Could Sony bring the Concept Firmware to the Z5 family?

[SebastianD]

Apparently, the concept firmware was/is a success. Almost all the Z3 users that are participating in the concept version of Sony are really happy with it and voted to continue according to this article.

So why not include also the Z5 in this?

I think it's really important to test BIG.Little, CAF patches, Fingerprint sensor API in Marshmallow, and a lot of general bugs for the Z5 family. 

Also...there are a lot of bugs in the latest Z5 Stock Firmware (Lollipop) so I think it would be great to help Sony to polish the future firmware (Marshmallow) for the Z5 too. 

Could any forum manager escalate this petition to the development team?

Thanks and best regards

Sebastian. 

[SebastianD]

Any news on this? We are almost in March and there is not a single signal of a Concept or Beta for Z5 line.

I'd like to know what's going to be fixed in MM in Z5 (aside from the auto brightness bug). 

- Will the Fingerprint sensor use MM API? 

- Is the camera firmware changed or improved? 

- Is the camera going to adapt better to MM native API? (camera 2 api). 

- How about BIG.LITTLE improvements? 

Thanks!

[Dominic81]

My guess: The Z5 userbase is so small compared to the Z3 userbase that it probably doesn't make sense at the moment for Sony to bring a concept or beta firmware to this device

Considering the current state of the Lollipop firmware we have to deal with (many bugs and issues too in my case with bluetooth, auto-brightness, battery life/drain, UI stuttering here and there I don't notice on my wife's Moto X Pure she got 2 days ago, etc. ), I'd like to be able to at least beta-test Marshmallow too. Who knows, it would maybe even makes my Z5 more enjoyable (I miss being able to listen to music in my car. My Z5 won't stay connected to my car bluetooth radio, it diconnects all the time...)

The Z5 feels a little bit abandonned to be honest I really hope Marshmallow will be worth it. The Z5 deserves a better firmware

[Bhonder]

I think they saved Marshmallow for the Xperia X premiere. They have to sell something new if they want to... sell something.

Then, after the delivery of some Xes, android 6 will pop up for the rest of us.

[RobertoDS]

We're not having Concept because we're having directly 6.0 by two weeks about !!! That's all !!!

So it's not useful to ask for a Concept when we're going to have this wonderful and long-waited 6.0

[Dominic81]

I doubt they'll wait that long to release MM to the Z series... I mean, it already takes TOO long as far as I'm concerned given that the current Z5 Lollipop firmware is crippled by some major issues that haven't receive a fix yet, since October... if they wait til this summer (release of the Xperia X series to roll-out MM to the Z5, they're shooting themselves in the foot and are literally failing and losing customers on purpose. I know Sony has that reputation of being"late to the party" and takes forever to release updates... but it can't take "that long"... antagonizing your userbase that much would be just plain stupid and desastrous for the brand.

[dobenet]

Android M was introduced at Google I/O 2015 in May, and released in October. We're now in March and next Google I/O on May 20 will introduce Android N which many sites begins to show beta screens. Plus, the fact that Google fight hard every month releasing minor updates on it's Nexus models to cover security holes in Android M without being able to keep the system completely safe, it's clearly a shame from Sony and other manufacturers to wait 4 or 6 monthes before releasing the current firmware.

I can understand it's a big work to release a firmware, but when you sell premium smartphones at such prices, you take your precautions to follow the updates and avoid this Android fragmentation that benefit to hackers. When Apple release an iOS update, the whole product line is patched the same day, whereas in Android, you get the update 6 monthes later, and only on latests models. The older ones, which are however powerful enough to support it, don't get it, because of this stupid rule of planned obsolescence that force you to buy the new year line instead of updating your old model. Clearly, if you want a secure up to date smartphone, you have to throw away your Z or Z1 model and buy the next X model, that's completely stupid. And apart the Nexus line, all manufacturers do the same, it's such a shame !

[Bhonder]

What if marshmallow for Z5 is worse than Lollipop for Z5? I mean: we all came to a balance between pros and cons. Who knows what MM will bring to Xperia?

X series has a lot less features than Z: is it because the hardware (unlikely), the OS, or a mix between OS and firmware? Is this going to apply to Z too?

Moreover: when X series will be rolled out, will Z still be maintained or all of the Sony's staff will be busy to nurture the new devices only, leaving behind the bumps of MM on Z series?

And who will dare to install the new OS knowing it is a jump in the void, because no one up to now, even tried a beta MM on Z5?

[vivencio_rp]

Japanese Z5 series had Android 6.0 pushed to them March 2nd.

Been using it for a couple days now. Nothing much is different in this current iteration. We finally got the camera UI all other Z5s had from a few months ago.

No adoptive storage option from what I can see. No stamina mode, although an April update is meant to bring it back. Hope it brings other UI changes as well.

[RobertoDS]

I think our SW 6.0 should be different as always during as these years, so just wait some other few days and then we could report if is bad or not