Sony Xperia ZR

[sling-shot]

I have recently bought a Sony Xperia ZR Black from Flipkart.

Previously my reliable workhorse was Nokia E6-00. My wife has the Live With Walkman phone and so had some hands on experience of Android.

The first thing I had to do was get a MicroSIM which was provided by Idea for Rs 61. Now I cannot go back to my trusty Nokia!

I have some questions to ask of the more experienced Android / Xperia / ZR users around here:

SOFTWARE:

1. What is the best option to get the phone say caller's name when a call comes in? This was a OS option in my E6.

2. What is a good battery info program to use? I do not want any of the optimisation capabilities. I am only looking for program that will tell me the time to charge the thing and also tell me when the battery has reached 95% charge.

3. Is there a widget to switch 2G / Dual / 3G modes?

HARDWARE:

1. How will the USB flap hold-up to opening at least twice a day over longer period of use and if it goes is it possible to get a replacement?

2. Is the magnetic recharging dock available in India anywhere and if so at what price?

3. Is there a simple, cheap leather/cloth sleeve available which will cover the whole phone? I do not like the fixed protection covers for back. They tend to mar the appearance of the phone. Also they do not protect the camera from smudges well.

 

[priyankgupta]

Well, as for your Q.2(Software), you might want to try Du Battery.
For your Q.1(Hardware), I don't think there should be any problem. I am using it from June, and haven't experienced any problem with flaps. I don't think they provide a replacement, though...

 

[arsenalfan001]

For S/w, q.3, check this: Netwrok

 

[sling-shot]

Well, as for your Q.2(Software), you might want to try Du Battery.
For your Q.1(Hardware), I don't think there should be any problem. I am using it from June, and haven't experienced any problem with flaps. I don't think they provide a replacement, though...

Thanks. Could you please post any other useful tips from your usage of ZR here so that it will help me and any other users too.

For S/w, q.3, check this: Netwrok

I have installed it. It leads to a page with very advanced controls with a lot of gibberish in the beginning. I could not properly understand the options. Howevera more detailed look may help later.

For S/w, q.3, check this: Netwrok

I have installed it. It leads to a page with very advanced controls with a lot of gibberish in the beginning. I could not properly understand the options. Howevera more detailed look may help later.

 

[priyankgupta]

Thanks. Could you please post any other useful tips from your usage of ZR here so that it will help me and any other users too.

It's a usual Sony android experience, but still, if you want some tips:
1) Recently 4.2.2 update was launched, have you updated your ZR?
2) you can also attach pen drives to your ZR, just get an OTG cable.
3) if you want to use this device underwater(I tested my device for water resistance, it survived ), you might want to try out Touch Block app (make sure the flaps are firmly closed!).
4) There are several small apps that you can run on top of other apps (calculator,browser are two of them).
5) fiddle with camera settings to get the best picture, there are several options available. Superior Mode doesn't work always as expected.
6) Check your handsfree. I had the faulty ones (the volume in left earpiece was very low). If they seem faulty, get it replaced as soon as possible
7) There are several settings available in Walkman. Try changing them for different music experiences (when using a handsfree).

 

[sling-shot]

[priyankgupta]

1. Yep. I did that very early in the life of this phone with me. I remember that I lost the screen shot option from the shutdown dialog but do not remember any other significant changes. And some settings in Xperia Settings. (It was too brief to remember the factory installed version)

2. I have tried that option with my Nokia E6-00. Did not find much use for it in my usage pattern.

3. I am never going to try that! I want the water resistance because I live in a part where we have 4 months of rains. It was only to prevent accidental water damage.

4. Among the small apps, Calculator will be the most useful. The other ones for me are Recorder and Notes.

5. I as a rule NEVER take photos with the Superior Auto or Full Auto or whatever modes the digital camera manufacturers tend to think is best. I have found that for my tastes the Normal or P (Program) modes work better. (This is for both Mobile as well as Digial Cameras)

6. I have noticed nothing wrong with the handsfree.

7. I do not listen to much music. Watch movies / tv episodes though.

Further,
- I am finding the volume of both loud speaker and in call volume to be grossly inadequate.
- At times I find my ear burning after using the phone for sometime and a hot feeling in the ear too. I used to notice this in my previous Nokias only after prolonged usage or with 3G network active. But here it is even worse.

- I am really happy with the battery life in general for now.
- The screen although criticized by many is adequate for my viewing.
- Compared to the Live With Walkman, I am really happy with the phone software in general.
- I need to charge this twice a day due to my usage so would be really happy if I could find that charging dock at a grand or so.

Regarding applications suggested in posts above:

Battery:
After trying out more than 7 different battery software, I have settled on BatteryBot Battery Indicator by Darshan Computing. It has NO ads, is lightweight, does the required informing.

2G / 3G widget :
I discovered 2G-3G OnOff from Play Store. It works as expected and leads me to the network choice menu.

------------------------------

Caller Name Talker :
Caller Name Talker is a software that does exactly what it says without adding anything annoying.

Avast:
Removed the McAffey crap that was pre-installed (luckily Sony allows us to remove certain bloatware) and got this. The best.

--------------------

Evernote:
This damn thing always prompts me to get some update (?internet). I had to go to Applications and prevent it from posting anything to the status bar. Now I am happy.

 

[priyankgupta]

Further,
- I am finding the volume of both loud speaker and in call volume to be grossly inadequate.
- At times I find my ear burning after using the phone for sometime and a hot feeling in the ear too. I used to notice this in my previous Nokias only after prolonged usage or with 3G network active. But here it is even worse.

As for the loud speaker, it is actually feeble. But the in-call volume is adequate for me. Try changing the settings in "Call Settings". It could help.
The phone should not overheat so much, you may consider getting it checked by Sony Service Center(though I do NOT recommend this, because once they open the phone, the Waterproofing seal breaks, and I do not think they have the perfect equipment to restore the water resistance and get it tested in vacuum).

 

[Zangetsu]

2. What is a good battery info program to use? I do not want any of the optimisation capabilities. I am only looking for program that will tell me the time to charge the thing and also tell me when the battery has reached 95% charge.

DU Battery Saver

 

[sling-shot]

I need an application to remind me of tasks to be done each day.
The tasks will be entered as a single line texts. I need to be able to set the frequency interval as Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly etc and more importantly as 30 Days, 45 Days, 3 Months etc too. This second part is more important if you consider things like Mobile SMS / Internet pre-paid packs, magazines etc.
Is there any such application?

 

[dashing.sujay]

Simple calendar can do that.

 

[sling-shot]

Do you mean the default calendar or a program called Simple Calendar?
---------
I went through the default calendar again. I had missed the repetition option previously.

But it is still missing Repeat Once In Fixed Number of Months option.

 

[priyankgupta]

I need an application to remind me of tasks to be done each day.
The tasks will be entered as a single line texts. I need to be able to set the frequency interval as Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly etc and more importantly as 30 Days, 45 Days, 3 Months etc too. This second part is more important if you consider things like Mobile SMS / Internet pre-paid packs, magazines etc.
Is there any such application?

Try Any.do
It provides a widget for your homescreen and lockscreen too.

 

[sling-shot]

I have seen a thing with the Contacts application. (I am paranoid and tend not to have anything to do with cloud services in general as far as possible and want to avoid dissemination of personal information as far as possible)

My idea is never to allow copying of my phone contacts to any cloud service including Google. And I have disabled synchronization in as many places as I could find. But still when I go to edit some of my contacts they are listed with my GMail id below the name in the top bar instead of being "Local contacts"
What is this and what is the significance?