Hey dudes! Im really proud of this one, so im glad youre enjoying! As always, any mistakes i catch will be posted here in the show notes! Party on! At 4:21 I said the T610 could record video. After further research, my initial source was wrong. It could not. At 5:49 I said powershot. I meant cyber shot. Powershot is a canon thing.
Also, it seems you didn't talk about the P series. Aside from the bulkiness, I really loved and enjoyed the P900 at the time. Great job researching, and great videos👍🏿
@@damaidodo1454 I did mention one p series phone. You're right I did mostly leave it out. They were more niche enthusiast handsets rather than their cell phones that were a little more popular at the time. I left out a few other lines just for the sake of brevity mainly focusing on the main 3.
I remember in like 2014 or so some friend washed their Sony phone in front of me to prove me that it's water resistant and I was mind blown at the time. Then I never heard about Sony phones again, I though they stopped making phones a long time ago.
My first and second smartphones are both Xperias (Z1 and XZ1) exactly because of that. In 2013 and 2017 phones with IP ratings were still mostly bulky heavy-duty phones. I still like Xperia but won't buy one anyomre. Throwing $1000+ on a devices that only gets 2 years of software update is absurd, considering Samsung and Google are already giving 7-year support for their mid-range phones.
the recent years have been somewhat fine, since Sony has made their own lines of Xperia 1 for high end, Xperia 5 for lower high end with almost same specs wit smaller screen and less ram. and Xperia 10 line that is the mid range line. too bad that they did not do that all the way back in early 2010's. imagine if Sony offered as good support as Samsung and had been done so since 2013 for example. then we would honestly probably have people asking if they should get the latest Galaxy S flagship or the latest Xperia 1 phone. too bad that most of the time Sony named their phones with maybe one letter following few hammer strikes at keyboard.
@@carlzune6626 idk. Takes whole of 2 seconds to see the prices that tell you what 1, 5 and 10 lines are about, then the fact that following numbers are in roman numerals tells me that it's not part of the actual model series but instead something else. Heck you can use this same logic with Samsung and their HORRIBLE names. I mean is the A54 better than S24 since A is the first letter in the alphabets and 54 is larger number than 24.
@@Jurtaani Samsungs scheme is not bad. S-rank is better than A-rank, it borrows from grading and scholarship levels. The number after the rank is always sequential and theres always more "lower-tier" phones than "higher-tier" ones, so it also makes sense that the current A series number is way higher than the S series
I still cant believe that Sony fail in smartphone market dominated today by iphone, samsung, xiaomi, vivo and oppo back in the day, in early days of android phones, sony has the most sexy design called Xperia, along with htc brand.. Imagine Sony Xperia in today's specs, with Android 14, minimum 4GB RAM..
3:35 actually not, the "i" stands for international. There were region locked phones like the "c" line, that were adapted for the chinese market. There were also versions without a letter behind the name, but I don't know if they were the japanese or US versions of the device. Edit: also the K800 came first, the K790 was the budget version without video calling tech. The K810 was the K800 refresh, it added minor tweaks to the K800 that were missing then, like flash support and even more dedicated camera controls and a new shell.
That's sick man! I remember really wanting the Xperia Pro when it came out, but it's just so expensive! I couldn't justify the purchase if the phone only lasts 2 years.
@@owencooktechit should last more than 2 years though. I'd expect Sony to be better than huawei at software.. and my mom's p30 lite still going strong
@@owencooktechYou make it sound like it breaks after 2 years. You'll be fine with older Android, they don't add big features nowadays, so not much difference.
Also have Sony Xperia 1 VI and i did go from Xperia 1 V. Its mostly the design. I hate what the other brands doing with camera holes in the screen and big huge camera bumps on the back. The only negative with my Xperia 1 VI is its wider and not 21:9 and well blir 4k. Its not as Sharp as before. But the battery is wow
I remember Samsung also made a million different models around 2014, particularly in the Asian markets: Galaxy Star Galaxy Core Galaxy Fame Galaxy Mega Galaxy Young Galaxy Alpha Galaxy Grand Galaxy Ace Galaxy K Zoom Galaxy Pocket Galaxy W Galaxy Beam Galaxy Avant
There was, but there was no real Z4 before the Z5. It was the Z4 in Japan but Z3+ everywhere else, which is maybe not very intuitive as far as naming schemes are concerned.
Yes but there was no z4. They skipped it for some random reason. There was a Z4 concept phone but it was canceled. Instead of using the name they just skipped it. Absolutely no commitment to their own products.
@@SatongiFilms I feel like Apple got their fair share of criticism for whatever was going on between the iPhone 8 and iPhone 11 tbh. They kinda got themselves into a weird place by releasing an special phone for their 10th anniversary, calling it the "iPhone 10", and releasing it beside the iPhone 8. They did course correct after that though. The iPhone XS, for all intents and purposes, is an iPhone 9. Already having an iPhone 10 would then mean they skip straight to the 11 afterwards. It's not intuitive, but they course corrected and stuck with their naming scheme. Sony on the other hand "skipped" the Z4 (I will iterate again, the phone they called the Z3+ in the rest of the world was called the Z4 in Japan), released the Z5, and then completely changed their naming scheme to XZ. If they stuck with the Z names and just released the Z6 and kept going forward instead of starting from scratch with the XZ for no reason, I don't think they'd have gotten nearly as much criticism as they are getting now.
I recently rooted and installed lineageos on a sony xperia v ii and when in adb mode it showed up as Sony Ericsson Communications AB if i remember correctly, pretty funny they still have that name deep in the phone all these years later
I used to like sonys phones (think I owned about 5 or 6 since early 00) but like you said the lack of support and the most idiotic naming scheme (like wtf?) finally made me boogie off for greener pastures
Correction. The T68i was (in hardware) identical to the Ericsson T68, apart from the case colour, and in fact all T68 owners were given a free firmware update to convert their phone to a T68i.
I have had Sony (Ericsson) phones after T100 came out. Every model that I have had, had its flaws but the style and distinctivity from others have covered these for me. (Sony Ericsson's design was superb) Nowdays the style is unfortunately not possible to do with only screen front, but it is the only company that holds the values I respect. Screen without "punch-hole", SD-card support with high end model, allmost pure android, audio jack... It is hard for me to understand why other phones that are so similar to each other (and just boring) are successful. Sadly nowdays Sony is only one that tries to be a little different. It would be a big loss for me if they decide to end it.
I'm with you. These are the things I cant choose other brands. I do like the pixel 8 Pro... Just wished it had what Sony has. All brands looks the same but Sony didn't. Sadly thought they did go more mainstream with their Xperia 1 VI. Still hate its so wide... Have to use two hands all the time when writing this. With my old Xperia 1 V i could at least use one hand most of the time. But I choose to go to the phone with the better battery time.
That SD card bit aaaaalmost put me over the line for an Xperia. But in between no wifi calling with t-mobile issue and Samsung's awesome bundle deals I just never pulled the trigger on the much more expensive option. Too bad though, I still think the Xperia is a compelling alternative to the other major Android phones out there.
The thing about audio jack and sdcard is that these features are not making money, they don't sell you wireless headphones or upsale more memory on a phone. And most people don't use them. These features only present on budget phones nowadays, lacking them is a sign of premium. And audio jack on Sony doesn't have separate amp chip so it's not very powerful and will struggle with some headphones, SDcard will be slower than built in memory too. So it doesn't translate into premium experience.
