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Hi Guys, new to XDA here. Would like to share my Xperia Z Ultra experience!
It's safe to say that the Z Ultra is one of the best Portable Mobile Entertainment Device I've ever used! Anything smaller would have made lying on the bed at night watching a movie, unenjoyable. And anything bigger would have reduced it's usage as a daily mobile phone device (which it's already at it's limit).
The Z Ultra's front and back sides are covered by shatter proof tempered glass, while the sides or mainframe is made out of tough polyamide glass. At first glance, the polyamide glass frame was even mistaken as metal by me as it felt very sturdy and solid on the hands. All this material combined and I felt like I was holding a really unique premium piece of equipment.
Here's my Unboxing Video of the Demo Unit, including a basic test drive!
Unboxing + Basic Test Drive
The Z Ultra is as snappy as a mainstream laptop today. Surfing the web and watching videos in YouTube is a breeze with no lag spikes at all. SONY has made the right decision in inserting Qualcomn's best available processor (Snapdragon 800 Quad Core 2.2GHz) into this beauty, making it a beast at the same time!
With the Z Ultra's Snapdragon 800 processor and the Adreno 330 graphics processing unit, Android 4.2.2 runs flawlessly while 3D Mark has met it's match, maxing out it's 1st and 2nd Benchmark Tests while attaining a score of 16.3k on it's ultimate test.
It's a good thing to see SONY implementing it's Bravia SmartTV's screen expertise into the Xperia Z ULTRA. The Triluminous Display works wonders, delivering really strong rich colors which beats my desktop's monitor. I sure hope SONY decides to produce their own line of Desktop Monitors in the future as I would definitely ditch my current one anyday for it.
Since the SONY ERICSSON days, I have cherished every moment with my W995 Walkman Non-Smartphone for it's irreplacable sound quality. When it comes to Sound Quality, SONY truly delivers what my ears desire. The Clear Bass technology works like a charm! Increasing low frequency without sacrificing the mids and highs, the result, a clean distortion free music experience with extremely strong bass. Audiophiles who are bass heads should definitely get your hands on a Sony WALKMAN certified device (if not this one) and max out Clear Bass, try it out for yourselves!
Battery-Wise, this beast is packed with a 3000mAh battery which is able to provide sufficient juice for at least 2 days on basic usage (In Stamina Mode) Watching a 1920x1080 Full HD 1 hour clip drained 10% out of the battery. I'd say the battery life on the Z Ultra is great, no complaints here.
The 8 Megapixel rear camera on this beauty isn't one to be replaced by DSLRs but is indeed a decent enough camera for casual shootouts. Here are some video samples I took at Gardens By The Bay's Cloud Forest.
Video Sample 1 (At Cloud Forest)
Video Sample 2 (At Cloud Forest)
As for it's waterproof feature, it's a sweet one but one that I will not want to risk. However, I definitely felt much secure holding the Z Ultra in the rain compared to my old W995 phone.
So I've listed the stuffs that were to my favour, this half beauty half beast has slight flaws to it though.
The Z ULTRA is far too big to be used as a phone. I've went around asking friends and relatives and most of them stated that although the bigger screen is pleasing, it's massive size was far too big for day to day usage (especially when tight fitted jeans equipped with tiny pockets are in the trend now). Getting the SBH 52 Bluetooth headset is decent enough workaround for those who really want the bigger screen over anything else.
While the Z Ultra produces superb sound quality through the 3.5mm jack, the built-in speakers are pretty much comparable with most other phones out there. Sound is flat, with little to no bass. It has a decent enough maximum sound ouput but that's as far as it goes. It will be great if SONY could add in dual front facing speakers as seen in the HTC One and perhaps a subwoofer in it's future devices? This would complete the term "Ultimate Mobile Entertainment Experience".
With the introduction of IPS Panels, SONY should definitely consider replacing their TFT panels with IPS ones to deliver better viewing angles and color accuracy, but still the 6.44" Triluminous Display on this beauty is not one to dissapoint.
Finally, here's my review (8 days after I received the unit)
Final Review
Is it worth the penny!? If you ask me, it's definitely a yes! Especially if you're one who would go for bigger screens at the cost of slight portability issues, go for it! Not only is the Xperia Z Ultra a beast packing high end technology with a beefy 3000 mAh battery, it's slim and in fact the slimmest phablet device yet. Else, there's always the Xperia Z1! But I'll save that review for later since I wouldn't want to get off topic.
