Discussion
Had a quick look at one on Sunday in a P4U shop, and they had a dummy HTC One there also. The Xperia Z is still an impressive looking beastie, but I've got some reservations about the ergonomics. The sheer size of it, combined with its squarer profile and profusion of glass meant the Xperia Z was less comfortable in hand - to the extend I even dropped the bloomin' demo one! 
The HTC One on the other hand
felt much more at home and I didn't feel like I was on the verge of dropping it. Fair enough, the 4.7 screen means it is a tad smaller, but I felt the curved back and thinner sides, combined with the alu material resulted in it feeling a lot better 'in hand'. So for me, definitely leaning towards the HTC One now, but final judgement will wait until I've tried a 'live' one.
The HTC One on the other hand
felt much more at home and I didn't feel like I was on the verge of dropping it. Fair enough, the 4.7 screen means it is a tad smaller, but I felt the curved back and thinner sides, combined with the alu material resulted in it feeling a lot better 'in hand'. So for me, definitely leaning towards the HTC One now, but final judgement will wait until I've tried a 'live' one.Just off the phone to a Phones4U guy.
Been offered a Z on upgrade, with Vodafone with the following tariffs:
600mins, u/l txts, 500gb data for £29/mth - free phone, 24mth contract,
or same, but 1gb data for £34/mth.
Sound reasonable?
Currently running a rooted Sensation and it flies so not sure if I actually want to upgrade?
(Also not sure whether to wait and try HTC One when it arrives).
Been offered a Z on upgrade, with Vodafone with the following tariffs:
600mins, u/l txts, 500gb data for £29/mth - free phone, 24mth contract,
or same, but 1gb data for £34/mth.
Sound reasonable?
Currently running a rooted Sensation and it flies so not sure if I actually want to upgrade?
(Also not sure whether to wait and try HTC One when it arrives).
AmiableChimp said:
Just off the phone to a Phones4U guy.
Been offered a Z on upgrade, with Vodafone with the following tariffs:
600mins, u/l txts, 500gb data for £29/mth - free phone, 24mth contract,
or same, but 1gb data for £34/mth.
Sound reasonable?
Currently running a rooted Sensation and it flies so not sure if I actually want to upgrade?
(Also not sure whether to wait and try HTC One when it arrives).
HTC One and Galaxy S4 will be there in a matter of weeks/months, if anyting they'll drag the price down a notch.Been offered a Z on upgrade, with Vodafone with the following tariffs:
600mins, u/l txts, 500gb data for £29/mth - free phone, 24mth contract,
or same, but 1gb data for £34/mth.
Sound reasonable?
Currently running a rooted Sensation and it flies so not sure if I actually want to upgrade?
(Also not sure whether to wait and try HTC One when it arrives).
AmiableChimp said:
Just off the phone to a Phones4U guy.
Been offered a Z on upgrade, with Vodafone with the following tariffs:
600mins, u/l txts, 500gb data for £29/mth - free phone, 24mth contract,
or same, but 1gb data for £34/mth.
Sound reasonable?
Currently running a rooted Sensation and it flies so not sure if I actually want to upgrade?
(Also not sure whether to wait and try HTC One when it arrives).
You can get the Z free on a 24 month contract, 600 mins, u/l texts and u/l data with T-Mobile for £26/month. Have a look here for this and alternatives: http://www.hotukdeals.com/search?action=search&...Been offered a Z on upgrade, with Vodafone with the following tariffs:
600mins, u/l txts, 500gb data for £29/mth - free phone, 24mth contract,
or same, but 1gb data for £34/mth.
Sound reasonable?
Currently running a rooted Sensation and it flies so not sure if I actually want to upgrade?
(Also not sure whether to wait and try HTC One when it arrives).
Mine has gone back though; having tried it, I see no point in trying to get used to Android when I like iOS, so I'm debating a deal on an iPhone 5 to replace my 4 instead.
LeeMad said:
whenever ive had phones with flaps they eventually wear out and either dont fit or come off completely, as soon as that happens it wont be waterproof anymore.
