Sound Quality, Camera, Charging issues! Help. - Sony Xperia ZL

So I was on the verge of buying the ZL. When I chanced upon reviews/met people at the Sony Center there to replace their phones due to these issue-
1. Black dots in the lens while clicking pictures.
2. Sound volume is very low when receiving calls.
3. While charging, the phone becomes slow and unresponsive. My brother has the Xperia SP, and I've seen the same problem with his phone. It just becomes weird and laggy. I didn't know a high end phone like the ZL is also going to have this issue.
So I want to ask, do you guys also have these problems? Were they fixed with the latest firmware update. I had finally decided on the ZL, but now I think I'm gonna go back to buy the S4 if these issues are very prominent, as the S4 seems to be an over-all winner, even though I hate it's looks. Any suggestions would be helpful!

yahska.3 said:
So I was on the verge of buying the ZL. When I chanced upon reviews/met people at the Sony Center there to replace their phones due to these issue-
1. Black dots in the lens while clicking pictures.
2. Sound volume is very low when receiving calls.
3. While charging, the phone becomes slow and unresponsive. My brother has the Xperia SP, and I've seen the same problem with his phone. It just becomes weird and laggy. I didn't know a high end phone like the ZL is also going to have this issue.
So I want to ask, do you guys also have these problems? Were they fixed with the latest firmware update. I had finally decided on the ZL, but now I think I'm gonna go back to buy the S4 if these issues are very prominent, as the S4 seems to be an over-all winner, even though I hate it's looks. Any suggestions would be helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.u have a bad charger or adapter change it
2.sound volume decreases after 4.3 update
3.chk with another camera app it still probleam is there take it to service centre

bhavstech said:
1.u have a bad charger or adapter change it
2.sound volume decreases after 4.3 update
3.chk with another camera app it still probleam is there take it to service centre
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sound volume decreases even more after update? That is bad news.

yahska.3 said:
Sound volume decreases even more after update? That is bad news.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IF ur on 4.1.2?! download soundmeter app from play store on any other device and check your phone ringing level it should be aroung 78 dB
NOTE-(ACTUALLY I DIDNT HAVE A 4.2 UPDATE I DIRECTLY UPDATED TO 4.3 MAY BE SOUND LEVEL DECREASES AFTER 4.2 UPDATE AND I NOTICED IT IN 4.3)

bhavstech said:
IF ur on 4.1.2?! download soundmeter app from play store on any other device and check your phone ringing level it should be aroung 78 dB
NOTE-(ACTUALLY I DIDNT HAVE A 4.2 UPDATE I DIRECTLY UPDATED TO 4.3 MAY BE SOUND LEVEL DECREASES AFTER 4.2 UPDATE AND I NOTICED IT IN 4.3)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was talking about In-call volume and quality, not the speaker volume.

yahska.3 said:
So I was on the verge of buying the ZL. When I chanced upon reviews/met people at the Sony Center there to replace their phones due to these issue-
1. Black dots in the lens while clicking pictures.
2. Sound volume is very low when receiving calls.
3. While charging, the phone becomes slow and unresponsive. My brother has the Xperia SP, and I've seen the same problem with his phone. It just becomes weird and laggy. I didn't know a high end phone like the ZL is also going to have this issue.
So I want to ask, do you guys also have these problems? Were they fixed with the latest firmware update. I had finally decided on the ZL, but now I think I'm gonna go back to buy the S4 if these issues are very prominent, as the S4 seems to be an over-all winner, even though I hate it's looks. Any suggestions would be helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Black dots in the lens while clicking pictures is a known hardware problem.
I have it to. It's seems a problem with the sensor itself. When you look at you pictures, you will notice that the black dots are sharp and not blurry, so it's impossible that it comes from some dust in the phone, otherwise the dots should be blurry because they are to close to the sensor to focus on.
I also find the sound very low during phone calls, and there is also a noise on the line what makes it even harder to understand some people.

yahska.3 said:
I was talking about In-call volume and quality, not the speaker volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ohh sry, thats normal in zl

yahska.3 said:
So I was on the verge of buying the ZL. When I chanced upon reviews/met people at the Sony Center there to replace their phones due to these issue-
1. Black dots in the lens while clicking pictures.
2. Sound volume is very low when receiving calls.
3. While charging, the phone becomes slow and unresponsive. My brother has the Xperia SP, and I've seen the same problem with his phone. It just becomes weird and laggy. I didn't know a high end phone like the ZL is also going to have this issue.
So I want to ask, do you guys also have these problems? Were they fixed with the latest firmware update. I had finally decided on the ZL, but now I think I'm gonna go back to buy the S4 if these issues are very prominent, as the S4 seems to be an over-all winner, even though I hate it's looks. Any suggestions would be helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never seen any of those issues. But I have had lots of others.
I love what this phone should be. I don't love what it is. On the strength of my experience, I cannot recommend this phone. Others will probably say different.

schnidex said:
I've never seen any of those issues. But I have had lots of others.
I love what this phone should be. I don't love what it is. On the strength of my experience, I cannot recommend this phone. Others will probably say different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

I never had issues with my phone. May they differ in factory time..
Sent from my C6503 using xda app-developers app

No issues here either.
No black dots, no charging issue. In call volume could be louder but that is not an hardware issue, still its louder than my Galaxy Nexus.

ren2008 said:
No issues here either.
No black dots, no charging issue. In call volume could be louder but that is not an hardware issue, still its louder than my Galaxy Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you buy your phone recently? And which country, if I may ask?
ThuCommix said:
I never had issues with my phone. May they differ in factory time..
Sent from my C6503 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did you buy yours, recently?
schnidex said:
I've never seen any of those issues. But I have had lots of others.
I love what this phone should be. I don't love what it is. On the strength of my experience, I cannot recommend this phone. Others will probably say different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly man. I really like it. But there were 2-3 people at the shop with these issues. Had it been any other issue, I wouldn't have minded, but if the basic functions such as calls and camera have issues. Then
dmeerpa said:
The Black dots in the lens while clicking pictures is a known hardware problem.
I have it to. It's seems a problem with the sensor itself. When you look at you pictures, you will notice that the black dots are sharp and not blurry, so it's impossible that it comes from some dust in the phone, otherwise the dots should be blurry because they are to close to the sensor to focus on.
I also find the sound very low during phone calls, and there is also a noise on the line what makes it even harder to understand some people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try to get it fixed/replaced? How about the earphones, good enough with music?
Also, guys. Is the S4 a good choice. I don't like the looks and the UI. But overall, it looks like a complete phone, complete package. Opinions?

yahska.3 said:
Did you buy your phone recently? And which country, if I may ask?
When did you buy yours, recently?
Exactly man. I really like it. But there were 2-3 people at the shop with these issues. Had it been any other issue, I wouldn't have minded, but if the basic functions such as calls and camera have issues. Then
Did you try to get it fixed/replaced? How about the earphones, good enough with music?
Also, guys. Is the S4 a good choice. I don't like the looks and the UI. But overall, it looks like a complete phone, complete package. Opinions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm from Belgium and bought it in Germany at the Phone House. I already tried during 3 months to get the IR blaster and a back cover that loses it's skin to be repaired without succes. I was so angry that I'm actually not jumping to go back to Germany ( a trip of 1h45) for again a battle with the Phone House to get my stuff repaired and working. And a couple of months without my phone.
I will never buy at the Phone house again, sometimes I'm thinking of buying a HTC One or the Asus PadPhone 3 and then bring back the Xperia for a new try to repair my Phone.

Hmmm...
So, I bought my 6506 via the bitcoinstore... I don't remember who the back end wholesaler is who fulfills their orders.
Anyway, I haven't had any issues with black spots on the camera, haven't really had any issues with call volume, never really had any problem with my phone being unresponsive or sluggish while charging.
Depending on the activity while it's charging it can get somewhat warm... (performing a nand backup while charging are what I'm mostly thinking of...)

Its a solid phone. But its too old and has too many issues to consider the ZL. The s4 is solid. Has a faster processor, better camera, better screen, and best of all, A REMOVABLE BATTERY!! I am not a Samsung fan by any means. Only had the s2 and galaxy nexus. But they were both solid, except the screen burn in on the galaxy nexus :s
So far my only actual issue with the ZL is the black dots in the camera (screenshot). As for call volume issues, I haven't run stock software since the 4.1.2 JB it came with. I use AOSP based ROMs. And I have no call quality issues or laggy charging problems.
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Sent from my Xperia ZL using Tapatalk

Sorry
No such issue.. Volume is very good. way better than XZ.
No camera and charging issues.. Running 4.3 101
4n Is from Ukrain

well i had black dots in my camera... Sony gave me a brand new phone as a replacement

Related

Who has upgraded from the Droid X to the Galaxy Nexus?

