Sony XZ1 - best future-proof smartphone *to date*

[Wild4ce]

The latest WANk show finally drew me in because of Sony topic; I'm new so lube.

I bought and used several of the latest highest end phones, none met every check for life longevity. I returned each and every one, except Sony.

Here's why it will last longer than any other:

1.  Latest processor
2.  Lower resolution (easier to compute)
3.  IPS screen (No burn in)
4.  IP65/68 & Gorilla 5

Bonuses:

•  Front facing stereo speakers (personal must)
•  Hole (of recent discussion on WANk show)

To my knowledge there are currently only a dozen models with Snapdragon 835 and IPx8, but when you add IPS or 720P/1080P, all you find is Sony.

Also, to my knowledge, all OLED's burn in over time; some worse than others but nonetheless, yuck.

Yeah nothing's future-proof, that's why I clarified, "best".

 

I'm increasingly displeased with the phone market every encounter.

Holding out for a better phone seems to be a never ending process.

XZ1, $500, Okay.

take my money

[Hip]

"Future Proof" depends on the usage of the phone.

I would never pay 500 $ for a phone. If you just use a chat program and the web browser of the phone, you can get a along with a cheaper phone.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Why don't phone manufacturers have photos of the top and bottom of the phone? First thing I look for with a phone is to see whether the company has blindly followed the trend of removing the headphone jack for no reason. but they don't have pictures of the ports in the gallery. Was about to say that it's immediately out of consideration for me because of a lack of the headphone jack, but after l looked at a review for it quick, I found that it does have one. 

 

I'll give Sony points for not removing the headphone jack. The phone itself looks fairly ugly to me though. It has square corners, but then rounded sides, which I imagine would make the corners uncomfortable in your hand and the sides more slippery. 

[Wild4ce]

Let it also be known, here in the city of Chattanooga, TN there is not a single carrier or electronic store that has this phone on display.

It had to be ordered online, unlocked only.

[Hip]

If you are willing to pay so much money I'd rather go with a Xiaomi Mi6. I looks better in my opinion.

[Wild4ce]

4 minutes ago, Hip said:

"Future Proof" depends on the usage of the phone.

I would never pay 500 $ for a phone. If you just use a chat program and the web browser of the phone, you can get a along with a cheaper phone.

"Smartphone"

 

Just now, Hip said:

If you are willing to pay so much money I'd rather go with a Xiaomi Mi6. I looks better in my opinion.

Not IPS or <1080P

 

1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Why don't phone manufacturers have photos of the top and bottom of the phone? First thing I look for with a phone is to see whether the company has blindly followed the trend of removing the headphone jack for no reason. but they don't have pictures of the ports in the gallery. Was about to say that it's immediately out of consideration for me because of a lack of the headphone jack, but after l looked at a review for it quick, I found that it does have one. 

 

I'll give Sony points for not removing the headphone jack. The phone itself looks fairly ugly to me though. It has square corners, but then rounded sides, which I imagine would make the corners uncomfortable in your hand and the sides more slippery. 

I have the non-compact which is not big, but does feel uncomfortable one handed.

The compact (720P) is something I may order instead due to that very reason; screen to body ratio is even worse though

[D13H4RD]

8 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I'll give Sony points for not removing the headphone jack. The phone itself looks fairly ugly to me though. It has square corners, but then rounded sides, which I imagine would make the corners uncomfortable in your hand and the sides more slippery. 

And promptly take that away because their successors have no headphone jack.

[Hip]

 

3 minutes ago, Wild4ce said:

"Smartphone"

 

Not IPS or <1080P

 

I have the non-compact which is not big, but does feel uncomfortable one handed.

The compact (720P) is something I may order instead due to that very reason; screen to body ratio is even worse though

 

	5.15 inches, 73.1 cm2 (~71.4% screen-to-body ratio)
	1080 x 1920 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~428 ppi density) IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

[Guest The Viking]

--> Mediapad X1, lasted me 4 years. Huge 5000 mAh, had a strong soc (for its time), pictures are still in the average, aluminium build, 2gb ram and 16gb of internal+microSD up to... 64gb I think?

