Develop Bugs

Sticking Around or Moving On?

I am just curious to see how everyone feels about their ZL, or experience with Sony as a whole.
For me it's been a mixed bag. Overall, this is by LONG and FAR the most headache-free phone I've ever owned. Period. It's got all the features that I need and it works as it should when needed. I would not trade it for any other Android phone out there, especially a Samsung or HTC. With that all said, I can't help myself being sucked in by all the Nexus 5 rumors. Coming from a Galaxy Nexus, I should have naturally grabbed the Nexus 4, but lack of AT&T-compatible LTE kept me away. Now, with rumored specs coming out by the day, I must say that I am highly tempted by the prospect of owning a Nexus 5.
So what hasn't Sony done to possibly lose me as a customer? Here is the list:
Camera
I doubt I'm alone here to admit that I got had [major time] by Sony's PR when it came to the camera. Simply put, the camera is pure rubbish. I use my work provided iPhone 5c to take pics instead. Sad.
Hardware
Speaking strictly of the paint around the edge, could sony have made it less durable? The slightest bump flakes it off.
Update
I love the fact that there is an update every month to address an issue or two. The bad part, every update either reintroduces an old issue or introduces a new one. Come on.
Wireless Charging
Instead of focusing their efforts on waterproofing, I would love to see Sony bring us wireless charging. Chances of me using wireless charging, every hour of every day. Chances of me diving into a pool with my phone, next to none.
AOSP
If you're going to claim that you support the open community and such, don't release AOSP binaries that do not work. That defeats the whole purpose. I don't mind Sony's stock ROMs, but I like the fact that AOSP gets me the latest and greatest.
Speakers
iPhone had it right. HTC One got it right. Nexus 5 rumored to have gotten it right. Why did Sony put the speaker on the back of the phone is beyond me. It renders it useless when in it's natural position.
So, does this mean I don't adore my Xperia ZL? No, far from it. Does it mean I might consider an alternative device that gives me the above, maybe. Is the Nexus 5 looking better and better? Yeah!

The ZL was the phone I kept the longest in years...
Moving to a Z1. Just receive from Clove. Not waiting for the US ones.
ZL will stay as a back up.
Sendt fra XPERIA ZL 6506

Even if I had €1000000 I would probably still stick with ZL until Sony comes with a ZL1.
Z1f looks nice thought but I don't wanna go back to 4.3". I just want a ZL with new hardware and waterproof.
But... I don't have €1000000 so I will have my ZL for at least another 1.5 years if all goes well

I love my ZL but today I've saw the Note 3 and damn it's a nice phone.. Thinking about moving forward...
Sent from my ZL [email protected]

Sticking around with zl, however fully dependant on nexus 5 features and pricing.
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app

Luv my zl, but kinda bored with it. Thinking of z ultra, or maybe im dreaming..
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app

I'll be replacing my ZL with the Note 5 or 6, it wholly depends on when it dies on me.

coming from galaxy s4...lovin my ZL:victory:

Based on leaks from the official Google Play store, the 16GB is sure to be $349. Guessing the 32GB is $399. The phone looks sick good though. Like I said, love my ZL, but wireless charging and stock Android might win me over with that price.
coolrevi said:
Sticking around with zl, however fully dependant on nexus 5 features and pricing.
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app
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Are the pictures really that bad on the ZL cause that would be of the only thing's that I don't like about the phone that and the fact they don't use guerrilla glass looking to leave my Xperia T for a ZL I'm not liking any other phone at the moment.
Sent from my LT30p using xda app-developers app

spielnicht said:
Based on leaks from the official Google Play store, the 16GB is sure to be $349. Guessing the 32GB is $399. The phone looks sick good though. Like I said, love my ZL, but wireless charging and stock Android might win me over with that price.
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From Xperia t to zl I don see it as upgrade. If you are willing to buy I would rather suggest z1 which is a good buy in many term
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app

I'll keep mine till its dead, I was thinking about the Z1 but its way to big, if they do a new more powerful 5" with the same overall size as the ZL I would consider it in 2 years... interested to see if the camera gets any more improvements in the ZL, I like the quality, but not as picky as some..... video recording is good too.... Battery life could use a little more help though
Hoping for the Z1 camera App on the ZL in the 4.3 update, hopefully before Christmas...... Personally I think superior auto sucks, no image stabilizer, normal mode with my own settings works great.
4.4 may never come but that's ok, as long as 4.3 gets minor tweaking updates here and there.

So do you guys think the ZL is a good phone for a beginner?
The Z1 looks bulky indeed and LG G2 will be sold in my country (Brazil) only in 16GB option (no SD slot? WTF LG?)
I don´t have plans to play powerful games on it (just angry birds or something like when I'm waiting for something). I want a bigger screen to my GPS aps, listen music via Bluethoot (via car stereo) and watch video (High def videos on SD card, youtube, vimeo etc)

My dad has an Xperia T and based on some comparison shots, the images don't differ much. In other words, they both...suck. If I was to pick a single disappointment with the ZL, it would be the camera.
I know where you are coming from not liking any other phone out there. I am not an SG4 or HTC One fan. I'd consider the Z1, but Sony really dropped the ball by not including an AT&T/T-Mobile LTE friendly chip. So it's not even a consideration for me
Definitely wait until the Nexus 5 comes out. Looks very promising, both in specs and design.
Torres77an said:
Are the pictures really that bad on the ZL cause that would be of the only thing's that I don't like about the phone that and the fact they don't use guerrilla glass looking to leave my Xperia T for a ZL I'm not liking any other phone at the moment.
Sent from my LT30p using xda app-developers app
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thinking of upgrading from a xperia ion....zl is the maximum that i can afford..nd i kinda love the white one
Is there anything else apart from the camera that i should look into before buying?
no nexus in my country else would've waited for nexus 5 :/

