If I'd need to buy a new cell phone today, I would not hesitate a sec and get the Sony Xperia Z2. [uhm update 25.06.14: got the Z2 today ;-)
Why?
The good:
+ great
Camera
+ great
build quality, waterproof
+ great overall product design
+
"It's a Sony" > everything just works, I was very happy with all my previous Xperia phones.
+
great screen > 5.2" 1920x1080, beware it's not the brightest one
+ stereo speakers
+ excellent
battery stamina reported by many users
+ has
FM radio, which I use everyday
+ good language support, comes with
ISO 8859-11 thai font (see
white paper p.13)
to many this is way more important than the cpu, Samsung removes some languages and fonts in distant markets, rendering the phone annoyingly unusable for Thais)
+ built in hardware is top notch (same as the other flagship phones)
+
Noise canceling feature indeed works, but makes headphones a tad bit heavier
+ good
value for money, CHF 699 (599 in Aug.14) or
€582 launch price
+ good the Android UI hasn't been revamped to the max
+ fancy notification light
+ you can set the display's white balance!
+ the smart band receives
good critics and might be interesting to you
the bad:
-
Speakers are very very clear when listening to audio, but during calls, the speaker u hold to your ear will "chatter" a bit, so phone conversations won't be very clear! confirmed with a 2nd device. This is the phones biggest minus! Forget about this, speaker sound during calls turned perfectly cristal clear after two weeks! No idea, what happened.
- the noise cancelling head phones do not have a remote button to pick and end phone calls! Very annoying on the bike. Noise canceling does work, but not on the bike, doubles the wind sound :-( doh
- no IR to directly control your home media
- some folks don't like the touch feeling, when fingers meet the loading dock contacts
- touch feeling at device edges not super smooth due to overlapping frame, to protect the glass. Can't be further described, go and touch the thing in the shop.
Xperia Z2 sample picture. Reduced to 1600px from original 5248x3936 (7.51MB size)
.
