Thinking about a non-Samsung Android Phone

[entropism]

Sony has a nonexistant foothold in N. America, and everything since the Z3 has been underwhelming to say the least.

 

[FrgMstr]

Sony has a nonexistant foothold in N. America, and everything since the Z3 has been underwhelming to say the least.

I did not even know Sony still made phone in NA till it was posted here.

 

[Mayseffect]

Sony has a nonexistant foothold in N. America, and everything since the Z3 has been underwhelming to say the least.

That's a fairly poor accusation if you've never tried anything other than samsung and the go to phones. There line up is top notch and usually has vastly superior build quality to the cheap plastic Samsung's.

On another note. I just bought the Sony Z4 tablet and its absolutely lightning fast with a great screen and sleek design. The bespoke Sony GUI looks just as good as the standard Android layout as well. For a 2015 model its specs and performance is still among the top even to 2017 standards. But of course you have to pay a bit more compared to what the going prices for Samsung or HTC is.

 

[T4rd]

That's a fairly poor accusation if you've never tried anything other than samsung and the go to phones. There line up is top notch and usually has vastly superior build quality to the cheap plastic Samsung's.

Huh..? I haven't seen Samsung use plastic on their phones since the GS5/Note4 in 2014.

Sony's hardware is decent and I wouldn't mind owning one, but they're definitely overpriced for what they are in the US, esp. when you consider they can't work around whatever red tape is keeping them from enabling their fingerprint scanners on the US models (you can enable them by flashing the international ROM or with root probably though). They have had a lot of overheating issues too while recording full HD or 4K video, but they may have fixed that in the newer models. I do like their software/skin (or lack thereof) more than most other OEM's though.

 

[entropism]

You have no idea what you're talking about.

- First off, I've used over 50 Android flagships and midranges over the past 9 years or so, usually beta testing for carriers, brands, or reviews.
- Second, I'm generally an anti-samsung kind of guy.
- Third, Sony HAS pulled out of the north american market. This isn't hyperbole. This is fact.
- Fourth, ever since (and including) the Z3, Sony's devices have been disappointing at best, disastrous at worst. Should we talk about the Z3 spontaneously shattering? Or how it was completely hit or miss if it was waterproof or not? How about the magnetic charging port suddenly detaching itself from the phone? OR, we could talk about the Z4 overheating if you looked at it wrong? It throttled itself into oblivion with even the smallest of tasks, so much so that the Z3 outperformed it. ORRRRR, we could look at the Z5, which bragged about a 4K display... Which barely displayed in 4K.
- Fifth - Meanwhile, they've been recycling the same old design of the Z3 (seriously, can anyone tell them apart?) which, admittedly, is a good looking design, but it completely dated at this point.
- Sixth - They have the NERVE to price themselves at high end levels where they simply can't compete spec for spec.
- Seventh - For a company that actually PRODUCES the camera sensors for a ton of OEMs, Sony has consistantly shit the bed on their own phones, usually due to completely awful coding on the camera software and processing. I mean, that's just amature hour bullshit right there.

Kid, go play elsewhere. You just typed yourself into a hole here.

That's a fairly poor accusation if you've never tried anything other than samsung and the go to phones. There line up is top notch and usually has vastly superior build quality to the cheap plastic Samsung's.

On another note. I just bought the Sony Z4 tablet and its absolutely lightning fast with a great screen and sleek design. The bespoke Sony GUI looks just as good as the standard Android layout as well. For a 2015 model its specs and performance is still among the top even to 2017 standards. But of course you have to pay a bit more compared to what the going prices for Samsung or HTC is.

 

[FrgMstr]

I have learned to just stop worrying about whether or not my phone is charged.

 

[Mayseffect]

You have no idea what you're talking about.

