So who's getting the Ion?

[iN8ter]

Phonedog has a 2 part review up if you don't mind not having a HD screen I would go with the skyrocket already messed around with it at at&t

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Android Central Forums

The Ion performs on par with the Skyrocket (actually, better if you factor in it's pushing almost twice as many pixels on the screen), has a bigger battery, and there's a huge difference between WVGA and qHD - 720 blows the Skyrocket away.

I went yesterday to play with the Skyrocket cause I want to bring this buggy Vivid back, and now that this phone has released on AT&T for $50 less, I may have just found the right device to ditch this Vivid for... I'll be going play with it tomorrow.

Seriously, the WVGA on the Skyrocket's screen looks like crap. If I went to it straight from my Vibrant/HD7 I'd have been able to deal with it, but after looking at the Vivid's qHD screen for weeks WVGA is unacceptable.

My biggest issue with the Ion is that they say there is no Automatic Brightness setting for the screen. Really not something I want to have to adjust manually, TBH. Is that true?

And does it have WiFi Direct?

The UI looks very minimalist. I like it better than Sense or TW. They seem to get in the way less than those. A lot of that other stuff, you can add from the Play Store with apps (Vlingo Beta, Scalado Album, Dolphin or Opera Mobile, etc.).

My biggest hang-up is that their camera app looks bare as hell, especially for such a decent camera. How does a company that makes such good cameras develop such bad camera software for their device and make phones with such bad video capture - the latter of which may be the showstopper since I take exponentially more video than pictures with my phone (and use the camcorder daily).

 

[iN8ter]

From what I saw, the display of the ion and the One X are very similar. It goes without saying that both are top of the line screens. It's speedier than I expected, actually. Everything runs super smooth and I haven't run into any hiccups yet. The fact that it's running on the S3 doesn't seem to hamper performance at all. As for the camera, the low light shots look pretty good. I don't take that many pictures, but it definitely does a better job in that department than my RAZR does. The physical camera button can be set up to take a picture just by pressing it, even when the screen is off. It's a pretty cool trick.

Is it a two stage physical shutter button, like on the Windows Phones. What does the video output look like on the device?

No burst shot option, HDR, etc. like on the HTC Vivid?

ALso, has AT&T locked the Google Talk Video Chat to WiFi online like they did the Vivid? Not sure if the Skyrocket is locked. NFC is unlocked and functional on it?

 

[iN8ter]

Haha, I know right? There really hasn't been much on this phone out there, Android Central and Engadget put reviews up this morning right as the phone was launching. Oh, and there's nothing in the box but a charger, haha. I might end up getting a couple of the NFC tags, that might be fun.

More like useful. Instead of toggling settings you can tap it before you walk out the door (or when you walk in) to toggle your WiFi On/Off and things like that. Yea, if I get the phone I'll be getting at least a few of them.

 

[erwaso]

Amazon doesn't have the phone yet but best buy is $50 and SAMs club online is $40.

Reviews say its slow but are comparing it to S4 chips. Well of friggin course it's gonna be slower than the next step up. Faster than my htc aria haha. I dunno, but $40 compared to the $199 SIII or $120 HOX (SAMs) this is a steal. SgsII skyrocket is still $60 at cheapest.

 

[erwaso]

Haha, I know right? There really hasn't been much on this phone out there, Android Central and Engadget put reviews up this morning right as the phone was launching. Oh, and there's nothing in the box but a charger, haha. I might end up getting a couple of the NFC tags, that might be fun.

Are the capacitive buttons really as unresponsive as reviewers are saying???

 

[petes67bird]

Hi Everyone,
So my wife and I are really thinking of picking this phone up. We are not smartphone users and really need a phone with good call quality, ease of text message such as speak to text, ability to skype, and a good camera to take pictures when out preferably with a flash for those dark lounges. I initially wanted to pick up the LG Nitro HD until I heard of this phone last week. We need to purchase directly from AT&T and need the phones to be under 100 a piece, where this one does. Which phone would you recommend? I dont care about ICS, jelly beans or gummi bears? lol jk. I know it will get updated, I use a kindle fire and think that is great even though of its limitations. I dont need the latest and greatest, just want a good reliable phone that can surf the web etc. Alot of reviews have knocked the Call Volume in the earpiece, and the speaker itself. Is this really an issue. Even my old old sony phones had great speakers. I have also read conflicting reports of touch to focus for the camera. Does this phone have the ability to touch to focus. Thanks Pete

 

[paul-c]

Are the capacitive buttons really as unresponsive as reviewers are saying???

