It's time for me to upgrade my Verizon line. In have narrowed down my choices to 3 phones. Here is the list of phones and price.
LG G3 $50
Sony Xperia Z3V $100
Galaxy Note 4 $200
Please let me know if you have owned any of these phones and what you think of them! Thank you.
Anyone have feedback on these phones from their personal experience?
Got the Xperia...awesome phone so far if anyone was wondering!
Should've went with the Note or G3. I have the Xperia Z3v at the moment and I got bored of it quick.
No root will be available anytime soon, even with that, good luck ever unlocking the boot loader. Battery life isn't as good as advertised and its basically an Xperia Z2, just re-named.
mikaeldalc said:
I have the Xperia Z3v at the moment and I got bored of it quick.
....Battery life isn't as good as advertised and its basically an Xperia Z2, just re-named.
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Actually, IMHO the Z3v is more like a Z3 trapped in a Z2 case. It has the same processor, RAM, and GPU as the Z3. The camera is basically the same except the Z3 has a slight bump in extremely high ISO capability. The screen is slightly brighter on the Z3 but the Z3v is not dim...I cant even use it over 50% without burning out my eyes. The Z3v also has dual stereo speakers and Qi charging. Basically you can't lose with either device so it doesn't matter what you call it... It all comes down design aesthetics and I happen to like the Z3v. I can't switch to a different carrier so the Z3 isn't even an option for me. lol
As far as battery life, since I've had it when it launched in October, I've never gotten less than 7 hours actual screen on time, easily averaging over 8. The most I got was 11 hours screen time. I charge mine nightly but a couple times I tested the longevity....got 48 hours 19 minutes uptime with 6 hours 50 minutes screen time. Another time I got 42 hours uptime and 7 hours 15 minutes of screen time.
The Z3v has far exceeded my expectation in the battery department... I have never once used any of the stamina modes.
I was thinking of getting Z5 but have been kinda put off by initial user reviews. It sounds like the Z3 has better performance and battery life, while the Z5 has a fingerprint scanner and better camera.
Has anyone gone from a Z3 to Z5 that can comment on which one they find better?
Also will Sony's new camera update come to Z3 in November as well?
jamespat93 said:
I was thinking of getting Z5 but have been kinda put off by initial user reviews. It sounds like the Z3 has better performance and battery life, while the Z5 has a fingerprint scanner and better camera.
Has anyone gone from a Z3 to Z5 that can comment on which one they find better?
Also will Sony's new camera update come to Z3 in November as well?
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Having had both phones the fantastic battery life is the only thing i miss from the z3, i prefer everything else on the Z5
RCJ89 said:
Having had both phones the battery life is the only thing i miss from the z3
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How much worse is it?
RCJ89 said:
Having had both phones the fantastic battery life is the only thing i miss from the z3, i prefer everything else on the Z5
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What about performance? I've seen people say the Z5 has a laggy stock rom? How is it compared to Z3?
TordFuglstad said:
How much worse is it?
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So settings are auto brightness with brightness bar around 20% nd using stamina mode, all apps closed and wifi off only 4G on and this would be the same for both phones.
Friday night/saturday morning I took my phone off charge around 1 am woke up at 9.15am and battery drained 1% compared to the usual zero % on z3 so i thought not bad, from 10am I used the internet via wifi and the battery just started to dip I was like my gosh the Z3 is not like this. from 11 I was on the phone to my cousin who now has my Z3 I spoke to him for 45mins, I got to work and my battery was 89% & I did a 8 hour shift from 12pm wiith 4G on alll the time as I sometimes use my phone for a translator or if i need to check anything, at 5pm battery went down to 80% I went on lunch for 45mins and was using the internet and phone calls again for around 20mins battery dipped to 69%(it drops quite quickly on the internet, after that I turned my internet off by the time i finished work and left at 8.30pm i had 65% now when i was using the Z3 during the same 8 hour period, same usage I would have left work with around 82%.
On Average when I am at work my Z3 battery would last me 3 days easily as I dont have much time during the day to use the phone, on a day off when i use it more then 2 days or just under. With the Z5 it is a definately a day less battery in each scenario. Depending on Z5 Premium battery I might actually just trade my Z5 for the premium tbh as I feel I really need to 'baby' the Z5 to get good battery and I didn't have to do that with the Z3.
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jamespat93 said:
What about performance? I've seen people say the Z5 has a laggy stock rom? How is it compared to Z3?