@unruler how additional cloud storage (which you have to pay endlessly) and audiolag from bluetooth headset presents premium? To have more options feels premium to me.
Great summary. As a former retail salesman of cell phones from ‘03-‘11 this was super interesting. Also subscribed as soon as I saw the Seinfeld/Costanza t shirt.
Had a Sony xperia z1 in 2014, it was way ahead of its time, had potrait mode/background defocus,classic glass sandwich design ,water proof. Got 2 full android updates.
Great video! My dad got me a nokia 3230 around 2006. And in 2008, i got a sony ericsson c902 cybershot. I remember the camera being high end for that time!
Thanks dude! Absolutely. 60fps is my preferred frame rate. I dislike 24 strongly. It's too artsy and motion blurry for my use. 60 offers the most clarity. I probably would be fine with 30, but my camera is capable of 60 so I've always used it.
I used to develop core apps for Sony phones when they switched to Android ~15 years ago. I remember they had stupidest and shittiest ideas I've seen to this day. No wonder they failed so miserably. Also awesome video, well researched.
I remember my Dad having this Sony Ericsson (until now still functioning). They were the good times in my Childhood days playing music and also games from that phone. Thank you for this video! :)
Mate, the Z series phones where one of the few times Sony's phone actually made sense. The was a Z, Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4 and Z5 and then they were followed up by the XZ series XZ, XZ1, XZ2, XZ3. Some of these models also had Premium(Big) models and Compact(Small) models. These were all fantastic phones but Sony was releasing them every 6 months which must have been costing them major dosh in R&D.
I had a Sony phone (Xperia P) worst phone I’ve ever owned. Battery failed within 6months, would last half an hour 0-100%. Sony refused to repair or refund me as “they aren’t the ones who manufactured the battery” switched to a LG G3 (was brilliant miss LG)
i still have my xperia p, it still works only problem is the power button.... but yeah it's pretty clear even in the xperia community that their services are @ss
@@clemente111 I can't even imagine using a 12 year old phone I imagine even an iPhone 5 or S3 would be painfully slow yet alone using an Xperia P! , dude treat yourself and get a new phone there is so much better stuff out there, even on the used market. I went from Xperia p, LG G3, OnePlus 3, OnePlus 5t, OnePlus 7pro, pixel 7 pro and currently have a iPhone 16 pro and not regretting the switch one bit.
@converge8008 now use a xperia 1ii, it isn't really that slow considering most playstore app can't be downloaded.... but am surprised actually someone had battery issues, my battery last 2hrs. do you still have your unit?
Great video, back in 2006 I bought the most expensive phone I’d ever bought and it was one of the first k8xx series with a decent camera, it was horribly unreliable and then after a couple weeks just would not switch on.. I took it to the service centre for Sony and the staff there told me they had hundreds of these in for repair.. so a couple of week later I get the call to collect my repaired phone and then about 2 weeks later same thing happens. It was fixed again and then I gave up and sold it to a friend who knew the history.. he had it a couple of weeks and same thing happened.. he got it fixed again under warranty about the same time Apple announced the iPhone .. I remember us watching the iPhone presentation and we knew it was game over for all regular phones..
I had a k750i for years. Best phone i've had. The step from simple Nokia cellphones with monochrome display to a camera-phone with color display and even the ability to play mp3-files, listening to radio, bluetooth, WAP internet, video/music-editing and of course flash games were HUGE. Even after i had to get a smartphone, i kept the old k750 as a backup-phone until i lost it back in 2018 unfortunately
I still remembered when I went to a local mobile phone conference and saw the Sony Z3 Compact in white for the first time. Fell in love with it immediately and bought it without question, even when I have no plan to buy new phones at the time😂 How the mighty has fallen. Still loved their phones but they're no longer on sale in my country. What a shame.
My first Sony Ericsson was the S700i. After that, I had 3 other Sony Ericsson models: K800i, K810i and C905. The flash for photography was great. The phones could even do 3D games. The screens were big and colourful. I switched to the Samsung Galaxy phones.
Since they've already pulled out of the Indian, Australian and US market, I'm convinced that this is the end of the line for the Sony Xperia line, and there won't be a 1 VII.
I love your videos, man. Very well investigated and placed together. I owned a Sony Ericsson K800i and it is one of the best phones I've ever had! Years later, I bought a Sony Xperia SP, and oh boy... It is the worst phone I've ever had. It got so laggy so fast, and Sony just didn't care. They forgot about it and let it die with no proper software updates even though it wasn't cheap at all. I had to install Lineage OS just to make it usable. The camera was crap as well.
Hi, You missed two small details in Sony’s lineup. At one point, instead of continuing to make the best camera phones in the K series, SE transitioned to the C series (Cyber-shot). The C902, for example, was James Bond’s phone in Quantum of Solace. Later, after dropping “Ericsson” from the brand name, and that mess with naming, they introduced the Z series (flagship phones), M series (mid-range phones), and E series (the cheapest ones). This strategy worked for quite some time. However, as you mentioned, there was no Z4, and I’ve heard this was due to “4” being considered an unlucky number in Japan. But then there’s the M4 Aqua, which confused me a bit as well. For me in Poland, Sony Ericsson was the only sensible competition for Nokia 😉
Wow, this was an amazing video. This is my first time discovering your channel. I loved your video and your content is top-notch. You’ve definitely earned a new subscriber.🌹🙏
16:15 The Xperia Z series did start with Z1, Z2, Z3. There just wasn't a Z4. I remember it as the Z serious being the first serious sony smart phone back in the day. Working at a phone store there was some hype around it. But more like it was the only Sony phones pretty much that was pushed in the store.
It's mainly because of the East Asian Tetraphobia, OnePlus also skipped the OnePlus 4, same with Oppo Find X4. And a lot of others also are sketchy in terms of sketchy naming, the followup for Samsung's first Galaxy Watch wasn't the Watch 2 but the Watch 3, there was a Galaxy Watch Active 2 without rotating bezel. HTC with Desire then dropping it for the Sensation (but keeping naming their budget phones "Desire"), after that One X and One S (hold my Xbox), then only One [M7], One M8, One M9, then dropping One and calling it HTC 10. Huawei skipped P3-P5, maybe to position their P6 against the latest iPhone then (5S/c) and upcoming iPhone 6 and after the P10 no P11 but P20, P30 etc. Samsung did that from S10 to S20, but now the number is matching with the release year. Qualcomm's Snapdragon series before they went to a blank slate with now 4, 6, 7 and 8 Gen * was a mess, Snapdragon 800, 801, 805(?), 808, 810, 820, 835, 845(?), 855, 865, 888...
I was always a Sony and LG guy...and well, since LG is gone (RIP GOAT), my only option is Sony. And I'm loving every inch of these phones. Hope they finally get their marketing and naming right, so we can see some more market share!
I used sony smartphones in the past and they're pretty good quality, though a bit expensive. Was in the market for a new one last year, considered getting the new xperia 1 mark 5 but ended up with an iPhone instead. It was too big for my hand but it had great camera.
@ I just looked at some headphones 🎧 (never owned any Sony headphones) The Sony WH-1000XMS then you’ve got ULT line WHAT is that!!! they look the same… 😂🫣
It’s infuriating because their products are really high-quality and I love them, but I need to do so much research to find out about them and it shouldn’t need to be that way.
