From HTC (M9) to Sony (Z5)

Finally, I decided to leave HTC. Right now, I have HTC M9. Thinking of good hardware, I had three options: LG G4, Nexus, or Sony Z5. I’m sorry but I never liked Samsung software! So, S6 wasn’t in my plans in spite of all good reviews it has. Testing Nexus 6 for few days, I hesitated in trying the new two Nexus phones. Swift playing with LG G4, I didn’t like how it feels in hand nor the preinstalled apps that I wasn’t able to disable most of them. Currently, I’m not doing any rooting work as it’s time consuming and it might affect selling the device later. So, I decided on Sony Xperia Z5.

I got it (Z5 E6653 black). Well, it’s not really a black color but rather a dark grey. I have to say it’s really wonderful. Starting the phone, everything was in Chinese yet I bought it from USA! I have to say that I haven’t tested (and I’m not planning to test) the phone in water…

After two days of working and testing, and unlike what I could understand from the internet reviews, it’s not getting hot. I can say that HTC M9 might get even hotter in many cases than this device. However, Sony displays warning on camera that if a phone gets hot, app might get closed and recorded video will be saved! Speaking about camera, the camera photos are perfect. In many tests, they are better than my M9’s. Shooting photos and zooming is very fast too. I just don’t get it why the default camera setting is 8mp not 20 or 23?! Just for notes, I disabled some extra (AR) effects on camera. This for sure will affect performance and I always liked editing a photo later in a specific program…

Sound quality of speakers is very good. It might be better on M9 but I still find Nexus 6 is louder. Phone calls sound is very good too. In general, the phone is very smooth and fast responding. I can’t say it’s smoother than M9 as I haven’t noticed a difference except for initiating a call is faster on HTC M9. I need more time to be able to judge the battery – I guess this isn’t a big problem anymore with a normal or USB charger at home, at work, or on road… But I could notice that leaving Z5 at night next to my bed without charging lost around 15% of battery in the morning (around 7 hours); while in same conditions, my M9 was losing around 10%

For me, I use Nova launcher on all my phones. I disable most of the default apps to use mine too. I like to have consistent experience on all my phones. On a phone, the only default apps I use are: Phone, Contacts, Camera, Gallery, and FM radio (if any). Everything else are third parties’ apps. So, I liked the flexibility in pre-installed apps, i.e., I was able to disable most of the apps.

As for the display, I believe there is no noticeable difference in display comparing to HTC M9. The finger print reader on the side is a brilliant and handy idea.

HTC might be better in the final touch on software or themes design (HTC Sense). That’s, the blue status bar on Z5 is annoying even if I changed the theme. The black edge of M9 and the black status bar is really overriding this problem. Another example is the contacts app; it misses some good features in comparing to HTC’s (e.g., sorting, contacts count, …) Related to this, the metal body of M9 might give a better feeling when holding it in hand. And, the sound volume buttons place in HTC at top is more handy.

Finally, I’m very happy I did this step. Z5 was a real upgrade from M9. I think I’ll keep it as my main phone for the current period. Thanks for those encouraged me to do this move…

Update: I received the Android update (6.0) in Mar. 13 on my Z5. However, HTC usually release the update much faster than this so did M9! AND, ads in notification area of Z5 is becoming really annoying

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