Sony Xperia Z1 vs HTC One

[bigboss]

I really like the look of the Xperia Z1 and some of its accessories!

Does anyone know if Sony has a social hub like HTC where all Facebook & Twitter updates come together?

I'm torn between this & HTC One, but my previous experience with HTC Sensation veers me towards the Sony.

 

[bigboss]

Anyone?

 

[bretty]

Yep, Sony now has Social Life, which does what you're after. It replaces the pretty rubbish timescape.

 

[The_Lhc]

I really like the look of the Xperia Z1 and some of its accessories!

Does anyone know if Sony has a social hub like HTC where all Facebook & Twitter updates come together?

Do you mean Blinkfeed? That's the one thing I don't like about my HTC One, it's a pain in the arse and you can't get rid of it, I've turned off all updates for it, so it just sits there blank but it still takes up an entire screen (and there's only 5 available now, instead of the previous 7).

Other than that though I love the One, best phone I've ever had.

I'm torn between this & HTC One, but my previous experience with HTC Sensation veers me towards the Sony.

I can't remember the details of your problem but this is my third HTC and I've never had any issues.

 

[Paul.]

I like the camera on the One, so that would be a big positive for me, I like the aluminium build too. Im quite successful at not dropping phones so the Xperia water resistance doesn't interest me, but can see how that would be a big draw for some. I thought the One was supposed to be available on the Play store with stock Android, but I guess that is US only?

 

[bigboss]

I thought the One was supposed to be available on the Play store with stock Android, but I guess that is US only?

No, that's the Galaxy S4, as far as I can remember. The biggest draw for HTC is its Sense UI, so wouldn't be interested in one (!) with stock Android.

 

[bigboss]

Social Life sounds like it. Just checked Blinkfeed which does the same thing: need to check it out in flesh as it does a few rubbish things as well. I'm surprised you cannot delete it.

I'm due an upgrade soon, and my brother is already eyeing my Lumia 920! Looking for an Android again so I can post pics directly on Google + (which all my in-laws follow instead of Facebook).

HTC One's aluminium build and Sony's waterproof & dust proof body are both attractive. HTC Sensation gave me a headache with dropped calls, poor reception, hanging every now & then and suddenly going hot draining all battery. This did not improve despite changing the phone twice (got refurbished models both times which were scratched while mine wasn't).

Which models did you have, The_Lhc?

 

[D3CYPH3R]

Both will be solid phones with plenty of benfits, what will you primary uses be for the phone (other than making calls of course )

 

[bigboss]

what will you primary uses be for the phone (other than making calls of course )

Google calendar (organiser), emails, keeping upto date with Facebook & Twitter, Google + & Hangout, Google Now and clicking lots of baby pics & shooting baby videos.

 

[bigboss]

How's your HTC One as compared to your previous HTC phones, The_Lhc?

 

[The_Lhc]

How's your HTC One as compared to your previous HTC phones, The_Lhc?

Damn fast, better screen, sounds great, much much better than the DesireHD in that respect, battery life is much better, the main narks are with the OS (lack of home screens etc) but that's down to 4.2.2 rather than anything Sense-related I think (other than the Blinkfeed thing that I don't want).

Really can't complain, although an SD card slot would be nice, I've switched from FLAC to 320kbps mp3 because of that, really can't tell any difference.

The IR blaster in the power button is cool as well, I've confused a few people with that!

 

[daveh75]

I thought the One was supposed to be available on the Play store with stock Android, but I guess that is US only?

No, that's the Galaxy S4, as far as I can remember. The biggest draw for HTC is its Sense UI, so wouldn't be interested in one (!) with stock Android.

Both the S4 and HTC One, but US only. As for Sense...

 

[sirclive]

Ive got the xperia t, and the wifi is a joke connection error most of the time even if I standing next to my router. |( I will never get a sony phone ever again >)
>)

 

[bigboss]

Ok, compared both yesterday. I think the Sony is a bit too big for my liking. Loved HTC's build quality. Few questions:

1) How is the battery life?

2) How is camera quality & low light performance?

3) How is network reception?

 

[daveh75]

What are Sony like for bloat/Custom UI out of interest?

Do they ruin a perfectly good OS like HTC and Samsung do

 

[The_Lhc]

What are Sony like for bloat/Custom UI out of interest?

Do they ruin a perfectly good OS like HTC and Samsung do

That's a matter of opinion, I find the HTC Sense stuff very useful, as does Bigboss it appears.

 

[The_Lhc]

Ok, compared both yesterday. I think the Sony is a bit too big for my liking. Loved HTC's build quality. Few questions:

1) How is the battery life?

Very good, compared to my old DesireHD, I use mine as a GPS device when playing golf, which requires GPS (duh) and a mobile data connection for loading satellite images on the fly and I normally have the backlight on full so I can read it easily in direct sunlight, the DesireHD would be lucky to get through a full round (4+ hours), the HTCOne battery usually barely even notices that I've been using it for that. I say usually a couple of weeks ago I was playing and it completely drained itself in less than 12 holes which was odd, after it restarted when I connected the charger in the car it was fine and hasn't done that again since, so I presume it was a bug in the golf app (the battery usage indicated that it was that app that had used all the battery.

Day to day usage It's pretty good, I've normally got either a wifi or mobile data connection running all day and it doesn't give it any trouble, the DesireHD I usually end up having to connect it to the laptop to charge at some point.

2) How is camera quality & low light performance?

Very good, no complaints.

3) How is network reception?

As far as I can tell, fine. I say that because I'm on O2 and their reception always seems to be worse than most other networks (I can't get 3G at home for example but every other network can). I can't say I've noticed it constantly dropping calls for example.

 

[bigboss]

What are Sony like for bloat/Custom UI out of interest?

Do they ruin a perfectly good OS like HTC and Samsung do

Sony have stayed as close to stock Android as possible, so doesn't ruin the stock experience.

As The_Lhc mentioned, I really like Sense UI, & I think it's better than stock Android. Of course, it's a matter of personal opinion.

 

[bigboss]

Thanks, The_Lhc! Much appreciated. One more question, is it prone to scratches?

 

[The_Lhc]

Thanks, The_Lhc! Much appreciated. One more question, is it prone to scratches?

Only if you drop it as many times as I have! In normal use, no, not that I've noticed.

 

[bigboss]

:cheers:

I'm slightly inclined to try out the Xperia Z1 first, & swap it for HTC One if I cant live with its size. :?

Have until 4th Oct to decide, when I'm up for a renewal.

 

[bigboss]

Ordered the HTC One on Vodafone contract! :cheers:

Thanks, The_Lhc!

 

[tiffany-r]

Hi all first post on hear. I am a bit of an audio file you may hear about that soon.

But for this post, I have used a Sony experia z1 for two weeks now, I chose it to replace my stollen iphone4s, at moment I think it's well worth the Change, is it better then an iPhone, more different then better, so yes I would recommend a z1 like any thing new it's a learning curve,

__;

 

[mary]

UNPUBLISHED BY MODS

For me - it's difficult to say which one is better. Xperia Z has higher camera resolution (13,1 Mpx vs. 4 Mpx), but HTC has faster CPU. There are also some more differences between those two smartphones - you can chech them here: http://comperio.co/en/smartphones/sony-xperia-z-vs-htc-one.html