- First off, I've used over 50 Android flagships and midranges over the past 9 years or so, usually beta testing for carriers, brands, or reviews.
- Second, I'm generally an anti-samsung kind of guy.
- Third, Sony HAS pulled out of the north american market. This isn't hyperbole (it actually is). This is fact - not fact
- Fourth, ever since (and including) the Z3, Sony's devices have been disappointing at best, disastrous at worst. Should we talk about the Z3 spontaneously shattering? Or how it was completely hit or miss if it was waterproof or not? How about the magnetic charging port suddenly detaching itself from the phone? OR, we could talk about the Z4 overheating if you looked at it wrong? It throttled itself into oblivion with even the smallest of tasks, so much so that the Z3 outperformed it. ORRRRR, we could look at the Z5, which bragged about a 4K display... Which barely displayed in 4K.
- Fifth - Meanwhile, they've been recycling the same old design of the Z3 (seriously, can anyone tell them apart?) which, admittedly, is a good looking design, but it completely dated at this point.
- Sixth - They have the NERVE to price themselves at high end levels where they simply can't compete spec for spec.
- Seventh - For a company that actually PRODUCES the camera sensors for a ton of OEMs, Sony has consistently shit the bed on their own phones, usually due to completely awful coding on the camera software and processing. I mean, that's just amature hour bullshit right there.

Kid, go play elsewhere. You just typed yourself into a hole here.

Well good for you getting your panties twisted in a bunch. But I've owned several Sony phones and none of them have self destructed or had performance related problems. You stating these clearly fictitious failures is beyond childish "z4 overheating if you look at it wrong" really?

My camera's have never failed, the HD/4k capturing has never cut itself off or caused the phone to overheat and fail. The Z5 has been able to output and produce 4k videos and photos as well as any other brand offering it. Even if it DID have problems. How often are you ever going to playback 4k stuff anyways? 4k is generally a gimmic now either way, no matter who is offering it. I even agreed to this, you calling bloody murder over it is childish to say the least. Judging purely by your computer signature you probably aren't taking full advantage of 4k quality imagery. Are you even using 4k monitors for videos and image editing or gaming? People are barely even using 2560 resolution to full advantage yet and you are bitching about 4k quality? NOBODY has perfect 4k resolution sorted out, certainly on phones. BUT, do you know what Sony actually offers compared to most smartphone brands? ACTUAL professional grade recording devices! Use your actual phone for phone purposes and buy a SONY A7 or a professional SONY video recorder for actual video and photo capturing with dedicated lenses on a full frame censor instead of a cropped sensor for small 6 inch phone screens.

Who just typed their ass into a hole now? Explain who is talking about amateur* shit now? A professional recording device compared to a cropped censor on a phone?

You speak of one (old) model in particular and call the entire line up shit? You must be an excellent beta tester and reviewer. Please show me all the mastery blogs and reviews you make about all the Samsung devices. You keep ranting about the Z3 as a reference which is over 2 years old and not even the flagship model of its time! Sony is on the X series line, and already shipping multiple models worldwide. So yes you are right, the z3 is dated, and so is your opinion on the matter. You are trying to compare a base level phone against what? That phone is not even worth 100 dollars on today's market, what point are you trying to prove? That it's equally bad as a Iphone 6?

I clearly stated Sony was pricey and probably not worth what they are charging. Thank you for beating a dead horse.

Sony devices are warranted and sold for and to the US market, they did not leave the US. They retired ALL of their storefronts, not just for phones but everything. Instead they sale exclusively to vendors such as the Amazon, Bestbuy. BHphoto, Adorama and many others globally. Amazon being enough considering they are a GLOBAL leader in online sales. Almost all of their products are warranted across the nation. If you go to their site now via a US - North American website you will get directed to US vendors.

How is your 9 years of random ANDROID usage applicable to all things Sony? Sony wasn't even using dedicated android OS 9 years ago. You only named 2 dated devices that are not even recent models. Both of which were actually evenly priced to most other brands on the market.

I was merely suggesting another brand other than what was out. Good for you sounding like some snob asshole talking bad about a company that is obviously doing quite well regardless of your childish remarks. Yet i'm the kid...right.

