Sony Xperia Z

Author
Discussion

MissChief

7,227 posts

174 months

Monday 29th April 2013
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bodhi said:
e here. The contrast does dip slightly looking at it from extreme angles, but we're talking the kind of angles which turn the screen on an S2 green, so it's not really an issue. Makes up for it with sharpness and colour reproduction, both are top notch.
Thanks. And the covers for the ports, do they annoy or anything?

QROPS

3,250 posts

190 months

Monday 29th April 2013
quotequote all
MissChief said:
bodhi said:
e here. The contrast does dip slightly looking at it from extreme angles, but we're talking the kind of angles which turn the screen on an S2 green, so it's not really an issue. Makes up for it with sharpness and colour reproduction, both are top notch.
Thanks. And the covers for the ports, do they annoy or anything?
The only port I open is for the headphone jack, other than that it's always sitting in the Sony charger cradle thing.

parapaul

2,828 posts

204 months

Monday 29th April 2013
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bodhi said:
For anyone with a Z on the lookout for a car kit, I've just had a Brodit one delivered from Amazon, and it is up to their usual excellent standards.

Installation - took about 2 minutes in total as I was replacing the one for my Xperia S, so it was undo 2 screws, remove S holder, fit Z holder. Even starting from scratch they can be fitted in 15 minutes or so. You need the holder, and the fitting bracket for your vehicle, depending on where you want to put it.

Construction - as sturdy as ever, one bit I really like is that they have used the exposed charging contacts for charging, rather than microUSB, so no fiddling about with flaps to plug it in (that really annoyed me with the S)

Use - Brilliant smile Slides in and out of the cradle easily enough, and when fitted Sony Smart Connect picks up you have connected to a docking station, meaning on mine I have set it to switch on Bluetooth, then when it picks up the stereo Smart Connect turns off WiFi, turns on the GPS and switches it to Sony Car mode, all without any input from me - so it's a bit like Tasker without the battery drain or performance issues. Then when I remove it at the end of the trip, Car Mod exits, GS and BT get swithed back off, and WiFi back on.

Probably the best 40 quid I've spent this month and has made an already excellent bit of kit even more useful. Still getting plenty of positive comments about the Z, the battery has settled down to easy lasting a day and a half, and the recent software update has cured a couple of small issues I was having.

How's everyone else getting on with theirs?
You got a link for that please? the ones I saw (on the Brodit site IIRC) just looked like a generic holder, no charging function.

bodhi

11,444 posts

235 months

Monday 29th April 2013
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parapaul said:
You got a link for that please? the ones I saw (on the Brodit site IIRC) just looked like a generic holder, no charging function.
It was this one I bought

http://www.brodit.com/product.html?id=512495&p...

They also do one you can hardwire into the car for a more permanent installation.

I got it from Amazon last week, strangely no sign of it when I have just checked??? Worth keeping an eye out for though.

parapaul

2,828 posts

204 months

Monday 29th April 2013
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Thanks, just found it. Sadly none of these look like they'll hold the phone in its case, and the hassle of removing the case every time I get into the car outweighs the likely benefits!

It's such a droppable phone I daren't have it naked...

Oggs

8,814 posts

260 months

Sunday 12th May 2013
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How are people getting on with their battery life??
Mine with light to moderate use can kill the battery in half a day and needs recharging.

QROPS

3,250 posts

190 months

Sunday 12th May 2013
quotequote all
Oggs said:
How are people getting on with their battery life??
Mine with light to moderate use can kill the battery in half a day and needs recharging.
Depends for me what I'm connected to. I only tend to have it on H+ if I'm out of the office or home and then it does like to drain the battery, but I don't use it much for the Internet when I'm out an about, more for emails, tunein radio and Skype. If I'm sat somewhere without wifi, then I'll tether it to my ipad mini, really can't be arsed looking at the small screen.

On another note, I've gone from wanting to swap it for an iPhone 5, to gaining another Xperia Z. So now I have one in black and one in white. Just need to find a decent case now as I can't seem to find anything in the shops.

I'm also wondering why some people didn't get the desktop charger stand in the box, as both of mine came with one.

BlueJazz

546 posts

178 months

Sunday 12th May 2013
quotequote all
QROPS said:
Oggs said:
How are people getting on with their battery life??
Mine with light to moderate use can kill the battery in half a day and needs recharging.
Depends for me what I'm connected to. I only tend to have it on H+ if I'm out of the office or home and then it does like to drain the battery, but I don't use it much for the Internet when I'm out an about, more for emails, tunein radio and Skype. If I'm sat somewhere without wifi, then I'll tether it to my ipad mini, really can't be arsed looking at the small screen.

On another note, I've gone from wanting to swap it for an iPhone 5, to gaining another Xperia Z. So now I have one in black and one in white. Just need to find a decent case now as I can't seem to find anything in the shops.

I'm also wondering why some people didn't get the desktop charger stand in the box, as both of mine came with one.
Mine lasts a full day's charge with moderate internet and tv watching. I'm wondering instead when Sony will release android 4.22?