I've take the same picture with an iPhone 5 and with my Xperia T and then again the same picture with a Galaxy s3 we compared them at work and my other to co-workers had to agree that the Xperia T photo looked the best though mind you Bravia was enabled yes there's room for improvement on Sony's camera phones but even with the Bravia engine turned off the photos are not that far behind the rest of the mobile devices out there but what it does lack is consistency that the others have now with the z1 having better hardware and software the problem with the camera is almost gone it just seems to over expose photos at times so does the LG G2 though it's clearly not as good in the comparison that I've seen between it and the Z1
Sent from my LT30p using xda app-developers app

Torres77an said:
I've take the same picture with an iPhone 5 and with my Xperia T and then again the same picture with a Galaxy s3 we compared them at work and my other to co-workers had to agree that the Xperia T photo looked the best though mind you Bravia was enabled yes there's room for improvement on Sony's camera phones but even with the Bravia engine turned off the photos are not that far behind the rest of the mobile devices out there but what it does lack is consistency that the others have now with the z1 having better hardware and software the problem with the camera is almost gone it just seems to over expose photos at times so does the LG G2 though it's clearly not as good in the comparison that I've seen between it and the Z1
Sent from my LT30p using xda app-developers app
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That's not how you compare photos, you put them on the same computer and then compare them on the PC. That way the different displays and image rendering software of each phone won't interfere.

my photos look basically the same after they have been uploaded to my pc
Dead Metal said:
That's not how you compare photos, you put them on the same computer and then compare them on the PC. That way the different displays and image rendering software of each phone won't interfere.
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I've also seen comparisons with the iPhone 5 and the Xperia T on the internet and the iPhone's aren't that much better better but not by much but definitely more consistent I think the Xperia software may need some work with it's poor autofocus half of the photos do turn out like crap.

Torres77an said:
I've also seen comparisons with the iPhone 5 and the Xperia T on the internet and the iPhone's aren't that much better better but not by much but definitely more consistent I think the Xperia software may need some work with it's poor autofocus half of the photos do turn out like crap.
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Yup, they do need to give that a work over, but someone pointed be in the direction of Camera FV-5, which is brilliant. The best camera app I've ever used, only downside is it does not have an auto-mode, and sometimes it does not save the pictures, especially when you use the hardware camera button.
Hope that gets fixed soon.

That's exactly what I did Took a pic of the same object, dropped them in Lightroom side-by-side, the ZL was slightly better (very slightly), but neither anything to brag out.
Dead Metal said:
That's not how you compare photos, you put them on the same computer and then compare them on the PC. That way the different displays and image rendering software of each phone won't interfere.
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Xperia ZL or Nexus 5

Guys i am stuck in a dilemma between these two phones Nexus 5 and Xperia ZL.they cost the same here in my place actually Xperia ZL costs a bit less ($50).I really love the compact and rectangular slate like design of Xperia ZL and hate the rounded design of Nexus 5.my budget only allows me to get 16GB variant of Nexus 5 and here in India cloud storage is a far fetched dream so i am stuck with the 12GB space of Nexus 5 which i think is on a lower side.but the community support and S800 chipset of Nexus 5 are the attractive points of nexus 5.so considering you guys are using xperia ZL for some time now what do you think about the performance of s pro chipset,is it enough for browsing internet and i am not worried about gaming as i rarely use mobiles for gaming.I appreciate your help guys.
thank you.

If you are not using your mobile for gaming, why are you worried about performance at all? The Xperia ZL has no single problem with browsing the internet as long as the website or the app you are using are well-coded. I'm using Cyanogenmod 10.2 on my ZL and it works nearly flawless (1 or 2 minor bugs which don't interfere with stability).

thanks for the reply.btw what about the display.the image quality.whichever review i check they end up saying that the display is bad.i don't care about viewing angles,how is the quality when you are viewing it straight in front of you?

I had both for a few days - and ended up selling the Nexus 5 and keeping my ZL.
For me the reasons I didn't like the nexus 5 were:
-Poor external speaker quality / placement (holding phone in landscape almost always ended in the speaker being completely muffled).
-Camera quality - Xperia ZL's camera had it beat and the nexus 5 doesn't have a hardware camera button.
-no IR blaster
That being said, the nexus 5 was SMOOTH, and I mean SMOOTH. Whipping around in the OS was instantaneous, and the ability to unlock the bootloader with almost endless custom rom support is really nice. But overall I still preferred my "bootloader unlock = no" ZL.

thanks for the reply.one thing i observed when going through the thread that some models bootloaders can be unlocked and for some its not possible.is it depending upon the carriers?
so if i get a model without any carrier bound to it,so is it possible to unlock the bootloader?
i know its difficult to answer this question but if you know you can answer.thanks.

