Sony xperia z5

Brian CivilEng

I'm looking at replacing my Lumia 1020, and so far this seems like the best option. Does anyone have any opinion on how the camera quality is when compared the 1020, both for stills and video?

Also very apprehensive about moving to Android, but Windows Phone is dying and I really do not like ios, so it's the only option.

Thanks.

wheresmybeaver

abitofacomedian wrote: »

I'm looking at replacing my Lumia 1020, and so far this seems like the best option. Does anyone have any opinion on how the camera quality is when compared the 1020, both for stills and video?

Also very apprehensive about moving to Android, but Windows Phone is dying and I really do not like ios, so it's the only option.

Thanks.

I made a similar move a few weeks ago from a Lumia 920 to the Z5. You can read my thoughts earlier in this thread. Android is definitely different but MS has developed great apps such as Outlook, Onedrive, OneNote, Excel etc.

The camera quality really is very good, and has improved more with a recent update. It can still be a little sluggish to activate but Shot-to-shot speeds are much improved. The dedicated camera button is a rare feature in the Android world and was something I wasn't willing to give up moving from Windows.

I was at a kids party today and the camera really proved itself. Image quality with the flash is surprisingly good. I got some great shots and the digital zoom using the volume keys was excellent. Digital zoom is usually terrible but it works great with the extra megapixels. Also lots of sharp shots with accurate focusing and no child-shaped blurs. You might notice extra noise compared to the 1020 when pixel peeping but photos just look good when viewing on the phone or when cast to a TV and that's what really matters.

Early reviews of the new Lumia 950 seem to really like the camera, unfortunately my feeling is that the platform has crashed and burned in the last year and might as well be starting from scratch. The camera would want to be outstanding in order to compensate for the other issues with the platform.

Brian CivilEng

Thanks, appreciate the perspective from another WP refugee. The dedicated camera button is one of those features that is a must have, don't know how phones are still made without one.

One more question, does the screen sensitivity have a "glove mode" like Lumias. Using that feature a lot this weather.

F34

abitofacomedian wrote: »

Thanks, appreciate the perspective from another WP refugee. The dedicated camera button is one of those features that is a must have, don't know how phones are still made without one.

One more question, does the screen sensitivity have a "glove mode" like Lumias. Using that feature a lot this weather.

Can confirm it has a glove mode

wheresmybeaver

F34 wrote: »

Can confirm it has a glove mode

If anything the screen is too sensitive, even with glove mode turned off. I've had to turn off double tap to wake as I keep butt-dialing people with it turned on.

cmac2009

Some good deals on the z5 compact at the moment but I'm really hesitant on pulling the trigger having looked at the z5 forum on the sony site - https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z5-Z5-Compact-Z5-Premium/bd-p/xperia_z5

It's just thread after thread of problems from over-heating to blurry photo image's to possible cracked screens. Just wondering if anyone who has the z5 or z5 compact come across any issues that has made you regret getting a sony. For a flagship phone they seem to have a lot of issue's but the size is exactly what I'm looking for.

Flaccus

From the reviews I have read the z5 compact can overheat but the Z5 is supposed to be solid.

aaf

Anyone spot any BF deals for the Z5? Best price I can see is on Amazon.de for €594. Should I wait till Cyber Monday?

bruschi

cmac2009 wrote: »

Some good deals on the z5 compact at the moment but I'm really hesitant on pulling the trigger having looked at the z5 forum on the sony site - https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z5-Z5-Compact-Z5-Premium/bd-p/xperia_z5

It's just thread after thread of problems from over-heating to blurry photo image's to possible cracked screens. Just wondering if anyone who has the z5 or z5 compact come across any issues that has made you regret getting a sony. For a flagship phone they seem to have a lot of issue's but the size is exactly what I'm looking for.

looking at getting one myself. being honest, I take those type of forums with a pinch of salt. No one goes on there to ask a question about something positive. It's like the talk to forums on here, they will only ever have issues and bugs. I dont know of any piece of technology that wont have a small percentage of glitches in them, and for the main part, I havent seen a huge amount of problems with it that would put me off right now. Just trying to find the best deal for it now.

kala85

I was looking at getting a sony z5 compact as well but Im fairly concerned about all the negativity surrounding the z5 series.

