The Xperia Z Ultra is.....

[jacktesterson]

Freaking Awesome. Best phone I've ever had, minus the camera.

If the camera was even slightly better than "average at best", I'd be promoting this phone heavily. But its only decent outdoors - Indoors the camera on the phone outright sucks.

Sony is pushing 4.4.4 to the phone this week with "Camera Improvements" being listed as an update. It's on 4.4.2 right now. I don't have a Carrier version of the phone so I should get the update soon. (I have the C6802 International "World" version) - works on all Carriers but no LTE.

When I bought it I didn't really care about the camera, but I do find you can really only use it outdoors which is kind of a bummer, but one I can live with.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I'm curious what makes it good. Details would be nice

My GS4 right now runs two days on the stock battery with my current kernel and tweaks (even with LTE and GPS usage) and it overall has no more annoying quirks. I'm interested in what you feel makes the Z so good.

 

[dawheat]

If I recall, you have pretty enormous hands - were you the Mega 6.3 guy? I picked up the Z Ultra a while back and just loled at the idea of using it as a daily phone. This from a Note 2/Note 3 user.

 

[ponyo]

You seem to say this with every new device you buy. I'll be curious to see if you feel the same after the new device infatuation wears off after couple of weeks.

 

[jacktesterson]

I am the big hands guy haha.

This is quite an upgrade over the Mega on everything but the camera. The 8MP Camera was better on the Mega.

Speed is the biggest thing. Sony uses a fairly light skin and the S800 CPU makes this thing whistle. I feel zero lag in what I do on this phone completely stock. The Mega offers reasonable performance but it lags. Its about as fast as a US S3 on paper.

Screen sharpness is obviously better making the experience better for sure. Color is good on both phobes but more contrast with the Z Ultra. The Mega has a brighter screen though. Sony did fix the viewing angles with the Z Ultra though, they are a non issue now.

The Mega was full of bloat as well which you couldn't delete and there is near zero Dev community on this phone. The Sony has no bloat at all, just a few Sony Apps.

Those are the biggest strengths. I've really grown to dislike touchwiz.

I kinda want to go 100% stock and install a GPE ROM but I have zero Sony Flashing experience so I need to do some reading.

I don't consider myself a power user. I like the idea of having one device with good storage and a big screen. I find tablets bulky. A big phone feels much better to me and is more convenient as sadly I'm on the road a lot. I primarily use my phone for Browsing, Google Drive, Social Media, Email and some apps. Don't game much.

I felt the Mega would fit my needs but I was able to sell mine for $350 on ebay and I got a Z Ultra for $400 locally and its like new and came with everything plus a new zagg shield installed on front and back. To me it was worth the upgrade for sure. The screen and speed + ridding of TW was worth it for me.

But some of you know me. I have an itch often with mobiles although its slowed considerably in last year or two.

 

[jacktesterson]

You seem to say this with every new device you buy. I'll be curious to see if you feel the same after the new device infatuation wears off after couple of weeks.

You may be right. I have changed a lot. Z Ultra isn't perfect but I've committed myself to big screens. 6 inches or bigger. (That's what she said). Also - no Samsung's until touch wiz is revamped or its a GPE.

If a new device comes that meets my needs, and when I can upgrade for cheap I'll probably bite

 

[jacktesterson]

You seem to say this with every new device you buy. I'll be curious to see if you feel the same after the new device infatuation wears off after couple of weeks.

Haha one more.

I've had the Z Ultra for 2 weeks today. I also think I mentioned the Z Ultra in the Mega thread but said bit was too much money at the time. I stick around the $400 mark usually.

I debated bringing it up on here as I thought some may notice the trend of my threads but whatever I guess haha.

I have a Moto X with a cracked screen I got for dirt cheap that I use between phones and just to tinker with I guess. So Ive talked about that experience as well.

Battery Life is good on the Z Ultra. Lasts my days use no problem which is all I ask.

 

[Trombe]

The Sony skin has FM radio right?

 

[CrystalBay]

It looks like a really nice in purple :thumbsup: It is hard to think Sony messed up on the camera.