Database Info

Pulled The Trigger: Skyrocket Sold

After about a week of ownership, I've sold my Skyrocket and placed an order for the Galaxy Nexus. Below are the factors that contributed to my decision.
1. Screen. 800x480? I know that's the limitation of the display technology, but come on. After owning an Atrix for months, looking at SR's screen felt like my grandma using her big-button TV remote. The details weren't that crisp either and the bluish whites were annoying me to to end.
2. Notification LED. This was my first Android phone without LED and I thought I could live without it, but turns out I'm simply too addicted and reliant on it.
3. Ear and Loud Speakers. Both are sub-par for such a high end device. The ear speaker is way too deep to make out what others are saying, and the loudspeaker volume is too low and sounds pretty bad past half way.
I will certainly miss LTE, but at the end of the day, I neither stream much nor download loads on my phone. Plus, not much coverage where I live.
I realize the camera is sub-par on the GN, but I probably take about 10 pics a year on my mobile. Just as well, the 16GB storage without microSD doesn't bother me either as music is the only thing I save on my phone...and most of the time I don't even have to with Google Music. Movies? That's for my iPad2.
Good luck to all SR owners.

spielnicht said:
After about a week of ownership, I've sold my Skyrocket and placed an order for the Galaxy Nexus. Below are the factors that contributed to my decision.
1. Screen. 800x480? I know that's the limitation of the display technology, but come on. After owning an Atrix for months, looking at SR's screen felt like my grandma using her big-button TV remote. The details weren't that crisp either and the bluish whites were annoying me to to end.
2. Notification LED. This was my first Android phone without LED and I thought I could live without it, but turns out I'm simply too addicted and reliant on it.
3. Ear and Loud Speakers. Both are sub-par for such a high end device. The ear speaker is way too deep to make out what others are saying, and the loudspeaker volume is too low and sounds pretty bad past half way.
I will certainly miss LTE, but at the end of the day, I neither stream much nor download loads on my phone. Plus, not much coverage where I live.
Good luck to all SR owners.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too bad you didn't like the SR. I was considering it before too but mainly because of the lack of Dev Support. Its gotten better now. There are solutions to your issues but it doesn't matter, I'm sure the Sexy Nexxie will still be good. I'm waiting for the LTE version myself.
Good luck

How much did you get for the skyrocket???, and how much did u pay for the nexus???....

So you paid $700+ for a new phone because no led and "poor loudspeaker" lol..
Gook luck with that..

Bye
Also, why is it important to share with everyone? Do you share and layout the reasoning for your underwear and socks with the store clerks??

Who'll good luck with your next phone...I too needed a led notification...and found no led...and it works great...so far loving me first Sammy...and that is coming from a HTC fan
Sent via rooted SkyRocket

spielnicht said:
After about a week of ownership, I've sold my Skyrocket and placed an order for the Galaxy Nexus. Below are the factors that contributed to my decision.
1. Screen. 800x480? I know that's the limitation of the display technology, but come on. After owning an Atrix for months, looking at SR's screen felt like my grandma using her big-button TV remote. The details weren't that crisp either and the bluish whites were annoying me to to end.
2. Notification LED. This was my first Android phone without LED and I thought I could live without it, but turns out I'm simply too addicted and reliant on it.
3. Ear and Loud Speakers. Both are sub-par for such a high end device. The ear speaker is way too deep to make out what others are saying, and the loudspeaker volume is too low and sounds pretty bad past half way.
I will certainly miss LTE, but at the end of the day, I neither stream much nor download loads on my phone. Plus, not much coverage where I live.
I realize the camera is sub-par on the GN, but I probably take about 10 pics a year on my mobile. Just as well, the 16GB storage without microSD doesn't bother me either as music is the only thing I save on my phone...and most of the time I don't even have to with Google Music. Movies? That's for my iPad2.
Good luck to all SR owners.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could have looked at the Nitro HD. At least it has LTE, a micro SD card slot, and superb camera if you ever need it...

spielnicht said:
Bought the Skyrocket for $149 from AT&T, solid it for $560.00. Bought the Galaxy Nexus for $705.00. At the end, I only paid $294. So to your point, no I didn't pay $700 for a loudspeaker, I paid $294 for a nicer phone with 1000x nicer display, LED notification, better sound quality, ICS + pure Android, NFC, and on and on. Not sure why you were so hung up on the loudspeaker though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no problems whatsoever with the audio of the device. You may be a very discriminating listener, but I think that the sound output was just great and the calls are extremely clear.
The screen resolution is supposedly at a low end but I have to say that I do not perceive much of a problem, if any at all. Everything looks crisp and clear to me and the screen is a choice to use. I think that these super resolutions on these tiny devices are an overkill anyway. Nice to have, but irrelevant in everyday use.
LED lights? Does anybody care?
I just think that you wanted to get your hands on ICS a few months earlier!!!
Now, the Galaxy Nexus did not receive stellar reviews and what is available here has a 5 mpx camera vs the 8 mpx in the Skyrocket. I certainly do not know the camera resolution of the international version of the Nexus.

spielnicht said:
Bought the Skyrocket for $149 from AT&T, solid it for $560.00. Bought the Galaxy Nexus for $705.00. At the end, I only paid $294. So to your point, no I didn't pay $700 for a loudspeaker, I paid $294 for a nicer phone with 1000x nicer display, LED notification, better sound quality, ICS + pure Android, NFC, and on and on. Not sure why you were so hung up on the loudspeaker though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are earth did you sell a SR for $560?:rolleyes...
Okay so you still paid $300 for a phone with a better speaker and ICS and NO lte...
Like I said.. Have fun and good luck with your "1000x nicer" 4g phone..
Seriously though.. would love to know where you sold a $150 phone for $560? I will sell mine tomorrow if that is true.
---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------
aretzios said:
I have no problems whatsoever with the audio of the device. You may be a very discriminating listener, but I think that the sound output was just great and the calls are extremely clear.
The screen resolution is supposedly at a low end but I have to say that I do not perceive much of a problem, if any at all. Everything looks crisp and clear to me and the screen is a choice to use. I think that these super resolutions on these tiny devices are an overkill anyway. Nice to have, but irrelevant in everyday use.
LED lights? Does anybody care?
I just think that you wanted to get your hands on ICS a few months earlier!!!
Now, the Galaxy Nexus did not receive stellar reviews and what is available here has a 5 mpx camera vs the 8 mpx in the Skyrocket. I certainly do not know the camera resolution of the international version of the Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thing is you can't please everybody... watch soon enough he will be crying about this and that on the Nexus board.. He will sell it for $1500 and buy something else for $2000 and be cool.

I've considered doing the same thing. I'm happy with everything on the SR except for the screen. If mine weren't suffering from a particularly bad case of the "brushed metal look" I'd probably be more satisfied, but it just bugs me every night when I use my phone in bed.
I've been jonesing for a galaxy nexus too, but with no SD, and only 16GB of storage, I don't think that would work for me. I use my phone for videos a lot and at 720p resolution, the file sizes are going to be that much larger... 16GB would fill up way to fast.