I know what you mean which is why I'm getting the dock and hopefully they will do a car dock as well. I use BT for my headphones and to connect to the car.LeeMad said:
whenever ive had phones with flaps they eventually wear out and either dont fit or come off completely, as soon as that happens it wont be waterproof anymore.
My Xperia S has the same flaps, 12 months in they are still attached and close securely, quite impressive considering it spends 2-3 hours a day in my car dock. I wouldn't be too concerned about the flaps on the Z, going by my experience they are pretty well engineered (pretty sure my X10 had one on the power socket, again, no issues).And for those with a Mac there is http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/tools/bridge-for-mac/ which a lot of the reviews seem to have missed.
Quick update about my findings having had the Z for a week or so now.
Connectivity Issues - Wi-Fi, Data and Phone Signals seem to drop out regularly and require either a toggle on/off or a complete shutdown and restart of the phone to get them going again. Not impressed and will be calling Orange and asking for a new handset in the next couple of days.
Connectivity Issues - Wi-Fi, Data and Phone Signals seem to drop out regularly and require either a toggle on/off or a complete shutdown and restart of the phone to get them going again. Not impressed and will be calling Orange and asking for a new handset in the next couple of days.
I got round to picking up an Xperia Z yesterday, and here is a very quick initial review so far. Coming from an Apple fanboy!
Looks - WOW, this is beautiful. The iPhone 4 looks very dated next to it, and its got a very sleek appearance. Elegant. Its big, but I'm used to it already. The screen is absolutely stunning. It feels like jumping from SD to HD.
Android - I must admit im finding it a bit tricky to navigate, but I'm sure I will pick it up.
Mac Interface - Awful, unless I'm doing it wrong. All I want is the phone to appear as an external hard drive so I can drag and drop things into it? But no joy so far.
Batttery Life - Seems better than the iPhone 4 so far, but a bit too early to tell.
Looks - WOW, this is beautiful. The iPhone 4 looks very dated next to it, and its got a very sleek appearance. Elegant. Its big, but I'm used to it already. The screen is absolutely stunning. It feels like jumping from SD to HD.
Android - I must admit im finding it a bit tricky to navigate, but I'm sure I will pick it up.
Mac Interface - Awful, unless I'm doing it wrong. All I want is the phone to appear as an external hard drive so I can drag and drop things into it? But no joy so far.
Batttery Life - Seems better than the iPhone 4 so far, but a bit too early to tell.
SWoll said:
Quick update about my findings having had the Z for a week or so now.
Connectivity Issues - Wi-Fi, Data and Phone Signals seem to drop out regularly and require either a toggle on/off or a complete shutdown and restart of the phone to get them going again. Not impressed and will be calling Orange and asking for a new handset in the next couple of days.
I've had the same issues with WiFi, and interestingly so has the OH who has an Xperia T with the same software. No issues here with phone signal though.Connectivity Issues - Wi-Fi, Data and Phone Signals seem to drop out regularly and require either a toggle on/off or a complete shutdown and restart of the phone to get them going again. Not impressed and will be calling Orange and asking for a new handset in the next couple of days.
Cases...
I've bought and tried both the official Roxfit bumper and a Case Mate 'Barely There' case.
The bumper, being an official case, is a perfect fit. Clear perspex sides with rubber frames top and bottom. Cutouts for the speaker and USB port in exactly the right places, power and volume buttons are under the case side. In my opinion though, it made the phone too big. Hardly any extra width or height, but the rubber frame top and botttom added a good few mm to the depth of the phone, made it feel very cumbersome and awkward to use.
The Case Mate case is much better. Very slim profile, and again, fits the phone perfectly. Almost too perfectly in fact, it was a royal PITA to take off again!
I ordered the white one as I have a white phone, and was hoping it would have a matte finish making it less prone to being dropped, but no - it's only slightly less glossy than the glass phone. Again, cutouts in exactly the right places. I much prefer it to the bumper.