I'm curious about the experiences of anyone who directly upgraded from the Droid X to the Galaxy Nexus?
I liked my Droid X from the start, but I didn't love it. Some of the things I didn't like, I just got use too and other things were addressed by updates and switching roms.
1) Screen was hard to impossible to read on a sunny day. Been improved between updates.
How is the Galaxy Nexus screen on a bright day?
2) Phone's speaker and ringtone volume was better on my blackberry storm, than the Droid X.
How would you compare the Galaxy Nexus's speaker and ringtone volume to the X ?
3) How would you compare your battery life between the Droid X and the Nexus? Please specify, if your on stock or which rom.
These are a few points of interest, but I would be interested in other comparisons. I am clear that Ice Cream sandwich is the best feature of Galaxy Nexus. I am clear that the specs are better on the Nexus. I'm interested in specifics in how the Galaxy Nexus has improved your personal user experience or not, compared to the Droid X?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Screen is fine in the sun. Found that out today. Speakers are average.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
@rbiter said:
Screen is fine in the sun. Found that out today. Speakers are average.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fine, meaning better or the same?
" Speakers are average", meaning the same as the X ? A little better/ worse? Insignificant or noticeable?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
My guess is that very few people have upgraded from the DroidX to the Galaxy Nexus. Why? Because it's not *out* for Verizon yet.
justifi said:
Fine, meaning better or the same?
" Speakers are average", meaning the same as the X ? A little better/ worse? Insignificant or noticeable?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I don't have the Droid X but I have had the motorola milestone (international version of the droid) and the speakers are not loud enough by all means. I would never expected such a low level of quietness from the Galaxy Nexus, but I don't use the speaker that much so it isn't too much of an issue to me. However, when watching movies in a fairly loud room is virtually impossible with the speakers on the GN. Also, while playing some games, I end up blocking some sound off the speakers accidentally by placing my hands on the speaker grill (e.g. while trying to turn the boat in riptide)
I haven't tried the screen in broad daylight, but I have heard from someone that XDA it's fine on full brightness.
As for the battery life, I'm currently on the stock rom, and it isn't too bad. With moderate use I can get a day or over but I have only had the GN for a few days so I have been using it quite extensively.
hotleadsingerguy said:
My guess is that very few people have upgraded from the DroidX to the Galaxy Nexus. Why? Because it's not *out* for Verizon yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assumed that people in England had access to the Droid X since it's release and there are others in the states that imported the GSM version. Their experience would give me a ball park idea of what I'm likely to encounter, once it's been released. The Lite version is not supposed to be drastically different. Battery life and speed, should be the only significant difference. I'll still have better idea from what they have to say, than I do now.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
mohitrocks said:
Hi,
I don't have the Droid X but I have had the motorola milestone (international version of the droid) and the speakers are not loud enough by all means. I would never expected such a low level of quietness from the Galaxy Nexus, but I don't use the speaker that much so it isn't too much of an issue to me. However, when watching movies in a fairly loud room is virtually impossible with the speakers on the GN. Also, while playing some games, I end up blocking some sound off the speakers accidentally by placing my hands on the speaker grill (e.g. while trying to turn the boat in riptide)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that could hurt! If I recall an update in froyo helped with the volume on my X. It still not great, but good enough in most cases. I hope that google is aware and can improve it in an update.
mohitrocks said:
I haven't tried the screen in broad daylight, but I have heard from someone that XDA it's fine on full brightness.
As for the battery life, I'm currently on the stock rom, and it isn't too bad. With moderate use I can get a day or over but I have only had the GN for a few days so I have been using it quite extensively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much time did you get on your milestone compared to your nexus on similar usage?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
justifi said:
2) Phone's speaker and ringtone volume was better on my blackberry storm, than the Droid X.
How would you compare the Galaxy Nexus's speaker and ringtone volume to the X ?
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Click to collapse
It seems the Galaxy Nexus has a speakerphone that is way on the quiet side.
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justifi said:
1) Screen was hard to impossible to read on a sunny day. Been improved between updates.
2) Phone's speaker and ringtone volume was better on my blackberry storm, than the Droid X.
3) How would you compare your battery life between the Droid X and the Nexus? Please specify, if your on stock or which rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually upgraded from the DX to the GNex today. Or was it yesterday? I'm not sure at this point, its late.
I had to turn off auto brightness on the GNex to read it in desert noon sunlight, but once I maxed it out, it was perfectly readable, and I didn't have to create any "hand shade" like I did with my DX
So far, the speaker is a disappointment for me. I can barely hear the clicking sound during locking and unlocking, and notifications are a bit quieter. It's definitely quieter than the DX.
*EDIT* A few minutes on Google led me back to XDA (god i love this site) where someone recommended an app called Volume+ to solve the speaker issue. The free version doesn't seem to have much of an effect on the speaker volume, but I purchased the full version for, I think, $1.62 and after a few minutes of playing, the speaker volume is now perfectly fine. Sucks that I have to spend more cash on this crazy expensive device, but whatever, in the end the problem is fixed for me.
Battery life, for me at least, was another red x, but further testing is warranted. Let me explain. When I got my GNex, the battery was about 50% full, as expected. After about 4 hours, it was down to around 25%, and I plugged it in for an hour and a half, give or take 15 minutes. When it came off, it was at 97% and lasted me another 9-10 hours or so before it hit 14% and warned me my batter was low. My DX would usually last me around 20 hours. Rooted, stock rom, overclocked to 1.3.
What you have to keep in mind is that my DX times were through normal usage, where as today my GNex suffered EXTREME usage. I was downloading apps, listening to Pandora, texting, browsing the web, playing with the camera, running speed tests, etc... And while I was doing all this, the screen brightness was at 100% which was so bright it eventually made my eyes hurt a bit. Checking the battery usage, the screen had chewed up around 70% of the battery, Android OS was around 20%, and the rest was divided up between god-knows what else. Tomorrow I'm going to try to play with it less, and leave the screen at around 30% and see what happens. I suspect it will be MUCH better.
A few other tid-bits to note. The DX was easier to hold at first, though I am finding myself more comfortable with the GNex as time passes. The whatever-they-call-it skin on the back of the GNex feels like silky plastic. It's nice, but still plastic and as such feels a bit slippery. It also doesn't stick to denim at all, which means it slid off my leg constantly while I was driving.
Please keep in mind after reading all this that I am nit-picking all the little details about this device that I'm not thrilled about. All in all, the GNex is light years beyond the DX. Just about every aspect of it is better. The camera is superior, the call quality is better, the screen is brighter, crisper, and has better contrast. Even the data speed (no LTE in my area yet, so 3G apples to 3G apples here) is about twice as fast.
Kaostick said:
Checking the battery usage, the screen had chewed up around 70% of the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for sharing your initial experience with the GNX.
But be careful here. If you see 70% screen there on the battery usage, it means 70% of last discharge cycle was due to the screen being on. Not the screen eating whole 70% of the 100% full charge. Unless you mean you checked the further details of battery usage now-featured in ICS 4.0.
I also upgraded from the Droid X (Verizon) to the Galaxy Nexus (GSM on T-Mobile). Definitely in love with the screen, it's great in sunlight as long as you turn off auto brightness, like you said. I haven't used the speaker at all so I can't really comment but obviously you already know the answer to your question haha.
I have been using a Droid X (on CM7GB) and got the Galaxy Nexus yesterday. I still have my Droid X with me and activated. I have the extended battery on BOTH phones.
