always runs in background and among the top battery consumer for all along with some time on gaming, YouTube, Gmail, Chrome, Skype For Business, Hotstar live streaming etc. still I was able to pass my entire with phone without suffering for battery issue by end of my day and only connect charger the next day (my regular routine as I connect to charge my phone only around at 07.00 AM in the morning and then leave for office). If I don’t play games or live streams, I was able to get around 30+ hours of usage with still around 18-25% left.
On an average I was able to get around 8-9 hours of SOT with my usage pattern.
Honor claims for 50% charging in 30 minutes and in my test this just works fine as I was able to charge 49% in 30 minutes and in random usages, I was still able to charge around 40-43% with Mobile data/Wi-Fi on.
Audio- I personally found that Honor 20’s volume is loud enough to be able to hear at full volume and audio is crispy clear. I used the phone with Honor’s Bluetooth headset and could enjoy the music and movies very well without any problem. There is inbuilt Histen sound effect feature as well which works only with a physically connected headset. Though, since Apples started the norm of removing the audio jack and many others are following the trend, Honor 20 lacks a headphone jack but it comes with a type-C to 3.5 mm jack dongle which you can listed to feel the same traditional way of music on headset and can vary the settings via Histen effect to be able to listen the music in your favorite mode.
Also, Honor 20 come up with 9.1 Virtual Surround feature which you can feel while gaming like Fortnite or others or watching a movie and using the Histen sound effect.
Camera- Honor 20 is equipped 4 camera setup which seems to be a norm in 2019 now and comes with 48 MP Sony IMX586 with F/1.8 aperture, 16 MP Super wide-angle camera with F/2,2 aperture, 2 MP Depth camera and 2 MP Macro camera.
48 MP main camera- it is Sony IMX586 lens and supports AI Ultra clarity mode and AIS. It also supports the AIS super night mode which is cool and in my personal experience which clicking few shots with night mode, I was amazed by the level of details I could see in the pictures.
16 MP Wide angle camera- with F/2.2 aperture and 117-degree super wide angle it really does wonders sometime to capture a larger area in smaller frame. I used 1X, 2X zoom and wide angle and really started liking it for few images where it was necessary to click a relatively bigger area. It also supports the Distortion correction.
2MP Depth assist camera – comes up with F/2l,4 aperture and supports h=in providing the bokeh effect.
2 MP Macro camera- with F/2,4 aperture, it supports a macro photography and gives the optimal results at 4cm distance from object. Results may vary person to person and object to object and light conditions. I got different results with different objects and light condition.
32 MP Selfie camera- I am not a selfie lover so did not explore much but I am sure it does well as I have seen the better results with relatively inferior camera from Honor. I clicked few selfies and was surprised to see the results and details in the image, you can turn off the beauty mode to get more details of object. Come up with F/2.0 aperture it does support the AIS and I really liked few images I clicked even with bit moving objects still the results were good. It supports AIS Super night mode, AI Color mode, AIS and AI mode.
Videos- Rear camera supports up to 4K resolution with EIS and front camera supports up to 1080P recording with EIS. You also get slow motion video with up to 960 FPS.
This review is incomplete if I do not touch the camera part or include camera review here. I am using this device for a week now and only got a couple of days to go out to explore the camera. Probably, I will be posting more images next week when I will be out of town to explore another city and click some memories. Yes, I am breaking up with my old phone and carrying this beauty on my next travel to Europe. As Honor 20 series tagline says #YouDeserveBetter yes, This is the one you deserve and you will not regret. BTW, I am not good at photography, still tried some hands on it this time and I was really happy with the image quality and really loving the camera. I tried all the modes available and Night, Super Macro and Super Slow motion with 32X (960 FPS). I was able to capture few night shots, which I personally feel was better than my expectation (did not used any tripod and taken random images) and I am hoping I will be able to share few more quality clicks next week with all the modes. This was my first phone supporting the wide-angle mode and I really liked it and taken few shots. Not a selfie lover so did not bother my front camera much to click myself.
