Sony xperia z3 android version. Official technical innovations Android N Deloveper Preview

In this review you will find out what Android N is and what the Xperia Z3 has to do with it. How to install it, what advantages and benefits you will get. The disadvantages of the preliminary version of the future Android will also be discussed. And also my opinion about whether it should be installed as permanent firmware on your Z3. Go.

What is Android N and what's new in it

Android N Deloveper Preview is a preliminary version of the future major version of Android, which will be released in October this year.

Google has been practicing this concept since Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The current Android 6.0 Marshmallow also launched in the form of a preliminary version of Android M Deloveper Preview last spring. The firmware got its name in October 2015, when a full version of Android was released along with the new Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X.

That is, first a preliminary version of the future Google operating system is released, which already contains all the main innovations and new technologies, which allows developers to get acquainted with all the important changes in the OS in advance.

It is still unclear what the letter N will turn into in October of this year, but the Android team has already invited everyone to come up with a name for the new firmware. So far, the most popular sweets remain Nuts, Nutella and Napoleon.

But what does Sony and Xperia in particular have to do with it? It's very simple, Xperia Z3 is the only smartphone that has the opportunity to install Android N and receive updates on a par with Nexuses. This agreement was reached between Sony Mobile and Google.

Moreover, to install Android N you need to make a minimum of effort. But more on that later, now it’s worth talking about all the technical innovations of Android N Deloveper Preview.

Official technical innovations Android N Deloveper Preview

Most of the Android N improvements are under the hood, but they're worth talking about because they're really important.

Vulkan API instead of OpenGL. Vulkan provides an environment with more control over the phone's GPU than OpenGL. This means that with the new API, developers will be able to squeeze more out of existing hardware than they could with OpenGL, so performance will increase significantly.
New JIT compiler. This technology will increase the performance of Android N in terms of application installation speed (up to 75%), and will also reduce the use of internal memory by almost half. Good news for owners of devices with 16 GB ROM.
Android Runtime Update. Improvements to this technology have increased system performance from 40 to 600% in various benchmarks. It’s still unclear what it will look like in reality; I didn’t notice any difference in performance between Android N and Android 6.0 on the Xperia Z3.
Android N introduces the ability to fully encrypt information. Google does not forget about the safety of its users. It looks like the myth about “leaky” Android is finally becoming a thing of the past.
Dual screen(Multi-window). A symmetrical response from Apple, but Google went further and implemented this function not only in tablets, as Apple did, but also in smartphones.
Completely new notification menu. This is an area that Google developers change in each subsequent version of Android. Added the ability to directly reply to messages without leaving the notifications menu.
Android Instant Apps. An innovative feature that allows you to try out the application without completely installing it. The user will be able to quickly evaluate the application and decide whether he needs it on his phone or not. This feature is not yet available.

Advantages of Android N over Marshmallow

The most noticeable innovation of Android N for the Xperia Z3 is the new, or rather updated appearance and animation of the desktop.

The Xperia Z3 shell on Android N has the same design as on Nexus devices (the notorious Google Start), with the exception of proprietary Sony applications.

New, beautiful and smooth animations of all main actions in the system have been added. Completely redesigned notification panel.

By the way, this very notification panel has become much more functional. Now you can view and configure the main communications of the device directly from the status bar. It has become more convenient to use and, most importantly, more visually clear than it was in Marshmallow.

Another important change, for me personally, was not a dual screen, but an analogue of Apple Spotlight, created on the basis of Google Now.

This function is located in the same place as Apple’s Spotlight, by swiping on the right. A very convenient feature.

The dual screen, although not a frequently used feature, is still quite in demand. On the Xperia Z3, with its relatively small 5.2-inch screen, the split in two makes application windows somewhat small, but if the screen is 5.7-6" the feature will work. But it’s not bad either.

Oddly enough, the test Android N firmware for the Xperia Z3 turned out to be less voracious in terms of energy consumption. Surprising but true. Apparently, the new advanced energy saving algorithms really work.

A small but important change is the new application menu. Now in the application menu, instead of horizontal scrolling, there is vertical scrolling, which turned out to be a more correct solution.

In any case, while using Android N on the Xperia Z3, this menu seemed more logical. Question, for those who installed Android N - what do you think of the new menu? Write in the comments.

