yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] TheFamilyMan:
Believe It or Not I DO...

Believe it or not I agree with you E90 Commie! I personally rely on Boat Browser Tablet as my everyday browser and I love it! I also use an app called Split Browser but not nearly as much as I do with BBT. I tried those MW Sidebars but it takes up, IMHO, a little to much a my precious and beautiful 6.44" screen!

While I also use Power Amp as the main means for playing my music I do like the Walkman and Movie apps. I've been trying to limit the apps from 95 - 100 because I hate all the unnecessary resources being used behind the scenes sucking my battery life away like Android Wear for my Moto 360. The damn thing just soaks up power like a damn sponge so I either turn off Bluetooth or just disconnect the 360 in order to extend battery life.

But the battery life on is XZU I grabbed October 1st is actually amazing! I'm literally getting 2 days, 2 FULL days of battery life with med - heavy usage. Of course that's in Stamina Mode and no I'm not going to mention that's a feature only found on an Xperia branded device. See what I did there, I'm kidding. I haven't discovered how but for some reason the device in hand seems a ton better than my 1st XZU. Both were/are rooted running the exact same ROM and settings the only difference being I didn't unlock the boot loader this time around and so far I don't think I'm going to.

You know what I'd appreciate? If you could list some of the cooler apps, in your opinion, you have installed on your device so I could give them a try.

Thanks in advance!
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] E90 Commie:
I have a lot of apps installed but some of those I really like are:

1. Xposed Framework with App Settings, NoLock Home, GravityBox, XHalo, XMultiWindow, HKThemeManager, Phab7 and so forth.

2. Chronus - Excellent clock widget on the lock screen.

3. SoftMaker Office - The best mobile Office suite with desktop class functionality. The latest beta versions reintroduces the computer UI with traditional pull-down menus that they had in the WM version.

4. System Tuner Pro - Great system manager.

5. Battery Monitor Widget Pro - Great battery monitor widget. Both of those are partly replaced by 3c Tuner (Android Tuner) so for a new download, I would follow that route instead.

6. AcDisplay - Moto X active notifications.

7. FX File Manager - I consider this to be the best file manager.

8. Root Explorer - Classic but I still like it for root file management.

9. FasterGPS - Configures a close server for aGPS in order to improve the lock times.

10. Nokia HERE Maps - Excellent maps and navigation offline. I actually prefer them over Google Maps and I have used them since I got the N95 back in 2007.

11. MoonReader+ - I consider this to be the best ebook reader on Android. A very powerful solution.

12. MuPDF - Excellent compact PDF reader for documents I don't put into the Moon library.

13. F-Droid - Great alternative app store with open source apps.

14. Hangouts Dialer - Excellent, excellent. I dumped regular telephony because of this - everything goes through Google Voice and I use a data-only SIM.

15. AquaMail - Great alternative email client and offer a tablet style dual pane view as standard.

Then I have a lot of other apps installed. When it comes to games, I prefer the GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas together with X-Plane, otherwise emulators.

I also like the Sony apps and the best thing is that they don't require a Sony ROM - just sideload the apks. The Sony apps that can't operate on a different ROM are usually less interesting and can be substituted. One example is the launcher where I consider Nova to be just... superior. The Sony widgets aren't that much of an importance either, there are third party options which are even better.

I also have a Xperia Z with Sony based ROM and I very much prefer the GPe one even if there are nice addons made by the manufacturer in the first case. My main problem is the 240 DPI notifications issue, if they would work like they did in 4.3 Sony ROMs, I would have no objections about using it, though.

Edit: I bought my C6833 from AtGSM in China Town, NYC for $349. They also sold me the C6802 last year together with C6602.