Observations:
#1 I had hoped that the screen would be easier to read on the Nexus, but it's not. The notification bar is TINY and unreadable for me. The icons are exactly the same size. The color depth on the Nexus is far superior.
#2 The X on CM7GB is a screamer and is faster than the Nexus to open apps. Speed is not a big issue for me, but I couldn't go back to stock X speeds.
#3 The in-call volume of the Nexus is much better than the X. Not even close.
#4 The speakerphone volume is about the same on both.
#5 The notification volume on the Nexus is bad.
#6 The battery life on the Nexus is BAD. I have the extended battery and can't make it 8 hours. On the Droid X I could go over 16 hours.
#7 I rarely use the camera or camcorder, but I do use the flashlight functions. The Droid X had dual LED's and the Nexus only one. I tested last night and expected the X to be brighter but it's not. The Nexus single LED is quite a bit brighter than the X and is much whiter light.
#8 The notification LED on the Nexus is hit and miss at best. Sometimes it works... sometimes not. I get about 200 text messages a day and never had a problem with this on the X. The blink rate is very slow on the Nexus so you can't just glance at the phone and see if you have a message waiting... you have to look for a second or two to see if the LED will flash.
#9 I HATE the way the Nexus has the three dots for Settings. You never know exactly where the dots will be. Much of the time they're at the top right of the screen and you can't do simple things like deleting a text message with one hand. As a matter of fact things like deleting a contact is much more complicated with the Nexus. I can't think of anything I couldn't do on the X one handed, but many things need two hands on the Nexus.
#10 The signal strength of the Nexus just plain sucks. I can't make or receive calls in many places I could with the X (or any other Verizon phone I've had). This is the #1 reason I will probably return the Nexus.
#11 I thought I really liked the hard buttons on the X, but I've quickly found out how much they slowed me down. I like the soft keys on the Nexus except the missing Settings key of course.
I really, really, really wanted to LOVE the Galaxy Nexus, but there are just too many key items that fall short for me. Other's may not have the problems. 3G vs 4G means nothing to me since I don't live or use my phone in a 4G area.
I'll keep the Nexus a few more days. I like the color depth of the screen... didn't realize how poor the X was in that respect. I thought maybe a RAZR would be a good compromise but the non-removable battery is a killer for me. Maybe the RAZR MAXX will be an improvement in a few weeks.
That's my opinion... your mileage may vary.
I upgraded from the Droid X as well. I was running a rooted stock Droid X on Gingerbread. It was slow and really just not that great.
I really can't say enough about how much I love the Nexus. But...
1. Yes, battery life seems to be about as good as my Droid X was. Keep in mind, I could go about half a day on my Droid X before needing a charge (mainly listening to music at work all day). So this doesn't bother me.
2. Antenna is sort of a hit or miss area for me. I work in an area that has spotty coverage (actually, I think there's an issue with the tower nearby...). Somedays I get full bars, somedays I get no bars. This happened on both the Droid X and Nexus. BUT, I don't have issues receiving calls.
3. The notification volume really is hit or miss for me. It's either WAY too loud, or entirely too soft that I don't hear it. I don't believe this is an issue with the actual speaker, I think it's an issue with the ICS settings. I also miss that on my Droid X I could set individual volumes for both incoming calls and notifications. I haven't found a way to do this in ICS yet.
4. The camera (which really is a HUGE selling point for me, I have a 11 month old son that I take pictures of all the time...the Droid X sucked big time for this) is just plain awesome. The fact that it takes the picture when you tell it, was enough reason for me to get this phone.
5. The screen, for me, is awesome. I have an Asus Transformer, and I'd wager it's as good as that screen (atleast when it comes to looking at it). I know, I'm comparing a Pentile to an IPS screen, but ya know what? They do compare well. I haven't had issues outside. I don't use the auto brightness feature because, to be perfectly honest, inside it was too dark, and outside it wasn't bright enough. I set it to max brightness and I'm ok with that.
6. I can actually watch 720P encoded videos, and well. This might seem stupid to some, but I do this during my lunch break. Honestly, my Asus Transformer had issues playing some of them because of high bitrates or high profile encoding (Tegra 2 sucks in this regard). This phone plays them perfectly fine, without an issue.
7. I really am starting to dig the whole ICS OS after using it for 2 days.
Honestly, if you are thinking about it, take 30 minutes and play with the phone. Decide what features you like and dislike. For me, the camera was a main selling point. And the fact that I don't have to wait 10 months for Motorola to finally release an updated firmware too..... Another thing I'd keep in mind is that if you're grandfathered into the Unlimited data plan, you can keep that data plan and upgrade to 4G here. Even if you don't have 4G in your area yet (like me), why not? Soon enough, most areas will have 4G and it'll be worth it.
CyberPunk7t9 said:
If you see 70% screen there on the battery usage, it means 70% of last discharge cycle was due to the screen being on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aye, this is what I was trying to say, but it was late and my fingers weren't really talking to my head that well, or something like that.
Update from last nights post: I managed to use my GNex the way I would normally use my DX, and after turning the screen brightness down, the battery had no problem lasting me the day, at least until I got home. In the last 3 hours, somewhere around 50% of my total charge got eaten up with Android OS sitting at 34% VS Screen sitting at 21%. The phone itself is also slightly warm, despite sitting on the desk. Further investigation may be warranted.
Is google working on a fix, or are the speakers just not strong enough?
mohitrocks said:
I would never expected such a low level of quietness from the Galaxy Nexus...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is Google going to fix the speakerphone volume issue or is it just a hardware problem with low quality output speakers?
SamsungVibrant said:
Is Google going to fix the speakerphone volume issue or is it just a hardware problem with low quality output speakers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a known software issue. It will probably be fixed in the next update. Most popular temporary solution until the OTA is an app in the market called volume+ sound booster. My volume is now louder than my droid x.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
OK. I have upgraded from the Droid X to the Nexus.
To tell you the truth, the Droid X is a well made, well designed phone. I appreciate it now that i'm on the Nexus. Motorola really got the software tuned for the user.
I don't think you will like the Nexus. It is probably worst in all aspects compared to the DX. The speaker volume is lower, the battery life is lower, the build quality is lower, etc.
I am living with mine and hoping the battery bug in ICS will be fix soon.
Gasaraki- said:
OK. I have upgraded from the Droid X to the Nexus.
To tell you the truth, the Droid X is a well made, well designed phone. I appreciate it now that i'm on the Nexus. Motorola really got the software tuned for the user.
I don't think you will like the Nexus. It is probably worst in all aspects compared to the DX. The speaker volume is lower, the battery life is lower, the build quality is lower, etc.
I am living with mine and hoping the battery bug in ICS will be fix soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Build quality is definitely not lowered. It may be plastic but it can take a beating. It is also so much lighter than a Droid X. Not to mention it comes with a unlockable boot loader. Something that the Droid X does not have.
Speaker? Volume+ it to +8. Volume is fine.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Gasaraki- said:
OK. I have upgraded from the Droid X to the Nexus.
To tell you the truth, the Droid X is a well made, well designed phone. I appreciate it now that i'm on the Nexus. Motorola really got the software tuned for the user.
I don't think you will like the Nexus. It is probably worst in all aspects compared to the DX. The speaker volume is lower, the battery life is lower, the build quality is lower, etc.
I am living with mine and hoping the battery bug in ICS will be fix soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlock your bootloader, root your phone, and flash AOKP rom combined with the Franco kernel. That will take care of your sound and battery life. The build quality?? Put a case on it and you won't even notice . LOL.
I promise you, if you do those things, most of your issues with the phone will be solved. This phone will shine from rooting & roming!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
i upgraded from a DX too and the only thing i'm really missing is my functional cardock.