If you buy it unlocked directly from Sony you should be able to unlock the bootloader.
Before you buy it check in the settings if Bootloader unlock allowed = Yes.

sukesh1090 said:
Guys i am stuck in a dilemma between these two phones Nexus 5 and Xperia ZL.they cost the same here in my place actually Xperia ZL costs a bit less ($50).I really love the compact and rectangular slate like design of Xperia ZL and hate the rounded design of Nexus 5.my budget only allows me to get 16GB variant of Nexus 5 and here in India cloud storage is a far fetched dream so i am stuck with the 12GB space of Nexus 5 which i think is on a lower side.but the community support and S800 chipset of Nexus 5 are the attractive points of nexus 5.so considering you guys are using xperia ZL for some time now what do you think about the performance of s pro chipset,is it enough for browsing internet and i am not worried about gaming as i rarely use mobiles for gaming.I appreciate your help guys.
thank you.
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As an indian, who was in the same dilemma two weeks back, i can say that i made the right choice in going for the ZL. The expandable memory is a huge necessity in 1080p phone, which you will use to consume media, im sure. Also, nothing can prepare you for how small this phone feels in hand and the quality finish, which an LG phone can not provide. Just get your self a seprate pair of earphones, as the provided ones have low volume. Side note : Install the honami camera mod. It's the most fun ive ever had with a camera.
---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:05 AM ----------
sukesh1090 said:
thanks for the reply.btw what about the display.the image quality.whichever review i check they end up saying that the display is bad.i don't care about viewing angles,how is the quality when you are viewing it straight in front of you?
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sukesh1090 said:
thanks for the reply.one thing i observed when going through the thread that some models bootloaders can be unlocked and for some its not possible.is it depending upon the carriers?
so if i get a model without any carrier bound to it,so is it possible to unlock the bootloader?
i know its difficult to answer this question but if you know you can answer.thanks.
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The indian version has an unlockable bootloader, and head on, the screen quality is extremely good, almost as good as my dad's HTC one, and equqal if you tweak the white balance settings.

thanks you guys.i thin k i will go with xperia ZL.i really love its design and i always loved the sound quality of Walkman phones.

Xperia ZL Pros
1. Better camera performance
2. Much better design
3. Better speaker
Nexus 5 Pros
1. Better processor
2. Custom Romsssssss you know what i mean
3. Better display
Battery backup of both devices is on poor side
Sent from my C6503 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

yeah only thing about XZL that haunts me is lack of custom roms.I don't know why there are so less custom roms for ZL,it has decent hardware and it used to be the flagship model but still less roms.i am interested in illusion rom if it gets to the stable build,thats more than enough as it has all the features of all roms.but teven that rom is stuck without any updates from last 2 months.

kumar abhishek said:
Xperia ZL Pros
1. Better camera performance
2. Much better design
3. Better speaker
Nexus 5 Pros
1. Better processor
2. Custom Romsssssss you know what i mean
3. Better display
Battery backup of both devices is on poor side
Sent from my C6503 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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nexus 5 dsplay is better only in terms of viewing angles. Contrast and color wise its quite poor. At least head on, the ZL display is excellent, while having better outdoor contrast as well.

The point of comparison based on performance is little vague here, Because Processor of ZL is OLD, However the added advantage of ZL is that of Camera, IR blaster, Compact Design. Display is better in contrast and colours than Nexus 5, however vewing angles are not. trust me you wont really use in such angles. if you carry lot of Movies and music i would just suggest you to buy ZL as nexus is limited by storage where as ZL supports additional Storage of 64GB over 16 GB inbuilt.
Gaming
Its really good, i can play games like Asphal 7,8 deadzone at high graphic quality without any lag,
Browsing
Browsing is k considering that default browser is chrome which is by default laggy, but there are better browsers in playstore.
Recent update in nexus 5 has increased camera drastically.
Faster updates in Nexus, however Sony has announced 4.4 for ZL which will be available by next month.
at this point considering limitations best buy would be ZL where you get better features than Nexus, or in some case equal results,
battery is same in both, ZL gives 2 days in normal usage with wi-fi, txting , 2 hours of songs, an hour of game play with auto brightness at 30%. dono about nexus.
Before you Buy check the review on Local service of Sony, at some places there are really bad

thanks, I will check sony showroom or service center as most of my friends use Samsung soapbar (S4 ;p ) .
AFAIK the 4.4 update for all the models is scheduled to start from early 2014,4.3 will be released by next month.for my preferences the only place where nexus 5 outweighs XZL is custom roms but i also love sony's android overlay so i might stick with it for sometime.

thanks, I will check sony showroom or service center as most of my friends use Samsung soapbar (S4 ;p ) .
AFAIK the 4.4 update for all the models is scheduled to start from early 2014,4.3 will be released by next month.for my preferences the only place where nexus 5 outweighs XZL is custom roms but i also love sony's android overlay so i might stick with it for sometime.

xperia zl has insanely bad battery life, i am not sure about nexus 5 but for me, xperia battery life kills my experience.

Which Quad/Dual Core device is the best?

Hi guys.. I am planning to sell my phone.. I am just confused on which phone to buy.. Xperia Z, Nexus 4, Xperia SP, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, HTC One Mini, Sony Xperia Z1 Mini.. Or should i just go with iPhone 5?I can't afford to buy flagships.. Budget isn't that great, nor worst.. :silly: But any suggestions??

sudhindrakv said:
Hi guys.. I am planning to sell my phone.. I am just confused on which phone to buy.. Xperia Z, Nexus 4, Xperia SP, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, HTC One Mini, Sony Xperia Z1 Mini.. Or should i just go with iPhone 5?I can't afford to buy flagships.. Budget isn't that great, nor worst.. :silly: But any suggestions??
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Z1 mini is the best out of the above, but not the best price of course.
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monivan said:
Z1 mini is the best out of the above, but not the best price of course.
Sent from my SGP321 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Of course.. But since Z1 mini or Z1 S isn't out yet, lets omit it..