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No such issues here mate, smooth as silk and despite benchmarsk etc this thing is a damn site faster than my Galaxy S6 now thats what you call lag and don't even get me started on my Note 4.
I do have a few issues with my Z5 though and I will be returning it for a new one tomorrow is when I connect it to my laptop to transfer my files, it starts going crazy it keeps connecting/disconnecting and when it does stay connected I then get a message saying Z5 busy when I am trying to transfer files and finally sometimes it wont recognize headphones and i have to plug/unplug then or twist the headphones around in the jack to gain connection.
RCJ89 said:
No such issues here mate, smooth as silk and despite benchmarsk etc this thing is a damn site faster than my Galaxy S6 now thats what you call lag and don't even get me started on my Note 4.
I do have a few issues with my Z5 though and I will be returning it for a new one tomorrow is when I connect it to my laptop to transfer my files, it starts going crazy it keeps connecting/disconnecting and when it does stay connected I then get a message saying Z5 busy when I am trying to transfer files and finally sometimes it wont recognize headphones and i have to plug/unplug then or twist the headphones around in the jack to gain connection.
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Wow that's great then, heard differently from others but I guess I'll try and take a look at a store to see for myself. Haha yeah I had a G3 and that was the definition of lag.
Dam those problems sound annoying, how long have you had it for? For the first problem you could try a factory reset but the second problem sounds like a hardware fault.
Also are the camera and speakers much better than the Z3's?
RCJ89 said:
Having had both phones the fantastic battery life is the only thing i miss from the z3, i prefer everything else on the Z5
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I have both phones though I have CM12 on the Z3. It's hard to make a comparison as the Z3 has root and that has a lot of pluses. The issue I had with the Z3 is the charging flap is a pain and I never really could find a magnetic charging solution that I really liked.
From my perspective two big pluses of the Z5 are:
- position of charging point (and lack of flap)
- Qualcomm 2.0 charging
I'm not convinced the battery life on the Z5 will be all that bad once i get root. Right now it is hit or miss so far.
You know that the z3 also has quick charge 2.0, right?
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app
ghfatw said:
I have both phones though I have CM12 on the Z3. It's hard to make a comparison as the Z3 has root and that has a lot of pluses. The issue I had with the Z3 is the charging flap is a pain and I never really could find a magnetic charging solution that I really liked.
From my perspective two big pluses of the Z5 are:
- position of charging point (and lack of flap)
- Qualcomm 2.0 charging
I'm not convinced the battery life on the Z5 will be all that bad once i get root. Right now it is hit or miss so far.
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How are you finding the performance of the Z5? Better or worse than the Z3?
jamespat93 said:
Wow that's great then, heard differently from others but I guess I'll try and take a look at a store to see for myself. Haha yeah I had a G3 and that was the definition of lag.
Dam those problems sound annoying, how long have you had it for? For the first problem you could try a factory reset but the second problem sounds like a hardware fault.
Also are the camera and speakers much better than the Z3's?
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Yes definitely can't argue with performance amazing.
I got the phone on friday morning and thank I tried that and still same issue so I will return it today and get a new one.
Camera is miles better than the z3 infact camera was one of my biggest gripes regarding the z3 along with the audio volume in headphones both are far better on the z5.
As for loud speaker it is marginally better than the z3 not much but i prefer the placement of the speaker on the z5 much better, I didn't like on the z3 aesthetically.
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ghfatw said:
I have both phones though I have CM12 on the Z3. It's hard to make a comparison as the Z3 has root and that has a lot of pluses. The issue I had with the Z3 is the charging flap is a pain and I never really could find a magnetic charging solution that I really liked.
From my perspective two big pluses of the Z5 are:
- position of charging point (and lack of flap)
- Qualcomm 2.0 charging
I'm not convinced the battery life on the Z5 will be all that bad once i get root. Right now it is hit or miss so far.
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Battery definately isnt as bad as some review have made out but it not near z3 levels either and I dont root my phones until after a while.
To chip in, as another user coming from the Z3 to the Z5 I wholeheartedly agree with RCJ89's comments.
I'm very happy to have upgraded to the z5 from the z3
Naffets said:
To chip in, as another user coming from the Z3 to the Z5 I wholeheartedly agree with RCJ89's comments.
I'm very happy to have upgraded to the z5 from the z3
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So you aren't having any performance issues either? How are you finding the battery life compared to Z3?
