Sony Xperia Z3 - Voted Best Smartphone on the Planet...

[RedMileDJ]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

Well......are you keeping it? Still very happy with my Z3. Not missing my iPhone at all.

Haha. Yah. I'll be keeping this. I've been busy movie things over, syncing pics, backups, etc.

I also disabled and removed a bunch of the Sony software and put on Nova Launcher. Trying to get it to feel like a stock Android as much as possible.

Love the look and feel. Glad I got the white. Finger prints don't show up!

[TheGrimm]

A quick update, I bought a cheap mag charger on Amazon thinking "meh" a charger is a charger...

Well, who knew... a $5.90 item performs like a $5.90 item.

Don't buy this -> http://www.amazon.ca/kwmobile%C2%AE-...+quality%21%22

The magnet is weak and the prongs, I can only imagine how they are supposed to "fit" because this thing doesn't attach at all, it just leans up weakly against the leads if you place it "just right" and any movement or bump at all it will fall off.

I'd try to return it but for 5 bucks I'm way too lazy.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

A quick update, I bought a cheap mag charger on Amazon thinking "meh" a charger is a charger...

Well, who knew... a $5.90 item performs like a $5.90 item.

Don't buy this -> http://www.amazon.ca/kwmobile%C2%AE-...+quality%21%22

The magnet is weak and the prongs, I can only imagine how they are supposed to "fit" because this thing doesn't attach at all, it just leans up weakly against the leads if you place it "just right" and any movement or bump at all it will fall off.

I'd try to return it but for 5 bucks I'm way too lazy.

lol, I'm in the same boat. Right down to being too lazy to return it.

Anybody know where we can order Sony ones? I know you can get them from the Sony Store in Chinook on a two-week special order, but as per the above laziness, I'd rather just click somewhere online and have it show up at my door.

[Sliver]

TheGrimm - I think we ended up with Xperia 1 or 2 cables. Fricken' Amazon.

[Art Vandelay]

I was just about to order some cables from amazon. Glad I didn't.

[devel]

I ordered the Sony mag charger from Sony Chinook the day after I got my phone, Nov. 1st, and still haven't received it. Will have to call again and see what's up but don't believe the 2 week promise.

First thing I did was put my Z3 in water. Figured I'd test it out before loading everything on it. My kid freaked out a bit wondering what the heck I was doing. lol.

Battery is insanely good. I'm usually around 70-75% by the end of the day. Not a power user but 1 to 2 hours of music, emails, texts, social media, internet. I'd be charging my old Samsung in the car with the same usage.

No complaints with the camera. I like some of the apps that come with it, like blur background. Gives that nice dslr bokeh look, obviously not as good as my Canon but good for a phone.

Colored LEDs are nice for notifications. Sony Walkman app is awesome. Really like the Sony PC Companion software that installs on your computer when you plug the phone into it, as well.

One thing to note is if you get the Z3 from a service provider (at least from Bell) you will get a set of MH410 Sony headphones in the box. Buying unlocked direct from Sony you don't. I guess that's the bonus for getting a locked phone?

Anyway, after almost 3 weeks of use, I can honestly say I love this phone.

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by Sliver

TheGrimm - I think we ended up with Xperia 1 or 2 cables. Fricken' Amazon.

You could be right, it says Z3 on the box but they were probably just lazy and used the previous generation cable assuming it would work...

As an aside if anyone here wants a Z1/Z2 (possibly) magnetic charging cable give me a shout, it' free!

[Igottago]

Im seriously considering this phone, might even buy it outright. Are there good cases available?

Also, one of the big draws for me is the audio features and hi-res music capability. Can anyone comment on how it is as a music device?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Im seriously considering this phone, might even buy it outright. Are there good cases available?

Also, one of the big draws for me is the audio features and hi-res music capability. Can anyone comment on how it is as a music device?

Compared to my Galaxy S3, using the same headphones I used with my Galaxy, the Sony sounds waaaaay better. That was a big thing for me, too, as I listen to music on headphones every single day.

Case selection leaves a lot to be desired. I have a clear rubbery Sony one and the quality is very good, but I prefer slim-fitting hard cases. I bought one of those slim hard cases off Amazon and loved it, except the flash reflected off the inside of the case and overexposed my photos. Tried to drill out the hole to be a little larger and ended up making the case look like junk, so went back to the Sony one.

Hopefully the accessory market will improve. I think this phone is gaining in popularity and as soon as people see it, they can't help but admit it is better in every way than every other phone on the market. In a year or two, if all other phones aren't waterproof with front-facing speakers, I'll be shocked. It's kind of nice having a 2016 phone in 2014.

[RedMileDJ]

Incipio has a "Feather" case and a DualPro coming. If any of my customers pick them up, I'll let you know where to buy.

Otherwise, just order from their website.

Z3: http://www.incipio.com/cases/smartph...-z3-cases.html

Z3 compact: http://www.incipio.com/cases/smartph...act-cases.html

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by RedMileDJ

Incipio has a "Feather" case and a DualPro coming. If any of my customers pick them up, I'll let you know where to buy.

Otherwise, just order from their website.

Z3: http://www.incipio.com/cases/smartph...-z3-cases.html

Z3 compact: http://www.incipio.com/cases/smartph...act-cases.html

Looks nice, but I want an even slimmer case.

