Welcome backI posted here before as I went for an Iphone 5 instead. Here is my update.
I returned the iphone back to the Apple store (14 day) and managed to pre-order the Xperia Z on the last day of the promotion! Here is why (off course all my opinion):
-The Iphone was a pleasure to use. Everything worked flawlessly. Battery could have been better but never the less, a reliable and easy to use smartphone. However, even with the recent modifications, it is still rather locked down and despite the browser performing excellently, the screen size is just too small for power users.
-I was going to leave my smartphone purchase till late spring or even summer; but I saw the Sony promotions team in Carphone Warehouse and they demonstrated the phone and I got another chance (35 minutes!) to play with it again. It was a different experience! The speaker worked well (where as before I stated it was sub-par/ adequate) and the calls were not muffled this time. When they did it dunk it in water and took it out, the speaker sounded worse (obviously), but was ok again (after 10 minutes or so). Could that be the reason the phone in I tried in the Sony store sounded terrible? They too were dunking it in water and perhaps it was too soon? Also there was no lag at all and the chrome browser was excellent. The camera performed much better too. It is so strange as the one I tried in Sony was only a few days ago!
-Anyhow I was assured enough to decide to go for it again and pre-ordered with the Sony retail store for the same promotion as the online one! Just in time too as they were about to close. I also paid an extra £99 to get the MDR headphones with NFC.
-The store staff in the Sony store (as friendly as they are) did'n't seem to trained well in the XZ. Their strengths were the laptops, camera's etc.. This is what Apple get exactly right and it explains their phenomenal success and customer loyalty. The stores and staff know their stuff. Most of my knowledge comes from the members on these forums and a couple of reviews here and there. I should be able to go to a Sony store, experience a reliable product sample and have my questions answered by the staff. I was not aware that the Sony stores (in the UK) are franchise stores. They are completely separate to the web store (who they compete with and price match). They also said the phone has 1 year warranty with them (although 24 month in paperwork?) so not sure how that works. If I could, i would have just gone for the web promotion in time as they even offer full returns. Sony retail offer only exchange or credit note if you want to return.
-Final few words: Sony mobile can afford to market the product extremely well and send dozens of reps into stores (Carphone, O2 etc..). Even though the Sony stores are franchises, they carry the Sony name and should be promoting and representing the products in a better way then they currently are. If Carphone offered the same promotion, I would have purchased from them.
Hope you will enjoy it
