And that they are.
I've been playing with two new Android phones over the past month or so,
the Samsung S8 and the Sony xPeria X-Performance, both of which are
superb pieces of technology.
So time to make a decision as to what I'll keep and - to my surprise if
you like - I much prefer the xPeria experience what it comes to Android
phones.
I acknowledge just how good Samsung phones are and I've now used 3 of
them starting with the Note4, then progressing to the S6 and finally the
S8 so why do I prefer the Sony xPeria?
The audio is far better and - to me - audio and video is a very
important factor when it comes to a Smart Phone.
More Bluetooth standards are supported with the xPeria phone though this
probably wont' be a concern to others as it is for me, I have a Sony
Personal Music Player which works right out of the box when paired to
the xPeria phone using Sony's "LDAC" lossless Bluetooth protocol, of
course one can use APTX Lossles Bluetooth which is a common standard but
- whatever standard you choose to or are forced to use - the xPeria
phone will tell you what standard of Bluetooth you're using and I've not
seen any other phone do this.
The volume control of both Bluetooth device and phone are seamlessly
integrated with each other thus you don't need to set both controls
independently, users of Bluetooth headsets or spekaers would know how
first you have to adjust the Bluetooth volume of the Phone - normally to
100% - and then adjust the volume level of the headset or speaker, with
xPeria just one volume adjustment needs to be changed.
I love the idea of the Volume notification bar that appears near the top
of the screen when the volume up/down key is pressed, here you find all
the volume controls for for sounds the phone makes - ring tone, media
voluem, notification alert volume and so on - so a simple tap on one of
these controls in the notification volume sets focus to the control so
you can then decrease/increase the volume for the particular sound with
the volume up/down buttons, just swipe the Volume notification bar out
of the way when you're finished with it.
I'm using the latest Talkback on the Xperia phone even though it did
take me a little while to get up and running, i've documented this well
and truly on list.
I've reset the phone several times since and gone through the
installation procedure without a hitch thankfully.
Security options are a plenty in the settings and I really like the idea
of the fingerprint reader in the "Power" button, that's exactly where a
fingerprint reader should be on every phone in my view, just so well
thought out.
The dedicated "Two-Step" camera button is a nice touch though I've not
made full use of this yet <smile>.
The stereo spekaers on the front of the phone make a huge difference
even when listening to Google Talkback.
And to the final point of the Sony xPeria which swayed me, the excellent
Backup and Restore facilities offered by default with this phone, the
most thorough and precise I've seen in any Android device to date.
I stress again that the above is only my opinion so do your research if
you're looking around for a phone, I'd be absolutely happy if I had no
choice but to continue using the Samsung Galaxy S8 but I'm even happier
with the Sony xPeria.
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"Live each day as if you were goiing to die tomorrow, learn each day as
if you were going to live forever"
