New ZL in the house!

[Sinabu]

Fedex just dropped of my Shiny Xperia ZL.

Turning it on and getting things set up now.. I'm totally lost though LOL First time using an android. It already came preloaded with JB 4.2.2 and there was a firmware update avialalbe so I got that taken care of while it charged up.

I got my accounts sync'd and everything and need to put twitter on here too.

My one question I have right off the bat is on images. I put a 32gb SD card in it and grabbed a picture form my SkyDrive and it downloaded it to the SD card. I want to use that as a wallpaper but under settings It only shows me "Albums, Live Wallapaper and Xperial Wallpaper. How can I get that image as my wallpaper?

Next to my Lumia 920 for Reference

 

[Sinabu]

Ohh also, Do I need anti-virus? It came with Macfee pre-installed but never really cared for even their PC software.

 

[Sinabu]

Not much love for the ZL it seems compared to others. That's a shame too. So far I am loving the phone. It's fast and the display is beautiful.

I figured out the wallpaper deal and got that set how I like. Been installing all my apps and things needed and also setup two of the NFC tags.

My office NFC Tag turns off Bluetooth, Wireless and lowers the volumes and my Car One turns BT back on and volumes up

Here's an image taken with the cam

 

[Cale M]

Congrats! Don't forget to check out PlayStation Mobile. Having access to their gaming systems was really a winning feature for me.

As for the SD card image? The 'Albums' selection should compile images from the SD card as well as internal storage. Both are presented simulaneously on my unit. Try going into the actual Album app and finding it there. Perhaps the device has to first scan for all images before the SD card files become available for the Wallpaper function.

It also sounds like you're going through SETTINGS -> DISPLAY -> WALLPAPER to set the background image? Just putting a finger to an open space on the screen and holding it there for a couple of seconds is a nice shortcut to that.

I can't comment on the anti-virus, however. I had Avast for a while, but all it ever seemed to do was eat up system memory. I'm currently running without, but that might be a bad call. I also ditched my Memory Booster since background processes would re-load themselves anyway, and memory released by the app would only stick around until the phone went to sleep.

I will recomend using Stamina mode, however. I usually see the phone end the day with better than 70% charge.

 

[Cale M]

Not much love for the ZL it seems compared to others. That's a shame too. So far I am loving the phone. It's fast and the display is beautiful.

I know. It really is a shame. I'm a heavy Sony user starting with a pink NW-700 that's still the best MP3 player I've ever gotten my hands on. Then there's the Vita and the online gaming account it shares with both my ZL and Z Tablet. I've recently picked up one of their bluetooth headsets, but the sound quality is just not the same as from their Walkman.

I'm surprised they don't get more love. Some tragically undersung heroes in that lineup.

 

[STARGATE]

I have always loved my Sony devices, I still do.
Unfortunately, it sucks that I can't get a good Sony phone with Sprint.

Is not that they don't get love. I think that they aren't widely available to all the carriers as other top tier phones.

Sent From a Galaxy S4 Away!

 

[betsuni]

Congrats on snagging a sexy phone. It really is a nice phone and I wish I could have used it. The only warning I have is with the memory cards, at least it seems that it really doesn't like cheaper cards (aka no-names), SanDisk, and Patriot for some strange reason. At least it seems to be a majority (and I killed two Patriot 16GB cards this way) but I had good luck with the Samsung cards. Just wanted to give you a warning if you are using one of those. Other than that I'm jealous of the beautiful red color of your ZL.

 

[Sinabu]

Thanks for the heads up. I have a no name 32gb in there now. Its one I've had around for a while so I will see how it goes. if it dies I'll be sure to try out a better brand.

 

[Cale M]

The only warning I have is with the memory cards, at least it seems that it really doesn't like cheaper cards (aka no-names), SanDisk...

Ah. I've been running a 32GB SanDisk from day one. So far, no problems, but I'll be sure to post here if it dies on me.

 

[betsuni]

Yeah it is hit and miss it seems, but there are enough complaints on the 'net to warrant a warning for those who use them. Sony of course is looking into it and I'm sure they'll figure it out if there is indeed an error. Heck even Samsung had issues with the SGS3 and some cards when I bought mine. I just wanted to warn you since I didn't want others having dead memory cards (and sit scratching their heads like I did). Of course with my luck it was because mine were older cards (roughly a year or more) which had controller chips that were older. It is an awesome phone and fast updates directly from Sony (if you bought the US unbranded model) and my wife loves hers (which makes me jealous since I'm still stuck on my SGS3).

 

[Sinabu]

Couple questions for you Sony guys.

Coming up on a week with the phone and I have to say that I am impressed so far. The phone quality feels good and sturdy, It's quick and haven't had any major issues. The only thing I've noticed on the ZL versus my Lumia 920 is mainly the battery life and signal strength. The Nokia with only a 2000mah battery would last me two days and the sony by the end of the day I'm around 20 or less. It does seem to drain quickly. Also the signal strength is much stronger (LTE here) on the 920 vs the ZL. Everything still works fine but I have to be mindful of the battery so I don't run low when i need it.

So question on Sony Apps and Music. I downloaded an album from the google play store and I can play it in the Google app but not the Sony. It doesn't even show up. What gives?

I see that a lot of apps run in the background on this phone (Play memories, Sony reader etc) But the phone doesn't give me the option to uninstall them. At this point I kind of just want to remove the Sony apps and just use the google stuff so it doesn;t waste the memory/space

Any thoughts?

 

[betsuni]

Guessing here, but I'm assuming that you bought the album from the play store and had it "download" through the Google Music app. If that's the case it really isn't on your device, well it is, but only the Google Music app can see it. For Sony's Walkman app to see it you'll have to download the mp3 on your computer and put it onto your phone then the Walkman app can play the songs.

As for the battery use, I'd say run it for about 2 weeks and you should see the OS start to figure out how to optimize itself. Usually it works around one week or so, but I tend to like giving it about 2 weeks. Since I don't know your usage personally I can't really say myself if it is more or less what it should be at. I vaguely remember being able to go a full day using mine, but having to recharge it in the evening. Plus I do remember that having the screen on tended to drain the battery like crazy (but it sipped power when off).

If you don't want to use some of the apps that were preinstalled (and you can't uninstall them) you can disable them by going to the Apps section, then "all" (or something like that) and scroll down to find the app, then select it and it should have an "uninstall updates" or "disable" button where the "uninstall" option would be. Just uninstall the updates then disable it (if you installed updates), unfortunately it won't spare you the space, but it will at least prevent them from running.

 

[Sinabu]

Thanks for the info. I will try that when I get home this evening. I know another person said for the google play albums/songs that I'm able to download them direct from the site so that makes since. I'll try disabling some of those apps and see what happens. I'm just not sure what i can disable safely with no ill effect.

 

[paul-c]

You can go ahead and delete that McAfee app. It's pointless.

Sent from my Sony Xperia ZL

 

[STARGATE]

You can go ahead and delete that McAfee app. It's pointless.

Sent from my Sony Xperia ZL

I second that opinion! :thumbup:

Sent From a Galaxy S4 Away!

 

[Sinabu]

Yeah I deleted just about every Non-Sony / Non-Google app right from the start hehe. I went in an disabled a bunch of the sony stuff and some of the google stuff and it hid them from the app drawer. Even though there was no carrier bloatware Sony really bloated this thing up (Insert Seems to run faster now tag line)

Everything I use still seems to work and noticed more free ram etc so I'm a happy camper. I also turned off the LTE and now get full signal H and H+. Hopefully this will help improve battery life as well. I rarely surf on the phone unless I'm under wifi and 3G is plenty for emails etc