See the screenshots below for other changes and new features:

Cons and problems of Android N

I won’t spoil everything and describe all the bugs, but will focus on specific examples and applications that did not work on Android N or were not satisfactory in their performance compared to firmware based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Applications from Yandex. They either do not work completely or work incorrectly. Yandex officially announces that it will no longer support preliminary new versions of Android until they are released to the general public. If you use Yandex services constantly (for example, Maps or Disk), then this circumstance is unlikely to please you.

Involuntary reboots. These are not frequent guests on the Android N firmware for the Xperia Z3, however, during 2 weeks of use, unscheduled reboots happened at least 3-5 times.

Brakes. Yes, they are present and visible when working with the system shell. Still, Android N is not the final version for a wide range of users, as both Google and Sony say, warning of possible problems. The stuttering is not critical, but after stable Marshmallow firmware for the Xperia Z3, the difference is quite noticeable.

Poor screen responsiveness when locked. It’s simply hard to swipe notifications from the locked screen of the Xperia Z3: sometimes they’re swiped away easily, like on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but sometimes you need to spend a couple of seconds swiping the block.

Bugs in many applications. The functionality remains the same, but pop-up windows appear warning about errors within applications. For example, this happened to me when using Skype.

Viber doesn't work at all. Here you need to wait until the Viber developers deign to remember Android N. Or they won’t deign, if they don’t want to, the firmware is for developers.

Missing many of the latest Xperia features(the camera key does not work when locked, double pressing the power button does not work, there are no other Xperia proprietary functions).

Old version of the Camera app. In Android N for the Xperia Z3, the standard camera application is replaced with a proprietary Sony one, but not the latest version (2.0.0), as on firmware based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

More ascetic settings menu, lower level customization. This is most likely closer to disadvantages than to advantages, because the settings in the Android 6.0 Marshmallow firmware were already very close to bare Android.

Missing double tap on the screen to turn it off. Android N does not have this feature for obvious reasons.

Standard keyboard, instead of . After the proprietary Sony keyboard, the short Google keyboard is too inconvenient, especially when working with special characters. The Xperia Keyboard, in my opinion, is currently noticeably more convenient than the standard Android keyboard.

How to install Android N on Xperia Z3

Installing the Android N Developer Preview firmware is demonstrably simple and concise. What should be done:

Install the latest Xperia Companion for your PC
Open Xperia Companion and connect Xperia Z3 to your computer
Hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard and enable “Software Recovery”
And... that's it! Next, simply select “install Android N” and follow the simple instructions.

The only thing you need to be careful about is not touching the cable connected to the phone and PC, otherwise you will end up with a beautiful brick instead of a Z3. 😉

Rolling back from Android N to Android 6.0 Marshmallow is also easy: connect the phone to the PC, turn on the Xperia Companion and click “software recovery”.

Is it necessary to install Android N for Xperia Z3?

I admit, I decided to exchange my Xperia C5 Ultra for the Xperia Z3, which I used back in 2014 (see), just for the sake of thoroughly familiarizing myself with Android N Deloveper Preview.

For this reason, I had to downgrade from a newer to an older Xperia Z3. And it turned out that the Xperia Z3 on Android N is not an old flagship, but just a Nexus with a human face - with a nice Sony design, excellent battery life (1.5 days easily) and proprietary Xperia applications.

In general, this can be called a unique case, because for the first time Sony Mobile were able to agree with Google on official testing of Android N. This has never happened before.

If you use an Xperia Z3, then Android N is definitely worth a try. You may not enjoy using the preview version of Google's new OS on a regular basis, but you will definitely love the new features and features that you can only see in Android N.

I myself used Android N for more than 2 weeks and after that I rolled back to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This had to be done only because Viber, Yandex applications and Xperia proprietary functionality did not work. But I don’t rule out that in the future, if the test Android N update comes out, I’ll switch to it again.

Leave your thoughts on Android N in the comments below and share it on social media!

