[RockStar2005]

pixel2 is the best phone actually as far as software goes. it definitely wont win design awards which was an issue with the first one. but its going to be getting 3 year software updates and security updates being the only one to do that. Its also teh first to support E-sim paving the way for a day where we dont have sims at all.


also i think im realizing what the lack of volte is doing. outside i get 33 mbps or somewhere in the 20s. But inside it struggles to hit 10mbps speed do you think it has to do with volte?

It's a good phone, but for audio, I doubt it can stand up to Sony or esp HTC and LG. The V30 (locked, but soon unlocked too I believe) is the first phone to be able to utilize T-Mo's new 600 MHz (Band 71) low bandwidth spectrum, so that gives it another edge too. My sister needed to upgrade her S6 so I met her up at Verizon and suggested the V30 which Verizon got early. She compared that to the S8+, and it was close, but she wanted a phone with great video and audio cuz we went to a concert and my 10's audio was very clear and her's was pretty bad. lol So I suggested she do a video/audio test using the video camera on both phones, which she did, and of course the V30 won lol, so she got that. After holding it I feel that it's 18:9 screen ratio and the fact that it's SMALLER than the V20 to me makes it pretty much a non-phablet, which is what I was hoping for. It's just a great phone in every way..........camera, audio, 2K screen, great design and looks (I will prob get Titanium/Silver too like she did, but unlocked prob), fast, excellent battery life, etc. The unlocked V30 comes out 10/27 they say, so I'm VERY likely going to be upgrading to it.

I've been following the XDA Xperia XZ1 thread (which you're welcome to follow as well), and although there is a new development where someone MAY have an idea that might enable the XZ1 to have VoLTE (and I think FS too). The interesting thing is one person on there thinks they MAY be able to also use that same idea to give the int'l XZP VoLTE (and maybe FS too). I'm still keepin' tabs on it, but as of now, I don't think I'm ready to go back to Sony. This VoLTE thing killed it for me, and I feel like the V30 seems to outdo it in other categories as well.

Not really aertus. That's b/c VoLTE only applies when you're ON a call. If you're not on a call, then as long as your phone has Band 12 capability, it should receive it. Your issue is probably because you DON'T have Band 12 in your area, and so when you go inside the other higher bandwidth bands (most likely 2 & 4) aren't able to penetrate through your building's/home's walls as well as the lower bandwidths like 12 would, and so your data speed suffers.

 

[aertus]

international xperias have FP enabled. But im not sure about VOlte though. If i get a flagship xperia im definitely getting the international version for the fingerprint. But I think i might wait for Mirai which is where I think Sony might change the game.

lgv30 is pretty damn good yeah. I have to commend sony for having great battery life on the xz1 with a small battery size like that. so imagine how much better it would be with 3000mah it would reach 90 or even 100 hours on the test. I'd be more likely to buy it then.

i think as far as audio recording nokia 8 has the best cuz of the oizo.

 

[RockStar2005]

international xperias have FP enabled. But im not sure about VOlte though. If i get a flagship xperia im definitely getting the international version for the fingerprint. But I think i might wait for Mirai which is where I think Sony might change the game.

lgv30 is pretty damn good yeah. I have to commend sony for having great battery life on the xz1 with a small battery size like that. so imagine how much better it would be with 3000mah it would reach 90 or even 100 hours on the test. I'd be more likely to buy it then.

i think as far as audio recording nokia 8 has the best cuz of the oizo.

Yeah I know that. I had the int'l X Performance, and that was the main reason.............FS guaranteed. Well there's a difference b/t having VoLTE, and the phone being "T-Mobile VoLTE-certified". A guy I knew on XDA ALSO had the int'l X Performance, but he had AT&T. He told me he got VoLTE. That's b/c again AT&T DOES NOT require VoLTE-certification like T-Mobile does.

Yeah I guess if you can wait you might as well see what they do next year. Hopefully it's for real and not some BS, but given that at least the XZ1 Compact is VoLTE-certified with T-Mo, I guess there's hope. Plus that they made battery life a PRIORITY again.