I can care less if you don't like Sony or my opinion. The title of this thread was clear "looking for non samsung..." i offered another to the list. Go fuck yourself if you can't handle a simple debate. The fact of the matter your accusations was poor, and so is your attitude.

And TARD, i don't know what Samsung phones you have a available, but almost all of their recent lineup used Plastic shells. Sony and other brands do too. The S6, S7, S8 and most of the galaxy line used plastic. They may have a (semi)metal frame but they also have plastic on it. Sorry if i blatantly made it sound like Samsung was incapable or did not include rigid structures.

 

[CHANG3D]

Err... As a person with a beastgrip and having photographer friends with the Sony a7, I would say that my iPhone 7 Plus has vastly better video capture than most lower end DSLR. Heck, the a7 is only 1080p, whereas my iPhone does 4K. I know resolution isn't everything, but video quality itself I would say the iPhone 7 is better. So why the heck would I use the a7 for video capture when that phone in my pocket is better at it?

Check this video (around the middle it'll talk about video capture):


As for photos, that really ain't my thing, but here's a direct comparison:
https://hipsterpixel.co/2016/11/18/iphone-7-plus-vs-sony-a7-mk-ii-photo-fight/

Basically, if you're going to throw out the DSLR is better at video and photography argument, preferably don't choose a camera that's pretty lame if not outright suck in comparison.

 

[entropism]

Oh for fucks sake... OK, let's pick apart your rant here.

Well good for you getting your panties twisted in a bunch. But I've owned several Sony phones and none of them have self destructed or had performance related problems. You stating these clearly fictitious failures is beyond childish "z4 overheating if you look at it wrong" really?

Ah yes, because you owned a handful of Sony devices, they had no issues because YOU had no issues. Gotcha. Good call. And Pintos never blew up because YOURS didn't blow up.

But hey, because this never actually happened, here's a few imaginary links to fake news sources:

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/new...erheating-issues-promises-software-fix-703620

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/7...3-overheating-issue-heres-a-quick-diy-fix.htm

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony...-promises-a-software-update-is-coming_id70394

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquire...n-810-is-causing-xperia-z3-overheating-issues

http://phandroid.com/2015/06/24/sony-xperia-z3-plus-z4-camera-app-crash-overheating/

My camera's have never failed, the HD/4k capturing has never cut itself off or caused the phone to overheat and fail. The Z5 has been able to output and produce 4k videos and photos as well as any other brand offering it. Even if it DID have problems. How often are you ever going to playback 4k stuff anyways? 4k is generally a gimmic now either way, no matter who is offering it. I even agreed to this, you calling bloody murder over it is childish to say the least. Judging purely by your computer signature you probably aren't taking full advantage of 4k quality imagery. Are you even using 4k monitors for videos and image editing or gaming? People are barely even using 2560 resolution to full advantage yet and you are bitching about 4k quality? NOBODY has perfect 4k resolution sorted out, certainly on phones. BUT, do you know what Sony actually offers compared to most smartphone brands? ACTUAL professional grade recording devices! Use your actual phone for phone purposes and buy a SONY A7 or a professional SONY video recorder for actual video and photo capturing with dedicated lenses on a full frame censor instead of a cropped sensor for small 6 inch phone screens.

I never said a thing about 4K recording. They boasted a 4K DISPLAY (note how I said "display") that didn't actually display at 4K.

Here's some more fake news for you:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opini...k-display-is-it-better-than-1080p-and-quad-hd

https://www.engadget.com/2015/12/16/sony-xperia-z5-premium-review/

Who just typed their ass into a hole now? Explain who is talking about amateur* shit now? A professional recording device compared to a cropped censor on a phone?

Still you, snookums. But hey, feel free to correct typos to make yourself feel better. You still confused camera and display.

