Sony to roll out Lollipop to Xperia Z3 lineup starting next month

Get on the lollipop train or gtfo. You love it, you will demand a clean build. You will tow the line. Posted via the Android Central App

No!

Hopefully Samsung does it before that. Posted on my Galaxy S5

carriers gonna slow it down regardless so they can add more bloat on top of the Samsung bloat.

They won't.

And U.S carriers in 6 months

We're talking T-Mobile, and maybe Verizon (if they actually count the Z3v as a Z3 and not a Z2). T-Mobile adds very little bloat, though they will need to add support for WiFi calling if Lollipop doesn't already have it...or wait for the support to be integral to it, in order to fulfill one of Legere's UnCarrier promises. And Verizon's just a behemoth, they have the resources to pretty much do whatever they want, whenever they want. Like release a Z2 as a Z3 for instance. :)

Thanks but I'll definitely not be an early adopter on this one. Pretty much love the phone the way it is, it works great. Posted via the Android Central App

Pretty decent rollout time for Lollipop. Sent from my Panasonic Eluga

Good. I prefer to they wait for Lollipop to get more stable. Posted via the Android Central App

Not bad. I'm watching this stuff carefully, as Sony's been getting more intriguing with each generation. The battery life of these things has really gotten my attention, their open source support, and now their faster update cycle. If they keep all this up, I might actually buy a Sony product for the first time in many years.

I spent some time on the Z3 . . .just messing around. I have to say . . .it's been a long while since a phone has blown me away. I haven't had much experience with Sony phones . . . . but it's got my attention now. The display was stunning. The build quality .... you can see it . . .feel it. The UI skin is very light. The battery life is said to be the very best. I want one! Most under appreciated phone.

Sony Z3 . . . . . what a superb phone!

My experience with the Z3 (T-Mobile) has been very negative. One key reason is a lack of ability to root (D6616 model). Although other Z3 models have a successful (if complex) root path, I can't confirm any successful root of the Z3 D6616 model without the loss of DRM content which reportedly affects camera performance. In my mind, the camera performance is sub-par, anyway. Any photos or videos with the front-facing camera suffer dramatically in low-light conditions, for example. I've downloaded 5 or 6 different camera software apps and I can't improve on the outcome. The problem relates, as as I can tell, to the lower-quality setting to allow a video, for exmple, to be successfully attached to an MMS message. If you use a higher quality, you can't practically stay under the (approx) 1 MB limit for the attachment. SMS/MMS have their own problems, poorly implemented with notification, tone, vibrate, and level controls separate from all of the other notification (call, system, alarm, etc) management screen. In addition, incoming SMS/MMS, even when set correctly, often do not give any notification. When in messaging, attempting to call someone directly requires going all of the way out to the contact and then calling. I can't edit SMS/MMS in place (cut/paste for example), but have to backspace through everything to delete it. Group messaging has other limitations, which I can't speak to, since I don't use it. Voice dialing suffered dramatically with Droid 4.?, which as far as I can tell is not unique to Sony. Ironically, until you have to cope with it, when the Z3 is low on power, you have to do some fancy button pushing to "simulate a battery pull" to get the phone to accept a charge long enough to boot. This puts me in the must have "removable battery" and "memory card slot" camp more firmly than ever. The keyboard is better than what I'm used to (bigger buttons, for example) but has odd placements (I recall them from typewriters!). For example the underscore and dash aren't together. The dash requires an option shift from numbers/symbols, then look where the 2 was. I use the dash all the time, and this placement, as far as I can tell, is extremely unusual, unless you go back to typewriters or early PCs (1985, maybe). The "swype-equivalent" is much better than Swype, but you can still have an entire keyboard of emojis if you're not careful. Managing phone books, never easy, is extremely difficult, and you'll find entries that have been combined which you have to manually attempt to separate and fix. Coming from Verizon, T-mobile coverage is at about 80% especially on highways - calls of any length over 2 minutes are likely to drop at some point, especially in rain. Google changes at 4.0.4, inability to write to your own installed memory card (workaround/patch require root) and some surprising automatic "account + synch" adds upon app installation are almost alarming, so be sure to monitor and have an unlimited data plan. All in all, my Samsung Galaxy 3 was a much better phone. If you do buy a Z3, be sure to buy a case with it, as it's very easy to drop to test the sleek metal hardware. Maybe the phone was a huge improvement for Sony, but nothing on it impresses me, although the battery life is acceptable. T-Mobile may not add as much bloatware as others, but there is plenty of Sony bloatware to make up for it: Walkman, Video apps, downloading available for 8 or 10 more modes to the mediocre camera. If you love Sony content and don't mind all of this stuff, great, it may work great. On a non-rooted phone, however, preventing the bloat from running (consuming memory) is very difficult. Of course, Google still pushes Google+ at every opportunity, and their efforts to ID and combine accounts belonging to folks seems to be either an NSA directive or another way to shore up their targeted advertising revenue. Sorry to be so negative, but this is an honest description of my experience. T-Mobile customer service is much better than Verizon's at every level, by far. They listen, and first level can provide some help, however any medium-level user will likely want to get to level 2 to solve problems ASAP. The voice quality on T-Mobile calls, at least with leading hardware (Z3 to iPhone 6, for example) is incredibliy good. Background noise is nearly eliminated and the person on the other end could be standing next to you talking into your ear. Verizon voice quality degrades dramatically during peak times on busy cells (SF bay area) to the point of unusable connections, by comparison. The worst mobile voice quality I've ever experienced is Verizon LTE to Verizon LTE during peak calling times (morning and evening rush hours). In may case, they also forced a phone swap out (since I wasn't taking OTA upgrades) by disabling voice, then sending a replacement phone running 4.0.4 which was so bogged down with security software, it wouldn't charge properly for 2 days. After that, 3 calls to customer support convinced me they wanted me to leave, which I did. No second chances for those folks - their revenue insulates them from many individual customer concerns or needs - I'm sure corporate accounts receive much different treatment and focus. When a customer service rep claims they have "never heard of a locked phone" and the company has entered into a consent agreement to not lock phones it's likely not a training issue.

