Dramel Notes: xperia

The end is nigh for your old smartphone. Your upgrade came, and it’s a Sony Xperia, perhaps one of last year’s models, or even the 2015 Sony Xperia Z5.

You’re bracing yourself for the time intensive and often frustrating task of copying your data and contacts from your old smartphone (Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone) to your new one. And then you discover Xperia Transfer, and all is right with the world once more.

Which Method Should You Use?

Sony provides two Android apps designed to manage your migration from your old phone to a new Sony Xperia — one mobile and one desktop. The former is Xperia Transfer Mobile, which works wirelessly; the latter is Xperia Transfer Desktop, which sends the data via a client app on a PC or Mac.

But which method should you use? Well, in simple terms, if you’re using Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or later, then using the Xperia Transfer Mobile app will be fine.

However, for those wanting to transfer data from an old Android device (below Android 4.0), a Nokia (running Symbian), a BlackBerry, a Windows Phone, or an iPhone, then your best bet is to use the desktop method, outlined below.

First, we’ll look at the mobile app.

The Mobile Method

To get started, check your Sony Xperia for the Xperia Transfer Mobile app, which should be listed in the App Drawer. If not, open the Play Store and install it. When you’ve done that, install it on your old Android as well.

Next, launch the app on both devices. Select Wireless connection, and choose PIN or NFC (near field communication) to establish a relationship. Using a PIN is quicker (NFC naturally requires you to activate this feature, which for security reasons should be left disabled), so choose this on your old phone, then again on your new phone.

Xperia Transfer Mobile will then display a PIN on the new phone that you must enter on the old one. You will then see a notification informing you of an Invitation to Connect — click Accept on the new phone.

It’s almost time to start transferring data. All you need to do first is confirm what exactly you want to migrate, using the check boxes.

Once you tap Transfer, the new phone will confirm that you want to give Xperia Transfer Mobile permission to access and move the selected data. The app will then transfer the data, and as long as you have enough space on your new phone, you’ll soon have everything moved over.

The Desktop Method

Migrating from an old Android device (running a version prior to Android 4.0), one with problematic wireless networking, or one that runs BlackBerry, iOS, or Windows Phone/Mobile is just as simple, but it requires you to first install a desktop client. You’ll find this on the Sony Mobile website; choose the link for PC Companion or Mac Bridge. We’ll continue with this guide focusing on PC Companion (a 29MB download), but the options on both apps are more or less identical.

After installation, connect your Xperia via USB cable to prompt for the drivers to be installed; check your phone’s display to complete installation. The desktop app is multi-purpose and also provides any information you need concerning updates, so it is worth leaving it installed (assuming it doesn’t interfere with your other apps).

With the software installed, the PC Companion feature opens, so click Start and work through the setup wizard until you click Finish. Once this is done, find Xperia Transfer on the main app window, click Start, and wait as the component is installed.

Prepare Your Old Phone

While this is happening, on your old phone, which should be disconnected from your PC, install the Xperia Transfer Desktop application. When this is done, run the app (which installs as) and follow the wizard to extract your data.

On your computer, you will be presented with a menu, where you can select your data source. Each selection you make will display the type of data that can be transferred on the right. When you’re happy with your selection, once again click Start.

You’ll be given the chance to review the data that will be transferred, including the opportunity to add or drop contacts, or manually merge them if you have duplicates.

If you’re using the Xperia Transfer Desktop app on your old Android device, now is the time to connect it via USB. Make sure you have the USB connection type set to MTP — you should be able to change this in your notifications once it’s connected.

For transferring via iPad or iPhone, first make a backup either to iCloud or to your desktop using iTunes. You can then proceed with Xperia Transfer Desktop to migrate the data to your new Xperia device. If you’re moving from Blackberry, the Sony transfer software will take everything across to your new Xperia.

Windows Phone or Windows Mobile users should choose the final option in the list above, after first ensuring their contacts are synced via Outlook or Windows. Content will need to be manually transferred, or else you’ll need to sync to OneDrive and use the Android OneDrive app.