EskimoPie said:
I've considered doing the same thing. I'm happy with everything on the SR except for the screen. If mine weren't suffering from a particularly bad case of the "brushed metal look" I'd probably be more satisfied, but it just bugs me every night when I use my phone in bed.
I've been jonesing for a galaxy nexus too, but with no SD, and only 16GB of storage, I don't think that would work for me. I use my phone for videos a lot and at 720p resolution, the file sizes are going to be that much larger... 16GB would fill up way to fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use a density changer.

crispy1805 said:
Just use a density changer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that will not help the lines.

I had a small screen (higher ppi) pentile screen (Galaxy U in Korea). when comparing it to a larger screen Galaxy S I can say you will not gain anything in terms of resolution. It won't be 1000x better. Because it is .15 inches wider, I would say it will be 1.04x better. A bit shy from 1000x.
So you traded for a AT&T LTE-less Galaxy Nexus? no LTE, microSDHC?
I would say it was a whopper of a bad decision. Hope you've verified in person that the speakers sound better because a lot of AT&T's voice call quality is dependent on the carrier.

I really don't see the "lines" anybody is talking about.. This screen is freaking clear as a bell... everybody who has seen this phone is amazed.. now Im running different launcher's.., etc.. and its beautiful!

spielnicht said:
1. Screen. 800x480? I know that's the limitation of the display technology, but come on. After owning an Atrix for months, looking at SR's screen felt like my grandma using her big-button TV remote.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, thats just what I thought too when I got home and compared to my Atrix! Funny stuff... Anyway I've gotten around it using ADW and a lot of switch out icons. I'm happy with my SR, but do question whether the absence of qhd or higher will keep me awake at night as I'm just a week from fully committed to the device. All in all, SR is the best phone I've owned to date.

spielnicht said:
After about a week of ownership, I've sold my Skyrocket and placed an order for the Galaxy Nexus. Below are the factors that contributed to my decision.
1. Screen. 800x480? I know that's the limitation of the display technology, but come on. After owning an Atrix for months, looking at SR's screen felt like my grandma using her big-button TV remote. The details weren't that crisp either and the bluish whites were annoying me to to end.
2. Notification LED. This was my first Android phone without LED and I thought I could live without it, but turns out I'm simply too addicted and reliant on it.
3. Ear and Loud Speakers. Both are sub-par for such a high end device. The ear speaker is way too deep to make out what others are saying, and the loudspeaker volume is too low and sounds pretty bad past half way.
I will certainly miss LTE, but at the end of the day, I neither stream much nor download loads on my phone. Plus, not much coverage where I live.
I realize the camera is sub-par on the GN, but I probably take about 10 pics a year on my mobile. Just as well, the 16GB storage without microSD doesn't bother me either as music is the only thing I save on my phone...and most of the time I don't even have to with Google Music. Movies? That's for my iPad2.
Good luck to all SR owners.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you remember you'll lose USB mass storage on the Nexus. That's a must need utility for me. Always transferring files to and from work.
That alone, smaller capacity, the subpar camera, LTE, and losing my unlimited plan from at&t is definitely not worth a nexus. Not when I can wait a month and get ICS.
The way I see it- your shiny new piece is already subpar, but to each is own. Good luck

Though the LTE implementation is cleaner on the Nexus, you could've also installed noLED for the notification light. Works great for me.

Lol you meant led implementation right? The nexus has no LTE

GalaxySkyrocket500 said:
I really don't see the "lines" anybody is talking about.. This screen is freaking clear as a bell... everybody who has seen this phone is amazed.. now Im running different launcher's.., etc.. and its beautiful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only see the "lines" on mine when the display is at a very low (less than 25%) brightness level.
Turning up the brightness a little makes the display look incredibly clear and colorful.

xz premium worth getting in 2018?

is the xz premium still worth getting now that we are in 2018? or is it worth waiting till sony releases there next flagship? what are you thoughts peeps

well, still only phone around the market with 4K HDR display. cool thing but only useful if you use 4K streaming services or keep that kind of content on your phone. and you still get good stereo setup if loud speaker matters to you and regular updates. it all depend on your personal preferences though. if you wait a bit more till sony release new flagship with "premium" in its name your xzp might get even more cheap and you getting a decent phone at good price.

I got rid of my XZP and got the Mi Mix 2 which to me is better.
XZPs body is huge for the screen u get, 4k is overkill on a screen so small, can't take full advantage of it. DRM key issue is a let down with Sony as usual.
Can get better for a lot cheaper in my opinion.

I just bought the device after my Z3 recently gave up on me.
All I can say personally is that I'm really glad that I finally got a new device and the XZP was a good choice I think.
To me the big bezels on the screen are not a problem but a good thing as I rather have some space on the front of the device to rest my fingers on.
The camera is pretty awesome but that's quite subjective as I didn't compare it to anything else than my Z3.
Softwarewise I'm still a fan of Sony's close-to-stock feel of Oreo.
I watched a lot of reviews and read a lot of articles beforehand and most of the negative things in those haven't been a problem to me at all.
So if you plan on buying a new device you could wait until the new line-up from the top manufacturers is ready and then get a good deal.

1. Signal reception. Samsung, HTC and Xiaomi nervously smoke their cigarettes. Sony da best.
2. Screen. Yes it's not ALWAYS 4K. Yes it's not as bright as _some_ OLED displays, but it's still one of the most true-colored displays on the market. One of the best.
3. Camera. Of course HTC U11, Pixel are unmatched. But also, knowing that, for example, Samsung S7/S8 aren't perfect and their owners still use Snapcamera or other 3rd party software for better shooting experience, I'd not say that Sony's got a BAD camera. Yes, SuperAutoMode is a total crap, but everyone knows that Manual mode is actually an automatic mode which, somehow, allows for better photos. So, I will say, everyone admits that XZ P has a DECENT camera for photos. And it's got the best Video. People say Sony shoots video as better than Pixel just as Pixel is better in taking photos over the Sony.
4. Performance. It's SMOOTHER than Samsungs. Just put them together. Multitasking and etc - watch videos on Youtube: more or less same as other phones with same specs, and even a tad better than iPhone X.
5. Style. Yet Sony is the company out of a small club with its own recognizable style. And cool colors. Also, Xperias feel more expensive at hand, because Sony doesn't stink in materials.
6. Physical shutter button. It's awesome.
Everything else should be a clear IMHO, but those are also features that differ Xperias from other phones.
-I DO love the Sony Apps (album, walkman). Sony also has the PlayStation suite, which I don't use. But you might
-I often DO use the Noise Cancelling wired earplugs via the 3.5mm jack. And SONY probably is the only company that offers this feature out-of-the-box (I use MDR-NC031, previously been using them with Z5 Premium and XZ)
-I hate the DRM thing which complicates the bootloader unlocking and adds unnecessary consequences
-I DON'T regard bezels as any sort of inconvenience
-Stereo speakers are a great feature, but I rarely listen to music without earplugs/headphones
To sum up... There's NO other actual powerful flagship on the market chat combines a powerful CPU, really decent camera, stereo speakers, IPS display, 3.5mm audio, SD-card and 2sim altogether. And those are really not as Hi-Tech as the wired NC or the 4K display featured here. Even some midrange smartphones offer those features, except for the CPU, camera and sound quality.
The closest match by hardware feature set would be the LG G6, which doesn't really challenge XZ Premium... Maybe XZ, but not XZ1, neither XZs.
You want to wait? You'll get old and die before you choose then, cuz Sony releases a new flagship every half year. If you're not happy with XZ Premium for the price it's available today, neither you will be satisfied with the new Sony flagship for the price it's gonna cost. I also thought... If you're waiting for the perfect device, your dreams actually won't ever come true: while you're waiting, we're all using imperfect devices... and stay excited. We know they're not perfect. Nothing is...
I've just ordered mine last week and i'm totally satisfied ($550, Hong Kong).