In short, the Xperia Z Ultra is A Hybrid of a Beast & Beauty!
Please note this is my opinion and experience with the phone. I love trying all kinds of smart phones.
I wanted to love this phone...
Being a heavy google apps user and a lover of customization and android, I recently switched back to android from the iPhone 6 Plus (previous phones as well include Blackberry Passport, Note Edge, Note 3, LG G3, Oneplus One, Xperia Z1, Sharp SH-03G (Docomo), Ascend Mate 7 to name a few). The C5 Ultra caught my attention with it's good looks, 6" screen and Sony's boasting of it's great front and rear facing 13mp cameras. Both cameras sounded perfect for me to take photos of my 2 year old and family selfies with the front camera. After a week of use here are my thoughts:
Pros:
- Beautiful design - very sleek with edge to edge (sides have little to no bezel) glass on the front making this a tall looking phone
- Dual Sim - great when I travel overseas
- Separate MicroSD card slot - some manufacturers force you to use the second sim slot but not Sony
- Unlocked
- GPS accurate
- Wifi reasonably strong
- Call quality good
Cons
- Screen (Innolux) lacks contrast and does poorly with blacks, colours are dull and washed out. There is screen backlight bleeding especially around the bottom edges.
- Camera Images - What a disappointment. Perhaps mine is a dud but colors are dull, photos over exposed, highlights blown out, photos are not sharp, even taken in daylight.
- Camera Performance - It doesn't matter how beautiful photos are a camera CAN take if it CANNOT catch the moment. The lag on the phone is terrible. Camera app slow to open. Focus slow to acquire. Shutter terribly slow. After focusing on an object which is slow to do, I press the shutter and the camera tries to focus again then shoot taking more than a second to do so. Because of this I keep missing the moment even outside in broad daylight.
- Camera Software - Slow, occasionally crashes. Doesn't stay on the last setting you used if you reopen the app.
- Battery life - very disappointing. I am not a heavy user. I take maybe 10-15 photos, read some email, browse the web. Rarely watch videos or listen to music and the phone struggles to make it 12-13 hours. Charges very slowly whether plugged in via usb or directly into a wall.
- The iPhone 6 Plus battery and Blackberry Passport I previously had blow this away when it comes to battery.
- Phone performance - Occasional lag or stutter opening apps, swiping between home screens
- Auto brightness is very inconsistent, in an evenly lit room, it is constantly adjusting up and down brightness.
In case anyone is interested benchmark numbers here (It's the Non-verified score)
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Bottom line:
Visually a beautiful phone. Functionally a huge disappointment. The hype of a higher end or top mid range phone but not the same performance to back up the hype. Perhaps a lot of this, like the camera performance and the battery life and some OS performance can be tweaked and fixed with software updates. I love Sony products, and my house is full of Sony goods. Sony has a great name and reputation here in Japan but at the end of the day, Xperia phones still let me down and I end up going to solid phones from Samsung and LG. LG G4 on the way...
I feel u bro.
scpion said:
I feel u bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about it a bit and I think it may be that I expected too much... ie coming from many so called "flagship" models I expected the C5 Ultra to perform like one (since it's pretty pricey), but it obviously didn't.
I'm going to ride with it for the rest of the week, trying some 3rd party camera apps and seeing if I can optimize the setup (or wait for a root and custom rom) to see if it would improve performance and battery life.
On the contrary, personally I feel it's punching above its weight.. It's relatively cheap here on contract. Other than the irritating problems I mentioned in my other thread, I think it's pretty ok. Battery have been great for me and performance decently fast. I never had high hopes for the cam anyway though I was hoping for a surprise this time round. Let's not forget the C series had always been a mid ranger.
It's a shame, really. The C5 is the best looking phone I've ever seen. If only the screen was better and the battery was larger I'd consider buying it.
It's even better looking than the Xperia Z5 series and has less bezel.
I'd love to put the hardware of the Z5 into the C5 ultra then it'd be the perfect phone.
I really hope developers will take up interest in this phone. As of now, there are basically nothing on the Web regarding this phone.. No reviews, not even accessories..
