[Xperia Z2 General] Howdoin:
I have been using the Sony Xperia Z2 for a week now, purchased online from a vendor in Taiwan.

Coming from iPhone 5S for the past 3 months after having used Lumia 920, Xperia S, Iphone 4 - so these impressions are about the Z2 and Android KitKat.

Packaging : this is the Taiwan version packaged with the cradle and headphones. Packaging is simple, on par with previous Xperia phone, soft cardboard feels nice but could be a little better for a Premium phone (I reckon I am a little harsh on this one but feel like a premium phone can use premium packaging).

The phone:

Out of the box Android 4.4.2

Build : 17.1.A.2

TMobile USA (in NYC)

Used the phone with this config and out of the box Sony theme for a week then updated on 4/5. Tried OTA update but it could not find any update, plugged in computer and immediately found 17.1.A.2.55.

I did not notice any difference in responsiveness after update.

Installed Nova Launcher to replace stock Sony (which was really good) because I wanted more options for notifications.

The phone felt a little big in hand but actually feels good after a few days for a 5.2", I have a preference for 4.5" phones for size and coming from an Iphone 5S was definitely a big difference, in hand but also when in my pocket (I always leave my phone in my front pants pocket).

The setup was a breeze, phone is very responsive (better than I remember from my Xperia S). Stock email is pretty good and imported all my MS Exchange contact, emails, calendar very quickly. Despite the over 1000 contacts the phone still responds really well and searches very fast (A big improvement from previous Android which had trouble loading contacts and was updating slowly in background - was on JellyBean at the time on the Xperia S). TMobile data setup for SMS, internet was automatic and works without problem.

Signal is mostly good in NYC and catches LTE - I noticed that I have less "bars" than I have on my iPhone but this is a non-problem as the phone always works fine and receives signal.

I could not get the included Sony Voicemail option to work properly : it worked when setup for 8sec wait before going to voicemail but if I manually refused a call it would still go to the TMobile voicemail. Decided to download the Visual Voicemail app instead and it works great.

Call quality is good but I find the volume to be a little low even at max volume. This is also felt for ringtones and notifications, while I never had problems hearing my iPhone in my pocket I rarely hear the Z2, thank god the vibration is better than iPhone so I rely on it when the phone is in my pocket when in crowed environment. Inside office or house the sound is not a problem at all and can clearly be heard.

Installed all my favorite apps and all work without any problem (Bank apps, Uber, DropBox, Nest, Hue, Rdio, various news reader, eBay, Google apps, VPN....) - the only app that refused to work was a game (Simpsons Tap Out).

Using Hangouts for text messages works fine but seems to get SMS with a small delay compared to iPhone, not sure if it is a Z2 thing or Google. I am very impressed with Voice Recognition, which is more of a Android thing than Sony but it picks up everything correctly when I dictate a SMS in the street (I am in NYC with a lot of surrounding noise). Definitely a plus as Siri would need several tries and I gave up quickly on my iPhone - no problem with the Z2 so I will definitely go back to Voice on the Z2/Android.

Using MS Exchange with stock email app and Gmail for personal, both work great and no problem to report with lockscreen using gesture to unlock (no request for Exchange password).

All apps are very responsive and multi-tasking is a breeze.

I was happily surprised that Google Wallet / NFC works out of the box. This was not the case on my previous Xperia S which would return that the phone was not approved. Don't know if it's a change in the app from Google but once I installed Wallet and signed in it was automatically added as default NFC payment option.

I am still not used to Android notification so installed "you missed it!" to get "badge icons" like on the iPhone- I still prefer this option than the regular Android notification system. Works well for stock email and gmail, no such luck with Hangouts for SMS.

Images/Photos: I have not tested this extensively (I am a terrible photographer) but the options seem plenty, the few pictures I took came out nicely (about 8mb each for the hi-res - still an Android problem but need to install an app to resize to SMS or email).

Screen: the screen is very bright, colors are sharp - overall a very good display. As expected it is a real fingerprints magnet, at first I even thought it scratched in my pocket but all marks disappeared after I wiped it. Just expect to wipe/clean it often if you cannot stand a display with prints/marks all over.

Battery life : I am mostly pleased and impressed by battery life, I remember the first day with my Xperia S (when I "toyed" with the phone and would run out of juice by 2pm) . Despite installing apps, checking web, watching video... the Z2 would go till 9pm without a problem. Remember this is on the first few days when I toy with the phone more than I usually would in normal use.

On a normal day use the phone was still holding 30% battery around midnight (taken out of the charging dock at 9am). I had an extra battery case on my iPhone for heavy use as I sometimes would go through 2 charges a day when on the road, I will probably need to recharge the Z2 on those heavy days but am positive that on normal use you will go through an entire day without need to recharge.

Memory: 16GB included with additional SD sounded good on paper... that is until I discovered that KitKat has some new rules for Apps and SD Cards. After 2 days my phone kept telling me to free space. I found out that the culprit was the Rdio app which I use for music. I had synced 4GB of music and with the other apps installed the 16GB ran out. I found a quick manual fix on the Rdio app to trick the phone into saving music on the SD card. This is not ideal but works.

I still feel that the 16GB will quickly be insufficient for the Z2 based on new rules for SD in Android KitKat. This will quickly become unmanageable for regular folks who do not want to spend time (or don't have the tech skills) rooting phone and or manually changing directory in apps.

From the Z2 and without tech knowledge the only directory you can direct to the SD are pics, video and transfered music. for people with Spotify, Rdio or other apps that sync your data it will automatically end up on internal memory and overload your phone in days. This is mostly Kitkat's fault but in this case it means that for future phones and general public use, phones like the Z2 should have at least 32gb.

Built quality: even if this should have been towards the beginning of a review I kept it for last because... my back glass cracked after 3 days!

The phone itself feels premium and the built quality is great, holding the phone in hand is mostly pleasant despite sometimes feeling a little angular due to the recess on left side for dock charging.

Regarding the back glass cracking : I have always kept my phone in my left front pocket or jeans (not skinny) with back facing outside and never had a problem with Xperia S, iPhones, Lumia... I am 100% positive that I did not drop the phone, hit anything while in my pocket. I took a stroll the other day, phone in pocket and hands in pocket and when i took the phone out the back glass is shattered, there is no clear "breaking point", it is just completely shattered.

The only possible explanation for me is that while my hand was in my pocket, covering the phone, I put some pressure on the back glass while walking and it cracked !!! This is very surprising to me as it has never happened to me with any other handset I have used, no matter the size, brand... This is quite surprising for a flagship handset that this would happen. Once again I am positive that the phone was not directly hit by anything nor dropped.

Overall I am really please with the Z2 (technically) and this is the first Android handset I own which would make me stay with Android and not go back to iPhone (which I have always done in the past due to some apps I used not being available - more of an Android issue - or previous version of Android/Phone not being spiffy enough). Based on my experience with the cracked back glass I would definitely recommend the use of a cover (which I personally hate as I am a strong believer that cellphones should be built strong enough for normal use).

Aside from the issue of the glass issue the phone is definitely a great one for Android and most of the annoyances I still have comes from Android (notifications, stock email app...) and not from the phone itself.