So T-Mobile just released the V30 last Friday, and they put out a new promo where if you buy a V30 now, you can get either the V20 or newer $500 G6 for free. So I'm gonna order the V30 and get the free G6 and give it to my mother to upgrade her from her 3 1/2 year old Xperia Z1s. Well, I'm actually selling it to my mom cuz my dad's gonna pay me $225 over 5 mos (to make it even more affordable). But I could get $350+ on eBay if I sell it, so it's still a great deal (I also paid the $56 in taxes for them). My reason for waiting for the unlocked V30 (again comes out 10/27) was that it was supposed be like $100. But since I'm getting $225 (minus taxes lol), then the locked version is now the cheaper one. PLUS I don't think the unlocked one will be capable of receiving the new T-Mo low bandwidth spectrum that they're deploying right now (Band 71/600 MHz), but the locked V30 will. Chicago doesn't have it yet but it very well may within the next year or less. So it just makes more sense to get the locked one. Plus VoLTE is guaranteed where with the unlocked it's not (though the unlocked G6 had with it T-Mo, so wasn't really worried about that).

Yeah man, Sony is awesome but they should've put in a bigger battery regardless. You need GREAT features to get people's attention and compete. Many people might compare battery sizes and just assume the XZ1 is weaker when it likely isn't vs. a different random phone.

Nokia 8? Really? Better than the V30? I'd prob never buy a Nokia phone anyway, but ok.

 

[aertus]

Yeah I know that. I had the int'l X Performance, and that was the main reason.............FS guaranteed. Well there's a difference b/t having VoLTE, and the phone being "T-Mobile VoLTE-certified". A guy I knew on XDA ALSO had the int'l X Performance, but he had AT&T. He told me he got VoLTE. That's b/c again AT&T DOES NOT require VoLTE-certification like T-Mobile does.

Yeah I guess if you can wait you might as well see what they do next year. Hopefully it's for real and not some BS, but given that at least the XZ1 Compact is VoLTE-certified with T-Mo, I guess there's hope. Plus that they made battery life a PRIORITY again.

So T-Mobile just released the V30 last Friday, and they put out a new promo where if you buy a V30 now, you can get either the V20 or newer $500 G6 for free. So I'm gonna order the V30 and get the free G6 and give it to my mother to upgrade her from her 3 1/2 year old Xperia Z1s. Well, I'm actually selling it to my mom cuz my dad's gonna pay me $225 over 5 mos (to make it even more affordable). But I could get $350+ on eBay if I sell it, so it's still a great deal (I also paid the $56 in taxes for them). My reason for waiting for the unlocked V30 (again comes out 10/27) was that it was supposed be like $100. But since I'm getting $225 (minus taxes lol), then the locked version is now the cheaper one. PLUS I don't think the unlocked one will be capable of receiving the new T-Mo low bandwidth spectrum that they're deploying right now (Band 71/600 MHz), but the locked V30 will. Chicago doesn't have it yet but it very well may within the next year or less. So it just makes more sense to get the locked one. Plus VoLTE is guaranteed where with the unlocked it's not (though the unlocked G6 had with it T-Mo, so wasn't really worried about that).

Yeah man, Sony is awesome but they should've put in a bigger battery regardless. You need GREAT features to get people's attention and compete. Many people might compare battery sizes and just assume the XZ1 is weaker when it likely isn't vs. a different random phone.

Nokia 8? Really? Better than the V30? I'd prob never buy a Nokia phone anyway, but ok.

nokkia lumia were always underrated but they had some great features that nobody else had. For one probably the best camera next to Sony z3 it had 20mp Zeiss lens. wireless charging that came with in the box and nice design. I would have picked it over the Samsung s5. In fact my phone choice was between nokia lumia 930 and the z3 compact but went with the latter since it was actually bettter overall.
Nokia has a lot of potential for innovation so don't understimate them you gotta give them some time to get situated with this new situation. and unlike Sony the Nokia 8 is actually cheaper at 550 dollars Nokia knows they can't ask 700 like other companies which sony always keeps doing.

thats Tmobile for being cheap on the volte certification while ATT has that already.

yeah the xz1 would have been superb with the 3000mah. I think the mirai will have to live up to its name or otherwise the companies reputation would be at stake. We will see whats going to happen though.

