On audio call and camera - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra Questions & Answers

Hi guys,
Just sold my iPhone 6s Plus to come back to Droid.
During IFA in Berlin I felt in love with this Sony but many reviews are saying around the net: battery sucks, camera focus slow, in-call audio and music audio too low.
Can someone that got this phone give me some hint about this topic?
p.s. I can take it for about 270 like new.

ZetaKappa said:
Hi guys,
Just sold my iPhone 6s Plus to come back to Droid.
During IFA in Berlin I felt in love with this Sony but many reviews are saying around the net: battery sucks, camera focus slow, in-call audio and music audio too low.
Can someone that got this phone give me some hint about this topic?
p.s. I can take it for about 270 like new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there, I recently got my XA1 Ultra after owning the Xperia X for just over a year and before that I owned a Xperia Z2 for 2 years. The X was a premium mid ranger and really did like it, but could of been a lot better. Jumping ship to XA1 Ultra felt slightly weird (bigger screen and mediatek chipset) as the colours don't look as intense as they were on my X, as for the battery I have had some great sessions from the XA1U and I personally think that this is down to the Helio P20 being very efficient on the battery.
Make sure you don't have Facebook installed as this can be battery heavy (kills my battery on my X) and I also use Greenify to force close apps that are running in the background to save battery. I have also installed Battery Care from Sony which records your charging pattern and will charge upto 90% and hit 100% at the time you 'wake up' etc.
As for the camera I can't say I have used it a lot but have used it now and then, I believe it uses the same rear module from the Z5 (I may be wrong but sure a fellow user told me this). As always many camera can struggle in low light but this camera seems to try and overcome that which is quite good, also let's not forget the awesome front flash!
As for in call audio I've had absolutely no problems with this whatsoever, as for the music audio being too low I've listened to a few of my tracks on the single speaker built into the phone and it's not the best but it's fairly decent considering there is only one speaker...
My only concerns at the moment I think are software based:
1) Sound can go 'tinny' like for 5 seconds or so and revert back to normal (you can really notice it and happens a lot)
2) Sometimes when waking the device the screen won't wake therefore you will have to wait 10 seconds or so or continuously press the power button.
3) SystemUI has crashed on me a few times, but it's not regular but I have seen elsewhere other people suffering from the same problem.
4) When installing a downloaded APK from third party site i.e. APK Mirror, when you go to install and it offers to press next or cancel, it won't let you press next therefore you can't install the APK. You have to restart the device and then the next button will work.
Sent from my Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra using XDA Labs

Just took it today and it seems awesome!
Sometimes its a Little bit slow opening apps or switching apps...maybe is gonna be better with oreo...
Camera battery and audio really Good
Thanks for your Great opinions