Impressions after 1 day of use

So I was interested in this phone from the moment that it was announced. I've been waiting for a phone of reasonable size, but that also has high-end specs, for quite some time now, and the Razr M finally fit the bill. In the past year or so I've owned the following: 1) HTC One X (returned due to all sorts of bugs, including delays in receiving push email, not to mention that it was huge); 2) Galaxy Nexus (this was actually an AWESOME phone... just way too big for my taste. My wife owns it now.); 3) HTC One S (decent size, although still much larger than the M. Riddled with bugs though... funky wifi, delayed push notifications, etc.).I was not on Verizon prior to yesterday, but I did have various other incentives to switch from AT&T, so I waited a week to see what people's initial impressions of Razr M were before I finally pulled the trigger yesterday. Here are my first impressions after ~24 hours of use.
Build quality and form factor are awesome. This thing is just a perfect size. Roughly the same size, or even smaller, than last year's phones with 4" screens. I've been waiting over a year for a high-end phone that's not huge, and this thing does not disappointment. The little flap that has to be pulled up to put in the SIM and SD cards feels a little old school, but it seems solid enough. Overall, if you've been waiting for a smaller phone, I think you won't be disappointed.
The M is fast and smooth. I've owned a number of high end phones in the last few months and the M is as fast as and as smooth as any of them. Benchmarks prove it (read reviews; I'm not going to post any numbers here.). If you are obsessed with specs and benchmarks, the M will not disappoint. If all you care about is a smooth user experience, the M will certainly not disappoint.
Blur / Motorola android overlay. I don't really like it. It's MUCH better than old versions of blur, and some of you will probably think my complaints are nitpicky, but I just prefer the stock experience (so I use Nova Launcher). First of all, I don't like that the "4g" symbol stays in the notification bar even when connected to wifi. It's the only Android phone I've ever used that leaves the cellular network symbol ("4g" or "3g" or "H+" or whatever your network happens to have) in the notification bar when connected to wifi. It's just a waste of space, and it makes you wonder if the mobile network is somehow sucking down battery life even when it shouldn't be.
Second, I don't like the fact that the dock icons have labels beneath them. WTF? Again, I don't think I've ever seen a launcher that puts labels in the dock. I get rid of all icon labels anyways using Nova, but labels in the dock is just too much for me.
Third, I don't like the persistent google search bar. Even if removed, you just have a row of dead space at the top of the screen. All of these things led me to ditch the stock launcher and go with Nova. I think Motorola's attempt at a quick settings area (scroll all the way to the left) was a pretty good effort, but I think it should have just stuck with the tried and true quick settings in the notification pulldown. This way, you wouldn't lose it when you change launchers. Overall, this version of blur is probably the best yet, but it still doesn't compare to AOSP, nor does it compare to Nova Launcher, in my opinion.
Bloatware on this phone is bad. All sorts of garbage. Thankfully, 95% of it can be disabled. Even so, what a waste of space. I really hope the carriers are making a ton of money off of bloatware, otherwise they are just idiots for continuing to include it despite a very clear message from users that we don't want bloatware.
The screen on the phone is good. I won't go into pentile, but it doesn't bother me. The one comment I have is that compared to my HTC One S (which also has a 4.3" amoled pentile display) the whites on the M are more of a dull yellow. You only notice it if you hold the M up next to a phone that has superior whites, but if you do, you will see that whites on the M are pretty bad. No big deal to me though, but I just thought I'd mention it.
Signal strength has been a concern for me with this phone. There were some reports of weak 4g LTE signal compared to other Motorola phones on Verizon. Honestly, I haven't really been able to nail this down. I can say that both the 1x and 3g EV-DO signals on this phone seem to be just as good as they are on blackberries, iPhone, and other Motorola phones, so I don't think there's a 1x or 3g signal problem. Unfortunately I haven't been able to directly compare it to other LTE phones on Verizon. If I can, I'll report back. Suffice it to say that in the metro-DC area, I hold a steady and decently strong 4g LTE signal, so if it weren't for the reports, I would have no reason to believe there are any signal issues.
Battery life is awesome. When I picked the phone up yesterday and turned it on, it had 42% battery life. By the time it died this morning, it had been on charge for about 16 hours, and it had 3 hours 20 minutes of screen on time. That extrapolates to about 35 hours off charger and 7 hours screen on, if starting from a full battery. Given, this was mostly on wifi, but that's still pretty good. And the battery hasn't even been conditioned yet, so I suspect it might get even better. Also, this was with no battery saving mechanisms in place. I'm not using smart actions or juice defender or anything else. I've got a gmail account, gtalk, and a couple other things syncing in the background. Overall, compares favorably with every phone I've ever used so far. Hopefully the first day was representative!
The notification LED. This thing is effing awesome. I LOVE notification LEDs, and for some reason most phones have really crappy ones, if they have them at all. The Galaxy Nexus (and now the S3) have great ones. But HTC devices have horrible LEDs the size of pin heads, that are recessed into speaker grills so you can barely even see them. The M's notification LED is bright, large, and easy to see from a distance and from an angle. LOVE it. It also works with Light Flow out of the box. So far I'm using Green, Magenta, Orange, Yellow, and Red, and they all work. Haven't tested blue, pink, or purple, but no reason to think they wouldn't work, too.
Call quality. Who makes phone calls anymore these days, anyways? =P (haven't tested call quality yet. sorry).
Camera. Haven't really taken many shots, but initial impression is--as most of the reviews said--mediocre. Not terrible by any means, and sufficient for my needs (taking the occasional photo of my dog). But clearly does not hold a candle to the amazing camera on the One S or One X.
Wifi / GPS / Bluetooth. Haven't tested GPS or bluetooth yet, but the wifi antenna appears to be awesome. I get a much better signal (and speeds) on the M than I get on the One S or on my wife's Gnex. Thumbs up on wifi.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. I have too much time on my hands. But my initial impression of the phone is extremely positive. If anybody is on the fence, I'd say go for it. Fingers crossed that a few devs pick this thing up and that we at least get root. But because I love the size of this phone so much, and since I haven't really located any annoying bugs thus far, I think it's a phone I'd be content to own for a year or two even without root.
9/24 5:30pm EDT update:
Call quality is fine. Honestly, I'm not a call quality audiophile. Everything is loud and clear, just like it has been on pretty much every cell phone I've owned in the past few years. Nothing unusual to report.
GPS is really solid. It locks MUCH more quickly than either the Galaxy Nexus or the HTC One S. GPS Status also shows that it both sees and uses a few more satellites than the One S does. For instance, I was sitting near a window in my living room, and the M was using 10/19 satellites, while the One S was using 7/17. GPS gets a thumbs up.
And this is probably something I'll create a separate thread on, but I'm getting some wakelocks on the M that I do not get on the One S. I have the M and the One S setup identically. When the One S's screen is off, the phone is in deep sleep. The battery settings show that the phone is almost never awake unless the screen is on. The M, by contrast, is frequently awake for very short periods of time even when the screen is off. It does not seem to be causing much battery drain, as I'm still losing well less than 1% per hour on wifi (when the screen is off), but it is nevertheless worth noting because presumably it should not be happening. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what is causing the wakelocks, but haven't figured it out yet. I somehow suspect it has something to do with "phone idle" taking up a much higher percentage of battery consumption than I've seen on other phones. In any event, I'll start a separate thread on this when I gather a bit more info, but just something to be aware of.
Very thorough description phositadc, thanks!
"Second, I don't like the fact that the dock icons have labels beneath them."
Just a note that you can remove the labels in the dock.
Thanks for the review.
Pretty much mirrors my experience with this device. Except, I use Apex launcher rather than Nova. Also, coming from a Droid X2, this phone has a tendency to slip out of my hand sometimes (gives me a heart attack).
Not_A_Dev said:
Pretty much mirrors my experience with this device. Except, I use Apex launcher rather than Nova. Also, coming from a Droid X2, this phone has a tendency to slip out of my hand sometimes (gives me a heart attack).
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Yeah none of the reviews mention it but I agree it's worth noting that the phone is pretty slippery (due to its size, materials, or both). I was planning to go without a case but if cruzerlite or diztronic makes one I'll probably get one.
-Sent from my Razr M.-
jmctitan said:
"Second, I don't like the fact that the dock icons have labels beneath them."
Just a note that you can remove the labels in the dock.
Thanks for the review.
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Really? Without a custom launcher? I must've missed that setting; could you please tell me where it is?
-Sent from my Razr M.-
I'd have to agree with your mini-review phositadc. I just popped the sim in and started setting this phone up. I have a rooted VZW GS3 and this DE razr is much more suited to me. The samsung is going up on craigs!
phositadc said:
Really? Without a custom launcher? I must've missed that setting; could you please tell me where it is?
-Sent from my Razr M.-
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Click to collapse
You can also use custom icons with the stock launcher.
Ugh, sorry. I was mistaken. My apologies for getting your hopes up.
phositadc said:
Really? Without a custom launcher? I must've missed that setting; could you please tell me where it is?
-Sent from my Razr M.-
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jmctitan said:
Ugh, sorry. I was mistaken. My apologies for getting your hopes up.
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Just replace the stock UI icons with custom icons and it solves your issue.
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"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
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How do you replace the stock icons? Thanks in advance.
lsxmma said:
Just replace the stock UI icons with custom icons and it solves your issue.
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Click to collapse
I downloaded desktop vizualizer to make an icon. Than removed the stock icon I wanted to replace it with. Then you just drag the new icon in its place.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
lsxmma said:
I downloaded desktop vizualizer to make an icon. Than removed the stock icon I wanted to replace it with. Then you just drag the new icon in its place.
Hope this helps.
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Click to collapse
muffled audio.
I got a Razor M for my wife & she's been complaining about voice quality, says it sounds very muffled. So it's going back to Amazon for replacement, we'll see if the 2nd one will be any better.
Update
I'll post this at the end of my OP, but just to add a little more:
Call quality is fine. Honestly, I'm not a call quality audiophile. Everything is loud and clear, just like it has been on pretty much every cell phone I've owned in the past few years. Nothing unusual to report.
GPS is really solid. It locks MUCH more quickly than either the Galaxy Nexus or the HTC One S. GPS Status also shows that it both sees and uses a few more satellites than the One S does. For instance, I was sitting near a window in my living room, and the M was using 10/19 satellites, while the One S was using 7/17. GPS gets a thumbs up.
And this is probably something I'll create a separate thread on, but I'm getting some wakelocks on the M that I do not get on the One S. I have the M and the One S setup identically. When the One S's screen is off, the phone is in deep sleep. The battery settings show that the phone is almost never awake unless the screen is on. The M, by contrast, is frequently awake for very short periods of time even when the screen is off. It does not seem to be causing much battery drain, as I'm still losing well less than 1% per hour on wifi (when the screen is off), but it is nevertheless worth noting because presumably it should not be happening. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what is causing the wakelocks, but haven't figured it out yet. I somehow suspect it has something to do with "phone idle" taking up a much higher percentage of battery consumption than I've seen on other phones. In any event, I'll start a separate thread on this when I gather a bit more info, but just something to be aware of.
Nice review!!! Love the edge to edge display. It doesn't hit the shelves in my country yet. Hope we got it with intel Atom cpu coz I heard Razr M with Atom cpu in UK.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
I use the phone a lot, about 3000 peak minutes a month. I find the phone sounds better than just about any cell phone I've used. The best part is the phone is nice and loud. My use is in NYC where the streets are noisy, and, I work on construction sites. This phone is far better with notifications, earpiece and rear speaker than any other phone I've used.
Battery life for me is a mixed bag. I can get down to 1.5%/hour so sitting on my desk I easily get a day, probably two in standby. So far, in use, it hasn't been that good. After about eight hours, the battery is down to 15%. The battery charges pretty fast though so it takes the sting out of being off charger with heavy use during the day.
Screen for me is as good as anything else I've used. I rather have the D3 screen which could be better viewed in daylight. I don't use my phone for movies, games or serious photos so the screen doesn't need to be retina.
Thanks for the info guys. The wife is CRAZY about the circle widgets and for that reason alone she's probably going get this phone but the mediocre camera could be the reason she goes with an S3. You never know what she's going to like or why. Example, her favorite rifle of mine is my FAL. Why? Because it has a carrying handle and "it's just handy." She bought her Toyota Matrix because it had a wiper on the back window and really liked that feature. lol
Thanks for a great review. I played with the phone at a Verizon store and it did not strike me as particularly snappy. However, that was probably due to the blur launcher and an abused display specimen.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2
cowisland said:
Thanks for a great review. I played with the phone at a Verizon store and it did not strike me as particularly snappy. However, that was probably due to the blur launcher and an abused display specimen.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2
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Yeah I think that is true... the one I used at the store was mediocre as are many store devices... but the one I bought is as fast and smooth as any android device I've used.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Advice on buying Xperia ZL?