Lg optimus g (the at&t version) gives good bang for buck. I got mine for $180 on ebay. I miss my ions camera and sony launcher but this phone performs rather well.
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk

luisoman2000 said:
Lg optimus g (the at&t version) gives good bang for buck. I got mine for $180 on ebay. I miss my ions camera and sony launcher but this phone performs rather well.
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk
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Carrier locked device? Hardly.. Coz i live in India.. Here none of the phones are carrier locked.. May be very few in the past.. But LG Optimus G looks pretty good, but s/w wise its pretty dull.. I mean UI and other stuff..
Sent from LT26i running eXistenZ UltrA HD

Moto X

Code:
sudhindrakv said:
Carrier locked device? Hardly.. Coz i live in India.. Here none of the phones are carrier locked.. May be very few in the past.. But LG Optimus G looks pretty good, but s/w wise its pretty dull.. I mean UI and other stuff..
Sent from LT26i running eXistenZ UltrA HD
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I actually bought 2 of these, one for my mom and one for me. Mine was carrier locked and the unlock code costed me $2, my moms phone came already unlocked from the seller. I'm using mine in honduras (central america).Sure, UI is not as great as sony's but there are a few roms out there with stock lg UI as well as 4.3 and 4.4 roms. I'm using nocturnal rom(discontinued unfortunately) which is stock LG UI with the sony walkman, movies and gallery app. I like some of the LG tricks though like qslide(which lets you keep watching a video and use the phone's other functions) and quicknote. Unlocking the bootloader was easy with freegee(downloaded it from play store).

My suggestion is xperia z bcoz have good development from good developer
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gravtec said:
My suggestion is xperia z bcoz have good development from good developer
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I would have loved to get a z or zl, but the steep $400 plus pricetag for it was waaaaaay above my budget.
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gravtec said:
My suggestion is xperia z bcoz have good development from good developer
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Yes so have i thought about getting it.. Since it has official cm support and it will have the same for 3 mpre years atleast because of the h/w.. And devs like niaboc79, zeroimfinity and others make it look like a cool phone.. And also its within my budget.. So probably it is the one.. On other hand, i am thinking of Nexus4.. :/
Sent from LT26i running eXistenZ UltrA HD

sudhindrakv said:
Yes so have i thought about getting it.. Since it has official cm support and it will have the same for 3 mpre years atleast because of the h/w.. And devs like niaboc79, zeroimfinity and others make it look like a cool phone.. And also its within my budget.. So probably it is the one.. On other hand, i am thinking of Nexus4.. :/
Sent from LT26i running eXistenZ UltrA HD
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Why Nexus 4 and not the Nexus 5? I think the Nexus 5 would be the best device for you if it fits your price. Otherwise wait for the Moto G, it's getting launched in India in January 2014. Both these devices are the best value for money you can get.

Xperia Z
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

exzibit7 said:
Why Nexus 4 and not the Nexus 5? I think the Nexus 5 would be the best device for you if it fits your price. Otherwise wait for the Moto G, it's getting launched in India in January 2014. Both these devices are the best value for money you can get.
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Nexus devices are boring UI.. I agree they are the best devices in the market.. But what's a Smartphone without some cool stock features.. I would definitely miss Sony's UI, Media apps and Camera.. And obviously music quality.. And also the look of the phone.. Although u can get all kinds of MODs, but they never are the same.. Xperia Z suits all my needs.. Its waterproof, quad core and 2gb ram, official support for 1 more year atleast, official cm support, official cwm support, lots of awesome devs, mods and cool features the phone exclusively provides.. U don't need anything else for another 2 years.. That's an awesome device.. Although on the other hand, Nexus 4 is cheap and good quality device.. Nexus 5 also is worth buying.. But i may have to skip Nexus and just go with Xperia Z..

its depend on what you looking for on the phone ,, i would suggest HTC one .. or Nexus 5
but if you gonna replace your phone why not to save more money and keep the Xperia S for another months and get a High level phone ,, like Z1 or G2

sparxx4 said:
its depend on what you looking for on the phone ,, i would suggest HTC one .. or Nexus 5
but if you gonna replace your phone why not to save more money and keep the Xperia S for another months and get a High level phone ,, like Z1 or G2
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I would stick with XS and buy a decent flagship a couple years later. Seriously, the only thing that is very different with the XS and the Galaxy S4 my girl uses is the battery life. XS is the same fast in UI as the S4, has comparable camera performance and in only very heavy 3D games you can see a difference. I don't mind the bigger screen, newer android edition, IR and the slimmer form factor at all. But S4 has roughly TWICE the battery life. 4.4.2 on GS4 is much less stable than on XS, with random reboots.
Don't mind if there are more roms for other phones. Our roms might be few in numbers but are all good.

lordoftheriffs said:
I would stick with XS and buy a decent flagship a couple years later. Seriously, the only thing that is very different with the XS and the Galaxy S4 my girl uses is the battery life. XS is the same fast in UI as the S4, has comparable camera performance and in only very heavy 3D games you can see a difference. I don't mind the bigger screen, newer android edition, IR and the slimmer form factor at all. But S4 has roughly TWICE the battery life. 4.4.2 on GS4 is much less stable than on XS, with random reboots.
Don't mind if there are more roms for other phones. Our roms might be few in numbers but are all good.
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On the other hand, Android 4.3 is a lot more stable on the Galaxy S4. And the memory is a big difference as well, 2GB for Galaxy S4, don't know how much of that is available for multitasking, but it will be at least 1GB more than what we have. I can barely multitask with my Xperia S. It's also a popular phone so there are lots of accessories. And it will get an official Android 4.4 ROM so the CM ROM might be less stable now, but in time it will always be more functional than what we will have. And it supports 4G, I think most people don't have 4G in their dataplan yet, but I do since recently (I don't have to pay anything extra for it either) and it's kind of bugging me that I can't use it.
If you're suggesting to stick with this phone for more years when it's already nearly 2 years old, I'm thinking you don't really care about speed in a phone. That's good for you I guess, but other people don't have that patience. And 2 years is a good age I think, also as you say battery life has nearly doubled in the last years and that's the most maddening thing about this phone.
@sudhindrakv: I think it's rather odd that you like the Xperia Z because of the CM support, but on the other hand want a phone with OEM-specific features. If you're going to use CM on it, you won't use those features anyway. In my opinion you should get a Nexus, I see you hanging around in the CM11 thread anyway. A lot of features can be ported to AOSP ROMs anyway, like the Sony media apps.

