Sony Xperia smartphones look so good on paper. So why is it that we don’t recommend them? Here’s our answer to that and a brief 2023 review of the Sony Xperia 1 IV.
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Poor updates (policy), overpriced for the specs. I mean, 400-500 for a phone with a SD695 and 60hrz? Come on… Such a shame, because they are the only ones with a screen without a punchhole/camera cutout…
And they quit making the compact. I rocked 3 or 4 new old stock Xperia xz1 for YEARS. Smallest phones I could get at the time. Now I’m doing the same thing with the s10e which I still feel is too big.
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Why People Arent Buying Sony Xperia Phones
because they are fucking expensive
There you have it folks. Its expensive and you pay upfront. Most people don’t have $1500 laying around to wing at a phone yet alone a $500 emergency budget sadly. Especially these days.
S24 Ultra isn’t any cheaper and it’s selling well.
how much of that is due to people actually being able to actually buy a s24, or because that just what happens to be their phone carrier’s option? when selling phone it’s extremely important distinction, most people can get their phones “significantly cheaper” so to speak, via their carrier.
As an ex cellphone salesman I have never seen any carriers here in canada selling phones in like, pretty much the last decade almost now. Canadian here. Rodgers, Bell, Koodo, Fido, off the top of my head, none sell sony phones.
Now I did often try to sell cellphones to folk out right since IMO it’s far better to own the device and pay for a cheap plan, but to do that, phones need to actually be affordable.
And they have a remote control like shape factor
What, because you can use them with one hand? As opposed to all the fat bricks out there?
Yeah and you can read 2 pages of an ebook on the same screen, they fit one on top of the other lengthwise. A win-win situation! Definitely worth the premium price now that you said it. Anyway, good luck reaching the top part of the screen with your stubby thumb without using the other hand on that land strip type of a form factor.
What kind of sasquatch ass hands do you have where you can reach the top of any phone?
I miss my Xperia 5iii, but those screens are too expensive to justify replacing when I get a brand new device for the same cost.
It’s not about the size of the hands that matter but how you use them. ;) Hands size shaming must come to an end. But yeah I can pretty much grab a basket ball single handedly and throw it accurately, no problem.
Yikes. lol
No entry level options, relatively lower specs for the price asked, mediocre software support. That being said, they are one of the few OEMs in their price segment to still offer headphone jacks.
Yeah headphone jack is a nice bonus, my only method of playing audio from my phone in the car is the aux cable
Me too. I bought a ugreen Bluetooth to aux adapter. Just a USB stick with wire an 3,5mm headphone jack on. Works great and I payed 20€.
They’re also comparatively “small” in this world of bricks.
2 Years of updates was my reason. Samsung is up to 7,Apple is about 5 or 6 and Google is 7 years.
Note this is based off of my memory so I could be wrong.
Have Samsung & Google actually delivered 7 years yet - or is that still just a promise on paper to continue supporting existing products?
Apple for all its faults has at least delivered on this premise.
iPhone 6s (2015) received a security update this month, they have delivered indeed
Google and Samsung both have a track record of delivering updates even past the promised date so far.
Samsung made that promise last year and limited to the higher-end lineups, I believe.
Google still update their pixel 6 phones from years ago (not sure about the pixel 5 or below).
Apple is a complete different story since they owned the entire ecosystems and keeps making money from the devices being in use.
Pixel 6 came only came out near the end of 2021, I would hope all companies support phones for more than 3 years, but maybe I’m too optimistic.
A15 is probably the last major update for P6P.
Not sure about security patches though, which are arguably more important.
Also there’s always custom roms for Pixel phones.
If you swap it out for Lineage problem solved. I agree & strongly recommend against using a stock Sony ROM. It kind of defeats the point of buying one.
Fairphone is minimum 8 years.
Who the fuck keeps (and uses) a phone for 8 years?
5 years and still going strong. Not planning to replace any time soon.
Me.
Honestly, who doesn’t? And, importantly, what does the demographic of one-year phone people tell us?
People who prefer to not release toxic waste for no good reason?
I got an Xperia 5 IV very recently when my Galaxy S7 died. Been happy with it. Smallest phone I could find with an SD card slot, and while it’s still larger than my old phone, the screen is the same width, just taller. Overpriced? Probably a bit. In the end though, I like it.
I upgraded from an S7 in the past year… I ended up going with a Samsung XCover 6 Pro since Sony doesn’t sell their flagship phones in Canada…
The size is why I keep them in the back of my head. Because when my Pixel 4a dies I’m kinda screwed with how humongous (what?) all those phones nowadays are.
Right, like people want to develop wrist pain over a damn phone. 5&6" is hard to come by.
I’m gonna be real, I thought Sony stopped making these 5 years ago. Probably because I haven’t looked into buying a phone since that long ago
They used to do great phones though. The Xperia Play (and its slimmer Arc cousin) and the Walkman feature phone are still personal favorites of mine.
Shit updates, expensive, terrible marketing (since ever). I used to buy Xperia phones exclusively, the compact ones to be precise, then Sony decided that compact phones and affordable phones had to go, I bought an Xperia 10 (I or II, can’t remember) and it absolutely sucked. When it broke I bought a random Chinese phone from the store, ended up with a Realme. Works better, with worse battery life tho.
Where’s the article?
There’s an embedded video above the headline. It’s easy to dismiss as an ad. I did, too.
It’s easy to dismiss as an ad. I did, too.
Well, Vivaldi’s built-in in adblock apparently agrees with this categorization. The video shows up if I disable it. Lol
It isn’t much better either. HTG went from a great site publishing tech articles to riddled with paywalls(you will encounter sign in screens if you read multiple articles quickly), Premium options, ad affiliated newsletter links and just constant churning of low quality filler mostly.
Stubborn ideologies, slow to changes, devices get abandoned after 2 years.
Used to be a big fan of Xperia phones up until the Xperia 5.
Their phones are far too expensive and their software support is horrible.
My favorite phone was a Sony Xperia Compact. If they still have SD Card slots my next phone will be Sony.
I loved my Xperia XA2, but when the next android update came down the pipe I literally lost features.
Posted from my Xperia 5.
I probably would consider them, but their phones tend to have lackluster US carrier/band support and lack of security updates. Coupling that with the high price tag, no go.
I miss my Xperia Play, that thing was the bee’s knees.