Nostalgia. So much nostalgia with Sony Ericsson. My first phone was the Sony Ericsson W810i in early 2007. I loved it. Still have it today, and it still works. I've been a Sony Ericsson user up until my last Sony Ericsson phone (Live With Walkman, WT19i) which was also my first Android phone when I got it in early 2012. My family were all Sony Ericsson users, and they loved them. Today I've collected most of their old Sony Ericsson phones and their unique and quirky accessories, and keep them in my big mobile collection. Also my first and only Sony Phone was the Xperia S, when I bought it in 2013. After that I bought the iPhone 5s (my first and last iPhone, because I can't stand their eco system), and after that I've become a Samsung customer. Fyi, I didn't know the existence of the iPhone until 2011. That's how much the iPhone and Apple products weren't popular in my area.
the biggest reason for failure is there was a huge miscommunicating advertising system between the sellers and the consumers , when i went to buy an Xperia SP phone the official store person showed me s and p phones. the shopkeepers themselves didn't know the names of the phones 😪
The back of the Arc and Arc S was curved inward, it was an interesting design and felt great to hold, was super slim too for the time too as a result. I wanted one quite a bit, but Sony mads it so hard to unlock their phones so I ended up with a Samsung Note 2. Loved the looks of the Blocky ones too with the "glass" at the bottom.
Many inaccuracies, especially around the shift to the Xperia line. Good video, but make sure to get the facts straight about hardware, OS availability, etc
I did a lot of research for this video. My sources are in the description free for you to investigate. While you're doing that what exactly do you think I got wrong? Discourse is on the path to the truth and I'd love to hear about your experience with the brand.
I had them. That bubble or pear shaped phone was my favorite cellphone. It rocked. It was also nice it had an insert where you could plug in an external attenuate you could attach to the roof of your car. Very nice feature.
Aside from my iPhone 13 Pro, I am commenting with my Sony Xperia 1 Mark 5. Love the Display, form factor, camera and Sound. These are good but extreme niche
My dad had a T68i. Pretty innovative for the time: you could edit your own ringtones with MIDI tones and even control the vibrator. It also had an optional camera extension, which I believe was a first for a mobile phone. I myself got a z710 and a w995. The z710 was a really cool flip phone with a monochrome LCD on the shell. I could run MSN messenger on it. The w995 was the shit at the time with an autofocus camera, song recognition (before Shazam existed), an FM radio and decent video recording capabilities. I remember browsing the web on Opera mobile on it. You could also hack the firmware and run binary ELFs. Sony phones for the Japanese market were crazy good too. Not a fan of what they did with smartphones though. Their UI was bloated and I never liked the "Xperia" name. edit: what I disliked about pre-android SE phones were their bulky connector and sony's obsession with Memory Stick when SD was the standard.
watching from Xperia 1iii wanted to upgrade to 1V but I'm not so sure if it will last me at least 3yrs.. yeah sony is a bit confused but we still luv em 😅.seeing that k800i brought back memories it was truly iconic
I had the Sony Ericsson K810. It was one of my favorite phones. And in early 3G Internet packages I could easily login to Facebook and browse updates from my friends. Those were early days when I formed the habit of using my phone during a traffic jam. Incredible how far we've come today 😅
I used Xperia Sola in 2012-2013, one of its main feature is floating touch that proved to be useful for me who wore gloves at work. Also it's one of earliest device to have NFC capability although the function is very limited to just communicating with NFC tags the phone packed with.
I had almost purchased an Xperia so many times throughout the last 4 years. The main reason why I ended up going with Samsung was twofold: one was the support issue. Apparently wifi calling doesn't work with the t-mobile network with the Xperia. The second was the price and smaller ecosystem. Samsung had some amazing bundle deals where I snagged both a smartwatch and earbuds and that locked me into Samsung's ecosystem. The whole considering Xperia and almost picking them but eventually going to Samsung happened twice, once with me picking the Samsung Note Ultra due to it being the last flagship that supporting an SD card, and now eventually to an S24+ Ultra because I paid about $1,100 for the phone, earbuds, and watch which I thought was a killer deal. Too bad though because the specs looked good but no wifi calling was a dealbreaker.
SE were really popular in Australia back in the day. I bought my T610 for quite cheap in prepaid. Compared to my Nokia, they had a large colour screen, polyphonic ringtones, BT, and a camera. Because they had aluminium bodies they were also indestructible. They also had a great OS that was easy to use with the joystick. I think had a K750i that had a great camera, better screen, memory stick storage, etc. my final SE phone was a K810i it was slightly bigger had the 3.2 camera with the cover and xenon flash. I was carrying that with an iPod. Then I bought an iPod touch, and eventually I was sick of carrying two devices and not having mobile data on my phone, so bought a 3GS. A few of my friends stayed with Sony, but only for a few years.
My mom had a cybershot and my dad had one of the K series as well as the motorola v500. I couldn’t wait for them to come from work and we play games on there with my siblings. Good times.
It's not all bad news though, the Xperia Play patent for a sliding controller will expire later this year so hopefully the next crop of gaming phones from red magic, Asus rog & Lenovo will take advantage of this
I honestly think they could claw a bit of their market share back if they revisited the Xperia Play concept. A Smartphone with an integrated controller that is set up to work with the PlayStation ecosystem would probably be very popular. having a marketplace for classic PS titles to be bought and played on it, being able to use it to remote play your PS5. Maybe even have it work as a controller for the PS5, with a game that utilises the extra screen somehow. I think a lot of PS owners would dig that.
I definitely feel like the issue was the total lack of branding If they'd just had something cohesive they could've gotten some traction, they had the tech to do it and the devices weren't bad. But when one year you're buying an Ion and the next year you're buying a T and then the next year you're buying a K1... you really don't have any clue what's next Whereas if you have a Samsung S4, you came back a couple of years later for an S6. If you had an iPhone 5, you came back a couple of years later for an iPhone 6. It makes sense to let your customers understand your range
If sony brings back that logo and w series with 3.5 jack with a good camera ( they make the sensors ).with good ui with 5y software warranty i'll buy it.
I have an Xperia 10 iv. I've had it for 2 years, and it can still last 2 days on a single charge. It's serving me well. I hope Sony doesn't stop selling smartphones. They're certainly better at making good phones than they are at naming them.
Sony will not sell the phone division but they did merge camera, tv and mobile to one division because of a strange company culture. Big reasons for Sony Ericssons and Sony Mobile getting this small was the infighting between the camera, tv and phone division. Camera didn't wanna help the mobile phone division with the camera software therefore Sony cameras was a disappointment for many. The game division that make PlayStation didn't wanna help Sony Ericsson with their gaming phone so they didn't get to use the monicker PlayStation phone and it became Sony Erickson Xperia Play and got PlayStation certified but got ni Games. So hq in Tokyo got angry and merge TV, moving and camera to make them work closely together. If they fight within this three division will loose. And it do work. Slowly the cameras do get better, the screen did to and PlayStation focusing works better with the new division.
9:35 I had that phone, I loved the fact that you could set a diferent colored circle to different contacts. Still consider that it's a beautiful phone.
K and W series were basically same phones with different software and bodies. You could flash W-series software on K-series phones and have walkman functionality. Camera app were the same in both K and W series.