Related

The HTC One

Hey guys I'm in need of an upgrade and I think the HTC One is the answer!
I was wondering if you could please give me feedback on your experience so far.
All I know about the cons like
Can't change battery
No SD card...
So how is the battery life etc??
Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app
Absolutely love the device.
The Zoe feature and camera UI is top notch. You can do some really neat things with photo editing that I haven't seen on other devices. Galleries and slideshows are very cool too. I love showing those off to people and they're always impressed.
The screen is absolutely gorgeous with great viewing angles.
The front facing speakers are as good as people hype them up. I feel like I'm listening to a mini Bose system when I use them.
The build quality/design is among the best in smartphones. Easily the sexiest device I've owned.
Battery life has been surprisingly tremendous for me. I only plug in at night and easily get through a day of pretty heavy usage. Typically have about 40 to 50% battery left by the end of the night. I do use the snapdragon battery app so maybe that helps a bit.
The storage space was a concern for me but I ordered a meenova and it should be on its way soon. The reviews I've read on those have been positive and I just received my 64gb microSD card which I'll use for my carefully curated music collection. That will free up the 32gb onboard for everything else.
m4rk0358 said:
Absolutely love the device.
The Zoe feature and camera UI is top notch. You can do some really neat things with photo editing that I haven't seen on other devices. Galleries and slideshows are very cool too. I love showing those off to people and they're always impressed.
The screen is absolutely gorgeous with great viewing angles.
The front facing speakers are as good as people hype them up. I feel like I'm listening to a mini Bose system when I use them.
The build quality/design is among the best in smartphones. Easily the sexiest device I've owned.
Battery life has been surprisingly tremendous for me. I only plug in at night and easily get through a day of pretty heavy usage. Typically have about 40 to 50% battery left by the end of the night. I do use the snapdragon battery app so maybe that helps a bit.
The storage space was a concern for me but I ordered a meenova and it should be on its way soon. The reviews I've read on those have been positive and I just received my 64gb microSD card which I'll use for my carefully curated music collection. That will free up the 32gb onboard for everything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery was my biggest concern prior to buying and I have been presently surprised at how good it's been. I agree with his assessment 100%.
m4rk0358 said:
Absolutely love the device.
The Zoe feature and camera UI is top notch. You can do some really neat things with photo editing that I haven't seen on other devices. Galleries and slideshows are very cool too. I love showing those off to people and they're always impressed.
The screen is absolutely gorgeous with great viewing angles.
The front facing speakers are as good as people hype them up. I feel like I'm listening to a mini Bose system when I use them.
The build quality/design is among the best in smartphones. Easily the sexiest device I've owned.
Battery life has been surprisingly tremendous for me. I only plug in at night and easily get through a day of pretty heavy usage. Typically have about 40 to 50% battery left by the end of the night. I do use the snapdragon battery app so maybe that helps a bit.
The storage space was a concern for me but I ordered a meenova and it should be on its way soon. The reviews I've read on those have been positive and I just received my 64gb microSD card which I'll use for my carefully curated music collection. That will free up the 32gb onboard for everything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
32gb is not enough storage for a phone? I'm curious what everyone is storing. I'm probably using less that 10gb currently. For music, I'll download an album here and there, but usually use pandora or stream from my amazon cloud.
For the OP, no problems so far. Battery life has been good. I don't try to let it run down, charge when I'm able, and haven't died yet. Looking at a portable battery pack just in case.
Phone is very smooth and fast, no problems streaming videos or playing intense games like asphalt 8.
nrfitchett4 said:
32gb is not enough storage for a phone? I'm curious what everyone is storing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a big time music aficionado and have a ton of music on my phone. I don't have unlimited data so streaming isn't really an option.
I have only had my for a few days but I get a full day of battery life without any issue. I am a fairly low to medium user, but on my droid3 I would have to plug in at the 10 hour mark.
Here is a screen shot of my first full day, medium use downloading apps and getting it all set up. Plus about a million speed tests.
I can vouch for battery life being great for such a beast of a device... My rezound with half the specs and extended battery pack has about the same life as my One with similar usage, but the one does it faster with a bigger screen.
And I think 32gb is adequate. I would love to have 64 or 128, but I never use more than 16 or so GB before I start cleaning storage out.
I love light and fast with a small footprint, so this phone rocks.
Sent from my Zune HD. Yeah, I still have one of those.
(EDIT) Since posting the below, including edits, I have come to the conclusion that my phone is indeed defective, and am having it replaced. I'll report back.
I love the phone, but there are three major problems that prevent me from recommending it, although I don't know what else to get.
1. The camera. It has problems with focus, and the interaction between focus and exposure settings. It's hard to get a sharp picture out of it at medium to long range, making it all but useless for landscape/distance shots. The default settings let in too much light outside in daylight, resulting in hazy shots; and the only way to get a blue sky or anything close to enough sharpness to even zoom in just a little is to over-darken the shot by notching down the exposure and contrast controls. Indoors, there's flaring of brighter areas, and oversensitivity to the purple spectrum, as well as near impossibility of getting sharp shots at any distance. The auto exposure control changes the exposure so jerkily it's devilish to control. The wide angle and aspects of the big pixels show a lot of promise (and I'll bet the iPhone 5s with its 8 "ultra pixels" will provide proof of concept), but the way it is, the camera sucks. HTC says they're aware of this and working on an update. Uh huh. How long has this phone been out now internationally?
