Sony Xperia smartphones look so good on paper. So why is it that we don’t recommend them? Here’s our answer to that and a brief 2023 review of the Sony Xperia 1 IV.
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Stubborn ideologies, slow to changes, devices get abandoned after 2 years.
Used to be a big fan of Xperia phones up until the Xperia 5.
I loved my XZ premium . Would still use it if it hadn’t come down with an unfixable charging issue.
I got an Xperia 5 IV very recently when my Galaxy S7 died. Been happy with it. Smallest phone I could find with an SD card slot, and while it’s still larger than my old phone, the screen is the same width, just taller. Overpriced? Probably a bit. In the end though, I like it.
I upgraded from an S7 in the past year… I ended up going with a Samsung XCover 6 Pro since Sony doesn’t sell their flagship phones in Canada…
The size is why I keep them in the back of my head. Because when my Pixel 4a dies I’m kinda screwed with how humongous (what?) all those phones nowadays are.
Right, like people want to develop wrist pain over a damn phone. 5&6" is hard to come by.
Poor updates (policy), overpriced for the specs. I mean, 400-500 for a phone with a SD695 and 60hrz? Come on… Such a shame, because they are the only ones with a screen without a punchhole/camera cutout…
And they quit making the compact. I rocked 3 or 4 new old stock Xperia xz1 for YEARS. Smallest phones I could get at the time. Now I’m doing the same thing with the s10e which I still feel is too big.
Yes. I loved the compact! Small size is still a major criteria when I look at phones, but they’re unfortunately just getting bigger and bigger… Plus, yeah they were sorta expensive, but super solid. Would buy again anytime.
Does Sony still make phones ? … The last time I saw someone using a Sony phone was probably 8 years ago
Probably because you buy them upfront and online mostly and not from the service providers.
Shit updates, expensive, terrible marketing (since ever). I used to buy Xperia phones exclusively, the compact ones to be precise, then Sony decided that compact phones and affordable phones had to go, I bought an Xperia 10 (I or II, can’t remember) and it absolutely sucked. When it broke I bought a random Chinese phone from the store, ended up with a Realme. Works better, with worse battery life tho.
Marketing and availablity. Unless you watch Phonereviews you probably have no idea these phones exist.
I loved my Xperia XA2, but when the next android update came down the pipe I literally lost features.
I probably would consider them, but their phones tend to have lackluster US carrier/band support and lack of security updates. Coupling that with the high price tag, no go.
Where’s the article?
There’s an embedded video above the headline. It’s easy to dismiss as an ad. I did, too.
It isn’t much better either. HTG went from a great site publishing tech articles to riddled with paywalls(you will encounter sign in screens if you read multiple articles quickly), Premium options, ad affiliated newsletter links and just constant churning of low quality filler mostly.
It’s easy to dismiss as an ad. I did, too.
Well, Vivaldi’s built-in in adblock apparently agrees with this categorization. The video shows up if I disable it. Lol
I used to have an Xperia pro, the one with the physical keyboard. It was my last keyboard phone. I absolutely loved it.
Flashed a different OS, cyanogenmod I believe, which broke the governor chip (irreparable; known issue but super buried, would have done the same with any OS of that version number, including stock) so it would read as a dead battery if not on the charger.
Never touched Sony phones again. Don’t trust them at all.
My favorite phone was a Sony Xperia Compact. If they still have SD Card slots my next phone will be Sony.
Their phones are far too expensive and their software support is horrible.
I just bought a new phone. I went with a Galaxy again. I really wanted the Sony because it has a great feature set. However, I was not confident in long term support, which Sony has said will be much shorter than competitors. And it also cost about 30% more than the other flagship phones. I can’t justify spending more money for a phone that will last me half as long.
2 Years of updates was my reason. Samsung is up to 7,Apple is about 5 or 6 and Google is 7 years.
Note this is based off of my memory so I could be wrong.
Fairphone is minimum 8 years.
Who the fuck keeps (and uses) a phone for 8 years?
Me.
Honestly, who doesn’t? And, importantly, what does the demographic of one-year phone people tell us?
It would be more realistic if they made batteries easily swappable. If I could just pop off the back of the phone and swap a battery in 20 seconds I’d keep that phone forever.
If you swap it out for Lineage problem solved. I agree & strongly recommend against using a stock Sony ROM. It kind of defeats the point of buying one.
Have Samsung & Google actually delivered 7 years yet - or is that still just a promise on paper to continue supporting existing products?
Apple for all its faults has at least delivered on this premise.
Samsung made that promise last year and limited to the higher-end lineups, I believe.
Google still update their pixel 6 phones from years ago (not sure about the pixel 5 or below).
Apple is a complete different story since they owned the entire ecosystems and keeps making money from the devices being in use.
Pixel 6 came only came out near the end of 2021, I would hope all companies support phones for more than 3 years, but maybe I’m too optimistic.
A15 is probably the last major update for P6P.
Not sure about security patches though, which are arguably more important.
Also there’s always custom roms for Pixel phones.
Google and Samsung both have a track record of delivering updates even past the promised date so far.
iPhone 6s (2015) received a security update this month, they have delivered indeed
Apple supports phones 7+ years and basically has always had the longest support of all the OEMs
IPhone 6s received updates in the past year and it’s from 2015
I have xperia 1 III and will use it until it dies, but there is very little chance that I’m buying xperia next, mainly because the camera is so shit. I don’t really care for the camera that much, but the picture quality is only comparable to xiaomi <200€ phones, that is way to shit compared to the price I’m paying.