Just wait and get the xz premium 2

- it has big ugly display while most moving to borderless design
- it do not has embedded wireless charging
- it is not fully dual sim as second sim can't be used with SD card inserted
- it still can't wake by double taps
- it do not has HDMI output (MHL)
- it has security and ergonomic faults coming initially
And I do not think that XZP2 will fix anything above. Sony showed at CES 2018 the same **** they made last year ;(

I love it and I'm gonna miss it when I buy my next phone that still has analog radio. Sony really betrayed me by not announcing the deal with the radio antenna being grounded. One minute we had perfectly good radios, next thing you know, you can't listen to live radio anymore without draining your mobile data and being asked to buy more.

If I were you, I would wait until MWC 2018 before making a decision. The new Xperia phone could outdo the XZ Premium

The XZ Premium has the best IPS display on the market hands down. It rivals the best amoled panels when it's in super vivid mode. And that's without 4K.

Is it worth it in 2018? Definitely.

I just bought one last night and I am very happy having it. The only gripe that I have right now is the timelapse video function. I could not find it or maybe, it is really not there.

akoikaw said:
I just bought one last night and I am very happy having it. The only gripe that I have right now is the timelapse video function. I could not find it or maybe, it is really not there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an app you need to download, it'll appear in the camera apps. Search for "Time Lapse" in Play Store. Install the one with the blue dial and white arrows, i think the developer is Sukro or something like that. Anyway.
Also, time lapse available in snap camera hdr.
Many features were removed, and can still be substituted with some 3rd party software.

I am thinking also about buying it but sound quality and decibels from headphone jack are important to me and I heard/red that it is no good.
Can this be fixed with some sound mod?
Also, I am thinking about Moto Z (1.gen).

EZY-E said:
I am thinking also about buying it but sound quality and decibels from headphone jack are important to me and I heard/red that it is no good.
Can this be fixed with some sound mod?
Also, I am thinking about Moto Z (1.gen).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The DAC is really loud on XZP. Sony actually advertises that.

Sasafrass said:
The DAC is really loud on XZP. Sony actually advertises that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I red on gsmarena it is far from thruth..

EZY-E said:
From what I red on gsmarena it is far from thruth..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GSMarena is giving Xperia bad reviews left and right - They basically lie about stuff.

Sasafrass said:
GSMarena is giving Xperia bad reviews left and right - They basically lie about stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am talking about lab tests they do for every phone that comes out.
Link: https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz_premium-review-1610p7.php#aq
Sound output is 3 decibels lower than on my 4 years old iphone 5s (???)
And they boast about sound superiority on this phone...

EZY-E said:
I am talking about lab tests they do for every phone that comes out.
Link: https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz_premium-review-1610p7.php#aq
Sound output is 3 decibels lower than on my 4 years old iphone 5s (???)
And they boast about sound superiority on this phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. So use something like VLC for a virtual amplifier. That'll be a little louder

Sasafrass said:
Right. So use something like VLC for a virtual amplifier. That'll be a little louder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Listening music via VLC app?
I would rather keep my iphone if I have to do such compromises.
If I buy Xperia I want to listen music through their default app, not some 3rd party app.

I wish I knew this before buying the HTC U Ultra (Owner review)

