Sony confesses: we can't beat iPhone... yet

Re: how is the T not 'better'?

Being a Walkman is a plus now is it? What does a Walkman do better than an iPod? Honestly how many people want to physically plug their phone into their TV on a regular basis? (Why are Sony involved with Miracast if this is a satisfactory solution?)

Re: how is the T not 'better'?

Specs looks pretty bob on to me, not quite as powerful as the Nexus 4 but it still packs a punch.

Sony are probably finding sales flagging because of their previous mistakes, like punting out pretty phones running last years hardware priced with the current best of the best or leaving users high and dry with Android updates.

Re: how is the T not 'better'?

I agree - perhaps they mean that can't beat on individual device sales, it's a myth that iphone has ever led in specs, either hardware, or software (where Sony will do fine simply by running android).

Also i note that Sony refer to Samsung and Apple, where as the headline strips this down to just apple's device...

Re: But will the new one...

"...be a Nexus 4 beater?"

Sure, everything with an microSDcard slot is a Nexus 4 beater.

Something these corporate morons still don't get!

What I just don't udnerstand is that Sony associate it's products with the upcomming james bond movie and show a non-NXT-smartphone yet their posters all show last-years NXT-series (the ones whom were finally original but came with too little internal storage and WITHOUT microSD-card slots and hence didn't sell). Their fools.

Re: I have a solution

You already have those. It's called the Nexus 4... and I don't won't it!

In fact all nexus have compromises in functionality compared to their non-nexus counterparts.

The odd thing is that I believe the AT&T version o/t Optimus G DOES have a microSDcard slot. So its not that LG can't... it's again compromise and greed. Instead of building the full optimal optimus G... with 13Mpixel shooter, WITH SDcard-slot and WITH 16GB/32GB internal storage.... but nooo... It's again region A gets a 5Mpixel shooter,8GB internal storage BUT an microSDcard-slot, while another region gets the 13Mpixel shooter, 16Gb internal storage and no microSDcard-slot.

And then there's the Nexus variant, the lowest camera, the lowest internal storage, no microSDcard-slot, no RDS radio (and whatever items missing) but you get the leanest Android experience.

I hate this!

I think they intend to. They're just shaking off the last vestiges of being Sony Ericsson on their phones.

Though if they really want the Playstation brand to take off on mobiles they should throw open the SDK to a consortium of phones and not charge devs for using it. Let any game use PSN as its single sign on and sport trophies and so on. They should really get Google to buy into it too since Android sorely lacks a gaming infrastructure.

"Sony should be using their playstation IP to make Android phones and tablets that are also great portable games machines"

Like the playstation phone they put out a few years back.

It was a little bulky, but the controller was light years ahead of any other phone - shame about the pretty anemic hardware they gave it...

Mind you...

...my Xperia P was updated to ICS quite promptly, whether Sony will bother pushing out later updates for it remains to be seen. Even so, a nice bit of kit.

Re: It would be nice

I think the UK update blockage in this case has been due to O2-UK.

Do yourself a favour and don't wait -- find the .ftf file on XDA and flash it with FlashTool.

Indeed. IMO their pricing is much more favourable than the competition. I think this distortion is being caused by the disproportionate influence of US-based tech media where in the US they have a severely warped mindset when it comes to phone pricing on their extortionate contracts.

I saw a report showing them #3 in smartphone sales recently (although another report contradicted it). XDA also gave them the 2012 "OEM of the year award" for being the most developer friendly.

With large expenditure on a phone, that you are lead to believe you cannot easily return if you don't like it, people want to play it safe. There are many Sony Xperia phones.

Benchmarks really don't matter to the modern world - they never mattered to the people who really wanted to use Smartphones: everybody!

The iPhone3G revolutionised the way in which people interact with the handset. It's the interface that matters, 100%. I can switch between Mac OSX and Windows 7 (and below) with no issue. People find themselves drawn to what they trust, and that is simplicity, seemingly the iPhone, or up to date functionality, which is why Samsung are doing so well.

But £400 on a risky Sony purchase come this January? I doubt most people will go for it. You earn credibility over many years. Nokia have sunk due to some bad software decisions, but also a cumbersome O/S that everybody still mentions - Symbian was never suited to 2012. The only place rubbish phones really sell in large numbers is China, due to consumer cost limitations.

I've tried a few Sony Xperia phones and they were generally broken or damaged in the shops, suggesting robust, rugged build quality is not at the top of Sony's mobile phone agenda. I do hope for for something truly amazing to appear, but I think people have been so heavily told "THIS PHONE changes everything!!! Yea, this new one, just out! BUY!"

People now say 'no', due to lessons learned in which phones they've bought every 18 months are actually pretty crap.