Overall love - BlackBerry Priv

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the BlackBerry Priv (Venice), all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the BlackBerry Priv (Venice) is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Overall I give this phone a four out of five. Im probably not the best judge however due to the fact I'm coming from a three year old device in the Samsung Galaxy relay 4g. After having said that though, battery life is great. I can get through a full day without charging. And that's moderate to heavy use with GPS. Virtual keyboard is awesome. I miss swpe but don't want to switch and lose predictive text functionality with hw keyboard. The hw keyboard is pretty small. I knew this going in but was still she'll shocked about it at first. I'm slowly getting used to it though. I like the scrolling functionality but the fact it doesn't work on every app and not in the same way is a deterrent. The buttons have a decent feel but I guess if they couldn't be any bigger I would of liked a spacing around them. But overall not horrible. I haven't used the camera much, but from what I've seen its lightyears ahead of what I'm used to. Even the crappie 2mp front facing camera is an upgrade from the relays 1.5(I think)mp. Anyhow, the priv seem like a pretty good next gen phone. I do agree that the price is way too high, however, especially without marshmallow.

5/5 … as a former Nexus 5 user, I wasn't aware how I missed an AMOLED screen and MicroSD support until I got the PRIV. The physical keyboard was the main reason (was curious, and I never had the G1), but the rest of the package is better than I hoped for. The OS is mostly stock with useful additions by BlackBerry. The January security update came a day before Google even announced it here. (And BBRY promised to keep delivering updates ASAP.) It's just the perfect device for me. The only thing I was missing in the beginning was wireless charging (I got the European model) … but I bought 2 original desktop stands (for the price of 1 noname wireless one!) and now this isn't a problem anymore. I'm looking forward to more awesome devices from BlackBerry running Android already…

Absolutely a joy to own! It has everything I ever wanted in a smartphone and feels amazing to type on a hardware keyboard again!

I just got this phone yesterday and was disappointed at first. I guess using a Passport and Note 4 I was expecting more. However, I am enjoying this phone now! I do find the form factor to be great for my hands, which are small, because it is lightweight but sturdy. App download and install is a bit slow but I only got the update one day ago so maybe once it settles it'll get better. I really wish it had the Hub with swipe right and peek by swiping up slightly. That's all I have for now!

I love this phone.... My previous phone (Xperia Z) started failing so I searched all around my city until I was informed a local T-Mobile store had 1 in stock. I rushed to get it and I have to say it is epically legendary. I do however wish we could root it because I could use some of those extra features.
Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

not having root it's a no no for me, and no Roms also...
but if bb keep the device updated, i'm sort of interested now...
i'm dying to own a hardware keyboard again, was so stupid to sell my D4.

+Keyboard
+More Apps than my beloved Q5 and Passport.
+Secure
-Tends to fall from my hands to the desk in a hurry if not carefull due to size and weight when handling fast onehanded.
-Sometimes lag* without multitasking on latest MM Update (example: downloading Spotify on Wifi with 16mbps)
*=yes i used Android before... since 1.x on the first galaxy from samsung in 2009 so i guess i know how to manage apps and what to not install and i'm a *NIX system architect at work - but this phone is sometimes lagging without the cooling-down notification, without cpu's above 75%, on highest cpufreq, with and w/o AC, with and w/o sdcard and a lot of free RAM, and even after fastboot'ing and fullwipe before setting up most stuff, so i guess it could be the throughput of the internal flash or some missing optimizations...

silence8787 said:
+Keyboard
+More Apps than my beloved Q5 and Passport.
+Secure
-Tends to fall from my hands to the desk in a hurry if not carefull due to size and weight when handling fast onehanded.
-Sometimes lag* without multitasking on latest MM Update (example: downloading Spotify on Wifi with 16mbps)
*=yes i used Android before... since 1.x on the first galaxy from samsung in 2009 so i guess i know how to manage apps and what to not install and i'm a *NIX system architect at work - but this phone is sometimes lagging without the cooling-down notification, without cpu's above 75%, on highest cpufreq, with and w/o AC, with and w/o sdcard and a lot of free RAM, and even after fastboot'ing and fullwipe before setting up most stuff, so i guess it could be the throughput of the internal flash or some missing optimizations...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does hang/lag. It heats up when we try to multitask. Else The phone is good. One more thing that is not upto mark> is the front camera.

Related

Moto Photon Q ---> Priv... any other Q users made the move?