Preface: I am posting this here because I think it will be buried otherwise, and I want it to reach as many people as possible, since personally I wish I knew all of this before buying it.
…And kind reminder: If you feel you are an HTC combatant, please click the Back button and save yourself, and probably myself, from getting aggravated.
This review was prompted because I feel like swimming in a sea of superficial “reviews” online, which are mostly advertisements rather than real reviews, and a lot of peculiarities are unearthed only after the device is used for a sufficiently lengthy period of time.
The HTC U Ultra, in my humble opinion, is a double-edged sword (one of the edges is pointed towards the owner, sadly).
The screen is spacious at 5.7” and even though the phone is very large it can be managed in one hand, if you make a concerted effort. The overall size is exacerbated by the 2nd screen on top, which is reasonably useful, i.e. not utterly pointless.
The screen is a very good IPS-variety screen, with moderate brightness (visible enough in bright daylight). Note that the Oreo update, I believe, did considerably increase the maximum brightness, which could be very useful when the need comes, but absolutely not recommended for long-term use because of the borderline insufficient battery capacity. At least, the option to blast out the brightness in a pinch is there.
Performance is overall very good to great, games play well, day-to-day internetting, newsfeeding, facebooking, vibering (or whatever messaging app floats your boat) is great, and so is the multitasking.
The sound from the bundled headphones is outstanding (in combination with the proprietary HTC USonic EQ shenanigans), provided you like deep sub-bass and high brilliance without muffling the vocals (as I do). The sound is definitely V-shaped. The downsides of the headphones are that (a) they don’t have volume buttons, which, given the size of the phone and the inherent difficulty related to getting it out of the pocket to increase or decrease the volume, is moderately frustrating, (b) they are of the USB-C variety, which means you can’t simply plug them into most other phones or HiFi devices, and means that (c) you can’t charge your phone and use the headphones simultaneously, which, however, I wouldn’t do, since I would like the battery to have as longer life as possible, given the difficulty of replacing it (1 – the phone is a glass sandwich which means I can’t just pull the battery out and slap a new one in; 2 – HTC service centers, at least where I live, are few and far between, and 3 – the availability of spare batteries and the costs related to replacing the battery leave a lot to be desired). A negative too is that there is no USB-C to mini-jack adapter in the box, which means you have to buy one, which is easier said than done - a lot of those being sold do not work with the HTC U Ultra (unless you use apps such as Sound About or tinker with the OS) and the original HTC adapter is very hard to buy anyway, most places listing it as out-of-stock. Let’s not forget that routinely plugging cables into the USB-C connector on the phone (one for charging, another for USB-C headphones) will surely shorten the already-not-that-great durability of the said USB-C connector on the phone (and again the glass sandwich which makes it hard to replace said USB-C connector comes to mind). Also, here in Bulgaria people are not buying phones every year and the probability of me being at a place where someone could lend me their USB-C charger to top up my battery midday or mid-party are close to nil, so I have to carry my USB-C cable too.
The battery is not for power users. At 3000 mAh it is not well-suited to the power requirements of that huge and very high resolution screen (2560x1440 + 160x1040, that’s a lot of pixels). Overall, I get 3.5-4.5 hours of screen-on time from a full charge over one day, with some gaming and camera use. If you don’t use the stock camera (the phone automatically maxes out the screen brightness in the stock camera app, and you cannot turn it down, very dumb idea), don’t play games, and use the phone only on WiFi and not on 3G/4G, probably 5 to maximum 6 hours of screen-on time would be possible.
The digitizer of the phone uses snap-to-grid which cannot be switched off which is in effect when the finger is moving slowly. I tried very very hard to figure out the purpose of this seemingly dumb idea, and couldn’t find any sensible reasons for it, and also could not find any other phone with that function. I wonder why... The result is that some games, which require very precise finger movement, are much harder to play on the HTC U Ultra than on any other phone I have tried (granted I have not tried any other HTC phone).
The body of the phone is pointless, a.k.a. pretty. (To me it’s not even that pretty, apart from the logo-less fully black front glass, which I adore. But I digress.) That possibly resulted in the less-than-needed battery capacity and the fact that the phone seems extremely fragile. There is no wireless charging (which I personally don’t need) as an excuse for the glass back. HTC couldn’t even manage to make the sandwich seamless, you can definitely feel ridges where the glass meets the metal, and this even makes the phone uncomfortable to hold for prolonged periods of time. The saving grace (ironic as it may be) is that the hard-plastic case provided in the box makes the phone much more comfortable to hold and much less slippery, whilst also possibly protecting the glass back from shattering when dinged. This hard-plastic case almost entirely defeats any and all prettiness goals there may have been, so why not just make it out of that material, at that increased thickness, and then you could even cram in that much-needed larger battery… Oh, right, every other maker’s phones are made of glass too; prettiness above utility (certainly not my thing).
The second screen has some useful perks, such as having a “widget” of most used contacts or most used apps (then why have a dock too, hmm…), you can pick up the phone and the second screen will activate so you can glance at the time, battery charge, etc., you can activate the flashlight or control your music app from it. Also, and something that I particularly like, incoming notifications pop up on it, which means they don’t pop up over what you are currently doing. Yay!
There are problems with the fingerprint scanner (On Nougat, at least, have not used it since the Oreo update). Sometimes it just refuses to do any scanning but still activates the screen when touched. You are then required to enter your PIN to unlock the phone and then the scanner would work again as if nothing ever happened.
The vibration motor does not vibrate, it buzzes instead. I’m not attempting a pun or a joke, it is indeed a buzz. This feels super cheap, even compared to my 5 year old LG Optimus G Pro (great haptic feedback!). I thought it was a fault of my unit initially. Then I spoke to other owners of Ultras. Thankfully, I got used to it. That does not mean I don’t dislike it anymore.
The screen is not calibrated to sRGB standard but something much wider in terms of color gamut (allegedly DCI-P3, I don’t have instruments to test, or maybe and most probably they just wanted it to be “like Samsung”…). This cannot be corrected anywhere in the OS (you can correct the white point, though, which is good). If you like eye-popping colors you’re in luck, and conversely, if you like more natural colors – you’re certainly out of luck. The reds, especially, are rather eye-watering. On the other hand, the screen has very high clarity with no appreciable over-sharpening, rather high brightness (after Oreo update), low minimum brightness thus can easily be used in pitch black environments, and very little color inversion when viewed at angles (e.g. when showing your friends your awesome photos and videos). Of course, as any IPS screen, it is the brightness which rapidly drops when the phone is tilted, but the picture does not become yellowish or purplish, or grey instead of black. Which is very good.
The sound from the rather inaptly named BoomSound speakers is anything but Boom. The Xiaomi Redmi 4X (~ EUR 100) or the Huawei P8 Lite (2015) easily trounce it in terms of sound quality (especially bass). The sound is also rather imbalanced, most of it coming from the bottom firing speaker (which is also very easy to inadvertently cover and mute whilst holding the phone horizontally). At least it is rather loud, can create a sense of spaciousness when held horizontally and overall it is not “bad” like on many other phones I’ve heard. What is not good at all, however, is that it has an undefeatable volume ramp-up curve, which means that any sound is produced with the volume being gradually increased in the beginning, omitting the initial attack. For songs, such as for example Brain Stew by Green Day, this could be rather hilarious (or to me, rather aggravating). Unsurprisingly then, there is no attack from most notification sounds. So, the good thing is the phone’s notifications could never startle you which means you won’t get a heart-attack if you forgot to reduce your notification volume. Yay… I guess…? Nah, this is just plain dumb and awful.
I wish HTC engineers knew what “centering” means. Then the capacitive buttons wouldn’t have been in the places where I least expect them to be during my day-to-day use of the phone. They are not in the middle of the chin centrally, they are not in the middle of the chin vertically, they are just simply not in the middle of anything. I thought I’d easily get used to that. I was wrong. Their sensitivity zones are also barely extending beyond their graphical symbols. Thus, I have to depress them with my entire thumbs to make sure I’ll catch them. Sneaky bastards. Even turning on the constant backlighting of the buttons does not help as much as I thought it would.
The capacitive scanner/homebutton is also a double-edged sword – easy to use when you want to, but also very easy to accidentally touch and activate when you don’t want to – especially during heated gaming this stinks a lot.
The camera may not be obliterating any DxOMarks any time soon, but to me it is really really good. For one, the wide aperture, combined with the OIS, means you get good night and indoor shots, which I sorely desire. It is fast to snap a picture, it can be activated with a double-click of the power button, it shoots great and reasonably stable 4K video, and even more stable FullHD video if you can sacrifice the clarity of 4K. Great sound recording too! (for the videos) Overall, the camera experience feels “flagship”. Also, given that the phone is with a Snapdragon 821, Google’s ported cameras work pretty well (mind you, there are bugs, sometimes the apps just close, sometimes they don’t produce the intended results, if any at all). When using Google’s ported camera apps the HDR photography results are quite phenomenal (at least to me) and even a lot better than the stock camera app (which is very good to start with) especially for high-contrast and night-time/indoor shots. Also, portraits come out pretty stunning (provided the app doesn’t crash, of course, but that’s not a fault of the phone).
A caveat is that both the front and back cameras of the phone are very prone to flares. It certainly looks like the image is being reflected by something inside (the lenses or the sensor assembly, I have no idea which exactly) and then this reflection gets picked up by the sensor. For instance, at night when shooting shops’ neon signs, I can easily see the vertically flipped ghost flares of those signs. I, personally, am not overly bothered and find those flares more interesting than troublesome, though. Some surely might not.
All in all, it is the high-quality spacious screen (side note: a 5,8” 18.5:9 screen has ~5 cm2 smaller area than a 16:9 5.7” screen, not counting the 2nd screen on the Ultra too), the awesome headphone sound, the great camera quality and experience that make this phone worth the ~ EUR 275, provided you can live with its shortcomings, which are quite a few in my view. You’d be really hard pressed (I’m pretty sure it is impossible but maybe the ZTE Axon 7 could do the trick) to find such a screen, such sound or especially such a camera on any other phone retailing for ~ EUR 300 brand new. At its original price I’d never buy it, though.
But, if you want off-the-charger longevity, a screen with realistic colors, really good speaker sound, durable body and good ergonomics, this is certainly not your phone, even at its current price.
To me it is quite the bipolar experience – sometimes it overjoys me with its sound or camera chops, sometimes it makes me want to smash it against the wall for its absurdly stupid quirks (Which I believe someone thought were “good design ideas”. No, they are not good at all.)
So it is quite the paradoxical one – it can be both extremely good value and extremely bad value, depending on what you want. Hopefully my personal observations can help you make your own well-informed choice.
Love it or hate it. I don’t see any middle ground.