The Sony X10i was my first smartphone and I loved it but the X8i was way more pocket friendly, probably the smallest smartphone ever made with a camera.
same reason applies for vaio faillure also . the quality of vaio at that point of time was more superior than the hp spectre and the lenovo thinkpad nowdays. the biggest problem was vaio was insane pricing and fewer number of models in the store and also providing older version of windows for newer models
My first proper phone was a Sony Ericsson w580i, I have very fond memories with it. It was very reliable, lasted many years and it was beyond cool. Later on, I also got an Xperia Z1 Compact, which was also good, but its screen broke way too easily (a big problem since the broken panel didn't work and a panel change was expensive). Ultimately, it was the screen problem that made me switch to Samsung, but I do believe Sony remained strong on the Hungarian market for quite some time.
Sony figured too late that people are not as brand loyal as they thought people in the 70's & 80's were. Sony also had to deal with Japanese companies they granted business to keep things "in house" (Japan) this bit them in the bottom.
I was one of the enthusiasts, that bought the Xperia 1 Mk.III but sadly I have to say won't buy another Sony phone. That high praised camera system is outclassed even by almost every other middle class phone, especially if you use the telephoto camera. It's just overcomplicated. Another point as you mentioned is the incredibly poor software support. But what frustrates me the most is that after about 3 years of use it starts to get more and more unreliable. The fingerprint reader stopped working, some apps randomly freeze for about 30 seconds and the already pretty dim screen from the start has developed some serioius burn in, which could have bean easily avoided or at least slowed by properly incorporating experience from televisions. Even my old Samsung Galaxy S9 survived better. I normally really like Sony products regardless of the naming but the phones are not for me.
I had Sony Xperia Miro since 2012. In 2016 it basically stoped working so I bought Apple 5S and I've used it till 2023. The Apple was 3 times more expensive but it lasted 4 times longer.
I remember in the pre smartphone era really wanting a Sony Ericsson W series. A neat looking phone that was also sony Walkman type player was an excellent proposition and the styling was excellent. I came close to getting it but ended up with a cheaper Nokia and an iPod mini. That level of phone and music player integration didn’t happen again until the iPhone.
The second smartphone I owned was an Xperia T. I remember all my friends asking me to take photos because my phone had the best camera. They were expensive though, I'd wait a few years after launch to buy the Xperia Z, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact and the Xperia Z5. My only issue with these phones was their screen; Bright and crisp, but they cracked on the first fall. I learned how to replace phone screens myself during this time. My Z3 compact went through 3 replacement screens. Ultimately they were expensive and I ultimately switched to Xiaomi phones which offered great specs for a 200-300 price point at launch.
@@gumdr0pzz Indeed. Not only they weren't using Corning glass like many companies at the time. But the digitizer would stop working if the glass cracked. While I waited for the screen to arrive from China, I would use an OTP adapter to connect a small mouse. Friends would be weirded out when I pulled out the mouse to use my phone xD
I had the Sony Ericsson W300 and later the Sony Ericsson w580i. When I got my 580, the iPhone and the HTC G1 (the first Android phone) just came out and I went head to head with both phones. Google was pushing 3G hype and nobody was safe. iPhone was exclusively AT&T, and Sprint was the biggest phone company after Verizon. We also had Cingular, Boost, Amp't, and some other Prepaid mobile companies. The Sony Ericsson line wasn't bad and they had the best in sound, was the first to come with headphones with the silicone tips, and was easy to use. Then in 2010 I upgraded to the Motorola Cliq XT. By that time the writing was on the wall that it was either going to be Android or iPhone as other makers like LG, Motorola, Nokia, and others where loosing ground fast.
Hey dudes! Im really proud of this one, so im glad youre enjoying! As always, any mistakes i catch will be posted here in the show notes! Party on!
At 4:21 I said the T610 could record video. After further research, my initial source was wrong. It could not.
At 5:49 I said powershot. I meant cyber shot. Powershot is a canon thing.
Also, it seems you didn't talk about the P series. Aside from the bulkiness, I really loved and enjoyed the P900 at the time.
Great job researching, and great videos👍🏿
@@damaidodo1454 I did mention one p series phone. You're right I did mostly leave it out. They were more niche enthusiast handsets rather than their cell phones that were a little more popular at the time. I left out a few other lines just for the sake of brevity mainly focusing on the main 3.
@@owencooktech oh! I missed that mention. Great job once again.❤️
I remember in like 2014 or so some friend washed their Sony phone in front of me to prove me that it's water resistant and I was mind blown at the time. Then I never heard about Sony phones again, I though they stopped making phones a long time ago.
Yeah by that point they were catching up and surpassing other phones on the market. I have a similar memory with a waterproof phone case on an iPhone.
Hah i did that with my XZ to show my friends
Still here just badly marketed. Unless you follow phone world you won't here about Sony Xperias for a long time. But they do exist now
they do have them at phone stores (in the UK) but they are overshadowed by the iPhones, samsungs and huawei's. @@joelconolly5574
My first and second smartphones are both Xperias (Z1 and XZ1) exactly because of that. In 2013 and 2017 phones with IP ratings were still mostly bulky heavy-duty phones.
I still like Xperia but won't buy one anyomre. Throwing $1000+ on a devices that only gets 2 years of software update is absurd, considering Samsung and Google are already giving 7-year support for their mid-range phones.
Me watching this on my Sony Xperia 😅
@@3asabird128 sweet! Youre in the top .1%!
Me too on my Xperia 1III
Watching on my Xperia 1v
dude that was me a few days ago. I got the pro-I
The naming scheme is like a chassis code it's truely Japanese
Lmao yeah
the recent years have been somewhat fine, since Sony has made their own lines of Xperia 1 for high end, Xperia 5 for lower high end with almost same specs wit smaller screen and less ram. and Xperia 10 line that is the mid range line.
too bad that they did not do that all the way back in early 2010's. imagine if Sony offered as good support as Samsung and had been done so since 2013 for example.
then we would honestly probably have people asking if they should get the latest Galaxy S flagship or the latest Xperia 1 phone.
too bad that most of the time Sony named their phones with maybe one letter following few hammer strikes at keyboard.
@@Jurtaani And even that naming is terrible. 5 is higher than 1, logically it should be the highest.
@@carlzune6626 idk. Takes whole of 2 seconds to see the prices that tell you what 1, 5 and 10 lines are about, then the fact that following numbers are in roman numerals tells me that it's not part of the actual model series but instead something else.
Heck you can use this same logic with Samsung and their HORRIBLE names. I mean is the A54 better than S24 since A is the first letter in the alphabets and 54 is larger number than 24.
@@Jurtaani Samsungs scheme is not bad. S-rank is better than A-rank, it borrows from grading and scholarship levels. The number after the rank is always sequential and theres always more "lower-tier" phones than "higher-tier" ones, so it also makes sense that the current A series number is way higher than the S series
I still cant believe that Sony fail in smartphone market dominated today by iphone, samsung, xiaomi, vivo and oppo
back in the day, in early days of android phones, sony has the most sexy design called Xperia, along with htc brand..
Imagine Sony Xperia in today's specs, with Android 14, minimum 4GB RAM..
@@abdu7095 1 VI exists. Look it up.
They still sell them
Vivo, oppo and OnePlus is the same company
Those phone exist. Experia 1 MkVI
3:35 actually not, the "i" stands for international. There were region locked phones like the "c" line, that were adapted for the chinese market. There were also versions without a letter behind the name, but I don't know if they were the japanese or US versions of the device.
Edit: also the K800 came first, the K790 was the budget version without video calling tech. The K810 was the K800 refresh, it added minor tweaks to the K800 that were missing then, like flash support and even more dedicated camera controls and a new shell.