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for feedback preferably from ex Photon Q users:
I'm currently running my stripped & tweaked stock ROM XT897, as I love the slider 5 row keyboard.
Battery life is OK to good considering the age, esp after locking down system & user apps that like to run free in the background.
It does most of everything I want, but there are more apps that require newer OS, and the browser is a bit outdated for certain sites etc.
Currently I run xposed for add removal & extra functionality over the stock ROM. I can't access 4G data speeds with the PQ either.
I've been considering the Priv since it was announced, and there are 3x things that have delayed the move for me:
1) candy bar slider - this results in a narrower keyboard. The narrow keyboard looks as if it may make handling & typing a little bit more difficult, with the screen weight so far from the keyboard. Using a side slider, the weight is a non-issue, and typing is extremely fast using 2x thumbs. Have any side slider users found the transition a bit difficult, or do you find the Priv as quick to use/type, & balanced?
2) 4 row keyboard - this reminds me of the transition from the HTC G1 (dream) 5 row keyboard, to the HTC G2 (vision) 4 row keyboard. It is almost as good, but having to mash a sequence of function buttons regularly during typing to get numbers etc kept me reminiscing about my G1's 5 rows. Other 5 row keyboard users - do you find the narrower 4 row of the Priv to be a nagging reminder of what you left behind also?
3) locked down OS - I'm amazed at how well the PQ runs now that I have gone back to (stripped & system app/process locked) stock Moto OS, esp after trying a number of custom ROM's. I've read that the Priv stock is very clean, & doesn't have anywhere near the bloat of other manufacturers stock ROM's. I am however interested in how current users find the OS's data & battery management is affected by system apps/processes running freely in the background unrestricted. Being able to manually shut these down has made the biggest improvement on my current handset, however if the Priv manages all these well, then this is a non-issue for me. Do current Priv owners find the OS needs tweaking to gain extra battery or data savings/control?
Thanks in advance.
Sent from my XT897 using XDA Free mobile app
I made the move. I moved to ATT, so I moved from my Photon Q to an LG F3Q and now the Priv.
To sum it up, I still miss my Photon. The Priv is the only phone on the market that has a QWERTY now, so it was my only option, but I am consistently, daily disappointed with it.
The keys are too small, which could be forgiven if not for the extremely awkward ALT + number shenanigans because of the missing 5th row. It is nearly impossible (for my large thumbs - the reason I stay away from touch keyboards) to type a 7 because of the placement of the ALT key right next to it.
Furthermore, the keyboard is glitchy. When the phone is under stress / high CPU usage, it begins doubling up letters and randomly capitalizing things. Not everyone has this issue, but I'm not the only one.
The phone also overheats like crazy, sometimes being uncomfortably hot in my pocket when updating apps or something.
Phone is laggy in general, feels sluggish. Camera is slow to snap the shot, and only mediocre quality at best.
In terms of battery, I don't really ever expect to get through the day with this thing. I am a decently heavy user, but this phone is the first where I feel the need to always keep a battery pack with me to recharge it. One that front tho, it has QuickCharge 2, so with a quick charger, it charges up pretty quick.
Additionally, coming from only phones with custom roms + root, I had no idea how frustrating a non-rooted phone would be. I miss my xposed modules, I miss being able to change random things to my liking (the entire reason I went with android in the first place).
But mostly, I miss being able to back things up. IOS has a great backup / restore system. Android's is abysmal, but at least with the phone being rooted, I could back up and restore properly. Without root, many Android apps can't be backed up and restored reliably, meaning that I will lose all chat history and etc in some of these apps if I ever need to factory reset my phone or move to another phone. This is my biggest and most unsolvable frustration on this phone and it drives me crazy. Also, not having root means I can't look under the hood to even see what's going on when my CPU is at 100%, the phone is overheating, and there are no apps over.
However, all that said, it's still the best phone on the market for my needs. It has LTE support, a QWERTY keyboard, I do actually LOVE the backberry hub communication center, and has latest version of android so it runs all the apps.
I hate this thing but I will probably continue using it for the next bunch of years seeing as no other QWERTY alternatives are likely to come out.
I really miss the build quality and durability of Photon Q, and definitely consider this phone a downgrade in almost all the ways - except Android 6 and LTE.
You already know you will buy it, so just bite the bullet and make the best of it. Good luck.
Yep - diehard HWKB users know each other too well. I've bought it.
I've been waiting to see if the Moto Z Force will have a HWKB mod, esp as the prototype device was developed with one, inc extended battery.
Looked at NFC keyboards & wondered if it would be easy enough to build a custom handset using this tech also.
A really good solve for the 4 row would be a "touch" 5th row for numbers across the bottom of the screen! I wonder if BB would implement this if they were asked..... My Priv is in the mail, so I have about a week to build up my excitement in time to develop some serious buyer's-remorse......LOL
I expect I will be Ok with it though, I have taken 12 months to assess the forums & +/- of the device, plus I just purchased for ~$520AUD inc shipping for a new STV100-4, so that is not such a hard pill to swallow.
I will be Z Forcing as soon as they (someone) release a KB Mod for that sucker, and I'll fully kit out on extended batteries, speakers, camera, projector, etc etc - as I'll pick one up for the missus also, so the mods will get plenty of use.
P.S. just restored my PQ to an earlier backup after the memory dried up over time - I suspect from ESFM's Trash Can storing all sorts of junk even after disabling it..... ROOT=Bliss.
Hi
I made the move (broke the screen of my photn Q), and got a priv, one year ago..
Great device, but ****ty keyboard. ... 4rows, crazy keys map, small keys... Argh. Makes it quite useless, thoug the slide effect of the KB just rocks ! Great stuff at opening, bad stuff when using it.
I miss the root, too... deeply. :/
Since I live in France, i would not say I totally regret : the photon LTE Bands don't fit here, sadly.
But I often think about rearm my "backup photon Q", in particular for my extra work usage....
[ NB : I bought at the same time a refurbished device to repair my former photon Q...
You know the story, work, work, work, kids, kids kids, girls girls girls, no much time for this kind of amusement... It 's been a ****ing puzzle yet to have my photon Q equipped with a sim card reader, am a bit lazy to do the job atm. ]
I surely will, some day, but I'll surely keep as well my priv : Luv android M, pretty updates rate, Luv the screen, size, quality and design , have no bugs with the keyboard nor overheating issues, battery is fine (I phone all day + GPS , and often re-plug it the day after, and quick charge). To me, the APN is pretty ok (except when lacking luminosity), still greater than the photon's one.
My "photon chéri" happened to be more laggy and overheating than my Priv, got a dead pixel after a month, battery died after 6.
> we ll probably never meet a keyboard as cool as the photon one. It's a pitty BlackBerry did not choose to put the keyboard on the longer side of the phone !