Glad to see another bulgarian with htc u ultra. I thought that i am alone. Reading the title i expected another rant against htc but in fact the review is very good and completely confirms what i observed for the 5 months with this phone. I am not fan of games and the good screen, headphone sound quality and camera are very important for me so i am quite happy with this phone. I am not so heavy user so battery lasts between 1 and 3 days (usually 2) and i also have power bank with me supporting quick charge so battery life is not a problem for me. Generally i am quite happy with the phone at that price but definitely would not pay the initial price which was over 500 eur. Regarding the type c to 3.5mm adapter - i bought original one from here and it is working very good:
http://www.citytel.bg/adapter-htc-from-3-5-mm-to-usb-type-c-dc-m321

Great review, I agree with most of yours notes. I just wanted to add, IMO - currently there is no better phone for the price it goes these days.

Agree with some fancts, bottom line is at the current price, you cant get anything better.

The Speaker of this phone is pure cancer. My old Galaxy s6 and my business(forced) Iphone SE were way better. I'm not even able to hear Music while cooking etc. IT just fu*** the ears. This is without a doubt the worst phone I've ever bought. I really should have bought the honor 7x

I am a HTC Combatant and die hard, but your review is clear and very honest. Thumb Up! All the negative point you gave really need to be reviewed and improved by HTC. I'm facing the same issues. Overall I like the phone for my everyday use..
Thanks. This honest review will definitely help

FatManYelling said:
The Speaker of this phone is pure cancer. My old Galaxy s6 and my business(forced) Iphone SE were way better. I'm not even able to hear Music while cooking etc. IT just fu*** the ears. This is without a doubt the worst phone I've ever bought. I really should have bought the honor 7x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an Honor 8 for six months. It was awful. Just didn't like it. Camera, interface, sound... The U Ultra is a far superior phone for a similar price.

You Sir should do phone reviews. very detailed, objective and honest review!
Thank you!

Hello, I own a Moto G4 Plus and I'm going to replace it very soon. Your review helped very much, as I can't decide between a HTC U Ultra and a Moto G6 Plus, as they both retail for the exact same price currently, at least here, in Romania. On one hand, the U Ultra is closer quality to a flagship, has a nice screen, good processor (maybe a bit old, I'll admit it) and a very good camera, at least when compared to competitors from the same year. On the other hand, the G6 Plus has near stock Android, treble support, a very easy to unlock bootloader, and still has a nice screen and decent camera and processor. I really cannot decide between those, as I am looking at the U Ultra's shortcomings as potential deal breakers. What would be your recommendations? Thanks!

For me its no brain picking the right phone.I would allways buy older flagship instead of similar placed midranger.
Yeah Ultra have some bad things battery is short-ish but all other things are beter.Build quality,sound on headphones is awesome,phone is fast no lags,slowdownds or anything like that.Camera is good and screen is ok for me.
But ur the one who needs to pick.
Only thing questionable now is Android Pie.

Thank you for this review. I ordered HTC U Ultra yesterday. Price was pretty cool - 200€. Can't wait to test it!

Will Sony ever make a phone with good sounding 'bassy' speakers??

Viper4Android speaker enhancements makes nice difference but still compared to my other half's Mate 10 Pro, the Sony is like a little kid screaming in a room full of deep chested adults.
Plus the OLED screen of the Mate 10 is awesome! and the camera is sooo much better too.
So anyway, my question, is Sony not bothered with speakers and all about the headphones because I don't think I've ever heard of a single Sony smartphone having a half-decent bassy speaker!

Your XZPremium has an 807 PPI 4K HDR Triluminous LCD screen, wayyyy better than any *****y Samsung or LG..
You do know that in settings > Sound.. theres an EQ under "Audio Settings".... IMO, I think the Speakers sound ok on our XZP...
They sound better on the newer XZ2 and better again on the XZ2 Prem.... and probably improve on the new XZ3...
Camera wise... Meh, SONY have never followed the trend, theyve always stuck with their own "quirky" f2.0 / 5-way EIS cameras.. which suffer badly in low light, but are actually pretty good in daylight, which, incidentally hasnt been upgraded since the original XZ... still using the IMX400, even on the newer XZ2 and XZ2 Prem.
The secret to an Xperia camera is... keep it in Manual Mode, Metering set to "SPOT" or "Centre weighted" and the ISO at 50 - 200. You should be fine. Although I must admit, Superior Auto isnt bad these days, and when your taking a shot.. frame your shot first, then focus and shoot quickly... dont keep focussing all the time before you shoot.. as you get camera shake... obviously,
OIS is not the god send of photography you know... you can get some stunning shots taken with EIS stablisation, Pixel XL for example.. Oh and BTW, if you want to take low light photographs, buy a compact camera, dont rely on your phone.

Yes, aware of EQ settings, but no amount of software wizardry will upgrade the physical design of the speaker and associated chambers.
The thing that gets me is that Sony has been around for donkeys years, yet they keep flaffing around with fancy looking outer shells and bezels and stereo speakers etc... yet the most basic of things such as a bassy sounding speaker are simply lacking. I have heard the XZ2, and the speaker sound is not that much better than the XZ.
Yes the screen is nice, but hold an XZ outside in daylight next to a Mate 10, and suddenly you then see which screen is the more functional. Same goes for when relying on Google Maps driving in the car during daylight.
The iPhone X sounds amazing on speaker too, as well as having a camera that just works perfectly, snap snap, great pictures, no messing around in settings trying to figure out a manual override for every scene just to get a good picture out of it.
Just don't get why Sony has a problem, with their SLR camera division, their decades of sound-systems experience, yet companies like Apple and Huawei get the most functional things perfect.
I'm an Android fan, love to be in control of my own devices, I guess I'm just not grasping why Sony is flooding the market with new models continuously with newer snapdragons and whatnot yet they still lag in something as basic as the camera and the speaker.
If we don't voice our concerns, they're probably keep wondering why people who actually hang in a shop to buy a phone, actually buy an iPhone or Huawei in the end, well, take a quick picture inside a shop, zoom in, and you'll hand the Sony back to the assistant... or likewise play some music, and the Sony get's blown away by the bass of the other high end phones. The triluminous screen might win some brownie points in the shade of a shop, but stand under a bright light and the Sony goes back to the assistant very quick.
(PS... own personal experience with the other half. I simply believed the reviews raving about the Sony... now I realise what reviews actually rave about and what you actually experience in the real world with real function are two very different things)....
not here to start a war, simply points of concern for I actually am a fan of Sony products in general, but I'm losing faith in their phones very quickly, especially compared to the competition when it comes to the very basics.

Water resistant Speakers will never blow You away. I compared the Galaxy S6 with the S5 and S7 and guess which One was the loudest. I also owned the Axon 7 before the XZP. There are worlds between them but compared to other Water Resistant Devices is the XZP actually pretty loud and well saturated. At least with the latest Firmwares and i i think i optimized out even more out of the Software. Speaker Protection as example is enabled by default to save the speakers while beeing wet from Water. Disabling it allows more output Power but could damage the Speaker if You don't pay attention of the Volume after letting it dive... There are clearly limitations to this Speakers but SONY made a great Job on this Part. Also on the Real Stereo Setup on the Front which has no other OEM besides them...