Redstarr1 said:
On the other hand, Android 4.3 is a lot more stable on the Galaxy S4. And the memory is a big difference as well, 2GB for Galaxy S4, don't know how much of that is available for multitasking, but it will be at least 1GB more than what we have. I can barely multitask with my Xperia S. It's also a popular phone so there are lots of accessories. And it will get an official Android 4.4 ROM so the CM ROM might be less stable now, but in time it will always be more functional than what we will have. And it supports 4G, I think most people don't have 4G in their dataplan yet, but I do since recently (I don't have to pay anything extra for it either) and it's kind of bugging me that I can't use it.
If you're suggesting to stick with this phone for more years when it's already nearly 2 years old, I'm thinking you don't really care about speed in a phone. That's good for you I guess, but other people don't have that patience. And 2 years is a good age I think, also as you say battery life has nearly doubled in the last years and that's the most maddening thing about this phone.
@sudhindrakv: I think it's rather odd that you like the Xperia Z because of the CM support, but on the other hand want a phone with OEM-specific features. If you're going to use CM on it, you won't use those features anyway. In my opinion you should get a Nexus, I see you hanging around in the CM11 thread anyway. A lot of features can be ported to AOSP ROMs anyway, like the Sony media apps.
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Well, 4G is not available in greece either, and according to what I read, it kills the battery, while hspa is already fast enough. I don't see much difference between 4.1 and 4.3 anyways, apart from lockscreen widgets. You are right about multitasking, though in XS it kills useless apps first.
S4 has 780 mb free ram. Our CM11 will evetually get stable too. Just my points.

Redstarr1 said:
On the other hand, Android 4.3 is a lot more stable on the Galaxy S4. And the memory is a big difference as well, 2GB for Galaxy S4, don't know how much of that is available for multitasking, but it will be at least 1GB more than what we have. I can barely multitask with my Xperia S. It's also a popular phone so there are lots of accessories. And it will get an official Android 4.4 ROM so the CM ROM might be less stable now, but in time it will always be more functional than what we will have. And it supports 4G, I think most people don't have 4G in their dataplan yet, but I do since recently (I don't have to pay anything extra for it either) and it's kind of bugging me that I can't use it.
If you're suggesting to stick with this phone for more years when it's already nearly 2 years old, I'm thinking you don't really care about speed in a phone. That's good for you I guess, but other people don't have that patience. And 2 years is a good age I think, also as you say battery life has nearly doubled in the last years and that's the most maddening thing about this phone.
@sudhindrakv: I think it's rather odd that you like the Xperia Z because of the CM support, but on the other hand want a phone with OEM-specific features. If you're going to use CM on it, you won't use those features anyway. In my opinion you should get a Nexus, I see you hanging around in the CM11 thread anyway. A lot of features can be ported to AOSP ROMs anyway, like the Sony media apps.
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No no.. What i meant was OEM specific features are my favourite.. Stock SONY is what i love the most.. I mentioned CM support because after your 2years company support ends, atleast you will have some support from development.. That's why i mentioned.. About CM11, its the only ROM i tested after eXistenZ.. Not into much testing lately, got bigger plans.. Building one myself..

lordoftheriffs said:
Well, 4G is not available in greece either, and according to what I read, it kills the battery, while hspa is already fast enough. I don't see much difference between 4.1 and 4.3 anyways, apart from lockscreen widgets. You are right about multitasking, though in XS it kills useless apps first.
S4 has 780 mb free ram. Our CM11 will evetually get stable too. Just my points.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seriously only has 780 MB RAM free of the initial 2GB? I know free RAM is wasted RAM, but that's just sad. This is why I never recommend Samsung.
There are some differences under the hood between 4.1 and 4.3, like Bluetooth 4.0 support (uses a lot less battery) and OpenGL. Our CM11 will get kind of stable, I'm just going to install it now by the way, but the available amount of RAM will just keep shrinking as Rayman needs to assign more for every new version of Android it seems (has to do with ION and no proper drivers, if less RAM is assigned it'll bootloop).
And about 4G, it depends on the frequency, but if the 800MHz band is used, 4G should use less power than 3G. In my country it's still only the 1800MHz band though.