2. The speakers. A major selling point of the phone, and rightly so, as they really do sound great - especially with Beats on, or you can get more volume with it off, if volume is a priority. But the speakers are out of balance, with the bottom (right) one louder than the left, and there's some phase weirdness. For those of us who notice these things - this phone's natural constituency - it's really annoying. HTC says they "haven't heard much about this", but are looking into it. Meanwhile, I went into a corporate Verizon store and every employee in there with any experience of the phone said, "Oh yeah, everybody knows about that," and proceeded to give me the most imbecilic, trumped up explanations you could ever imagine. The kicker was, "They have to make the top speaker softer because they use it as an earpiece for the phone function."
3. BLUETOOTH. Unfreakingbelievable. If it hasn't been connected since the phone was last turned off, it will connect to your car radio automatically, as long as Bluetooth on the phone is turned on BEFORE the car. (EDIT - Turns out this isn't always the case, and may depend on the particular car radio.) But once the connection is broken, it will not re-connect automatically. When you try to connect manually, it may or may not connect properly, or may need repeated tries, or connect media but not phone function, or it may show it has done both but actually hasn't. But regardless, although the phone's music player will play, internet radio type apps will not play over Bluetooth - and the call quality will be greatly degraded. The only fix is to turn the phone completely off and on again - with Fast Boot OFF; a soft restart will NOT fix it - whereupon everything works fine. (EDIT - The foregoing fix also does not always work. With my car (2012 Subaru Impreza Ltd.), once the connection is successfully made, Bluetooth can be turned off and on again on the phone, and it will connect without a problem. It is when the car has been turned off that reconnection becomes a problem. My iPhone 4 worked flawlessly with this car.)
I really don't think my particular phone is faulty, in all these ways, especially since it doesn't have any of the other problems people have been reporting, and works perfectly otherwise. But please, somebody, convince me that it is, and I'll go get another one! Any case, there's loads of people having these problems.
(EDIT - further investigation with a couple of actually honest and knowledgable Verizon people has reinforced my conclusions, including the "loads of people having these problems" part, objected to by the commenter below. The camera is decidedly sub-par, the speakers are not in balance, and the Bluetooth, apparently typically of HTC, is badly done. These sources also reinforce those on this board who indicate that rooting can solve or improve these issues.)
rickrobin said:
I love the phone, but there are three major problems that prevent me from recommending it, although I don't know what else to get.
1. The camera. It has problems with focus, and the interaction between focus and exposure settings. It's hard to get a sharp picture out of it at medium to long range, making it all but useless for landscape/distance shots. The default settings let in too much light outside in daylight, resulting in hazy shots; and the only way to get a blue sky or anything close to enough sharpness to even zoom in just a little is to over-darken the shot by notching down the exposure and contrast controls. Indoors, there's flaring of brighter areas, and oversensitivity to the purple spectrum, as well as near impossibility of getting sharp shots at any distance. The auto exposure control changes the exposure so jerkily it's devilish to control. The wide angle and aspects of the big pixels show a lot of promise (and I'll bet the iPhone 5s with its 8 "ultra pixels" will provide proof of concept), but the way it is, the camera sucks. HTC says they're aware of this and working on an update. Uh huh. How long has this phone been out now internationally?
2. The speakers. A major selling point of the phone, and rightly so, as they really do sound great - especially with Beats on, or you can get more volume with it off, if volume is a priority. But the speakers are out of balance, with the bottom (right) one louder than the left, and there's some phase weirdness. For those of us who notice these things - this phone's natural constituency - it's really annoying. HTC says they "haven't heard much about this", but are looking into it. Meanwhile, I went into a corporate Verizon store and every employee in there with any experience of the phone said, "Oh yeah, everybody knows about that," and proceeded to give me the most imbecilic, trumped up explanations you could ever imagine. The kicker was, "They have to make the top speaker softer because they use it as an earpiece for the phone function."
3. BLUETOOTH. Unfreakingbelievable. If it hasn't been connected since the phone was last turned off, it will connect to your car radio automatically, as long as Bluetooth on the phone is turned on BEFORE the car. But once the connection is broken, it will not re-connect automatically. When you try to connect manually, it may or may not connect, or may need repeated tries, or connect media but not phone function, or it may show it has done both but actually hasn't. But regardless, although the phone's music player will play, internet radio type apps will not play over Bluetooth - and the call quality will be greatly degraded. The only fix is to turn the phone completely off and on again - a soft restart will NOT fix it - whereupon everything works fine.
I really don't think my particular phone is faulty, in all these ways, especially since it doesn't have any of the other problems people have been reporting, and works perfectly otherwise. But please, somebody, convince me that it is, and I'll go get another one! Any case, there's loads of people having these problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using the words loads isnt really accurate... The vocal majority are almost always having issues. Also realize that such a small percentage of the user base go to xda. Personally I don't see many of the issues you are having. If you look for cows youll see cows...
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using xda app-developers app
Have not had any of the op s problems with my one.
Sent from my 4G LTE HTC One
HTC One S-OFF = Best Phone Ever Made:

P6 everyday use - experience

Hi!
I would like to kindly ask if anyone can give me some input on how this Huawei Ascen P6 is behaving in everyday use? I have an option to get it as my work phone and would really like to know if this is a stable phone, or does start to behave poorly as previous Huawei Honor started to, after some use.
I have an option to get Nokia 925, Glaxy S4 Mini, Xperia SP and Huawei P6.
Thanks for your opinions.
Best regards,
D
dejkoman said:
Hi!
I would like to kindly ask if anyone can give me some input on how this Huawei Ascen P6 is behaving in everyday use? I have an option to get it as my work phone and would really like to know if this is a stable phone, or does start to behave poorly as previous Huawei Honor started to, after some use.
I have an option to get Nokia 925, Glaxy S4 Mini, Xperia SP and Huawei P6.
Thanks for your opinions.
Best regards,
D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using the ascend p6 for the past 2 3 months. I am using the stock emotion ui with very heavy modifications using xposed framework and also a custom launcher.
So far I am very impressed with its performance. Emotion ui is a very well made rom with really smooth and nice animations (i love eye candy ). I haven't noticed any lag on my phone yet. Battery life is not exceptional but not disappointing as well. I can go through the day with normal usage without having to recharge (My normal usage includes frequent phone calls, not much internet browsing but a lot of music playing). You can play all normal games quite well though games with extremely heavy graphic requirements might lag (I never play such games on a mobile). Sound quality is also pretty good and it comes with dolby digital enhancements. Using iphone earphones on the p6 gives amazing sound quality.
So far the only problem I have noticed is a slight heating up on the top part of the phone which i have heard may be resolved with the kitkat update.
When compared to the others, I would choose the huawei hands down. It has better specs, emui is an amazing rom and finally it is one damn beautiful phone.. exceptionally beautiful!!!
It's very good, and the B125 update is very smooth.
Takes a day or two to settle down, then, very easy use, a pleasure to hold, screen very silky.
Only thing is you have to play with your battery life a little... Every night charge!
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using XDA Premium HD app
Had the phone since August last year, with various stock roms and a few beta's, currently on B122, not upgrading again till the official KK one comes out. I liked it initially, but things are starting to annoy me now.
The back panel is very easily scratched/scuffed for one, not from dropping but just sitting on a desk, in empty pocket etc. I never have a cover on my phones but do stick on a screen protector mind you. Also the silver edging at the top is marked, again from being in an empty pocket, and just general use.
The little pin thats in the audio jack is a pain, had to hunt about for it countless times after wanting to plug my headphones in, now lost.
The audio sound is very very low, sometimes not even audible if surrounding noise is high. I have some beats in ear headphones that work perfectly with everything else, but not this.
the camera is garbage, takes too long to snap and the focus is terrible, on all varying settings. Been the same on every rom ive tested. At the moment with 2 young kids its pretty much joint top of my list of most important features.
Apart from the above the hardware seems to be fairly decent, I like the size and the feel of the phone, but just seems to be a bit lacking now.
Battery is ok, but feel its a constant fight to keep it lasting longer than a day. I like the profile settings software, so have it all turned off at night, which helps make it last longer, but if I use wifi or have the screen on watching videos etc it plummets rapidly.
Software is ok, few things they dont do as well as some others, but few they do.
Wife recently bought the moto g and if it wasn't for the fact its only 16gb with no expandable storage i'd be getting that (I have a lot of music on a sd card ). For the money its head and shoulders above this.
All in all its been a fairly decent phone, but one i'll look to be replacing soon. Probably for the same price or cheaper than I got his sim free.
I'm sure all of the above could be fixed by rooting, doing this, doing that, but to be honest I dont have time or patience to do all that, and shouldnt really have to.
Anyway, that's my thoughts, few some people might find it useful, sure some will be offended. hey ho.
Everyday use:
Phone(Talk/SMS):10/8
Media:
Make(Video record):10/5(Laggy,cheap sound quality ,cheap video quality)
Make(Photo):10/7
Music(After europian volume boost trick)10/7
Wathch(Video)10/10 not problem me.(Im try many video version(mov,mkv,etc)
Game:10/4 Very poor:first problem many,many game run laggyas hell..And many not supported.
Net:10/8.
Batttery:10/7(Heavy use 1.5 day)
EtcLike huawei services)10/8
From the choices you have, p6 is the best as an all rounder. The xperia sp might beat p6 over GPU, while Nokia 925 got LTE.
But you need to mention your phone usage habits and make sure your important needs fall within it. Everyone got different usage habits so their experiences cannot guarantee everything.
Phone calls & sms: 10/10 have not encountered any problems
Video recording: 7/10 Video has very washed out colours and there used to be glitches when Stabilizer was enabled on JB roms, on KitKat this problem seems to have been fixed. Sometimes unconsistant fps range, especially on JB roms, seems fixed on KK.
Photos: 8/10 The sony imx134 sensor is okay, altough it gets rather grainy at even ~400iso, the quality of the lens is also low. Auto wb works perfectly, focusing takes abit more time than other flagship devices. Most of these problems have to do with software & driver optimization.
Music: 5/10 Audio quality is not the greatest, the audio jack also has some problems with some plugs.
Watching video: 10/10 Obviously it cant play 4K (interestingly enough, the 4K plays at the same tempo as on the snapdragon 600 phones), but 1080p and 720p run absolutely fine, havent had any problems
Gaming: 4/10 Not good, phone tends give off alot of heat and causes throttling
Internet surfing: 10/10 on JB, 6/10 on KK The problem with browsing in KK is not really device specific, the Chrome engine it uses instead of webkit just is slow and laggy on every phone. Dolphin Browser uses a modified webkit engine(like on JB) which runs well on KK and it also has support for flash which is not supported in KK by Chrome.
Battery: 7/10 The battery varies alot, I remember having the phone on 20% of battery in the end of the day, nowadays I end the day with 60%, could be the KK rom but I am not sure about it. Or could also be because the weather here has gone warmer
Emotion UI: 1/10 Horrible, it runs like crap even on their own devices compared to AOSP ui, huge lack of dark themes. Just an unpleasant eyekiller in the dark because everything is lightgrey and lightblue. You would also expect to have 60fps animations for simple thing like for example pulling down the notification center and scrolling through the settings menu, even phones with quite abit weaker hardware, but better optimization, manage to keep this at 60fps!
Basically most of the issues have to do with the optimization of the GPU
It runs stable, but for a work phone the S4 Mini will most likely work better.
The camera quality in the right lighting is better than a Sony Z1 !!! I compared the exact same photos taken by my P6 and my friends Z1. I could not beleve it !
If youll mainly use p6 for work, its the perfect fit. Fast and stable. I use mine for daily emails, web browsing etc.. Well what really sealed the deal is its beauty. Would choose p6 over any other phone for its design alone.
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using xda app-developers app
skyp6user said:
If youll mainly use p6 for work, its the perfect fit. Fast and stable. I use mine for daily emails, web browsing etc.. Well what really sealed the deal is its beauty. Would choose p6 over any other phone for its design alone.
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
amen to that