What I DID mention was that almost every other OEM seems to be able to use the same Sony sensors successfully, while Sony's imaging on their devices have been decidedly mediocre. Never mentioned professional photography or equipment. But hey, feel free to try again.

You speak of one (old) model in particular and call the entire line up shit? You must be an excellent beta tester and reviewer. Please show me all the mastery blogs and reviews you make about all the Samsung devices. You keep ranting about the Z3 as a reference which is over 2 years old and not even the flagship model of its time! Sony is on the X series line, and already shipping multiple models worldwide. So yes you are right, the z3 is dated, and so is your opinion on the matter. You are trying to compare a base level phone against what? That phone is not even worth 100 dollars on today's market, what point are you trying to prove? That it's equally bad as a Iphone 6?

3, actually. The Z3, Z3+/Z4, and the Z5. But who's counting?

Not to mention, as I said, the design is BASED on the Z3 and is, at this point, outdated. I know this is difficult, so I'll even quote myself so you don't have to scroll up:

- Fifth - Meanwhile, they've been recycling the same old design of the Z3 (seriously, can anyone tell them apart?) which, admittedly, is a good looking design, but it completely dated at this point.

Now, your little misdirect about how the Z3 is old? Yes, I covered that. But are you forgetting that the Z3 WAS the flagship? Just like the Z3+/Z4 was, then the Z5, then the X Perfomance, then the Z Premium. They all share the nearly exact same design. Can you not even admit this in your fanboy rage?

I clearly stated Sony was pricey and probably not worth what they are charging. Thank you for beating a dead horse.

Sony devices are warranted and sold for and to the US market, they did not leave the US. They retired ALL of their storefronts, not just for phones but everything. Instead they sale exclusively to vendors such as the Amazon, Bestbuy. BHphoto, Adorama and many others globally. Amazon being enough considering they are a GLOBAL leader in online sales. Almost all of their products are warranted across the nation. If you go to their site now via a US - North American website you will get directed to US vendors.

It links to 3 sites. Amazon, Best Buy, and "Focus Camera", which I've never even heard of. Wooo? I guess? But, you know, when other manufacturers are actively trying to A: be carried by carriers, B: Advertise, or C: Be known in the eyes of the general public? Sony is not. Sony is the Playstation. Maybe TVs and stereos to a lesser extent. They used to be king, and they're riding their reputation into the dirt.

Oh, and snookums? *sell

See how much correcting a typo helps your argument? Oh, it doesn't? Go figure.

How is your 9 years of random ANDROID usage applicable to all things Sony? Sony wasn't even using dedicated android OS 9 years ago. You only named 2 dated devices that are not even recent models. Both of which were actually evenly priced to most other brands on the market.

I was responding to this bit of snark:

That's a fairly poor accusation if you've never tried anything other than samsung and the go to phones

and I never claimed to be an expert on "all things sony". I was calling you out for your bullshit statement, and you responded with another. /clap?

Good for you sounding like some snob asshole talking bad about a company that is obviously doing quite well regardless of your childish remarks. Yet i'm the kid...right.

OBVIOUSLY doing quite well...

http://www.stealingshare.com/the-sony-brands/

http://alphabeatic.com/sony-failure/

https://www.recode.net/2015/1/28/11...-failure-sony-bails-on-building-its-own-music

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/why-sonys-xperia-phones-keep-failing-in-the-us/

Obviously. I know. So childish.

I can care less if you don't like Sony or my opinion. The title of this thread was clear "looking for non samsung..." i offered another to the list. Go fuck yourself if you can't handle a simple debate. The fact of the matter your accusations was poor, and so is your attitude.

The title was "looking for a non samsung", and the phone was found weeks back. You had said:

Surprised no one has mentioned Sony.

Their new line up should be great comparatively to Samsung.

The reason nobody mentioned them is because they don't have a foothold in the American market, AND their releases have been disappointing at best. Exactly as I said before.

