so not a good idea?
Dont soak it if you're playing music. I guess the wireless speaker will come handy for this.
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Xperia Z/ZL |OT| Experience the best of Sony in a smartphone
- Thread starter Canis lupus
- Start date
Dont soak it if you're playing music. I guess the wireless speaker will come handy for this.
MeBecomingI
Member
Finally got around to flashing a small black navigation and notification bar. The phone feels much, much better now than it did with the stock navigation bar because everything just pops a bit more without the grey and the screen size really shows with the with nav' bar taking up much less real estate.
I gotta say, this phone is incredible. Now that I've used the phone through and through I took a look at the review for the ZL on IGN and it just infuriates me, especially when they slight the phone for the design and list it as a negative and then lavish heaps of praise on the HTC One for its innovative design, even though it looks like a slightly modified Blackberry Z10 design (front anyway). The HTC One looks great, no doubt about that but reading the two reviews back to back just makes me cringe. Putting a screen of that size and quality in a very well constructed, slim and compact shell with very little bezel (with a nice unique back texture) with some unique touches to the LED and the bottom corner camera placement is boring and "fails to separate itself from the deluge of similarly nondescript handsets on the market, it's lightyears away from many of the year's top contenders.", apparently. Are you kidding me? I wonder the IGN review of the Z is? Just to see what they say about the design of that. They make it seem like it is a pretty bad phone and it is far, far from it. I just don't get it... To each his own, no way is the phone as bad they say.
I gotta say, this phone is incredible. Now that I've used the phone through and through I took a look at the review for the ZL on IGN and it just infuriates me, especially when they slight the phone for the design and list it as a negative and then lavish heaps of praise on the HTC One for its innovative design, even though it looks like a slightly modified Blackberry Z10 design (front anyway). The HTC One looks great, no doubt about that but reading the two reviews back to back just makes me cringe. Putting a screen of that size and quality in a very well constructed, slim and compact shell with very little bezel (with a nice unique back texture) with some unique touches to the LED and the bottom corner camera placement is boring and "fails to separate itself from the deluge of similarly nondescript handsets on the market, it's lightyears away from many of the year's top contenders.", apparently. Are you kidding me? I wonder the IGN review of the Z is? Just to see what they say about the design of that. They make it seem like it is a pretty bad phone and it is far, far from it. I just don't get it... To each his own, no way is the phone as bad they say.
Sleeplessnights
Banned
How are gsmarena getting those browsing numbers on the Z and ZL? Surely they can't be using Chrome, thing drains battery like crazy.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
They use the default browser that ships with the phone to give the most realistic end user experience, so Chrome. It's really just a stupid decision by Sony not to include the stock browser because it is better in just about every way, better javascript performance, better battery characteristics, smoother.
With the stock browser both the Z/ZL would be sitting right at the top of the GSM Arena battery test rankings, but they stupidly don't include it.
These are the stupid small mistakes Sony made with Xperia Z/ZL that could have been fixed very easily.
1. Grey UI
2. No stock browser
3. No GPU acceleration for homescreen/lockscreen
4. Terribly long screen on time
5. Slow animation transitions (should be set to 0.5x speed by default)
6. 4.1.2 at launch instead of 4.2.1
7. Awful noise reduction in the camera
8. Poor whitebalance and gamma settings by default, to make Bravia Engine seem worthwhile
9. Poor earpiece volume for calls
All of these are software issues that could have been fixed before launch except the 4.2.1 update, but I've explained the holdups there well enough previously.
On the hardware side:
1. Poor LCD panel in early shipments
2. "Shatter proof sheet"
3. Battery life sacrificed for thinness
With 8mm thickness, a top quality panel and no shatter proof sheet the Z would be much, much more desirable. Obviously stuff like SD600 would have been good also, but that may have delayed the launch from Feb to March and being out over a month earlier than HTC/Samsung allowed them a free run at the market so it was probably a decent trade off in the end. However the other faults are unforgivable IMO.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
I made a Z/ZL background (in anticipation of my ZL arriving next week!) and removed all the grey from it and punched up the colours to make it more vibrant.