Transfer Your Data

When the data is ready to be transferred to your Xperia, and you have connected the device, simply click Transfer to complete the process.

Sit back as the data moves from the old device to the new one, relatively effortlessly.

What Do You Think?

This is a great way to keep hold of your contacts and those much-loved photos, although don’t overlook cloud solutions when it comes to digital keepsakes you don’t want to lose! Keeping everything backed up this time around could mean an even easier switch next time.

Do you have a Sony Xperia phone or tablet? Have you used the Xperia Transfer software, or perhaps run into trouble with it? Tell us in the comments.

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You’re looking for a new phone. Something reasonably powerful, big screen, great sound. A handset to blow your iPhone-loving friends out of the water.

This might just be it.

Sony’s Xperia Z5 is a larger phone, verging on phablet dimensions. Available in a variety of finishes, we’re reviewing and giving away one in a stunning gold finish. But is it a good enough smartphone for you to spend time reading this review and entering our giveaway?

The Sony Xperia Z5: What’s Inside?

This phone comes with a lot of spec.

Requiring a nano SIM, the inside of the 146 x 72 x 7.3 mm case is packed full of tech, the highlight of which is the Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 chipset with a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU and Adreno 430 GPU, backed up by hefty 3Gb of RAM.

Several versions of the Xperia Z5 are available, including the Xperia Z5 Premium, a super flagship boasting a 5.5 inch 4K display. The model we’re reviewing, however, is the Xperia Z5, the standard flagship, still with phablet dimensions (a slightly smaller 5.2 inch), but with a more battery friendly Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel display, complete with Sony’s TRILUMINOS™ with Live Color LED for remarkable color reproduction.

A microSD slot – in the same caddy as the nano SIM – will support up to 200 GB, which will add to the 32GB internal storage.

As with any modern smartphone, you can expect to get online via mobile Internet (GSM, HSPA, LTE) or wireless, and the device also features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA and wireless hotspot. Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, NFC, micro USB with USB host support and FM radio are all included.

Fingerprint Recognition Brings Added Security

One particularly useful feature is the fingerprint recognition, made possible using a small scanner mounted in the power button. Setting this up requires several cans of your thumb to be captured, and if you don’t vary the position of your chunkiest digit, you’ll be setting this up for a while. The best approach is to consider that the scan is looking at a strip of your thumb, and between scans move it slightly so that a different portion of your opposable digit is scanned.

All in all, the results are good, but the only benefit a thumb fingerprint recognition brings – beyond the obvious security benefits – is to save you pressing the power button. Instead, you just rest your thumb against the scanner to unlock the phone.

It’s nice to have, and can frustrate any unauthorized user, however.

Portable Entertainment Center

Like most Sony devices, the Xperia Z5 is an entertainment center, albeit one you can stick in your pocket and take with you anywhere. As a result, the smartphone has superb video and audio. The TRILUMINOS system makes a massive impact when you start watching video, while hi-res audio reproduction is as good as any other on the market, including Beats Audio, if not better.

Factor in the microSD slot and you have a smartphone that can hold its own against any other (and quite a few tablets and PCs) in multimedia playback. Whether you’re planning on enjoying music, streamed video or gaming, put simply, the Xperia Z5 is a fun device.

On the subject of gaming, meanwhile, you’ll find a PlayStation subfolder in the app drawer. From here, you can connect to your PS4 and use the Remote Play feature, as well as access various services on the PlayStation Network. It’s a bit like the Xbox 360 and Xbox One apps for Windows Phone and Android, only better…

Lollipop with a Stripped Back Custom UI

Upon booting, the first thing you see is Android 5.0 Lollipop. Although the phone ships with the promise of an imminent upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow (likely January), the most important thing to note here is that Sony has been working on a new user interface that closely resembles stock Android.

