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Xperia Z/ZL |OT| Experience the best of Sony in a smartphone

A

Akira

Member
Just when the hell will Sony at least try to get into more than one carrier? They actually regressed from being with AT&T with the Xperia T to being on T-Mobile, not in terms of the service's quality -- I prefer T-Mobile -- but in terms of bigger possible sales.
 
A

Averon

Member
So Sony finally releasing their latest phone in NA in a timely manner and not 6 months after initial release when the hype has died and it's already outdated against the competition?

It's progress, I guess.
 
vivftp

vivftp

Member
I think back to CES where Kaz discussed Sonys plans for mobile. Strengthen their position in Japan and Asia, then Europe. Then get to work on the Americas. I wonder if they have an actual plan they're following, or if they're just winging it.

IF there is such a plan, I suppose the question to ask is how strong is their position in Japan, Asia overall and Europe? If it's not all that strong then I suppose it might not yet be time for them to make their major North American push.

Maybe they're saving a major North American push for something in particular? Their own mobile OS? Some new killer tech/features? Do they want to have a far larger worldwide mobile presence before a major North American push?

I suppose it's possible they just don't care enough about North America to make a major push, but that just doesn't make sense from a business perspective to me. They have to know that their devices are pretty desirable and if they put themselves on all major carriers they will increase their market share considerably. Could it be that the carriers just don't WANT their devices? If so, could it be pressure from Apple and Samsung?

Maybe zomg can share his thoughts as he knows far more about the industry and what's going on behind the scenes.
 
vivftp

vivftp

Member
True, but we also know carriers want to brand the devices and install their own bloatware. Zomg talked about this months ago that Sony doesn't want that and speculated Sony was trying to grow their presence to the point where they could tell the carriers to frack off with their crap. Dunno if it's still the same story, but I suppose it'd make some sense. I guess for now maybe that's the most plausible explaination - Sony wants next to no bloatware and the carriers don't want to play ball yet.
 
The Faceless Master

The Faceless Master

Member
vivftp said:
True, but we also know carriers want to brand the devices and install their own bloatware. Zomg talked about this months ago that Sony doesn't want that and speculated Sony was trying to grow their presence to the point where they could tell the carriers to frack off with their crap. Dunno if it's still the same story, but I suppose it'd make some sense. I guess for now maybe that's the most plausible explaination - Sony wants next to no bloatware and the carriers don't want to play ball yet.
Click to expand...
But they have carrier apps on their European carrier models and a few carriers in the US have pretty minimal bloat.
 
N

noobie

Banned
Analyst: Lumia 1020 sales "modest at best", Xperia Z sales too

The analyst also called T-Mobile stores to ask how the water-resistant Sony Xperia Z Android flagship was doing. Sales reps at those stores recommend the Sony phone about as often as they do the HTC One, which is after the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Apple iPhone 5.

Obviously, we'll have to wait until the quarterly financial results to get a better idea of the sales of both phones.
Click to expand...
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Akira said:
Just when the hell will Sony at least try to get into more than one carrier? They actually regressed from being with AT&T with the Xperia T to being on T-Mobile, not in terms of the service's quality -- I prefer T-Mobile -- but in terms of bigger possible sales.
Click to expand...

Sony and T-Mobile have a 12 month deal for first refusal from what I have heard.

Averon said:
So Sony finally releasing their latest phone in NA in a timely manner and not 6 months after initial release when the hype has died and it's already outdated against the competition?

It's progress, I guess.
Click to expand...

Yes, passing through the FCC now is a good sign, but I think they shouldn't have bothered with the Xperia Z personally and just got all of their marketing power behind i1.

The Faceless Master said:
Carriers want any device that consumers want, and they'll get any device they think they can make money on.
Click to expand...

AT&T and Sprint both wanted it, Sony turned them down because they have a deal with T-Mobile. Stupid IMO, I think being on AT&T is a much better bet than being on T-Mobile, but after they signed the deal in January there was little that could be done about it.

i1 Mini will be the first widely available Xperia device in the US IMO, I have heard AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are all very, very interested in carrying it.

Also, I used a Z with Sony's alpha-preview 4.3 build, blazing fast and amazing battery life. Seriously, I watched 30 minutes of HD video and the battery went down just 3% points. If I do that on my ZL the battery drops about 5%. The camera also seems improved again, it loads much, much faster now, almost no delay. I was told there is still a lot to integrate but the speed is indicative of what they think the final build will get. Also, benchmarks are all up by around 10% because 4.3 brings a bunch of software optimisations, graphics benchmarks are up by almost 25%.
 