The original:
My version:
A version with even higher contrast:
Both versions I made are superior to the original and will look absolutely stunning on any Z/ZL (or any 1080p screen for that matter) screen.
The original:
My version:
A version with even higher contrast:
Both versions I made are superior to the original and will look absolutely stunning on any Z/ZL (or any 1080p screen for that matter) screen.
Im a bit.. new when it comes to this(Android). But my ZL shipped with 2 browsers. One just named browser with an icon of a globe and chrome. I installed firefox on it as well.
Also how do i do that black notification bar stuff and the white balance stuff?
zomgbbqftw
Banned
You need to root for the black icon bar, the rest is not something that can easily be done.
As for the whitebalance, look back through the thread, there is a very useful post on what WB settings to use.
CurlySaysX
Banned
I haven't used the z in the shower, but I have used it outside in the rain, fairly heavy rain too, and the water that dropped on the screen had no affect on the phone's ability to track my finger accurately.
Sleeplessnights
Banned
MeBecomingI
Member
Oooooo. I want to try those. Now that my navigation bar is smaller and black and my notification bar is black (and back to the DoCoMo style with more settings in the actual notification center, a nice dark background with good colour would look fantastic with it.
Perhaps the best thing about the ZL is the fairly relaxed stock skin (sans the grey they used) that Sony has worked into the device. Relaxed is the best word I can to describe it because of the simplicity and ease of use. I appreciate them keeping the overbearing customizations to a minimum.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Make sure to post up a screenshot of your homescreen! I want to see how it looks.
Edit:
imgur kills the quality so I made a mediafire account and uploaded the full quality version there, grab it:
http://www.mediafire.com/?l9cemevuc32kego1i74dfbccvlynv2g
The Faceless Master
Member
yeah, better than a handset released last year, but still not as good as the HTC One or LG Optimus G Pro. and they also disliked the viewing angles.
MeBecomingI
Member
Make sure to post up a screenshot of your homescreen! I want to see how it looks.
Edit:
imgur kills the quality so I made a mediafire account and uploaded the full quality version there, grab it:
http://www.mediafire.com/?l9cemevuc32kego1i74dfbccvlynv2g
Link doesn't seem to be working. I'll try and grab a screenshot when I get a chance for sure.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Oh, I just meant the delay between pressing the power button and it actually turning the screen on so you can enter your pattern/PIN. Ridiculous, no other phone has that problem.
Zumblakladla
Banned
I think its really just for first manufactured devices, since I got mine 3 days ago, now I copied zomgbbqftw's modifications of wallpaper and black is black and it looks absolutely stunning.
I really feel sorry for all the guys who got devices with bad screen :/
Battery wise, normal using, 24+ hours, similar to my iphone 4s.
Also, I would really like to see a MOD that changes colour of menu and other stuff from gray to black. Gray looks just cheap and bad.
I really feel sorry for all the guys who got devices with bad screen :/
Battery wise, normal using, 24+ hours, similar to my iphone 4s.
Also, I would really like to see a MOD that changes colour of menu and other stuff from gray to black. Gray looks just cheap and bad.
zombq was totally right about the battery in this thing. it's something you need to run in abit. starting to get some pretty decent battery stats now while doing intensive things.
it's always worth reminding to swap chrome for another browser. the thing is a battery killer shamefully.
it's always worth reminding to swap chrome for another browser. the thing is a battery killer shamefully.