I rarely every comment on these pages but your post convinced me. Having the same device and carrier as you, all I can say is nearly everything you have posted is just blatantly wrong or mis-characterized. Here's a smattering of examples: "Any photos or videos with the front-facing camera suffer dramatically in low-light conditions, for example." This is true of any device (even your blessed S3, which I also owned, and is far inferiror in front facing to the Z3). Incredibly lower size and no lighting options = poor low light performance. "When in messaging, attempting to call someone directly requires going all of the way out to the contact and then calling." Nope - just click on their phone number in the messaging app. Yes, if you have them saved as a contact, it opens their contact screen so you can choose the form of contact but that is not the same things as "going all the way out to the contact and then calling." "I can't edit SMS/MMS in place (cut/paste for example), but have to backspace through everything to delete it." Not even sure why this is here. I can cut/paste/move as needed in an SMS. "Group messaging has other limitations, which I can't speak to, since I don't use it." Ironically, this is one area where the Z3 sucks but you aren't bothered by it. "Ironically, until you have to cope with it, when the Z3 is low on power, you have to do some fancy button pushing to "simulate a battery pull" to get the phone to accept a charge long enough to boot." You must have a defective unit because I and no one else I know has this problem. I charge it all the time, low, high, or no power. By the way, just next to the SIM card, there is a yellow button that simulates a battery pull, which I consider positive not negative. "This puts me in the must have "removable battery" and "memory card slot" camp more firmly than ever." I used to be in the removable batter camp too but with the Z3 easily lasting the day and the iPhone lasting a while as well (and the S6 ditching removable batteries), it's less of a concern thesee days. Similar to people that "must have a physical keyboard." By the way, the Z3 DOES have a memory card slot. :/ "The "swype-equivalent" is much better than Swype, but you can still have an entire keyboard of emojis if you're not careful. Managing phone books, never easy, is extremely difficult, and you'll find entries that have been combined which you have to manually attempt to separate and fix." Use whatever keyboard you want. Why complain when it's so easy to change? As for phone books, again, I have no idea why you're having an issue...it;s a Google implementation and it works just fine for me...better than the wife's iOS implementation. "All in all, my Samsung Galaxy 3 was a much better phone. If you do buy a Z3, be sure to buy a case with it, as it's very easy to drop to test the sleek metal hardware." Yes, it is slippery. But it's pretty well acknowledged as one of the better build qualities around. I and many people think it's beautiful and it looks like both Apple and Samsung think so too since their latest products take directly from Sony (although Sony took directly from Apple on parts as well). I have T-Mobile too. They're OK. I came from Sprint so it's night and day but coming from Verizon, I would expect most to be disappointed. FWIW, when I have a clean data signal, my speed annihilates both Verizon and AT&T. But coverage could be better.

If you happen to work for Sony, it would be appropriate to state that. When i read a strong emotional stance, i have to wonder what might be the cause. I stand by my comments 100%. Of course you disagree, and it's appropriate you express that. For me, anything like a mobile phone is something i will value utility over, say design. That's just me. I do apologize, though for neglecting to state what I do like about the Z3: battery life is amazing , the metal case is classier than any phone I've ever seen, the clarity of the display as well. There absolutely is a micro-SD slot, although since Google decided users can't write to it, it's not terribly useful (not Sony 's fault at all). Only by rooting could i once again have full access to my card. In addition, whatever magic T-Mobile does to make callers sound like they are talking 3" from your ear is a huge plus. It did take a bit of getting used to, but the quality is impeccable. Verizon disclosed that they were throttling connections when cells are near capacity. I noticed a huge decrease in call quality, plus long delays placing calls from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Since i was a "legacy" unlimited data customer they wanted rid of me and acted that way. I consider my move to T-mobile an upgrade. I have called tech support several times and i get a knowledgeable and well trained person every single time. Only Apple has been able to do that, in my experience. BTW, the "simulated battery pull" procedure is well documented, unlike that yellow button. In any case, i freaked since the phone would neither start not charge, but the fix was straightforward, once calm.
I applaud Sony for the tremendous accomplishment of the Z3. I believe rooting world resolve 90% of my issues.

If you think that my response was "a strong emotional stance," it makes me believe that you have not been on the internet very long. I disagreed with most of what you said on the Z3 but not emotionally. Those issues related to the Z3 did not seem to comport with my experience (or anyone I know) and the other issues were Google/Carrier related. As for where I work, I am in finance in Detroit Michigan. If you want my address, let me know and you can verify me. Finally, Lollipop is supposed to open up SD card access to devs. Maybe that will help (if Sony ever ACTUALLY releases the update in the US, which I am beginning to seriously doubt).