Anybody still using this til this day 2017?

With the new "murcury" still ways away from final release after watching a video from that kinda made me want to go to a blackberry phone again. I am on Verizon and thinking of purchasing a blackberry priv through Verizon. As the title States is anybody still using this device til this day? If so has the phone gotten better since release? Has it aged since it's been about 2 years since release.slow downs,battery issues,screen burn ins ?
I bought the Priv on the black friday deal. I really love it. But still will buy the Mercury immediately on release date!
new owner
I just bought a new one, manufacturing data goes back to 2016-08-15. It is now on a good price and I think it totally worth it.
Yep, also, I just bought a new one.
+1 Nothing available yet is inspiring enough to make me want to move on
I've bought mine two months ago and i love it.
One day, a reseller wanted to show me how his phone is good (testoteron thing i think) and he showed me a Huwai with an awful 6' screen.
He cried when he saw a F1-2016 on my Priv.........
I loved his "you have a interesting phone" when i leaved him
Hi, I was thinking about buying a new one. But is it worth today? I mean: the phone has (and is) exactly what I need. But, if I undestrand well, I can't put in it Android 8.0 or later, nor even Android 7. I am not the one who love to have always the latest OS, but I use apps (for work) that are barely compatible with Android 6.
Thank you so much.
RE:
If the word, 'nifty*' describes a bit of you, the Blackberry Priv is totally your phone if you're willing to dive in and harness all its functions (which is necessary, as it is unrootable).
Honestly, the Blackberry Priv is seriously underrated.
Does it have flaws? Sure:
its stuck on MM6.0, can't be rooted (serious bummer if you're someone who peruses XDA), you can't* really change the Launcher (unless you're okay with losing out of the entire keyboard becoming individual easy-launch shortcuts), the build quality is flimsy (gone is the comeback solidity that was the Bold 9900; although the Q10 had solid sides to it), the SD808 heats up and eats battery ... but really, for ~$199-279, its a seriously nifty phone.
The touchpad-doubleduty keyboard function was awesome on the Q10, Q5, Classic, Passport--its awesome here (if you're used to browsing with touchpads)--thumb scrolling through webpages, logs, ~70% of apps being compatible (some apps work no problem, some apps won't let you touchpad scroll unless you initially start scrolling via touchscreen, some apps won't let you touchpad scroll at all) ; you can keep your thumb at the keyboard, read, and scroll--its a more natural, less jarring experience imo---and if you disagree, just fold in the keyboard and scroll the usual touchscreen way, no biggie.
The extra mute/convenience button in between the two volume buttons can be mapped if you use Button Mapper (even without root), and this can game-change your workload if you're willing to sacrifice the volume buttons haha: you can map it to flip back and forth between apps, with your thumbs kept on the keyboard, so you can, ehh, write your to-do list, while answering your messages, etc.
Swipe-based-text-selection + Cut/copy/paste button-mapping capability on the keyboard (no additional app needed)-----if you have to deal with text in any form, its difficult to go back to any other phone after being spoiled here.
Although the keyboard on the Priv isn't the best physical phone keyboard (price tag of being a slider and needing to keep it thin), its still doable, and its not the worst--not everyone may agree, but there's an unexplainable magic behind typing out something versus touchscreen typing. Unless you're a hardcore Swyper, in which case the physical keyboard probably isn't gonna be your style.
But still, at this price range, there are competitive options...a global Xiaomi would probably be competitive strictly in comparison of build quality ('cuz the Priv in no way feels like the $699 MSRP)
Hope this helps
When was the last updated received and what is the last security update is it on?
/root said:
When was the last updated received and what is the last security update is it on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Up until now, it has received every monthly security patch since its initial release. It currently has the October 2017 security patch. However, it has not (so far) received anything for November 2017.
It also happens to be approaching its 2nd birthday; I've never seen any official statement about Blackberry's planned support life-cycle for the Priv, but 2 years of security patches is a pretty good run for comparable phones of its era.
Just switched from Motorola Droid 4 -> big relieve in terms of performance. But I'm missing tab and cursor keys (despite there is a dedicated cursor navigation mode on double-tapping).
Flaws:
- battery lasts 3...4 days for me but there is occasional high battery drain due to not entering deep sleep - can be worked around via reboot
- no more monthly updates (stated officially a couple of days ago)
- no root (using adguard as rootless ad blocker)
I have my own for 6 month and love it for screen and keyboard. This is cheapest phone wih qhd amoled screen and keyboard is sweet bonus. One only thing i miss is RAW support for camera.
I just got mine...and I love it!
Windows 11 said:
I just got mine...and I love it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how much u got it ?
any custom roms ?
Philosophi said:
how much u got it ?
any custom roms ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom Roms are not possible due to a locked bootloader, I don't remember the price though...
Just picked one up as well att beautiful phone! Had to disable all the blackberry apps due to random reboots and over heating but after disabling all the bb stuff it works great! Android 6 not the best but it gets the job done. Got it for $40 shipped! Haha

