New phone time. Got a Vodafone contract via work so my carrier is not switchable.
Had iphone for years and now fancy a change, I have a Android tablet and I personally like the Android platform better than ios, I sue all the Android / google tools so it makes sense for me to have properly connected devices.
Any pro’s and cons between the S4 and Xperia phones ? Also heard good things about HTC one also, but not sure if I can get one with my carrier.

Personally I’d be looking at the G2, Z1 or Nexus 5. I narrowed my choice down to the Z1 which had higher capacity battery and a water proofing going for it or the Nexus cheaper and vanilla Android. I went for the Nexus and am very happy with it.

I had it down to those two phones just before xmas. Went with the Sony and haven’t regretted it for a second.

I’ve got an Xperia Z (not Z1), and I’m very happy with it. The main advantage over the S4 is the waterproofing, otherwise there’s not a lot in it. More subjectively, I think it looks better, too – the S4 just looks cheap to me.

A Nexus would also be a decent choice, I’d probably have got one if my operator had offered it. (Of course, if they’d offered it they would have filled it with Orange bloatware, negating its main advantage…)

Worth noting there is also a Xperia Z1 Compact on the market now, if you wanted to go Android but in a smaller package. Same internals as Z1, but with 720p 4.3″ screen…although that screen is now IPS.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/31/5363936/sony-xperia-z1-compact-review

…currently considering upgrading my iPhone 4 to one. Just looking into how much of a ballache losing all my iOS apps, and iCloud stuff, is going to be,

If you can’t get a Nexus 5 I’d opt for the Sony Z1 unless you want a (lovely) massive-ish screen in which case I’d go for a Note 3

Had a look at both a the weekend, the samsung screens look really intense colours, and I guess thats not everyones cup of tea, but I quite like that.

Thats a great heads up Jamie, having used Iphone 4s for the last two years, the thing that I find hardest to imagine me getting used to is the physical size of the handsets now. Do you know whether as a smaller unit its down specced, a year ago was looking at Samsung Galaxy S3, realised they did an iphone sized S3 mini and thought it was a perfect option, until I realised it was much lower specced than the S3. Not sure if Sony have done the same

Sorry Jamie, just read the article it explains everything, that looks like the favourite so far Z1 compact. Happy days, thanks

Thats a great heads up Jamie, having used Iphone 4s for the last two years, the thing that I find hardest to imagine me getting used to is the physical size of the handsets now. Do you know whether as a smaller unit its down specced, a year ago was looking at Samsung Galaxy S3, realised they did an iphone sized S3 mini and thought it was a perfect option, until I realised it was much lower specced than the S3. Not sure if Sony have done the same

Screen resolution is 720p rather than 1080p. – However it’s a better quality panel.

Compact’s battery is 2300mAh battery compared to the Z1’s 3000mAh. – powering smaller, more efficient screen, though. So performance should still be very good.

Processor/Camera/Memory etc is all identical.

Edit: Only issue might be if/when Voda stock it.

Seems Sony have kept the hardware and shrunk things down to fit the frame.
Guardian had a review of the Z1 compact. Overcame their iPhone bias to give it a good score.
Going for a Z1 myself at the end of this week.

I’ve got an Xperia T and I don’t know if they’ve sorted out a lot of the software glitches, but I probably wouldn’t be getting another Sony phone.
It’s good, but in use there’s too many small niggles that my previous HTC didn’t have.

For example….

One reason I wanted it was the micro SD storage, but sometimes it chucks the SD card out (not literally) with a warning “SD card removed unexpectedly”. You then have to turn the phone off and on again to get it to re-load the SD card. It will do this while using the walkman, which is a pain, as well as when trying to take photos, which it then won’t take as it thinks there is no memory to save to.

It also doesn’t always recognise that the headphone have been taken out of the socket, so will continue to send all sound (music, calls, message alerts etc.) to the headphone socket. This seems to happen more frequently with the Walkman app. You have to plug the headphones back in, restart the walkman app, stop the music, remove the headphones and then exit the app.

I’ve had a Z1 since November. It’s a good piece of kit, battery life is especially good if you’re using it for Strava / viewranger. Only thing that bugs me is the speaker volume – even on max it’s difficult to hear calls if there’s any background noise. I’m tempted to go back to shop with mine and see if it’s just me or it’s just the way they are (yes, I have turned the volume up!)

tomd – Member
nly thing that bugs me is the speaker volume – even on max it’s difficult to hear calls if there’s any background noise.

Have you looked at the GSMarena review of the phone. They do a very thorough review and normally have a volume measurement that is compared to other phones. Might be worth a look to see how they rate it?

having used Iphone 4s for the last two years, the thing that I find hardest to imagine me getting used to is the physical size of the handsets now.

You get used to them very fast, I went from a Nexus One (same size as an iPhone 3) to my Xperia – it was weird at first, but there’s no way I’d want to go back to a little screen now! Even the latest iPhone seems cramped…

Sony’s light-amendments/skin to stock Android are IMO better than Samsung’s intrusive hack of it.
HTC’s used to be my preferred one (better widgets, additional menu options, etc), but their phones seem cack these days.

Sony Z1 is the daddy, the brand Z1 compact/mini (or whatever it’s called) is also doing very well in reviews & is easier to carry & use as it is smaller.

Good point mogrim,
its amazing how quick you get used to stuff. I am a pocket phone carrier, so in fact slim is as important as any other dimension

I looked at these phones as I’m due an upgrade. Looking for the one with the best quality for music. My current phone the HTC one s is amazing for music, my missus S3 sounds gash just wondering how the sony compares to the HTC One and S4

On a sidenote, it’s a bit pap that the Compact doesn’t ship with KitKat.

Just rang ee re an upgrade. No deals available on the compact till tomorrow/Wednesday.
I can have the white z1 for 35/month with unlimited call/text, and 2gb of data. How’s that stack up against owt else? Grates me a bit as I currently pay 13/month on a sim only with an old I phone4 I’ve got.

24 month contract or 12 month wrightyson ? 2 year contracts are a pain but I suspect thats all you’ll get

Is KitKat a big improvent ?, my Xperia tablet runs 4.3 and all seems to work well enough

Might want to consider the S4 Active, it is waterproof (can be used underwater), good battery life as well (compared to my old HTC sensation). I don’t have experience of the Sony’s but am happy with Active. Only gripe is it does look cheap. I’ve put mine in a rubber case so it doesn’t matter much.

Stumpy – if your SD card is playing up i’d suggesting buying a new decent one asap. Mine did that recently (Xperia T also) and after a week of putting up with it the SD card was knackered & i lost everything from it (luckily backed-up the month before, but still a few photos I wanted).
The headphone glitch seemed to have been fixed in mine by the latest update a few months ago.

Daughter’s Note went back to have the card reader sorted out on warranty. Back better than new. Maybe look to do that? Tho she was without touch phone for three weeks which borders on a human rights infringement for a 19 y.o.
Offering cash up front sometimes changes the equation; for £130 up front I was quoted £27 rather than £37/month for a 24 month contract!