What surprises me is that the new C6833 seems quicker than my C6802. I use the exact same ROM and kernel (GPe with DoomKernel v02 GPe) and both devices are restored from the same Titanium Backup and run similar configuration and animations off and GPU rendering on but a slight difference is till there. It seems like Sony made some internal improvements during the course of manufacturing.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] leonbarroso:
considering that the smartphones' screens are getting bigger and they are getting thinner , the Z ultra seems to have come from the future ...
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] H. E. Pennypacker:
Indeed, much like when Samsung released the original Note - which i also had and still have. It was gigantic when it was first released, but it's considered normal today. The Ultra is still very big, but the super-sized class of phones looks to get more and more normal too these days. I love big "phones" (time to come up with a new name? :silly: ) so i'm not complaining.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] appleknight:
I don't think our xzu sells that great mostly because it not a carrier independent phone, and despite it being available for as long as it has, there are still so many people that don't even know it exists, I've had mine since February this year and I still get asked what kind of phone it is and how to get one, unfortunately I bought mine before the price drop, but still its hands down the best phone I've had, C6806 FTW!
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] TravisBean:
I've had my Ultra z GPE for about 3 weeks now, and don't regret the purchase. I'm basically using it as a "Game Boy" and still use my Xperia ion LT28 for a phone.

Once you've played your favorite android games on this thin, light, sharp, and graphics friendly Z Ultra, you just can't go back to another phone. I'd imagine that game play on the Note 4 is amazing also, but at $324 for the Ultra Z, I believe it to be the smartest tech choice I've made all year.

Is there any way to install the Xperia Ion Stock Browser on the Ultra Z GPE ??

..................................
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] digitalbenny:
I've owned a Z Ultra GPe since last January. Although it has been confirmed it will get Lollipop, it STILL to this day does not screen cast to Chromecast without root. Anyone else frustrated as I am about this?...
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] H. E. Pennypacker:
I guess you can simply copy the APK directly from /system/app, send it to yourself on email, send it over Pushbullet, upload it to Dropbox, Drive etc. and move it to system/app on your Ultra. If that doesn't work, it may be because of a missing lib file or something like that. Also, just give me the browser name while we're at it.

Also, be sure to download The Wolf Among Us. It's a perfect touch based game, and it's simply awesome. First episode is free.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] adfurgerson:
Check out an app named "myappsharer " it will send an app via Gmail, bluetooth, to a bunch of cloud storage accounts or even over LAN with ES file explorer.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] heorung:
Hi all , I just bought a Z Ultra C6833 for my girlfriend , but after playing with it for a while , i face sleep of death bug . I'm on the firmware 14.4.A.0.108 . Do we have a solution for sod bug?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] blueether:
I've hot seen anyone have SoD on 4.4 kk
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] heorung:
I got fake hang every time the phone enter deep sleep.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] H. E. Pennypacker:
Strange. Sleep Of "Death" was an issue all the way back on 4.2, but i haven't read anything about it for a year. You should do a full factory reset and take it from there.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
I think the Z Ultra is still a great device and a bargain for what you can buy it brand new, I just wish they'd fitted it with a decent camera and LED - I still really like every aspect about the phone but the terrible camera is a frequent frustration. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything upcoming that compares to the Z Ultra, the Note 4 has stayed at 5.7in (I was hoping they might move up to 6in so it wouldn't be such a big loss in screen real estate), the Nexus 6 has no expandable storage nor does that 6in Lenovo although it doesn't look like it will even be for sale here.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] abdel12345:
There's supposedly a z4 ultra coming out with the z4 according to some rumors but I don't see it very highly possible considering the compact tablets would be too close in size to it. Plus the specs the rumors/leaks were stating would probably put the phone at something like 1000$. For the camera if you don't mind an attachment check out the qx10 on eBay. You can get it for 120$ its a full standalone camera that can be attached to your smartphone. Its 18.2 mp with 10x optical zoom and the flash isn't even necessary with how great its low light quality is. Only down side is you'll have to connect it to your phone for a view finder so it won't really be great for taking a quick picture. But im buying the z ultra tomorrow most likely and if I find the camera too lacking I'll be picking up one of those for sure. Just looking at some sample pictures and videos shows how superior it is to phone cameras
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Pro4Eva:
The QX10 was a nice toy to play with but it in no way replaces a decent camera on mobile devices and it surely wouldnt work well with the Xperia Z Ultra as they both lack flash and regardless of the low light capabilities nothing replaces a flash when you need one..from personal experience invest in a real cam if u are anyways willing to carry around two devices.