The Z5 range has recently been published on gsmarena. I was shocked to see the C5 looks WAY better than the expensive flagship Z5. Issue with the Z5 it looks the same as the Z2 and Z3, too much bezel.
I'm thinking of getting the C5 ultra for it's sexy looks and ultra thin bezel!
I hope a developer/modder can soon release a mod to make this phone output stereo sound. We just need output from the top speaker grill which will then give us true stereo speakers/sound.
The sound from this phone is pretty loud with audio+. Tweaking the white balance gives pretty decent colours as well. The colour just sucks straight from factory.
scpion said:
The sound from this phone is pretty loud with audio+. Tweaking the white balance gives pretty decent colours as well. The colour just sucks straight from factory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good! I currently own the Sony Xperia Z3 D6633. The screen I have is better, sound is stereo, ram is 3Gb, camera is 21MP/video 4k and battery is more (3100mAh) vs 2900...
Should I purchase the C5 Ultra, in many ways it indeed is a downgrade. However, the beautiful design and large screen/thin bezel is a win and I'm thinking of buying one.
The main thing that concerns me is the large 6'' screen and small battery of under 3000mAh. Sony really should of made the battery at least 3500 mAh to power the large screen.
I'd like, if possible more feedback from other users with regards to battery life. Also, how are the black levels and viewing angles of the screen?
How would the camera compare say to a Samsung Note 5/Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and the LG G4?
First up, I really have no problem with the battery. The 29xxmah battery may sound small, I have no problem lasting a full day. I try to post screen shots later. I feel that sony has one of the best optimised system around.
Screen needs some tweaking to get the colours right. Contrast still slightly on the lower side. Viewing angle is ok. No where near the shocking level of gen 1 xperia z. Colour shift at a acute angle similar to N4 if u know what I mean. To me, I think it's acceptable. And it's really bright.
I dun take a lot of picture.. But from my finding, superior auto is a disaster in this case. Manual gives me good results. Details are good and noise keep to a minimum in low light. Pics with flash turns out great as well, surprisingly. The other phones u mentioned are all flagship class so it might be a bit unfair to do the comparison. They can point and shoot and give good results. This, u have to point, tweak, shoot.... Lol. Results are not half bad. At least the last settings are retained so u do not go back to the superior auto by default.
Then again, do not forget this is a "midranger". And let's not forget there is no such thing as a perfect phone.
---------- Post added at 02:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 PM ----------
I am typing this from my Z Ultra. Seriously, if they carry on the Z line in the Z ultra's design and power, I think sony will do much better..
Here u go. these are 2 sets of battery usage. I am getting rather good results from it. Google sync on, Lte all the way. Staminal mode on. Manual screen brightness is at just 15% and its really bright indoors. Outdoors usually at just 40% or auto brightness. This is a really bright panel. On down side, battery charging is pretty slow. Using a 1.5a charger, it take me around 3-4hrs to charge from around 15%. I never tried the supplied 850mah one... maybe I should..
Hey! Theres one more thing that I want to mention for the screen. It FREAKING flickers whenever it tries to play a video for the first 1 sec. It should be a software issue. The display sets have this problem, the set i changed have this problem as well.
Just got c5 ultra. Was trying to connect my 1tb ext hdd, but it always shows "usb storage removed" as soon as i connect it.. However once it did got connected properly and i was able to access files on it but only once and after that i am continuously having the above mentioned problem.. Anyone else tried this? Also i am having some wierd clock ticking voice from my hdd after connecting.. It works fine though on my note 4 without such voice..
Sent from my SM-N910G using XDA Free mobile app
the usb port doesn't have enough power to power your hdd. better don't use it. you might force the hdd to keep reading and might damage the hdd
^ Thanks for the feedback bro. I'm currently living in Dubai, UAE. It seems, unfortunately the phone is not yet released here.
However, it should be released anytime soon. I'm going to call the Sony agent at Jumbo Electronics and see when the phone is due to be released.
As I said before, I'm seriously considering selling my several month old Sony Xperia Z3 D6633 dual sim and getting the C5 Ultra. In many ways it is indeed a downgrade.
That said, I'm also an ex owner of the legendary Sony Xperia Z Ultra which had the massive 6.44'' screen which was gorgeous. My current Z3 on the other hand has a much smaller screen of only 5.2'' and Although the screen is better and brighter, I'm not happy with the smaller screen. It seems Sony will not release a successor anytime soon for the Z Ultra so as of now the nearest option is the C5 Ultra. Though slightly smaller than the Z Ultra, it's the nearest phone to compare.
