Sony Z Ultra game Google Edition

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Sony smartphone lovers have long waited for a Google Edition (MCP) device they can crow about Play, but unfortunately the $649 Sony Z Ultra MCP isn't it. Ridiculously large and awkward to use, at least as a traditional mobile handset, the Ultra is far from a flagship, pure-Android device like the HTC One or the Samsung Galaxy S4. What's more, it can't manage one of the Nexus 5's most impressive feats of balancing a compact size, affordable price, and excellent features. Even the Galaxy Note 3, while a big product takes up much less room in your fist and is ultimately a better phablet buy.

Yes, since this Z Ultra is officially sanctioned by Google, it runs a pristine version of Android 4.4 KitKat and it's available for purchase directly from the Google Play store. But even with those upsides, the Ultra is priced well out of reach of even the most well-heeled Android users. Now throw in the gadget's lackluster camera, and even the Z Ultra MCP's water resistant feature can't save it from drowning.

Design and build
I used to think that massive handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One Max were as big as a phone could possibly get. Boy, was I ever wrong. The Z Ultra Google Play Edition busted through my preconceived notions with the impact of a speeding 18-wheeler. Sporting a screen that measures a vast 6.4 inches across and a frame spanning 7 inches tall by 3.6 inches wide, the Z Ultra really pushes the phablet envelope and lands squarely in small tablet territory.

The Sony Z Ultra MCP's main draws are stock Android 4.4 KitKat and a lovely 6.4 - inch screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Amazingly the phone has a larger footprint than the Note 3 (6 inches by 3.1 inches by 0.33 inch) and One Max (6.5 inches by 3.2 inches by 0.4 inch), both astoundingly oversize mobile phones. The mighty Z Ultra even manages to dwarf the Samsung Galaxy Mega (6.6 inches by 3.5 inches by 0.3 inch), once the physical king of phablets.

I must give kudos to Sony for trimming down the Z Ultra's profile, though. At a mother 0.26 inch thick, the Ultra is noticeably thinner than HTC's and Samsung's phone/tablet hybrids. As a matter of fact, the device's slender frame makes it the most slim smartphone I've seen in recent memory. Of course, with the gadget tipping the scales at 7.5 ounces, the Ultra is by no. means lightweight.

Despite its massive size, the Z Ultra is breathtakingly thin screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

No. doubt the Z Ultra's density is a direct result of its extensive use of glass, in both front and back. This, coupled with the Z Ultra's angular shape and black dark colors, helps the device achieve a very sophisticated and elegant look. Sony crafted the Z Ultra to be highly dust-and water-resistant too. That means that turning on the kitchen faucet all the way and casually tossing the device into the sink isn't a reckless move.

The glass backing of the Z Ultra is a smudge and fingerprint magnet.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

As a matter of fact it's your best way of keeping the phone clean since all of the handset's shiny and reflective surfaces translate into one serious fingerprint and grease magnet. As I found with the Sony Xperia Z before it, the phone's flashy exterior becomes soiled from the moment I picked it up. Just be sure you remember to seal all the Z Ultra's flexible flaps closed. They create a barrier against liquids for the phone's ports.

The Z Ultra's ports have protective flaps to guard against dust and water.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

The only physical controls are on the right side - a silver, circular power button and trim volume bar. Also here is a 3.5 mm headphone jack which Sony says is also waterproof despite lacking a protective flap.

For the Z Ultra, has proper dunking is all in a day's work.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Display
It was clear to me from the second I scooped up the Z Ultra into my hands that the device's purpose is its 6.4 - inch screen and the sprawling visual real estate provides it. The Z Ultra's LCD panel has a crisp full-HD 1080 p (1, 920 x 1, 080 pixels) resolution as well. It packs the same amount of pixels as do the Samsung Galaxy Note, HTC One Max, and Google Nexus 5. That said, since all those handsets have smaller displays, they also benefit from slightly higher PPI counts than the Z Ultra (342ppi).

I didn't notice any loss of detail and I enjoyed consuming all types of screen-centric content on the Z Ultra MCP. Whether it was Netflix movies, Web pages, pictures, or skimming Flipboard news articles, the Z Ultra served up a fantastic view. Also, while the device's screen lacks the truly arresting colors, contrast, and wide viewing angles of the Note 3's OLED display, it does get pretty bright and serves up vivid hues.

The Z Ultra MCP lacks the Google Experience Launcher you'll find on the Nexus 5.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Software and interface
A huge part of the appeal of any Google Play Edition handset is its pure and unadulterated Android software, and here the Z Ultra doesn't disappoint. While not a true Google Nexus device, the phone runs a squeaky clean version of Android 4.4 KitKat and all the bells and whistles that go with it.

This includes a smarter, sharper-looking interface, Google Now notifications and advanced search, more access to the company's vast catalog of digital content, apps, and services. Be advised, though, that the Z Ultra does not feature the Google Experience Launcher; that's only found on the Nexus 5. That means there's no enhanced quick launch bar at the foot of each home screen, nor will swiping all the way to the left fire up Google Now functions. For a full play-by-play breakdown of KitKat and how it handles on the Nexus 5, read our full Android 4.4 review.

