Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

[Aeni]

Experience HD Entertainment Everywhere with Xperia ion from Sony, Available Exclusively at AT&T June 24 | AT&T

For the actual product:

Xperiaâ„¢ ion - Sony Smartphones (US)

I'm debating on this or Samsung SIII as my contract is going to be completed on the 24th of July. If I go with the S3, I'm jumping off AT&T to Verizon since I can get an 18% with my firm's discount plan. If I'm going with Xperia, I can only get it at AT&T and will have to just deal with the 9% discount for my new contract.

Casey Johnston ran a preview at the CES earlier in the year and not much has changed since the preview, other than integration of some Android 4.0 features into the custom Android 2.3 that the Ion is riding on (I heard ICS will be available for Ion later in the year, but Sony is notorious for "Soon" promises that sometimes never materializes)

Hands on with Sony’s first independent smartphone, the Xperia Ion | Ars Technica

Although you can't go wrong with $99 + 2-year contract.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

And why this when iPhones are cheaper on contract or you could get an HTC LTE for a little more? The impressions here don't exactly sound glowing. It sounds like it has as many cons as pros and if you feel iPhones are too closed off again there's HTC and a load of other proven, affordable Android options.

[Aeni]

Re: Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

And why this when iPhones are cheaper on contract or you could get an HTC LTE for a little more? The impressions here don't exactly sound glowing. It sounds like it has as many cons as pros and if you feel iPhones are too closed off again there's HTC and a load of other proven, affordable Android options.

I'm assuming you meant the iPhone 3GS since you said "cheaper on contract". Sure, if you don't mind buying a 3 year old technology, but who are you kidding? You could get a Samsung SII for $10 that's way better. There is an iPhone 4 (not the 4S) which is $99 at AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint on contract. Most HTC devices (with the exception of the "One" released this year) have the same problem of very short battery life (it's actually a technical problem on their end but they have never admitted to it in the past two years) and other technical problems. I currently own an HTC device and experience most of those issues. This is beautifully illustrated in HTC's current slide in devices sold year-to-year (they have sold 40% less phones than the previous year) which can be directly attributed to their poor quality.

Samsung right now is arguably the better of the Android phone makers, which is why I said I was also looking at the SIII, alongside the Sony Xperia Ion. Do note that Ion releasing at $99 with contract means that Sony isn't touting this to be a "major player" against the $199-$299 on-contract devices that other companies are selling and I wasn't expecting it to be either. However, I still expect it to be far superior to an iPhone 3GS, which is what I'm assuming you were trying to convince me of.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

I got iPhone 4 from verizon for $50 on my contract with credit I had built up on prior contracts. The 4S just isn't enough of a leap. By the time this contract is up, the iPhone5 will be out.

[Icemage]

Re: Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

Me, I'm waiting for the dust to settle with Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility and enter with their own vision of what a smartphone should be. That'll give Samsung some time to shake down the feature set on the Galaxy series and hopefully some more time for HTC to get their act together and actually compete instead of being a lame Chinese also-ran.

I don't really consider the iPhone 4S to be a compelling product; maybe the iPhone 5 will be, but according to Tim Cook of Apple, he thinks Siri is the way forward, and I'm just not seeing it.


Icemage

[Aeni]

Re: Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

Me, I'm waiting for the dust to settle with Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility and enter with their own vision of what a smartphone should be. That'll give Samsung some time to shake down the feature set on the Galaxy series and hopefully some more time for HTC to get their act together and actually compete instead of being a lame Chinese also-ran.

I don't really consider the iPhone 4S to be a compelling product; maybe the iPhone 5 will be, but according to Tim Cook of Apple, he thinks Siri is the way forward, and I'm just not seeing it.


Icemage

Apple is suing Samsung over their Siri clone ... an item among a laundry list. Samsung is definitely going to need all the Johnny Cochranes it can get a hold of. HTC has improved greatly with the "One", although it remains to see if their "Sense" is compelling enough. As for Motorola, it'll be at least a year before anything happens, and contracts usually last 2 years, plenty enough time for that to pan out, so I'll just focus on finding a phone for the next two years and not worry too much.

[Aeni]

Re: Xperia Ion out on 6/24/2012

So far, had this phone since June 26, and have fallen completely in love with it. Other than a few quirks relating to AT&T's own drivel apps, I haven't encountered too much problems. Battery life isn't as bad as the reviews have made it out and the output of speakers is great as long as you check off XLoud in the configurations (none of the reviews ever mentioned this which I find odd and a testament as to how technologically inept these editors really are) What struck me was how good the quality of the screen is (BE - Bravia Engine) The response on the touch screen can be fickle at times, but nothing major in the way of operations. Found out that there's 1.5 GB of internal RAM and not 1GB as stated in the specs, which puzzled me (not that I'm complaining) You lose a chunk of internal SD storage, though, (leaving you with just shy of 12GB out of 16GB at factory default state) and I wonder how much of it is due to AT&T's meddling.

I'll post later when I am able to crack the bootloader and root the phone. Maybe by then ICS update will roll out.