 

[RockStar2005]

nokkia lumia were always underrated but they had some great features that nobody else had. For one probably the best camera next to Sony z3 it had 20mp Zeiss lens. wireless charging that came with in the box and nice design. I would have picked it over the Samsung s5. In fact my phone choice was between nokia lumia 930 and the z3 compact but went with the latter since it was actually bettter overall.
Nokia has a lot of potential for innovation so don't understimate them you gotta give them some time to get situated with this new situation. and unlike Sony the Nokia 8 is actually cheaper at 550 dollars Nokia knows they can't ask 700 like other companies which sony always keeps doing.

thats Tmobile for being cheap on the volte certification while ATT has that already.

yeah the xz1 would have been superb with the 3000mah. I think the mirai will have to live up to its name or otherwise the companies reputation would be at stake. We will see whats going to happen though.

Ok we'll see about Nokia. I've never cared for their designs though.

I wouldn't say it's T-Mobile being cheap. It's actually SONY being too cheap to get all their unlocked phone VoLTE-certified with T-Mobile. It costs money and takes time, but T-Mobile does this to ensure that the phone WILL work on their network, so I don't view it as a bad thing. But it just sucks when companies refuse to adhere to this, companies LIKE Sony. AT&T doesn't require certification, which can be seen as a good or bad thing depending on your point of view, so the Xperia phones SHOULD be able to utilize VoLTE on their network. I say should b/c recently I've heard some ppl with Xperias haven't been able to, but I don't know if it's true or they just forgot to enable it in Settings? Again, since the guy I knew got VoLTE on AT&T with his X Performance, I don't see why that wouldn't still be the case now.

Yeah we'll see.

So I guess my area isn't getting Band 71/600 MHz until early 2020, which means having it on my V30 is gonna be useless to me unless I happen to travel to a city that has it, which is nowhere near me. This map (which is unofficial I guess??) shows the progress of its deployment (click on pink map near top to see progress video). But if there's licensing issues like the one in that forum post I just linked, that will delay it more. Oh well. I still will get VoLTE since it's locked and of course Band 12 is already in full swing in my area too at least.

 

[aertus]

I think this design was kind of ahead of its time though along with the z3. Wayyy better than the garbage s5 though. Granted Nokia isn't that good in design anymore.

 

[RockStar2005]

I think this design was kind of ahead of its time though along with the z3. Wayyy better than the garbage s5 though. Granted Nokia isn't that good in design anymore.

Yeah that actually DOES look pretty cool. Too bad most of their phones don't look that way. lol

 

[Dobrescu George]

The main problem was sharp edges. After having changed a few smartphones, believe me, one thing you don't want in long term is sharp edges.

 

[RockStar2005]

The main problem was sharp edges. After having changed a few smartphones, believe me, one thing you don't want in long term is sharp edges.

Yeah no one wants that. lol

 

[InfyAsiX]

For a rectangle the old Xperia ZL gets 5" with small bezels right.

Even then it's corners make it less ergonomic than the dimensionally larger Galaxy S4.
https://m.gsmarena.com/showpic.php3?sImg=reviewsimg/sony-xperia-zl/phone/gsmarena_001.jpg

I prefer functional design so I've never subscribed to looks over usability. On my Z3C, where bezels aren't physically large. I prefer the smaller top bezel side. So as a result of enabling 180° rotation initially for bike mounting, I prefer using it upside down generally for the better reachability.

It's just so nice to just control most of the display without extra effort when lazy or busy. Display size is always going to be a compromise of view versus handling. At least until compact sizes get bezelless, it'd still be a compromise but less of one.

It's interesting that Sony's rectangular edge with significant bezels has still some popularity with fans.

 

[aertus]

the XZ and the XZ1, XZP have nice design for the bezeled era of smartphones. Maybe now with bezeless trend not so much.

what you should be asking is how do people still buy iphone 8 and that still has lots of bezel too but nobody ever says anything about that.

I think more impressive than their smartphones is sony's new audio offerings the wireless NC WHM2 and the WM earpods which has no competitor since they are truly wireless. I might actually get those.