Specifications

Class: company flagship
Form factor: monoblock
Case materials: plastic, glass
Operating system: Android 5.0 Lollipop, Xperia Home
Network: GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE (nanoSIM)
Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994)
Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz (Cortex-A53) and Quad-core 2 GHz (Cortex-A57)
Graphics: Adreno 430
RAM: 3 GB
Storage memory: 32 GB, microSD memory card slot (128 GB cards supported)
Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.1 (A2DP, aptX, LE), microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset, HDMI (via microUSB), DLNA , NFC
Screen: Super LCD3, 5”, capacitive, 1920x1080 pixels (FulldHD), automatic backlight level adjustment, Gorilla Glass 4
Main camera: 20.1 MP, f/2.2, BSI, dual LED flash (works as a flashlight)
Front camera: 4 MP (UltraPixel technology), wide-angle (without autofocus), f/2.0, 1080p video recording
Navigation: GPS/GLONASS (A-GPS support)
Sensors: accelerometer, position sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, barometer
Battery: non-removable, Li-Pol, capacity 2840 mAh
Dimensions: 144.6 x 70 x 9.6 mm
Weight: 157 grams

Introduction

I delayed this review by more than two months, as it happened. There are not many objective reasons for this, only subjective ones, and one of the main ones is that I kept trying to understand the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus and accept it, which turned out to be, frankly, not easy. Anyway, I apologize to the readers and get to the point.

It's no secret that things are not going well for Sony right now. Moreover, Sony is not alone in this difficult situation. On the one hand, many other Japanese companies also have business difficulties related to the difficult economic situation in Japan itself. On the other hand, a number of smartphone manufacturers are also experiencing difficulties now. HTC, LG and some other manufacturers are experiencing problems in the smartphone and tablet markets to varying degrees. But let's return to the Japanese.

You can have different attitudes towards the Sony brand in general and its mobile division in particular, but it’s difficult to argue with the fact that Sony have chosen their own path and persistently followed it. For some, this path seems a dead end, because the company actually demonstrates the same device, even a line of devices, from year to year, without offering anything radically new. Others like this approach. “It’s a Sony,” they say and note the dissimilarity of the Japanese company’s smartphones from other devices, their originality and exclusivity.

Design

If you don’t follow the development of Sony’s smartphone lineup, but have simply seen one of the flagships a couple of times in recent years, then you can hardly distinguish models such as the Sony Xperia Z, Z1, Z2, Z3, Z3 Plus and Z5. This is not my irony or some attempt to make fun of the brand, but a simple fact: all the company’s flagships starting with the Xperia Z (2013) use the same design, right down to the shape of individual elements.

The difference between the new model and its predecessors is in the original plastic “corners”, although, in my opinion, it would be better without them.

However, despite the company copying the same design for the third year now, I personally can’t say anything bad about the entire Xperia line specifically in terms of appearance. The new Sony Xperia Z3 Plus looks great: beautiful, impressive, and at the same time calm. What’s important is that Sony’s signature design is recognizable and different from anything else on the market. Therefore, if you do not have any prejudices that the manufacturer is in no hurry to change the design, then there is no problem.

I especially want to highlight the available colors for the Z3 Plus - here Sony has taken the right path, it seems to me, offering not only the standard boring set, but also original color options. Thus, the new model is offered in black and white versions, as well as in copper and sea green. It is the latter that you see in the photographs. A chic color that goes very well with the design of the smartphone: original and at the same time not flashy and bright.

Housing materials

The frame of the case is made of metal, the front and back panels are made of glass. At the same time, strangely, the frame feels and looks plastic. It seems to me that someone inside the company made a mistake, and as a result, Sony overdid the metal processing for this part of the body.

A common practice for Sony is a protective film on top of the front glass. In the case of the Xperia Z3 Plus, it has a special layer, due to which the plastic glides over it perfectly. In fact, there are two factory-made films here, and it is understood that when you buy, you immediately remove the first one (regular cheap film, glued at the factory to protect it from damage), and you won’t even notice the second one right away. It is not recommended to remove it; it protects the screen well and does not interfere in any way. In my case, however, the film only lasted a month, then I accidentally scratched it a couple of times and had to be removed.

The only objective disadvantage of using glass for the front and rear panels is that the case gets dirty. Yes, the smartphone gets dirty, and you will either need to constantly wipe it, or you should immediately get used to the fact that the body is stained with fingerprints and greasy stains. Personally, after using the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus as my main device for more than two months, I constantly wiped it. Another drawback, but rather subjective, is the high chance of getting a broken device if it falls. Why subjective? Because, it seems to me, if dropped, any smartphone, regardless of the materials used, can turn into a brick or end up with a broken screen. The Xperia Z3 Plus has perhaps a slightly better chance, because both panels are made of glass.

Assembly

The device has a non-removable battery, there is one plug on a rubber mount, and that’s it, there are no other removable elements. I personally had no complaints about the build quality, with the exception of one. The plastic “corners” that I mentioned above do not fit tightly to the rest of the body elements; as a result, dust and all sorts of small particles get packed between them and the frame, they have to be blown out of there or, again, as in the case of the body getting dirty, just deal with it.