So you work in the cell phone industry? Are you able to order in any Sony magnetic chargers?

[RedMileDJ]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Looks nice, but I want an even slimmer case.

So you work in the cell phone industry? Are you able to order in any Sony magnetic chargers?

Believe me, the Feather case is very slim.

I'm unable to order any Sony accessories. We honestly don't carry a lot of their stuff.

[devel]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Im seriously considering this phone, might even buy it outright. Are there good cases available?

Also, one of the big draws for me is the audio features and hi-res music capability. Can anyone comment on how it is as a music device?

I've been using the Walkman app a ton. I'm coming from an old Samsung as well, but agree with Sliver in that it has waaaaayyy better built in sound. Headphones are better sounding. The front speakers are stereo and sound really good but I would give a slight edge to the HTC M8, but that's probably because the Sony is waterproof.

Sony PC Companion comes with Media Go. You can use it for transferring and organizing your music. You can also rip CDs into mp3s. I have iTunes and it imported all my music and playlists. Transferred to the Z3 and the Sony Walkman app will play all the songs, including the ones purchased from iTunes (which I always had trouble with on Android before).

In the Walkman app you can turn on a setting that balances the volume on your mp3 playback. I know I have a few older mp3s that are quieter and with this turned on I don't notice the difference in volume.

The Walkman app also has "Throw" built into it. What this means is I can connect wirelessly to our home receiver and play my music over the home stereo system. Controlling everything from my phone - even the volume.

So yeah, I'm really happy with the Z3 as a music device.

[Sliver]

I haven't even taken the Sony headphones out of their wrapper. Guess I'll have to try them out.

I went to the Sony Store and ordered the mag charger. The guy said it's scheduled to be at the store on Tuesday, but he told me not to hold my breath on that. One thing on that is the charger is a cradle you just set the phone on and it starts charging. That's pretty cool, but I'd like a cable, too. I still have one more cable thing coming from Amazon that hasn't arrived yet. If it works, I'll post the link for you guys.

[Igottago]

Thanks for the info on the music capabilities, sounds promising. Although I really wouldn't want to use some sony software to manage my music, all I want to do is drop the microSD card from my old phone into this and have it work. As long a I can used android file manager to drag and drop to the phone, I'm happy.

I went into the Sony store on the weekend to take a closer look at the phone. A couple things stood out as dislikes for me. The overall form factor -- I dunno, it didn't really feel that great in my hand. Maybe it just takes some getting used to, but it didnt really feel comfortable. Related to that, I didn't really like placement of the volume rocker, and didn't like the feel of pushing the volume up/down either. Again, maybe just takes some getting used to.

I've narrowed down my choices between this and the Note 4, obviously a phablet has some different considerations altogether.

[devel]

You can just drop your SD card in. That's what I did to start and how I used to manage my music on my old phone. Once I discovered I could import my iTunes playlists and music as well, I was all over importing through Media Go. It's great having all my music/playlists synced up now.

Has anyone ever ordered from mobilefun.com? They seem to have quite a number of different cases available for the Z3 as well as other accessories.

http://www.mobilefun.com/43518/sony/xperia-z3/cases.htm

I'm looking forward to getting the mag charging dock. I use Timely app as my alarm clock so it will be nice having it stand up on its side. When I spoke to the Chinook store on the weekend about my pre-order they weren't sure when they'd be getting them so hope you're right about Tuesday.

[RedMileDJ]

So this is funny: I've been given the opportunity to get an iPhone 6 Plus, for free.

I'm actually debating it.

That being said, would anyone be interested in buying a 1 week used Xperia Z3? I'm just gauging interest. I bought it outright from the Sony store for $699.99 + $89.99 for the 64GB micro SD card + $24.99 for a black folio case = $855.72 (with tax).

I'm willing to part with all of that for around $750.

I'll update you guys if I go through with this, plus post on the buy/see forums.

But again, I'm just gauging interest. Would anyone be interested in buying the phone at that price, and considering it's only a week old?

I would return it, but I have over 15 minutes on the phone.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by RedMileDJ

So this is funny: I've been given the opportunity to get an iPhone 6 Plus, for free.

I'm actually debating it.

That being said, would anyone be interested in buying a 1 week used Xperia Z3? I'm just gauging interest. I bought it outright from the Sony store for $699.99 + $89.99 for the 64GB micro SD card + $24.99 for a black folio case = $855.72 (with tax).

I'm willing to part with all of that for around $750.

I'll update you guys if I go through with this, plus post on the buy/see forums.

But again, I'm just gauging interest. Would anyone be interested in buying the phone at that price, and considering it's only a week old?

I would return it, but I have over 15 minutes on the phone.

The Sony store's policy is not to accept phones with more than 15 minutes of call usage? I don't see how they could and would enforce that.

[RedMileDJ]

Originally Posted by Anduril

The Sony store's policy is not to accept phones with more than 15 minutes of call usage? I don't see how they could and would enforce that.

Receipt says 2 weeks or 30 minutes.

Mine has 4 hours.

[Sliver]

Guys, the second magnetic charger cable I bought on Amazon arrived last night and it works awesome. It's an official Sony brand. The magnet is super strong and it's so much better than messing around with the flap and micro USB port. Now for the bad news, it's out of stock. Here's the link in case more arrive.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00O...ilpage_o02_s00