From looking at gsmarena and also the sony forum it looks like the z5 series is having lots of problems.

I searched for opinions on the samsung range s6 for example and didnt see have as much negativity or bad comments. I also looked at comments on the moto g which I have myself and all the comments were similiar to what I thought of the phone. Same way with the htc one x wifi issue that I had. Lots of others have the same problems.

The last thing I want to do is to buy a new phone and be tied into a contract and then have lots of problems with it.

cmac2009

kala85 wrote: »

I was looking at getting a sony z5 compact as well but Im fairly concerned about all the negativity surrounding the z5 series.

From looking at gsmarena and also the sony forum it looks like the z5 series is having lots of problems.

I searched for opinions on the samsung range s6 for example and didnt see have as much negativity or bad comments. I also looked at comments on the moto g which I have myself and all the comments were similiar to what I thought of the phone. Same way with the htc one x wifi issue that I had. Lots of others have the same problems.

The last thing I want to do is to buy a new phone and be tied into a contract and then have lots of problems with it.

I agree, it doesn't just seem to be a few problems here and there, so many people are getting same issue's. Very disappointing considering these phones are expensive.

andekwarhola

Got the standard Z5 a few days back and really like it although I kind of miss the bigger screen of my Note 3. The price of the Z5 premium was just a step too far for a phone for me though.

The camera is excellent. I like the screen and the square design. The UI certainly isn't as bad as people claim, especially as I've now got Launcher + running. Seems to pack a good kick under the hood and the fingerprint sensor on the power button is a nice touch.

Only slightly worrying thing was, albeit just once, the other day it really heated up during a call. Noticeably so. Hasn't happened since.

Minor gripes: the buttons. The power button isn't raised enough so you have to grope sometimes, plus the volume button is below it which feels unintuitive to me but perhaps that's just a new phone thing. While I love the glass back design as well, it feels much more slippery in the hand than the Note.

kala85

andekwarhola wrote: »

Got the standard Z5 a few days back and really like it although I kind of miss the bigger screen of my Note 3. The price of the Z5 premium was just a step too far for a phone for me though.

The camera is excellent. I like the screen and the square design. The UI certainly isn't as bad as people claim, especially as I've now got Launcher + running. Seems to pack a good kick under the hood and the fingerprint sensor on the power button is a nice touch.

Only slightly worrying thing was, albeit just once, the other day it really heated up during a call. Noticeably so. Hasn't happened since.

Minor gripes: the buttons. The power button isn't raised enough so you have to grope sometimes, plus the volume button is below it which feels unintuitive to me but perhaps that's just a new phone thing. While I love the glass back design as well, it feels much more slippery in the hand than the Note.

Have you had any problems with blur in the camera shots like have been reported in some of the forums.

Also have you purchased a good case for it.

andekwarhola

kala85 wrote: »

Have you had any problems with blur in the camera shots like have been reported in some of the forums.

Also have you purchased a good case for it.

No problem as of yet but haven't used it extensively as I've had it a few days. Seems excellent so far.

Haven't got a case yet but mean to.

wheresmybeaver

With regards the blur issue; some people definitely seem to get it (very obvious in some photos that people have uploaded on xda for example) but I am fairly certain I either don't have it with my one or it's so subtle I can't see it. I am very happy with the photo quality. Mine is a rev2 Xperia Z5 in black from three. Some sample photos of my own here: http://1drv.ms/1Xpzpg4

Otherwise this is a pretty good phone; does not get hot in any substantial way except for the first day I had it when there was all sorts of downloading and background tasks going on. They definitely tweaked something with the first firmware update a few weeks back as it only ever gets warm now, even with a lot going on. Whether it is throttling or not it has no impact on visible performance so I'm happy.

Battery life is definitely not 2 days but it is absolutely all-day. A couple of times I've forgotten to plug it into the charger at night but it has still been alive the next morning and then I've been able to quick charge it in no time (quick charger not included though - bit of a cheap move by Sony). I've a quick charger for the car too which can charge it almost to full on my drive to work.