Dimensions

The fact that Sony uses identical designs for its flagships year after year has a plus even for those people who don’t like this approach, and this plus is called “constant dimensions.” Since the introduction of the Xperia Z, the sizes of all subsequent models have remained almost the same, and the Z3 Plus is no exception. The device is exactly the same in size as previous models, as well as the next one – Xperia Z5.

In general, this is a typical 5-5.2” format - we cannot say that the Xperia series smartphones are very compact in their class, but they are also not too large, a kind of golden mean.

Apple iPhone 6S(4.7”) – 138.1 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm, 143 grams
HTC One M9(5”) – 144.6 x 70 x 9.6 mm, 157 grams
Samsung Galaxy S6(5.1”) – 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm, 138 grams
(5.2”) – 146 x 72 x 6.9 mm, 144 grams

Due to the sharp corners and lack of smooth curves, the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus cannot be called a standard for ease of grip and holding, but this is a matter of habit: after a week with the device, you stop paying attention to the shape of the body and the fact that the Z3 Plus is not the best example of ergonomics .

Controls

In terms of control layout, the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus is a good example of how to do (almost everything). The power key is located on the right edge in the center and differs in shape from the volume button; it is convenient to press it blindly. There is a hardware camera button, it can be used both to launch the camera without first unlocking the screen, and for shooting. On-screen buttons have one drawback - their position cannot be changed, nor can any additional keys be added here.

There are no keys on the left edge of the smartphone, only compartments for a memory card (microSD) and a SIM card in nanoSIM format hidden by a flap. At the top there is an additional microphone and a 3.5 mm mini-jack, at the bottom there is a microUSB connector and such a nice and rare detail now - an attachment for a strap or lanyard.

Screen

The Sony Xperia Z3 Plus uses an IPS LCD matrix with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (FullHD), pixel density - 424 ppi. Screen diagonal – 5.2"". In the display settings, you can enable the “glove” mode, as well as X-Reality (when viewing photos and videos, the richness of the picture greatly increases) and the maximum brightness mode. It is possible to manually adjust the white balance. In fact, even without all these extra options, I can say that the screen on the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus is excellent. Yes, perhaps there is no such optimization of power consumption and the level of picture contrast as in AMOLED matrices, and the image itself does not feel as naturalistic and as if going beyond the display, as in IGZO matrices from Sharp (we are talking about the expensive version in Meizu MX3 and MX4), but the screen is very well balanced and tuned.

Color rendition is close to natural, viewing angles are maximum, there is a reserve of brightness, the display remains more or less readable in the sun. All the things that I love about screens on HTC smartphones (with the exception of the HTC One M9) are here. Therefore, if you just need balance from the screen, then you will like the display in the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus.

Camera

Sony produces some of the most popular camera sensors on the smartphone market, used without exaggeration by more than half of the manufacturers on the market. It would seem that the company has everything to be one of the first to realize the full potential of its own sensors, but no. Despite the fact that the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus has a camera with an Exmor RX IMX230 sensor, the overall shooting quality is at a very average (to put it mildly) level. A module with a resolution of 20.1 MP, an aperture of f/2.2 and a backlit matrix is good on paper, but that’s where it ends.

The camera interface is fairly simple and intuitive; there are many different shooting modes and settings. Unfortunately, there is no manual mode in the Xperia X3 Plus, although there is a menu with that name. All you can do there is manually select white balance.

For each review, I try to make the most beautiful (to my taste) examples of photos from the device’s camera. Sometimes I even delay the review a little if I know that in a few days or a week I will find myself in another city or in an interesting place where I can take non-standard or simply brighter shots from my smartphone than at home. And for the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus I also followed this rule. Therefore, in general, the footage in the review looks good, it seems to me. But keep in mind that most of them are taken on a bright sunny summer day in beautiful Yokohama, and even those, when you start zooming in, turn out to be very average. The camera lacks sharpness, often the frames turn out blurry or with objects out of focus, the dynamic range is very small, and at the slightest hint of a “milky sky,” for example, the picture already turns out faded. When shooting at night there is a lot of “soap” and noise, and if you do not use any available objects (fence, asphalt, curb, etc.) as support, it will be difficult to get a picture of at least satisfactory quality.