I saw the thumbnail and title and was just like "wdym" until I watched fully
'Cause I'm writing this on an Xperia 5 IV 😂
That's sick man! I remember really wanting the Xperia Pro when it came out, but it's just so expensive! I couldn't justify the purchase if the phone only lasts 2 years.
@@owencooktechit should last more than 2 years though. I'd expect Sony to be better than huawei at software.. and my mom's p30 lite still going strong
Xperia 5 III here 😁
@ilfaraone91 based
I love the size of all the 5 models. I've got small hands so anything over 6.5 inches starts to make my hands sore after a while.
@@owencooktechYou make it sound like it breaks after 2 years. You'll be fine with older Android, they don't add big features nowadays, so not much difference.
Watching this on my Sony Xperia, haha. And it's a new one, not one year old.
@@tubbalcain oh sweet! You're like .1% of global phone users.
Me too :) and I love mine
Also have Sony Xperia 1 VI and i did go from Xperia 1 V. Its mostly the design. I hate what the other brands doing with camera holes in the screen and big huge camera bumps on the back. The only negative with my Xperia 1 VI is its wider and not 21:9 and well blir 4k. Its not as Sharp as before. But the battery is wow
Same, still have a headphone jack, SD card, no camera hole or notch in the screen. Only the OS requires some more polishing.
I love my Xperia 1 V... ❤❤❤❤
I remember Samsung also made a million different models around 2014, particularly in the Asian markets:
Galaxy Star
Galaxy Core
Galaxy Fame
Galaxy Mega
Galaxy Young
Galaxy Alpha
Galaxy Grand
Galaxy Ace
Galaxy K Zoom
Galaxy Pocket
Galaxy W
Galaxy Beam
Galaxy Avant
I think there were actually z, z1, z2, z3 etc before the z5
There was, but there was no real Z4 before the Z5. It was the Z4 in Japan but Z3+ everywhere else, which is maybe not very intuitive as far as naming schemes are concerned.
@@LoganSLRLockwood and iPhone skipping 9 is just fine
Yes but there was no z4. They skipped it for some random reason. There was a Z4 concept phone but it was canceled. Instead of using the name they just skipped it. Absolutely no commitment to their own products.
I had Z1 and Z1 compact
@@SatongiFilms I feel like Apple got their fair share of criticism for whatever was going on between the iPhone 8 and iPhone 11 tbh. They kinda got themselves into a weird place by releasing an special phone for their 10th anniversary, calling it the "iPhone 10", and releasing it beside the iPhone 8. They did course correct after that though. The iPhone XS, for all intents and purposes, is an iPhone 9. Already having an iPhone 10 would then mean they skip straight to the 11 afterwards. It's not intuitive, but they course corrected and stuck with their naming scheme.
Sony on the other hand "skipped" the Z4 (I will iterate again, the phone they called the Z3+ in the rest of the world was called the Z4 in Japan), released the Z5, and then completely changed their naming scheme to XZ. If they stuck with the Z names and just released the Z6 and kept going forward instead of starting from scratch with the XZ for no reason, I don't think they'd have gotten nearly as much criticism as they are getting now.
I recently rooted and installed lineageos on a sony xperia v ii and when in adb mode it showed up as Sony Ericsson Communications AB if i remember correctly, pretty funny they still have that name deep in the phone all these years later
Wow that's crazy yeah. It's really cool you found that.
Source: Truste me bro! 😂😂
Also when they show up in windows, their logo is actually a sony ericsson Xperia neo
I used to like sonys phones (think I owned about 5 or 6 since early 00) but like you said the lack of support and the most idiotic naming scheme (like wtf?) finally made me boogie off for greener pastures
Correction. The T68i was (in hardware) identical to the Ericsson T68, apart from the case colour, and in fact all T68 owners were given a free firmware update to convert their phone to a T68i.
Good thing your videos ended up in my feed. Keep up the work. I like your research. Good luck with the channel.
Thanks dude! Stay Excellent!
I want to see next, why the Samsung Note died
i dont know about why, but the how is "bang"
I already have a video on the note 7! Check it out!
Note series didn't die. They are just rebranded as "Ultra"
Note series was discontinued because they want to sell their folding phones.
@@BryTe22 it wasnt discontinued. You can still buy a samsung note, its just call an ultra.
Woahh why is the sub count and views so low. This looks like really good content. You just earned a sub and a like
Thanks my dude! Party on!
I have had Sony (Ericsson) phones after T100 came out. Every model that I have had, had its flaws but the style and distinctivity from others have covered these for me. (Sony Ericsson's design was superb) Nowdays the style is unfortunately not possible to do with only screen front, but it is the only company that holds the values I respect. Screen without "punch-hole", SD-card support with high end model, allmost pure android, audio jack... It is hard for me to understand why other phones that are so similar to each other (and just boring) are successful. Sadly nowdays Sony is only one that tries to be a little different. It would be a big loss for me if they decide to end it.
I'm with you. These are the things I cant choose other brands. I do like the pixel 8 Pro... Just wished it had what Sony has.
All brands looks the same but Sony didn't. Sadly thought they did go more mainstream with their Xperia 1 VI. Still hate its so wide... Have to use two hands all the time when writing this. With my old Xperia 1 V i could at least use one hand most of the time. But I choose to go to the phone with the better battery time.
That SD card bit aaaaalmost put me over the line for an Xperia. But in between no wifi calling with t-mobile issue and Samsung's awesome bundle deals I just never pulled the trigger on the much more expensive option. Too bad though, I still think the Xperia is a compelling alternative to the other major Android phones out there.
The thing about audio jack and sdcard is that these features are not making money, they don't sell you wireless headphones or upsale more memory on a phone. And most people don't use them. These features only present on budget phones nowadays, lacking them is a sign of premium.
And audio jack on Sony doesn't have separate amp chip so it's not very powerful and will struggle with some headphones, SDcard will be slower than built in memory too. So it doesn't translate into premium experience.
@unruler how additional cloud storage (which you have to pay endlessly) and audiolag from bluetooth headset presents premium? To have more options feels premium to me.
@raitkaaramees6694 I mean that nowadays only budget phones have those options and premium don't, that's why. Also premium is not always better.
Wow great vid. Love how you went the extra mile getting your hands on some of these devices. I def see you continuing to grow
Thanks dude! My phone collection is massive. I look like a drug dealer.
What a nostalgic video...Definitely got yourself a new subscriber..
Great summary. As a former retail salesman of cell phones from ‘03-‘11 this was super interesting. Also subscribed as soon as I saw the Seinfeld/Costanza t shirt.
Lmao. I don't love getting into politics but that shirt is just too funny.
0:25 But Experia 1 mark series are the best, sd card slot and headphone jack even in top of line
Me watching this on my 1V 😅
Me watching on 1 VI
Fun fact: Z4 was skipped because number 4 is simply an unlucky number in Japan and it's also pronounced "shi" which means death
Oh really? I didn't know that. That's interesting.
Had a Sony xperia z1 in 2014, it was way ahead of its time, had potrait mode/background defocus,classic glass sandwich design ,water proof.
Got 2 full android updates.
Great video! My dad got me a nokia 3230 around 2006. And in 2008, i got a sony ericsson c902 cybershot. I remember the camera being high end for that time!
Very good video and extremely well put together. Keep it up.
Thanks my dude! Stay Excellent!
Great piece! Side note: was the high framerate intentional?