Hello, dear all users of Xperia ZL...
I'm planning to buy a ZL, I've been thinking about it more than a month to purchase this phone.. I've watched several reviews, advantages, and disadvantages of it. But here in XDA, recently I realized some people faced a problem related to ZL when suddenly shut down itself because of several reasons, like the battery, etc. It looked like because ZL has built-in non removable battery, this kind of problem occurred. And for some people, changing the battery will fix the issue...
Now after knowing this kind of problem, I got myself in dilemma. I mean, this kind of problem is quite serious I think because it is related with the hardware. If it is only about LED, app, or any other software problem, it is not really matter for me, beside if it is already serious I still have XDA.. But if related to the hardware, I'm afraid my purchase will be a total waste...
So, I want to ask to you all, the users of ZL.
Does the newest Xperia ZL phone on sale might still have this kind of problem? Or Sony have already fixed it somehow recalling ZL released on 2013?
Thanks a lot for all of you in advance..
Rei Zazie said:
Hello, dear all users of Xperia ZL...
I'm planning to buy a ZL, I've been thinking about it more than a month to purchase this phone.. I've watched several reviews, advantages, and disadvantages of it. But here in XDA, recently I realized some people faced a problem related to ZL when suddenly shut down itself because of several reasons, like the battery, etc. It looked like because ZL has built-in non removable battery, this kind of problem occurred. And for some people, changing the battery will fix the issue...
Now after knowing this kind of problem, I got myself in dilemma. I mean, this kind of problem is quite serious I think because it is related with the hardware. If it is only about LED, app, or any other software problem, it is not really matter for me, beside if it is already serious I still have XDA.. But if related to the hardware, I'm afraid my purchase will be a total waste...
So, I want to ask to you all, the users of ZL.
Does the newest Xperia ZL phone on sale might still have this kind of problem? Or Sony have already fixed it somehow recalling ZL released on 2013?
Thanks a lot for all of you in advance..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I own an Xperia ZL, bought on Oct 2013, initially, yes, i had an issue of the phone going into deep sleep and being unable to wake. That was on 4.2.2. Activating stamina mode made the sleep of death problem even worse. And back then, the battery was only able of sustaining a day's moderate usage. But since Android 4.3 was released for the ZL, all those problems have been cleared. Now, the phone performs as smooth as the Z1. it has all the camera apps as well which i think are great. Stamina mode runs very well as it should be , and no more battery drain issues. As for your query as to sudden shut down, i think its because the battery overheated. Yes, the phone can run quite warm, if you do hardcore games for long periods, like say, 45 minutes non stop , i personally have never experienced sudden shut down's before. DO also note that if the ZL gets into the occasional freeze or deep sleep, it has an advantage over the Z- a hard reset button beside the simcard slot. On the design front, there is something interesting to note of the ZL's frame. It feels different to that of the Z. the Z's frame is plastic, but the ZL's frame(for the white version) feels metallic(likely aluminium). when you try using your finger to scratch it, the Z's frame is rough, but the ZL's is smooth and hard.
rookie93 said:
I own an Xperia ZL, bought on Oct 2013, initially, yes, i had an issue of the phone going into deep sleep and being unable to wake. That was on 4.2.2. Activating stamina mode made the sleep of death problem even worse. And back then, the battery was only able of sustaining a day's moderate usage. But since Android 4.3 was released for the ZL, all those problems have been cleared. Now, the phone performs as smooth as the Z1. it has all the camera apps as well which i think are great. Stamina mode runs very well as it should be , and no more battery drain issues. As for your query as to sudden shut down, i think its because the battery overheated. Yes, the phone can run quite warm, if you do hardcore games for long periods, like say, 45 minutes non stop , i personally have never experienced sudden shut down's before. DO also note that if the ZL gets into the occasional freeze or deep sleep, it has an advantage over the Z- a hard reset button beside the simcard slot. On the design front, there is something interesting to note of the ZL's frame. It feels different to that of the Z. the Z's frame is plastic, but the ZL's frame(for the white version) feels metallic(likely aluminium). when you try using your finger to scratch it, the Z's frame is rough, but the ZL's is smooth and hard.
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Yeah, I think I did aware that overheat battery is also causing the phone to sudden death. But what I found were quite horrifying, because after the sudden death happen, they cannot turn on their ZL unless they put it to wall charger, some of them also experienced their ZL bootloop even they didn't root it yet. Many of the ZL users fixed this kind of problem by replacing the battery. These problem occurred after the sudden death of the ZL. Are these for real? I mean, getting in touch with replacing battery means this is a ridiculously hardware problem.
I'm wondering is this still happen nowadays with ZL users?
Rei Zazie said:
Yeah, I think I did aware that overheat battery is also causing the phone to sudden death. But what I found were quite horrifying, because after the sudden death happen, they cannot turn on their ZL unless they put it to wall charger, some of them also experienced their ZL bootloop even they didn't root it yet. Many of the ZL users fixed this kind of problem by replacing the battery. These problem occurred after the sudden death of the ZL. Are these for real? I mean, getting in touch with replacing battery means this is a ridiculously hardware problem.
I'm wondering is this still happen nowadays with ZL users?
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Click to collapse
well, in my country only C6502 is available for sale. mine was fine. and people that i have come across generally, never had any problems with their ZL's... so perhaps this might be regional/model issues? try seeking for comments from local people who own a ZL to see what its like. Sony Mobile's support in my country is absolutely horrible. i'm not sure about yours, but the service centre here is very very very poor in service and timing. So i definitely wouldn't want a Sony phone which would have issues.
Got my C6506 (new) OCT 2013.... no hardware issues..... the odd software issues here and there (Google TTS crashing, running the .569 version)....... most irritating thing about the C6506 is its 1-2 months or so lagging in updates.......
I have a C6506 too. I've had mine for just under a year. And no issues for me except the black dots on my pictures. I'm just praying I don't get the power death issue as well. I've even pulled out my old Motorola Atrix and got it flashed with a solid ROM, just so I have a backup device in case.
Sent from my C6503 using Tapatalk
Called customer care in india. Xperia ZL is out of stock and no more in production.
Sent from my C6503 using Tapatalk
Had that sudden power off issue, still my phone was without warranty so I had to change the battery. Reasons are: horrifying battery quality+hard gaming, played like 4 horus/day for 2 weeks and the problem begun. ( no clocktweaks at all! )
If you buy a phone WITH warranty, and it's truth the fact that the phone's production stopped I totally encourage you to do so, best case scenario you get the problem and get switched for a better model ( if you check sony's support forum you'll see some exchanges for "Z" or even "Z1" models ). Worst case you get the problem on 366 day and you buy a new, cheap by then, battery; not such a bad thing, the phone will keep on working for +20 bucks or so
I'm owning my C6503 since mid April 2013. Never had a sudden power off. Since June 2013 I haven't been on the stock firmware and never had any hardware issues.
Go for it!
I've had my ZL for a bit more than 4 months now. It was rooted from its first days till some weeks ago that I flashed stock 4.3 to it. Now it's working better than 4.2, but it's un-rooted. (Hoping for a rooting method for when 4.4 is available, please @DooMLoRD!!)
Never had any issues of any kind. Solid, big yet compact and beautiful looking device, now at a very good price.
But you have to consider; if you are a guy or a girl that spends most of his/her day outside (with little to no rest-to-recharge possibilities) you will need a battery bank of at least 5000mAh to go with you so you can really use yor ZL the whole day without compromises. Otherwise your ZL will die on you in +-8 hours of usage due to the high screen brightness you need when you're outside a building and you won't be able to play anything. Ha
The ZL's battery -now- can last up to 12 hours under moderate usage on the go, and up to 22 hours if you have a job that needs you to concentrate and stop touching your device for 8 hours, in such cases you only touch your device for little moments till your working day is over.