The fingerprint reader / power button is one of the keys reasons I went with the Z5 and it is brilliant, unlocking takes a second. It's intuitive; pick up and unlock in one action.

My only criticism is that it feels fragile and for the first time ever I have a cover on my smartphone. I use this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015PRSD6U and I'm pretty happy with it as it's matt, semi-transparent, slim fitting and grippy.

andekwarhola

Should point out that the one time it really heated up was the same as above, first day. Have deleted or disabled a lot of the crap since then and restored all my old apps. No heat issues whatsoever since then.

One strange thing: is that I'm with Three and the last few months my phone signal on the Note 3 had been awful in the bottom of my house. Often non existent. Since I got this phone it has markedly improved. Dunno if a phone can make a difference?

wheresmybeaver

Should also commend Sony for providing a very Nexus-like experience with very few pre-installed third party apps. And you can uninstall most of them too.

F34

Now that I've had the phone a while I have noticed an issue where the phone is disconnecting from my car very annoying and seems to be a common problem.

Klopp

I have the phone a few days myself first thing i noticed was how hot it got after powering it on and transferring files over from my original phone. I deleted a few apps already pre installed and it seemed fine after. The other thing i have noticed is the battery, this morning it was 100% and now it is down to 20%, not going to get two days and i haven't used it all that much.

I'll post back again in over the weekend after another few days.

Klopp

After a few more days using the phone, the most disappointing part is the battery life, the phone isn't a week old and already today after charging the phone last night, it is at 50% now after it was at 100% this morning at 09:30. I'm not a heavy user, the most usage this morning was Spotify in the gym for 30minutes. I had a htc m8 which was over 18months old and i got a longer out of the battery.

Anyone else notice this problem with the battery?

D'Peoples Voice

Klopp wrote: »

After a few more days using the phone, the most disappointing part is the battery life,

so you know it's the battery for sure...how long did you leave the phone in safemode - 24 hours? How quickly did the phone die in safe mode?
Saying a battery dies in normal mode means nothing, because it could be a badly programmed app keeping your phone awake.

comongethappy

The software is odd.

If I press & hold an Icon I used to be given a menu at the top that I could access 'app info'

Now I can just uninstall or 'add to home screen'
How can I access app info easily?

It seems overall android is getting less functional & going backwards

jester77

comongethappy wrote: »

The software is odd.

If I press & hold an Icon I used to be given a menu at the top that I could access 'app info'

Now I can just uninstall or 'add to home screen'
How can I access app info easily?

It seems overall android is getting less functional & going backwards

When you open the list of opened apps, depending on what version of the OS you have, either click or long click on the top left corner of the app for which you want to see the app info.

Klopp

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

so you know it's the battery for sure...how long did you leave the phone in - 24 hours? How quickly did the phone die in safe mode?
Saying a battery dies in normal mode means nothing, because it could be a badly programmed app keeping your phone awake.

I don't have any other apps i didn't have on my HTC M8 which lasted a longer. Getting this Sony unlocked and selling asap. It was again fully charged at 11:00 today and by 14:30 it was at 40%. THe battery life is just terrible. The screen is using 60% usage but i don't have live wallpaper running, just a screenshot.

deafroadrunner

just bought the phone yesterday. had an s5 before that. the one thing ive noticed the z5 is alot slower at charging. any reason for it?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I came from an S5 and the Z5 definitely charges faster. Are you using a QC charger on the Z5?

thomasj

According to phonearena it takes 156 minutes to charge the xperia z5s supplied charger compared to 122 minutes for the galaxy s5

F34

deafroadrunner wrote: »

just bought the phone yesterday. had an s5 before that. the one thing ive noticed the z5 is alot slower at charging. any reason for it?

Sony give a crap charger with the phone which is annoying I got the Sony rapid charger from Amazon and it made a huge difference.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

There is something wrong with Phonearenas figures or test configuration. My Z5 charges in less than two hours. My S5 always took 2.5 hours or more.

deafroadrunner

I was using the charger that came with it. Noticed it was about faster yesterday. Could of been all the apps downloading in the background maybe.

Have another question now any know what games on the Google store are compatible with the ps4 controller