Sony becoming HTC..More phones this year..WTH!

[ethan3686]

Sony about to unleash four new Android smartphones later this year

Sony has been on quite a roll. At least as far as mobile phone launches are concerned. This year alone, five handsets in different segments have been launched by the company. These range from the high-end Xperia Z and ZL to the mid-range Xperia SP to the low-tier Xperia E and Xperia L. But it seems the company is not stopping at just these five.

According to the rumour, a certain Sony Xperia A, codenamed Dogo, will be added to the Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo’s line-up sometime in the summer months. It is said to have a 4.6-inch screen and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. Other specs include 2GB of RAM, 32GB of native storage and a 2300 mAh battery capacity. The phone will be water and dust resistant, like the Xperia Z and Tablet Z, and will bring along support for NFC. An IR Blaster is also said to be aboard.

Also on the roadmap is the Sony Xperia UL, which we are dreading to see since it is codenamed Gaga. The phone is said to be very closely based on the Sony Xperia ZL and will also have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 under the hood. Other specs that have leaked of the Xperia UL say it will have 32GB of internal storage, 2GB of RAM and a 2300 mAh battery as well as NFC support.

http://tech2.in.com/news/smartphone...ew-android-smartphones-later-this-year/855412

So they are just gonna churn out phones after phones..Xperia Z will be forgotten even before the end of the year this way..And apart from that..why so many phones? And with same capabilities of XZ? Whats wrong with sony..Htc just learnt its lesson!

 

[Al Gore]

Releases of new phones won't make your Z any worse, FYI.

As long as Sony release 4.2.2 and hopefully 5.0 there's nothing wrong with them spamming the market.

 

[ethan3686]

Its not just about firmware..If you release so many phones in the market the brand value of a flagship like XZ decreases as your giving same features and water/dust proofing on lower end phones.. what was so unique about XZ? this was one of the key factors.

 

[decadan1977]

Well Sony are not going competed in the mobile market only releasing a couple of handsets pair year. If they did they may as well just go home. Think Apple are the only manufacturer that could truly do that at present. Remember Sony are struggling at the moment. So if this is there business strategy then so be it. I still love my XZ price depreciation and all.

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[amankapoor4]

Well company needs to capture the market, Z is already running on an old processor, flagship from HTC and Samsung are using faster processors already, they have to keep up the fight with them. That said i am sure Z will get upgraded to 5.0 and we should not care much about other phones.

 

[ethan3686]

XZ does not have an 'old' processor..Yes its S4 Pro but its clocked and implemented in such a way that its 2 time faster than nexus 4 with the same processor.

Everything can be run on an XZ that S4 and HTC one can do..There is nothing they can do extra. The jump from XZ to ONE is 30% and that is just benchmarks..In real life usage you will be able to use any app or game that the HTC ONE plays..Battery endurance test on gsm arena is same 48hr for both..Btw HTC ONE Gl graphics benchmark is just 30 fps..Which is lower than XZ

P.S- XZ is cheaper than HTC ONE AND S4...I got it for 644$ in my country..S4 and HTC ONE are coming for Around 773$

 

[randomuseresato]

While I do understand you might feel bad that your Z will get outdated soon, you should also understand the situation Sony is in currently.

The Mobile business is THE most crucial business for Sony currently and their future depends on it. If they can consolidate market share further and grab the No.3 spot with a solid lead over HTC, Huawei, ZTE etc it will secure the future of Sony Group as a whole.

So new phones will definitely keep coming this year as Sony needs to survive.

 

[zodiac100]

I think it's a bad mistake. Dilution of the brand can never be a good idea. This is not a question about keeping up with the competition, if they wanted to do that, then they should have strived to release the Z with the 600 cpu. Releasing devices with that cpu in September or October will not make any impression because by then all eyes will have turned to the 800 cpu and whatever Qualcomm has to offer after that.
This strategy didn't turn out too well for the Xperia T, the phone that quick time forgot. Even the Xperia S is still regarded by most as Sony's flagship of 2012.
Sony should not get too involved in the spec race, well as far as cpus go anyway. The s4 pro on the Z is plenty fine and it's not it's weakness.
Sony's major problem is software development, everywhere you look the Xperia brand is being let down by software. Whether it be releasing phones with dated os and taking forever to update. The Xperia S is still waiting for JB while the galaxy s2, Samsung's phone of 2011 is about to get it if it hasn't already.
On top of that, you often get very weak software from Sony that takes ages for them to improve.
The software on my Z is its weakest link, whether it be the ui lag or the poor camera software that means you really have to take your time to get the best results from the camera.
Again and again, the hardware is being let down by the software.
Considering how lean and feature poor the Sony software is, it's really shockingly poor that it takes them so long to a) release stable builds and b) roll out updates.
Samsung's touchwiz is packed to the hilt with loads of software additions but yet, Samsung get it out quicker, up to date, and more stable than Sony can dream of right now.
For me, this is where Sony falls down really badly. They really need to bring in some excellent developers to turn things around.
Having a so called flagship waiting almost a year for a software update is just pathetic.
I said it before, I'll reserve my final judgement on the Z until I see the 4.2.2 software because I know it takes Sony linger than most to put out decent and stable software. Also the 4.1 has little or no software additions from Sony with the exception of the new launcher which I think is a bit ridiculous without an overview mode and the stamina mode and new camera app. Everything still looks the same from the gingerbread days.

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[Aman27deep]

Too many new phones will simply mean delayed updates.

The r&d team remains the same.


