Sony Xperia Z

[Jobbo]

SWoll said:

Did it in the store, headphones confirmed on receipt as "gift" and by the girl in the store who checked for me. They will be delivered to the store for pickup along with the phone on the 28th. When I checked on their website beforehand there were 2 different deals, 1 with the headphones and 1 without.

Why would you possibly not want a free set of £2-300 headphones, even if you decided to sell them on eBay?

I already have a better set of headphones, so I don't actually want them in the sense of not needing them at all. Yes, could be sold on eBay but there are going to be around 1000 pairs for sale at the same time so I suspect they won't make much

My confirmation also confirms I'm getting headphones, it turns out. So I'll try to be the first on eBay with my auction

[BlueJazz]

Good pre-review here:m.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_z-review-884.php

A very good phone indeed.

[parapaul]

Jobbo said:

I already have a better set of headphones, so I don't actually want them in the sense of not needing them at all. Yes, could be sold on eBay but there are going to be around 1000 pairs for sale at the same time so I suspect they won't make much

My confirmation also confirms I'm getting headphones, it turns out. So I'll try to be the first on eBay with my auction

1000 pairs from each of the 4 (or more) major networks

[Jobbo]

parapaul said:

1000 pairs from each of the 4 (or more) major networks

Good point - in fact, it seems to be 1000 per retailer rather than per network so maybe quite a few more. Sony must really have overstocked on these; selling price is hardly likely to reach £50 in fact!

[Big Worm 1]

Pre-ordered mine earlier over the phone with Vodafone. Handset and headphones will be sent out seperately but both should arrive around the 28th.

[Big Worm 1]

Pre-ordered mine earlier over the phone with Vodafone. Handset and headphones will be sent out seperately but both should arrive around the 28th.

[SWoll]

Loads more reviews in and all looking very promising indeed. Haven't read one yet that doesn't suggest it is anything other than the best Android phone currently available.

Also it would appear the release date has been moved forward to the 21st. Result.

Xperia Z Release Date Arriving Early

[parapaul]

I haven't seen any news anywhere suggesting these are out in the wild yet, so maybe it was limited to their Berlin store?

Anyway, 4 days now

[CooperS]

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/news/latest-news/...

CPWH has them out...... I don't know what I'm waiting for but I'm not that interested in upgrading for any phone at the moment.... What will this do that my IPhone 4 won't?

[parapaul]

CooperS said:

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/news/latest-news/...

CPWH has them out...... I don't know what I'm waiting for but I'm not that interested in upgrading for any phone at the moment.... What will this do that my IPhone 4 won't?

That link is no different to the pre-order page that's been open for the last month or so. Still not available in store.

And for your second question, can I refer you to any one of the gazillion "Andoid vs Apple" threads in this forum? The main points for me are the way you DON'T have to use iTunes for everything, and the customisation - see the "Show off your smartphone homescreen" thread for examples.

[Jobbo]

CooperS said:

What will this do that my IPhone 4 won't?

I'm upgrading from an iPhone 4 to this - there are a few, fairly trivial, things it'll do which an iPhone 4 won't such as panoramic photos natively, tethering without jailbreaking etc. But more importantly, it has a much larger screen and the iPhone is just a bit small now (even the 5); plus after nearly 6 years of iOS I don't think Apple have anywhere to move the game on, while Android (having played with my girlfriend's Nexus 4) seems to be quite slick and sophisticated now: a genuine alternative with the added advantage of being more customisable.

But the main reason is that I'm on my second iPhone 4 (first one died just within the warranty) and it feels tired; it is slow to open apps and has crashed a few times. So I fancy something different.

[parapaul]

Jobbo said:

I'm upgrading from an iPhone 4 to this - there are a few, fairly trivial, things it'll do which an iPhone 4 won't such as panoramic photos natively, tethering without jailbreaking etc. But more importantly, it has a much larger screen and the iPhone is just a bit small now (even the 5); plus after nearly 6 years of iOS I don't think Apple have anywhere to move the game on, while Android (having played with my girlfriend's Nexus 4) seems to be quite slick and sophisticated now: a genuine alternative with the added advantage of being more customisable.

