Sony "software" policy

[mistickalone]

Hello everyone ! Hope I'm posting in the right section.
So I just wanna share some opinions with you regarding SONY software policy.
I've always been a huge fan of SONY mobiles, since the "SONY ERICSON" k700, K800 and so, and more recently with the Xperia series ; I've had a Z1, a Z2, a Z3+ DUAL, a Z5 Premium DUAL, so I naturally wanted to upgrade to the XZ Premium.
I wanted to but didn't, cause I'm really tired of SONY software policy ; i think the brand is actually making one of the best hardware, but certainly one of the worse software in the market !
While other brands are tryin' to always add something new, SONYkeeps REMOVING more and more feautures, so for example :

- No dual ringtone fore dual sim variants since Marshmallow 6.0
- No quick charge capability for dual sim variants (Z3+ hardware compatible but software limited, god knows why)
- No double tap to wake on the XZ Premium !
- No option to filter calls from hidden number
- No Camera widget since MM6.0
- No option to add a birthday date to a contact !
- What's next, no dialer ?!

All this "little" things are really pissing me off, and I'm considering buying a SAMSUNG S8, so Im I the only one, or do you guys share the same opinions ? please let me know your thougts !

 

[LukeyWolf]

Hello everyone ! Hope I'm posting in the right section.
So I just wanna share some opinions with you regarding SONY software policy.
I've always been a huge fan of SONY mobiles, since the "SONY ERICSON" k700, K800 and so, and more recently with the Xperia series ; I've had a Z1, a Z2, a Z3+ DUAL, a Z5 Premium DUAL, so I naturally wanted to upgrade to the XZ Premium.
I wanted to but didn't, cause I'm really tired of SONY software policy ; i think the brand is actually making one of the best hardware, but certainly one of the worse software in the market !
While other brands are tryin' to always add something new, SONYkeeps REMOVING more and more feautures, so for example :

- No dual ringtone fore dual sim variants since Marshmallow 6.0
- No quick charge capability for dual sim variants (Z3+ hardware compatible but software limited, god knows why)
- No double tap to wake on the XZ Premium !
- No option to filter calls from hidden number
- No Camera widget since MM6.0
- No option to add a birthday date to a contact !
- What's next, no dialer ?!

All this "little" things are really pissing me off, and I'm considering buying a SAMSUNG S8, so Im I the only one, or do you guys share the same opinions ? please let me know your thougts !

Double tap to wake is pointless, just deains battery more, i have added a birthday date to a contact, I see a camera widget in my current launcher (Nova Launcher Prime) and since I have the single sim variant I can't confirm the duel sim things

 

[mistickalone]

Double tap to wake is pointless, just deains battery more, i have added a birthday date to a contact, I see a camera widget in my current launcher (Nova Launcher Prime) and since I have the single sim variant I can't confirm the duel sim things

Double tap to wake is not as pointless, it's a must have feauture if you don't wanna wreck your power button after 6 months (witch happened to my old Z1) , still it's not up to you to judge of it's relevance, SONY could just keeps it and let the user choose wherever he wants to enable it or not, regardless of the battery drain, witch is a non-sense itself since it's working like a charm on LG phones

There is no more camera widget on SONY phones since MM6.0, i'm not talking about the button to launch the app (while you obviously are), but about the widget we used to have before, where you could set up differents shortcuts to differents photo and video setting, as well as the album widget (see pics bellow)

 

[LukeyWolf]

Double tap to wake is not as pointless, it's a must have feauture if you don't wanna wreck your power button after 6 months (witch happened to my old Z1) , still it's not up to you to judge of it's relevance, SONY could just keeps it and let the user choose wherever he wants to enable it or not, regardless of the battery drain, witch is a non-sense itself since it's working like a charm on LG phones

There is no more camera widget on SONY phones since MM6.0, i'm not talking about the button to launch the app (while you obviously are), but about the widget we used to have before, where you could set up differents shortcuts to differents photo and video setting, as well as the album widget (see pics bellow)

I know it's not up to me to judge it's relevancy, the Android Oreo may bring this back who knows and also maybe they removed these features because they weren't popular with the users.

What power button breaks that quickly anyway?

