Switching platforms? | Thinking of leaving?...comment here!

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libra89

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My wife has the Z5 compact and a guy at work does too.

The camera is better than the Z3, it's too small for me though.

The guy at work just had a problem with his. Some update caused it to go into a boot loop so had to reinstall the firmware.

My suggestion, though not sure if it's required, I'd probably do a reinstall of the firmware prior to using it. Just like all phones, sometimes the firmware ships corrupted.

Good to know, thanks for sharing that! I have no idea how to reinstall firmware, that sounds a bit higher than my skillset. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. Apperciate the tip. I tried a Z3 myself a few months back and I liked it, but the radios sucked in my area. I'm hoping that this wouldn't carry on, but I will find out tomorrow. Yayy!

I don't necessarily want a Sony but I don't see anything else I like currently.

Yes the Z5 and up are getting Nougat. Sony isn't the quickest at updates but you will get updated.

Apparently Z3 doesn't meet the specs for Nougat set by Google.

Ohh okay, I wasn't sure if you was just a Sony fan or so. I think it's a processor thing for the Z3. Either way, I wish you luck in the upgrade, whenever that will be. At least Sony updates though. lol.
 

P1ng0fDeath

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Sooo I'm finally posting my impressions of the Z3 Compact!..

Build quality is premium and it's a great looking phone. It's relatively thin (8.6 mm) with something I love: small bezels!
It is much smaller than phones the world got used to, but not that small. I have big hands and still can't access hamburger menus with just one hand unless I slide it towards the middle of the phone. Still, not sure I'm willing to go any smaller than this. Holding any bigger phone now feels awkward at first.

The USB port cover flap is prone to break if handled improperly. Also, it makes using the phone while charging a bit odd. Makes me wish one of those new waterproof USB ports. Waterproof certification was never a must-have for me, but it's handy - no need to worry about the rain, for example. It can even take a bath if necessary.

Screen is crisp and vivid. One thing I really like about the 930's screen is how good the colors look without being over-saturated, and the same goes for this one. Viewing angles are satisfactory. Since it's a LCD display, no risk of burn-in is a plus for me.

Although the camera has the same amount of pixels as the 930, it's easily surpassed by the Lumia. Decent, but simply not as good. It's great to have a dedicated camera button, so +1 for Sony.

It has a bigger battery than my 930, which is bigger and thicker. Lasts a day of heavy use: WhatsApp, Messenger, social media, browsing, music, etc. Light use on the 930 would drop the battery at a ridiculous rate, like 2-3% every 90 seconds or so - screen-on time must feel 3x better. Keeping Stamina mode on the whole time makes it last 2 days of moderate use.

Sound quality is very important for me. I listen to music on a daily basis on headphones and sound quality must be the best possible. Luckily, this phone didn't disappoint me on that department: loud and clear sound.

Running Android 6.0.1, resuming apps is usually very quick. Good use of resources, kind of puts my 930 (which has similar specs) to shame. Performance is one of the mains reasons I decided to keep the Z3C, I can't live without it anymore.
It packs a lot of bloatware, which I hate. Only some can be uninstalled, others can just be deactivated and hidden. Maybe I will root it to get rid of them once warranty expires. +1 for W10M, where you find few pre-installed apps and can uninstall what you don't want.
Having a notification led is cool. On the other hand, Android feels clumsy for some tasks - the data monitor is located in the settings menu and, without WP ability to pin anything to the start screen, you either access it there evertime you need it or use 3rd party apps (plenty to choose from, which is good). The action and notification center is better by miles on W10M, hands down. Almost everything I do on it can be done better there, including customization. Blocking SMS is a frustrating experience, I really miss W10M built-in blocker.

About keyboards, until I last used W10M prediction still worked like &$%#! for any word longer than 4 letters. Haven't had any issue with Google Keyboard so far (it learns quickly, even swear workds lol) and there's 3rd party keyboards to download. I'm hoping MS will release their keyboard on Play Store, but with the same quality level as before. However I do miss how easy it's to change language input on W10M.

Gestures (something MS axed) are available: answering calls by just picking it up and holding it next to the ear is a nice gimmick.

About apps... Obviously they are all there. I didn't found Microsoft apps all that better as people say. Weather for example, lag behing compared to its W10M version. MSN News crashed a lot on my 930 since day 1 and that always annoyed me, but it isn't perfect on Android - just more stable. Live tiles make a great difference on these 2 apps. On their case, widgets just doesn't do the justice (I'm yet to find a weather widget that is as good as Weather live tile). About Outlook, it doesn't offer more on Android for me and I have 0 complaints about it on W10M. Can't tell about Office - never really used it even on WP. Feels good to have such a better store experience, as even the Google Play app itself is better.