All in all this is a great device; fast and powerful enough for any task. Its camera and all is good. But I'll get a 10000 mAh battery bank as soon as I can cause I feel that way I can really make this babe shine that splendid screen, and not to have it at low brightness because of the battery. But that's me. Why 10000 mAh? Cause the 5000 or 7500 ones are almost as big and heavy as the 10000 one, and just a little bit more expensive. Reasonable, huh? And I can carry one anyway.
I hope this helped you.
- Leonardo.
Pd: Soon I'll be posting my trick for the ZL's screen, to make it look almost like the IPS screen of the G2.
And the black version is better looking for me.
First of all... Thanks for all the replies guys.. I really appreciate all your feedback and suggestions..
Sw33t_Lov3r said:
I've had my ZL for a bit more than 4 months now. It was rooted from its first days till some weeks ago that I flashed stock 4.3 to it. Now it's working better than 4.2, but it's un-rooted. (Hoping for a rooting method for when 4.4 is available, please @DooMLoRD!!)
Never had any issues of any kind. Solid, big yet compact and beautiful looking device, now at a very good price.
But you have to consider; if you are a guy or a girl that spends most of his/her day outside (with little to no rest-to-recharge possibilities) you will need a battery bank of at least 5000mAh to go with you so you can really use yor ZL the whole day without compromises. Otherwise your ZL will die on you in +-8 hours of usage due to the high screen brightness you need when you're outside a building and you won't be able to play anything. Ha
The ZL's battery -now- can last up to 12 hours under moderate usage on the go, and up to 22 hours if you have a job that needs you to concentrate and stop touching your device for 8 hours, in such cases you only touch your device for little moments till your working day is over.
All in all this is a great device; fast and powerful enough for any task. Its camera and all is good. But I'll get a 10000 mAh battery bank as soon as I can cause I feel that way I can really make this babe shine that splendid screen, and not to have it at low brightness because of the battery. But that's me. Why 10000 mAh? Cause the 5000 or 7500 ones are almost as big and heavy as the 10000 one, and just a little bit more expensive. Reasonable, huh? And I can carry one anyway.
I hope this helped you.
- Leonardo.
Pd: Soon I'll be posting my trick for the ZL's screen, to make it look almost like the IPS screen of the G2.
And the black version is better looking for me.
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Click to collapse
So apparently, the newest 4.3 firmware works flawlessly without such power death issue as far as you know right? Because actually that problem I've found seems like when ZL is still several months after released and looks like still not getting this newest firmware update... That's why I need to confirm whether there is still such problem for newest ZL out there...
Thanks for the suggestion about black color btw, I'm actually planning to buy the black one...
And for other members that haven't shared their experiences in using ZL, I really hope you'd share.. because I'm like a lost girl at a forest, I need to know if I really should buy this overwhelming device.. I would really appreciate all of your feedback, guys...
And thanks in advance once again..
Sent from my WT19i using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I bought my zl on 19th nov... had no sudden death issue or anything like that ..bt i had black dots in my cam ... i noticed it aftr 2mnths of usage ... went to service center ..they replaced it n gave me a brand new phone ... working fine till now ... its been almost a month now ...
i agree to everything the Sw33t_Lov3r said about the battery.
I have a Galaxy s4 and my wife has the ZL. The ZL is a bit wider than my S4, so I find that I have to use it two handed more often than the S4. The screen viewing angles are terrible on the ZL. This is a problem when my wife is trying to show me a photo sitting across from me and all I can see are washed out images. Camera and battery life are average at best. On the positive side, the ZL screen is very good in bright sunlight. The software is excellent and Sony's Small Apps are a nice touch.
Edit: The ZL has the black dots in the camera, which is really poor quality control from Sony.
Edit: To the OP, I would not recommend the ZL.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
viskon said:
I have a Galaxy s4 and my wife has the ZL. The ZL is a bit wider than my S4, so I find that I have to use it two handed more often than the S4. The screen viewing angles are terrible on the ZL. This is a problem when my wife is trying to show me a photo sitting across from me and all I can see are washed out images. Camera and battery life are average at best. On the positive side, the ZL screen is very good in bright sunlight. The software is excellent and Sony's Small Apps are a nice touch.
Edit: The ZL has the black dots in the camera, which is really poor quality control from Sony.
Edit: To the OP, I would not recommend the ZL.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
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Width of ZL is 69,3 and S4 is 69,8. How's yours ZL wider
viskon said:
I have a Galaxy s4 and my wife has the ZL. The ZL is a bit wider than my S4, so I find that I have to use it two handed more often than the S4. The screen viewing angles are terrible on the ZL. This is a problem when my wife is trying to show me a photo sitting across from me and all I can see are washed out images. Camera and battery life are average at best. On the positive side, the ZL screen is very good in bright sunlight. The software is excellent and Sony's Small Apps are a nice touch.
Edit: The ZL has the black dots in the camera, which is really poor quality control from Sony.
Edit: To the OP, I would not recommend the ZL.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
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Click to collapse
Now that you mention it, I just know about the ZL camera issue..
Thanks for the feedback..
I know that ZL actually has several disadvantages, but I dont really mind if they're about hardware that not really affect the performance, as long as it is works like it should be..
That's why I aimed for ZL, because I don't have anything across my mind beside ZL that has those performance.. Now that I found some more issues, I don't really know what should I buy with similar performance and price if not ZL..
Sent from my WT19i using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
sarobi said:
Width of ZL is 69,3 and S4 is 69,8. How's yours ZL wider
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dang! You're right! I held them up one on top of the other, and the S4 is wider.
Not sure if it is because of the sharp corners, but with the ZL I seem to have to stretch my thumb more.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
---------- Post added at 06:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:55 PM ----------
Rei Zazie said:
Now that you mention it, I just know about the ZL camera issue..
Thanks for the feedback..
I know that ZL actually has several disadvantages, but I dont really mind if they're about hardware that not really affect the performance, as long as it is works like it should be..
That's why I aimed for ZL, because I don't have anything across my mind beside ZL that has those performance.. Now that I found some more issues, I don't really know what should I buy with similar performance and price if not ZL..
Sent from my WT19i using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The LG Optimus G? Or a Nexus 4? Or Nexus 5?
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
viskon said:
The LG Optimus G? Or a Nexus 4? Or Nexus 5?
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus 5 has better CPU performance.. But there is no SD card slot..
Optimus G pro e985 actually good but, it is still quite more expensive.. and I dont know whether it got 4.4 kitkat update...
Rei Zazie said:
Nexus 5 has better CPU performance.. But there is no SD card slot..
Optimus G pro e985 actually good but, it is still quite more expensive.. and I dont know whether it got 4.4 kitkat update...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are you making your purchase? Somewhere online?
There are some great deals here ---> http://www.clove.co.uk/smartphones/bargain-deals
ATRIXXIRTA said:
Where are you making your purchase? Somewhere online?
There are some great deals here ---> http://www.clove.co.uk/smartphones/bargain-deals
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I actually planned to buy at the supplier within my country, Indonesia.. I dont have credit card... :laugh:
Rei Zazie said:
well I actually planned to buy at the supplier within my country, Indonesia.. I dont have credit card... :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this site. Its based in Indonesia.
Do you have, or are you able to get a Visa Debit card?
Its a card that acts like a debit, drawing money from your own accounts, but you can use it for online purchases instead of a credit card!

