Gadgetory

so the same thing always happens when a new device launches the media gets review units ahead of the official launch and we get to use them while we write our review then the press embargo lifts every outlet posts their reviews and videos at the same time writers and commenters go back and forth and it's a huge frenzy of opinion and buzz for about a day and then it all goes away I'm sure there's some follow-up coverage but after that initial blast almost no one revisits the device to see how well it's aged because we're all on to the next big thing already so let's do something about it let's have a look at a device after a couple of weeks after release and when it's not shiny and new anymore I'm high I'm gonna be late I'm with pocket now and this is the Sony Xperia Z oh this is episode 20 of after the buzz you know when I reviewed the Sony Xperia ZL back in April I amends everything I said on its own this device is beautiful and quite capable but with the buzz of the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy s4 and no US carrier picking it up I know that wouldn't stand a chance and sadly it didn't I still loved going back to this phone every now and then it's but almost four months since I have it and I still feel that the phone looks brand new even after some real-world use I can tell you that I don't see it aged at all and that's me without using a case it may not be the slimmest or the lightest but it's one of the most handsome phones that I've ever used in a long time at times when gloss and glass are all over the market I can tell you that I enjoy the fact that this phone has a matte and textured back that I don't have to be wiping off to make the phone look clean it's just awesome in its own way the only thing standing between my true love and this device is the display and it's not really because Sony didn't figure out how to fit this five inch display in such an impossible frame it's more the fact that the viewing angles are bad and you don't see that problem with other flagship smartphones that cost the same amount of money so when you think about the fact that you have the prompt of the display and the fact that the specification czar really focused on last year's hardware and you get to think that the price range is not really adequate for this phone when you can buy another device that doesn't have these problems overall I guess you could say that this phone has aged well when it comes to aesthetics but not necessarily when it comes to specs now one thing that has aged well with this phone is the software and I think that Sony knew that we were gonna film it after the buzz on it right now because well they just launched the Android 4.2.2 on this device and it was very necessary over-the-top the UI looks Sony in every way you can't really tell the difference between the past version that we had but now we have support for lock screen widgets which is something that's well received and it just looks smoother all around the view play around with the device I do hate the fact that Sony has disabled the new settings tar goes that pretty much every other OEM has embraced with the new version of Android but at least the buttons that are there find for me though I know that your thoughts may vary the multitasking UI has a couple of more Sony small applications which is cool you know those little apps that can hover over whatever you're doing like a calculator really cool and all you can now access them in a smarter and faster fashion but other than that the UI looks almost exactly the same as we saw in April which is good just not great if you're after something like really fancy like air gesture or air view or blinkfeed or whatever well Samsung and HTC is your best bet sadly the sony UI is adequate it's unique but it's not better than anything else that's already in the market and day to day use the Android 4.2.2 update that serve this phone well in some places and not so well in others I mistakenly omitted to tell you in my review that this phone had terrible sound quality through the headphones a complete irony for a sony phone running a Walkman app this was so annoying that I actually stopped using the phone for a while but thankfully the problem is solved with the update and even though it's not better than any other phone it just works well which is awesome now on the negative side the battery isn't really enjoying the update one bit I priced it in our review for going beyond one day with one charge which was good but don't expect that same performance now hopefully Sony will iron that out later and probably some other update but don't expect something great now and even though the performance doesn't seem any either better or worse it just seems the same just a little more fluid but I think that's more of a UI tweak the camera is well the same the Sony Bravia Engine 2 makes these photos and videos look amazing as long as you keep them within the display but neither the Photos nor the videos look amazing when you pull them out and the reason why I make this a statement is because not every phone uses a 13 megapixel sensor and well these photos and videos aren't any better than any other phone that has an eight megapixel camera for example so bottom line what I still recommend that you buy a Sony Xperia ZL after three months of use well this is a tough one on my opinion this is a beautiful phone that would have been amazing last year but this year it's just too little and too late it lacks that wow factor that many devices bring to the table in 2013 and for those of you that are looking for something like that well I would sadly have to recommend that you look somewhere else so far Sony I would say that you still need to step your game up when it comes to catching up to what current OEMs are doing that you should be doing better that's it for episode xx after the bus thank you very much for joining me if you have any questions or comments about the Sony Xperia Z oh or your own experiences after the buzz leave us a comment down below it also follow us on social media and also please subscribe to our You Tube channel give this video a thumbs up if you like what you saw I am Hina Rivera thank you very much for watching we will see you next time