Upgraded here as well from a Z3 and it's been great so far. The battery life is probably about 15% shorter (at least for my usual routine). My battery is at 23% right now (8:25pm). I unplugged it from the charger at 6:30am. The Z3 would be at 35% at this time. Not too bad when compared to my work Samsung Note 4 that usually dies at 3:30pm.
Wow, I'm amazed by comments here... I bought Z5 2 weeks ago and I have couple inputs versus Z3 :
Minuses:
-Display is worse than in Z3, please run on both some FHD YT video i.e. "Lean On", display in Z3 is far far sharper! Please look on carpets or any other details in mentioned video. (I don't know how to increase sharpness of Z5 display, even with root). Also contrast is better in Z3 (faces in the same video). Really annoying, I'm professional photographer so I noticed this in seconds... Maybe Sony tried to "force" people to purchase Premium version, which I guess has much better sharpness and contrast, but this is dirty playing. ;/
-External speakers are worse. Z3 speakers are playing more clean.
-No magnetic socket... Im wondering what will happen with USB socket after 1y...
-Missed some functions, maybe this is Lollipop vs. Kitkat issue (I still have KK with root on Z3) i.e. "smart rotate" which I liked in Z3.
-Battery... Like it was mentioned, standard scenario with Z3 was around 3 days, with Z5 is 2 days... disappointing.
Pluses:
+ Camera, especially autofocus, this is really amazing. I'm impressed.
+ Fingerprint reader, very comroftable...
I will not compare performance, because I didn't found any perf issues on Z3 itself and on any game, so even if Z5 is more powerful I didn't noticed it. Hard decision for me, probably I will sold Z5 or wait for EOY to some update, if Sony will not increase display sharpness and contrast I will back to Z3. BTW, on both I'm using "X-reality" but in fact I checked all options, simple need to increase sharpness like we have such option in any PC display... If someone know how to do this on Xperia I will be grateful.
EDIT: I updated firmware and it seems screen is almost identical right now to Z3, contrast increased, sharpness also. Still there is noticable difference when we compare two displays (Z3 slightly sharper) however, now its really good. Annoying is adaptive light, it completly cannot set proper brightness - even if I have brightness slide to max in shadow it is too dark... Obviously in full light is ok, but it looks like brightness slider completly doesnt work... ****ty programmers.
I have used the Z3 for a year and currently using the Z5 for over a month, here are my few cents (both devices I used are completely stock, they are not rooted or BL unlocked):
Appearance
No doubt the Z5 looks stunning and much better than Z3. Z5 extremely feels much better to hold than Z3 because of the flatter sides which reminds me of the original Z. On the Z5, there is a black frame on the front which I thought it was going to be a hassle to hold but I was wrong. The phone feels great in hands. One thing I extremely dislike is that they removed the charging dock on the Z5, instead they replaced it with the flapless USB port which is cool but not convenient. I wash my Z3 often but I can quickly wipe the phone dry and charge it with the docking port. However, on the Z5, I have to wait till the USB port is dry before I can charge which is annoying because it may take up to an hour for the port to dry. I do prefer the placement of the volume rocker on the Z3, its not much of a big deal on the Z5 though but may take some time to get used to.
Finger print reader/power button
I don’t use the power button often like little to none on both devices. The finger print reader is somewhat a hit or miss depending if my finger is wet or dry. Dry of course is much easier, but when my finger is sweaty it may not work after 5 tries. It’s a bonus to have the finger print reader but I am not extremely “wow” by it on the Z5. Its fast though just not as accurate as I hope it would, haven’t tried wet fingers on the iPhone 6S or Samsung S6 though so cant complain here. Sony also went with a flatter power button/finger print reader which sometimes i find myself not scanning my finger on the right place. The sides are flat and the reader is also flat, so if you're not looking you might miss it. Not a big deal though as the power button is slightly dented in.
Battery Performance
The 200 mAh difference makes a huge battery performance difference. I used to get 1~1.5 days on my Z3 whereas on the Z5 I have found myself repeatedly charging throughout the day. This depends on my usage, on light usage I may require to charge once during the half the day for a short period of time, but on heavy I might charge twice or once for a longer period of time. Keep in mind I do not charge my devices over night. I usually keep it at 100% before I unplug and go to sleep. I have purchased Quick Chargers 2.0 for home and car usage, so I can easily get throughout the day without a sweat. And NO quick charge 2.0 does not work on Z3. I think it only works on Japanese Version of Z3. If you do not own a quick charger and then getting throughout one day would be a problem on the Z5. And believe me, Quick charge 2.0 makes a difference, I hated how I had to wait to charge on the Z3 because it will take forever. Rumours say Android 6.0 will make the battery performance much better on the Z5, who knows….
