Samsung has been doing a lot of great things with their flagships these days, but I begrudgingly switched back to a Pixel last year mainly for the camera. Their cameras weren’t bad by any means, and there are some limited situations where I actually preferred them, but they just didn’t feel as consistent and dependable as other flagships.
If the S24 brings a more competitive camera to the table, sign me up.
Have you seen Sony’s recent phones? I’ve been using them the last couple years and I’ll never go back. Finger-removable SD card, headphone jack, notification LED, etc
I think they’re some of the best phones available right now, but sadly they rival the iphone in price.
I appreciate the tech in Sony’s phones, but I haven’t seen anything that I would be excited to use in my daily driver. No shade to anyone who prefers them, they look like great devices for a niche but their product philosophy is just very different from the mass appeal that Samsung and Google lean towards.
I get what you mean, the main difference there being that Google, Samsung and Apple add a ton of auto photo enhancements built into their camera apps to make photos “pop” more, without effort- which is suitable for most people who aren’t photography inclined.
Sony phones give you all the tools to enhance them but it’s up to the user to do it, which as a photographer I certainly appreciate. Sony still had a basic camera app that adds a small degree of enhancements, but you can also shoot them in RAW.
That being said, I think it’s funny that the only(?) flagships right now that retain expandable storage and a headphone jack are labeled by YouTubers as “enthusiast/niche” phones when really they’re just as usable for anyone and the same price as a mid- top tier iphone.
They release their phones for some silly high price, it gets criticised for it in reviews, then 3 months later you can get it for hundreds less, but the damage has already been done, the reviews have already been tainted by the bad pricing.
Imo worse than the price is the update policy. Last time I checked they only gave 2 major android updates and 3 year security patches.
Especially on the higher end models that is just unforgivable imo.
It also somewhat ties into the high price issue, because by the time you might see some discounts you are already well into the already short update cycle.
I’d love if they named and priced their phones in a way that made it easily known which range is which Xperia Z used to be the flagship top of the line, then they numbered on top of that.
Now it is numbers and then numerals, wtf. Which phone is the best spec!?
The Xperia 1 series are the larger, highest end versions with the Xperia 5 series being the smaller, slightly-lesser versions but still very premium. The Xperia 10 line is their budget line but they’re still capable.
The Roman numerals succeeding those model names are the current version.
So last year I had an Xperia 1 II (Called Xperia 1 “Mark 2”)
I upgraded to the Xperia 1 IV (Mark 4) which is two years newer. I think the V just came out which is the newest and best version- aka the Xperia 1 V.
Hope that helps. Once it clicks it kinda makes sense but it’s still very silly l.
Samsung has been doing a lot of great things with their flagships these days, but I begrudgingly switched back to a Pixel last year mainly for the camera. Their cameras weren’t bad by any means, and there are some limited situations where I actually preferred them, but they just didn’t feel as consistent and dependable as other flagships.
If the S24 brings a more competitive camera to the table, sign me up.
Have you seen Sony’s recent phones? I’ve been using them the last couple years and I’ll never go back. Finger-removable SD card, headphone jack, notification LED, etc
I think they’re some of the best phones available right now, but sadly they rival the iphone in price.
I appreciate the tech in Sony’s phones, but I haven’t seen anything that I would be excited to use in my daily driver. No shade to anyone who prefers them, they look like great devices for a niche but their product philosophy is just very different from the mass appeal that Samsung and Google lean towards.
I get what you mean, the main difference there being that Google, Samsung and Apple add a ton of auto photo enhancements built into their camera apps to make photos “pop” more, without effort- which is suitable for most people who aren’t photography inclined.
Sony phones give you all the tools to enhance them but it’s up to the user to do it, which as a photographer I certainly appreciate. Sony still had a basic camera app that adds a small degree of enhancements, but you can also shoot them in RAW.
That being said, I think it’s funny that the only(?) flagships right now that retain expandable storage and a headphone jack are labeled by YouTubers as “enthusiast/niche” phones when really they’re just as usable for anyone and the same price as a mid- top tier iphone.
You just add the photo “pop” yourself if desired.
The new ones have removed the notification light.
The way Sony prices their phones is so annoying.
They release their phones for some silly high price, it gets criticised for it in reviews, then 3 months later you can get it for hundreds less, but the damage has already been done, the reviews have already been tainted by the bad pricing.
Every damn year.
Imo worse than the price is the update policy. Last time I checked they only gave 2 major android updates and 3 year security patches.
Especially on the higher end models that is just unforgivable imo.
It also somewhat ties into the high price issue, because by the time you might see some discounts you are already well into the already short update cycle.
I’d love if they named and priced their phones in a way that made it easily known which range is which Xperia Z used to be the flagship top of the line, then they numbered on top of that.
Now it is numbers and then numerals, wtf. Which phone is the best spec!?
Haha yeah, it took me a while to “get” their new “naming convention”
Like guys you’re making premium smartphones, not enterprise computer monitors
Can you tell me what it is, I genuinely wanted to buy one at the start of this year and just didn’t after getting confused with this.
Sure!
The Xperia line of phones are their premiums.
The Xperia 1 series are the larger, highest end versions with the Xperia 5 series being the smaller, slightly-lesser versions but still very premium. The Xperia 10 line is their budget line but they’re still capable.
The Roman numerals succeeding those model names are the current version.
So last year I had an Xperia 1 II (Called Xperia 1 “Mark 2”)
I upgraded to the Xperia 1 IV (Mark 4) which is two years newer. I think the V just came out which is the newest and best version- aka the Xperia 1 V.
Hope that helps. Once it clicks it kinda makes sense but it’s still very silly l.
Thanks man 🙏