[Q] Htc Desire 820 vs Samsung Galaxy S4

Hello! I have mega trouble, because I want to buy new phone. My current phone is Sony Xperia SP. Since the new phone I demand smooth operation, good quality camera and good speaker. I hesitate because I do not know which phone plays louder and who has a better camera. I read that HTC has a problem with noise during recording and it made me very worried. Nor do I know that your phone better talking. I always wanted to have a HTC, but now in the current situation, I was a little offended. My situation is that I have no choice other phones.
Thanks and I greet they all
Richard15 said:
Hello! I have mega trouble, because I want to buy new phone. My current phone is Sony Xperia SP. Since the new phone I demand smooth operation, good quality camera and good speaker. I hesitate because I do not know which phone plays louder and who has a better camera. I read that HTC has a problem with noise during recording and it made me very worried. Nor do I know that your phone better talking. I always wanted to have a HTC, but now in the current situation, I was a little offended. My situation is that I have no choice other phones.
Thanks and I greet they all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had s4 and bought htc now. Let me put it in short story:
s4:
- **** laggy software
- great camera
- bad sound system
- nice colorful screen, but small
- good that buttons are not on screen
- removable battery
this htc:
- great super fast software
- colorful screen, little difference to s4, s4 has more aturated colors
- big screen
- bad that buttons are on screen
- super great speakers
- no removable battery
- nice power saving options
- super fast procesor-64 bit, which is the ffuture of processors and will be even faste in android 5.0
This is it for now. If you dont mind big phone and you want great performance, then definitly but htc. If you want crappy housing smaller phone, with better screen and camera, than buy s4. But s4 is realy outdated. Ask more if you want
Thanks! You say that the HTC plays better than samsung, you can estimate how much?
The battery keeps better in HTC?
How does the quality of calls on both phones?
Do u you there is noise on recordings from a microphone?
Thanks! You say that the HTC plays better than samsung, you can estimate how much? Yes, htc has 2 front speakers, s4 has one small on the back
The battery keeps better in HTC? Yes, you even have power saving mode, and i dont see any difference in performance with power saving on or off, just more battery
How does the quality of calls on both phones? hmm, dont know realy, i dont talk much. Didnt notice any diff
Do u you there is noise on recordings from a microphone? not realy, tried to record myself and not problems
It reminded me of another question. If you are using throttling phenomenon occurs?