Experience with phone. / What do you HATE?

so i am curious ... share your expeience thus far with the zenfone2 as well as tell us what do you guys hate most about it?
i just picked up a new shiny zenfone 2, the 4G/32G model, Z00A/ZE551ML model for $270.
of course right off the bat i unlocked the bootloader, rooted it, and installed TWRP. after which i put on a custom ROM ... i am still messing between BlissPop and Resurrection-Remix. Both are based on Cyanogenmod and are great with customization options. especially the fact that i can change my DPI to 400 and everything looks so beautiful. if you change to one of them make sure you pick a DARK theme. Darker themes charge the battery less.
So now what do i hate about my phone?
Well, this is a tough one. Its nice that we have top of the line hardware and such however the CPU being an Atom/x86 maybe our loved/hated part. ya its quick but the device gets hot quite often.
Then we have a minor issue that i am hating. I wish the capacitive buttons were on-screen instead of being static as they are now. The line separator between the screen and the buttons also tends to pickup dirt quite frequently and you have dirt stuck there.
I also dislike the curvy back although it makes it easy to hold it is not flat when put on a table ...
please share....
I hate camera battery and the design
My hates for this phone (ZE551ML Z00A 4GB/64GB Z3580)
On stock software:
SMS issues, workarounds are unacceptable to me
Still Android 5.0.0
On CM based ROMS:
Bluetooth audio lag and random failures until restart
Hardware:
Camera is useless in anything but bright sunlight.
Power save controls could be more fine-grained.
cylent said:
so i am curious ... share your expeience thus far with the zenfone2 as well as tell us what do you guys hate most about it?
i just picked up a new shiny zenfone 2, the 4G/32G model, Z00A/ZE551ML model for $270.
of course right off the bat i unlocked the bootloader, rooted it, and installed TWRP. after which i put on a custom ROM ... i am still messing between BlissPop and Resurrection-Remix. Both are based on Cyanogenmod and are great with customization options. especially the fact that i can change my DPI to 400 and everything looks so beautiful. if you change to one of them make sure you pick a DARK theme. Darker themes charge the battery less.
So now what do i hate about my phone?
Well, this is a tough one. Its nice that we have top of the line hardware and such however the CPU being an Atom/x86 maybe our loved/hated part. ya its quick but the device gets hot quite often.
Then we have a minor issue that i am hating. I wish the capacitive buttons were on-screen instead of being static as they are now. The line separator between the screen and the buttons also tends to pickup dirt quite frequently and you have dirt stuck there.
I also dislike the curvy back although it makes it easy to hold it is not flat when put on a table ...
please share....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can enable on screen buttons. Check in the themes and apps section.
Some cases make the back of the phone flat, check on eBay for those.
cnsngr said:
I hate camera battery and the design
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be honest i never understand why people rely on the camera in a phone. i never have. i take it for what it is. crap. if it is a good camera then great. if not then oh well.
cmendonc2 said:
You can enable on screen buttons. Check in the themes and apps section.
Some cases make the back of the phone flat, check on eBay for those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont want to enable them. i know how to do so. it would take up screen space that is needed. its not like this is a 7" inch screen. ...
cylent said:
to be honest i never understand why people rely on the camera in a phone. i never have. i take it for what it is. crap. if it is a good camera then great. if not then oh well.
i dont want to enable them. i know how to do so. it would take up screen space that is needed. its not like this is a 7" inch screen. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what should i rely on taking pictures in my daily life should i buy an dslr instead and use it daily and keep it where ever i go of course people gonna rely on phones for taking pictures, they can fix it and they can start with raw support
cylent said:
to be honest i never understand why people rely on the camera in a phone. i never have. i take it for what it is. crap. if it is a good camera then great. if not then oh well.
i dont want to enable them. i know how to do so. it would take up screen space that is needed. its not like this is a 7" inch screen. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, its a 5.5" screen the same size as my Note Edge... If it had on screen buttons then they would take up the same real estate that they would on my edge if I wanted them...
Don't know how you can whinge about not having them then saying it would take up prime real real estate on the screen when every other 5.5" screen phone that has these onscreen keys is the same size screen...
cnsngr said:
what should i rely on taking pictures in my daily life should i buy an dslr instead and use it daily and keep it where ever i go of course people gonna rely on phones for taking pictures, they can fix it and they can start with raw support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think you're missing the part where it says "Smartphone" not "Smartcamera".
This is primarily a phone with a camera added to it.
if you really want a phone with a good camera you can try the Samsung Galaxy Camera 2
cylent said:
i think you're missing the part where it says "Smartphone" not "Smartcamera".
This is primarily a phone with a camera added to it.
if you really want a phone with a good camera you can try the Samsung Galaxy Camera 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im not missing any part mate, it is a bad camera and i rely on my phone for taking pictures in my daily life its not that hard, im not expecting dslr quality ofc, but i dont white that noisy white dots to
cnsngr said:
what should i rely on taking pictures in my daily life should i buy an dslr instead and use it daily and keep it where ever i go of course people gonna rely on phones for taking pictures, they can fix it and they can start with raw support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tips for Taking a Fashion Shot - ZenFone | ASUS
To be honest for the most part I've enjoyed using this phone. I have the 4GB RAM/32GB internal storage North American model and it's been decent so far. I came from a Nexus 4 that I had for about 2.5 years and switched to this phone when it came out in North America in late May. I don't mod a lot, I've only rooted (so I can run stuff like Adaway, Cerberus Anti-Theft, and Xposed Framework) and that's it. I've considered unlocking my bootloader to get a permanent custom recovery (which I did with the Nexus 4) but I can live with a tethered recovery (just so I can flash a zip when needed) if I wanna be able to have an OTA update without issue. Yes, I know you can just flash new firmware updates without just waiting for an OTA update but I'd rather just let the OTA hit.
As others have said, the camera is kinda crappy but I don't really take a lot of photos in general so it's not a big deal breaker for me. Yes there's a lot of bloatware but I've just disabled stuff I don't use either via settings or a 3rd party app. The phone is a tad bit on the heavy side but that's just minor griping. The regular firmware updates have been nice though I'm still waiting for them to push Android version 5.1 even (though they have at least confirmed Marshmallow for the Zenfone2 so that's a good sign).
cylent said:
Tips for Taking a Fashion Shot - ZenFone | ASUS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that 20 second video helped me very well thank you so much its awesome now
great phone
but bad battery life :crying:
horrible battery
I hate missing backlight back/menu/central buttons... And missing support of USB 3&HDMI&h265/HEVC hardware video codec acceleration for decoding/encoding.
If ASUS resolve it on Zenfone 3, he will be mine ! (Except if a equivalent smartphone upcoming with physical Keyboard)
Want this keyboard on Zenfone !!! :
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Or better :
Well... Missing accessory, so native hardware... Dreaming.
you get what you pay for.
i paid $270 dollars for the 32G/3GigRam unit.
you can always use onscreen navigation bar ...
Battery life & screen not bright enough under sunlight (using lux light app helped cranking up the brightness a bit more). Oh, and I HATE where they placed the speaker!
I almost pulled the trigger on a galaxy note 5 dual sim this past weekend, but I've decided to wait a bit and see what's coming in the next few months, the note 5 is missing too many features.
Camera seems fine, I've taking some very nice pictures using manual settings, but I hated this phone when I was in Orlando while shooting video in the afternoon where it was hot outside (late October). The phone kept on recording at a very low framerate and it didn't even save the videos for some reason.
I'd say the things I hate about this device are the small details.
The fact that the led has only 3 colors and cannot be customized;
The horrible audio jack (even for a smartphone standard);
Battery life is an issue, but can be fixed (Project T kernel was a life saver in stock kernel, still looking what I can do in CM based ROMs);
The compatibility issues we have due to the x86 architecture.
I do love this phone, but sometimes these things really annoy me.
After coming from a Xiaomi mi3w I just have to say so far this phone is pretty amazing. I don't ever use the camera so the camera is better than I need it to be for the few times I use it a year. The battery problems I see everybody complaining about baffles me as I own 3 mid range priced phones and this 1 has close to the best battery life with similar usage.
Xiaomi mi3w: 4-5 hrs sot with 1 day uptime
2nd most expensive device
ASUS ZenFone 2: 5.5-6 hrs sot with 1 day uptime
cheapest device
oneplus two: 5.5-6.5 hrs sot with 1 day uptime
most expensive device
The things that annoy me are
1. Asus has poor rom development for keeping you updated.
2. Horrible place to put a speaker.
3. Hardware keys can not be swapped and I'm use to my back button on the right and my menu button I the left.
4. You can't reassign functions to the hardware keys. They should also be backlit.
5. They don't use any type of hotplug to unplug cores with 0 zero load to save to power.
6. Glitches in their keyboard while typing sometimes taking me back to previous paragraphs or the last typed words if I try and correct a mistake made earlier. Just a buggy keyboard in general.
7. Micro stutters in certain apps like browser and tapatalk due to an inefficient kernel or os.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk
I only hate the battery and the issue that you canĀ“t change the sms ringhtone.