Redstarr1 said:
It seriously only has 780 MB RAM free of the initial 2GB? I know free RAM is wasted RAM, but that's just sad. This is why I never recommend Samsung.
There are some differences under the hood between 4.1 and 4.3, like Bluetooth 4.0 support (uses a lot less battery) and OpenGL. Our CM11 will get kind of stable, I'm just going to install it now by the way, but the available amount of RAM will just keep shrinking as Rayman needs to assign more for every new version of Android it seems (has to do with ION and no proper drivers, if less RAM is assigned it'll bootloop).
And about 4G, it depends on the frequency, but if the 800MHz band is used, 4G should use less power than 3G. In my country it's still only the 1800MHz band though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.. I agree.. but 4g not yet so popular in India.. its only for rich people.. Even 3g plans are costly around here.. The only thing stopping me from thinking of buying Xperia Z is its already an year old. Another year and its completely gone.. It s gonna be a dead phone without sony support and probably devs would leave that phone and get some new one by that time.. It will be same like having Xperia S now.. Very few devs are here working for our device.. Its gonna be the same there too..
Sent from LT26i running eXistenZ UltrA HD

Z1 compact or Nexus 5

Hi All !
I'm planning to buy a new phone. And I'm in a dilemma about which one to choose. I read the problems with the z1c and i'm alsi aware about the new firmware update rolling out to tackle those issues. Anyways I want your suggestions about getting this device for its awesome battery and water resistance or to go for nexus 5. As the z1c has real bad speakers.
Sent from my GT-I8262 using Tapatalk

Well, problems with the touch screens is the main problem on the Sony phones,and Sony know about it,but unfortunately it can't be fixed if it's hardware problem with Sony official firmwares.your final choice depends on you,but if I were you I would choose Nexus 5 because it will get quickest updates,will be updated for around 18 months,bigger dev support (if you mind about it),better audio quality (Nexus 5 with new hardware has better audio quality than Nexus 5 with the old one,so my Nexus 5 has very good audio quality)
As you mentioned "as for awesome battery life" It's would be biggest Nexus 5 con bad battery life. Of course there're some Nexus 5 users who're managed to get excellent battery life,but for me on normal use it stands for around 6-7 hours.

^ Wait... is there something wrong with the touch screens on the Z1c? I own one, and have no issues. It is extremely responsive and I think visually it's on par or better with others I've seen.
Nexus 5 is probably a fine device, and will get strong dev support since it runs un touched Android KK. If that's important, I suppose it's something to consider. Probably the biggest factor will just be device / screen size. I personally am over the 5" size. It was fine, and I could almost use it one handed, but not quite. Performance wise, I'll take the Sony any day... the battery with stamina mode has turned out to be a panacea of sorts... it's just insanely good. I can handle the screen shrink for that alone.
Also, I buy Sony (and had an Oppo Find 5 previous to this) because I wanted to support those hardware vendors that most support the dev community like we have here. Sony is actually pretty good about releasing source, and their updates are better than some others I've had in the past. The Nexus will most certainly be good in this respect, but I like to spend where it supports the cause...
my .02

afaquekhaja said:
As the z1c has real bad speakers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every mobile Phone has "bad speakers", so if that's a deciding factor when deciding you're pretty much screwed whatever you buy.

XperienceD said:
Every mobile Phone has "bad speakers", so if that's a deciding factor when deciding you're pretty much screwed whatever you buy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I currently have a Samsung galaxy core and I compared my speakers with the z1cs and concluded that they are not good at all.
Sent from my GT-I8262 using Tapatalk

Simonna said:
Well, problems with the touch screens is the main problem on the Sony phones,and Sony know about it,but unfortunately it can't be fixed if it's hardware problem with Sony official firmwares.your final choice depends on you,but if I were you I would choose Nexus 5 because it will get quickest updates,will be updated for around 18 months,bigger dev support (if you mind about it),better audio quality (Nexus 5 with new hardware has better audio quality than Nexus 5 with the old one,so my Nexus 5 has very good audio quality)
As you mentioned "as for awesome battery life" It's would be biggest Nexus 5 con bad battery life. Of course there're some Nexus 5 users who're managed to get excellent battery life,but for me on normal use it stands for around 6-7 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the z1c for its waterproofing, its battery and the notification led. The new 4.4.2 update is also great.
What I don't like though is the speakers and the noise in pictures taken with it. Also there isn't much accessories available for it my country.
Sent from my GT-I8262 using Tapatalk

Simonna said:
Well, problems with the touch screens is the main problem on the Sony phones,and Sony know about it,but unfortunately it can't be fixed if it's hardware problem with Sony official firmwares.your final choice depends on you,but if I were you I would choose Nexus 5 because it will get quickest updates,will be updated for around 18 months,bigger dev support (if you mind about it),better audio quality (Nexus 5 with new hardware has better audio quality than Nexus 5 with the old one,so my Nexus 5 has very good audio quality)
As you mentioned "as for awesome battery life" It's would be biggest Nexus 5 con bad battery life. Of course there're some Nexus 5 users who're managed to get excellent battery life,but for me on normal use it stands for around 6-7 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm aware of the issues of the z1 compact like the mic issue, camera quality and so on.
Now talking about nexus 5, it has a beautiful screen, stock android, better looks, faster updates and much more accessories availability.
What I don't like though is the battery, limited storage, not waterproof and the notification led is too small
Sent from my GT-I8262 using Tapatalk

afaquekhaja said:
Now talking about nexus 5, it has a beautiful screen, stock android, better looks, faster updates and much more accessories availability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One could argue that Sony offers ALL of those with the possible exception of updates and accessories... but I think there are a nice selection of accessories for a phone that's still new. I definitely love the feel and look of the Xperia line.

Disappointed by the LG Nexus 5X specs and price ... is the LG G4 still worth buying?