Google Maps can't save offline maps properly. Instead of selecting countries, states, etc to download, all it offers is drawing a rectangle over the region you want to download. Not cool. Luckily, Android still have Here Maps - offline maps work as usual there. Gotta love having options...

Bottom line: As much as enjoyed this phone, I still prefer using WP and would love to go back. Too bad the future doesn't look bright for it and it's dying more and more each day in my country (I simply don't see Lumias in the wild anymore). Still, this phone indeed lived up to my expectations, so I see myself staying on Android for the next years.
 

libra89

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Sooo I'm finally posting my impressions of the Z3 Compact!..

Build quality is premium and it's a great looking phone. It's relatively thin (8.6 mm) with something I love: small bezels!
It is much smaller than phones the world got used to, but not that small. I have big hands and still can't access hamburger menus with just one hand unless I slide it towards the middle of the phone. Still, not sure I'm willing to go any smaller than this. Holding any bigger phone now feels awkward at first.

The USB port cover flap is prone to break if handled improperly. Also, it makes using the phone while charging a bit odd. Makes me wish one of those new waterproof USB ports. Waterproof certification was never a must-have for me, but it's handy - no need to worry about the rain, for example. It can even take a bath if necessary.

Screen is crisp and vivid. One thing I really like about the 930's screen is how good the colors look without being over-saturated, and the same goes for this one. Viewing angles are satisfactory. Since it's a LCD display, no risk of burn-in is a plus for me.

Although the camera has the same amount of pixels as the 930, it's easily surpassed by the Lumia. Decent, but simply not as good. It's great to have a dedicated camera button, so +1 for Sony.

It has a bigger battery than my 930, which is bigger and thicker. Lasts a day of heavy use: WhatsApp, Messenger, social media, browsing, music, etc. Light use on the 930 would drop the battery at a ridiculous rate, like 2-3% every 90 seconds or so - screen-on time must feel 3x better. Keeping Stamina mode on the whole time makes it last 2 days of moderate use.

Sound quality is very important for me. I listen to music on a daily basis on headphones and sound quality must be the best possible. Luckily, this phone didn't disappoint me on that department: loud and clear sound.

Running Android 6.0.1, resuming apps is usually very quick. Good use of resources, kind of puts my 930 (which has similar specs) to shame. Performance is one of the mains reasons I decided to keep the Z3C, I can't live without it anymore.
It packs a lot of bloatware, which I hate. Only some can be uninstalled, others can just be deactivated and hidden. Maybe I will root it to get rid of them once warranty expires. +1 for W10M, where you find few pre-installed apps and can uninstall what you don't want.
Having a notification led is cool. On the other hand, Android feels clumsy for some tasks - the data monitor is located in the settings menu and, without WP ability to pin anything to the start screen, you either access it there evertime you need it or use 3rd party apps (plenty to choose from, which is good). The action and notification center is better by miles on W10M, hands down. Almost everything I do on it can be done better there, including customization. Blocking SMS is a frustrating experience, I really miss W10M built-in blocker.

About keyboards, until I last used W10M prediction still worked like &$%#! for any word longer than 4 letters. Haven't had any issue with Google Keyboard so far (it learns quickly, even swear workds lol) and there's 3rd party keyboards to download. I'm hoping MS will release their keyboard on Play Store, but with the same quality level as before. However I do miss how easy it's to change language input on W10M.

Gestures (something MS axed) are available: answering calls by just picking it up and holding it next to the ear is a nice gimmick.

About apps... Obviously they are all there. I didn't found Microsoft apps all that better as people say. Weather for example, lag behing compared to its W10M version. MSN News crashed a lot on my 930 since day 1 and that always annoyed me, but it isn't perfect on Android - just more stable. Live tiles make a great difference on these 2 apps. On their case, widgets just doesn't do the justice (I'm yet to find a weather widget that is as good as Weather live tile). About Outlook, it doesn't offer more on Android for me and I have 0 complaints about it on W10M. Can't tell about Office - never really used it even on WP. Feels good to have such a better store experience, as even the Google Play app itself is better.

Google Maps can't save offline maps properly. Instead of selecting countries, states, etc to download, all it offers is drawing a rectangle over the region you want to download. Not cool. Luckily, Android still have Here Maps - offline maps work as usual there. Gotta love having options...

Bottom line: As much as enjoyed this phone, I still prefer using WP and would love to go back. Too bad the future doesn't look bright for it and it's dying more and more each day in my country (I simply don't see Lumias in the wild anymore). Still, this phone indeed lived up to my expectations, so I see myself staying on Android for the next years.
Yay! I was scared that you forgot but thanks for sharing. It was worth the wait. Glad that you are enjoying it, though. The apps being better, it depends on the app.
 