May I also ask, how does the C5 Ultra screen compare to the Z Ultra. Please tell me it's as good as if not better.
Unsure about you, but the best on screen time I've had with my previous Z Ultra was 5 hours and 44 minutes! Not bad for a phone having almost 6.5'' in size and a 3000mAh battery...
I think I would prefer the Z ultra's screen over this, at least for now. I personally like how much we can adjust the screen contrast and colour on the Z. Colour adjustment can be make to be very close to my Z but C5 still lacks the deeper colours.. Dpi is smaller as well so I can see more things. Think the C5 dpi is at 480. It's a waste of screen estate. We seriously need development on this to make it a great device.
Yeah, the device is still too new. I'm sure that with some development and custom roms, it'll be even better. Sadly it'll take some time...
At least they've improved the sound quality and finally the output is better than previous models.
Then there's front and rear flash which the Z Ultra completely lacked.
I've seen many brand new C5 Ultra's for just £250 in ebay, around 300 euros. For a 6'' mid range device the price is fantastic...
How does battery life compare to the Xperia Z Ultra? How is the quality/sharpness of the camera? Image noise low and under control?
I usually get around a full day with 3-4hrs screen on time with Z ultra. C5, that kind of timing is usually when I am at around 40%. I never finish my day with a flat battery for C5. I dun play games. Just lots of browsing, Facebook and YouTube. Cam is a mixed bag. Most of the time, details and colours are pretty good. Sometimes overly exposed. Superior auto is a disaster though. But overall, good pics can be achieved with manual without much trouble.
Finally bought my C5 Ultra last night! Overall I'm satisfied with it and there is more good than bad.
Screen is actually great AFTER calibration. By default the whites and colours are dead. For me, white balance is as follows; Red 38, Green 49 & Blue 40. Colour as well as the white and blacks are great and not far off from my Xperia Z3. So bear in mind the display does need a good calibration to get decent results.
After going through some high quality pictures and full HD 1080P movies and animated cartoons, colour is strong and black levels do actually look great, screenshots below of Shaun The Sheep Movie. Viewing angles are brilliant.
Speed. Generally the device is fast and responsive. It does at times pause and there is a slight delay. However, this should be fixed in a future update and when we get root access and recovery!
Looks. This was the key reason I bought the device. Specification is high mid range, a step above the Xperia Z Ultra, however, I wasn't bothered with the specification, it's gorgeous looks lured me into buying the device! As internet photos show, the left/right side of the phone literally has no bezel, the stunning display stretches out right to the edges. The top/bottom of the phone are still thin and the upper part is mostly taken by the huge 13mp camera with it's flash.
The bottom of the screen is still pretty thin and compared to my Xperia Z3, though a bigger phone, the bottom bezel of the C5 Ultra is still thinner!
As explained above, the screen by default is lifeless, colours are wrong and whites are more warm. You will have to calibrate the white levels in order to get decent looking whites and other colours...
Camera. I've not had the time to fully experiment, however, it is decent and photos are sharp and clear. Others have mentioned the camera is slow especially if selecting the memory card to store the images. Completely wrong. I took several pictures last night, one after the other and other than a split second delay, it was ready to take the second and the third picture. it's fast and responsive, no lag whatsoever when taking photos whether you select the memory card slot or the internal memory.
The flash is VERY bright and even when using the light/torch mode, the light was excellent, stronger than my Xperia Z3.
Gaming. Aside from Ski Safari, I didn't try any other game. However, colours were great, whites were excellent and there was no lag or delays at all. Nice and smooth.
Whether surfing the web, gaming or using the camera, there was no sign at all of overheating, in fact, the phone never even got warm when using for long periods! So no need to worry about overheating or getting warm.
Body/Build quality. Although the rear of the phone is plastic, it's a very high quality plastic, very strong and it's appearance is good. The sides of the phone are a solid aluminium and the front is entirely glass. Build quality is very sturdy and overall excellent. There are no gaps around the phone/bezel and the sides are well put together. So far the best design I've ever seen from Sony.