Sample photos

Day

Night

For the same reason, I do not analyze individual camera operating modes in the review - the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus is not bad if we are talking about ideal shooting conditions (bright sunny day), but in all other situations it is inferior to modern flagships from other companies: Apple, Samsung , LG, Lenovo, Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi and some others.

Much the same can be said about the front camera – it’s not bad when shooting on a clear sunny day, and that’s all.

Here I want to point out another strange point. Let's take HTC as an example, a company that has also been doing poorly with cameras in smartphones for a long time. At the same time, firstly, HTC is experimenting with the camera from year to year and trying to come up with something in this direction. At first there were ultrapixels, then two cameras to work with the depth of field of frames. In a word, they are trying to do something, even if it’s not working out too well yet. Secondly, even the new HTC with a not the best camera has one argument FOR - manual mode. Full manual shooting mode where you can adjust ISO, shutter speed and manually select the focusing distance. This mode, of course, does not make the average camera in the HTC One M9 better, but it allows you to get good shots in difficult shooting conditions, and the more experience and patience you have, the better results you can get even with such an average camera.

Sony doesn’t do anything like that or even try; all the company’s efforts in terms of the camera are aimed at creating new fun shooting modes (such as AR effects) and, perhaps, that’s all.

Video recording. Like most other flagships of 2015, the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus “can” record video not only in 1080p quality, but also in 4k. During video recording, autofocus tracking works, and for image stabilization (software), the shooting angle is greatly reduced relative to what you see when shooting photos.

You can evaluate the quality of the video using the attached example. Separately, I would like to note that on current firmware, recording video in 4k resolution lasting more than a minute on the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus is problematic - the device overheats and forces the Camera application to close.

Autonomous operation

The smartphone uses a non-removable Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 2930 mAh. The device is built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform, so it supports fast charging (Quick Charge 2.0), the smartphone is charged by 60 percent in half an hour.

In everyday use, the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus showed the usual indicators for 2015 flagships - the device works until the evening. Depending on the activity of use on a particular day, the smartphone may be completely discharged by 16:00, 18:00, or closer to 21-22. It all depends on the specific usage scenarios, in my case the smartphone is usually removed from charging at 10 hours, then I use it, almost without turning off the screen, for 5-6 hours.

Platform, memory

The smartphone is built on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform (MSM8994) with support for 64-bit architecture, a quad-core processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz (Cortex-A53) and a quad-core processor with a frequency of 2 GHz (Cortex-A57), graphics subsystem (GPU) - Adreno 430. The device has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory for storing user data, as well as a slot for a memory card.

Along with the HTC One M9, the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus became one of the first smartphones on this platform and, accordingly, on its first revision. The phenomena described below are associated with this.

Sony Xperia Z3 Plus is a very fast smartphone if we are talking about the moment the device is turned on and its use for the first 15-20 minutes. Here we are talking specifically about active use, when you don’t just turn on the device and put it in your pocket, but use it: read mail or something through a browser, communicate with someone on WhatsApp, Telegram or somewhere else, while listening at the same time music. In this mode, the heating of the “filling” begins to be felt somewhere after those same 15-20 minutes, and after about 30 minutes of such use, the system automatically lowers the processor frequencies, and performance even by sight begins to drop. This is expressed in the speed of switching between programs, for example. Opening the Google Chrome browser initially takes you 1-2 seconds, after half an hour - all of 5 seconds. And such little things, unfortunately, do not create the most positive impression. At the same time, the most offensive thing in this story is that this is not Sony’s fault, because problems with heating of the Snapdragon 810 of the first revision are no secret to anyone. But in the end, the user will blame the device and its manufacturer, and not anyone else.

Extreme heat is the second problem with the Z3 Plus. The device actually heats up constantly if you use it more actively than just making calls and sending SMS. In the upper region, the case almost always has a temperature much higher than what is called “comfortable”. This would also include the problem with forced closing of applications, be it the camera when trying to record a long video in 4k resolution and “play around” with AR effects, demanding games (sometimes they continue to work, it’s just that the FPS in the game drops three times and it becomes impossible to play) .

I repeat, Sony alone cannot be blamed for this problem; the same thing was observed in the HTC One M9 on a similar platform. Now Qualcomm has updated the Snapdragon 810 and the main problems of the chipset have been resolved, but, unfortunately for Sony and HTC, their flagships have managed to collect negative reviews, and the reason for a large part of them is the platform.

