Friday, June 27, 2014

Introducing the Sony Xperia Z2- iPhone User without a Clue

I began writing this entry on Monday, in an effort to organize my thoughts on what has turned out to be a great, but totally disconcerting new device.  I guess I should lay out the disclaimer that I am, in fact, an Apple user, and have been for most of my life (and all of my adult life).  However, as Apple has started slipping both as a company in terms of its hard line and poor business practices, and in terms of quality, I decided to give an Android device a try.

So on Monday, after much kvetching, I finally made it to one of the only service centers in Kaohsiung where foreigners can apply for a contract and signed myself up.  My phone of choice?  The Sony Xperia Z2.  Why?  Well, as many people across the internet will tell you, the Samsung Galaxy s5 and the Sony Xperia Z2 are really neck in neck in terms of just about everything spec-related.  The question remains then, why did I choose the Xperia?  After speaking to a few friends, and after my partner spoke to her colleagues, the consensus seemed to be that Sony was the better choice because it tended to glitch less and generally be more reliable.

So far, I have had a really hard time adjusting to the new layout of the Android OS, which I'm told is totally normal.  Even so, it's still great not to be under the thumb of Apple anymore and get a lot more choice in terms of apps and services, so I guess I can't complain too much there.  I'll just have to get used to it.  One last gripe, is that the phone might actually be a little too big for my hands- keep in mind, I have child-sized hands, so standard size anything is always huge in my hands.  That makes it rather difficult for me do one handed texting or really one handed anything.

However, the real reason I decided to go with the Xperia actually came down to a single feature: its camera.  Although both the s5 and the Z2 have really great digital cameras, the Z2 has the ability to take great photos in low light and in darkness, something I actually do on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, I can't upload any of my photos yet because my computer seems to have a virus and I'm worried about transferring it over to my phone, so, photos will be arriving hopefully this weekend and I'm really excited about posting them up here.

The truth is that I sadly don't have a camera of my own, and I hope to begin to document the daily comings and goings of life in Taiwan in preparation for our dream trip.  Ultimately, it would be nice to not have to take a large, clunky camera at all- I had an SLR pre-digital age and the entire thing weighed over 5lbs, so the thought of lugging it across the globe isn't exactly enticing.  The other issue when traveling, of course, is theft.  I suspect that carrying a large heavy camera would make me a larger target, so I really hope I can master the manual settings of the Xperia Z2 and get some really amazing shots without the need for a DSLR.  Only time will tell!

Again, I'll just have to keep playing with it and hopefully find my groove.  If anyone has any stories about switching over or suggestion for a new Android user, I would love to hear them!

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