 

[Zewarxx]

No option to filter calls from hidden number it's a service from you phone carrier you have to activate it from there .
No Camera widget since MM6.0 the app still available but it's not pre-installed i listed the link below for it
you can download the CAmera widget from here

 

[mistickalone]

I know it's not up to me to judge it's relevancy, the Android Oreo may bring this back who knows and also maybe they removed these features because they weren't popular with the users.

What power button breaks that quickly anyway?

When you see the amount of people complaining about removing thoes feautures in sony's forums (https://talk.sonymobile.com), you can be sure that they were, and are still popular to them =)

I was talking about the power button of my old Z1, basicaly the one to use for unlocking/locking the screen, there were no double tap to wake/sleep back at that time since it only started with the Z2, and by using it a hundred of times per day, it became flimsy and shaky pretty quickly, cause it basicaly was just a little protruding circle, even if this button became more solid and well built nowdays since it included the fingerprint scanner :good:

 

[mistickalone]

No option to filter calls from hidden number it's a service from you phone carrier you have to activate it from there .
No Camera widget since MM6.0 the app still available but it's not pre-installed i listed the link below for it
you can download the CAmera widget from here

It's not a service from the phone carrier dude, it does exist on every other brand phones, even ones who costs 50$, meanwhile you have to use a third party app on sony's !

I know it still does exist, but it's really outdated and do not work proprely with newer phones (especially on Nougat), I tried it on my Z5P and was not satisfied, I would prefere that SONY still keeps it up to date

 

[iKlutz]

No love for the missing fm radio? I have limited data for streaming so I ****ing hate Sony for removing it. There's was nothing wrong with it and it was up to date. My guess is they were bribed by carriers to remove it because it saves a **** load of data and you can't pay for what you don't use.

 

[iArvee]

I too miss the double tap to wake feature. It's really useful especially if your phone is flat on the table. Luckily the quick charge works on the Dual sim variant of the XZP.

A friend of mine offered me to swap their Samsung S8 with my XZP. I was really tempted to accept his offer.... Smaller bezels, lighter phone, and it can be rooted. However, I declined because well, the S8 does not have the 960FPS super slomo feature. Yeah, the 960 FPS super slomo might just be a gimmick to some people, but as a videographer, it's really useful to me. I mean, I could have gone for the V30 (with it's awesome cinematic features), but still stuck with this, mainly because this is a feature that stands out from the other flagship phones.

Again, all of this is my opinion. But I do agree with you that Sony removed very useful features. You never know, those features might return in Oreo.

 

[mistickalone]

No love for the missing fm radio? I have limited data for streaming so I ****ing hate Sony for removing it. There's was nothing wrong with it and it was up to date. My guess is they were bribed by carriers to remove it because it saves a **** load of data and you can't pay for what you don't use.

The FM radio tends to be removed on almost every phone brands, so I'm less likely to blame SONY for that, but you're right, that's one more thing they've deleted ...

 

[mistickalone]

I too miss the double tap to wake feature. It's really useful especially if your phone is flat on the table. Luckily the quick charge works on the Dual sim variant of the XZP.

A friend of mine offered me to swap their Samsung S8 with my XZP. I was really tempted to accept his offer.... Smaller bezels, lighter phone, and it can be rooted. However, I declined because well, the S8 does not have the 960FPS super slomo feature. Yeah, the 960 FPS super slomo might just be a gimmick to some people, but as a videographer, it's really useful to me. I mean, I could have gone for the V30 (with it's awesome cinematic features), but still stuck with this, mainly because this is a feature that stands out from the other flagship phones.

Again, all of this is my opinion. But I do agree with you that Sony removed very useful features. You never know, those features might return in Oreo.

Thanks for your contribution.
I do not think that feautures can return in Oreo, these last years they are more likely to delet options rather than returning them back.
I remember asking about the dual ringtone when MM6.0 first came, and a member of SONY staff replied to me "it might return in Nougat", but you already know the end ...

 

[Heinous]

first: "Too much pre-installed bloatware!"

now: "Not enough bloat!"

 

[iArvee]

Thanks for your contribution.
I do not think that feautures can return in Oreo, these last years they are more likely to delet options rather than returning them back.
I remember asking about the dual ringtone when MM6.0 first came, and a member of SONY staff replied to me "it might return in Nougat", but you already know the end ...

Eventually when we get root (if we get root), someone will create a sound mod to enable dual speakers for the ringtone. Until then, we're stuck with whatever Sony gives us.