MeBecomingI
Member
I've gotten around to getting a few screenshots snapped of zomg's background update. Just took me awhile to get them posted up. The brightness was set at about 80% and the white balance is saturation of 9.0 and hue of 220.0. I would post up a screenshot with imgur, but zomg is absolutely right... it kills the quality of the photo. I'll just link it with docs. Also, the softkeys at the bottom can be made even smaller but the size they are at is just right. Also keep in mind that viewing on a monitor is nothing compared to seeing it in person... stunning. Basically, awesome job zomg! Your version of the background is fantastic! Works so well with the black softkeys.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qVm1wM1dlTEQ2Q0E/edit?usp=sharing
There is a nice shot of just the clock with the updated background image that zomg made which is slightly zoomed in and offset. Notice the smaller keys at the bottom and that they are black.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qMVlMaVlZV002ZVE/edit?usp=sharing
Here is another shot with the updated background image from zomg that is pulled out more so there is more black.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qV08zT1hpdjZoNTQ/edit?usp=sharing
This is my favourite. I'll be going back to this one I stop taking pictures. Zoomed the updated background image into the colour and let the colour, black background and contrast do the work. It looks absolutely awesome on the phone. And yes, I moved out the Chrome icon and replaced it with the basic browser so I don't keep using Chrome.
And I agree, Chinner. The battery life is really improving and it starting to hold out pretty good. Pleased for sure.
Edit: Bonus awesome screen of an awesome live wallpaper! https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qQXVRV0lNTW8zQWs/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qVm1wM1dlTEQ2Q0E/edit?usp=sharing
There is a nice shot of just the clock with the updated background image that zomg made which is slightly zoomed in and offset. Notice the smaller keys at the bottom and that they are black.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qMVlMaVlZV002ZVE/edit?usp=sharing
Here is another shot with the updated background image from zomg that is pulled out more so there is more black.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qV08zT1hpdjZoNTQ/edit?usp=sharing
This is my favourite. I'll be going back to this one I stop taking pictures. Zoomed the updated background image into the colour and let the colour, black background and contrast do the work. It looks absolutely awesome on the phone. And yes, I moved out the Chrome icon and replaced it with the basic browser so I don't keep using Chrome.
And I agree, Chinner. The battery life is really improving and it starting to hold out pretty good. Pleased for sure.
Edit: Bonus awesome screen of an awesome live wallpaper! https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BylrmV0xs68qQXVRV0lNTW8zQWs/edit?usp=sharing
That mirrors my experience too. I played around with the ZL at Costco and had zero problems aside from the lockscreen delay.
Whiteshirt
Member
Since there has been recent battery chat, how much battery life are you guys getting? How much screen time/video chat/browser time are you guys getting? Also is there a repository of tips n' tricks for performance/battery life/photo quality/etc improvements?
A friend of mine has been given one and he's wondering whether or not to pawn it off or use it to upgrade his Galaxy Nexus. Things like screen quality I'm not too worried about since it looks perfectly fine in store but I want to know how easy it is to fix things like the rather abysmal photo quality or how good the battery life is on a non-Chrome browser. Reviews have the Xperia Z performing pretty poorly in battery tests but as far as I know, they haven't run in the battery or use a third party browser. GSMArena in particular claims the Xperia Z has a little more than 50% the runtime the HTC One has while browsing or watching video and I kind of find that difficult to believe unless the S600 is really that much better than the S4.
A friend of mine has been given one and he's wondering whether or not to pawn it off or use it to upgrade his Galaxy Nexus. Things like screen quality I'm not too worried about since it looks perfectly fine in store but I want to know how easy it is to fix things like the rather abysmal photo quality or how good the battery life is on a non-Chrome browser. Reviews have the Xperia Z performing pretty poorly in battery tests but as far as I know, they haven't run in the battery or use a third party browser. GSMArena in particular claims the Xperia Z has a little more than 50% the runtime the HTC One has while browsing or watching video and I kind of find that difficult to believe unless the S600 is really that much better than the S4.
Sleeplessnights
Banned
Oh right, my old Galaxy Nexus did that after the 4.2 update. It's definitely much worse there than here. I'd say it's nearly unnoticeable on the Z in comparison.
I agree, when I first got it I used to get an hour and a half to get to 50% now it's two hours and a half.