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
i must say im a little annoyed the back of the phone vibrates when using speakers (music/audio), but overall happy with my purchase!
i am pretty happy with the phone. i definitely feel like i got what i paid for. performance is great. size is perfect. build feels strong. screen is plenty sharp. battery life is great. i like the design a lot more than i thought i would. i've found that i actually prefer the fiberglass to metal. all around a very functional device, even for a power user like myself.
camera is good enough. i am coming from an s8, so i know where this camera is lacking. it is not as bad as the nay-sayers are nay-saying. it's easy to get lost in the fine details coming from something like an s8, but ultimately if you care that much about photography you should be carrying a camera. the distortion mentioned elsewhere is there, but only under certain circumstance. the distortion will only be an issue if you need pictures of brick walls or checkerboards to be accurate. it is not apparent with everyday people/pet/place pictures. selfie camera is good. the wide angle on it makes selfies much easier than ever before.
i expected the speakers to be louder, based on some reviews and specs i saw, but they are definitely loud enough. the stereo sound is very clear, meaning i don't have to crank it up to hear as much. s8 was a hair louder, but sound quality was terrible on s8 (like, 'shame on you' terrible, sammy).
android O is fantastic. i call it a step in the right direction. power management seems to have taken a large step forward.
i wish the theming platform was more extensive. most of the themes only provide a wallpaper. i would like to darken the menus (like settings) to save my eyes. i have no idea why android is still defaulting to bright, bright white after all these years. bad for the eyes, and the battery.
all-around love is at a 9/10.
I give it 4 stars.. I still have the Z5C in my mind, except for that disgraceful SD810. To me, the XZ1C doesn't feel or look as good as the Z5C did. It looks bigger and heavier than I expected. The buttons are not as clicky as I wish they were. Other than that, I love it. There's nothing that comes even close to it today.
Best smartphone for me.
Fits my small hands.
Fast, not much bloatware. It feels as responsive as the first pixel phone. I'm impressed.
I'm really glad that SONY brought back the flagship phone in a compact body.
I've previously owned a Z3c, and I loved it. I then went on to a Samsung phone (GS7), and now I'm glad to be back using a SONY compact phone.
I really appreciate that SONY made key improvements over the Z3c. No more plastic flap to access the usb port, louder speakers, and better camera.
It's close to being the perfect phone, to me.
Pros
+good size
+Very good battery life
+Nice figerprint placement
+Nice screen
+Good speaker
+Nice design sim slot and sd card slot( no need paper clip)
+ Ip65/68
+ Very durable( dropped mine 2m accidently and survived)
+Love the dedicated camera button but very hard to not shake the camera when pressed
+Nicely placed nfc symbol
+Phone stays cool
+3.5mm jack
Cons:
-3.5mm jack is not loud enough
-speakeris good for music but not human voice
-microphone didn't work well in loud area
-Cant slow down vibration
-Fingerprint not always recognized
-Small electicity when charging near top
-nofm radio
-noir blaster
-noremoveable battery
-nodual sim
-notall preinstalled software can be disabled
-updateis not for everyone
-worsesignal than other flagship
-nogalileo support g8441 sg
-left and right of the screen is less sensitive(potrait mode)
After having this phone for a while I think I'm ready to do a summary.
Pros:
+Great performance, especially in 3D intensive games thanks to 720p
+Pixel density is good enough that it doesn't bother me. About the same as iPhones and the colors are very nice for a LCD panel
+Stereo speakers are balanced enough, sound pretty good. Not as loud as some other phones but loud enough for me.
+Fingerprint scanner is fast! (See cons)
+Strongest build of any phone I've owned. This thing feels indestructible even without a case.
+Looks are very subjective but I think this phone looks awesome
+Battery lasts forever, I get about 8h sot with heavy use
+Just the right size, every inch of the screen is in thumbs reach
Cons:
-Camera just doesn't cut it for a flagship. 960fps recording is next to useless, you can only record a few seconds of slow mo at a time, and the timing is very hit and miss (Seems to be a random delay sometimes). Low light performance is terrible. Now RAW support. In usual Sony fashion the camera is the worst part of the hardware.
-3D scanner is just pointless bloat.
-Fingerprint scanner is too fast. It's almost impossible to just check your lockscreen
-Sony's firmware getting dumbed down. We need double tap to wake on this phone. There was zero reason to drop this feature. The fact that core Oreo features like fingerprint gestures are missing on the first phone to launch with it kind of sucks.
-Sony's support is garbage and they talk to you like you're an idiot.
-Crippled bootloader. Sony haven't been kind with DRM this time. There isn't even a warning on their website about what this can do to your camera. I think that is unnecessarily cruel on their part.