Cheers..
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
I agree entirely with what you've said which is why I carry an RX100 with me in the jacket pocket but I don't have space to carry a second device with me at all times and looking back over older photos I realised how much more I used the Galaxy Note's cameras for times when I didn't have a proper camera on me and the results weren't bad. With the Z Ultra I generally only use the camera for capturing serial numbers or other information I need to refer back to rather than photos.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] blueether:
If you take the time the ZU can take quite good photos. Just have a look through the photo threads

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2395123

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2668304
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
It's nothing to do with taking time, it's a terrible camera and many of the posts in those threads agree - any camera can take reasonable photos in good light but even then the Z Ultra's heavy processing degrades the results. I'm not expecting dslr quality but the fact it's not even a patch on the old galaxy note is frustrating particularly when Sony produce some of the best sensors in the market.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] H. E. Pennypacker:
Yeah, the sensor is probably good-ish, the post-processing is the killer here, so that lets Lollipop and its new Camera APIs do its thing (hopefully). We'll be able to throw Sony's post-processing out the window once we get Lollipop, since the new APIs allows us direct access to the camera hardware, which hasn't been possible before.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] jaj324:
Yeah, the camera is awful. Nothing else to say about that.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] TexasBlack:
Just got mine today came from lg g2 ...and love every minute of my ultra GPE.. I can read all my comics on it ...perfect size ..got mine brand new in box tpu case for 360 on eBay...I recommend everybody get one ..lol..
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] H. E. Pennypacker:
Congrats and welcome! Keep an eye on the OTA updater. Lollipop should arrive any day now (hopefully). Be sure to give us a notice when it arrives (it can be everything between a week or three).
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Sm0L:
Wrong thread... sorry
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] TravisBean:
The best way to sum up the Ultra Z GPE (after having used it for a while now);

It's basically a slimmer, lighter, more powerful Nexus 7 that can also make phone calls.

So even if you don't want to replace your current phone, it makes a great addition as a small tablet.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] pushcush1983:
i second that.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] TravisBean:
So I wonder (and I'm not sure I really want to hear the answer) how much smoother the new Adreno 420 graphics chip is as compared to the Adreno 330 in the Ultra Z ? The Adreno 330 was certainly a major improvement over it's predecessor.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MSK1:
Surely 6.4 inches is too big for a phone?

How does it feel when making a call?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] pemell:
I can't find a proper replacement, so my answer to the op question as of today is yes. Especially as we have a proper lollipop port.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] E90 Commie:
I think it works great despite its size when it comes to phone calls but I am used to big phones from the past (like the Ericsson GH388).

---------- Post added at 10:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 AM ----------

I would put it this way: Lollipop on the Ultra is extremely smooth and the power of 330 is adequate for anything I can throw on it. The next big thing will be the Snapdragon 810, the 805 is like an incremental upgrade to me.

In fact, it was a much bigger step to go from the S 4 Pro or 600 to the 800 than it is from the 800 to 805. It is also evident that the big upgrades seems to happen every other year (odd numbers) like in 2011 when we got really decent dualcore hardware, 2013 with Snapdragon 800 and 2015 with 810. In between, there are those incremental upgrades such as the 801 or 805.

If you want smoother graphics than the Adreno 330: wait for the 810 based products.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MSK1:
There's big. ... Then there's dom joly big! !!
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] alphahere:
Yes unless you want a excellent camera. I have a real camera so I don't purchase phones based on the camera. Best 300 dollar phone I have ever purchased. By the way this phone flies with KitKat or lollipop. ?