Interfaces

The smartphone works in GSM, HSDPA and LTE networks. Fourth generation networks also operate in Russia. You can turn wireless interfaces on and off through the settings or by adding one of several widgets to the main screen, as well as using the notification shade, which has a convenient menu with the ability to display exactly those switches that you need on the main screen.

To synchronize with a PC and transfer data, the included microUSB cable is used. There is support for USB-Host.

Bluetooth. Built-in Bluetooth 4.1 module with A2DP and LE support.

Wi-Fi (802.11 a/ac/b/g/n). The Sony Xperia Z3 Plus uses a dual-band Wi-Fi module. The module works flawlessly.

Wi-Fi router. Like all other smartphones based on new versions of Android, the Z3 Plus has the ability to “share” a 2G/3G/LTE Internet connection via Wi-Fi.

DLNA, HDMI. The smartphone supports DLNA technology: if you have a DLNA-compatible media server and other devices at home, you can use the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus with them. For example, output sound or video from the device directly to the TV. The M9 also has HDMI support, the connector is combined with microUSB (MHL), and in order to use HDMI, you will need to buy a special cable.

NFC. The smartphone supports NFC interface.

Navigation

GPS/Glonass support is implemented for navigation (on a Qualcomm chipset); searching for satellites takes a minimum amount of time, from 5 to 15 seconds. There is no special software for navigation, only Google Maps. However, you can buy and install any necessary application yourself.

Software, Xperia Home

The smartphone runs Android 5.0 and uses the proprietary Xperia Home interface as its shell. A few years ago, this interface was a strange mixture of proprietary Android features and some Sony solutions, packaged in a strange outward shell, where it was difficult to use different features due to the complexity and confusion of the interface.

Time passes, and Sony is gradually bringing Xperia Home into a more or less understandable form, cutting off everything unnecessary, leaving more and more pure “android”, and this, in my opinion, is absolutely the right way. Yes, Sony devices still have the proprietary interface, but the most successful and convenient solutions of standard Android 5.0 are not touched. For example, there is a standard lock screen with cards and a convenient transition to any notification in two clicks on the card directly from the lock screen. A simple and clear standard notification shade and some other things.

Conclusion

Over the course of a week of using the device, I had no complaints about the quality of signal reception. It catches the network well, the sound in the conversational speaker is clear, without wheezing or extraneous noise, the volume reserve is small, but still present. The vibration alert is relatively strong and is felt, despite the size and weight of the device, in most situations. The volume of the ringing speakers is above average, although I cannot say that the speakers are super loud, but this is compensated by the high sound quality.

In Russia, Sony Xperia Z3 Plus today costs 40,000 rubles, that is, at the level of most other flagships. The cost at the start was higher, but that’s not what we’re talking about now. Yes, companies adjusted prices for devices in accordance with the exchange rate, and therefore the price is the same. If we consider the smartphone as a competitor to the main flagships of the year, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G4, then here the device from Sony, unfortunately, is inferior due to two objective shortcomings. The first is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform, due to which the smartphone constantly heats up and often overheats, which leads to applications closing and slow performance for a while. The second is the camera. The main camera in the Xperia Z3 Plus is seriously inferior in quality not only to the flagships from Samsung and LG, but also to devices from the second division, that is, flagships from Chinese brands, which I personally did not expect at all.

With all this, I personally really liked the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus because it has a recognizable corporate style, and the Xperia Home interface does not force a complete departure from the convenient standard solutions of the Android 5 OS. And I really began to sincerely worry about the position of the company. It’s especially offensive that Sony has the resources, the Xperia line has potential, but for some mysterious reason the company cannot or does not want to properly reveal it. Having the opportunity to choose a platform (the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 turned out to be quite acceptable for a flagship, look at the LG G4), the company is making a mistake. Having at hand the best IMX230 sensor at the time of preparation of the smartphone, Sony manages to reveal its potential literally worse than all the manufacturers to whom this sensor is sold. And if in the case of HTC, the camera problems can be attributed to constant experiments, then Sony doesn’t see anything like that, it’s just a systematic problem that the company has not yet solved.

As a result, the Sony Xperia Z3 Plus is an excellent smartphone with a proprietary design, a convenient shell, convenient controls, a high-quality screen and two unresolved problems - the platform and the camera.