I agree with almost everything above but about the fingerprint. If I want to check notifications but without unlocking it, u just use another finger. Very simple man...
The thing that really annoys me is that Sony still didn't fix the Smart Lock blank bug. But I'm having doubts at this point: this is probably a Google problem, since One Plus users also had this bug for months but then a Google update solved the problem...
This phone is unique. All newer phones is biger and biger and never stop to grow. Biger screens with biger consumation. Biger battery. And total uncofortable for dynamic usage. Only Sony make phone for dynamic people. Bravo!
Good small phone with some big firmware issues
A bit of history:
Nexus 4: Loved this phone and was very sad when it jumped out of my pocked and shattered on the garage floor
Galaxy S5 (Exynos): I hated this phone with a burning passion. It is huge. Touchwiz is absolutely awful. There are some good ROMs out there, but you get weird issues, (like the one ROM where the camera would crop images to a square in portrait mode), and random crashes. The final straw was when I turned off the phone at a movie (completely off, not just screen-off), and discovered that the battery had dropped from 40% to 11%, over two hours, while off. It then crashed on the homescreen, and did it's best impression of a hot-plate. That being said, it is a seriously well built, solid, indestructible phone, physically.
I immediately ordered this phone, and have had it for two weeks. I am in the US, which seems to have received the September firmware update in the third week of January. I put the latest GEL firmware on it over the weekend, which swapped some problems for others.
Xperia XZ1 Compact:
Pros:
size - it's ridiculous this is considered a "compact" phone, but it's a nice size. I read a lot of ebooks on my phone, so was a bit worried I might not like going back to a smaller phone, but I could still go smaller, if such a thing existed. I do admit, though, that the keyboard is slightly cramped in portrait orientation.
build quality - Feels solid, other than the screen - see "Mehs"
industrial design - I like the look. "It's very square," is a common comment, but I like that it's different from every other phone.
stock ROM - it's not perfect, but I feel no need to replace it. It's rather shocking that I haven't even felt the need to root it
headphone jack - missing it would probably not be a dealbreaker, but I would have looked at alternatives a lot more
firmware is close to stock
Cons:
firmware update situation - WTF Sony? (for the record, I am in the US) Since we got the September update in January, does this mean we get the October one in July?
the camera is absolutely awful. Not just bad. It's awful.
Bluetooth - streaming to a speaker works fine. Definitely some issues with control and media information with the headset in the car. GEL firmware seems to have helped a bit, and I'll try tweaking the AVRCP version in the Developer settings, like suggested in one of the posts
wifi - The US firmware has problems with things like walls, doors, windows, people and air, getting between the phone and the WAP. GEL firmware seems to have fixed all of the problems, but this should be in the released firmware.
Smartlock - oh, that's what all of the "SmartLock screen is blank" messages mean. SmartLock works fine with the US firmware. With GEL, not only is the settings screen for it blank, it doesn't work at all - not even if previously set up. That being said, I'll take wifi that stays connected when I breathe out a bit too hard, over not having to put in my pin code when I pick the phone up.
Mehs:
The screen is very mushy. It moves a lot when you press it. I thought it had to be my imagination, at first, but you can see reflected light warp around your finger when you touch the screen, if you put the phone on a stable surface. I got used to it, but it was disconcerting at first.
Bezels are not bad, could be smaller - especially wehn compared with other current phones. I've gotten used to having on-screen button again, but there is plenty of room to have them off-screen in the gap to the bottom speaker.
stock apps - these are never ideal, but they are easy to find and get rid of with ADB. Most are unobtrusive, but Facebook, and that Xperia News thing had to go
fingerprint reader - I don't use it, so I don't care much. I hear it works great if you have non-US firmware
merged storage - The build-in storage is big enough, so I don't miss it much, but it's weird that it's only accessible through adb (I hear - haven't gone looking for it, yet)
non-replaceable battery - technically, this is not good, but I have never wanted to replace the battery on a previous phone, so...
The Xperia firmware is close enough to stock that I don't feel an immediate need to replace it, or even root it. It seems that one of the reasons to stay with official firmware is the DRM-signed drivers. What are these for other than the camera? I supposed going from pixellated, mis-coloured **** for pictures to blurry, mis-coloured **** is technically a degradation, but I already wouldn't want to use the camera for anything other than a necessary snap of a car license plate.