Good luck.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] gooberq:
i moved from note 3 to ultra Z. Planning to buy a qx10 lens to go with this phone. I will not be going back to any other phone unless its a Ultra Z2 :)
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
No, don't think the sensor is any good - it's a tiny 1/4in sensor and while Sony's over processing doesn't help that, it's still a poor sensor underneath so while more reasonable processing will help a little it's sadly not going to make that much difference overall.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] cashif:
So, I sold my Z ultra and bought Lumia 1520 and used it for 2 months but now purchased Z ULtra again seeing the price drop ($250) and the Lollipop update. This is my longest serving phone now as am a phoneoholic and like to change phones every 3-6 months but now with this phone for past one year!

PS-Offtopic: If Sony were to release Windows version of phone, I would jump to it immediately. After using Windows, I dont like Android as much. Windows has improved so much since the early days and I loved the Live Tiles feature. I believe Tiles are the future and would love to have phone of this size to enjoy it more.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MSK1:
Explain further. ...

What's this live tiles stuff all about. ..

Give us a detailed explanation of the pros and cons of windows versus android.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
Am in the same boat as the OP. I started a thread unknowingly about this exact subject. With its camera and stereo speaker admittedly by many users not being up to par I think its pros out weigh its cons now considering its surprisingly sweet price. But still battery life and out door visibility complaints has got me concerned. I heard the battery life is poor on KK and even worse on Lollipop (standard version not GPE)

Is 4 hrs of screen on time with mild to heavy usage too much to ask from this great phone?? I plan to use it as my secondary device for reading and Dwnl/Upld documents and videos so am praying it holds up atleast that.

Another issues I hear about is outdoor visibility. I know how that feels, my brother owns a S3 and it is almost impossible to use it out side, I don't think all S3 are like that tho but anyway, Is our Z Ultra that bad??

Just to add, Earlier post mentioned windows lumia 1530 which ironically was compared to our Z Ultra in outdoor visibility and the lumia won with huge margin. Its just ridiculouly a bright phone.

But I still choose the ZUltra :)
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
It depends what exactly you're doing with the screen but 4 hours of screen time should be fine, I manage between six and seven hours on stock Kitkat firmware although heavy data usage obviously reduces that. I don't find the batterylife worse on Kitkat than previous firmwares nor too bad in general, the batterylife is dropping off a bit but as the phone is well over a year old now and getting hammered with daily charges I'd expect that. I initially thought the batterylife was poor until I actually looked at the battery stats and realised how much more I was using the phone as the large screen is quite addictive.

My honest answer to that is I don't know so I'm thinking it can't be that bad if in all the time I've had the phone it hasn't bothered me although up here in the north of Scotland there's not that many bright and sunny days so I can see it affecting people in other countries differently.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] blueether:
In normal out door use it is fine, in very bright sunlight here in NZ with polarised glasses it is a little hard to use :cool:.

As for the battery, my older ZU still does a full day with medium use on LP (not the GPe port) and that has a few bugs that don't put the cores to sleep etc. The GPe that I have on LP just did 3 days on one charge with light use with 45% still remaining. Just reading PDFs I got 7 or 8 hours of screen on time - check the battery stats thread, 5 hours heavy screen on time is normal.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
Thanks for the reply guys!

I think I will put my doubts aside and jump ship and get the phone which I wanted to do all along except for issues I've mentioned on my earlier post. Ive been doing more research and like John and blueether mentioned 5-6hrs even 7 i've read is possible with heavy use. Tweaks and mods will surley aid too. But yes after one year usage it can't perform as when it was new for sure.

As for outdoor visibility, Its bright and sunny where I live. I don't usally use my phones on bright day light but when I do I don't want to put extra effort just to read a simple text or use the dailer....

One more thing. Am not a tall person but I can carry it quite comfortablely in my front pocket, I made a model and tried it out for a few days. So is shattering the glass an issue if you sit on it in your front pockets with a slim case of course? I am not rough on phones but will I need to treat it as if Is made of glass per say?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
I keep my Z Ultra in a pocket without a case, as it was too big with a case, there are some scratches on the back but the glass is in one piece and the phone is straight. I haven't treated the phone any different to others, I've been careful with it but not treating it as particularly delicate although experiences vary.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
Alright. So its not that fragile then. I will slap a thin case on it if I find one or I will carry it with a protective film on both sides :) thanks for the heads up John.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Johnmcl7:
It's been fine for me although there are people here who have had trouble with the phone bending or cracking when in pockets, I guess it depends it depends on a few other factors.