As the title says, I am really disappointed by the N5X price in Europe compared to the specs. Is the LG G4 still worth buying it?
Is the LG overlay acceptable? (This is the only thing which really holds me off buying the G4 at the moment, because I really love stock Android)
Is LG offering some stock Android experience? (like HTC did)
How fast the software updates get released?

theliquid said:
As the title says, I am really disappointed by the N5X price in Europe compared to the specs. Is the LG G4 still worth buying it?
Is the LG overlay acceptable? (This is the only thing which really holds me off buying the G4 at the moment, because I really love stock Android)
Is LG offering some stock Android experience? (like HTC did)
How fast the software updates get released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This decision is really up to what features you find value in. I love my G4 and you would have to decide if you want a phone that has removable battery and expandable storage to say have fingerprint scanner and the latest OS. These phones are different in a lot of ways.
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

I picked up the G4 the day it came out,so I've had a good few months with it. Definitely no regrets. Coming from Samsung, it's a much less intrusive version of Android..... Than say... Touchwizz. It could benefit from extra features for battery saving mode like on the Sony or SAMSUNG, but it easily lasts me a day.
One of the best cameras, used it on my recent trip Italy, if you are into photography... You can have a lot of fun.
With every phone you will find +/-, but sure you can probably get a good deal on aG4, making it a real phone to consider.
Sent from my SGP712 using Tapatalk

theliquid said:
As the title says, I am really disappointed by the N5X price in Europe compared to the specs. Is the LG G4 still worth buying it?
Is the LG overlay acceptable? (This is the only thing which really holds me off buying the G4 at the moment, because I really love stock Android)
Is LG offering some stock Android experience? (like HTC did)
How fast the software updates get released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can answer one of those questions: the overlay is acceptable, because 99.5% of the time I don't see it because I use the camera/browser/gallery/app of choice, instead of playing with the settings. That might be different in your case, but since you asked I thought I'd answer.

Hell! I'd recommend the G4 over their 6P! For that European price, I'd 100% recommend the G4 over it!!! No doubt about it! You can get the G4 for 420 euros! The 6P will be 650 and I still think the G4 will compare just as well Or even better in the camera department and battery life. Nexus' aren't known for battery life. Neither is the LG, but hey! ...

theliquid said:
As the title says, I am really disappointed by the N5X price in Europe compared to the specs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what about the P variant ?
was a bit disappointed with the 5X specs too. with only 2gb, what reason is there to upgrade from the nexus 5 ?
Is the LG G4 still worth buying it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not for you, for a lot of non-purists, yes.
Is the LG overlay acceptable? (This is the only thing which really holds me off buying the G4 at the moment, because I really love stock Android)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly. will not mix with 'Hello Kitty'
Is LG offering some stock Android experience? (like HTC did)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is the sense mod if you are rooted. but this available for any android.
How fast the software updates get released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no where as fast as you would get on nexus. they come in time though.

I'm also looking at ordering the G4 after the disappointment of the 5X, but it looks like LG will always gimp Nexus devices so it won't compete with their own flagship.
LG seems to be the only manufacturer left that give all the choices for users, even Samsung is going Apple direction.
I find LG interface to be much more bearable than Samsung which to me personally is unusable. This is helped by the fact of on-screen buttons. But I'm just waiting for CyanogenMod availability.
Sent from LG G Pad 8.3

eksasol said:
I'm also looking at ordering the G4 after the disappointment of the 5X, but it looks like LG will always gimp Nexus devices so it won't compete with their own flagship.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you are not a typical nexus user. You are interested in nexus only because updates are regular and this keeps the value of your device up.
You really prefer to have the extra 'features' every non nexus device offers.
So is this the same as the OP or not.
LG seems to be the only manufacturer left that give all the choices for users, even Samsung is going Apple direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some would say they have exceeded apple in terms of build and quality with their offerings this year.
But I'm just waiting for CyanogenMod availability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you don't need the camera...

Actually Dxomark already tested the new nexus and it came 2nd, after the galaxy s6, beating lg g4 with 1 point. Oops.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

neflictus said:
Actually Dxomark already tested the new nexus and it came 2nd, after the galaxy s6, beating lg g4 with 1 point. Oops.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
86 in photo and 79 in video for both but one has 84 points and G4 83 points, anyways DxoMark just sucks, a french reviewer... never in low light

I'm disappointed in the 5x because of the faux look of dual front speakers when in reality one is just an earpiece speaker, nothing more and lack of qi charging, and same outdated storage options. Really don't care about the lack of RAM, not like I can tell a difference going from the G4 to nexus 5, though all of it is hard to justify at $380 when you pay $20 more and get 3gb of ram, a 5.7 inch 2k screen, and an SD slot by choosing a moto x pure edition. 5x specs would be fine with nexus 4 pricing tiers
To answer your question if you're a purist like me, LG UX will drive you bonkers. So much stuff they changed just to be different that doesn't really have a purpose. I like it overall OK but have already decided I'm going back to a nexus or a moto next year. Also the memory leak is in full effect on it as LG has written 5.1.1 off as "too minor to even bother with" which means it won't get fixed until you get marshmallow which probably won't be until 2016
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

neflictus said:
Actually Dxomark already tested the new nexus and it came 2nd, after the galaxy s6, beating lg g4 with 1 point. Oops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was quick but the most interesting scores are the N6P is top for texture in stills beating the S6 & G4 and beating both again for Noise by 4 points.
I think the comparisons of N6P against S6/G4 are going to be interesting, hard as it might be to believe, expect the N6P shots to look slightly better in details than the S6/G4. How to counter that ? reduce to 12MP on both, now noise & details will look sharper and the difference will be hard to tell. Still, this is an achievement for the N6P. The 6S+ did not get there. The Z5 did.
In terms of video stabilisation its a good ten points behind the G4 so jerky video.
12MP and 1/2.3" rear camera.
The big catch is that there is no OIS in either N5X or N6P, pretty shocking considering N5 & N6 had it. Go to the trouble to make a good camera and then leave out OIS. Seriously WTH!!!! So like the Z5 except the Z5 will have more features ootb. You better have good handholds a la xperia or M9 to get clear low light shots with these nexii.
What will the camera interface be like, google camera has always been very limited. 3rd party cams will be essential. And then we will find out just how slow the shutter gets to.
They left out wireless charging on both ! ok, i get it that morotola is crap at wireless charging but LG already nailed it with the 5, two years ago.
Course for those who want sd & removable battery, software is not going to be able to fix

