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[neogaffer1]

Or damn it, Sprint. Never know. But yeah, I think I'm in that boat since S6 removed SD Cards. I'm generally happy with S4 so I don't need the latest and best anyways.

There was a post a while ago in a Sony Mobile DOOMED thread about how Sprint's parent company Softbank wanted to make a deal with Sony where Softbank would have exclusivity for a few of Sony's phones over in Japan and in return Softbank would make sure there was a Sony phone on Sprint in the US. Sony said no to them and went after someone else. Softbank ended up going with Sharp, hence that Sharp "bezel-less" phone that's on Sprint right now. The carrier that Sony tried to make a deal with dumped Sony after Apple offered the iPhone.

Edit:

The thing is HTC, LG and Motorola bent over backwards and converted the carriers one by one over the years to get on their networks. Sony do not do whatever it takes to get it done. T-Mobile did the work for them, that's why the phones were so bloody late. They refused point blank to open up a CDMA testing group for VZW for two years and only changed that stance in May of this year. Masayoshi Son personally spoke to Kunimasa Suzuki to get a device for SoftBank in Japan which he said he would push on Sprint once the takeover was complete, Sony declined and said they would remain with their NTT partnership who then predictably sold Sony up the river a few months later and did a deal with Apple for the iPhone. Son signed a deal with Sharp and now their phones are being released on Sprint, the first weird Japanese devices to make it out of the country.

Sony Mobile management are a bunch of fools. The networks have no interest in carrying their devices and yet they try and act like Apple who command the attention of every carrier in the world. Sony as a brand is worthless outside of PlayStation and they need to come to terms with that and rebuild from zero, and in some areas less than zero where they are associated with poor value for money.

 

[Theonik]

Edit:

That post is only reflective of Sony's mobile brand in the US. For the European market, Sony has always had a remarkably strong brand and carrier penetration. They really fucked up in the US though.

 

[Circinus]

Man, I'm loving those bronze/copper coloured version and ice blue coloured version of the Xperia Z3+.

I was thinking about getting the Xperia Z3 Compact this summer, but unfortunately it's not available in those colours. Probably going to get it in black or white then.


Also, I see they used Bloodborne on one of the Xperia Z3+ marketing photo here: (they used a poorly JPEG compressed Bloodborne image though it seems)

Gaming-side GAF now surely immediately loves the Xperia Z3+?

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

I drop my phone several times a week and my cheap TPU case still does its job. Hoping it stays like that until the real Z4 especially since I don't buy phone insurance.

 

[hertog]

I just bought my Z3 ;_;

Loving it!

And you should, such a great phone

 

[Himynameischris]

There was a post a while ago in a Sony Mobile DOOMED thread about how Sprint's parent company Softbank wanted to make a deal with Sony where Softbank would have exclusivity for a few of Sony's phones over in Japan and in return Softbank would make sure there was a Sony phone on Sprint in the US. Sony said no to them and went after someone else. Softbank ended up going with Sharp, hence that Sharp "bezel-less" phone that's on Sprint right now. The carrier that Sony tried to make a deal with dumped Sony after Apple offered the iPhone.

Edit:

smh I always wondered what happened to that deal they made :/

 

[Coolluck]

There was a post a while ago in a Sony Mobile DOOMED thread about how Sprint's parent company...

Edit:

It astonishes me how little I know how phones and the drama around them. Thanks for teaching me something new today.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Man, I'm loving those bronze/copper coloured version and ice blue coloured version of the Xperia Z3+.

I was thinking about getting the Xperia Z3 Compact this summer, but unfortunately it's not available in those colours. Probably going to get it in black or white then.


Also, I see they used Bloodborne on one of the Xperia Z3+ marketing photo here: (they used a poorly JPEG compressed Bloodborne image though it seems)

Gaming-side GAF now surely immediately loves the Xperia Z3+?

That remote play feel. I use it on my Z3v and it gets compressed looking image quality.

 

[Syntsui]

I thought they gave up on the phones market, wasn't there even a thread here about it?

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

This looks exactly the same as my Z1s. You obviously don't mess up a good design, but seriously?

 

[neogaffer1]

I thought they gave up on the phones market, wasn't there even a thread here about it?

There's a good chance they're going to, they're at least entertaining the idea. Until then, however...

This looks exactly the same as my Z1s. You obviously don't mess up a good design, but seriously?

Sony gonna Sony. Especially bad since they iterate twice a year instead of once like everybody else--so at most 6 months after you buy your phone it's outdated by a phone that looks nearly exactly the same.

 

[Jazzy Network]

Sony was HTCing way before HTC was.

 

[Theonik]

Sony gonna Sony. Especially bad since they iterate twice a year instead of once like everybody else--so at most 6 months after you buy your phone it's outdated by a phone that looks nearly exactly the same.

It's pretty much just Apple that still refreshes only once a year. Most other makers do at least 2 a year and even more if you account for other models in between.

 

[EightBitNate]

It's pretty much just Apple that still refreshes only once a year. Most other makers do at least 2 a year and even more if you account for other models in between.

Like who? As far as I can tell, Samsung, HTC,and LG only release their flagships once a year.

 

[Circinus]

I thought they gave up on the phones market, wasn't there even a thread here about it?

Not true.