I've bought a Note 4 as I'd had enough of the poor Z Ultra camera and considered the Samsung the only viable large screen alternative, the Nexus 6 has no sd expansion which is a deal breaker for me and the other large screen devices all seemed to be more budget orientated. On using the Note 4 I'd say the Z Ultra is still very much applicable in 2014 - one part it really gets right that Samsung oddly gets very wrong is the scaling on the interface, bizarrely Samsung use the same spacing for Note 4 as they do their much smaller phones so all the UI elements are far too big and waste the screen space. The Z Ultra on the other hand scales much better so it feels like you have much more space to use despite the two phones only being 0.7in difference in screen size.

John
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
Yes the note 4 is an alternative at this point, it has top of the shelf goods in my opinion apart from the UI scaling that you mentioned.Right on that! the phone would be more attractive like that. I totally agree. More points for the Z Ultra then! In fact I struggled between the ZU and N4 for a while. The reason i didnt go for the note 4 tho is that it is 750$ where I am and for me I dont recon it is two and half times a better phone than the ultra at this point in time given the price difference. I haven't tested both devices for my self so my decision is based on observation only. I plan on getting the N4 too but later on.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
Thank you for helping me decide peeps! I got my Z Ultra and it is performing more than I expected. thanks all again for all the help
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MissyKoneko:
I am waiting for my Z ultra to arrive, I cant wait, I love big phones, I started with the Note 2 then Note 3 but for some reason its not enough, so I decided to get the Ultra, since I saw it a year ago I fell in love, it feels forever for FedEx to deliver lol.

Now I am seriously thinking of rooting it, my very first phone I rooted was the Note 2, I didn't root my Note 3 so I consider myself still new in the rooting department..... So once my phone arrives I will come back and see if anyone is willing to help me root my phone.

Btw I am getting the white one! Ahh I cant wait.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
I got the white one too ;). it is awesome. you will love it.:):)
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] samir_a:
So I am still confused I have managed to get my hands on One Plus One the price difference between the two is around 65 dollars.

In India we do not have 4G and wont be there for atlease a year so by the time is widely available I will be anyways switch to another phone

I am not a great camera user but if required I have nexus 5 which can do the job.

So now I am really confused what to go in for ZU or One Note
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MissyKoneko:
Did you root it? And can I just delete the apps that come with it without rooting it?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] buracho:
No i havent yet ;) but am planing to. Ive rooted the lgg2 and s3 with custom roms with not much trouble, the sony universe is a different one as i am coming to understand :o am asking around and reading up :) but till now sony has the least bloatware installed on its phones ive seen and most of them are actually useful but i managed to get rid some or disable them so no problem:):)

---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 AM ----------

I dont know about the the One Plus One bro and One Note, i havent heard of that :confused: but if you are looking for a premium built device with great specs, large screen i highly recommend the ZU :good: try to test it out on hands on experience and pocketability and decide. my 2c
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] Flaco05:
I have both the Oneplus One and the Z Ultra and prefer the Ultra by a mile. Just a more beautiful and smoother device all around. Except for the camera, I cannot think of one reason to favor the Oneplus.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MissyKoneko:
Ok might be a stupid question but why in some reviews it says 3000 battery and in some says 3050? Can someone explain this to me please. ....
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] blueether:
The release specs were 3050, but most (all?) teardowns and DIY fixs have found the battery stamped with 3000mha
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MissyKoneko:
That's a rip off no? Lol well I hope I love my ZU if not I can just resell it.
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MSK1:
Anything announced re the successor?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] blueether:
less than 2% ?
[Sony Xperia Z Ultra] MissyKoneko:
???

Btw is the ZU getting kit Kat or lollipop anytime this year? Anyone knows?