And TARD, i don't know what Samsung phones you have a available, but almost all of their recent lineup used Plastic shells. Sony and other brands do too. The S6, S7, S8 and most of the galaxy line used plastic. They may have a (semi)metal frame but they also have plastic on it. Sorry if i blatantly made it sound like Samsung was incapable or did not include rigid structures.

S6? Aluminum
Note 5? Aluminum
S7? Magnesium
S8? Haven't bothered with more than 5 minutes of searching but I'm going to assume it's the same magnesium

So if the frame is metal, are you talking about the plastic antenna bands that take up about 5% of the frame? Really?

 

[FrgMstr]

Anyway, to get back on topic.....

I did finally get the VRS Design case. Had it a couple of days now. I pulled a jackass and ordered the one for the Pixel and not the Pixel XL first time. The back seems thinner, but the bumpers are a bit wider and I would suggest a higher edge around the screen. The fingerprint sensor hole is much better exposed.

 

[Hitti2]

https://www.amazon.com/OtterBox-DEFENDER-Google-Pixel-VERSION/dp/B01M9A6FBH
https://www.coralguard.com/products...-Google-Pixel-XL/p/73710881/category=16072119

My insurance ran out so I had to order a better case.
Arriving today.

Case that is in use atm which is considered a bumper.
Pure plastic. Incipio.

 

[chx]

There is only phone and its name is Moto Z. Because it has or rather it will have a proper landscape keyboard mod.

 

[Spetsnaz201]

Sony Xperia XZ Platinum.

I had the Xperia Z2 and was very impressed. Very well built. Feels good in your hand. Xperia XZ Platinum is probably the fastest phone you can get now. I was considering it but at $800 it's just too much. I had to settle for a S7 Edge for $400.

 

[chx]

Sony Xperia XZ Platinum.

I had the Xperia Z2 and was very impressed. Very well built. Feels good in your hand. Xperia XZ Platinum is probably the fastest phone you can get now. I was considering it but at $800 it's just too much. I had to settle for a S7 Edge for $400.

I believe you meant the XZ Premium

 

[Deleted member 245375]

There is only phone and its name is Moto Z. Because it has or rather it will have a proper landscape keyboard mod.

I kinda figured sooner or later that kind of Moto Mod would come into being and figured it would be crowd-funded project and it did, so good for them. But at this point in time the BlackBerry KEYone is getting some damned nice practically raving reviews from people and while I haven't had a chance to do a hands-on myself after reading/watching the reviews and knowing it has the same camera that the Google Pixel has in it I think BlackBerry does finally have a winner on their hands. And because the software processing is apparently working a bit different with the KEYone, the image quality isn't exactly the same, and no RAW captures on the KEYone either which is not a good thing but understandable considering the design nature of the phone: business, no funny stuff basically.

Either way I haven't found or seen any really negative comments about the KEYone as of today so I hope it helps BlackBerry. Will it save them from their eventual demise? No, I don't think it will nor will it create a massive turnaround for them unfortunately but it'll be a nice bump on the positive side for at least a while, especially considering the hardware build itself which is quite damned nice. Never been a big fan of physical keyboards but my wife loves 'em and is one of those people that is just inhumanly fast on those tiny things. I had a fake BlackBerry-LG bottom end phone years ago with one of the physical keyboards and I hated it with a passion so I'm glad to know the KEYone is Android powered and has all the standard stuff like the onscreen keyboard as well (I use Gboard nowadays, works for me).

Anyway, if one were to consider the cost of even the lower end of the Moto Z devices, the Moto Z Play at roughly $449 retail, then add in the cost of the Moto Mod keyboard thing from Kickstarter (I figure they're shooting for a $99.99 retail price, maybe, I don't know exactly) you're basically right at the same cost as a BlackBerry KEYone at $549, and I know for a fact that BlackBerry will be pushing the monthly security patches and updates to the KEYone monthly for at least the next 18 months I'd say the KEYone is something to consider. Lenovo doesn't have a very good track record with pushing the monthly Android security patches on time and they can be months behind on the process as well as the fact that the Moto Z and Z Play phones have been out for some time now.

