Generally bad experience with Z5

[Xp23]

Hi all.

Just wondering how others are feeling about the Z5.

I had the original Xperia Z, which I loved! 

I thought the Z5 would be my dream phone. I've been growing more and more disappointed with it.

Firstly, it's HOT! All I have to do is use snapchat, instagram, or any app for 5 minutes and this thing gets hot.

When it gets hot, it gets slow! I have a very simple installation. I have Spotify, Instagram, Snapchat and facebook. That's about it. This thing runs slower than my original Xperia Z runs currently! I have tried a factory reset and have all available updates installed. It just gets hot and then slow.

Apps are constantly crashing! This appears to be related to the heat issue again.

The fingerprint sensor works only about 20% of the time.

Phone calls are too quiet! I can't hear people talk, and I have perfect hearing. I press my head hard against the phone to hear then I get burned by the hot phone!

Calls are dropping! This is happening constantly. 

Calls are inturrupted by half a second of silence!

Touch screen does not work with wet hands! I've seen videos claiming that the screen works perfectly when wet. Mine goes crazy! Every droplet of water acts like a finger touch.

Just an all round awful experience here. I'm really regretting this purchase after only one month. And I was so excited for this product. I wanted to love it!

Anyone else feeling this way?

[CameronT]

Hi @Xp23,

Welcome to the community. I am sorry you're having a bad experience with your Z5.

Could you please start your phone in safe mode and see if you still have the same trouble?

[Rohit2001]

Mine runs hot even when I'm in the support page xD. But honestly, the battery life is sub par. After around 3 hours of screen on time, my phone is down to below 30%, and when gaming, the situation is worse. I'm satisfied with all the nifty features of Sony Xperias that make them such as themes, small apps, and of course, the camera button, but I'm dissatisfied with all the stutters, overheating, and camera over processing, inability to shoot and read RAW files, and the frequent System UI crashes.

[JoshJackJenkins]

I bought the phone in October 2015. It was a replacement for my Z1, which was my ideal phone until the battery just died on me and required a permanent power source (in other words, it was on life support and eventually I pulled the plug).

The Z5 though, has been a disappointment since the very start. It's easily my most unsatisfying purchase, yet ironically the most expensive phone I've owned.

- In comparison to the Z1 it feels cheap. Lighter, maybe. But it feels flimsy around the edges, like corners have been cut in the design.

-... And as it would happen, the phone is the first I've had to take on significant physical damage. I'm careful with my phones. A small piece of the frame of the phone came off this summer. It's not been dropped, and its a part of the phone you seldom touch (top left, beside the head phone jack) but it just came off. Whilst at a festival over the summer I was incredibly careful to not let dust and sand get into the gap as I wasn't sure if the waterproofness and dustproofness was now compromised. Two weeks later, the frame came off all the way down to below the slots on the left side of the phone. It's been like that ever since, whilst a massive crack appeared down the back of the phone as well... The most pressure the phone has ever been put under is being placed in my pocket.

- Over-heating. This happened with my Z1 towards the end of its life, but with the Z5 it was pretty much happening once it was out of the box. This isn't just a phone that warms up a bit with use... it can actually hurt if I catch my fingers on the wrong part of the back of the phone sometimes.

- Headphone jack: It's just dodgy. Some headphones fail to be picked up at all by it now (and that's not a quality thing... My expensive Bose earphones aren't usable on the phone any more unless I hold them in a specific place).

- Functionality: So many different issues along the way. As of now, the phone lags and even crashes if I turn mobile data on and dare to do anything else with the device for about 30 seconds. The shutter button works to open the camera app but seldom works as a shutter now. The camera app itself is malfunctioning in numerous ways. Typing lags heavily, and will cause music to stop playing if you ambitiously tried to do both at once. The auto rotate sometimes decides to stop working until I reset the phone. The flashlight regularly disappears from the drop down menu and I can't find a way of bringing it back... It reappears by itself at some later time. The phone crashes about once a week on average now, usually taking about 20% of the charge in the process - the intense overheating when powering up again at this point is the worst.

- Wet screen: one misplaced raindrop and that's it, the screen goes mental until I wipe it all away.

- Ugliness: more of my personal opinion this one, but for any faults the Z1 had, it felt better knowing that at least Sony put a good spin on Android. These days, not so much. Walkman is gone, Album has been scaled back as had PlayMemories and the whole thing is next to running stock Android. Lumbered with the same bloatware though the device just comes across as ugly. It's not simplicity... The design has been dumbed down, and no longer has m/any customisation options. The whole UI looks cheap, the tacky stock clocks you're forced to choose from are obnoxiously large on the lockscreen, and you end up with am expensive phone with a decent screen not being able to realise its potential. All in all, the Z5 looks cheaper in terms of software too... The Z1 looked more advanced and more worth its cost, and that was several years ago.

The death of my Z1 was awful, and Sony's slow repair process meant I needed a new phone. With more pros than cons to the Z1 I stuck with Sony thinking the Z5 was a decent looking replacement. After just 14 months with it I have completely had enough and can only hope it has the competency to last to around two years so I can seriously consider replacing it. Will it be a Sony? Not very likely right now. The devices feel cheap, they don't last, and now they're looking cheap as well.

[Xp23]

You're right. I was being too generous with the 5 minute statement. I can feel the top centre getting hot seconds after waking my phone and using an app! The vast majority of my issues seem to be heat related. How did they get this so wrong? I don't even like putting this thing in my pocket because it makes my leg sweat.

I'll try safe mode tomorrow, but I doubt that will lead to anything. As I said, I have very minimal apps installed and they're all highly reputable.