But the main reason is that I'm on my second iPhone 4 (first one died just within the warranty) and it feels tired; it is slow to open apps and has crashed a few times. So I fancy something different.

My OH moved from her iPhone to the Xperia S (which has less RAM, slower processor etc than the Z) about a year ago. She couldn't believe how much faster and smoother it was - and that was with Android 2.3! The ICS update came fairly soon afterwards, and she's just had the JB OTA too. She'll never go back now

I'll make sure of it... Mwahahahahaha!

[RT/M]

I`m due a new phone so recently ordered mine online £26pm that gives me 500mins, unlimited Texts and unlimited Data, oh and the phone is free, no headphones though, well you cant have it all.

[Jobbo]

parapaul said:

My OH moved from her iPhone to the Xperia S (which has less RAM, slower processor etc than the Z) about a year ago. She couldn't believe how much faster and smoother it was - and that was with Android 2.3! The ICS update came fairly soon afterwards, and she's just had the JB OTA too.

This is the thing I don't get about Android - I honestly haven't a clue what that means!

[robsa]

zcacogp said:

robsa said:

My OH has an Xperia U and I really like it, its dinky, had a lovely screen and works really well. It did have a few glitches on Gingerbread but ICS upgrade changed all that.

Interesting, how did you get the ICS upgrade? Mine is still on Gingerbread and I sometimes think that ICS would be a good thing to get ...


Oli.

Oli, I used the Sony software on the laptop and plugged it in. I would recommend it add it made quitea difference.

Cheers

[robsa]

zcacogp said:

robsa said:

My OH has an Xperia U and I really like it, its dinky, had a lovely screen and works really well. It did have a few glitches on Gingerbread but ICS upgrade changed all that.

Interesting, how did you get the ICS upgrade? Mine is still on Gingerbread and I sometimes think that ICS would be a good thing to get ...


Oli.

Oli, I used the Sony software on the laptop and plugged it in. I would recommend it add it made quitea difference.

Cheers

[zcacogp]

Robsa,

Thanks. Mine refused to play with that; I was told it was because Orange didn't release the upgrade for their 'phones but am not sure.

As it is, I have now rooted it and installed a very cut-down version of ICS myself. It's a dramatic improvement for the 'phone, and has made it almost usable ...

I can live with it now. But I won't be holding back when it comes to upgrade time. Still, it was only £13 a month with unlimited everything so I shouldn't grumble.

Thanks for your help.


Oli.

[parapaul]

Jobbo said:

parapaul said:

My OH moved from her iPhone to the Xperia S (which has less RAM, slower processor etc than the Z) about a year ago. She couldn't believe how much faster and smoother it was - and that was with Android 2.3! The ICS update came fairly soon afterwards, and she's just had the JB OTA too.

This is the thing I don't get about Android - I honestly haven't a clue what that means!

OK, you're coming from an iphone...

I'm guessing you know what RAM and processor speed mean, and the effect they have. For the rest, you'll need a basic rundown of how it's evolved:

Android has had a load of updates since it was first developed, just like iOS. Where iOS has just gone from iOS through to iOS6 now (I think) and appears virtually unchanged, Android started at 1.0, but the first one really to hit the market was 1.6 which was nicknamed 'Donut'. There were a few incremental changes, but the next major release was Android 2.0, nicknamed 'Eclair'. Then there was 2.1 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) which was where Android really started to gain popularity.

3.0 (Honeycomb) was a tablet-only version and was a bit naff, TBH. Gingerbread hung around on mobiles for quite a while, while they worked on developing the next one.

4.0, (Ice Cream Sandwich) was a massive leap forwards for Android, in terms of speed, functionality and a completely redesigned UI. Not long after that, 4.1 (Jelly Bean) came out and while it doesn't look much different, they had implemented some fairly major coding improvements which they called 'Project Butter', making the UI even faster and smoother - buttery smooth. Gettit?

We're currently on 4.2, which is still Jelly Bean, but it's incrementally better than 4.1.

5.0 (Key Lime Pie) is rumoured to be announced at Google's annual event this spring.

Right.