So, it turns out Sony probably could have just gone with the translucent bar on the ion. The buttons aren't unresponsive, but you do have to hit the sweet spot, much like on the Xperia S. Tapping right near the bottom of the screen right above the icons does the trick. To me, it's not as big of a deal as they're making it seem.

 

[paul-c]

The Ion performs on par with the Skyrocket (actually, better if you factor in it's pushing almost twice as many pixels on the screen), has a bigger battery, and there's a huge difference between WVGA and qHD - 720 blows the Skyrocket away.

I went yesterday to play with the Skyrocket cause I want to bring this buggy Vivid back, and now that this phone has released on AT&T for $50 less, I may have just found the right device to ditch this Vivid for... I'll be going play with it tomorrow.

Seriously, the WVGA on the Skyrocket's screen looks like crap. If I went to it straight from my Vibrant/HD7 I'd have been able to deal with it, but after looking at the Vivid's qHD screen for weeks WVGA is unacceptable.

My biggest issue with the Ion is that they say there is no Automatic Brightness setting for the screen. Really not something I want to have to adjust manually, TBH. Is that true?

And does it have WiFi Direct?

The UI looks very minimalist. I like it better than Sense or TW. They seem to get in the way less than those. A lot of that other stuff, you can add from the Play Store with apps (Vlingo Beta, Scalado Album, Dolphin or Opera Mobile, etc.).

My biggest hang-up is that their camera app looks bare as hell, especially for such a decent camera. How does a company that makes such good cameras develop such bad camera software for their device and make phones with such bad video capture - the latter of which may be the showstopper since I take exponentially more video than pictures with my phone (and use the camcorder daily).

You are totally right about the camera app being bare, although it does have a sweep panorama mode, whatever that means. I think it takes nice pictures, but the videos do leave something to be desired. They're ok, but if that's the biggest thing for you in a phone, this might not be for you. I can't really compare the shutter button to any Windows phones that are on the market, I've never owned one. Not really sure if it has wifi direct, not familiar with that, and I haven't played with the NFC yet. What I can tell you is there is no auto brightness on the phone. I thought it might be an issue too, but it comes set at 50% out of the box and that works just fine for me. I agree though, it would be a nice option. As for the Timescape UI, it's super minimalistic and out of the way. Like you said, most of that add on stuff could just be bought through Google Play. The UI is light and a joy to use. The screen, design, and light UI are what pulled me in on this phone. If those things are important to you, then it's ok to live with a few shortcomings. Oh, and battery life is pretty stellar as well, which is nice. And it charges quickly, too. Overall, I'd say it's worth a spin for a hundred bucks.

 

[paul-c]

Hi Everyone,
So my wife and I are really thinking of picking this phone up. We are not smartphone users and really need a phone with good call quality, ease of text message such as speak to text, ability to skype, and a good camera to take pictures when out preferably with a flash for those dark lounges. I initially wanted to pick up the LG Nitro HD until I heard of this phone last week. We need to purchase directly from AT&T and need the phones to be under 100 a piece, where this one does. Which phone would you recommend? I dont care about ICS, jelly beans or gummi bears? lol jk. I know it will get updated, I use a kindle fire and think that is great even though of its limitations. I dont need the latest and greatest, just want a good reliable phone that can surf the web etc. Alot of reviews have knocked the Call Volume in the earpiece, and the speaker itself. Is this really an issue. Even my old old sony phones had great speakers. I have also read conflicting reports of touch to focus for the camera. Does this phone have the ability to touch to focus. Thanks Pete

I don't think the speaker is that bad, but yeah, the volume in the earpiece is definitely low. I can see it being an issue if you make a lot of calls outside. Surfing the web and texting is smooth. Speak to text works well. And the camera seems to lack touch focus, but it allows you to half press the shutter button to bring things into focus before you take a picture.

 

[petes67bird]

Thank you. My only concern right now is in call volume. I drive a 1980 Camaro Z28 which is LOUUUUD lol during the summer. I am wondering if this is something that can be altered with something like Volume + application or not. I really am liking the phone,

 

[erwaso]

Is the stock keyboard like swype?

 

[paul-c]

Is the stock keyboard like swype?

The Android keyboard is set as default out of the box, but the Xperia keyboard option does the swype thing. It's actually pretty nice. I've never been great with swype, but I'm finding this version easy to use.

 

[RJShaytoon]

I was an iphone user who was super excited for this phone to come out...

then it disappeared for almost 6 months and in the meantime I took the Galaxy Note for a 30 day spin. I fell in love so I returned it and bought the International version.