User Review

Hey M5 user,
Could you provide your personal opinion on this device or probably a review, stating the pros and cons and expecting future updates and improvement.
So as to help me potential M5 buyer make the decision to purchase this phone.
Hello,
What? I thought you have it already
Here,
Best newly developed 21mp fastest camera, its true. The front 13mp camera is also awesome. You can use both cameras in one photo. You can say the camera is 2nd in line after the Z5 premium's camera. 4k video recording is awesome. If you are adding a memory card, get a very high speed memory card like samsung evo+ or Samsung Pro, which will help you take longer 4k videos, and the operations wont heat the device.
The brightness of the screen is very balanced. By adjusting the brightness from low to High, it wont loose any colors and contrast. just adjust according to your light conditions.
The sound(which is not specified anywhere on the official website) is best, like other premium Xperias.
Bluetooth, WiFi, network very fast.
Calling experience is awesome. You wont hear any surrounding disturbances through the microphone.
There are a some preloaded apps like Kindle, Linkedin etc that you will have to remove if you dont use.
The battery drain is an issue. We will have to wait for root unlocking of the boot loader and take total control over it. But the Stamina mode is awesome. just drains 1/2% or 1% of battery over night in stamina mode. It didn't even allow Google Play Services to load in the background. Then there is a Ultra Stamina mode which disables more features so seriously that it has to restart the phone when you deactivate it. It comes with the same 850mah charger that came with the old phones like xperia Tipo. You will need to get fast charger if you dont want to wait for 3.5 hours for charging(from 0% to 100%). Even a small portable power bank cuts down the charging time to less than 2.5 hours.
Good thing is they are no more selling our privacy to Facebook. They have pre-installed Facebook but it is removable, and no other facebook junk apps and widgets. If you remove facebook, make sure you also disable the 'Xperia for Facebook' background process.
Well if this is your budget, then xperia M5 is best for you. or else get z5 for much higher budget.
Will let you know after finding out more goodies in it.
Ketansa said:
Hello,
What? I thought you have it already
Here,
Best newly developed 21mp fastest camera, its true. The front 13mp camera is also awesome. You can use both cameras in one photo. You can say the camera is 2nd in line after the Z5 premium's camera. 4k video recording is awesome. If you are adding a memory card, get a very high speed memory card like samsung evo+ or Samsung Pro, which will help you take longer 4k videos, and the operations wont heat the device.
The brightness of the screen is very balanced. By adjusting the brightness from low to High, it wont loose any colors and contrast. just adjust according to your light conditions.
The sound(which is not specified anywhere on the official website) is best, like other premium Xperias.
Bluetooth, WiFi, network very fast.
Calling experience is awesome. You wont hear any surrounding disturbances through the microphone.
There are a some preloaded apps like Kindle, Linkedin etc that you will have to remove if you dont use.
The battery drain is an issue. We will have to wait for root unlocking of the boot loader and take total control over it. But the Stamina mode is awesome. just drains 1/2% or 1% of battery over night in stamina mode. It didn't even allow Google Play Services to load in the background. Then there is a Ultra Stamina mode which disables more features so seriously that it has to restart the phone when you deactivate it. It comes with the same 850mah charger that came with the old phones like xperia Tipo. You will need to get fast charger if you dont want to wait for 3.5 hours for charging(from 0% to 100%). Even a small portable power bank cuts down the charging time to less than 2.5 hours.
Good thing is they are no more selling our privacy to Facebook. They have pre-installed Facebook but it is removable, and no other facebook junk apps and widgets. If you remove facebook, make sure you also disable the 'Xperia for Facebook' background process.
Well if this is your budget, then xperia M5 is best for you. or else get z5 for much higher budget.
Will let you know after finding out more goodies in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Ketansa for sharing, i experienced lag when taking photo with the demo unit. Please advise do you still encounter it when taking photo using your device.