Sony might pull its crap together with mirai i think they are waiting for that to make big improvments on their camera software.

 

[RockStar2005]

the XZ and the XZ1, XZP have nice design for the bezeled era of smartphones. Maybe now with bezeless trend not so much.

what you should be asking is how do people still buy iphone 8 and that still has lots of bezel too but nobody ever says anything about that.

I think more impressive than their smartphones is sony's new audio offerings the wireless NC WHM2 and the WM earpods which has no competitor since they are truly wireless. I might actually get those.

Sony might pull its **** together with mirai i think they are waiting for that to make big improvments on their camera software.

I absolutely LOVE the design of the XZP. Arguably the nicest phone I've ever seen. The XZ1 looks fantastic too.

Well, that's THE question of all questions, isn't it? LOL

Nice on wireless Sony offerings.

I hope so. I keep reading how Sony's newest cameras "still don't compare to other flagships". I think that's a bunch of BS. lol Can you say BRIBERY?! lol

In other news, my V30 came in today! Busy with school and stuff now but gonna try to configure it by this weekend. Definitely want to check out the improved Quad DAC on it too.

 

[InfyAsiX]

I did a little more digging about the ZL design. Thing of greatest note to me is the design is badly prone to overheating. While the Z released at the same time traded off with being typically thin, gained waterproofing and the typical large top and bottom bezel. The Z has decent thermals and doesn't overheat where it matters, around the battery. The battery's are small by today's standard as well, around 2350mAh. Even being thick by today's standard the ZL couldn't get a large battery.

Applying all this historical perspective, I can see why the bezel exists. In this context it demonstrates better thermal management. The Z could have had a larger battery in the extra thickness of the ZL, nowadays though no major player does thicker anyway.

Sometimes things aren't so obvious, but from a trained design and engineering perspective the reasons are clear. I guess this is why 18:9 is a factor that helps keep the physical constraint performance while allowing less bezel. Although bigger bezels also help withstand damage in drop tests.

Personally I think all factors are important. Ergonomics, battery performance and thermal properties. I guess you could graph them on a three point triangle diagram. I think I prefer ergonomics a little more, but not at much expense of the other two. A removable battery is still relevantly welcome as a solution to those latter two!
p.s. Note that looks isn't a factor for me. Well excluding outright ugly and I also like a white front colour. For someone it is though the diagram would be a box I suppose. I believe in functional design, if something is functional it's innately beautiful to the human eye.

 

[RockStar2005]

I did a little more digging about the ZL design. Thing of greatest note to me is the design is badly prone to overheating. While the Z released at the same time traded off with being typically thin, gained waterproofing and the typical large top and bottom bezel. The Z has decent thermals and doesn't overheat where it matters, around the battery. The battery's are small by today's standard as well, around 2350mAh. Even being thick by today's standard the ZL couldn't get a large battery.

Applying all this historical perspective, I can see why the bezel exists. In this context it demonstrates better thermal management. The Z could have had a larger battery in the extra thickness of the ZL, nowadays though no major player does thicker anyway.

Sometimes things aren't so obvious, but from a trained design and engineering perspective the reasons are clear. I guess this is why 18:9 is a factor that helps keep the physical constraint performance while allowing less bezel. Although bigger bezels also help withstand damage in drop tests.

Personally I think all factors are important. Ergonomics, battery performance and thermal properties. I guess you could graph them on a three point triangle diagram. I think I prefer ergonomics a little more, but not at much expense of the other two. A removable battery is still relevantly welcome as a solution to those latter two!
p.s. Note that looks isn't a factor for me. Well excluding outright ugly and I also like a white front colour. For someone it is though the diagram would be a box I suppose. I believe in functional design, if something is functional it's innately beautiful to the human eye.

Very interesting perspective Infy!

 

[aertus]

the xperia ZL was ahead of its time. Sadly those were times when sony was innovative and ahead of the game all the way up to z3. After that it just went to crap with phones like z3+ and XP.

Rockstar you made the right choice getting the v30 over sony. They are still not quite there yet.

you've seen the xz1 in person too? yeah i still haven't seen XZP in person.