Luke.

11,183 posts

256 months

Sunday 12th May 2013
quotequote all
QROPS said:
Oggs said:
How are people getting on with their battery life??
Mine with light to moderate use can kill the battery in half a day and needs recharging.
Depends for me what I'm connected to. I only tend to have it on H+ if I'm out of the office or home and then it does like to drain the battery, but I don't use it much for the Internet when I'm out an about, more for emails, tunein radio and Skype. If I'm sat somewhere without wifi, then I'll tether it to my ipad mini, really can't be arsed looking at the small screen.

On another note, I've gone from wanting to swap it for an iPhone 5, to gaining another Xperia Z. So now I have one in black and one in white. Just need to find a decent case now as I can't seem to find anything in the shops.

I'm also wondering why some people didn't get the desktop charger stand in the box, as both of mine came with one.
Why get two?

QROPS

3,250 posts

190 months

Sunday 12th May 2013
quotequote all
Luke. said:
QROPS said:
Oggs said:
How are people getting on with their battery life??
Mine with light to moderate use can kill the battery in half a day and needs recharging.
Depends for me what I'm connected to. I only tend to have it on H+ if I'm out of the office or home and then it does like to drain the battery, but I don't use it much for the Internet when I'm out an about, more for emails, tunein radio and Skype. If I'm sat somewhere without wifi, then I'll tether it to my ipad mini, really can't be arsed looking at the small screen.

On another note, I've gone from wanting to swap it for an iPhone 5, to gaining another Xperia Z. So now I have one in black and one in white. Just need to find a decent case now as I can't seem to find anything in the shops.

I'm also wondering why some people didn't get the desktop charger stand in the box, as both of mine came with one.
Why get two?
Well I got them both free so one is for the wife.

QROPS

3,250 posts

190 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
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If anyone is looking for either a black or white one let me know as we are switching to something a little smaller, so have our two to shift now.

cv01jw

1,136 posts

201 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
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QROPS said:
If anyone is looking for either a black or white one let me know as we are switching to something a little smaller, so have our two to shift now.
PM Sent

bodhi

11,444 posts

235 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
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Anyone got their 4.2.2 update yet? I got tired of waiting for them to release the unbranded UK firmware so flashed a Spanish one instead, and it is lovely. Screen and camera quality have both gone up a notch, battery seems much better, and it doesn't get as hot under heavy use. Oh, and it officially supports Dualshock 3 controllers now too :-)

Flashing the Spanish ROM was simple, just go to XDA Developers and look for instructions on using Flashtool. Doesn't invalidate the warranty either.

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

267 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
quotequote all
Mine updated a couple of weeks ago. Stock O2.

Loving the fact that after a rooted and heavily messed with Galaxy S2, I now have a faster phone, etc,etc, that I can watch Sky on.

Can't fault mine at all. Battery life is excellent compared to the Samsung.

Wheat

505 posts

136 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
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Mine is still on 4.1.2.. And not offering or finding an update! I bought it straight from Sony and it's got a T-Mobile sim in. Any ideas why I can't update?

SlowStig

843 posts

177 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
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I am onto my second one in less than a month and this one has to go off to be repaired due to the external speaker breaking.

Anyone else having similar issues with their one or am I just getting the usual ste treatment of vodafone?

Wheat

505 posts

136 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
quotequote all
The external speaker broke on mine. But that was after testing the waterproofness out with a pint of coke. The sticky cola must of blocked the speaker. So washed with water and let dry in the sun. All fine.

Screen cracked in top left hand corner, found sony costumer service to be poor.

BlueJazz

546 posts

178 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
quotequote all
bodhi said:
Anyone got their 4.2.2 update yet? I got tired of waiting for them to release the unbranded UK firmware so flashed a Spanish one instead, and it is lovely. Screen and camera quality have both gone up a notch, battery seems much better, and it doesn't get as hot under heavy use. Oh, and it officially supports Dualshock 3 controllers now too :-)

Flashing the Spanish ROM was simple, just go to XDA Developers and look for instructions on using Flashtool. Doesn't invalidate the warranty either.
I've got mine running on 4.22 on three mobile.

bodhi

11,444 posts

235 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
quotequote all
SlowStig said:
I am onto my second one in less than a month and this one has to go off to be repaired due to the external speaker breaking.

Anyone else having similar issues with their one or am I just getting the usual ste treatment of vodafone?
Mine's been faultless so far. The unfortunate thing with Vodafone, is that if your phone breaks and they give you a replacement, you get a refurbished / repaired model in return, and ime these have as many issues as the broken one. We found when I worked there, that a phone would either last the contract, or customers would end up with about 5 replacements.

Wheat

505 posts

136 months

Thursday 18th July 2013
quotequote all
BlueJazz said:
I've got mine running on 4.22 on three mobile.
Hmm I find it strange that they release it on network locked phones and not unlocked phones at the same time!

Has it made much difference?