G

GuiltySpark

Banned
Why is it that Sony can't manage to produce decent screens? I've tried every new Xperia (E, M, L, SP, ZR, ZL, Z, Z Ultra). The viewing angles are really horrible. The slightest angle distorts the colors dramatically. The Xperia Z Ultra defiantly improved in that regard but it still lacking compared to HTC and even Oppo..
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Where did you try the Z Ultra? It's not out for public consumption until next week in Asia and September for Europe. The viewing angles on it are amazing (120 degrees with ~90% contrast and 170 degrees with 75% contrast).
 
G

GuiltySpark

Banned
zomgbbqftw said:
Where did you try the Z Ultra? It's not out for public consumption until next week in Asia and September for Europe. The viewing angles on it are amazing (120 degrees with ~90% contrast and 170 degrees with 75% contrast).
Click to expand...

I'm registered at an employment agency and usually do 1/2 week jobs. Last week I was asked to do promotion training/branded software testing for a new phone for Tmobile which was the Z Ultra. The viewing angles have improved, but they're not amazing. If you call those angles amazing, what do you call HTC's angles? Super amazing?
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
GuiltySpark said:
I'm registered at an employment agency and usually do 1/2 week jobs. Last week I was asked to do promotion training/branded software testing for a new phone for Tmobile which was the Z Ultra. The viewing angles have improved, but they're not amazing. If you call those angles amazing, what do you call HTC's angles? Super amazing?
Click to expand...

Both phones actually use identical technology (AH-IPS) from the same supplier (Japan Display) from the same production line (West). HTC artificially increase viewing angles by lowering the gamma point to around 0.9 so that the wash out at ultra-wide viewing angles is lessened, but colours are less accurate. Sony did this with the Xperia Z in the .253 update which led to a bunch of people saying that their viewing angles had suddenly improved.
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
GAT08TQ.jpg
Click to expand...

Dat T* coating!

Looks like beast lens, for reference, T* style coating allows light transmission to increase around 80% over non-coated glass. So it is as important to have it as it is to have a large sensor.

f2.0 with the coating will be an amazing combination with the 1/2.3" Exmor RS sensor. I think it will be competitive with the 1020 until around ISO 800.
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Canis lupus said:
Its gonna be the ultimate phone if the bezels aren't as thick as the leaked pics and battery is as long as iPhone 5...
Click to expand...

The design is final afaik. The bezels are set to be as big as leaked. It is to accommodate the larger battery and larger sensor/lens combination while keeping the "ominbalance" design.
 
G

GuiltySpark

Banned
zomgbbqftw said:
Both phones actually use identical technology (AH-IPS) from the same supplier (Japan Display) from the same production line (West). HTC artificially increase viewing angles by lowering the gamma point to around 0.9 so that the wash out at ultra-wide viewing angles is lessened, but colours are less accurate. Sony did this with the Xperia Z in the .253 update which led to a bunch of people saying that their viewing angles had suddenly improved.
Click to expand...

I highly, highly doubt what you're saying is true. If both screens use identical tech then Sony failed big time because the screens of HTC, Apple and now even Samsung are still superior. Hold the two side by side and you'll see.
 
C

Canis lupus

Member
zomgbbqftw said:
The design is final afaik. The bezels are set to be as big as leaked. It is to accommodate the larger battery and larger sensor/lens combination while keeping the "ominbalance" design.
Click to expand...

I might opt for the 4.3'' then, they're looking to make the Honami Mini an actual high end phone if rumours are true. I'd sacrifice the better camera of the 5''er for a smaller phone with comparable specs.
 
G

GuiltySpark

Banned
Canis lupus said:
I might opt for the 4.3'' then, they're looking to make the Honami Mini an actual high end phone if rumours are true. I'd sacrifice the better camera of the 5''er for a smaller phone with comparable specs.
Click to expand...

I hope the bezels are decent this time around. I was looking into trading my Z for a ZR but the ZR isn't that much smaller than Z so I decided to keep it.
 
M

MeBecomingI

Member
Well, Bell and Sony seem to have strong relationship growing because Bell just announced the release of the Xperia Z available today at $149.99 on 2-year contract and $649.99 outright. Only Bell is carrying the phone too, at least this point in time. Seem Sony is getting good traction with Bell and sales are good for the ZL to at least warrant them bringing in the Z.