I was actually going to wait and purchase the Xperia Z5. Once I saw the design was VERY similar to the current Z2/Z3 series I thought why buy the Z5 when it looks too similar to my current phone? I wanted something different, unique and affordable. This is where the C5 Ultra fits in, perfectly...
Battery. Unfortunately, since I've only just used the phone for several hours, I'm yet to comment on battery life. In fact, I've still not even charged the battery, not even once. Battery was around 61% when the phone was first turned on. After around 2 hours of on screen time, some wi-fi, phone calls, sms messages and camera use, battery is still around 22% .
Speakers/sound - I'd say decent but not loud. My Xperia Z3 having dual speakers was around 25% louder. That said, we can only pray that sooner or later, a developer can release custom sound for louder, clearer audio having dual loud speakers when listening to music, watching movies, gaming or simply when making a phone call. We simply need audio output via the upper earpiece to give us stereo sound. Lazy Sony, unfortunately didn't bother doing this...
Verdict. Based on the above, I'd give the phone 8.5/10 for overall use/features/looks/battery, etc.
Some screen shots of the phone and screen:
A few hands-on reviews are out. The consensus is decidedly mediocre. Disappointingly so.
Some common themes: battery life not great, device runs hot, and surprising to me, the camera in basic auto mode is really not that great. Causing me to rethink my pre-order.
https://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Sony-Xperia-1-III-Review_id5164
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Early...-heel-for-the-US-1-299-99-phone.549203.0.html
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/sony-xperia-1-iii-review-it-could-have-been-magnificent-phone/
Another review. More detailed, and equally underwhelming.
Sony Xperia 1 III review
The Xperia 1 III launches with an asking price of $1300/€1300, and even if that includes a pair of noise-canceling headphones in most regions, the number...
www.gsmarena.com
count me in too on questioning my pre order. not sure what i'm going to do but leaning towards cancelling.
Last review I will post as they are all consistent:
My requirements are a headphone jack and micro SD storage. So I'm stuck as no other premium phone offers both. My only other option is a Moto G, I'm not inclined to move that far down the performance ladder.
The reviews got me thinking whether the Xperia 5 III may be a better choice. In principle, the screen should be less demanding on the same sized battery... Other downside is the lack of ToF sensor which I'm still not sure how much it downgrades the image quality of the otherwise same camera setup.
I mainly want this as my pocket camera. I find the cnet review as promising. He was impressed by the cameras, all of them. With any smartphone camera, imo you should only use the telephoto cameras outdoors in good light. He got some nice images with all 4 focal lengths of the camera. I'm now confident I can get some nice photos with the telephoto lenses, especially when using the pro camera app and choosing ISO and shutter speed. as far as the cnet review he disliked the price and the battery life. But he had a pre production unit and battery life is the last thing addressed usually with new software and devices. I'm kind of excited again.
elwuero said:
I mainly want this as my pocket camera. I find the cnet review as promising. He was impressed by the cameras, all of them. With any smartphone camera, imo you should only use the telephoto cameras outdoors in good light. He got some nice images with all 4 focal lengths of the camera. I'm now confident I can get some nice photos with the telephoto lenses, especially when using the pro camera app and choosing ISO and shutter speed. as far as the cnet review he disliked the price and the battery life. But he had a pre production unit and battery life is the last thing addressed usually with new software and devices. I'm kind of excited again.
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Click to collapse
I think all the reviews I read, including this most recent one from Android Authority, are critical of the camera in low light settings. Another issue for me as I like to get a photo or two at concerts.
Sony Xperia 1 III review: Elegant, exhilarating, expensive
Sony's flagship smartphone packs some of the best hardware around, but should you buy it? Find out in this Sony Xperia 1 III review.
www.androidauthority.com
gmfeld said:
I think all the reviews I read, including this most recent one from Android Authority, are critical of the camera in low light settings. Another issue for me as I like to get a photo or two at concerts.
Sony Xperia 1 III review: Elegant, exhilarating, expensive
Sony's flagship smartphone packs some of the best hardware around, but should you buy it? Find out in this Sony Xperia 1 III review.
www.androidauthority.com
they reject the phones night mode. Just go into the manual mode and do an exposure adjustment according to the histogram. Or just adjust the shutter speed and iso yourself and you should get a fantastic picture. Takes literally 7-8 seconds. And then you'll have the settings ready to go to take as many pictures as you want at the concert.