Unlike Apple, which is a completely closed ecosystem, Android is open source which is why so many manufacturers can have Android phones. And because it's open source, they can do whatever they like to the code to make it how they want it. Samsung call their version 'Touchwiz', HTC have 'Sense', and so on.

When Apple release a new iOS, there are only a few phones they need it to work on. The problem arises when Google release the Android source code, firstly the manufacturers have to apply their own features to it, and THEN the networks have to clutter it up with their own branding and bloatware. Only when that's all done, and it's all tested and stable, can it be released as an over-the-air (OTA) update.

This is why the Google Nexus phones, running pure Android, get their updates almost immediately, and some other phones never get updates at all.

So, to decipher my earlier post:

My OH had a Sony Xperia S, which was way faster than her previous iPhone. When she had it, it was running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Then O2 released the Over-The-Air update of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which was a massive improvement, and she's just had the Over-The-Air update of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) which is better again.

The Xperia Z will launch with 4.1 (Jelly Bean) but Sony have said they will release 4.2 soon, and being their flagship phone, when Google release the code for Android 5.0, Sony will almost definitely make sure the Z gets the update to that, too.

Better?

Edited by parapaul on Monday 25th February 09:27

[Jobbo]

It was just the JB ICS OTA bit I didn't get, so thanks for your explanation. Has the OS evolved greatly between versions? iOS was very incremental (other than the launch of the App Store; I've been using iOS since the first version and that was by far the most substantive change in my view). Hence I don't bother updating when the new version of iOS is launched, usually.

[zcacogp]

parapaul said:

OK, you're coming from an iphone...

I'm guessing you know what RAM and processor speed mean, and the effect they have. For the rest, you'll need a basic rundown of how it's evolved:

Android has had a load of updates since it was first developed, just like iOS. Where iOS has just gone from iOS through to iOS6 now (I think) and appears virtually unchanged, Android started at 1.0, but the first one really to hit the market was 1.6 which was nicknamed 'Donut'. There were a few incremental changes, but the next major release was Android 2.0, nicknamed 'Eclair'. Then there was 2.1 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) which was where Android really started to gain popularity.

3.0 (Honeycomb) was a tablet-only version and was a bit naff, TBH. Gingerbread hung around on mobiles for quite a while, while they worked on developing the next one.

4.0, (Ice Cream Sandwich) was a massive leap forwards for Android, in terms of speed, functionality and a completely redesigned UI. Not long after that, 4.1 (Jelly Bean) came out and while it doesn't look much different, they had implemented some fairly major coding improvements which they called 'Project Butter', making the UI even faster and smoother - buttery smooth. Gettit?

We're currently on 4.2, which is still Jelly Bean, but it's incrementally better than 4.1.

5.0 (Key Lime Pie) is rumoured to be announced at Google's annual event this spring.

Right.

Unlike Apple, which is a completely closed ecosystem, Android is open source which is why so many manufacturers can have Android phones. And because it's open source, they can do whatever they like to the code to make it how they want it. Samsung call their version 'Touchwiz', HTC have 'Sense', and so on.

When Apple release a new iOS, there are only a few phones they need it to work on. The problem arises when Google release the Android source code, firstly the manufacturers have to apply their own features to it, and THEN the networks have to clutter it up with their own branding and bloatware. Only when that's all done, and it's all tested and stable, can it be released as an over-the-air (OTA) update.

This is why the Google Nexus phones, running pure Android, get their updates almost immediately, and some other phones never get updates at all.

So, to decipher my earlier post:

My OH had a Sony Xperia S, which was way faster than her previous iPhone. When she had it, it was running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Then O2 released the Over-The-Air update of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which was a massive improvement, and she's just had the Over-The-Air update of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) which is better again.

The Xperia Z will launch with 4.1 (Jelly Bean) but Sony have said they will release 4.2 soon, and being their flagship phone, when Google release the code for Android 5.0, Sony will almost definitely make sure the Z gets the update to that, too.

Better?

Edited by parapaul on Monday 25th February 09:27

Have to say, that's a great explanation from Parapaul. I'm a long-time Android user but I couldn't have explained it that well ...


Oli.