I've just returned my LG G4 to get the Nexus 5x.
I loved the G4's camera but the bloatware, bluetooth issues, buggy smart unlock, constant notifications of "NFC may drain battery" when using my car dock, the big when you put it on charge, the bing when it finishes charging, the bing when you turn it on, the bing when you turn it off.... it stopped being an enjoyable device to use and it was all because of what LG had done to Android.
So I'm going back to stock android. Originally I was going to wait for a G4 AOSP or Cyanogen rom but with the announcement of the fantastic Nexus 5x camera I decided to make the move while I still could..
The feature list is cut down compared to the G4 but it is stuff I am not so concerned with. I've not used expandable storage since moving to use Google music, Photo, Docs, Keep and Drive. I've never used wireless charging, and I don't game on my phones so I am not worried about the 1gb less of ram, especially when my Nexus 4 uses nearly 1GB of ram less than the LG G4 when idling.

I got the G4 after trying almost all other phones out there. I had Z3, HTC One M9, S6, Nexus 6, Iphone 6, and now G4 and the G4 blows them all away.
It is quicker than the others, has no memory or multitasking issues contrary to some minor views in this thread, the bluetooth, 4g and wifi work perfectly, smart lock works fine too, the camera beats all of the other phones I owned, and the battery life is equal to if not better than all at 5 Hours SOT at 60% screen brightness.
The new google launcher is AWFUL so wanting that is just nonesense, and the LG launcher has replaced Nova for me, because it's just as customisable.
Nexus fans won't want it though because they want Stock = Boring, and prefer the boring look to a decent camera and features. Anyone expecting the new Nexus devices to actually have decent real world camera is praying to the wrong gods.

I have no memory leak issues with my Verizon model, and love 95% of this phone.
Coming from a Nexus/Moto X background, I find LG's ui decent and mostly easy to use. There are 2 or 3 little annoyances in how settings are accessed, but Nova Launcher fixes most design issues - an icon pack and new screen layout, plus gestures to shortcut to the settings I use most.
I world consider rooting to clean up the other small issues, but I'm a regular Android Pay user do I'm holding off until that all shakes out.
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Free mobile app

G4 should be compared to 6p. 5x is mid range.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A

Im a huge nexus fan ive owned all of them from the first HTC to the last motorola. I bought the g4 blindly to test the non nexus waters and this phone has blown me away especially after the updates and the camera is super amazing and no nexus can or will beat it. Dont get me wrong ill probably grab the new nexus 5 based on stock so i can have fun rooting and putting custom roms on it, but besides having cutting edge software it will be my secondary phone and ill stick with my g4 for everyday use. To be honest im a crack flasher and it feels good to not have that urge with my g4, i got root and thats all i needed to get rid of some things and add xposed to tweak it a bit. Very happy with my g4 and will likely get the g5 when it drops.
Sent from my LG-H812 using XDA Premium HD app

theliquid said:
As the title says, I am really disappointed by the N5X price in Europe compared to the specs. Is the LG G4 still worth buying it?
Is the LG overlay acceptable? (This is the only thing which really holds me off buying the G4 at the moment, because I really love stock Android)
Is LG offering some stock Android experience? (like HTC did)
How fast the software updates get released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, I bought the G4 for about a month and it has no problem till now. Everything is OK. The body design is a little bend and quite comfortable playing with the phone. But the price is a little bit expensive for me. I was impulsive to buy it. Fortunately it performs well overall.

ambervals6 said:
G4 should be compared to 6p. 5x is mid range.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, because G4 and 5X share same hardware.

theliquid said:
As the title says, I am really disappointed by the N5X price in Europe compared to the specs. Is the LG G4 still worth buying it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. In terms of hardware, it's about even up. And the G4 also offers a miniSD slot, exchangeable battery, and nice back covers. Only possible drawback might be the battery live, probably mostly thanks to the G4's insane resolution.
Is the LG overlay acceptable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like the LG icons, but that can be easily changed by using a different launcher like Nova. Also, the colors for toast messages and quick settings are a bit bright (cyan). And the mobile data protocol (LTE, G3, ...) is displayed as own icon instead of small text in the reception bar icon. Most of the rest can easily be ignored or even be disabled in the settings.
But a lot of this (and more) can be modified even without unlocking the bootloader. You can flash rooted ROMs via the cable firmware update screen, and then use FlashFire to flash other ZIP updates like Xposed or themed variants (warning: very slow...).
With the European H815 version, you can also unlock the bootloader, but you'll lose warranty, and it can't be unlocked. But it'll allow you to flash "more AOSP" ROMs. (Official CM12 is work in progress, but there's an inofficial port available.)
How fast the software updates get released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android M at least has been announced for the G4. I guess it's hard to tell even by LG's developers, as it depends on the changes made by Google.
But then, the changes made since Android 4.1 aren't that impressive anyway IMHO, and several recent updates had some teething troubles, so maybe it's not so bad to wait a bit longer...