AS I have clicked more than 500 Images and its difficult to upload all here but have selected around 60 images and you can check here. I am not a photographer and doesn't click great pictures.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sJLKnCmKF6i5kUR3C2O0wDZWmXWkb7fs?usp=sharing
Software/UI- EMUI is not new to me, have been using it for years now. Honor 20 comes with Magic UI but there is not much difference in terms of UI and looks. This is my first phone with Magic UI but I have hands on Magic phone, so this was not much change for me. UI looks similar and a familiar one but is optimized on top of Android 9 and hardware and works like a charm. No unexpected slowness or lags noticed and scroll, navigation, options are easily accessible and provides all the required features.
Conclusion- Due to the ongoing situation of Huawei/Honor with US ban, things were shaken up initially but every day we are hearing one or the other positive news. Many of them could be rumors but still there are some trusted sources which give some positive information and who know this ban might end up soon and we see Huawei/Honor back in business again. Even though with such uncertainty, if we see the astonishing sell of Honor 20 series since its launch, it shows the trust of user on the brand and Honor/Huawei has not let down the customers and are providing the updates, coming up with trending features. Overall, in my opinion and usage of Honor 20 till date, even though going through a tough time but yet managed to do well across markets, Phone is incredible with mesmerizing eye catching design, ticking all the boxes to be your preferred phone for camera, performance, design and long lasting battery which supports supercharging and gives you entire day of battery juice with just few minutes or charging. 4 cameras set up is really doing well and gives you incredible image quality with details and color saturation. No compromise on the performance or design either and side mounted fingerprint scanner is a welcome move giving you a new yet a comfortable experience.
Brilliant review enjoyed it
Could you please check does Honor 20 have Dual Band GPS?
Hello everyone,
I hope you all are doing well! Here is my review of the Reno8 which I received as part of the ambassadors programme.
My unit is in the Shimmer Gold colour with 256 GB storage. As with my previous review of the FInd X5, all thoughts and opinions are my own
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I have been using the Reno8 as my daily phone over the last month's and have been able to test a lot of different scenarios. In this review I'll go through them and point out things that I have liked and also things I didn't in the following segments:
Unboxing
Design and build
Display
Gaming
Charging and battery
Camera and video
Sample photos
Verdict
Unboxing
Design & buildPersonally I absolutely love the new design language of the Reno devices. The sleek squared edges combined with a really incredible looking camera module make for a very premium look.
Each time I pick up the device I am impressed with how cool it looks.
Together with this design and very nice colour in shimmer gold it's definitely eye catching. Especially depending on the angle you hold the phone it's shimmering with a lovely gradient of different hues and colours.
Moving over to the sides on the left there's volume up and down buttons that feel tactile and on the right side a power button with the signature OPPO green detail and a even more tactile feel. On the bottom of the device we can find the speaker/microphone and USB Type-C port.
Overall feel of the phone is great too. It's refined, smooth, easy to handle. The new design makes this experience great. Although, there is one downside which are sadly the vibrations and haptics do not feel very premium. For example when typing the vibration motor is quite loud. However this could be improved upon in a software update making the vibration duration shorter for example.
DisplayOn the front of the device we have a flat 6.5 AMOLED display which has 90hz refresh rate, a hole punch selfie camera in the left top corner and a relatively large chin with small bezels around.
Colours on the display look vibrant and text is crystal clear. I was really surprised with the quality of the panel and there are no dark corners. I'm glad it's got 90hz as it makes the screen feel much more responsive.
Watching videos on the screen has been a joy. As well as playing games thanks to the smooth response rate.
You can also enjoy OLED features such as Always on Display and Edge lighting for notifications. The display also features a built in under screen fingerprint reader, which has been very fast and reliable when unlocking the device each time. I only wish it was placed slightly further up on the display to make it easier to reach like on the Find X5.
GamingThe performance of the MediaTek Dimensity 1300 processor paired with the 8GB Ram and massive 256 GB storage made the Reno8 well prepared for enjoying large and graphics demanding games.