 

"Futureproof" means nothing. Mediapad X1 was mid-range phablet yet it managed to last all the way to 2018. Latest cpu? Who cares, they are all overpowered now. Lower resolution? On my mate 10 pro I can change resolution if I want to. OLED? No clue, I'm still on IPS pretty much everywhere, will see with the mate 10 pro.

 

IP rating is a huge joke. Sure, go drop your phone in the water. I have yet to do that. Otherwise, all phones can hold rain without any issues. I should know, it f*cking rains constantly here while I need to use the gps.

 

Besides, your sony XZ1 has "only" a 2700mAh battery. Good luck having that thing last more than a year or two. After 4 years, the mediapad x1 can still hold over 1 day without charging (knowing that it used to last 2/3 days when new). Come back in 4 years. You'll have to charge your "futureproof" phone every 2 hours.

 

Mediapad X1, 300€

give me 5 of them

 

my point is, no, it isn't futureproof. It is... for like 2 years, until the battery just dies. If you want something future proof, go search for something with 4000+ mAh and we'll talk,

[Wild4ce]

1 minute ago, Hip said:

 

 

	5.15 inches, 73.1 cm2 (~71.4% screen-to-body ratio)
	1080 x 1920 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~428 ppi density)

"XZ1" and "XZ1 compact" are two different models

[D13H4RD]

Don't really know if it's really that future-proof.

 

For one, it has a smaller-than-usual battery capacity for its size. So it will inevitably degrade in a somewhat more significant manner when it reaches its limit.

 

And you can't really call it that when most Android phones get 2 OS upgrades in its lifetime over 2 years. Sure, the hardware will outlast it, but not its software.

[Hip]

1 minute ago, Wild4ce said:

"XZ1" and "XZ1 compact" are two different models

I know. Those are the specs of the Mi6 I have posted. Not of the Sony phone.

[Wild4ce]

3 minutes ago, The Viking said:

--> Mediapad X1, lasted me 4 years. Huge 5000 mAh, had a strong soc (for its time), pictures are still in the average, aluminium build, 2gb ram and 16gb of internal+microSD up to... 64gb I think?

 

"Futureproof" means nothing. Mediapad X1 was mid-range phablet yet it managed to last all the way to 2018. Latest cpu? Who cares, they are all overpowered now. Lower resolution? On my mate 10 pro I can change resolution if I want to. OLED? No clue, I'm still on IPS pretty much everywhere, will see with the mate 10 pro.

 

IP rating is a huge joke. Sure, go drop your phone in the water. I have yet to do that. Otherwise, all phones can hold rain without any issues. I should know, it f*cking rains constantly here while I need to use the gps.

 

Besides, your sony XZ1 has "only" a 2700mAh battery. Good luck having that thing last more than a year or two. After 4 years, the mediapad x1 can still hold over 1 day without charging (knowing that it used to last 2/3 days when new). Come back in 4 years. You'll have to charge your "futureproof" phone every 2 hours.

 

Mediapad X1, 300€

give me 5 of them

 

my point is, no, it isn't futureproof. It is... for like 2 years, until the battery just dies. If you want something future proof, go search for something with 4000+ mAh and we'll talk,

I said "best" not explicitly future-proof without caveat, then further clarified by saying so a second time in the post...

I also said *to date*

[Guest The Viking]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

And you can't really call it that when most Android phones get 2 OS upgrades in its lifetime over 2 years. Sure, the hardware will outlast it, but not its software.

well you could root the phone and just install android updates on your own, but.... so many issues with that...

[Bouzoo]

I am still waiting for Sony to make a proper design and stop with the box design which to me feels awful in the hand. Imo the design wasn't any good with original Xperia, and it still isn't. 

Now for OLED, it's a hit and miss. I know people with Samsung phone which obviously have had AMOLED for years, no burn in whatsoever. And it looks much better than IPS. I still have a G2 with 5.2'', 1080p IPS display. If it doesn't burn in, OLED all the way.

Also Snapdragon 835 is not the latest SoC, since Exynos 9810 and Snapragon 845 are the latest ones. But no doubt it will last long. 

[Guest The Viking]

Just now, Wild4ce said:

I said "best" not explicitly future-proof without caveat, then further clarified by saying so a second time in the post...

I also said to date

then it isn't the best if it will only last me two years before dying miserably. I prefer taking some other phone that isn't the best at a few things but overtime will balance out.