The giant Google surprised this year with the release of a beta version even before the Google I/O developer conference. The first preview was followed by its second version, which is already being actively tested by owners of Nexus devices. Now Sony Xperia Z3 owners can join the army of the chosen ones - the Japanese company has officially announced the ability to install Android N Developer Preview on devices with model numbers D6603 and D6653.

If you are one of the owners of this smartphone and this offer seems very tempting to you, let us remind you that the company does not recommend installing a test build on a smartphone that serves as the main means of communication. Due to the instability of the firmware and possible bugs, it may result from problems in the operation of the device. Now Android N is undergoing testing and is aimed primarily at developers.

Let us remind you that among the most noticeable innovations of Android N is the presence of a multitasking mode, which allows you to work simultaneously in two applications by dividing the screen into two windows. You can note the new ability to respond to notifications directly from the notification about it, similar to how it is implemented in iOS.

After closing beta testing of the new Xperia Z3, Sony has announced a list of devices that will receive an update to Nougat in the near future.

Unfortunately, the list does not include Xperia Z3 and Z2. The absence of the latter is more or less justified because the smartphone is already “old” and instead there is a fairly peppy Z3, which showed itself well in beta testing.

However, the Z3's absence from the list is not because Sony considers it an old device, but because Google only allows the device to be updated after it passes review.

To pass Sony's verification, a smartphone must support either OpenGL ES 3.1 or Vulkan. Alas, the video accelerator used in the Xperia Z3, namely the Adreno 330, does not support these technologies, respectively, like the Snapdragon 801. Unfortunately, they only support OpenGL 3.0.

Sony says that even if it wants to, it will not be able to update the Xperia Z3 to 7.0 because Google Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) ties their hands. They also explained why the final Android N DP5 firmware was not released, explaining that they encountered some unforeseen limitations that were impossible to cope with.

So Sony Xperia Z3 owners can only be disappointed and change it to newer smartphones, and please do not take out your disappointment on Sony, they, in turn, did everything in their power.

For a range of nexus devices like nexus 6P the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and much more, the new operating system has been in the news lately. Google showcased some upcoming features and plans with this brand new Android OS. Under the AOSP project, tech giant released an update with Developer Preview 2 bringing many new bug fixes, stability improvements and security patches for the same. Now after the Nexus series Google has started deploying it to other devices from third party manufacturers. Sony Xperia Z3 and some of its variants like D6603 and D6653 are among the first devices to receive the Android N Developer Preview. It comes with latest April security patches and build number NPC91K.100060. Take a look at the images from our Pinterest Account.

There is no FTF file or OTA update available right now and hence you cannot flash it manually using stock recovery or over the air. In order to install Android N on your Xperia device, you need to download the Sony PC companion and follow the instructions from within the software. For now, this only works for Windows machines. If you want to try this new OS, then follow the simple steps given below. But before you proceed, take a note that the firmware may not be stable at the moment. Of course, it is the Developer Preview after all. Also, check out the features from below.

What's new in Android N Developer Preview?

Android N introduces several great new features for developers, with more to be added as Google continues to develop the Android N release. Here are some highlights:

Multi-window– This new multitasking feature lets users view two apps or Activities at the same time, with the system resizing them as needed to fit the device or tablet screen. All apps targeting Android N are resizeable unless they opt-out, so make sure your layouts and resources are optimized.

Bundled notifications– You can use the Notification.Builder.setGroup() method to group your app’s notifications together for easier scanning.

Direct reply notifications – Use the RemoteInput notification API to enable users to respond quickly to notifications, without leaving the notification shade.

Efficiency Adapt your apps to use Doze to save even more power in Android N. There are also new behaviors in Project Svelte, aiming to reduce the memory needs of Android.

How to Install Android N Developer Preview On Sony Xperia Z3?

There are 2 variants of Xperia Z3 that can be flashed with Android N Developer Preview, D6603 and D6653. Here’s how to get started:

Connect your compatible Z3 device to a computer with a USB cable.
Make sure you have Xperia Companion version 1.1.24 or later. If not, download the latest version from . Once connected, Xperia Companion will open automatically.
Now, hold down the ALT key on your computer and click on Software repair on the home screen, then follow the guide.
You’ll be asked to disconnect and turn off your device, then to reconnect while holding down the volume down key to start the software flashing.
You can return to factory settings at any time by connecting back to Xperia Companion and following the Software repair

That’s it let it reboot and enjoy your new Android N firmware. Like and follow us on social media. For queries, comment down below or leave a message in the