Sent from my C6602 using Tapatalk 2

 

[thegregulator]

Considering how lean and feature poor the Sony software is, it's really shockingly poor that it takes them so long to a) release stable builds and b) roll out updates.
Samsung's touchwiz is packed to the hilt with loads of software additions but yet, Samsung get it out quicker, up to date, and more stable than Sony can dream of right now.
For me, this is where Sony falls down really badly. They really need to bring in some excellent developers to turn things around.
Having a so called flagship waiting almost a year for a software update is just pathetic.


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I agree with your software complaint. The fact the camera takes 3 seconds to open is completely unacceptable, especially considering the Xperia S was so fast at booting up the camera. That said, I don't have too many problems with the software on the Z.

This is my first Sony smartphone, but I've noticed Sony almost always releases phones with outdated software AND dated computing hardware. The Xperia S was the first dual core Sony smartphone (I think) and it was months behind the Sensation, North American S2,and many others, all while having the same processor. Same goes for the Xperia T.

The fact that Sony intends to release so many phones this year probably has something to do with getting their high end devices to as many carriers/countries as possible. For instance, the Xperia Z isn't available in Canada. We're getting the ZL. In any event, coupling Sony's reputation for not releasing timely updates and the fact they're going to allegedly have 4-5 flagship devices this year, I'm not confident we're going to see many significant updates. Hopefully CM is able to keep us up to date!

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[Montague]

It isn't a new thing from Sony anyway... I have never use smartphone other than Sony 's for my entire life and it was since somewhere around x10 to x arc period they started to release phones to different target user like flagship, middle range and budget phones In each year.

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z using xda premium

 

[doministry]

They simply replaced with smartphones their previous portfolio.

And this is natural. Every other OEM does that exept Apple.
This is good for the company to support all the market niches.

 

[KidCarter93]

Would you rather they release phone to cater for everyone's budget OR be like apple and only sell expensive devices?


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[ethan3686]

^Seriously! Its not about them releasing multiple phones..Its about them releasing SO MANY phones..

Why not one for budget, mid-range and flagship? This is what i mean!

 

[KidCarter93]

Simple. To make money. They know that if they release 12 phones in a year, for example, that 3 will sell REALLY well, 6/7 will sell fairly well and the remaining probably won't sell very well. But each one of those is still a sale which means more money for the company.


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[zodiac100]

The ZL is understandable as it's an experimental device to see how users react to the form factor. If it does well, I'm pretty certain Sony's flagship of 2014 will follow the same style. But if they release another flagship this year, that'll really piss me off, there is no need for a 600 cpu replacement for the Z. The Zs got all the raw power it needs. Flagship devices should stand for a year at least, the successful companies follow that principle. They can release a note style device this year but a new flagship smartphone, that demeans the Xperia brand, not to talk of the consequences for software support. They shouldn't go down that road again. Like I said before, software is their greatest weakness and I'd like to see signs that all resources are consolidated and brought to bare to offer the best possible user experience to a dedicated line of phones. If Sony don't address this software issue soon, I could conceivably go Samsung next year. HTC have proved that they don't quite no which way to go.
I also have a feeling that the gs4 will be the last cheap looking Samsung flagship we'll see. The s5 I expect will be different because it must be obvious to Samsung that that's it's weakest link too.
I also believe that Samsung is slowly beginning to accept that it's own proprietary stuff can't compete. We're likely to see them move away from super amoled to solux LCD displays and from exynos to snapdragon. We can see that happening already as 70% of s4s will use the 600 cpu. I don't think they'll have an exynos that can take on say a 2.3ghz cortex a15 snapdragon 800 cpu.

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[Akiainavas]

What's wrong with releasing 4-6 phones a year ? They need to address the whole market, not only high-end devices, but also low-end, mid-end and entry level. Now people seem to have a problem with too many phones being released... seriously, what the hell has gotten into you people ?

 

[thegregulator]

What's wrong with releasing 4-6 phones a year ? They need to address the whole market, not only high-end devices, but also low-end, mid-end and entry level. Now people seem to have a problem with too many phones being released... seriously, what the hell has gotten into you people ?

But Sony is releasing 4-5 flagship devices. From the looks of it, 3 are coming out with the Qualcomm 600 cpu, and likely another with the Qualcomm 800 at the end of the year. Good for them but I suspect it will leave those of us with Xperia Z and ZL's waiting longer for updates.

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[darth5zaft]

But Sony is releasing 4-5 flagship devices. From the looks of it, 3 are coming out with the Qualcomm 600 cpu, and likely another with the Qualcomm 800 at the end of the year. Good for them but I suspect it will leave those of us with Xperia Z and ZL's waiting longer for updates.

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Then wouldn't the obvious demand is for sony to hire more software engineer than to demands that they stop making more phone?

Other thing from other post is that isn't The other obvious answer on why they cant just release 3 phone a year for different price range is because HTC has done it with their one series and by the looks of it, the strategy fails miserably.

And I think from the time of the arc, sony had released 2 flagship a year, so not sure why people still think they will only do just one. The thing about sony is it main market are where people buy PAYG and without subsidies. So people are really price sensitive. Releasing 2 flagship would land sony as the cheapest but most powerful phone on the block. The Z here in Malaysia can be bought at around us550. Making it slightly more expensive than the nexus 4 and S3. The hTC one and S4 are a cool us200 more. The xperia V, which are much better than the s3 is now at US300, making it even cheaper than the S2.

Interesting enough by doing what a lot of people here hates, sony climb to number 2 spot just behind Samsung, while HTC with their one series experiment that people here seems to love drop even lower. So I guess, they are on the right track.


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[kalo88]

All it looks like they're doing is throwing loads of phones out on the market and hoping one sticks and becomes successful.

The more devices they release the more delays it will cause with updates.

Bad move in my opinion but they obviously know better.

You do get the sense though with Sony that once a new mobile comes out their 'previous flagship' is dropped like a sack of *bleep* and it takes forever for anything to be updated.