CPU Heat
The rumours regarding the S810 chip is true. I do find the Z5 heating up faster than my Z3 under heavy and light usage. Now, Sony may have added two heat pipes into the Z5 so the back isn’t as “hot” as some people have described. To me, it is “warm” sitting around 42 degrees Celsius (max). Keep in mind that I live in Vancouver, the weather here is much cooler at the moment. Don’t know about summer, will have to wait till next year.
Display
The screens on both devices aren’t superior but decent for the human eyes. The Z3 has a cooler colour (blue-ish tone), whereas the Z5 is much warmer (reddish tone). But it doesn’t matter as much as you can adjust the screen colour in the settings. Both devices aren’t as bright under the sun. I haven’t encounter a device that is bright enough lol. Aside from the colours both screens pretty much looks identical.
Performance
Both devices perform extremely well under almost any circumstances. It is buttery smooth throughout the whole OS. I had fully encrypted both devices, including the SD card. The difference is the 4 (32 bit) vs 8 cores (64 bit). I find the Z3 load up apps a bit faster than the Z5 due to the higher clock speeds. But the Z5 performs better on multitasking when switching between apps due to the cores. The only issue I have is the “clear all button” on the Z5 recent task menu, it lags there even on the newest update. Not a big issue but I hope they fix it.
Camera
I am not a professional photographer so I cannot comment much on this. But base on my average use as an average consumer, I do find the Z5 produce slightly better images than the Z3. I currently have a defected camera on the Z5 so I am not going to go into details.
Audio
The audio quality on the Z3 is better than the Z5. I say this because I use the speakers a lot. On both devices I find the top speaker to be slightly louder than the bottom. The Z3 produce a much deeper and clearer sound (more bass?) in compared to Z5. In terms of loudness, they are roughly the same.
Overall, there are pros and cons on both devices and it really depends if you want to the new look and finger print scanner on the Z5. Or whether you have the money to burn. The Z5 is definitely not a “wow” when jumping from a Z3 or Z4/Z3+. I do not regret getting the Z5 because i extremely fell in love with its appearance.
I'm really struggling choosing a new phone. Have a dying G2 which was an excellent phone especially when it came to battery life. I've been searching for a more up to date alternative and this phone comes up when it comes to battery life. I was going through the forum though and I've been seeing lots of people with huge battery drains and 2 to 3 hours of SOT. That's what I get with my G2 that has a battery that has seen too many charging cycles. Now, I know that someone without a problem won't be posting how great the battery is so I'm not sure how prevalent this issue might be.
So, how is battery life on this phone without having to mess around with it? Prices have gone down but it is still a bit of money, I would rather get something that just worked for the next 3 years (like the LG did). I've looked into more recent and expensive options with the SD820 or the Kirin 955, suposedly a lot more power efficient SoCs but I don't see the numbers reflecting this. The Z5 comes pretty close if not even better than an S7, P9, OP3, etc.
I've also had this idea that, regardless of the generation, the SD810 was pretty bad on battery life and heating issues leading to a quicker dying phone so now I'm confused.
Opinions and suggestions would be most helpful! :highfive:
I have a Z2 and a Z5 now my Z2 easily runs 6hrs SOT every single day and also seems faster than my z5 (except in Games or poorly optmised apps)
Now my z5 on the other hand only manages 4hrs SOT but with some minor tweaking the ui can become very fluid yet to find a solution to bad battery
My suggestions:
Nexus 6P
Xperia Z3
Lg G4
Xperia z5 (if you are fine with 4hrs SOT)
Also note that z5s not so impressive battery life can be to blame of the million or two wakelocks in the current firmware so a update may fix this
Sent from my D6503 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Thanks! I actually think I made a mistake in my research and was looking at Z3 numbers. Doesn't do me much good as I can't find a new 32GB version of the thing for sale here in Europe. Used, sure, but I would be risking having the same issues pretty soon.