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Click to collapse
I haven't cancelled my pre order (yet). i can live with only using the main camera in low light. at f1.7 the photos should be good and the reviews so far seem to support that.
from this review all i can say is as long as you know how to use the camera, all photos should look good. on my xperia 1 ii i would almost always shoot in program mode and would just keep the iso at 100 and occasionally raise it to 320. in this review he seems to be doing the same thing. love the histogram on screen, so helpful.
elwuero said:
from this review all i can say is as long as you know how to use the camera, all photos should look good. on my xperia 1 ii i would almost always shoot in program mode and would just keep the iso at 100 and occasionally raise it to 320. in this review he seems to be doing the same thing. love the histogram on screen, so helpful.
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Click to collapse
I used a 1 Ii for quite some time and was able to get great pictures in program mode by just fiddling with the exposure compensation while looking at the histogram. Takes like 5 seconds and you've got a great picture. I guessing the 3 will take very similar pictures.
elwuero said:
count me in too on questioning my pre order. not sure what i'm going to do but leaning towards cancelling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always play with it for a few days and re-sell it for the same price as an "open box" product. It will certainly work if you live in the country where Sony doesn't sell phones officially and you have to import your device.
gmfeld said:
Last review I will post as they are all consistent:
My requirements are a headphone jack and micro SD storage. So I'm stuck as no other premium phone offers both. My only other option is a Moto G, I'm not inclined to move that far down the performance ladder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought LG V60 ThinQ for around $350 (4 times cheaper than Xperia!) for exactly the same reasons. Yes, it doesn't look as sexy as Xperia 1 III but it has plenty of power (more than I actually need), great battery life, best in business sound, not getting hot as hell etc.
It's all theory. To get any good night shot on Xperia 1 III you'll have to use stand and bluetooth shutter button. I used to had Xperia 1 II / 5 II and taking night photos with Xperia handheld was impossible. Don't think that Xperia 1 III is different.
chetly968 said:
I used a 1 Ii for quite some time and was able to get great pictures in program mode by just fiddling with the exposure compensation while looking at the histogram. Takes like 5 seconds and you've got a great picture. I guessing the 3 will take very similar pictures.
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Click to collapse
Too much effort for $1300 smartphone to my opinion.
Not a complete review but I found this video entertaining.
btw, I decided to not cancel my pre order. B&H says I will have 30 days to return. I expect it will be my main camera/phone for at least a year.
Waiting on my pre order to arrive soon.
I really like my 1II and look foresees to the III. The only other phone that gets me excited is the Pixel 6 (if it doesn't have a curved screen)
Can't ever go Chinese as I need updates decently on schedule. Samsung has dropped prices a bit but no sd card and the same cameras and worse screen...
Their ultra is too heavy for comfortable one hand usage
I bailed on the Experia and cancelled my order with B&H. Going to get the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. No headphone jack and no sd storage slot, but I couldn't get comfortable with the Experia reviews I was reading, particularly the camera.
I had the ultra also. Traded it in while it was still worth a lot. The weight and one handed use was not my favorite and its hard to get a glass screen protector that works with the ultrasonic finger print reader. It didn't have enough memory and with no sd card I was forced to stream music.
But it takes great pics.
gmfeld said:
I bailed on the Experia and cancelled my order with B&H. Going to get the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. No headphone jack and no sd storage slot, but I couldn't get comfortable with the Experia reviews I was reading, particularly the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same. Really kept my finger on pre-order button for a week but after numerous rather underwhelming camera performance reviews decided to buy nearly 3 times cheaper Galaxy S21.
I know its late for first impressions, since the phone was released 1 year ago and motorola has released "an upgraded version" (honestly cant see much of an upgrade apart for the 144hz oled, more so mostly downgrades), but i just got it in a, in my opinion rather good, deal from lenovo directly for 499e new.
Ill start with negatives first as there are rather few that i saw until now.
Most of them have to do with the curved display:
1. The edges are extremely curved, have color distorsion and the part of the display is there but unusable for reading, hence the real estate is smaller as advertised. The display is not optimally calibrated, is slightly blue and you can change it manually (like on samsung or lg phones)
2. The aluminum frame at the side is slightly protruding from the the rest of the phone, so when holding it with one hand its somewhat annoying/irritating, almost painful when holding it for prolonged times. Somewhat slippery with dry hands. No protective casing.