Anyway. I like the phone. I am mostly happy with it and have no intention of retrieving the Galaxy S5 back from my son. The hardware is solid (is the camera problem HW or SW?). User experience of the software is good. My runner-up when purchasing this was the Essential PH-1, and I don't feel like I should have gone for that one instead. At least, yet. I can't recommend the XZ1-Compact 100%, but for somebody who wants a small phone, doesn't need a camera and can live with the firmware issues, it is definitely worth looking at. If you don't live in the US, or the idea of flashing your firmware doesn't freak you out, it seems that Sony releases regular updates. Hopefully in the next month or two, they can release a firmware that can do both SmarkLock and wifi, at the same time.
snwokeep said:
A bit of history:
Nexus 4: Loved this phone and was very sad when it jumped out of my pocked and shattered on the garage floor
Galaxy S5 (Exynos): I hated this phone with a burning passion. It is huge. Touchwiz is absolutely awful. There are some good ROMs out there, but you get weird issues, (like the one ROM where the camera would crop images to a square in portrait mode), and random crashes. The final straw was when I turned off the phone at a movie (completely off, not just screen-off), and discovered that the battery had dropped from 40% to 11%, over two hours, while off. It then crashed on the homescreen, and did it's best impression of a hot-plate. That being said, it is a seriously well built, solid, indestructible phone, physically.
I immediately ordered this phone, and have had it for two weeks. I am in the US, which seems to have received the September firmware update in the third week of January. I put the latest GEL firmware on it over the weekend, which swapped some problems for others.
Xperia XZ1 Compact:
Pros:
size - it's ridiculous this is considered a "compact" phone, but it's a nice size. I read a lot of ebooks on my phone, so was a bit worried I might not like going back to a smaller phone, but I could still go smaller, if such a thing existed. I do admit, though, that the keyboard is slightly cramped in portrait orientation.
build quality - Feels solid, other than the screen - see "Mehs"
industrial design - I like the look. "It's very square," is a common comment, but I like that it's different from every other phone.
stock ROM - it's not perfect, but I feel no need to replace it. It's rather shocking that I haven't even felt the need to root it
headphone jack - missing it would probably not be a dealbreaker, but I would have looked at alternatives a lot more
firmware is close to stock
Cons:
firmware update situation - WTF Sony? (for the record, I am in the US) Since we got the September update in January, does this mean we get the October one in July?
the camera is absolutely awful. Not just bad. It's awful.
Bluetooth - streaming to a speaker works fine. Definitely some issues with control and media information with the headset in the car. GEL firmware seems to have helped a bit, and I'll try tweaking the AVRCP version in the Developer settings, like suggested in one of the posts
wifi - The US firmware has problems with things like walls, doors, windows, people and air, getting between the phone and the WAP. GEL firmware seems to have fixed all of the problems, but this should be in the released firmware.
Smartlock - oh, that's what all of the "SmartLock screen is blank" messages mean. SmartLock works fine with the US firmware. With GEL, not only is the settings screen for it blank, it doesn't work at all - not even if previously set up. That being said, I'll take wifi that stays connected when I breathe out a bit too hard, over not having to put in my pin code when I pick the phone up.
Mehs:
The screen is very mushy. It moves a lot when you press it. I thought it had to be my imagination, at first, but you can see reflected light warp around your finger when you touch the screen, if you put the phone on a stable surface. I got used to it, but it was disconcerting at first.
Bezels are not bad, could be smaller - especially wehn compared with other current phones. I've gotten used to having on-screen button again, but there is plenty of room to have them off-screen in the gap to the bottom speaker.
stock apps - these are never ideal, but they are easy to find and get rid of with ADB. Most are unobtrusive, but Facebook, and that Xperia News thing had to go
fingerprint reader - I don't use it, so I don't care much. I hear it works great if you have non-US firmware
merged storage - The build-in storage is big enough, so I don't miss it much, but it's weird that it's only accessible through adb (I hear - haven't gone looking for it, yet)
non-replaceable battery - technically, this is not good, but I have never wanted to replace the battery on a previous phone, so...
The Xperia firmware is close enough to stock that I don't feel an immediate need to replace it, or even root it. It seems that one of the reasons to stay with official firmware is the DRM-signed drivers. What are these for other than the camera? I supposed going from pixellated, mis-coloured **** for pictures to blurry, mis-coloured **** is technically a degradation, but I already wouldn't want to use the camera for anything other than a necessary snap of a car license plate.
