Xperia Z2: I want to try this phone....

[RicKaysen]

Re: I want to try this phone....

Just my two cents on the carriers in NYC. After moving to the Upper West Side of Manhattan from Fort Lauderdale a couple years ago, I've been through four of them. Originally, I had Verizon and it was fine until one day...it wasn't. I completely lost signal in my apartment (couldn't even make an emergency call) and after a solid month of Verizon techs telling me they were "working on it", I had to start looking around. At first, I tried Sprint because I could stick with my CDMA phone, but the data speeds were in the toilet. Then I went GSM and tried T-Mobile with the same miserable experience. I had good service standing on the sidewalk, but sometimes, I actually wanted to make a call inside a building. Ultimately, I settled on AT&T (were I started 20 years ago) and after having to digest the loss of my unlimited data plan, service has been fair...not great, but fair. Even with four or five bars of LTE, data speeds often slow to a crawl. Now people in my building tell me the Verizon signal has been restored...SMH. No one can tell you this or that provider is all good or all bad. It takes a lot of experimentation.

 

[xchange]

I saw the issue, which wasn't an issue with the One, for example. Camera performance in low light also wasn't great.

Those were my two issues with it.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Fair enough, although the people mentioning the slight viewing angle the most were tech bloggers not owners. There's pretty sparse Z1 activity on AC and quite a bit on XDA due to their more international membership (Z1 not on USA carriers) but in both cases viewing angles get very little mention. And the Z1 camera surpassed the One at dslreports by a long shot

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Fair enough, although the people mentioning the slight viewing angle the most were tech bloggers not owners and the Z1 camera surpassed the One at dslreports by a long shot

Now who's quoting the bloggers?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[xchange]

Now who's quoting the bloggers?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I expanded on that see above. Dslreports is a dedicated and highly respected photography site, as opposed to the vast majority of writers on smartphone sites who have fairly limited camera knowledge.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I expanded on that see above. Dslreports is a dedicated and highly respected photography site, as opposed to the vast majority of writers on smartphone sites who have fairly limited camera knowledge.

I read them regularly actually.

I'm not an expert, but the One did better in low light to me. The Z1 blew it away in daylight. Most of my photos are taken in less than ideal situations though. At the time the One did it better. Shutter lag made a big difference too.

I'm hoping the Z2 fixes that.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[xchange]

The last update made some improvements to SA mode, if you still use your Z1 you could give it a look. Personally I use manual mode along with the scene presets (night portrait, night scene) with a lot of success in low light. Whatever weaknesses the Z1 may have in certain conditions in auto mode, I find the superior images to other cameras in certain conditions well worth the trade off of having to switch to manual for those occasions.

This of course is not to mention that the phone in the overall bigger picture is so damn good. People always neglect the overall grade and tunnel in on 1 or 2 things

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

The last update made some improvements to SA mode, if you still use your Z1 you could give it a look. Personally I use manual mode along with the scene presets (night portrait, night scene) with a lot of success in low light. Whatever weaknesses the Z1 may have in certain conditions in auto mode, I find the superior images to other cameras in certain conditions well worth the trade off of having to switch to manual for those occasions.

This of course is not to mention that the phone in the overall bigger picture is so damn good. People always neglect the overall grade and tunnel in on 1 or 2 things

Well...the two most important things for ME are camera and display. I've already explained why I like the One camera better, and I'm sure you can agree that the One display is better, if not in every way, then at least in a few key areas. Basically, it has all of the strengths of the Z1 with none of the weaknesses (but it's also not perfect).

That being said, the water resistance of the Z1 (and now also Z2) was a great thing, and will definitely sway my decision at to what my next device will be.

Unless HTC really does something great I'm leaning toward the Z2 or S5 right now.


And no, I don't still have the Z1. Unfortunately.

 

[Ken7]

Kevin, if the camera is a high priority to you (as it is to me), what's your take on the poor audio from the 4K video samples of the Sony?

 

[barryl85]

Kevin, if the camera is a high priority to you (as it is to me), what's your take on the poor audio from the 4K video samples of the Sony?

Why do you keep trolling the Z2?

I can appreciate you having an issue with it but you have wrote about this in nearly every single thread and even have your own thread regarding it.

 

[Ken7]

It's not 'trolling' when you are genuinely interested in a product but one aspect concerns you and you are looking for feedback from others.

Trolling is denigrating a product for which you have no interest in. If you're offended by my posts, don't read them.

 

[LuvMusic]

I've had a TMo Z1s for about 6 weeks now and have been enjoying my Xperia xperience!