The Z Ultra MCP runs stock KitKat and media landscape home screens.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

The Z Ultra MCP does have one interesting software twist. Like its bigger sibling, the Nexus 7 tablet (and further evidence that the Ultra is more slate than phone) turning the gadget on its side activates a landscape view of the home screens and app tray.

View the original article here

8.3 G Pad of LG and Sony Xperia Z Ultra join Google roster Play Edition

Google has added two new devices to its collector's Edition play Google, meaning that the LG G 8.3 and Pad the Sony Xperia Z Ultra are now available with stock Android. Earlier in the year, Google has worked with manufacturers to produce versions of the best Android device with all the custom UI elements stripped. This resulted in the HTC Google Plays One Edition and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition. Now Google has added two new devices to the initiative of the G 8.3 Pad LG and Sony Xperia Z Ultra. the LG G 8.3 Pad is, as you might imagine, a 8.3-inch tablet with a Full HD display. This is a pretty unique feature right there in an Android market dominated by 7-inchers. The title also means 8.3 that is just 8.3 mm thick, which is pretty neat or a lucky coincidence. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra, for its part, is more phablet than a tablet. Comes with a 6.44 inches Full HD and a top-of-the-range 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU 800.  We were impressed by her screen colorful, distinctive design and impressive performance when we took the normal pattern for a couple of months ago. Of course, both devices must be considerably improved ditching the bulge and adopting of pure, unadulterated OS Google Android 4.4 KitKat. The only problem here: like the HTC and the Samsung Galaxy S4 models before them, neither device will be available outside the United States.  Still, if you want to bring home from a Christmas shopping trip to New York, the LG G 8.3 Google Pad Play Edition costs $ 349 and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra Google Play Edition costs $ 649. Both are available from Google Play Store.
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Test Sony Xperia Z Ultra: thinking big

GSMArena team, 3rd September 2013.

With the Xperia Z, ultra Sony finally turns his attention to a market segment that has so far avoided it. The competitive advantage of their flagship Xperia Z together with the subsequent releases in the upper midrange area is quite serious basis for Sony's mobile radio business create an excellent opportunity to experiment in a niche, which previously dominated series Samsung's touch was invented.

Sony Xperia Z ultra official pictures

Of course a 6.4 "hardly a chance is the sale of a real flagship such such as the Xperia-Phablet matching, but is about to send a message. And the message is loud and clear: "Be my guest, Galaxy Note III". There's more of course - it comes to dare to the company level of trust, in unknown areas. In fact it is not every day we see a device that not only dwarfs to the Samsung Galaxy mega 6.3, but always is ready to challenge the Note III. It takes courage to oppose the standard-setter, but at least on paper the Xperia Z ultra has the looks and the powerful hardware to pull it off.

Before we go any further, here is the cheat sheet for this report.

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3 G with 42Mbps HSPA; 150Mbps LTE 6.4 "1080 p 16M color capacitive touch screen tri-color display (pixel density 344ppi);" X Reality EngineAndroid OS v4. 2 2 jelly bean with custom UIQuad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 330-GPU Adreno; Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset8 MP auto-focus camera with geo-tagging, HDR1080p video recording @ 30 fps, continuous autofocus and stereo-sound-2 MP front-facing camera, 1080 p video RecordingIP 58 certification - dustproof and waterproof, WLAN a/b/g/n/AC, Wi-Fi direct and DLNA. Wireless TV OutGPS with A-GPS, GLONASS16GB, built-in memory; MicroSD card SlotMHL-enabled MicroUSB PortBluetooth v4. 0NFC standard 3.5 mm audio jack, accelerometer and proximity SensorActive noise reduction with dedicated MicGorgeous design and impressively slim WaistlineAmple 3050 mAh BatteryUnwieldy size for a PhoneNon replaceable BatteryNo average camera Flash or camera shutter KeyBelow speaker performance (probably due to the increased water resistance) not right video playback decoder (XviD, DivX) out of the box

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a beast of a Smartphone (although in this size it already on Tablet area steps). The Snapdragon-800 chipset brings a meaningful increase in performance over one already very snappy Snapdragon-600, while the screen of the latest technology, has Sony that grabs hands. The tri-color display of 1080 p resolution promises to solve the long-standing viewing angle in Sony's lineup, granted, while the X-reality enhancements means punchy colours and stunning contrast.

Sony Xperia Z ultra us

Screen and chip set bagging two premieres of the Sony Xperia Z be ultra us forgive, for overly enthusiastic at the beginning of this review. There is a lot still test and we are itching, Sony's latest brave to see our test routine. We start with the design and build right after the break, followed by a closer look at the display, before we treat you to a long tour through the user interface.

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Sony seeds new update for Xperia Z Ultra, X-reality engine brings

Sony makes definitely good with firmware updates lately. The latest one drives the Xperia ultra-Phablet-users all over the world already Z and brings some significant improvements.

