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Sony was one of the first OEMs to focus on designing water-resistant phones, but they weren't always resistant enough. Consumers were brushed off by Sony when their water-resistant phones and tablets showed evidence of water damage. Now, there's a class action lawsuit wrapping up that could result in affected Sony owners getting a 50% refund on their devices.
I'm not going to mince words here: if you don't have a Nexus phone, odds are pretty good that you aren't running Android 6.0. The best that you can say of most manufacturers when it comes to this software cycle is that maybe they're kinda-sorta trying to update last year's flagship phones. Sony has been a little better than most in that regard - they've already updated several phones and tablets from the Z4 and Z5 series, and now even older models are getting in on the action. According to XperiaBlog, the Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, and Xperia Z3 Compact are being updated to Android 6.0 starting today.
Few Android OEMs take their updates as seriously and as extensively as Sony does, and Marshmallow is no exception. Ever since the source code for Android 6.0.0 was released by Google, the company revealed which devices in its portfolio will get it (hint: they go as far back as the Xperia Z2), released AOSP binaries for a slew of devices including its new Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact, and announced concept Marshmallow builds for the Z3 and Z3 Compact that are open for 10,000 testers. Now these builds are starting to roll to users who signed up for them and you have more opportunities to try them out if you own a compatible smartphone.
At this year's I/O, Google again made a developer preview of the upcoming version of Android available for download. Thing is, it only ran on Nexus phones and tablets. Today Sony has announced plans to release a test build of Android M for Xperia products in the Sony Open Device program as well. Here we see it running on an Xperia Z3 Compact.
Xperia owners, watch out. Lollipops are raining from the sky and smashing straight into your screens. If you welcome this phenomenon, don't do anything. These lollipops have heat-seeking sensors and will find your devices wherever they lay. If you prefer KitKat, you can swat the intruders away, but you'll never get to experience the future changes in store for your Android device.
Sony promised it would bring Android 5.0 to all its Z series phones, and now it's starting to live up to that. The newest generation Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact are first up. The OTA is rolling out now to devices in Nordic and Baltic countries, but other markets should follow within two weeks. There's a nifty demo video to go along with the announcement.
CyanogenMod supports a few new devices today, all of them Sony. Just head over to the CM download section and you can get nightly builds for the Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact, and Z3 Tablet Compact with LTE (that's Scorpion). This follows the WiFi version of this tablet getting support just a few days ago.
Sony began pushing out an update to the Xperia Z3 on December 11th, but we didn't know exactly what it contained. Well, we do now. Sony has graciously added a changelog to the page. The Z3 and Z3 compact are getting the same features, but it's a nice little update.
If you live in a real-life version of the latest James Bond or Spider-man flicks, where absolutely every piece of electronics everywhere is made by Sony, then we've got good news: the PS4 Remote Play app is now available for download. This lets the Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact, and Z3 Tablet Compact use a PlayStation 4 controller and super-fast streaming video to play PlayStation 4 games over a home Wi-Fi network. That should make up for all the crazy supervillains swarming around your house.
When Google first pulled the lever on Chromecast's screen casting, the functionality was limited to a select number of devices. Well, it still is, but the list is slowly growing, and we've noticed that the Sony Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact have made their presence known towards the bottom. This puts them in the same exclusive club as a number of Nexus, Galaxy, One, and G devices (boy is it awkward to say these names without the manufacturer attached).
You know those scary warnings that show up whenever you unlock the bootloader on a phone? "We can't be held responsible... blah blah... reduced functionality... blah... fiery death... blah blah blah." Sometimes they aren't kidding. Users who have unlocked the new Xperia Z3 Compact have found that low-light camera performance drops considerably. It turns out to be because of DRM in Sony's image signal processing.
Tucked into the flurry of news around Sony's trio of new Xperia Z3 devices was the fact that they'll be the first non-gaming gadgets to use the company's proprietary PlayStation 4 Remote Play system. The flagship Xperia Z3, high-powered "mini" Xperia Z3 Compact, and the 8-inch Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact will be able to stream PS4 games and play them across a home Wi-Fi network later this year. The PS4 can already stream gameplay to the PlayStation Vita.
Here at IFA 2014 in Berlin, Sony is announcing new entries to its Xperia smartphone line at all levels. The flagship Z series, last updated only six months ago at Mobile World Congress, has been bolstered with the Xperia Z3. This device is the tip top of Sony's line, though in terms of sheer hardware it's an evolution rather than a revolution. The 5.2-inch 1080p screen, Snapdragon 801 processor (bumped up to 2.5Ghz), and 20.7MP rear camera are similar to the last iteration, but the body is much thinner at 7.3mm. The body is also more rounded, which should help with those somewhat uncomfortable squared-off shoulders.
It's been less than six months since Sony announced the top-of-the-line Xperia Z2 back at Mobile World Congress, but it looks like the company may be ready to release yet another iteration at IFA in Berlin. A Facebook fan page (reported by the reliable XperiaBlog) posted photos of what looks a lot like the next Xperia superphone, the Z3. A sticker on the device includes specifications, though there's no way to confirm them. Don't get too excited; it looks like a pretty tepid update.