Hardware issues? Post yours here!

Hi,
I've seen many people making threads out if hardware issues, so I thought about making a roll-up sticky thread (if mods agree with it) about them.
In my case, I'm experiencing 2 really irritating ones that made me contact Razer Support already, currently waiting for an answer.
Whenever my phone hits 100% of battery, the phone stops detecting the charger (probably to avoid killing the battery, which okay, it's nice), but then after just 1 single second, it detects it again. In loop. This is the second time I let my phone charge overnight and I fear my screen will burn because of this, since there's no option to avoid the screen to turn in when charger is plugged in.
Also, in the 4 days I've had it, in a random moment of time whenever I'm just using my phone for WhatsApp, or Chrome, and I transition to another app while the previous app was handling the camera, I can see my screen freezing with a few colourful stripes all over it, on the left hand side most of them. After that happens, 1/4 of the times it happened I managed to get it working again, the rest 3/4 my screen turned off after that and, don't ask how but even though the panel is off, it detects touch input, and the only way to turn it back on is a force reboot pressing all three buttons in the device.
Shall I request an exchange unit? I've had this one for 4 days and idk how normal this is.
NFC hardly ever worked and when it did each terminal said I was trying to use 2 cards at once
Speaker grill at the bottom was lifting off
FP scanner stopped working had to do 5 factory reset and rub the scanner with a wipe constantly to get it to work again
Charger was making very bad buzzing noises when charging (this was completely replaced by razer in have the replacement already)
RMAd to razer (after a fight with Three) was a green one had to get a silver one :/ it's en route to razer ATM so using a Stupid wileyfox phone to get by and it's driving me nuts. I swear if they say the speaker grill was damaged by me and thus the cause I'll freak! Buying the phone was a pain in the ass enough just for it to be a crappy model.
Thinking bout selling it and getting a different phone when it comes back but I'm still torn as everything else was perfect for me.
Roxas598 said:
NFC hardly ever worked and when it did each terminal said I was trying to use 2 cards at once
Speaker grill at the bottom was lifting off
FP scanner stopped working had to do 5 factory reset and rub the scanner with a wipe constantly to get it to work again
Charger was making very bad buzzing noises when charging (this was completely replaced by razer in have the replacement already)
RMAd to razer (after a fight with Three) was a green one had to get a silver one :/ it's en route to razer ATM so using a Stupid wileyfox phone to get by and it's driving me nuts. I swear if they say the speaker grill was damaged by me and thus the cause I'll freak! Buying the phone was a pain in the ass enough just for it to be a crappy model.
Thinking bout selling it and getting a different phone when it comes back but I'm still torn as everything else was perfect for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you still see NFC issues with the new unit you get, it would be cool if you could drop me a bug report zip, I would take a look.
Alex
TheCrazyLex said:
If you still see NFC issues with the new unit you get, it would be cool if you could drop me a bug report zip, I would take a look.
Alex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I decide to keep the device I will indeed Alex :good:
I had these horrible lines in my screen and the bottom speaker was messed up. I RMA'd and they fixed the speaker but the lines are still there just not as obvious.
I'm sending my unit back due to vibration motor issues. Besides that it seems good.
@TheCrazyLex, mind having a look at this (that's 1/2 of my issues):
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Dunno if kernel related due to graphics drivers or actual HW issue. Support team considers it's hardware so I'm currently in terms of RMAing my unit. Want a logcat/dmesg of it? Happens specifically when there's a transition between apps, or when using the camera. Sometimes it happens to hang my phone right after those blue/green stripes appear, on the others hitting the home button restores the device back to it's normal state.
linuxct said:
@TheCrazyLex, mind having a look at this (that's 1/2 of my issues):
Dunno if kernel related due to graphics drivers or actual HW issue. Support team considers it's hardware so I'm currently in terms of RMAing my unit. Want a logcat/dmesg of it? Happens specifically when there's a transition between apps, or when using the camera. Sometimes it happens to hang my phone right after those blue/green stripes appear, on the others hitting the home button restores the device back to it's normal state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's a hardware issue because one of the two dsi lane communication failed.
linuxct said:
@TheCrazyLex, mind having a look at this (that's 1/2 of my issues):
Dunno if kernel related due to graphics drivers or actual HW issue. Support team considers it's hardware so I'm currently in terms of RMAing my unit. Want a logcat/dmesg of it? Happens specifically when there's a transition between apps, or when using the camera. Sometimes it happens to hang my phone right after those blue/green stripes appear, on the others hitting the home button restores the device back to it's normal state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep that looks like a hardware issue, no logs should be needed here.
I hope the RMA process will be quick for you!
Alex
Right now I've had 2 issues.
1. The vibration motor is extremely rattly, especially when the phone is on vibrate or double tap power to open the camera.
2. I've got a stuck pixel at the top of the screen and a dead pixel at the bottom, along Whit what appears the screen ever so faintly flickering. I'm currently in contact with Razer to see what they can do about it.
Edit: I've just had a group of dead pixels form at the bottom of the screen a few days ago. I contacted Razer and they are going to do an RMA on it.
I guess mine is more software but the phone app keeps crashing.
I loved my Razer phone, I really did but had a few critical issues which led me to sell.
Vibration motor was week, kinda like a rattle but I think thats with everyone phone. Couldn't feel it in my pocket.
NFC was terrible, took me 10 attempts at a local Tesco to find the right spot, other places it just wouldn't work.
Screen was a tad too dim while using it as a satnav, probably more of my placement of the phone holder but the sun glare would always hit the screen making the viewing really hard.
I'd still recommend the phone though, great device but just for my usuage I couldn't cope.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
I had a speaker issue with the first razer phone where the bottom speaker was distorted and top speaker was fine, then sent it in got a replacement phone and now the top speaker is having issues. Its not distorted but it is less louder and has less quality then the other speaker. Plus i used a noise generator app to test it and i started to smell a little bit of burning coil from the top speaker. I will send it in and get another one and hopefully its not messed up. The main reason to why i have not yet rooted is because i wanna make sure the speakers are fully functional. In my opinion these speakers shpuld not break under 3 weeks. Can you guys run some tests to see if your phones speakers have the same issue? Thanks. I love the phone btw. So good.
Had the phone 6 days and the speaker grills are lifting, gutted isn't the word
When I use the phone in landscape mode (with volume buttons on the bottom) the sound coming from speakers are inverted. Does anyone have the same issue?
Micro SD card only works in FAT32 file system, I formated to original exfat the SanDisk 400GB came with and phone said "unsupported file system,need format" I'm fine with fat32 but just 4GB file limit I don't like even phone itself uses exfat file system as u loaded 8gb file to phone from PC, I'm talking with customer support about this but no luck they just go around and say "did I reset phone" or did I tried micro sd card as internal storage, I tried, no way to put file then as nor pc nor file manager sees micro sd then, and internal storage is about 250mb read and 100mb write, while micro sd is about 80mb read and 60mb write on SanDisk A1 400gb micro sd ps. Card works on Xperia z and Xperia Z2 with exfat file system just fine
---------- Post added at 03:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:13 AM ----------
el4nimal said:
When I use the phone in landscape mode (with volume buttons on the bottom) the sound coming from speakers are inverted. Does anyone have the same issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube -> stereo sound test and top speaker is right bottom is left
sonyzz said:
YouTube -> stereo sound test and top speaker is right bottom is left
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but when I tried to play Dolby Atmos Demo is inverted, which is ironic
el4nimal said:
Yes, but when I tried to play Dolby Atmos Demo is inverted, which is ironic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you don't watch demo everyday lol
sonyzz said:
But you don't watch demo everyday lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You never know :-b
el4nimal said:
You never know :-b
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No exfat support for micro sd is still bigger issue than stereo reverse since, not deal breaker but can't load 1080p bluray movie which is 16gb in size even I have 400gb micro sd card - limited to 4gb by out dated fat32

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