Difference between revisions of "Sony Xperia Z5 Compact"

Revision as of 11:46, 19 June 2016

Random rants about the current smartphone I use.

It is running Android 6.0.1, it is pretty much a mainstream-device, not hacked (no intention of doing so as long as the warranty lasts and/or Sony provides decent software updates) so there will be no hard-to-find secrets on this page.

Things I like

Small
Fast
Battery lasts comparably long (2 days or so)
Good software updates support (so far, Sony apparently takes care of its phones -let's hope it stays that way).

Things I don't like

Bloatware can't be fully deinstalled (I knew that)
2 GB RAM (I don't see why there would be an issues to put in 3 GB like in the non-compact Z5).
Button layout (camera and sound are in the wrong place). Same for the power button sort of (if you want to use the phone with a standard car or bike clamp-holder). Not too anoying, but...
The standard keyboard is sometimes hard to use (due to the "small" screen). Kind of anyoing, but as I dislike touchscreens anyways and there is no decent phone with a hardware keyboard out there...
Android (and Android apps in general) feel like an excuse to spam people with advertisements and nag-screens. WTF? Even paid apps sometimes still show adverts or start being anoying by asking for Play-store ratings etc.
Many apps (also well-known and high-rated ones) are not exactly stable

Things which might have prevented me from buying the phone had I known them before

Yes, I could have send it back after finding out, but I was too lazy, and overall it is a decent phone -as advertised.

SD-Card support: No Adoptable storage mode available. So -no app storage on the card. Also, some apps seem to have issues using the card for data storage. The reader is also quite slow apparently. Crap. The phone has 32 GB internal storage, so no too big deal, but still...
adb and local access is not very well supported -apparently, Sony took great pains to actually prevent people from doing local backups. Would have been a showstopper had I known that before. Helium backup does not work reliably, I have not tested other tools (most require root).
Camera is good -for a smartphone-camera (emphasis on "smartphone) -in other words, it is quite crappy. No big deal, I use a DSLR if I need decent quality. The phone camera might be good enough for the occasional snapshot under good light conditions.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 * Bloatware can't be fully deinstalled (I knew that)
 * 2 GB RAM (I don't see why there would be an issues to put in 3 GB like in the non-compact Z5).
-* Button layout (camera and sound are in the wrong place). Not too anoying, but...
+* Button layout (camera and sound are in the wrong place). Same for the power button sort of (if you want to use the phone with a standard car or bike clamp-holder). Not too anoying, but...
-* The keyboard is sometimes hard to use (due to the "small" screen). Kind of anyoing, but as I dislike touchscreens anyways and there is no decent phone with a hardware keyboard out there...
+* The standard keyboard is sometimes hard to use (due to the "small" screen). Kind of anyoing, but as I dislike touchscreens anyways and there is no decent phone with a hardware keyboard out there...
 * Android (and Android apps in general) feel like an excuse to spam people with advertisements and nag-screens. WTF? Even paid apps sometimes still show adverts or start being anoying by asking for Play-store ratings etc.
 * Many apps (also well-known and high-rated ones) are not exactly stable