I only ever dropped a phone into the loo once and that was over 25 years ago, a Nortel. Not really bothered about extreme waterproofing etc, marketing sure, but in real world not everyone hangs out in a monsoon or surfing the waves with their smartphones or drops them into glass full of water.
Function before form before gimmicks with solid marketing.
Just my 2pence gents, its why google search engine killed the competition, its why Apple have such a big chunk in the smartphone domain.
Pixel 3 has stereo front facing stereo speakers minus the (nasty imo) notch... looks nothing fancy but could be the perfect functional next phone... but indeed I wud prefer to go with Sony, because the brand is what people respect, but only if it keeps its head on straight.

SXS-Groovemaster said:
Function before form before gimmicks with solid marketing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think of it next time you'll get under a sudden rain. Think of it next time you'll ride your bike using the phone for the navigation. Think of it next time you'll want to take a shot at the beach and you'll be afraid to come too close because your phone ain't waterproof. Think of it next time you'll have to answer a Very Important Call when you're in the shower and you'll spoil your phone because it's not waterproof and you just couldn't dry the side of your head well enough.
Think of it next time you'll have your phone in a pocket during a hot summer day and it'll get wet from your own sweat.
And yes there's not a single phone loud enough to watch YouTube on a noisy street, so +\- 10% loudness and bass won't make a difference anyway. But there's hundreds cases when being able to not care about the phone getting wet is amazing.
Don't think everyone is having the same use case.

Where is promised (and expected) Alpha team tuned photo quality? What's wrong, Sony?!

Hello everyone. Is anybody there who is not satisfied with "supposed to be more than great" photo qualily from the main camera at least or I'm alone here? Coming from Galaxies, Pixels and Huawei flagship phones, I was expecting to get not less than impressive photos from the main camera. At least hardware specs, Sony Alpha team support, Zeiss optics etc gave some confidence in it. But for some reason I'm getting only good enough photos in the perfect light conditions (which every dirt cheap midranger can do these days). Once light conditions are different from perfect all I get is hit or miss all the time, blurry shots, low details (especially when you zoom in a bit), water painting, wrong colours, softness, wrong exposure - picture is just falling apart regardless of what camera app was used. WTF!? Am I asking too much from nearly $1000 camera-focused phone or as Sony fanboys suggested "I've got a faulty unit"? Thanks

Camera is bad, I wish it had a good one but it's just average in sunlight and during nighttime it sucks. I like the phone but definitely the camera is not good

The Alpha team's work is very obvious on the phone. Having several Alpha cameras, I'm able to get similar results with similar techniques between my phone and Alpha cameras, which makes the 5 II feel more like a seamless tool to me. Alpha images are not like Huawei and Samsung images (I also have a P30 Pro). They have more natural and less saturated colors and take more life like and less processed photos. Those may not be to your taste, which is fine. It's impossible to simply say one camera takes "better pictures" than the other.
I shoot almost exclusively in RAW with the Pro Photo app, and I'm quite pleased with the detail and color saturation. I use Lightroom to process the files, and it helps control most of the noise in low light scenarios with high ISO. But, the phone will not take the same dim to no light shots that the P30 Pro does while being handheld. You can get similar results with a tripod and manually controlling exposure.
Another key difference between my 5II and my P30 Pro is the focus speed and accuracy. One of my frequent subjects is a fast moving small child, and my P30 Pro misses the shot about 90% of the time because it's so slow to acquire focus. The 5 II is not quite as fast as my Alpha, but it finds the eye pretty reliably and takes the pictures in a small fraction of a second. This is probably the most obvious place of the Alpha team's influence and tuning. It's even way faster than my wife's iPhone 11 Pro.
I understand why some are displeased with the camera on the 5 II. It's all about expectations being aligned with reality and personal preference on how a photo looks. So, when a camera doesn't meet your expectations, find one that does. That's why I moved from Huawei to Sony, and I'm pleased with the results. There are others that will choose to go the opposite direction for very good reasons.

WarVic said:
Hello everyone. Is anybody there who is not satisfied with "supposed to be more than great" photo qualily from the main camera at least or I'm alone here? Coming from Galaxies, Pixels and Huawei flagship phones, I was expecting to get not less than impressive photos from the main camera. At least hardware specs, Sony Alpha team support, Zeiss optics etc gave some confidence in it. But for some reason I'm getting only good enough photos in the perfect light conditions (which every dirt cheap midranger can do these days). Once light conditions are different from perfect all I get is hit or miss all the time, blurry shots, low details (especially when you zoom in a bit), water painting, wrong colours, softness, wrong exposure - picture is just falling apart regardless of what camera app was used. WTF!? Am I asking too much from nearly $1000 camera-focused phone or as Sony fanboys suggested "I've got a faulty unit"? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because you spend a lot of money on a camera, doesn't mean you will take good pictures. Good pictures are about the camera and understanding how it works. If you want snaps, stick to your samsung. The Xperia is about taking pictures with the Pro app. If that's too complicated for you, then don't moan about how poor your photography is.

Didgesteve said:
Just because you spend a lot of money on a camera, doesn't mean you will take good pictures. Good pictures are about the camera and understanding how it works. If you want snaps, stick to your samsung. The Xperia is about taking pictures with the Pro app. If that's too complicated for you, then don't moan about how poor your photography is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, what a clever notice! I expected that Sony brainwashing machine works perfectly for Sony fanboys. Just a reminder for Super-Pro-Photographers-who-knows-how-to-use-Pro-mode, Xperia phones are just dinky PHONES with tiny cameras (sensors, lenses), NOT full fetched CAMERAS. And treat Xperia smartphone cameras like something greater than that which was designed specifically for super talented people with heaps of knowledge is apotheosis of stupidity, sorry. Perhaps, I don't really care anymore. I ditched that piece of junk and came back to Google Pixel 4 which makes perfect shots all the time, even when I don't expect it. And yes, my next device will likely be iPhone 11 Pro which is proved to deliver outstanding device all the way and. most importantly, I can get it for a fraction of Xperia 1 III price right now! Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is also a better choice than any Xperia and, again, I can get it cheaper already. Thanks heaps for incredibly precious piece of advice. Cheers!

WarVic said:
Oh, what a clever notice! I expected that Sony brainwashing machine works perfectly for Sony fanboys. Just a reminder for Super-Pro-Photographers-who-knows-how-to-use-Pro-mode, Xperia phones are just dinky PHONES with tiny cameras (sensors, lenses), NOT full fetched CAMERAS. And treat Xperia smartphone cameras like something greater than that which was designed specifically for super talented people with heaps of knowledge is apotheosis of stupidity, sorry. Perhaps, I don't really care anymore. I ditched that piece of junk and came back to Google Pixel 4 which makes perfect shots all the time, even when I don't expect it. And yes, my next device will likely be iPhone 11 Pro which is proved to deliver outstanding device all the way and. most importantly, I can get it for a fraction of Xperia 1 III price right now! Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is also a better choice than any Xperia and, again, I can get it cheaper already. Thanks heaps for incredibly precious piece of advice. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The secrert of a good picture rests between the shutter button and your eye. Good luck finding your great pictures.