3. As far as i can tell the camera isnt able to do more than 120fps in slow motion (i dont think its 240fps), even if i try with gcam only 1/4 works, with 1/8 not working. This is quite the schocker as most other sd865 phones can do 960fps, or at least 240/480fps
4. Gcam (7 and 8) works good with the main and the tele camera, but fails with the ultra wide (white dotted lines/raster on the whole image). The good thing is, the stock camera seems to be a modified gcam version.
5. apparently only 2 OS updates (one being Android 11, so only 12 coming) / but on the bright side, the edge 20 pro will get only 1 ^ ^ Naturally its not as good as Samsung or Google but its for half the price.
6. No custom Roms, apparently bootloader unlock damages the FP function (not sure if in android 11 as well)
7. Only single sim - at least the international variant. No SDcard
Positives
1. The phone feels really solid in the hand. It is a real premium feel. Entirely comparable to the samsung note series
2. The battery life is awesome. Currently at 42% and over 5 Hours SOT
3. The main camera and the ultrawide make great photos, the tele is somewhat underwhelming (zoomed in main photo, has almost same detail as the tele picture native)
4. 12GB ram, 256GB UFS 3.0, USB 3 connection, Displayport/HDMI support all for 499e
5. The motorola desktop experience, works like samsung dex, really useful gimmick
6. doesnt heat up much, consistent performance
7. 90 Hz display, doesnt eat up as much battery and subjectively its not different to 120hz
8. The moto gestures and functions are absolutely awesome. Especially the Peek Display. I really missed this from the moto z i had and sold a few years ago.
9. loud stereo speakers, though they could use a bit more bass and less mids and highs. There is some kind of equalizer which doesnt seem to have too much effect though.
10. For me with smaller hands the width is perfect for single handed use, both left and right sided. Though because of the high display its sometimes hard to press things on the top.
11. Almost no bloatware (except for the google bloatware) so basically as if you would be getting a pixel phone.
12. Bootloader unlockable.
13. 3.5mm Headphone jack.
14. Charger and headphones in the box!
Will be adding things when i use it more. If anyone has questions i can try to answer them. And if anyone doest agree with me, bring it up so i can try it out.
View attachment 914143457575174145.webpHey OPPO Humans,
I hope you all are doing great.
I have been using the OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G as my primary device for almost 7 months now, and here comes a usage experience or we can say an In-depth review of the device. So without any further ado let's get started.
Topics covered in this thread :
Camera
Design & In-hand feel
Display
Performance
Battery Life
Software
My Final Verdict
1. Camera
Cameras are an important point when it comes to OPPO devices, so its no surprise to see more photo and video features, coupled with capable camera hardware on the OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G. The device is equipped with 64MP Main Camera, along with an Sony IMX 355 8MP ultrawide angle camera and two 2MP sensors – one for macro and the other for monochrome photography. The Reno6 Pro 5G also comes with Electronic image stabilization (EIS). You may be happy to learn that Ultra Steady video mode is available too. It has higher dynamic range, giving backlight shots clearer, more colourful details in both shadows and well-lit areas. The main camera can record 4K 60FPS videos.
Reno6 Pro 5G comes with a 32MP Sony IMX 615 sensor snapper for selfies and video chats. I found the 32MP front camera to be very good, which shoots some clear images with a good amount of details present on the face tones. Selfies taken during the day looked decent, Portrait mode is quite useful. In the evening or night, the performance is also very good, it provide usable selfies with bright enough light sources around.View attachment 914136882299011077.webp
My experience with the camera was very delightful and extra ordinary. It was a perfect blend of all the factors that one wants from a camera app like Saturation, Exposure, Auto-Focusing, Focus tracking etc & the features like Bokeh Flare Portrait, Flash snapshot and many more made the Camera Department stand out from the rest.
2. Design & In-Hand Feel
The first thing that caught my eyes was the beautiful design. The device come in two color options i.e. Aurora & Stellar Black. I have the Stellar Black variant. It comes with OPPO's exclusive Reno Glow design, providing a unique back design because the AG glass has glossy and matte both in his back as some like glossy textures. Combining Reno Glow glass which using a crystal drilling technique to create millions of pyramid-shaped crystal structures at a microscopic level, and Diamond Spectrum body which is the combination of five core elements, the new Aurora variant could shine a million colors while holding in different angles.View attachment 914137195647074310.webp
And in terms of in-hand feel, OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G weighs only 177g which is quite lighter than any other smartphone and it also has a thickness of 7.6 mm which is much much thinner. The clean, minimalistic, quite elegant design is very comfortable in my hand and gives me a classy premium experience while holding the device in my hands.