Now my curiosity is getting the best of me. I keep reading up on reviews and I went to the At&t store today to play around with the Ion. Some thoughts...

The physical camera button that snaps a picture from sleep is pretty remarkable, you'll be the first to get the picture when Sean Penn walks by. It's a shame that the reviews don't rave about the quality, considering it's a Sony phone with 12mp and an Exmor R sensor. One of the biggest draws when this phone was first announced was the supposed camera quality and it seems to be a bit of a letdown, relatively speaking.

As with Paul-C, I didn't find any difficulty in hitting the capacitive buttons either. Although I have watched a lot of videos, so I knew to aim a little high. But anyone concerned with the responsiveness should not be. If you hit the right spot, like any button, it works, and as anything, you'll get used to where exactly to hit if it's your phone.

The UI is the trophy of this device, imo. So clean and unobtrusive and it's amazingly smooth and zippy to navigate even with the "lesser" S3 processor. There is definitely a noticeable difference with the S3 in the AT&T Note (Touchwiz) vs. the S3 in the Ion. Night and Day. Speaking of, I imagine this phone is much easier to see in daylight than the AMOLED's. I've noticed this to be a much bigger issue than I imagined it would.

4.55" might be the sweet spot for those of us with normal to above averaged sized hands too. I do miss being able to comfortably use my phone one-handed, the only thing I prefered on the AT&T Note (over the n7000) is the back button being a little closer to the middle (with the Ion-like 4 capacitive buttons). I often hold my phone in my left hand, and after switching to the International Note (S3 flanked home button set up), it's much harder to reach the back button without some tricky and dangerous maneuvering.

The biggest 'negative' I hear about this phone is the lack of ICS, which I think is ridiculous considering that it will eventually come around. I completely understand the concern with the buttons and the camera and the processor, because those won't change, but for people to dismiss a phone because of a lack of software update at present is just ridiculous to me.

$50 is definitely a steal for this phone. That said, I don't think it's worth selling my n7000 for it, which is a shame. I was really interested in this phone when it came around at CES. But in the little time I spent with it, it's definitely a phone worth considering if you're not already in the next tier of recently released smartphones.

 

[iN8ter]

I don't think the speaker is that bad, but yeah, the volume in the earpiece is definitely low. I can see it being an issue if you make a lot of calls outside. Surfing the web and texting is smooth. Speak to text works well. And the camera seems to lack touch focus, but it allows you to half press the shutter button to bring things into focus before you take a picture.

Okay, this is what I meant by two stage shutter button (half down to focus, all the way to take the picture). Thanks!

I'll have to go in the store to take a sample video and email it to myself/load it on my PC/HDTV to see how that performs.

 

[petes67bird]

Ok I ordered 2 of these just now. Does anyone know if ballistic has a case yet or an equivalent.

 

[paul-c]

Ok I ordered 2 of these just now. Does anyone know if ballistic has a case yet or an equivalent.

A website called VoiceComm will have that case in stock around July 9th, Pete. Welcome, aboard.

 

[petes67bird]

Thanks Paul. It looks like the Incipio Sicrylic case is available right now. I have never used a case or smartphone. Anyone have any experience on which would be better. Wait for Ballistic SG or get the Incipio. I called Ballistic and they dont have an ETA at all. Thanks Pete

 

[experiment 626]

Finally had a chance to play around with the ION. If it wasn't for the logos I'd swear it was an LG device.Very plain & "block-ish" but solid. The Bravia screen "out-Samsungs" Samsung's Amoled screen in terms of color saturation.I really missed having a physical camera button to use.The half-press focus step worked fast. The Sweeping Panoramic setting took a few tries to use right but the results were great. The capacitive buttons & screen seemed to require a firm touch to activate. The Sony UI is very lean & minimalist. A nice change of pace from my Rezound's Sense though both phones are equally fast. Speakerphone for calls,video,and music seemed to perform well.My only regret with the ION is that Sony didn't use the ARC series body,which is beautiful,to add a unique style. Still the Xperia ION is worth it @ $99,even if it can't compete with HTC's One series and Samsung's Galaxy S series.

 

[buckwild]

I just picked up this device and I'm loving it! I've been a blackberry user for 8 years and this is my first Android device. I hope to pick up a lot of useful info from the members here!

 

[erwaso]

Glad to see more users popping up! Please put up a week or 2Week thoughts if you can. I'm still a month out to upgrade