WarVic said:
Oh, what a clever notice! I expected that Sony brainwashing machine works perfectly for Sony fanboys. Just a reminder for Super-Pro-Photographers-who-knows-how-to-use-Pro-mode, Xperia phones are just dinky PHONES with tiny cameras (sensors, lenses), NOT full fetched CAMERAS. And treat Xperia smartphone cameras like something greater than that which was designed specifically for super talented people with heaps of knowledge is apotheosis of stupidity, sorry. Perhaps, I don't really care anymore. I ditched that piece of junk and came back to Google Pixel 4 which makes perfect shots all the time, even when I don't expect it. And yes, my next device will likely be iPhone 11 Pro which is proved to deliver outstanding device all the way and. most importantly, I can get it for a fraction of Xperia 1 III price right now! Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is also a better choice than any Xperia and, again, I can get it cheaper already. Thanks heaps for incredibly precious piece of advice. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was a non-productive response. While the 5 II may not be your preferred tool for photography, going with term like "dinky" and "piece of junk" imply you have nothing substantive to talk about on the topic. The field of phones is wonderfully diverse right now, with so many choices to find what fits your style and preference. No need to turn it into a pissing contest of "better" or "worse." But, I guess from the wording of your original post, that's all you were interested in, rather than a meaningful discussion on the pros and cons of hardware.
While you took his response as "clever" and insulting, he wasn't wrong. Different skill sets are required to get the most of different hardware. I have friends who shoot film cameras with wonderful results, and I know that's beyond me. Likewise, Pixels and iPhones can give incredible results without much skill or effort on the part of the user, and that's exactly what computational photography is designed to do. It's a great advancement, that shouldn't be diminished. But, I can match my wife's iPhone 11 Pro's photo quality (sharpness, exposure, color accuracy) with my 5 II. But she simply points and shoots, while I have to tweak some settings, take a RAW picture and process it Lightroom. Neither is better. It's preference. I prefer the control and the process I use because I enjoy it. And my work flow takes only a minute or so per picture, so not a big deal.
Glad to see you'll be moving to other forums. Enjoy the Pixel. They are fantastic.

WarVic said:
Oh, what a clever notice! I expected that Sony brainwashing machine works perfectly for Sony fanboys. Just a reminder for Super-Pro-Photographers-who-knows-how-to-use-Pro-mode, Xperia phones are just dinky PHONES with tiny cameras (sensors, lenses), NOT full fetched CAMERAS. And treat Xperia smartphone cameras like something greater than that which was designed specifically for super talented people with heaps of knowledge is apotheosis of stupidity, sorry. Perhaps, I don't really care anymore. I ditched that piece of junk and came back to Google Pixel 4 which makes perfect shots all the time, even when I don't expect it. And yes, my next device will likely be iPhone 11 Pro which is proved to deliver outstanding device all the way and. most importantly, I can get it for a fraction of Xperia 1 III price right now! Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is also a better choice than any Xperia and, again, I can get it cheaper already. Thanks heaps for incredibly precious piece of advice. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think a phone should be a point and shoot device, with Xperia it doesn't work that way, you take a picture and it takes forever, I think it tries to use slower shutter speeds in order to shoot with lower iso for less noise, but when I compare with an iphone xs noise level are similar with the difference that iphone autofocus is much better and reliable and when you shoot it doesn't take forever to process a single photo. There's also an annoying halo effect on photos, they market lens as zeiss but I never had such a thing with other phones. Also when you take videos you see a huge difference with a 3 years old iphone, stabilization on iphone is great, on Xperia is meh, video dynamic range is limited, exposure low in dim light. The eye autofocus it doesn't seems to work that well, lots of photos are out of focus and in a low light situation you are sure that your subject will be blurry if it moves even slightly, I know a phone camera can't do miracles but I'm just comparing with another device that is 3 years older that didn't give me all these issues. Definitely go with an iPhone if you need a decent smartphone camera.

6pounder said:
I think a phone should be a point and shoot device, with Xperia it doesn't work that way [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As many have pointed out already, point and shoot is not where the Xperia shines. It's the manual control in Camera Pro and the results you can archieve with that. I personally like that, therefore I don't think "a phone should be a point and shoot device" per se. It's great to have a diversity of options on the market, isn't it?
Regarding video: As far as I know no one was yet able to match the iPhone's video stabilisation. Nevertheless I was able to get very good video on the Xperia and if you use a gimbal, you also get that iPhone smoothness if desired.

Yakkosmurf said:
That was a non-productive response. While the 5 II may not be your preferred tool for photography, going with term like "dinky" and "piece of junk" imply you have nothing substantive to talk about on the topic. The field of phones is wonderfully diverse right now, with so many choices to find what fits your style and preference. No need to turn it into a pissing contest of "better" or "worse." But, I guess from the wording of your original post, that's all you were interested in, rather than a meaningful discussion on the pros and cons of hardware.
While you took his response as "clever" and insulting, he wasn't wrong. Different skill sets are required to get the most of different hardware. I have friends who shoot film cameras with wonderful results, and I know that's beyond me. Likewise, Pixels and iPhones can give incredible results without much skill or effort on the part of the user, and that's exactly what computational photography is designed to do. It's a great advancement, that shouldn't be diminished. But, I can match my wife's iPhone 11 Pro's photo quality (sharpness, exposure, color accuracy) with my 5 II. But she simply points and shoots, while I have to tweak some settings, take a RAW picture and process it Lightroom. Neither is better. It's preference. I prefer the control and the process I use because I enjoy it. And my work flow takes only a minute or so per picture, so not a big deal.
Glad to see you'll be moving to other forums. Enjoy the Pixel. They are fantastic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your "professional" response made me laughing out loud in the place when you're talking about "Different SKILL SET" and applying it to ..... A PHONE. Seriously man?! Just listen yourself! Just to clarify once again, the main purpose of any smartphone is to make quick, hustle-free photos on the go. And the more expensive phone, the better it should do it - simpler, cleaner menu / handling, faster focus and overall camera performance and most importantly better outcome. Other features like pro manual mode are optional and secondary. I think everything you do with your Xperia 5 II is just ... wasting you time, nothing more. I believe you have to follow your wife experience. She definitely knows how not to waste time playing with questionable "results" from Xperia. You will never match clever Apple/ Google AI, sorry. You think that you can but in reality you CAN NOT, sorry. Don't lie yourself!

6pounder said:
I think a phone should be a point and shoot device, with Xperia it doesn't work that way, you take a picture and it takes forever, I think it tries to use slower shutter speeds in order to shoot with lower iso for less noise, but when I compare with an iphone xs noise level are similar with the difference that iphone autofocus is much better and reliable and when you shoot it doesn't take forever to process a single photo. There's also an annoying halo effect on photos, they market lens as zeiss but I never had such a thing with other phones. Also when you take videos you see a huge difference with a 3 years old iphone, stabilization on iphone is great, on Xperia is meh, video dynamic range is limited, exposure low in dim light. The eye autofocus it doesn't seems to work that well, lots of photos are out of focus and in a low light situation you are sure that your subject will be blurry if it moves even slightly, I know a phone camera can't do miracles but I'm just comparing with another device that is 3 years older that didn't give me all these issues. Definitely go with an iPhone if you need a decent smartphone camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely agree with every single word. iPhone guarantees not only outstanding photos and videos in every situation regardless of shakiness of my hands or "skill set" by the way. There are too damn many thing where Xperia is miles away from iPhone. I don't relly want to name them because it's just ridiculous! How can we compare the latest Lexus (iPhone) with old rusty Fiat Punto (Xperia).