I'm also going to try one of the cheapo silicone cases from ebay because that's what I had for 2 years on my last phone, but I think I'll probably stick with the Case Mate.
I've bought and tried both the official Roxfit bumper and a Case Mate 'Barely There' case.
The bumper, being an official case, is a perfect fit. Clear perspex sides with rubber frames top and bottom. Cutouts for the speaker and USB port in exactly the right places, power and volume buttons are under the case side. In my opinion though, it made the phone too big. Hardly any extra width or height, but the rubber frame top and botttom added a good few mm to the depth of the phone, made it feel very cumbersome and awkward to use.
The Case Mate case is much better. Very slim profile, and again, fits the phone perfectly. Almost too perfectly in fact, it was a royal PITA to take off again!
I ordered the white one as I have a white phone, and was hoping it would have a matte finish making it less prone to being dropped, but no - it's only slightly less glossy than the glass phone. Again, cutouts in exactly the right places. I much prefer it to the bumper.I'm also going to try one of the cheapo silicone cases from ebay because that's what I had for 2 years on my last phone, but I think I'll probably stick with the Case Mate.
How are all you owners of the Sony Z getting on with your phones, are you impressed or not? i have had mine nearly a month now, and have to say i`m not overy impressed with it, the Wifi on it seems to loss connectivity quite often around the home and struggles to reconnect, when my old Htc desire never lost anything, thats just one of the things, i went to send a sms message my mate the other day it wont let me now it just says unfortunately messaging has stopped, i can receive his sms messages but cant open them, but i can send sms messages to everyone else, and open them. He hasn`t done anything to his phone, he brought it over and showed me. wtf have i ran out of credits or something?
By the way the battery is also crap as with all smart phones
By the way the battery is also crap as with all smart phones
RT/M said:
How are all you owners of the Sony Z getting on with your phones, are you impressed or not? i have had mine nearly a month now, and have to say i`m not overy impressed with it, the Wifi on it seems to loss connectivity quite often around the home and struggles to reconnect, when my old Htc desire never lost anything, thats just one of the things, i went to send a sms message my mate the other day it wont let me now it just says unfortunately messaging has stopped, i can receive his sms messages but cant open them, but i can send sms messages to everyone else, and open them. He hasn`t done anything to his phone, he brought it over and showed me. wtf have i ran out of credits or something?
By the way the battery is also crap as with all smart phones
I've had no problem with the WiFi, is yours set location based WiFi as a power saving option? If so, it can ignore weak signals and disabling it may improve your reception as the phone won't be trying to power down. I've not had any SMS problems, could just be a problem with your friends phone? Try your SIM in another phone and see if the problem occurs again. Should answer you question if it's your phone.By the way the battery is also crap as with all smart phones
My battery lasts with reasonable usage (watching TV, listening to music and surfing the net) around a day and a half. Previously my S3 lasted a day by comparison.
In the couple of days I used mine before returning it, taking an age to connect to wi-fi seemed to be standard. That's without any of the location based wi-fi stuff turned on, and within a couple of feet of the router.
ETA: my iPhone 5 and my g/f's Nexus 4 have no such issue; unlock and they connect pretty much instantly.
ETA: my iPhone 5 and my g/f's Nexus 4 have no such issue; unlock and they connect pretty much instantly.
Edited by Jobbo on Tuesday 26th March 15:06
Jobbo said:
In the couple of days I used mine before returning it, taking an age to connect to wi-fi seemed to be standard. That's without any of the location based wi-fi stuff turned on, and within a couple of feet of the router.
ETA: my iPhone 5 and my g/f's Nexus 4 have no such issue; unlock and they connect pretty much instantly.
Mine is quite the opposite. Connects to the WiFi as soon as I'm near home then when the TV is on, offers to "throw" movies and photos to big screen. My Xperia Z is on Three and has very little bloat wear, perhaps something is interfering with it?ETA: my iPhone 5 and my g/f's Nexus 4 have no such issue; unlock and they connect pretty much instantly.
Edited by Jobbo on Tuesday 26th March 15:06
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