During my testing I played a vareity of games ranging from Genshin Impact, Pokemon Unite, Minecraft, and casual games such as Pokemon Go or Pokemon Cafe Remix. Each game did run without issues, and while the graphics could not be maxed out, they were still enjoyable. Also with the addition of 90 Hz on the AMOED display, games could feel smooth and responsive.
Each game was handled well on the device, thanks to the gaming overlay I could always keep the crucial stats in check and adjust the game settings accordingly.
Charging & batteryUnfortunately the Reno8 doesn't have wireless charging but makes up for it with SuperVOOC 80W. Battery charging is insanely fast. It's been incredible to quickly connect the phone to the charger for half an hour and it's already done. In times when you are low on battery and forgot to charge this has been a really good help.
And even with the fast charging: Battery life is very good. It can easily last an entire day and a bit more. All while playing casual games, texting on WhatsApp or Discord, listening to music while on a bike ride with Spotify or watching some videos on YouTube.
Camera & videoThe famous photographer Chase Jarvis once said "the best camera is the one that’s with you" and the Reno8 can definetly make this come true in a large variety of situations.
Starting with the main camera:
Featuring a flagship sensor from Sony IMX766, capturing at 50MP. It is capable of taking great photos, which are sharp, have lots of great natural bokeh (blurry backgrounds) and detail.
A small downside I noticed (which I hope can be fixed with software update) is that it can be sometimes a little bit slow with processing the image which makes it not the best for action shots where you want to capture the moment. For example when taking photos of pets, the movement is often still captured making a blurry image.
Other features of the camera are excellent. As the tagline of the Reno suggests, it's the portrait expert. And it really holds true: The portrait mode is stunning and looks very realistic with beautiful bokeh. With a big selection of different styles, my favoruite was with the bokeh background. When analyzing the portrait mode photos, you can see features of the photo which is usually only visible on a real camera lens such as focus falloff. This is where parts of the picture are less blurry at the start and as the background is further away it gets blurrier.
Selfie camera
Taking selfies on the Reno8 has been really fun, especially in portait mode too. Featuring another flagship sensor the Sony IMX709 shooting at a massive 32MP. As you can see from the samples below the selfies are sharp and what you expect from a high quality sensor like the one in the device.
Video camera
You can choose to record up to 4K in video mode, although not every mode supports it. Overall the video quality is good, with very pleasing colours in my opinion and already features some nice software stabilization, which can be enhanced with super steady shot which is especially suited for some more action shots.
When shooting 4K video it is only supported in 1x and 2x using the main 50MP sensor. Switching to ultra wide 0,6x reduces the quality to a supported resolution of 1080p video. Furthermore another limitation of the video camera is that once you start recording, you can not switch between the different lenses. If you start in 0,6x you have to stop the recording to swap to 1x, for example.
AI Highlight Video: it can improve the clarity and also quality of the video especially in low light conditions. The resolution in this mode is maxed out at 1080p but available on all lenses
Photos
More images on:
https://community.oppo.com/user-main/1156982997707653125/index
VerdictSoftware experience has been overall very consistent on the Reno8. Currenly using ColorOS 12.1 and coming from the flagship Find X5 I was pleased how well and smooth performing the system was.
All features that I use in everyday were there and never let me down. I can rely on quick app start up times and especially fast installations.
I am excited to see what the latest update brings to the Reno with the announcement of ColorOS 13 I am anticipating the release and new features. Software wise I am very happy with the direction.
The Reno8 is an overall great phone, fit for everything the day can throw at it.
In my opinion OPPO has found a great balance of flagship features at a mid price point. The only complaints I had were very minor, and do not take from the everyday use experience which has been overall very consistent and reliable.
Packed with features, a great camera, and exceptional design the Reno8 is versatile, and comes in at a great price point. The great experience starts from the moment you unbox the phone, and continues on each day as you use and explore new possibilities with it. Be it from changing the way you charge your phone, to taking fantastic photos each day.
I hope you did find my review useful and please do let me know your feedback in the comments below!