I have a 5ii and had a Z5 in the past. I'll probably buy a 5v in the near future. Sony has a unique mix of hardware features (headphone jack, removable storage, front facing speakers, capacitive fingerprint scanner, no holepunch) and a near-stock implementation of android that only LG rivaled. I love their industrial design and form factor.

I can't really comment much on current phones but as a dev I have come to own the Xperia Z3, Z5, Z5 Compact, XZ, XZ1 Compact, XZ1 Premium, XZ2 and XZ2 Compact for testing websites and Apps and I have here in Austria seen them in the wild from time to time due to Sony phones having been promoted quite a lot by local carrier - but that all was 5 or more years ago. These days I barley see them, and even if its always older Models from XZ times.

One of the things Sony through all these years always got right in my opinion is the Software. Sony's Software IS what reviewers say Oxygen OS is. Its 90% Stock and performance is always top notch and mega consistent for the given chipset. Even the Z5 despite having the controversial Snapdragon 810 puts out a solid and most importantly **consistent **performance to this day. Its not like with Galaxy S6 which is equally if not more powerful on paper but sometimes bogs down for no reason.

My biggest issue with these older Sony phones is their Screens. For some reason 6 out of my 8 Sony phones have some kind LCD related issues (Sony was also really late in using OLED) . My XZ1 compact has quite a few dead pixels and the other 5 have some brighter areas on the LCD which can look distracting. And yes some other brands have it too but maybe I got unlucky or something but Sony phones from my experience seem to by far the worst.

With their latest phones - I think they are in a great spot. They are a boutique Manufacturer with a clear audience in mind far away from the mainstream. I think unlike LG they recognized in time that they can't compete anymore in the mainstream and downsized the whole operation to what it is today instead of shutting the doors completely. This way people who really enjoy high-end notchless phones with a headphone jack and cameras that aim for authentic pictures still have very pricy option instead of none at all.

I am still a bit perplexed however on who buys the Xperia 10 phones for them to continue making them.

I used my Z3 Tablet Compact until it fell apart. I would buy an updated one the very second it was announced.

Overall, I wish Sony was actually competing. It really feels like HQ just forgot this tiny division exists so they keep making phones that feel designed for the idiosyncrasies of the people that work there rather than the market at large. That should be good for a place like here, but they're so uncompetitive on price.

Also what's the shorthand here? L/Android?

Love my Sony Xperia 1 IV. Has all the features I miss from the galaxy line (mostly as card). Heat issues weren't nearly the monster reviewers made them out to be.

How come you are bringing up the Ericsson part? There hasn't been a phone carrying a Sony Ericsson brand in ten years?

The new Xperia 1 V looks amazing and is coming out this month. It is really expensive but is one of the only phones nowadays that comes with an aux jack and a micro SD card slot. It's great having a phone with 1.25-1.5 TB of space for lossless music, photos, etc and not having to pay monthly for cloud storage. I've always been a Samsung guy but since they followed Apple and ditched the basics I may try a Sony phone in the near future if there's a price drop or a refurbished deal. The biggest criticism I see with Sony phones is that they only commit to 2 years of updates, which for $1,400 is quite lousy considering other brands offer 4 years of update support for their phones.

The best phone I have ever used is sonyericsson p910i It was years ahead of it game. Best form factor, came with a pen, removable keyboard, SD card, and so on...

The Ericsson brand hasn't been on phones for more than a decade! Some very interesting phones from that era though.

Can you easily unlock the boot loaders to install Lineage? What kind of factory booatware comes on them?

As a user of a Xperia One IV, I can say I've been very impressed and very happy with my phone. One of the few good phones that still has a headphone jack and a microsd card slot, both of which I regularly use. When it runs out of updates at some point, I can install a custom OS on it like Lineage, so it's been awesome and I'll be using this phone for years to come. If you can afford one (since they are quite expensive, I got mine on a sale and it was still expensive), I highly recommend it.

I've had an Xperia S and Z5. I loved both phones because they were well designed aesthetically, both hardware and software, in comparison to the competition at the time such as the early Galaxy S models. As part of their UI skins, they also had some thoughtful features and some hardware features which at the time weren't so common, such as side fingerprint unlock with the later models. Nothing truly revolutionary, true, but just a well rounded experience, and at least with their early models, worth the slight price premium.

Then Sony stopped selling their phones in Australia a few years ago, so that was that. :(

Excellent phones that provide everything including a jack and micro sd slot. Wish they were available in my country but cost wayyy too much to export.

Too expensive. I don't want to pay more than $500 for a phone

Too niche and expensive. They would do better to offer some phones with some value as a vehicle for high end sales.

I'm currently using 5iii and xz1 compact. I really like the old school design, the inclusion of SD cart slot and headphone jack, and it's easy to unlock. However, the update policy is bad (2 yr OS + 1yr security) especially when you factor in the price, and the availability is limited to select markets only.

Love my Sony Xperia 1 IV. Has all the features I miss from the galaxy line (mostly as card). Heat issues weren't nearly the monster reviewers made them out to be.