Sony to unveil 5 new phones at MWC, including another 4K one

[Doobeedoo]

Ok nice, I wonder what they'll call the new series, mainly flagship. Though I wonder will the 4K flagship be native in general this time. It would also be nice to see battery comparison of same device with different resolutions. I've read somewhere that dependable on certain modern chips it's not too different. Would like to see such test with new phone.

[Trixanity]

2 hours ago, goodtofufriday said:

I use sony phones. Highly disagree. 

 

2 hours ago, Dackzy said:

they have made some pretty decent phones...

 

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

The BlancBright looks pretty promising, hopefully they don't completely castrate it by throwing in a tiny battery and pricing it higher than it's worth.

I'm also glad that they push the limits with their top tier phones. If no one experiments with that stuff then we'll never see improvements, ones that can trickle down to improve the lesser models as well.

 

They've made quite a few good devices. They just make some stupid decisions based on region, like getting rid of the finger print reader in NA.

Guess it shows they don't sell that well..

Decent. Sure. I suppose. If they were less than $500. They charge way too much for too little.

Like many Japanese companies they are out of touch with the market. "Old Japanese men" as they say.

 

There is little reason to defend them at this point. They try to live off their old reputation when they were the kings with the best TVs, Walkmans and whatnot. They still don't seem to understand that it doesn't work like that anymore.

 

They make stupid decisions and can't execute on their products. Reviewers continue to shit on them and tell them what to do to improve but it's like they live in a bubble and do not take it to heart. As I said it's not that their products are bad but they price them above their value. If they priced accordingly, no one would criticize their efforts.

 

The fingerprint scanner is apparently due to patent issues in the US but it's still there (would probably cost too much to physically alter the phone for the US market where their presence is smaller than in other markets) which means it can be enabled through software modifications.

 

Then there's the hilarious fact that they make camera sensors for pretty much all devices on the market yet their cameras are the worst despite their ability to cherry pick whatever sensor they want. They seem to subscribe to the megapixel race despite how dead that horse is (old Japanese men again). They pick high megapixel sensors with tiny pixels that get outperformed by all the other devices. How can you screw up when you have intimate access to the best resources? It's baffling.

 

Their software, while lightly skinned, is still a bit off and some of their own apps contain ads - wtf is that? Seriously though. When using the

software... It's hard to put my finger on it... but I'm not a fan. A lot of bloat pre-installed too and a lot of the apps they include are merely worse replicas of existing apps.

They have lots of DRM embedded in their software so if you tinker with your phone all those 'nifty' Sony features get thrown out the window.

 

Small batteries, poorly calibrated displays, 3 GB RAM on a late 2016 flagship device? Whether you can get by with these compromises or not - it doesn't matter - they should try to match their competitors. There is no reason to pay more for less.

Oh and 32 GB of eMMC storage on a flagship device? They should be ashamed. It makes their devices painfully slow.

 

If they want to save their smartphone business they need to act now and make a proper flagship that's at least trading blows with the best the competition has to offer. They're currently living of an old faded image that they don't live up to anymore and their hardcore fanboys who will defend them no matter what.

 

Disclaimer: I'm the owner of a Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet - which does not get security updates either, so another reason to give them the finger. I bought it because I got it for 60% off so it was a bargain.

[michaelocarroll007]

5 hours ago, Aniallation said:

What the Z5 Premium does. In normal use it gets rendered at 1080p (1/4 scale, therefore scales perfectly), when you actually play 4K content it switches display resolution to 4K. Yes it does waste more battery for a rather small increase in fine detail, but you definitely can see it, and whether it's worth it or not is up to you.

i would say a huge amount of people holding this phone from 12" away can not see 1440p vs 2160p  Many people dont have good enough vision for 4k at 5.5 inches

 

Either way as a Techie who has great eyes Slightly better then 20/20 If it doesnt harm batterylife too much i find it cool. Displays getting to the point past what you can see is interesting. tvs are going to be getting there eventually 8k is being shown off and 5 feet from one on the wall maybe you can get like wall papers that make it look like its a real window haha. 

[michaelocarroll007]

4 hours ago, JoostinOnline said:

I can't tell the difference between my S4 (1080p) and my S7 Edge (2K), unless I take screenshots and zoom way in.

 well its not directly apples to apples the s4 smaller screen boosts its PPI a little but the edge still has a decently higer PPI.  many cannot see the difference a few can anything over 400PPI honestly you cant complain about and starts getting to the you cant see much more of an improvement.   I deffentily see a difference on my 500+ PPI s7 edge vs the iphone 7 lower 300ish PPI 

[Castdeath97]

So, this disconfirms that only Samsung is getting the 835?

 

Anyhow, I really hoped they just went with 1440p.

[JoostinOnline]

6 minutes ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

 well its not directly apples to apples the s4 smaller screen boosts its PPI a little but the edge still has a decently higer PPI.  many cannot see the difference a few can anything over 400PPI honestly you cant complain about and starts getting to the you cant see much more of an improvement.   I deffentily see a difference on my 500+ PPI s7 edge vs the iphone 7 lower 300ish PPI 

I know, but as you said, there is a higher PPI, and I can't spot the difference.