That said, I'm interested in how Sony improved the screen. Also interested in Sony's implementation of KitKat and the reduced bezels. Not too concerned about the camera, got a NEX 5n for my serious photo needs! Interested in the new Sony A6000 too (camera).....Sony could be getting alot of my money this year.

It will probably take six months for this phone to reach TMo in the US and I'll check it out then. If I like it, I'll use my JUMP to update. Until then, I'm happy with my Z1s.

 

[barryl85]

It's not 'trolling' when you are genuinely interested in a product but one aspect concerns you and you are looking for feedback from others.

Trolling is denigrating a product for which you have no interest in. If you're offended by my posts, don't read them.

It's trolling when you post the same thing over and over and over in multiple topics, it doesn't matter if you like the thing or are interested in it or other peoples opinions on it.

 

[Ken7]

That's your opinion, Barry.

 

[xchange]

Well...the two most important things for ME are camera and display. I've already explained why I like the One camera better, and I'm sure you can agree that the One display is better, if not in every way, then at least in a few key areas. Basically, it has all of the strengths of the Z1 with none of the weaknesses (but it's also not perfect).

That being said, the water resistance of the Z1 (and now also Z2) was a great thing, and will definitely sway my decision at to what my next device will be.

Unless HTC really does something great I'm leaning toward the Z2 or S5 right now.


And no, I don't still have the Z1. Unfortunately.

I guess we're pretty much at a disagreement impasse then because I found the HTC One camera didn't measure up the the Z1's. The One has a better display on paper for viewing static images and screen content, but when the Triluminos and X-Reality engine technologies engine kick in during video playback I found the Z1 surpassed in there, so the difference is basically a wash in my books. In neither case is angles a factor for me because I never look at my phone on an angle.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Kevin, if the camera is a high priority to you (as it is to me), what's your take on the poor audio from the 4K video samples of the Sony?

I say wait until a final retail device with shipping software is released and then judge it.

I guess we're pretty much at a disagreement impasse then because I found the HTC One camera didn't measure up the the Z1's. The One has a better display on paper for viewing static images and screen content, but when the Triluminos and X-Reality engine technologies engine kick in during video playback I found the Z1 surpassed in there, so the difference is basically a wash in my books. In neither case is angles a factor for me because I never look at my phone on an angle.

So you're saying that for one particular use case the Z1 display is better (video playback), but in every other use case it's not? Being a measurably better display is not a point that can be argued. In areas that can be measured the One has a better display. If you prefer the display of the Z1 that's perfectly fine. It's an above average display. It's just not technically better than the One.

As for the camera performance I think we just have different expectations and focus on performance in different situations. Which again, is fine. Both cameras have trade-offs and which ones matter to which person is going to be different.

No issues with agreeing to disagree on these things. I use the Nexus 5 daily now anyway, which has a far better display from a technical and measurable standpoint than either the One or Z1.

 

[xchange]

Basically I feel that if two displays aren't very far off from one another it really doesn't make a big difference for static images. Ie. How good a 4" photo looks or a Web page, or the appearance of this Tapatalk app I'm typing this on.

 

[ddot196]

Why do you keep trolling the Z2?

I can appreciate you having an issue with it but you have wrote about this in nearly every single thread and even have your own thread regarding it.

Yea I'm not sure what's the deal with this either. And honestly audio on 4k recording? I will not even be using this feature as I have no 4k TVs lying around. If that's the number one complaint you have and it's that big a deal just wait for reviews. Simple.

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[Ken7]

Yea I'm not sure what's the deal with this either. And honestly audio on 4k recording? I will not even be using this feature as I have no 4k TVs lying around. If that's the number one complaint you have and it's that big a deal just wait for reviews. Simple.

Posted via Android Central App

I guess everyone has a hot button and if you have no intention of recording video, let alone 4K, this is a non-issue. However if you do, it can be a big deal especially when this is one of the mostly highly touted features that Sony talks about with the phone. I really don't think I'm being too anal about this.

I'm expecting Sony will fix this once the camera is in production.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I guess everyone has a hot button and if you have no intention of recording video, let alone 4K, this is a non-issue. However if you do, it can be a big deal especially when this is one of the mostly highly touted features that Sony talks about with the phone. I really don't think I'm being too anal about this.

I'm expecting Sony will fix this once the camera is in production.

I honestly haven't looked to see if you're bringing it up all that much, but I wouldn't take that video (that probably wasn't supposed to be posted at all honestly) as how the shipping device will perform.

 

[Ken7]

You're probably right Kevin, at least that's what I'm hoping. I'm still hoping this winds up on AT&T so I can avoid the import hassle.