Sony Z3

marshac

American Hero
Joined
Mar 25, 2003
Messages
2,551
I picked up a Z3 the other day and it's a phone that doesn't seem to get discussed much on here, but after having it for a few days I think that it really should. The styling itself is pretty sweet, but it packs in a large battery, 3GB of RAM, expandable storage, a 20MP camera (which pixel bins down to 8MP I believe, but if you want to you can shoot 20MP), front facing stereo speakers which actually sound pretty good and to top it off- it's waterproof. There is even a magnetic charging port that you can use so you don't have to pull off a port cover just to charge the device (like a S5).

I've gone though pretty much every current generation phone and this is the one I'll probably stick with until the M9 comes out. The UI is even fairly close to stock android, so if you throw the Google Now launcher or Nova it's fairly easy to forget you're not using a nexus device- something that I quickly learned on my Note 4 is that even though you have a launcher covering over some failure of a UI, there are still many many parts left to frustrate you. If you're in the market for a phone at least check it out.
 
I'm a current M8 owner and I still love it, but I was looking to burn an upgrade I have this month. I was excited to hear the Z3v was coming to Verizon last month since the Z3 seemed like the best phone (IMO) available right now; sure it's still on the older 801 and 1080p, but I feel that QHD is what's keeping these newer flagships from getting the battery life they should be getting with their 3320+ mAh batteries and the perceivable PPI difference is minimal, if not nonexistent. The Z3 seems to beat the friggin Turbo in battery life by a significant margin despite it having a massive 3900 mAh battery, which says a lot about why QHD displays absolutely aren't worth the power/quality trade off they have.

But of course Verizon's Z3v is not a Z3 at all as it's definitely using the Z2's body, camera sensor, and less power efficient display, so it doesn't get the Z3s battery life (though it's still decent enough and should last a day easily). So I'm pretty much back to square one and guess I'll just wait until the M9 launches in March/April. Other than maybe the Z3, the M8 is the closest to a perfect phone that I've seen this year. The only improvements HTC needs to make are to the camera, battery (not that it's bad, but it's not exceptional), and bezel/form factor. The M9 seems like it's on track to fix all of that other than the size/bezel from the leaked specs this week. I'm sure they'll make the phone/display bigger, but I hope not by much because I really hate how OEMs are forcing the phablet form factor on everyone still.
 
there are rumors/leaks of the Z4 already :D

http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/sony-xperia-z4-z4-tablet-z4-compact-z4-t2940157

@T4rd, Verizon's network doesn't whitelist phones/IMEIs - you could insert a pre-activated Verizon SIM into an LTE phone supporting bands 4/13, and it'll work on Verizon's LTE data. (so a D6603 unlocked Z3 would work on Verizon's LTE data only)

VoLTE is still a question mark on cross-compatibility. still trying to find someone who was able to use a (non-carrier) VoLTE device on a carrier's VoLTE network

Verizon's customer service won't support/help you though.. maybe in the future, especially with VoLTE, this will change
 
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the M8 is the closest to a perfect phone that I've seen this year. The only improvements HTC needs to make are to the camera, battery (not that it's bad, but it's not exceptional), and bezel/form factor. The M9 seems like it's on track to fix all of that other than the size/bezel from the leaked specs this week. I'm sure they'll make the phone/display bigger, but I hope not by much because I really hate how OEMs are forcing the phablet form factor on everyone still.

Agree with most of what you said, although what kept me from getting a M8 (I had a M7... probably one of the best phones I've ever had) was the lack of actual camera improvements and perhaps even a step back since they dropped OIS in favor of the (IMO) duocam gimmick. My M7 took amazing photos, but there just wasn't enough resolution to crop or otherwise modify the images it took. My concern with the M9 are the recent rumors regarding screen size and perhaps a more pedestrian camera sensor... if they're true, it's going to be a big phone especially once you take into account the space needed for the stereo speakers. I wear scrubs all day long and my pockets aren't huge- when I had a Note, especially inside a case, it was just too large. I hope the M9 doesn't go down that same path.

from my M7
i3badu.jpg
 
there are rumors/leaks of the Z4 already :D

http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/sony-xperia-z4-z4-tablet-z4-compact-z4-t2940157

@T4rd, Verizon's network doesn't whitelist phones/IMEIs - you could insert a pre-activated Verizon SIM into an LTE phone supporting bands 4/13, and it'll work on Verizon's LTE data. (so a D6603 unlocked Z3 would work on Verizon's LTE data only)

VoLTE is still a question mark on cross-compatibility. still trying to find someone who was able to use a (non-carrier) VoLTE device on a carrier's VoLTE network

Verizon's customer service won't support/help you though.. maybe in the future, especially with VoLTE, this will change

Yeah, but it's definitely not worth it to drop that much cash on a phone that's not fully compatible with my carrier, esp if I can't even make calls on it for the foreseeable future.

Agree with most of what you said, although what kept me from getting a M8 (I had a M7... probably one of the best phones I've ever had) was the lack of actual camera improvements and perhaps even a step back since they dropped OIS in favor of the (IMO) duocam gimmick. My M7 took amazing photos, but there just wasn't enough resolution to crop or otherwise modify the images it took. My concern with the M9 are the recent rumors regarding screen size and perhaps a more pedestrian camera sensor... if they're true, it's going to be a big phone especially once you take into account the space needed for the stereo speakers. I wear scrubs all day long and my pockets aren't huge- when I had a Note, especially inside a case, it was just too large. I hope the M9 doesn't go down that same path.

Yeah, it did seem like they took a step back from the camera in the M7. Fortunately for me though, camera is probably my least priority feature in a phone. Though I do find the pics it takes to be more than adequate for the instances I use it in, they're definitely not bad, IMO. What some people forget about though is that the 5MP front facing camera on it is probably the best one on the market and I use it more than the rear probably for video chatting family and friends and sending random selfies to the wife, heh.
 
Hard to justify almost $700 bucks for the Z3 when I can buy the new moto x for $400. I would probably consider when buying on contract..
 
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