[dizmo]

15 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

-snip-

 

The Z5 line was pretty much on point. Granted, the newer ones were a little too high price wise.

The sensor itself does not equate to quality. The software behind it plays a massive role in how well it performs.

I imagine that their sensor and mobile businesses are separate entities, much like Samsung.

Companies can always come back, look at LG. Their last phone was not very good, but the G6 looks like a very solid come back.

Their phone brand has actually been steadily increasing in sales over the past couple of years. They've streamlined their model line, and focused on markets they're strong in. They're doing a lot better than HTC, both sales and design wise.

 

It seems like the problem you have isn't as much with the hardware, as it is with the pricing

 

[Sors]

8 hours ago, Trixanity said:

This is Sony we're talking about. They won't be.

I had 4 Sony phones, and every one of them was great.

 

It shows that you never had one.

[Aniallation]

5 hours ago, Castdeath97 said:

So, this disconfirms that only Samsung is getting the 835?

 

Anyhow, I really hoped they just went with 1440p.

It was never said that Samsung would be the only one to get the 835. Just that they would get it first. Concequently, as mentioned in the article, concerns are raised as to whether the new Sony device will be delayed due to the waiting list on the 835 chips. 

[SurvivorNVL]

I'd love that higher end model to come out in February.  

[AlTech]

13 hours ago, dizmo said:

I know many, many more people that own 5.5"+ phones. Virtually everyone I know, actually.

People always seem to miss that "more compact" bit, they just focus on the 5.2" bit.

Like the new S8. Yes, it has a 5.7" screen, but it's supposedly smaller in height and only slightly wider than the 5.1" S7.

You sir, live in a special area. If I were to get 30 people and measure phone size, 20-25 would have sub 5.5 inches. 5-10 might have 5.5-6 inches. But that's it.

 

The vast majority of people do not use large phones. Heck, my mom is clinging on to her 3.5" iPhone 4S. I am using a 5" phone right now. My last phone was 5.5" and at the time I thought the size was awesome.

 

But now that I've had a chance to use a 5 inch phone, I much prefer this size over 5.7 inches.

[Trixanity]

9 hours ago, dizmo said:

The Z5 line was pretty much on point. Granted, the newer ones were a little too high price wise.

The sensor itself does not equate to quality. The software behind it plays a massive role in how well it performs.

I imagine that their sensor and mobile businesses are separate entities, much like Samsung.

Companies can always come back, look at LG. Their last phone was not very good, but the G6 looks like a very solid come back.

Their phone brand has actually been steadily increasing in sales over the past couple of years. They've streamlined their model line, and focused on markets they're strong in. They're doing a lot better than HTC, both sales and design wise.

 

It seems like the problem you have isn't as much with the hardware, as it is with the pricing

 

The Z5 line still suffered from many (or all) of the pain points I highlighted. 

 

Of course the sensor isn't everything but a company with a sensor division and a camera division can't make a phone camera that takes a decent picture? That's ridiculous. Sure, they're separate subsidiaries but it's not like they live in a vacuum. They can give them a call and ask: "our shit doesn't work. Please help".

 

The whole 6 month release cycle was stupid as hell too. I'm not sure they've scrapped that yet. So how much streamlining they've actually done remains to be seen.

 

HTC have the better designs I'd say and also the better devices. Another funny thing: HTC has better audio but Sony has a large audio division too. They just don't know how to utilize their resources whatsoever. So if their sales are better it must be Sony's brand that still keeps them alive because nothing else appears to work. I mean I even forgot to mention that Sony puts NFC on the front. That means you need to put the phone on a tag with the display facing away from you. How much sense does that make? You have to accept what's on screen blindly.

 

Their devices are decent if you fix some of the many glaring faults and lower the prices considerably but neither seems to happen as both have been there for years now.

 

 

7 hours ago, Sors said:

I had 4 Sony phones, and every one of them was great.

 

It shows that you never had one.

I have one right here (albeit not a phone although I have had my hands on their phones too). Shows that you don't read the entire thread, doesn't it?

 

Great is a very subjective statement and great compared to what? Their competitors have had better devices out.

[SeraphicWings]

I used an LG V10 before and the 7 plus now, and I can assure you guys they have (imo) the best panel I've ever seen in a phone

Is it because of the resolution? No, my vision is a bit impaired so I can't tell any difference in pixel density, no matter how close I put my eyes on the screen, and so does pretty much the majority of people using smartphones

It's 2017 now, not many people will give a shit if your phone is 4K or 1440p, give them quality panel, wide color gamut, HDR and accurate color reproduction, way better than going #resolutionmasterrace, which in my honest opinion is pure bullshit.

 

I would take a 1080p IPS over a 4K TFT screen smartphone anyday

[suicidalfranco]

what i'd give for a 4k phone 

if only it wasn't from sony