Anyway. I like the phone. I am mostly happy with it and have no intention of retrieving the Galaxy S5 back from my son. The hardware is solid (is the camera problem HW or SW?). User experience of the software is good. My runner-up when purchasing this was the Essential PH-1, and I don't feel like I should have gone for that one instead. At least, yet. I can't recommend the XZ1-Compact 100%, but for somebody who wants a small phone, doesn't need a camera and can live with the firmware issues, it is definitely worth looking at. If you don't live in the US, or the idea of flashing your firmware doesn't freak you out, it seems that Sony releases regular updates. Hopefully in the next month or two, they can release a firmware that can do both SmarkLock and wifi, at the same time.
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Nice review.
Camera problem is fixed in the new firmware. That said I've noticed that you have to keep the camera extreamly still to beable to get a good picture. Best with tripod.
I registerted an account on the Sony forum to raise the issue of firmware rollout, thinking that someone from Sony might actually read it. Both of the threads I started were deleted by the moderator as 'unhelpful'.
Smartlock is alegedly fixed in Oreo 8.1.
Thanks
Didgesteve said:
Nice review.
Camera problem is fixed in the new firmware. That said I've noticed that you have to keep the camera extreamly still to beable to get a good picture. Best with tripod.
I registerted an account on the Sony forum to raise the issue of firmware rollout, thinking that someone from Sony might actually read it. Both of the threads I started were deleted by the moderator as 'unhelpful'.
Smartlock is alegedly fixed in Oreo 8.1.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. If this is fixed, I'm glad I didn't try the camera before I switched the firmware to the latest. If I need to carry a tripod, I may as well take the point-n-shoot, instead. I'll try some non-stock camera apps tonight during my son's soccer practice to see if I can get any improvement. Good to hear that SmartLock is coming back in 8.1. Looks like we should get it in the next month or two.
Hi there all, sorry if I post in the wrong section.
I really into this phone because only Sony that offers compact size phone nowaday. I want to go for xz2 compact but the price still high besides I really doesn't like the design of xz2 compact, so this phone is only my option or stay with my mi5 longer with awful GPS. But I want to ask before decide to go for it.
1. Is it worth buy this phone right now? Because I read some WiFi problems with the phone firmware and still no fix til now. I don't really care about gaming, I just need fast, all functional phone with compact size and good GPS performance.
2. Is it true that Sony phone especially this phone will lose the camera quality if we unlock bootloader and install root? Cause I can't live without root. I use root for some adblock and kernel tuning.
Thank you very much everyone. I'll really appreciate any answers.
Ad.1 If you buy it and have constant problems with WiFi - just replace/return it. Most of people doesn't have any problems. I had it on a few FW versions (let's say for 2-3 months) on 5GHz but it's perfectly working now. Some people could have hardware fault in their phones because their problem differ from mine and looks like FW independent.
Ad.2 If you really need root - it's not the best phone for you (and I think all Treble Android 8 phones). There are difficulties after root, you can read about it in root threads. I myself was thinking I need root, too. Because I've always had a rooted phone. But XZ1c and Android 8 are really good stuff so after a few months I've just forgot about a root. The only thing I need to let go was easy ad-blocking, but there are other moethods for this.
I'm really happy with my XZ1c and I don't see any other phone I could buy right now.
Battery life after 2 and half year
XDA_RealLifeReview said:
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Impressive battery life ! 7h 30min of games or movies with some 20 percent battery or second type of using, around 60+ hours standby with some hours of calling, LTE, lot of apps... Never freezed, scuttering or something else.
From christmas 2017 of buying, until this day as primary phone/daily user, i tested battery with command adb shell dumpsys battery, take a look on photo.
Some recommendations ?
I love this xz1c since one year i have it ,good batterylife, great multitasking/photos etc, but for me who is dualshock 4 android player, it's the massive - because of high input lag over bluetooth and no otg support = no controller with otg , but it doesnt change anything of those many qualities that phone has
still my fav phone, bought some new ones but keep coming back to this phone, even to day it is a capable phone.. long live the king
I come back to say that my first xz1 compact still works after 3 years but the screen popped out ahah, insane device!!
asseforlife said:
I come back to say that my first xz1 compact still works after 3 years but the screen popped out ahah, insane device!!
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My Screen is popping out of the frame too. Tried different adhesives but all fails after few days. Did you try anything?
rsk_kelkar said:
Mi pantalla también se sale del marco. Probé diferentes adhesivos pero todos fallan después de unos días. ¿Intentaste algo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ORIGINAL screen adhesive from Ebay: https://www.ebay.es/itm/254942940651