N_LaRUE

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Good to know, thanks for sharing that! I have no idea how to reinstall firmware, that sounds a bit higher than my skillset. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. Apperciate the tip. I tried a Z3 myself a few months back and I liked it, but the radios sucked in my area. I'm hoping that this wouldn't carry on, but I will find out tomorrow. Yayy!



Ohh okay, I wasn't sure if you was just a Sony fan or so. I think it's a processor thing for the Z3. Either way, I wish you luck in the upgrade, whenever that will be. At least Sony updates though. lol.

The nice thing about Sony is that it's very easy to re-install the firmeware. Just use the Xperia Companion software for PC. It's really simple.

One of the reasons I've been thinking of upgrading recently is that my phone just isn't picking up the signal that well anymore. It's good for the most part but then I have periods of time where it simply takes forever to pick up a signal. Very frustrating. It's one of the reasons why I'm holding back on the XZ as well as I heard the radios might not be that great on that. My wife's Z5 Compact is better than my Z3 with signal.

Anyway, I won't be buying anything until the new year so hopefully prices come down a touch after the xmas rush and I can pick up a bargain. :)
 

P1ng0fDeath

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Yay! I was scared that you forgot but thanks for sharing. It was worth the wait. Glad that you are enjoying it, though. The apps being better, it depends on the app.
I'm not exactly a good writer, but I'm glad you liked it! Still getting around Android (First time owning one since 2013).
Btw I'm eyeing a Z5 Compact too. The fingerprint scanner should be nice to have and the phone overall seems to be very good, but then again the Z3C looks sooo sexy. Not sure what to do lol
 

N_LaRUE

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I'm not exactly a good writer, but I'm glad you liked it! Still getting around Android (First time owning one since 2013).
Btw I'm eyeing a Z5 Compact too. The fingerprint scanner should be nice to have and the phone overall seems to be very good, but then again the Z3C looks sooo sexy. Not sure what to do lol

The Z5C is better because it doesn't have the fiddly flaps. It's got a far superior camera as well. It's a better phone overall.

I finally saw the XZ in person. I was hoping to see the Pixel as well but unfortunately the shop didn't have any... :/

The XZ is nice but still not sure.
 

P1ng0fDeath

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The Z5C is better because it doesn't have the fiddly flaps. It's got a far superior camera as well. It's a better phone overall.

I finally saw the XZ in person. I was hoping to see the Pixel as well but unfortunately the shop didn't have any... :/

The XZ is nice but still not sure.
Yeah looks like the waterproof USB port is also worth it. There's also the fact that Sony (hopefully) will update it, unlike the Z3C.

About the Pixel, I've been reading wonders about it...
 

Shamshi-Adad

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What I really want now is for Microsoft to make an Android Launcher that gives us full a Windows Phone feel.
SquareHome2 (with key) gives you Windows 10 and waaayyyyyy more already. see it at the Play Store. YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT !!!!!!!!

Peace. Alan
Galaxy S7Edge [MM6.01] Daily Driver, Luxury Sedan Class
Lumia ICON [Win10M 14959.1000] Toy, GT4 Sport Class
 

Skaughtto

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I haven't turned on my Lumia 640 in a week since buying a OnePlus 2...

WP things I miss:
- Contact blocking: I'm running Android 6.0.1 and from what I've read it seems like I need to add bogus callers as contacts before I can have the option to automagically block or send their calls to voicemail.
- Quiet Hours: I used it all the time. My phone has a slider on the side to silence the phone, but now I have to remember to do that.
- Exchange Global Address List: All my company contacts were available in the phone dialer and "People" sections with WP, they aren't with Android. Luckily I can go through the Outlook app to retrieve numbers and make calls, but it's an extra step.
- Live Tiles: Widgets just aren't the same. The Outlook app provides a meetings widget, but it's not as good as Cal or the built in WP Calendar tile. I haven't found a great weather widget either.
- Notification Rules: It felt like I was able to completely shut off vibration system wide on WP10, but I can't do that with Android. Some apps still vibe, which I feel like is a battery drain.
- Tiles: I liked arranging and changing their sizes to fit my needs. The Android layout seems archaic and rigid. I'm even running the MS Arrow launcher.