I can't let go of Chrome though.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Yeah, that's another thing Sony need to start doing. Sending in broken in units to reviewers. Apple and Samsung do it and it gives them better battery life scores from reviews. The worst part is that Sony sacrifice battery life up front in order to lengthen the number of cycles, but they don't tell anyone about it, and after a few weeks the battery starts to perform at peak efficiency and should be best in class.
With the stock browser and broken in batteries I think Xperia Z/ZL would sit at the top of the battery life rankings across the board. Similarly Sony's stock video player doesn't use hardware decoding so it absolutely destroys the battery, the optimisation would not be difficult to make but they don't do it. If they used the MX player engine the battery life for video watching would be double what they list.
Again all of these things are software/execution problems, I honestly think that if I were in charge of the Z/ZL launch I could have got the phone 9-10/10 from all major review sites, but the incompetents they have in charge right now don't know what they are doing. The list of changes that need to be made are small in nature but make a big difference to the end product as right now both 5% away from being perfect devices.
KZObsessed
Member
Finally getting my Xperia Z today Being delivered by Yodel though, I've heard bad things so maybe it wont turn up.
£29 a month with unlimited data, not bad.
This will be my first smartphone so I expect to be wowed.
Being delivered by Yodel though, I've heard bad things so maybe it wont turn up. £29 a month with unlimited data, not bad.
This will be my first smartphone so I expect to be wowed.
vivftp
Member
With the laundry list of issues you've noted zomg, any idea if Sony are actually planning to rectify any of this in time for the next flagship launch?
Based on what I am able to gather, it seems we likely won't see the next flagship announced until September or so and if that's true I don't expect it to land in Canada until at least November
Hope it can come sooner
Based on what I am able to gather, it seems we likely won't see the next flagship announced until September or so and if that's true I don't expect it to land in Canada until at least November
Hope it can come sooner
zomgbbqftw
Banned
With the laundry list of issues you've noted zomg, any idea if Sony are actually planning to rectify any of this in time for the next flagship launch?
Based on what I am able to gather, it seems we likely won't see the next flagship announced until September or so and if that's true I don't expect it to land in Canada until at least November
Hope it can come sooner
I honestly don't know if they will fix the problems. Since Z/ZL sales are going pretty well I doubt they even think there are problems that need fixing. Sony have a very special way of being ignorant of consumer issues, similar to Apple really, however, Apple can afford to do it while Sony can't.
Finally some good news. I have just received a message saying that Lund have built the 4.1.2 update for Xperia S in double quick time (working weekends right now apparently) and it has just gone into final internal testing which is a 2-3 week process after which they will roll out the firmware to the public. My source says that the update has absolutely zero bugs so far and that they are impressed with how quickly it runs and performance is top notch for a 2011 chipset.
vivftp
Member
Ah well, wait and see I suppose.
Also, it does seem that Sony has improved their ability to plug leaks. The ZR is supposedly going to launch soon and there are no pics of it yet and only speculation on specs. I guess this is how it's going to be from now on, which is good for Sony, but sucks for us.
Also, it does seem that Sony has improved their ability to plug leaks. The ZR is supposedly going to launch soon and there are no pics of it yet and only speculation on specs. I guess this is how it's going to be from now on, which is good for Sony, but sucks for us.
Thats a great news but will it be enouch to awake SONY to the fact that they need to keep the development with LUND and not in TOKYO?
Lagspike_exe
Member
The Xperia P update is flawless. It feels like a new phone. There are so many improvements that make it so more cohesive than before. They've done an excellent job.
KZObsessed
Member
I'm having an issue with the "Play - My Library" widget when using it for My Music. It just keeps popping up with "unfortunately, google play store has stopped". This only happens when using it with music.
I've tried clearing cache, deleting data, uninstalling updates and re-installing, removing my google account then re-adding it. Everything short of a factory reset which I don't want to do. Any suggestions?
I've tried clearing cache, deleting data, uninstalling updates and re-installing, removing my google account then re-adding it. Everything short of a factory reset which I don't want to do. Any suggestions?