There's a good chance they're going to, they're at least entertaining the idea. Until then, however...

A business can always go either way, but they are not really entertaining the idea, it's more a case of them not ruling any scenario out and to position themselves as being flexible. But they aren't entertaining the idea, that was something that was misinterpreted by the press.

http://www.xperiablog.net/2015/03/03/sony-refutes-suggestions-that-mobile-is-up-for-sale/
http://www.xperiablog.net/2015/03/04/sony-mobiles-2015-mwc-keynote-now-available-to-watch/

They also just signed doing a sponsoring deal for Xperia and PlayStation promotion for the UEFA Champion's League until 2018, which is a pretty big mid-term invesment in Xperia.

Like who? As far as I can tell, Samsung, HTC,and LG only release their flagships once a year.

HTC released HTC One M9 this year and is soon releasing HTC One M9 Plus.

LG has the G Flex and G series of flagships of which they release a new model for this year.

Samsung releases dozens of new high-end and mid-range phones each year. If you just count the Galaxy S-series as as their flagship then it's indeed one new model per year. (if you count Galaxy Note, Alpha etc then no)

 

[hodayathink]

Like who? As far as I can tell, Samsung, HTC,and LG only release their flagships once a year.

For Samsung, it depends on whether or not you consider the Note line a flagship. If you do, then it's twice a year, not once, but they actually have done a good job of not having one line cannibalize the other.

 

[family_guy]

Phones this year seem to be lackluster overall. Hopefully Note 5 retains the sdcard and removable battery otherwise the iphone 6s+ may be my first iPhone.

 

[nico1982]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RC-h4yWkAQ
Performs like Z2/Z3

Downgradeton battery

Z2
3200 mAh minimum
Talk time: up to 19 hours***
Standby time: up to 740 hours***
Music listening time: Up to 120 hours***
Video playback time: Up to 10 hours***

Z3
3100 mAh
Talk time: up to 16 hours***
Standby time: up to 920 hours***
Music listening time: up to 130 hours***
Video playback time: up to 10 hours***

Z3+
2930 mAh
Talk time: up to 17 hours
Standby time: up to 590 hours
Music listening: Up to 91 hours
Video playback: Up to 580 min

Ugh. Looks like the 810 in the Z4 is thermally limited in a serious way. It just eat battery away with no performance advantages over the 801. They should have gone with the 808.

 

[Lagamorph]

Absolutely no point to upgrade from my Z2 looking at those specs.

Think I'll wait until the Windows 10 phones drop.

 

[FunkyDealer]

That looks identical to my Z1. And none of those specs seem like a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[reKon]

So the Z3+ I'd pretty much pointless then. If they didn't go with a glass back, I could see see this as a more reasonable upgrade. There's almost literally no functional point in upgrading other than the improves waterproofing. The performance gains don't seem to be enough to justify a purchase. They should have just down a price cut on the Z3's.

 

[Theonik]

So the Z3+ I'd pretty much pointless then. If they didn't go with a glass back, I could see see this as a more reasonable upgrade. There's almost literally no functional point in upgrading other than the improves waterproofing. The performance gains don't seem to be enough to justify a purchase. They should have just down a price cut on the Z3's.

It's a stopgap release mostly catered to Japanese carrier demands and is pretty much meant to be a more appealing version of existing phones. It's not a replacement.

 

[neogaffer1]

HTC released HTC One M9 this year and is soon releasing HTC One M9 Plus.

LG has the G Flex and G series of flagships of which they release a new model for this year.

Samsung releases dozens of new high-end and mid-range phones each year. If you just count the Galaxy S-series as as their flagship then it's indeed one new model per year. (if you count Galaxy Note, Alpha etc then no)

There were rumors that they'd release a M8 Plus last year that didn't pan out, and historically they've only released one flagship per year.

Last year G Flex wasn't treated like a flagship, just an experiment just to see how the market would react to a device like that. This year it was just treated as a way to hold people over until the actual flagship came out.

Samsung releases one main flagship each year, that is the S series. Note is a separate brand but that's the closest they get to two a year. None of their other models are really high end--the closest was the original Galaxy Alpha, and that was a one-off.

 

[Circinus]

It's a stopgap release mostly catered to Japanese carrier demands and is pretty much meant to be a more appealing version of existing phones. It's not a replacement.

Yeah, this. If you don't have own a recent high-end smartphone (2014/2013), but you're looking for one, it's a a great option, because well, it's a slightly improved iteration of an already great smartphone.

If you're a consumer and are into the smartphone flagship race that wants to upgrade your smartphone every year, then this one is not worth upgrading to at all I think.

There were rumors that they'd release a M8 Plus last year that didn't pan out, and historically they've only released one flagship per year.

Last year G Flex wasn't treated like a flagship, just an experiment just to see how the market would react to a device like that. This year it was just treated as a way to hold people over until the actual flagship came out.

Samsung releases one main flagship each year, that is the S series. Note is a separate brand but that's the closest they get to two a year. None of their other models are really high end--the closest was the original Galaxy Alpha, and that was a one-off.

I agree.

 

[Radec]

US Folks are getting the better Z4v

http://www.gsmarena.com/a_verizonexclusive_xperia_z4v_is_coming_to_america-news-12672.php