WarVic said:
Your "professional" response made me laughing out loud in the place when you're talking about "Different SKILL SET" and applying it to ..... A PHONE. Seriously man?! Just listen yourself! Just to clarify once again, the main purpose of any smartphone is to make quick, hustle-free photos on the go. And the more expensive phone, the better it should do it - simpler, cleaner menu / handling, faster focus and overall camera performance and most importantly better outcome. Other features like pro manual mode are optional and secondary. I think everything you do with your Xperia 5 II is just ... wasting you time, nothing more. I believe you have to follow your wife experience. She definitely knows how not to waste time playing with questionable "results" from Xperia. You will never match clever Apple/ Google AI, sorry. You think that you can but in reality you CAN NOT, sorry. Don't lie yourself!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no professional. I just stick to data when discussing things. "Waste of time" is quite subjective. Do you consider doing things you enjoy doing a "waste of time"? I suspect not. As I clearly stated, Pro modes are secondary to a lot of people, but for some of us, they are primary. And Sony is catering to that which is appreciated. As I said, if you don't appreciate it, that's not a problem, and the market is full of great choices that prioritizes quick snapshots. But, to so vocally criticize something for not meeting expectations in an area is wasn't trying to is rather petty on your part, in my opinion.
Why take a forum that's great such a great place for information sharing and try to reduce it to a place for insult hurling? Am I to assume you have nothing productive to add to the discussion? Then, why post here?

Yakkosmurf said:
I'm no professional. I just stick to data when discussing things. "Waste of time" is quite subjective. Do you consider doing things you enjoy doing a "waste of time"? I suspect not. As I clearly stated, Pro modes are secondary to a lot of people, but for some of us, they are primary. And Sony is catering to that which is appreciated. As I said, if you don't appreciate it, that's not a problem, and the market is full of great choices that prioritizes quick snapshots. But, to so vocally criticize something for not meeting expectations in an area is wasn't trying to is rather petty on your part, in my opinion.
Why take a forum that's great such a great place for information sharing and try to reduce it to a place for insult hurling? Am I to assume you have nothing productive to add to the discussion? Then, why post here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're taking his bait too easily.

I didn't see much discussion here. All I did is uploaded few crappy shots from Xperia 5. Vast majority of them were deleted straight away though. Anyway there were no lack of really bad shots (=missed moments) from that phone. And it was VERY unexpected - I didn't have such bad experience with any flagship camera-phone before. And, as I expected, few people=blind Sony fanboys here did typical Sony fanboys thing - blamed me for being dummy crook handed idiot who doesn't know how to take pictures properly with a state of art. precious Xperia 5 II . Sure there is no way to blame overhyped, way below competition camera system, lack of proper AI implementation, fraudlent T* Zeiss glass coating (supposed to reduce lens flares but in reality it catches them more often than any other camera). I'm a much easier target, Sony are unspoiled "gods".

I have had a few instances with bad flare that have been surprising, because I don't have those issues with my Zeiss camera lenses. Not a huge deal, as it doesn't impact very many shots that I take. It seems to be an issue with full sunlight, but not a problem with artificial light being in a dimly lit scene.

I think WarVic expected the camera experience to be on an Apple/Google-AI-does-everything-for-you level and somehow took it way too harsh when it turned out to be different. It's ok to be disappointed, luckily there are brands on the market who cater to his expectations, so no problem, right? What I don't get is how he cannot accept that other people are happy with their Xperia without being mindless fanboys. Why so butthurt? Live and let live, innit?

I understand that you might be happy with an Xperia phone overall because it works, looks nice, feels good in the hand, quite rare and just because you paid a lot for it. But this is pretty much it. Cameras outcome is subbar to every other camera focused phone in this price category. And I can't understand how someone can't appreciate when something or someone else does the job for you, save your time. It's absolutely obvious that "Apple/Google-AI-does-everything-for-you level" is the only way to get something really good from tiny smartphone cameras. Also it is laughable & foolish to even think that somehow you can do better job in Lightroom or in other apps then AI / computational processing power. As you might not know, behind so called "computational photography" is a hard work of super talented programmers team. Do you really think that you can do better job then them???? The only reason Sony doesn't have it is becasue they just don't wanna invest into it. They know that they will never get sales numbers anywhere around even OnePlus level and even 2% of smartphones market share is unreal with their current marketing strategy (it's better to say the absence of it). So computational photography will be pure waste of money for Sony and it is much easier and better to have "unique" approach giving people instruments, "let them decide how their photos will look", to play with people's "creativity". How clever you are, Sony! Bravo!

Why did you even buy the phone? All the reviews tell you that the normal camera app is not as great as on other devices.

SeriousFlash said:
Why did you even buy the phone? All the reviews tell you that the normal camera app is not as great as on other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No every review tells you that PhotoPro app isn't better at all. Sony wants you to believe in placebo - PhotoPro. It reality it doesn't make a difference regardless of your skills. All you have to do is to believe that PhotoPro is a game changer. If you have a good look at the beginning of my post, I uploaded photos examples, all taken by PhotoPro. Sure I have brilliant shots but of static objects in perfect light conditions only. 20 frames burst won't help. So trust me, if you take this smartphone to a once in a lifetime trip with your family, this smartphone will ruin it. Otherwise you might be good to go. If you are alone, have plenty of time, mostly shooting nature or buildings, don't mind to take numerous attempts, don't care about reliability, consistency and more than just good outcome in photography then Xperia is certainly for you.

WarVic said:
I understand that you might be happy with an Xperia phone overall because it works, looks nice, feels good in the hand, quite rare and just because you paid a lot for it. But this is pretty much it. Cameras outcome is subbar to every other camera focused phone in this price category. And I can't understand how someone can't appreciate when something or someone else does the job for you, save your time. It's absolutely obvious that "Apple/Google-AI-does-everything-for-you level" is the only way to get something really good from tiny smartphone cameras. Also it is laughable & foolish to even think that somehow you can do better job in Lightroom or in other apps then AI / computational processing power. As you might not know, behind so called "computational photography" is a hard work of super talented programmers team. Do you really think that you can do better job then them???? The only reason Sony doesn't have it is becasue they just don't wanna invest into it. They know that they will never get sales numbers anywhere around even OnePlus level and even 2% of smartphones market share is unreal with their current marketing strategy (it's better to say the absence of it). So computational photography will be pure waste of money for Sony and it is much easier and better to have "unique" approach giving people instruments, "let them decide how their photos will look", to play with people's "creativity". How clever you are, Sony! Bravo!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is getting a bit boring and repetitive now.
Time to move on and accept not everyone shares the same opinion as you