I'm not knocking the Moto Z products, I think they're quite nice and the mod thing is interesting but still a failure for them overall, sadly. The keyboard mod could re-ignite interest there and spark more mods (which is the hope I suppose) so it remains to be seen what will happen.

But the KEYone is off to a great start and a definite item to consider. I mean even Flossy Carter loves the KEYone.

 

[chx]

Anyway, if one were to consider the cost of even the lower end of the Moto Z devices, the Moto Z Play at roughly $449 retail

Erm, nope. You can pick up a used one for about half of that on eBay or just order it from China, it's $300 on banggood but they recently had a sale so it was just $250 new And if you were on the keyboard crowdfunding you had a chance to know it because I posted there as well the moment the sale happened. My problem with the KEYone is the extremely hard lock down Blackberry does. I was running my Nexus 7 LTE unlocked, unrooted for a while then came a problem and it turned out I needed an xposed mod for that... Another minor problem is the keyboard area by necessity is much smaller than of this mod. There never has been a keyboard this huge on a phone simply because older phones were smaller.

Bonus: the Psion PDAs are back, too, this time it's called the Gemini PDA.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

Well as stated it's a business-oriented smartphone and since it's more secure than traditional Android smartphones from most any manufacturer of course it's not going to let you do anything you damned well please. And if you had "a problem" with the Nexus 7 that required it to be rooted and using the Xposed framework and modules then I wouldn't exactly call that a problem but more along the lines of "it wouldn't do what I wanted it to do natively so I made it do it by rooting it and using Xposed..."

Sure you can find the Moto Z devices at lower prices, but as I said they've been out for a while now, the KEYone literally had it's worldwide release 4 days ago, give it time.

After a decade of rooting/customizing/running various ROMs on over 150+ devices I've owned I've gotten to a point where I just don't give a fuck about it anymore, I really don't but I realize that there are a lot of folks that just can't stop customizing their devices and that's fine. If I had the cash to get a KEYone right now it would be a very strong consideration towards doing it but my G4 is pristine and it works and it was just updated by T-Mobile for the April 2017 security patches so I'm good for a while. I doubt I'll find a KEYone anytime soon at any majorly discounted price but it's on my radar if a deal happens.

There's only one reason I'd care to root my G4 at this point and yes that's to install Xposed to use a module called Physical Button Music Control which allows me to skip music tracks using the volume buttons while the display is off (and many other features too using the volume buttons based on long-short as well as multiple variations of taps and holds, it's quite awesome really). BlackBerry devices have done that - control music playback with physical buttons - since the Z10 came out 5+ years ago so, the KEYone has it natively as well. I swear every Android device should offer that option in their ROMs by default. Yes I could install a custom ROM on my G4 (it's able to have the bootloader unlocked) but as I said, I'm just not into all the custom ROM crap anymore because there's always some issue on devices with such things (except for Nexus and Pixel devices of course).

But the KEYone is doing well -it's sold out in many places as well, was going to go to Best Buy later today and look at one but I called Saturday evening and spoke to a person in my local Best Buy's smartphone department and he flat out said they had 28 of them delivered to the store on Tuesday afternoon. They set up the display that night and by 10:30am Wednesday morning they were all gone, poof, one by one they just disappeared within 30 minutes of the store opening and they don't even have a demo model on the floor either so, there goes that idea. Not expecting another shipment till the 10th so, I might have to check in at Crackberry and see if there's a meet-up scheduled here in Las Vegas where I can go get a hands on for a bit.

Choices, choices, so many choices...

 

[NAXDON]

I'd check out the new Moto G5 Plus.. Got mine last week and I absolutely love it

It's a pretty good phone. For the price, I get performance and don't feel like I need a Galaxy S... just because it says Samsung.

About $243 in Pennsylvania