3. Display
OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G has a 6.5" OLED Curved Single Punch-hole display with Refresh rate of 90Hz, Touch sampling rate of 180Hz, and Screen-to-body ratio of 93.4%. My view on display is that when it comes to the display quality of the smartphone, you will not be disappointed by using it to watch videos on various OTT platforms and YouTube. The punch hole doesn't result in much of a hindrance in the viewing experience. There’s also support for Widevine L1, HDR 10+ Certification and thanks to the OLED display, which offers accurate colors. And also it has SGS Eye Care display certification. It was fun to watch content on this phone, the outputs are top-notch. Overall, it's a great combination of design and display.View attachment 914137387368710147.webp
4. Performance
The phone is packed with MediaTek's flagship processor, Dimensity 1200. The octa-core Dimensity 1200 features one of the fastest smartphone CPUs ever. For all gamers, performance is a most important part. I played a lot of heavy games like BGMI and COD MOBILE and I was able to play both of them on high settings with high frame rate. Even at Ultra frame rate and HDR graphics, BGMI worked like a charm and I didn’t found any heating or frame drop problems with the phone. Thanks to the Multi-cooling system that prevents overheating. So, with the Performance on I don't have any issues and really impressed specially in gaming and multitasking works absolutely fine.View attachment 914137626133659652.webp
5. Battery
The OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G gets a massive 4,500mAh battery. With moderate usage, I was easily getting somewhere around 8hr of screen on time. And, in order to quickly charge this mega battery, there's also a 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 Charge, which can take it from zero to 100 in about 31 min. Other important feature I can't miss to share with you all is Super Power Saving Mode. With this mode turned ON, the battery life shoots up. Running low on battery? Turn this feature ON to save a lot for later. It shuts down almost every unnecessary operations and gives extra screen on time.View attachment 914137750721527814.webp
The combination of 4500mAh + 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 makes this smartphone survive for a long time whether you play your favorite games or listen to the music or watch videos for hours. When it comes to charging speed I never want to go back after using that 65W SuperVOOC I just simply in love with how fast it gets charged. Yes I'm very happy with the battery life.
6. Software
The OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G comes with Android 11 and ColorOS 11.3 on board. The user interface is clean, pleasing to eyes, icon designs, smooth animation while opening & closing the apps, everything is perfectly balanced with tons of customisation options found on ColorOS 11.3, But one thing that amazed me a lot is that it comes with native Google stock apps. Yes, we get stock apps like stock dialer apps, messages. Instead of a smart assistant on the left end of the home page now we get Google now. OPPO is seriously leaping towards much cleaner and stock experience.View attachment 914138382828044292.webp
I'm really impressed with ColorOS 11.3, and loved the overall UI experience. Mainly, the sets of customisation it offers are on the next level, being honest this is what I always wanted at the moment.
My Final VerdictView attachment 914139023155920898.webp
After spending 3 months with OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G and i just fall in love with device. For me it's a beast device at the price point it is available right now. MediaTek Dimensity 1200 Processor which not only gives you a smooth and amazing gaming experience but also a well optimised powerful device. Camera is the mainThis is only smartphone in this price segment having DSLR effect. Bokeh Flare Portrait mode which is a cool new feature no doubt. The battery performance is good as well and the addition of 65W fast-charging makes the deal unbeatable. The way that it looks and sits in your hand is bound to win you over. Plus the gorgeous curved AMOLED display, how smooth and slick it feels in daily usage. It is one of the slim and light device which you really feel in your hands but also looks premium. I feel most users will be happy after buying this phone, especially those who are looking for a stylish, sleek phone. Overall I'm happy and satisfied with the same at the moment
So with that I have concluded the review by my side. Now it's your time! I hope you guys like this device and let me know what you think about the device in the comment section!
Signing off
Thahir
Thanks for the review. Can you confirm if Google MAp's Live View works on it? Thanks!h
Hi I need to root my phone oppo Reno 6pro is there any possibility