Android things I like:
- Apps: There are so many... it's beautiful. Mint, Chase, Vanguard, Bank of the West, Pok?mon Go, Feedly, Reddit, Tapatalk, Marvel Contest of Champions, OneDrive, Excel, Word, Pandora, Madden Mobile, Dell KACE, PlayStation, Cisco Jabber, Amazon, eBay... so many.
- Integration with other devices: My Kenwood car stereo picks up the Android phone quicker and I can use the Pandora source on it rather than Bluetooth audio. Even the MS Band works just the same as it did with my Lumia.
- OneDrive: I can still backup all of my photos there, which is cool.
- Fingerprint reader: More of a phone feature, but it does make it easier to login than using a PIN each time.
- Phone selection: There are many to choose from. I'm still trying to understand the benefits of rooting and stuff, but I don't think my OnePlus 2 was a bad choice for my first Android phone. It makes a capable starter for $275.
- Bing backgrounds: Still got 'em.

Overall the transition wasn't too painful. Right now I don't think there's any OS or ecosystem that's perfect, so there's no sense in battling with each other about which platform is better. I do see evidence that Microsoft was trying to develop their mobile OS more than others have been. Hopefully that refinement will continue and I can go back to a WP device with more app availability and device compatibility.
 

Scienceguy Labs

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SquareHome2 (with key) gives you Windows 10 and waaayyyyyy more already. see it at the Play Store. YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT !!!!!!!!

Peace. Alan
Galaxy S7Edge [MM6.01] Daily Driver, Luxury Sedan Class
Lumia ICON [Win10M 14959.1000] Toy, GT4 Sport Class
Thanks for the tip. Just bought it, and wow! Very, very cool app.
 

libra89

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Along with a B&H catalog ( :grincry: ), I got the Z5 Compact today. Unfortunately, it was on Marshmallow to start with. That's unfortunate because for some reason, Sony decided to remove the option of seeing stats when you tap the battery graph in MM. That aside, I tried the cameras and they just can't compete with my Honor 8 or iPhone SE. Sony's just not my deal I guess, maybe I'll try again eventually. It's going back, going to request that RMA in the morning.

Otherwise, the Honor 8 is just too good to me to shelf it. It's an awesome phone for me, so the chronic switcher title lives on, but just between my currently owned devices.
 
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P1ng0fDeath

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I have a desire to try iOS even though iPhones are extremely overpriced. Do you guys think its "user friendliness" is overrated? People usually describe it as a phone that "just works"...
 

libra89

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I have a desire to try iOS even though iPhones are extremely overpriced. Do you guys think its "user friendliness" is overrated? People usually describe it as a phone that "just works"...

I would say that it is not. You do have to set up the phone with a SIM originally but it's fairly simple to use. It generally does just work.

Edit: Because I don't want to double post again in a short time frame, I just learned that the popular app for staying focused called Forest is on Windows Mobile. I found that to be really cool, whoa.
 
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Knights2257

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Sad to say, but our days Win Mobile is done. :( Pixel is on order. I wanted desperately to stay, but our Lumias are dying and there just isn't enough out there to convince the wife (who was ready to go), and even me (who doesn't want to leave) to stay or get a cheap Windows phone waiting for some magic new device. Breaks my heart, but there just isn't anything exciting or good enough out there right now. :(

I've been here since the 8x and loved the platform and the environment. I will miss my Tiles so, so much... But just can't keep fighting with things not working, no new phones and limited apps. If they can get something better in the next year I will come back gladly, but for now this is good bye Windows Phone. :(
 

Shamshi-Adad

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Sad to say, but our days Win Mobile is done. :( Pixel is on order. I wanted desperately to stay, but our Lumias are dying and there just isn't enough out there to convince the wife (who was ready to go), and even me (who doesn't want to leave) to stay or get a cheap Windows phone waiting for some magic new device. Breaks my heart, but there just isn't anything exciting or good enough out there right now. :( .......... , but for now this is good bye Windows Phone. :(
It's just another "Rite of Passage".

The absolute worst part about the transition to Android is those nauseating default avatars at Android Central :eck: and how stingy everyone is with their "LIKES" no matter how well they receive/appreciate your 'reply' :shocked: .

Hopefully, one day, we'll start streaming back to Windows... and here to Windows Central.

Peace. Alan
Even when I lose, I win.
Galaxy S7Edge [MM6.01] Daily Driver
Lumia ICON [Win10M 14965.1001] Hobby :winktongue:
 
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Woodchuck3400

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I'm about a month in with the S7 Edge. I will say, things do just work. I like being able to log into websites with my fingerprint via LastPass. I loaded the SwiftKey keyboard (MS) and I seem to have re-gained the prediction I lost after the Cyan update. I no longer have to go to the bank because all my banks have apps. The Bing background keeps it fresh everyday, but it just doesn't feel like home.
 
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