Thanks dude! Absolutely. 60fps is my preferred frame rate. I dislike 24 strongly. It's too artsy and motion blurry for my use. 60 offers the most clarity. I probably would be fine with 30, but my camera is capable of 60 so I've always used it.
I had a W800i & it was my absolute favourite phone I ever had before I got iPhones. The music play back was simply fantastic.
I used to develop core apps for Sony phones when they switched to Android ~15 years ago. I remember they had stupidest and shittiest ideas I've seen to this day. No wonder they failed so miserably.
Also awesome video, well researched.
Well, in Sweden they where pretty large and everyone had a phone from SonyEricsson. You either had SE or Nokia.
I remember my Dad having this Sony Ericsson (until now still functioning). They were the good times in my Childhood days playing music and also games from that phone. Thank you for this video! :)
Mate, the Z series phones where one of the few times Sony's phone actually made sense. The was a Z, Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4 and Z5 and then they were followed up by the XZ series XZ, XZ1, XZ2, XZ3. Some of these models also had Premium(Big) models and Compact(Small) models.
These were all fantastic phones but Sony was releasing them every 6 months which must have been costing them major dosh in R&D.
I am so glad that I found you in your beginnings. You will become a huge youtube one of the biggest in a few years. 👌
@@YindrichFutureSound thanks dude!
I had a Sony phone (Xperia P) worst phone I’ve ever owned. Battery failed within 6months, would last half an hour 0-100%. Sony refused to repair or refund me as “they aren’t the ones who manufactured the battery” switched to a LG G3 (was brilliant miss LG)
@@converge8008 oh dang. I heard a similar issue with the Xperia SP. I made a video on LG too. It's sad to see them gone.
i still have my xperia p, it still works only problem is the power button.... but yeah it's pretty clear even in the xperia community that their services are @ss
@@clemente111 I can't even imagine using a 12 year old phone I imagine even an iPhone 5 or S3 would be painfully slow yet alone using an Xperia P! , dude treat yourself and get a new phone there is so much better stuff out there, even on the used market. I went from Xperia p, LG G3, OnePlus 3, OnePlus 5t, OnePlus 7pro, pixel 7 pro and currently have a iPhone 16 pro and not regretting the switch one bit.
@converge8008 now use a xperia 1ii, it isn't really that slow considering most playstore app can't be downloaded.... but am surprised actually someone had battery issues, my battery last 2hrs. do you still have your unit?
@converge8008 if i was to switch I'd go pixel or one plus.. but i love the ability to control almost every bit of my device, my previous was xz2
Great video, back in 2006 I bought the most expensive phone I’d ever bought and it was one of the first k8xx series with a decent camera, it was horribly unreliable and then after a couple weeks just would not switch on.. I took it to the service centre for Sony and the staff there told me they had hundreds of these in for repair.. so a couple of week later I get the call to collect my repaired phone and then about 2 weeks later same thing happens. It was fixed again and then I gave up and sold it to a friend who knew the history.. he had it a couple of weeks and same thing happened.. he got it fixed again under warranty about the same time Apple announced the iPhone .. I remember us watching the iPhone presentation and we knew it was game over for all regular phones..
I had a k750i for years. Best phone i've had. The step from simple Nokia cellphones with monochrome display to a camera-phone with color display and even the ability to play mp3-files, listening to radio, bluetooth, WAP internet, video/music-editing and of course flash games were HUGE.
Even after i had to get a smartphone, i kept the old k750 as a backup-phone until i lost it back in 2018 unfortunately
I still remembered when I went to a local mobile phone conference and saw the Sony Z3 Compact in white for the first time. Fell in love with it immediately and bought it without question, even when I have no plan to buy new phones at the time😂 How the mighty has fallen. Still loved their phones but they're no longer on sale in my country. What a shame.
My first Sony Ericsson was the S700i. After that, I had 3 other Sony Ericsson models: K800i, K810i and C905. The flash for photography was great. The phones could even do 3D games. The screens were big and colourful.
I switched to the Samsung Galaxy phones.
Since they've already pulled out of the Indian, Australian and US market, I'm convinced that this is the end of the line for the Sony Xperia line, and there won't be a 1 VII.
You deserve more views and subscribers, buddy... this is an actually amazing video... keep it up!
Thanks dude! Appreciate it!
I love your videos, man. Very well investigated and placed together. I owned a Sony Ericsson K800i and it is one of the best phones I've ever had! Years later, I bought a Sony Xperia SP, and oh boy... It is the worst phone I've ever had. It got so laggy so fast, and Sony just didn't care. They forgot about it and let it die with no proper software updates even though it wasn't cheap at all. I had to install Lineage OS just to make it usable. The camera was crap as well.
oh wow. The k800i was a cool phone though. I missed out on that era.
wow great video.
i missed the old sony ericsson phones, my first phones, hope they restart their phone business with a better strategy.
no kidding. Their phones are still so cool tho. If they supported updates for maybe 5 years they'd instantly be more appealing.
there’s one mistake with the thumbnail why is there the walkman logo on the k300 in the thumbnail? the k300 isn’t for music
Exactly
Just a small correction (oh, you have more) the first phone with a color screen was the Siemens S 10.
There were phones with color displays before the t68i, but it was the first one to see mass market appeal.
@@owencooktech yes, it was at least for the EU market...Siemens S10 first phone with color dispaly....
Hi, You missed two small details in Sony’s lineup. At one point, instead of continuing to make the best camera phones in the K series, SE transitioned to the C series (Cyber-shot). The C902, for example, was James Bond’s phone in Quantum of Solace.
Later, after dropping “Ericsson” from the brand name, and that mess with naming, they introduced the Z series (flagship phones), M series (mid-range phones), and E series (the cheapest ones). This strategy worked for quite some time.
However, as you mentioned, there was no Z4, and I’ve heard this was due to “4” being considered an unlucky number in Japan. But then there’s the M4 Aqua, which confused me a bit as well.
For me in Poland, Sony Ericsson was the only sensible competition for Nokia 😉
it took like 8 years for them to come up with the simple naming scheme of "1, 5, 10, pro."
Wow, this was an amazing video.
This is my first time discovering your channel. I loved your video and your content is top-notch.
You’ve definitely earned a new subscriber.🌹🙏
Thanks dude! Stay Excellent!
16:15 The Xperia Z series did start with Z1, Z2, Z3. There just wasn't a Z4. I remember it as the Z serious being the first serious sony smart phone back in the day. Working at a phone store there was some hype around it. But more like it was the only Sony phones pretty much that was pushed in the store.
Z4 came out only in Japan in rest of the world, the same phone was named Z3+..
It's mainly because of the East Asian Tetraphobia, OnePlus also skipped the OnePlus 4, same with Oppo Find X4.
And a lot of others also are sketchy in terms of sketchy naming, the followup for Samsung's first Galaxy Watch wasn't the Watch 2 but the Watch 3, there was a Galaxy Watch Active 2 without rotating bezel.
HTC with Desire then dropping it for the Sensation (but keeping naming their budget phones "Desire"), after that One X and One S (hold my Xbox), then only One [M7], One M8, One M9, then dropping One and calling it HTC 10.
Huawei skipped P3-P5, maybe to position their P6 against the latest iPhone then (5S/c) and upcoming iPhone 6 and after the P10 no P11 but P20, P30 etc. Samsung did that from S10 to S20, but now the number is matching with the release year.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon series before they went to a blank slate with now 4, 6, 7 and 8 Gen * was a mess, Snapdragon 800, 801, 805(?), 808, 810, 820, 835, 845(?), 855, 865, 888...