If you are coming from Samsung I think the camera can be considered laggy, I come from Nexus 5, so the camera experience is much better for me on this phone. And with the 1.33 update, the PDAF seems more consistent. So I am overall happy with the camera, there's some flare issue though which I need to test more. There's too much haze around this area now so I don't have a good way to test the camera.
I am also trying out to figure out the battery issue manually. I have:
1. Whatsapp
2. Hangouts
3. LG G Watch
4. WiFi always on
5. Mobile Data Always on
Then I turned off/uninstalled the following:
1. Facebook
2. Facebook Messenger
3. Google Fit
4. Google Now
5. Location History
6. Auto-Sync (I only enable this when charging).
Quite happy with the battery, I will still have like 60% battery after 14 hours off charger, with around 1.5 hours screen on time.
Going to try re-enabling the stuffs one by one and see which one is the real battery drain.
what about shutter lag?
[email protected] said:
Thank you Ketansa for sharing, i experienced lag when taking photo with the demo unit. Please advise do you still encounter it when taking photo using your device.
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Hello,
No absolutely non-laggy in the final product. And it is the fastest among other brands that I have checked.
There is a new update. It solves the battery issue.
Also turn off the Android System WebView (its a resource and battery hog), you will see much difference.
Shutter lag is still there, for me, before and after the update to 1.33. Basically if you are moving, or the subject is moving, the photo is definitely not taken at the point you press and release the shutter, there's at least a 1 second delay.
More questions, it have support to OTG?,HDMI wired?Stereo speakers?,sound improvements like SDEE,xloud,clear phase,S-force.?.,image improvents like Bravia2,x-reality?,have front flash and dual rear flash ?Antutu Score?
Is the DSEE HX present? Possible to play high resolution audio?
I just brought the phone to repair as I am not able to charge the phone after using it for 2 weeks, the service center help changing hardwares in 3 days (good service), but the whole log of goods seem to have hardware issues, as the CS whisper (loud enough to let me hear) to herself that she getting many users complaint on mobile failures.
Battery have heat issue while charging and discharging imo.
Algebra the Bard
I have the phone for a week and here's my impressions:
My older phone was xperia z2 (it was stolen, that's why i have a m5 now) and seems to me the m5 is quite fast, has a better screen than z2, speakers are louder and the rear camera is obviously great.
The only thing worse comparing to z2 is the battery. But for me the battery phone handles a full day.
After the Z1 and Z2 I can just say I love the M5. I mean, at that price, IP68, fast and fluid, awesome cameras, stylish etc... why go again for a much more expensive Z Series? for the 0,25ms faster shutter and fingeprint reader? Really?
Only downside I see right now is the low participation of Custom Rom ...
jamespmi said:
After the Z1 and Z2 I can just say I love the M5. I mean, at that price, IP68, fast and fluid, awesome cameras, stylish etc... why go again for a much more expensive Z Series? for the 0,25ms faster shutter and fingeprint reader? Really?
Only downside I see right now is the low participation of Custom Rom ...
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Click to collapse
Wait a few months and developers will eventually find themselves here.
the kernel of M5 is open sourced, so anyone can do a custom kernel (TWRP)
Kizoky said:
Wait a few months and developers will eventually find themselves here.
the kernel of M5 is open sourced, so anyone can do a custom kernel (TWRP)
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Is the kernel open sourced? I can't find the kernel source on Xperia Open Source Archives.
Is there any prevision of when m5 devices will receive the android 6.0?
aidfarh said:
Is the kernel open sourced? I can't find the kernel source on Xperia Open Source Archives.
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I don't know. You can always ask sony to release the source code to public
jonathangrag said:
Is there any prevision of when m5 devices will receive the android 6.0?
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good question, z5 devices have not only got MM but they have already received an UPDATE to it as well!!
Not compactible with VR Box or Google Cardboard. :'(
[email protected] said:
Hey M5 user,
Could you provide your personal opinion on this device or probably a review, stating the pros and cons and expecting future updates and improvement.
So as to help me potential M5 buyer make the decision to purchase this phone.
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[B']I have got a google cardboard and I was really willing to use with my phone. Sadly sony M series and C series are not compactible with VR effects. :'( [/B]