Zumblakladla
Banned
OMG guys I just rooted my phone and installed CWM recovery just because of two mods.
First one is changing nav bar and softkey bar to black, it looks so much better!!!
Other one, installing PureXAudio, guys you must hear this audio quality! It blown me away! Something the most epic i ever heard on any portable device! With sennheiser in ear headphones, it just ROCK!!!!!!!!!
First one is changing nav bar and softkey bar to black, it looks so much better!!!
Other one, installing PureXAudio, guys you must hear this audio quality! It blown me away! Something the most epic i ever heard on any portable device! With sennheiser in ear headphones, it just ROCK!!!!!!!!!
MeBecomingI
Member
OMG guys I just rooted my phone and installed CWM recovery just because of two mods.
First one is changing nav bar and softkey bar to black, it looks so much better!!!
Other one, installing PureXAudio, guys you must hear this audio quality! It blown me away! Something the most epic i ever heard on any portable device! With sennheiser in ear headphones, it just ROCK!!!!!!!!!
I tried PureXAudio and immediately got rid of it. It was quite choppy and didn't sound better than the stock sound to me. It did up the volume a lot, but I'm not sure it was worth the stuttering when I was using headphones. Maybe I'll give it another shot at some point, but it didn't impress me.
Any word about this??
I have the Xperia P and for some odd reason it says I'm using Android 2.3.7
ICS xperia P was released ages ago. It should at least be 4.0.+
Lagspike_exe
Member
It was deployed a few days ago. You can try it via PC Companion or Sony Update Service. I flashed it manualy through Flashtool (you have instructions on XDA) since VIP (Serbia) where I bought my phone is very slow with update certification.
But either way, ICS was rolled out in June last year, you're still running launch day stock firmware.
Lagspike_exe
Member
Fully working Xperia S firmware leaked by Doomlord:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252940
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252940
Zumblakladla
Banned
It sounds for me slightly better than my iphone 4s and for now Im satisfied with that. Bass is harder but smooth and overall sound is clearer.
I don't know what you meant with "choppy" but some people got problems with distorsion and "stop&play" and stuttering in songs with this mod, so maybe you experienced that problems too. For now, not a single problem for me, only better and sound with better quality, especially with my headphones since they are a lot better than stock sony ones.
Also, I dont prefer myself really loud volumes, but the things that bothered me is that details in songs that was too quiet comparing to iphone, now it's all good and even better.
It was deployed a few days ago. You can try it via PC Companion or Sony Update Service. I flashed it manualy through Flashtool (you have instructions on XDA) since VIP (Serbia) where I bought my phone is very slow with update certification.
But either way, ICS was rolled out in June last year, you're still running launch day stock firmware.
Thanks for the replies guys.
Lagspike_exe, I'll try to update my phone right now using Sony Update Companion
I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again
Does it improve battery life? I'm rooted and I don't feel like re-rooting and fixing everything unless it fixes that.
Lagspike_exe
Member
Thanks for the replies guys.
Lagspike_exe, I'll try to update my phone right now using Sony Update Companion
I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again
No problem. You can always do it through flashtool if the update hasn't been rolled out where you live.
It makes it worse, which is standard for Jelly Bean, unfortunately. They did add Stamina, though.
I just downloaded the Sony Update Service software, followed instructions and it keeps saying it is up-to-date. I'm still not sure if I want to do it through Flashtool so I guess I'll wait a little longer :/
I'm stuck with Gingerbread and it doesn't even let me update to ICS which is funny because my Xperia P's box has the ICS 4.0 sticker on it.
:/
Lagspike_exe
Member
Does PC Companion offers you the update?
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Just do it through flashtool, you will still be on official Sony software that way and you don't need an unlocked bootloader so it won't void your warranty. Just make sure you download an unmodified FTF file and flash it following the instructions on XDA it's quite simple FWIW.
Nope.
Your phone/tablet is updated
Actually I was reading a tutorial about it on XDA
Not sure if I can post the link here but it is for beginners so
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