The result is a user interface that feels very much like Android 5.0 Lollipop but with a heavy dose of Sony software. As for branding, the only ever present element is the clock/calendar widget which can be removed if preferred. All in all, this is a slick, satisfying presentation of Android Lollipop, which suggests good things for the imminent update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

A nice addition to the UI are the Favorites Bar shortcuts on the Recents screen. Here, you can add a collection of lightweight apps (all windowed) such as a calculator, timer, browser, etc., that can be instantly launched. These can prove useful, and act more like widgets that can be quickly closed rather than standard apps.

Battery Life & Performance

One of the biggest surprises about this phone is the battery life. The non-removable Li-Ion 2900 mAh battery lasts up to 520 hours on standby, with up to 13 hours talk time. How does this translate into daily use?

While on standby and disconnected from both 4G and Wi-Fi, the Xperia Z5 battery decreases in daily chunks of 10-12%. Essentially, this means the phone can last over a week without recharging in a low-use scenario, although of course this would be an unlikely occurrence.

But what it does mean is that you can leave the Xperia Z5 at bedtime and wake up 6 hours later to find that it still has something approaching a useable charge. Better still, it recharges within a couple of hours and is equipped with several battery management tools. STAMINA mode and Ultra STAMINA mode activate power save functions, the latter enabling only basic phone functions – ideal for those desperate times when you’re nowhere near a power source for recharging. Background data queuing can also be enabled to reduce battery impact.

Using Antutu Benchmark to gauge an idea of how fast the phone is, we can see that, unsurprisingly, it’s a bit of an animal. User experience and other benchmarking tools may well differ, but based on Antutu, the Xperia Z5 running Lollipop is very highly rated, with only the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Note 5, and the Letv Le1 Pro coming in ahead.

That’s not bad at all.

However, it isn’t without its quirks. For instance, EA’s Dead Space seems to launch incorrectly half the time, sometimes with perfect sound, others with just ear-splitting static. For a phone with such good audio, this is particularly jarring.

Does the 23 MP Camera Deliver?

An impressive 23 megapixel camera (5520 x 4140 pixels) with phase detection autofocus and LED flash is mounted in the chassis of the Xperia Z5, offering a 16:9 ratio. You may prefer, however, to decrease to 20 MP and get the standard 4:3, but it is 8 MP that is selected by default, so if you’re looking for hi-resolution images from this camera, open the Settings screen in the camera app before you start snapping.

Color reproduction is convincing, with tones and hues appearing lifelike regardless of the environment. Various apps can be used within the camera app, such as 4K video, Multi camera view (which records footage from your device’s main camera and that of another Sony Xperia Z5 series phone or a recent Wi-Fi-compatible camera), panorama mode, and even Face in Picture, which records or snaps from both front and back cameras, and Vine, for uploading video clips to Twitter. In total, 12 camera apps are available, with more ready to be downloaded.

Other settings are also present, such as scenes and camera modes, and the smile detection works really well. Nighttime photography without the flash is impressive, with a more realistic color reproduction than you would find on cheaper phones. Think a camera on a par with the Samsung Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6S, here, but with the added polish that Sony brings to photographic hardware.

Meanwhile, snaps and videos recorded at the same location are automatically compiled into a story, much like the feature in Google Photos and other automated movie making apps.

Is the Xperia Z5 a Phone You Want?

As you’ve seen, the Xperia Z5 delivers a competent smartphone experience, combining the best of Android Lollipop with some surprisingly good pre-installed Sony apps and solid hardware.

This is a good smartphone, perhaps Sony’s best (although 4K fans will prefer the Z5 Premium.)

Compared to another 2015 phablet that we’ve reviewed – the Samsung Galaxy A7 – the Xperia Z5 is the more user friendly device. The useful thumbprint scanner on the power button saves time; the weight of the phone is perfect – not too heavy, not too light – and the camera is superb. Benchmark results speak for themselves.

However, you might be concerned that the phone ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop rather than the current Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Sony has stated that it will be making Marshmallow available on the Xperia Z5 in due course. So no need to panic!

Sony Xperia Z5 Giveaway