Is it worth buying this phone at 135$ or ~INR.9999 in 2018?

My main use is camera, video recording, custom ROMs, viper4android and an excellent display. So it it still worth buying today? What problems/limitations do you face with this phone?
thecool_guy2 said:
My main use is camera, video recording, custom ROMs, viper4android and an excellent display. So it it still worth buying today? What problems/limitations do you face with this phone?
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Click to collapse
Nope. Not sure your carrier but if i wasn't on this phone I would spend a little extra and get a pixel. If camera is priority, go Samsung, maybe lg.
My phone, and my wife's z2, can barely multi-task without rebooting below 60% on battery. I used to stick with Moto but not any more.
Good luck
I have had the phone for a few days. Display is nice. But the camera reminds me of my Galaxy S3...a 2012 phone.
I think it's a steal at that price for a new phone. If you are not going to try the mods it's a good phone but the Z series main strength is the mods and that's where you can improve the camera (360 or zoom) and improve the battery and so on...
Battery life is great. Better than my former flagship HTC 10. Definitely worth buying as a secondary phone at that cheap price.
so i am the only one happy with the phone? with the battery mod i get 2 to 3 days with one charge, i mainly use it for facebook instagram and games with the gamepad, a couple 10 mins video call a day,music stream with various apps, online banking tickets management and the usual stuff you do with your phone nowadays.. multitasking is great and i haven´t had a reboot yet..i bought it for 200ish and i think this is already a great price, 135$ would be a no go for me. the z3 is 400ish where i am in EU and lacks the 3,5 jack. plus it´s super thin, sure camera isn´t the best but it does the job..it´s working great with the dual sim. i´m on stock oreo as i´m too afraid to go custom rom losing mods support...what do you guys use your phone for?
inaroom said:
so i am the only one happy with the phone? with the battery mod i get 2 to 3 days with one charge, i mainly use it for facebook instagram and games with the gamepad, a couple 10 mins video call a day,music stream with various apps, online banking tickets management and the usual stuff you do with your phone nowadays.. multitasking is great and i haven´t had a reboot yet..i bought it for 200ish and i think this is already a great price, 135$ would be a no go for me. the z3 is 400ish where i am in EU and lacks the 3,5 jack. plus it´s super thin, sure camera isn´t the best but it does the job..it´s working great with the dual sim. i´m on stock oreo as i´m too afraid to go custom rom losing mods support...what do you guys use your phone for?
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Click to collapse
Agreed, it is thin and feels light for its size. I put on a 10g Mofi case for extra grip.
Bought for $US170 to use as a secondary phone (mainly internet browsing and Spotify Bluetooth streaming). Very happy. The screen looks like a Samsung.
I bought this phone two months ago, and I enjoy it every day, I love it. Beautiful screen, fast enough for everything I do on a phone, great battery life and it will get Android P. I can recommend this device for sure.

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