You recommended the G4? I've asked about that phone here on G4 forum also and a lot of people report some pretty bad battery times. It's a shame as it would be the perfect choice for me if it wasn't for that. If I wasn't so suspicious of its battery performance I wouldn't even consider any other phone. A lot of people reported times I never had on the G2 though, that's why this is so confusing.
6P is just huuuuge for me!
Kutusov said:
I'm really struggling choosing a new phone. Have a dying G2 which was an excellent phone especially when it came to battery life. I've been searching for a more up to date alternative and this phone comes up when it comes to battery life. I was going through the forum though and I've been seeing lots of people with huge battery drains and 2 to 3 hours of SOT. That's what I get with my G2 that has a battery that has seen too many charging cycles. Now, I know that someone without a problem won't be posting how great the battery is so I'm not sure how prevalent this issue might be.
So, how is battery life on this phone without having to mess around with it? Prices have gone down but it is still a bit of money, I would rather get something that just worked for the next 3 years (like the LG did). I've looked into more recent and expensive options with the SD820 or the Kirin 955, suposedly a lot more power efficient SoCs but I don't see the numbers reflecting this. The Z5 comes pretty close if not even better than an S7, P9, OP3, etc.
I've also had this idea that, regardless of the generation, the SD810 was pretty bad on battery life and heating issues leading to a quicker dying phone so now I'm confused.
Opinions and suggestions would be most helpful! :highfive:
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I have Z2 and Z5 both of them.Z2 has a stronger battery,but one in Z5 is also great especially after this 253 update.
With Z2 I get almosut 8 hours and with Z5 now i will get easily 6 hours SoT.
Sent from Xperia Z5
Allek84 said:
I have Z2 and Z5 both of them.Z2 has a stronger battery,but one in Z5 is also great especially after this 253 update.
With Z2 I get almosut 8 hours and with Z5 now i will get easily 6 hours SoT.
Sent from Xperia Z5
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Thanks!! :good:
Might sound like a stupid question/ discussion. But...
What makes the Z5 worse than the older Z3? I heard the battery life (since a "revised" update to Nougat was released) has really become worse compared to the "stable" Marshmallow 6.0.1-powered Z3. True?
Replacing a trusted but cheap/bug ridden Moto G4 with an old flagship.
Z3 is better as of now only due to its firmware being so absurdly stable
But the lastest firmware seemingly is very good comparee to prior updates for the z5
Sent from my D6503 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
i wish i had my Z3, battery life was so much better than my Z5! but Envious_Data is correct it is a lot better now than some other updates.
although some people here will tell you that with the right ROM (if you want to unlock the bootloader and install a custom ROM) you can get decent battery life out of the Z5.
I was recently using lineage but flashed back to stock and was suprized to see it to be just as good if not very slightly better than lineage.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Gino76ph said:
Might sound like a stupid question/ discussion. But...
What makes the Z5 worse than the older Z3? I heard the battery life (since a "revised" update to Nougat was released) has really become worse compared to the "stable" Marshmallow 6.0.1-powered Z3. True?
Replacing a trusted but cheap/bug ridden Moto G4 with an old flagship.
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Z3 is better,but now battery on Z5 latest build 2.33 is realy ok,I got 3:30 to 4:30 screen on time depend of usage and uptime but cause Z5 have only 2900 mAh,thats good results.
Allek84 said:
Z3 is better,but now battery on Z5 latest build 2.33 is realy ok,I got 3:30 to 4:30 screen on time depend of usage and uptime but cause Z5 have only 2900 mAh,thats good results.
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I did hear the Z3 has better than the Z5 and the speakers are louder too. But I still find having Nougat 7.0 has its advantages. So, would you say the Z3 is a good choice than the Moto G4?
Any good second choice?
I think Z5 has a worse battery life than Z3 mostly because of the inefficient sd810. Anyways, my battery life got better after 7.1.1 update.
Ok, Im about to take another decision to get a phone, a cheaper one due ...Mexico and poor economy, I want to buy an Xperia Z3, but, i saw many times the Z has the battery drain problem (Like my Z1 that drops to zero suddendly)
and i i saw this phone may have it
I want to ask
DOES this phone drain drops its battery that bad?
My z1 has likely 60/40 % and drops to zero instantly, I dont want to have that problem too
I could go for Xperia X, but is a bit more expensive,and Xperia Z3 has the 120fps option..
Thanks for reading and hope you can help me with this decision
Dont ever buy sony device, just go for any samsung device. I really hate z3. last 1 month i spent for troubleshooting.