Overall speed

Would you say that the Nokia 6 (2018) is "fast" in day-to-day use? A higher rating indicates that you think the Nokia 6 (2018) exhibits fantastic performance. Like, is it as fast as your tears when you watch The Titanic?
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
This phone is bad to the bone. Now, with this momentum built up around the "who will make the better cheapster, since google killed the nexus" it fails to deliver. I had all the nexus phones and even another one from the android one project. This is not good and nokia should acknowledge it. They are not able to make the only proprietary app (yes the camera) which is different on each android one phone since google doesn't provide api for the cheap hardware, the phone even crashes sometimes, the app is so bad.
Phone is laggy on a constant snappy animations level. Gboard lags 90% of the time. Battery drains superfast, and heats up like an oven (warning appears) while listening to gpm and using waze.
And no, no "rogue" or battery hog apps installed or whatnot. Touch is unresponsive. The phone is like two weeks old and I'm thinking of returning it. This is sad, I bought it to support an old company from my childhood ...
I understand that snapdragon scaled down a processor to fool the cheap and google didn't scaled down android for some reason, but there is a difference between a slow phone and a laggy snappy annoying someting.
My two cents for people who are trying to find a "new nexus" is to avoid it at all costs. This phone might work for an older family member who just got familiar with android. But as I told, if you're looking for a new nexus, forget it.
I have the exact opposite experience than strapabiro. My Nokia 6.1 hasn't shown me any lag at all. In two months I had to reboot one time. The unresponsive touch may be caused by a screen protector. I saw this on another phone (non-Nokia). As for battery drain, I did experience this issue but the fix was easy. I turned off the tap to wake and whatever they call it when it wakes up when you pick it up. I found the phone was waking up all the time when it was in my pocket. Since turning that off I can run two days easy before having to charge it. The SD630 processor is plenty fast when you are not running a skin over Android like Samsung, LG, etc. The weakest thing about the phone is the camera. If you use your phone's camera all the time this may not be the phone for you.
Indeed I have a screen protector, but I had one on every other phone. This lift to wake up thingy is disabled for me also since I observed the false wakeups on day 0. I will try with the tap to wake up too. Btw the custom launcher isn't eating more battery than the stock since they disabled the stock when they installed the bloat one and even some oem have better launcher since lately google hires anyone who can turn on a pc, but that's not our case. Yes the camera thing is very sad and bad advertising for Zeiss. I'm not here for trashtalk. Anyways based on the fact that the phone is out since February and it's popularity is really low here, I'm not anticipating a bright future for nokia's second coming. I'd really like this phone to work honestly, design is awesome, they should do something under the hood ...
I'm another unsatisfied customer coming from a Nexus background. Stuttering audio on bluetooth and then this update fiasco. Always the provider, country or google's fault and nothing Nokia can do. Cheap phone cheaper customer service.
Not fast at all. Its a laggy device. Inspite of having sd 630, it works like sd 212. I feel software is the main reason for such a laggy performance
for the specs its got a lot of lag. doesnt feel like the rom is optimized.
Wow. I am surprised about all the negative comments. Which versions are having lag? I have a TA-1068 (for 2 months so far) and have yet to experience any lag.
Maybe because this is the 4/64 variant?
Mine 6.1 32/3 GB model runs smooth. After all updates up to july security patch.
The only thing i hate about the phone is the worthless camera app. It is slow and laggie. On the TA-1043..
Especially when you user the camera sometimes i n Whatsapp
64/4 version and it's very responsive. Best phone I've had for years. Had it for 3 weeks now, haven't had a single hang, or crashed app, I think I've only rebooted once. Battery life is great too.
no complaint about speed..all is butter smooth

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Motorola Razr (2019), all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Motorola Razr (2019) is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Just watched the video, looks amazing. But somehow it didn't seem like the specs were superior. I love the concept, and I think it's an innovative design that should pick up interest due to the compact nature of the device, but I have concerns about the build quality and performance. In the video, after it is flipped open, you can see briefly a bend in the screen, which makes me wonder if it smoothes out when all the way open. Also, the camera seemed sluggish when using the shake gesture, unless it was designed to have (what I thought was) a noticable delay. The processor speed, the battery size/performance, are things I'm hoping will prove to be above average, to amazing. We shall see.
Oh, also not stoked about it being carrier locked. Not to mention the $1499 price tag.... Yikes!
This its true.
The price is unreasonably high.
I know that some months passed, and meanwhile other flipphones made their path aiming at our pockets & wallets, but I am still enloved of this phone...
I know it's a bad thing, it's overpriced, the specification does not justify this purchase, but I am still waiting for a good chance to put in in my rear pocket.
So far I love mine. Coming from a Note 10+ the only issues I've notice screen color isn't as rich as the Note 10+. But it's not bad either.
Performance is fine. Apps take maybe a half second longer to load, if that. No real sluggishness that I've been able to notice.
Another thing is lack of wireless charging is kinda a bummer, but I just bought a quick charge compatible dock I slide it onto at night.
Battery life is actually good. I typically still have about 30-40% left at the end of a full day.
Granted most of my battery usage is playing free cell on the toilet at work.
Edit: One thing I do think Moto dropped the ball on is when I had a Z2 Force I could use gestures with the fingerprint sensor to operate the back, home and task manager. Once you enabled this it also removed them from the screen unless you were using the fingerprint sensor for security.
Minnion2008;82962205One thing I do think Moto dropped the ball on is when I had a Z2 Force I could use gestures with the fingerprint sensor to operate the back said:
Using the one button navigation on the fingerprint scanner isn't allowed for devices which use google mobile services and Android 9. A lot of lost features are because of the requirements that Google puts on device makers and which versions of Android they are ship with. Everyone clamoring for the latest Android doesn't realize that certain options are OS dependent. Image how much less you'd have to physically interact with the screen if you could use the fingerprint navigation. I am sure older prototypes had that enabled but it got disabled as Android versions changed
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kingstu said:
Using the one button navigation on the fingerprint scanner isn't allowed for devices which use google mobile services and Android 9.
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Click to collapse
My Z2 Force had android 9 on it...
Minnion2008 said:
My Z2 Force had android 9 on it...
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If you want to go through https://source.android.com/compatibility and see the requirements for devices that launch with a certain OS and devices that update to a certain OS you'll see what I mean. The Z2 Force launched with Nougat and was upgraded to Pie. The rules for how a device is expected to behave when launching with an OS level and when upgrading to an OS level are different. Google didn't mandate things about it's gesture navigation back in Nougat so Motorola was able to implement it as they wished. Required apps at one OS release are different at another. This is one reason why I'm not keen on being first to have the latest android level since things you might enjoy (like Moto Voice) are gone in later releases.

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