Sony seems to have given up on the US market entirely - which is a shame because out of all the brand-specific skins of Android I found theirs the least objectionable...and actually at times nice. Touchwiz is like smartphone herpes: one in five people in the US have it and it does nothing but cause a displeasurable user experience.

I really love the M8/9's design but my smartphone is literally the only camera I use. I had an M8 for a while and it couldn't take a decent picture to save its life.

I think a colossal blunder on Sony's part was the terrible screen on the Xperia Z/Z1, which completely washed out if you weren't looking straight at it, like a shitty TN panel on a cheap laptop. They improved it on later models and now their displays are pretty much up to par, but its possible that the damage was already done and it was too late at that point. I don't know how well the Xperias do in Europe, but they can't be doing too well considering Sony's mobile division is a perpetual money loser. I also don't think it helps that their phones all look exactly the same - boring, and barely change in terms of hardware beyond the usual CPU upgrades.

It's just baffling. You'd think Sony would know a thing or two about display tech, and camera tech for that matter. They've got the best digital imaging sensors in the world. And yet:

"So it's surprising — shocking, even — to see Sony using a two-year-old imaging sensor in its latest phone, not least because Sony itself produces the advanced sensors used by the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6. Samsung's latest uses an IMX240 sensor with OIS, the same one included in 2014's Note 4, while Sony also manufactures the iPhone's 8-megapixel iSight camera.

Both are better than the aging, OIS-less 20-megapixel unit used in the Z4, and we can only speculate as to why Sony isn't using its best camera hardware in its own premium handsets. Surely a company with a long history in photography knows that the camera is one of the most important parts of a modern smartphone."

It's like they don't even care, they're just pumping out phones every 6 months because they're bored, and it's something to do. AFAICT there is absolutely zero interest in the upcoming Z5, and it's not hard to see why.

HTC has a different problem - they've got no money, and they're desperate to try and find a way to differentiate themselves. The Sense skin was actually somewhat worthwhile back in the Eclair and Froyo days, but since Ice Cream Sandwich, there's really been no reason anymore for it to exist. It's just changes for changes sake, many of which end up being worse than the original Google designs. It's arguably less bad than TouchWiz, but I really don't like using it at all. Pretty much the only other thing they could think of to do is try to make a good low light cellphone camera, which is pretty much an impossible task, and they just ended up with a bad camera full stop. The only other thing they have is the dual front facing speakers, and now that Motorola has copied that, there's really no reason left to buy an HTC phone at all, especially when Motos also come with a MUCH more pleasant, much purer Android experience that is likely to be upgraded far faster than HTC can do because of all of the extra Sense work that has to go along with it. That is assuming HTC ever delivers an update, which they often don't if a particular model isn't a big seller.


 

I'll try to get my hands on some Meizu devices. It's a pain in the ass getting phones that support all the LTE bands on one of my three carriers: T-mobile, Verizon or Google Fi (sprint/TMUS hybrid). The thing I'll say is that I haven't found a device yet that has convinced me that the niche market for standalone players is dead. Maybe if someone stuffs one of the decent USB DAC/amps into a phone with a microSD slot and decent battery, I'll change my tune.

I will go on record and say that Sony devices are quite good in hand. I very much like the Z3 and Z3C from a functional and aesthetic perspective. I know Marv is quite taken with the Z3 as well. I get that power users can lob all kinds of complaints about this or that, but in-hand, the devices are really fucking solid.

Good thing about the M9 is if you end up finding / learning about something better (moto x and nexus 5-whatever both release in the coming months), M9 should still have decent resell value. M10 probably won't drop until January...

(the price tag on the SE846s freaked me out)

It should. At that price I recommend you look into custom IEMs. The SE846 does have outlandish bass, which I think some people like, but they also stick out past the plane of your pinnae. I found the bass and fit to be unworkable, especially in the face of the numerous capable CIEMs in the $400-600 price range. The fact that going price is STILL 4 figures is astonishing.

Before all of you chimed in, I got antsy and bought a used HTC M9 on eBay. This is in part due to a number of reviews I read elsewhere regarding a number of vendors. I had been considering a Samsung after checking one out at Best Buy, but then a number of factors dissuaded me, including its full MSRP.

Congrats on your M9! I have an M8 and I enjoy listening to it with my UE18s directly. I need to get around to picking up a UHA-6S MKII eventually but the M8+UE18 combo is good enough for me to be happy on long-haul flights for work. I like AIMP as my music player, as it supports all the lossless formats, cuesheets, and gapless playback. It's one of the few phones with microSD support, too. It's easy to connect the HTC to a DAC. I was able to figure out how to get my M8 to output to a Hugo in just a few minutes. I also love how it supports universal media storage, and I can easily hook it up to any PC. I wish I could manage the file structure without an external computer, though.

The thing I really like about the M8 is the power saver feature. It's easier to use than the Nexus 6, and I've been able to listen to music an entire US to EU flight and still have over 70% of my battery remaining without charging the phone on old planes without USB or AC jacks.

The speakers on the M8 are much better than the Nexus 6. I use both phones everyday, and I'll always reach for the M8 when watching stuff on YouTube or Twitch even though the screen is smaller. It's also pretty sturdy. I've dropped it multiple times without a case without any visible screen cracks. The Nexus 6 wasn't anywhere near as durable.

Battery is awesome. If I leave it on power saver, even with GPS+Waze, I can get home with about 70-80% after a full day. The battery only really drains after a lot of wifi/4G use. I've had the phone for a year and a half now and I can squeeze 2-3 days out of it if I'm not using it aggressively. Camera sucks though--iPhone 6 has it completely beat.