[Xperia Z General] silmarils:
Hello everybody, I have an iphone 4 for the last 2 years. I decided to pre-order the XZ which is currently waiting at the Carphone Warehouse with the MDR-1R headphones since Friday. I wanted to try out some working samples in store before collecting it on a two year contract.

Today I spent three hours on different stores playing with it. Had the opportunity to compare it side by side with a Samsung GS3 and my current iPhone 4.

To begin with I focused my attention to certain issues that reviews noted, ie. quality of screen, loudspeaker, camera quality.

Screen: When viewing from more than 30+ degrees angle there is drop in legibility. However, you will never have to read the screen from such an angle unless you are a curious bystander. When viewing with a friend on a train or plane it should be fine. With brightness at 50%, the iphone was brighter. To much the brightness the XZ should increase brightness to about 75%. Since the phone was plugged I do not know what impact this had on battery consumption. Side by side with the Samsung, I much prefer the screen of the XZ. I found it a lot easier on the eyes, much less fatigue. I also prefer it against the iphone but can't fault the iphone, great screen too. I am not too bothered with the extreme colour saturation of the Samsung - whose screen has sometimes a printed-like quality, however I found the colour performance of the XZ very accurate. If it was an Apple product, their marketing department would praise its true to life colour rendition which professionals would appreciate. I tried the Bravia engine in the gallery. It does offer more saturated colours but I preferred to have it switched off.

Camera: Few things I could no inside the store. However, I noticed quite a bit of noise in low light. I have no reason to dispute SONY's claim about the quality of the sensor but it seems there is still plenty to be done on the software side. Also, it is strange that the camera takes some 3-4 seconds to switch on. The rep in the first store (Carphone Warehouse) suggested that the phone was running for 10 hours straight so he suggested to restart. This did not seem to improve things much. However the camera on the second XZ I tried in O2 was quicker, yet still not ideal. I tried to access software information with no luck so I cannot tell whether they were running slightly different firmware. The native camera app was the same as far as I could tell, ie. Sony's version. It offers a lot of settings which might explain slow loading times. Could not try a third party app.

Battery: Phones were connected to power so cannot comment.

Loudspeaker: In a rather noisy store environment it seemed to work pretty well. I played a song on my iphone which sounded much weaker. Then again I would take the results with a pinch of salt as I could not play the same track of both phones. However I would not worry about the loudspeaker. In any case I always take an X-mini with me on holidays and use high quality 40mm driver bluetooth headphones when commuting.

UI: I do not have extensive experience with ICS but it seemed that Sony did not add much which is good.

Call quality: Could not test.

Keyboard: Screen response when typing not as good as on an iphone but I have a feeling that android software has much to do with it. On the O2 version, I could select the keyboard layout and I did manage to have the (.) dot on the main keyboard without having to resort to the extra keyboard. Perhaps the CW version had the same option and I missed it.

Size, quality : While in store I played with a dummy HTC One. I was pleasantly surprised to see how small it feels in the hand thanks to its curved back. The XZ feels big. I do not mind and I think size is entirely subjective. Quality is good but some things could be better. The camera sensor seems slightly off center (the two circles don't align exactly). The speaker grill above the front camera and front microphone could have a better design. No deal breakers though.

Summary: I think tomorrow I will go to my local CW and pick it up. XZ has not won my heart entirely but I am not going to wait for the iphone 5S in the hope that Apple will wake up and offer a bigger screen to those who want one. The iOS is a better OS in many ways but has some deal breaking issues:

1. Apple Maps. I am not to fond of the idea that I have to jailbreak the phone to change the default OS maps to Google Maps. I use maps a lot through other apps and Apple Maps are simply a much inferior product.

2. Screen size: Yes, the screen is beautiful and the pixel density is a non issue, the eye cannot tell much different after 300ppi. But size does matter. As a consumer I know what is best for me and I feel that my needs are best served with a 4.7" or 5" screen.

3. Shortcuts for bluetooth and wifi. Again, why does Apple force me to jailbreak so that I can get quick shortcuts for Wifi and bluetooth on my main screen without digging deep into the settings menu.

Overall, XZ is a nice phone. No real issues, (hopefully call quality is good. Screen is beautiful with accurate colours, viewing angles only an issue in a laboratory environment. Loudspeaker good enough. Camera will get the job done. I like to be able to shoot in 13MP resolution when required (for cropping or more detail) but seriously in everyday I don't think you need more than 8MP or even 5MP. Battery is what you make of it. I like to have the option to minimize energy consumption with Stamina when I just want to keep the phone running when waiting for an important phone call. Perhaps, Apple will make a breakthrough with the new IGZO screens and offer two days of battery under medium use but until the new 5S is released this is only speculation.

Hopes for the future. Hardware wise the XZ is a solid proposition. My request to Sony would be to focus on software. I would hate it if in 4 months time they do not offer the new Android 5 upgrade, aka Key Lime pie. My girlfriend runs iOS 6 smoothly on a 4 year old iphone 3GS from 2009!! I would like to see new intelligent features (much likes the shortcut drawer with calculator, notes etc when opening the task manager) and a much improved camera app to offer better photographic performance.

Many thanks for reading.