I was always a Sony and LG guy...and well, since LG is gone (RIP GOAT), my only option is Sony. And I'm loving every inch of these phones. Hope they finally get their marketing and naming right, so we can see some more market share!
I used sony smartphones in the past and they're pretty good quality, though a bit expensive. Was in the market for a new one last year, considered getting the new xperia 1 mark 5 but ended up with an iPhone instead. It was too big for my hand but it had great camera.
The only thing that Sony names properly is their PlayStations 😂 everything else can’t be bothered 😴
for real. their headphones and earbuds as an example have incomprehensible names
@ I just looked at some headphones 🎧 (never owned any Sony headphones) The Sony WH-1000XMS then you’ve got ULT line WHAT is that!!! they look the same… 😂🫣
Lol yeah its actually insane people still buy those poorly named devices.
It’s infuriating because their products are really high-quality and I love them, but I need to do so much research to find out about them and it shouldn’t need to be that way.
With the exception of their PSP line-up
I want LG, Sony, HTC and Blackberry to re-enter the Smartphone business.
Nostalgia. So much nostalgia with Sony Ericsson. My first phone was the Sony Ericsson W810i in early 2007. I loved it. Still have it today, and it still works. I've been a Sony Ericsson user up until my last Sony Ericsson phone (Live With Walkman, WT19i) which was also my first Android phone when I got it in early 2012. My family were all Sony Ericsson users, and they loved them. Today I've collected most of their old Sony Ericsson phones and their unique and quirky accessories, and keep them in my big mobile collection.
Also my first and only Sony Phone was the Xperia S, when I bought it in 2013. After that I bought the iPhone 5s (my first and last iPhone, because I can't stand their eco system), and after that I've become a Samsung customer.
Fyi, I didn't know the existence of the iPhone until 2011. That's how much the iPhone and Apple products weren't popular in my area.
Xperia Play was a knock out; one of the best way to sell a smart phone
the biggest reason for failure is there was a huge miscommunicating advertising system between the sellers and the consumers , when i went to buy an Xperia SP phone the official store person showed me s and p phones. the shopkeepers themselves didn't know the names of the phones 😪
The back of the Arc and Arc S was curved inward, it was an interesting design and felt great to hold, was super slim too for the time too as a result. I wanted one quite a bit, but Sony mads it so hard to unlock their phones so I ended up with a Samsung Note 2.
Loved the looks of the Blocky ones too with the "glass" at the bottom.
I wonder why Sony mobile failed? 🤔 Watching on Xperia 1VI
Many inaccuracies, especially around the shift to the Xperia line. Good video, but make sure to get the facts straight about hardware, OS availability, etc
I did a lot of research for this video. My sources are in the description free for you to investigate. While you're doing that what exactly do you think I got wrong? Discourse is on the path to the truth and I'd love to hear about your experience with the brand.
Why did you not pronounce Lund accurately. Its sounded like London and now everybody will think the hq was based in the UK
If you're willing to comment, would be good if you could point out those inaccuracies.
I had them. That bubble or pear shaped phone was my favorite cellphone. It rocked. It was also nice it had an insert where you could plug in an external attenuate you could attach to the roof of your car. Very nice feature.
Aside from my iPhone 13 Pro, I am commenting with my Sony Xperia 1 Mark 5. Love the Display, form factor, camera and Sound. These are good but extreme niche
Excellent narrative and production look forward to more 🤠
My dad had a T68i. Pretty innovative for the time: you could edit your own ringtones with MIDI tones and even control the vibrator.
It also had an optional camera extension, which I believe was a first for a mobile phone.
I myself got a z710 and a w995.
The z710 was a really cool flip phone with a monochrome LCD on the shell. I could run MSN messenger on it.
The w995 was the shit at the time with an autofocus camera, song recognition (before Shazam existed), an FM radio and decent video recording capabilities. I remember browsing the web on Opera mobile on it.
You could also hack the firmware and run binary ELFs.
Sony phones for the Japanese market were crazy good too.
Not a fan of what they did with smartphones though. Their UI was bloated and I never liked the "Xperia" name.
edit: what I disliked about pre-android SE phones were their bulky connector and sony's obsession with Memory Stick when SD was the standard.
I'm so glad TH-cam recommended this video
Keep up the good job man
watching from Xperia 1iii wanted to upgrade to 1V but I'm not so sure if it will last me at least 3yrs.. yeah sony is a bit confused but we still luv em 😅.seeing that k800i brought back memories it was truly iconic
I think the 1 V will have a better chance of lasting you 3+ years than the 1 III tbh. Having a more thermally efficient processor goes a long way.
I had the Sony Ericsson K810. It was one of my favorite phones. And in early 3G Internet packages I could easily login to Facebook and browse updates from my friends. Those were early days when I formed the habit of using my phone during a traffic jam. Incredible how far we've come today 😅
Yeah it's crazy how far the technology has come in just 20 years.
P series from 2002-2007 are not mentioned, also Satio with symbian and 12 mp camera and some other models
I talked about a few phones from the P series. It was the first phone with UIQ.
I used Xperia Sola in 2012-2013, one of its main feature is floating touch that proved to be useful for me who wore gloves at work. Also it's one of earliest device to have NFC capability although the function is very limited to just communicating with NFC tags the phone packed with.
I had almost purchased an Xperia so many times throughout the last 4 years. The main reason why I ended up going with Samsung was twofold: one was the support issue. Apparently wifi calling doesn't work with the t-mobile network with the Xperia. The second was the price and smaller ecosystem. Samsung had some amazing bundle deals where I snagged both a smartwatch and earbuds and that locked me into Samsung's ecosystem.
The whole considering Xperia and almost picking them but eventually going to Samsung happened twice, once with me picking the Samsung Note Ultra due to it being the last flagship that supporting an SD card, and now eventually to an S24+ Ultra because I paid about $1,100 for the phone, earbuds, and watch which I thought was a killer deal. Too bad though because the specs looked good but no wifi calling was a dealbreaker.
SE were really popular in Australia back in the day. I bought my T610 for quite cheap in prepaid. Compared to my Nokia, they had a large colour screen, polyphonic ringtones, BT, and a camera. Because they had aluminium bodies they were also indestructible. They also had a great OS that was easy to use with the joystick. I think had a K750i that had a great camera, better screen, memory stick storage, etc. my final SE phone was a K810i it was slightly bigger had the 3.2 camera with the cover and xenon flash. I was carrying that with an iPod. Then I bought an iPod touch, and eventually I was sick of carrying two devices and not having mobile data on my phone, so bought a 3GS. A few of my friends stayed with Sony, but only for a few years.
My mom had a cybershot and my dad had one of the K series as well as the motorola v500. I couldn’t wait for them to come from work and we play games on there with my siblings. Good times.
Those were good phones, for sure.
It's not all bad news though, the Xperia Play patent for a sliding controller will expire later this year so hopefully the next crop of gaming phones from red magic, Asus rog & Lenovo will take advantage of this
I loved the Xperia Compact Phones, a small phone with very small cut backs and the battery life was great.
I honestly think they could claw a bit of their market share back if they revisited the Xperia Play concept. A Smartphone with an integrated controller that is set up to work with the PlayStation ecosystem would probably be very popular. having a marketplace for classic PS titles to be bought and played on it, being able to use it to remote play your PS5. Maybe even have it work as a controller for the PS5, with a game that utilises the extra screen somehow. I think a lot of PS owners would dig that.