And they have the purple model... now I want to cry a bit. Still happy with my ZL though, but damn is the purple Z absolutely stunning.
 
M

Mokubba

Member
Just got the prompt to install the new firmware.

That was pretty quick. Is it because I flashed it with the Netherlands branding for the 4.2 update?
 
D

Danj

Member
I'm getting black specks on the left/top of rear camera images. I tried cleaning the lens already but this didn't help, anyone got any suggestions?
 
N

noobie

Banned
Sony sold 9.6 million Smartphone in April to June quarter. Is this a good result.? can somebody gives HTC and LG and Motorolla numbers for the same quarter.? also Samsung.

I thought its a bit on the low side.. should have crossed 10 million easily especially with new Xperia Line..
 
S

spwolf

Member
noobie said:
Sony sold 9.6 million Smartphone in April to June quarter. Is this a good result.? can somebody gives HTC and LG and Motorolla numbers for the same quarter.? also Samsung.

I thought its a bit on the low side.. should have crossed 10 million easily especially with new Xperia Line..
Click to expand...

Q3-Xperia-units-640x419.jpg


http://www.xperiablog.net/2013/08/0...during-calendar-q2-2013-up-30-over-last-year/

its good numbers... nothing like Samsung or Apple, but numbers are good and average prices are very good.

They can only grow up in further quarters as they still dont have all of their announced phones fully on market... SP, L and M are not that easy to find yet.
 
S

spwolf

Member
noobie said:
Can you give average price too?
Click to expand...

doesnt say exactly, report says increase in average prices helped them be profitable in mobile... if we remember their expectations from last quarter, they didnt expect to be profitable in mobile division.
 
D

Detox

Member
Need some advice on which repair option to select carphone warehouse quoted ~£170 and Sony says they would need to inspect it before providing a quote. Not sure about any other repair option, I'm not really familiar with sites that offer repairs. Would Sony be the cheaper option as they are the manufacturer or would it be the same price?
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Detox said:
Need some advice on which repair option to select carphone warehouse quoted ~£170 and Sony says they would need to inspect it before providing a quote. Not sure about any other repair option, I'm not really familiar with sites that offer repairs. Would Sony be the cheaper option as they are the manufacturer or would it be the same price?
Click to expand...

What happened to the phone? Would you not be able to get a warranty repair?
 
kittoo

kittoo

Cretinously credulous
Got a Z two days ago. Love it! Any suggestions for me, GAF? How to get the best out of it? Which apps to install? What are some features that are not well known but good nonetheless?
 
D

Detox

Member
zomgbbqftw said:
What happened to the phone? Would you not be able to get a warranty repair?
Click to expand...
I can't, the screen cracked and the touch screen is dead. I was in the gym and while calculating my warmup weights I left it in my pocket, it's usually fine but I was doing power cleans... Do you think Sony will quote a cheaper price than CPW?
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Detox said:
I can't, the screen cracked and the touch screen is dead. I was in the gym and while calculating my warmup weights I left it in my pocket, it's usually fine but I was doing power cleans... Do you think Sony will quote a cheaper price than CPW?
Click to expand...

Probably. Try them and see I suppose.
 
vivftp

vivftp

Member
Sample shot apparently taken with Honamis camera. Here are the specs posted along with it

Resolution: 20.6 MP
Lens: Sony G Wide Angle 28mm
f/ Aperture: 2.0
Focal Length: 4.90 mm
Iso: 64


6a7f722126dbda9790af5df2e6fb4914.JPG
Click to expand...


Looks quite promising and a huge leap over existing Xperia models for sharpness and lack of overprocessing.

Also, I don't know if it means anything so maybe someone else can comment. This site has posted supposed specs on Honami (I believe mostly based on rumors kicking around) and when it comes to the flash they say it's a "Real flash"

http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=4814&view=1&c=sony_xperia_i1_hspaplus_l39h_c6902_sony_honami

Apparently this site usually says "real flash" when speaking about xenon, and says LED when it is LED. Anyone able to comment about the possibility of xenon on Honami despite what we're seeing on leaked pics?
 
D

DrFunk

not licensed in your state
pdadb.net is usually pretty accurate. Additionally, I remember rumors some time ago mentioning a xenon flash, so I'd take it as accurate.
 
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