[D13H4RD]

Just now, The Viking said:

well you could root the phone and just install android updates on your own, but.... so many issues with that...

Well, I don't know if Sony has changed their stance, but...

 

...unlocking the bootloader causes the camera to be downgraded significantly in terms of quality, mostly because Sony is using a proprietary method of post-processing called BIONZ.

[Guest The Viking]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Well, I don't know if Sony has changed their stance, but...

 

...unlocking the bootloader causes the camera to be downgraded significantly in terms of quality, mostly because Sony is using a proprietary method of post-processing called BIONZ.

I really don't know, I just decided to stick to android 4.4 for 4 years and whatever, I don't want to have issues with my phone. I've been having a look around at the community of people who do have the courage to play around with their phones and it seems you can actually do quite a lot of things software-wise, so it wouldn't surprise me somebody made a workaround?

[D13H4RD]

2 minutes ago, The Viking said:

I really don't know, I just decided to stick to android 4.4 for 4 years and whatever, I don't want to have issues with my phone. I've been having a look around at the community of people who do have the courage to play around with their phones and it seems you can actually do quite a lot of things software-wise, so it wouldn't surprise me somebody made a workaround?

I don't know. Nobody has made progress on Sony phones because they don't sell.

 

You'd have better luck with a Samsung even though Exynos models is usually a bit of a pain to develop for (until the S9 because of Treble)

[Drak3]

SD835. Same as the Galaxy S8 and Note 8, and a dozen other smartphones. Not that it matters, the chip will thermal throttle enough that last gen offerings can easily match it.

Resolution is not consequential for day to day tasks, as the UI is not even relatively demanding. The power saved by running the lower resolutoin screen is offset by the smaller battery as well, 2700mAH vs ~3,000+ on most other phones. Less charge short term, faster degradation long term.

IPS might not have burn in issues, but the OLED screens on high end phones (bar what Google deemed acceptable with their OEM reject rebrands) will last a fair bit longer than the ZX's battery's longetivity and its replacement.

IP ratings are  nigh meaningless outside of marketting and niche scenarios, but the Galaxy S8 active sports an IP68 rating as well.

The ZX might have front facing speakers, but they're not particularly good and certainly not that loud.

 

To be quite honest, the standard ZX has no benefit over an S8, iPhone 8 (or 6s, really), LG V30, or other high end phones that I'm missing.

9 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

I am still waiting for Sony to make a proper design and stop with the box design which to me feels awful in the hand. Imo the design wasn't any good with original Xperia, and it still isn't. 

I actually prefer the design of the ZX Premium over the S8, iP6/7/8, Lumia 950XL, and Note 4/8. It feels great in my hand.

[Wild4ce]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

I don't know. Nobody has made progress on Sony phones because they don't sell.

 

You'd have better luck with a Samsung even though Exynos models is usually a bit of a pain to develop for (until the S9 because of Treble)

Carriers don't offer them and stores like best buy don't display them anymore...

It's not hype, at all... who really wants a 720p in their pocket? 8=)

Way too small... Bigger is better, right? 4Kxxx

(I actually would prefer a 720p or 1080p phablet though in reality)

[Nicnac]

iphone ^^

[D13H4RD]

Tbh, it's not really the specs. I doubt the average consumer gives a crap about whether it is 720p, 1080p or 2160p.

 

Sony is just really faltering when it comes to actually giving you reasons to want a Sony phone over the others. And over the years, they've made some really baffling decisions, such as releasing a phone with a controversial SoC which overheats after just a few minutes of using the camera, a phone that costs north of $550 but has a worse value proposition than a OnePlus 3T and now, just blindly following trends without a proper justification.

 

Sony Mobile is really just directionless at this point. It's not unlike LG's current position.

[Wild4ce]

Resolution matters when it comes to performance as does processor.

Performance matters when it comes to longevity.

IPS matters when it comes to longevity.

Durability matters when it comes to longevity.

 

Please stop cherry picking this conversation to mean one thing or another.

It's not about the best phone of all time.

It's not about which phone costs the most or least ever.

It's not about whether a phone will last indefinitely.

It's not about Sony's preferences.

It's not about your preference.

It's not an argument.

 

It is about which SMARTphone will hold out best over time.

 

I would really like to hear somebody say something constructive... or at least welcome to the forum...

Please read it this time.