I definitely feel like the issue was the total lack of branding
If they'd just had something cohesive they could've gotten some traction, they had the tech to do it and the devices weren't bad. But when one year you're buying an Ion and the next year you're buying a T and then the next year you're buying a K1... you really don't have any clue what's next
Whereas if you have a Samsung S4, you came back a couple of years later for an S6. If you had an iPhone 5, you came back a couple of years later for an iPhone 6. It makes sense to let your customers understand your range
If sony brings back that logo and w series with 3.5 jack with a good camera ( they make the sensors ).with good ui with 5y software warranty i'll buy it.
I have an Xperia 10 iv. I've had it for 2 years, and it can still last 2 days on a single charge. It's serving me well.
I hope Sony doesn't stop selling smartphones. They're certainly better at making good phones than they are at naming them.
I have the same phone and the battery life still lasts 2 days like yours. Really good phone especially rooted.
Yeah for sure.
Sony will not sell the phone division but they did merge camera, tv and mobile to one division because of a strange company culture. Big reasons for Sony Ericssons and Sony Mobile getting this small was the infighting between the camera, tv and phone division. Camera didn't wanna help the mobile phone division with the camera software therefore Sony cameras was a disappointment for many. The game division that make PlayStation didn't wanna help Sony Ericsson with their gaming phone so they didn't get to use the monicker PlayStation phone and it became Sony Erickson Xperia Play and got PlayStation certified but got ni Games. So hq in Tokyo got angry and merge TV, moving and camera to make them work closely together. If they fight within this three division will loose. And it do work. Slowly the cameras do get better, the screen did to and PlayStation focusing works better with the new division.
9:35 I had that phone, I loved the fact that you could set a diferent colored circle to different contacts. Still consider that it's a beautiful phone.
Yeah it's a good looking device.
I have SONY ERICSSON w660i from 2008, and still working, i'm using it now in 2025 haha. btw great video dude. you earn new subscriber
K and W series were basically same phones with different software and bodies. You could flash W-series software on K-series phones and have walkman functionality. Camera app were the same in both K and W series.
I still have that walkman phone shown in the promo video. Hands down it's my all-time favourite phone.
The Sony X10i was my first smartphone and I loved it but the X8i was way more pocket friendly, probably the smallest smartphone ever made with a camera.
same reason applies for vaio faillure also . the quality of vaio at that point of time was more superior than the hp spectre and the lenovo thinkpad nowdays. the biggest problem was vaio was insane pricing and fewer number of models in the store and also providing older version of windows for newer models
My first proper phone was a Sony Ericsson w580i, I have very fond memories with it. It was very reliable, lasted many years and it was beyond cool. Later on, I also got an Xperia Z1 Compact, which was also good, but its screen broke way too easily (a big problem since the broken panel didn't work and a panel change was expensive). Ultimately, it was the screen problem that made me switch to Samsung, but I do believe Sony remained strong on the Hungarian market for quite some time.
5:49 it's the CYBERSHOT branding, Powershot is from their rival Canon
Crap. You're right. I'm sorry I misspoke. It's in the show notes. Thanks for pointing that out.
Love your video, bro! Subscribed
@@dubberkoala thanks dude! Stay excellent 👍
Sony figured too late that people are not as brand loyal as they thought people in the 70's & 80's were.
Sony also had to deal with Japanese companies they granted business to keep things "in house" (Japan) this bit them in the bottom.
My Grandad had a Sony Ericsson W-Phone. Genuinely had it well into the early 2010s
That's sick man.
I was one of the enthusiasts, that bought the Xperia 1 Mk.III but sadly I have to say won't buy another Sony phone. That high praised camera system is outclassed even by almost every other middle class phone, especially if you use the telephoto camera. It's just overcomplicated. Another point as you mentioned is the incredibly poor software support. But what frustrates me the most is that after about 3 years of use it starts to get more and more unreliable. The fingerprint reader stopped working, some apps randomly freeze for about 30 seconds and the already pretty dim screen from the start has developed some serioius burn in, which could have bean easily avoided or at least slowed by properly incorporating experience from televisions. Even my old Samsung Galaxy S9 survived better. I normally really like Sony products regardless of the naming but the phones are not for me.
I recall having a Sony Xperia Arc within 2013 for no more than five months until I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (until early 2020)
I had Sony Xperia Miro since 2012. In 2016 it basically stoped working so I bought Apple 5S and I've used it till 2023. The Apple was 3 times more expensive but it lasted 4 times longer.
I had a 5s too. Great phone
I remember in the pre smartphone era really wanting a Sony Ericsson W series. A neat looking phone that was also sony Walkman type player was an excellent proposition and the styling was excellent. I came close to getting it but ended up with a cheaper Nokia and an iPod mini. That level of phone and music player integration didn’t happen again until the iPhone.
I had the K750 and I recently turned it on and it still works. It’s definitely a good phone
I had a Sony Erricson w810i. I miss that phone, it was basically a Sony Mavica camera with a Sony phone attached. Beautiful pictures.
I’m pretty sure my x1 came with a stylus because i used it to push the hidden reset button to reboot windows mobile
Ok. In my research I was looking at eBay listings with the original packaging and it wasn't there. Maybe some different versions came with a stylus?
The second smartphone I owned was an Xperia T. I remember all my friends asking me to take photos because my phone had the best camera. They were expensive though, I'd wait a few years after launch to buy the Xperia Z, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact and the Xperia Z5. My only issue with these phones was their screen; Bright and crisp, but they cracked on the first fall. I learned how to replace phone screens myself during this time. My Z3 compact went through 3 replacement screens. Ultimately they were expensive and I ultimately switched to Xiaomi phones which offered great specs for a 200-300 price point at launch.
That's quite the lineup! I haven't heard about the screen problem. That would bother me.
worst were that hairline fractures made the screens completly unuseable. i remember sitting my z2 tablet on a table and it fell foward and died.
@@gumdr0pzz Indeed. Not only they weren't using Corning glass like many companies at the time. But the digitizer would stop working if the glass cracked. While I waited for the screen to arrive from China, I would use an OTP adapter to connect a small mouse. Friends would be weirded out when I pulled out the mouse to use my phone xD
Great topic. Love Sony phones and the breakup with Ericsson was the beginning of the end, unfortunately.
Yeah really. Their old phones are so cool. They had a personality.
I really do enjoy your videos ❤
Matt from Liverpool, UK.
My first 4 or 5 mobile phones were Sony Ericsson. I loved them so much and this video brought back some memories.
Happy to help! Thay had some cool phones back in the day.
My first smart phone in 2012 was a Xperia, and i have still now, gem of a product by Sony.
I had the Sony Ericsson W300 and later the Sony Ericsson w580i. When I got my 580, the iPhone and the HTC G1 (the first Android phone) just came out and I went head to head with both phones. Google was pushing 3G hype and nobody was safe. iPhone was exclusively AT&T, and Sprint was the biggest phone company after Verizon. We also had Cingular, Boost, Amp't, and some other Prepaid mobile companies. The Sony Ericsson line wasn't bad and they had the best in sound, was the first to come with headphones with the silicone tips, and was easy to use. Then in 2010 I upgraded to the Motorola Cliq XT. By that time the writing was on the wall that it was either going to be Android or iPhone as other makers like LG, Motorola, Nokia, and others where loosing ground fast.
I miss physical keyboards on the phones that were small enough to use with one hand when just using touch.