Here, the unofficial changelog "early adopters" have done, is to so far as to compile:

X reality for mobile display engine superior contain auto mode settings include improvement in the camera has battery LifeImproved video PlaybackOne EmailImproved manual keyboard operation possible NowWhite background UI

All these functions are sure to significantly improve the user experience by "early adopters" of the Phablet. For the case, that there is just not the update for you, keep calm - these rollouts are gradually and may you have to wait to reach a couple of days for your device. It is a good idea, OTA service, and software Sony PC companion but to check.

Thank you, Anurag, for the tip!

Source

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Motorola Ultra Droid

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The Droid Ultra's $199.99 price and even its very existence baffles me. Standing smack dab in between the affordable $99.99 Droid Mini and pricey $299.99 Droid Maxx, the only reason to choose the Ultra is either because you value trimness above all else, or don't care to spend $100 more for the Maxx's massive battery and 32GB of storage. The Ultra's limited 16GB of internal memory also makes it less enticing than other superphones such as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Design
Up until the Droid Ultra landed on my desk, my most recent mobile companion was the compact Moto X. And since I've become accustomed to its petite build, when I first picked up the Ultra I was immediately struck by its large, wide frame.

Measuring 2.8 inches wide by 5.4 inches tall, the phone seemed positively gargantuan. By comparison the Moto X is a narrower 2.6 inches wide and a shorter 5.1 inches tall.

The Droid Ultra is certainly a handful.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

That said, while the curved edges of the X begin at a very thin 0.22 inch, at its thickest point the pint-size phone swells to 0.4 inch thick. That's a lot fatter than the Droid Ultra's flat chassis, which is a uniform 0.28 inch in thickness. At 4.8 ounces, the Droid Ultra is also relatively light considering its size.

The Ultra is under a third of an inch thick.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Of course being superthin doesn't automatically make a phone ergonomically superior. As I've learned from handling the smoothly tapered backs of the HTC One and Moto X, what matters most is how a handset fits in the palm.

Both devices may be thicker and heavier (4.6 and 5 ounces, respectively) but are a joy to hold. That's because they possess a solid feel and natural shape that's extremely comfortable to grip. Just imagine a river rock honed by millennia of flowing water and you get the idea.

Compared with these gadgets, the Droid Ultra is another story altogether. It is so trim is almost feels two-dimensional, and comes close to being too wide to hold in one hand. Like the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Ultra does sport smooth, rounded edges and corners, a tactic other wafer-thin devices would do well to adopt. Case in point: the Sony Xperia Z, which has a classy all-glass chassis but also painfully sharp corners and straight right angles.

Like Sony's latest flagship, the Droid Ultra's glossy surfaces make it a fingerprint magnet. Just a few minutes were enough for me to cover the Ultra's screen and back panel in slimy streaks and prints.

Another design detractor is that the phone feels downright slippery, almost like a bar of wet soap -- not exactly a quality I seek in a smartphone. Motorola does claim that the Ultra uses Kevlar unibody construction for greater strength so hopefully it'll survive If you drop the device by accident.

Glossy surfaces act as a print magnet.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

The Droid Ultra doesn't have many physical buttons, just a power key and volume rocker on the device's right edge. There are three capacitive buttons below the screen to control basic Android functions. Above the display is the earpiece and 2MP camera for vanity shots and self portraits.

Around back you'll find the Droid Ultra's main 10-megapixel camera lens and LED flash. Ringing this imaging array is a sizable rectangular speaker grille. It belts out a surprising amount of volume, even more than the HTC One with its vaunted BoomSound -- quite a feat for a handset so thin.

Capacitive buttons sit under the screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Display
Undoubtedly the Droid Ultra's star attraction is its big, bright 5-inch HD OLED screen. With a 720p resolution (1,280x720 pixels) it may not boast the same amount of pixels as its competition, namely the HTC One (4.7-inch, 1080p LCD) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch, 1080p OLED). Even so, the Ultra's high-contrast display produces vibrant colors that pop and deep, dark black levels.

I honestly didn't notice any absent detail in photos, Web sites, or text-heavy documents. I also enjoyed viewing my typical choices for mobile entertainment on the device, a copious amount of Netflix movies sprinkled with the odd HD YouTube trailer. By the way, that new "Riddick" flick looks mighty tempting.

Movie trailers are fun to watch on the Ultra's big screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Core components
In terms of internal electronics, Motorola has made a very unconventional move with its 2013 smartphone lineup. Instead of engaging in the brutal processor arms race like practically every other handset maker, the company decided to sidestep the issue completely. All the new Droids, including the Droid Ultra, are powered by a homegrown processing solution Motorola calls the X8 Mobile Computing System.

The same silicon engine pushing the new Motorola flagship along (the Moto X) at its heart, the X8 is a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. It doesn't have the raw horsepower of the true quad-core processors ticking inside the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 600).

What the X8 lacks in brawn, it makes up for by being efficient. The main dual-core application CPU is backed by muscular quad-core Adreno graphics, plus two additional "cores": a natural language processor and one for contextual computing.

Aiding this hardware is a healthy 2GB allotment of RAM. Internal memory, though, is the Droid Ultra's weakness. As with the Moto X and Galaxy S4, the Ultra comes with just 16GB of storage space. There's no SD card slot for upping your storage options, either, which is huge bummer. Keep in mind that the Ultra's big brother, the Droid Maxx, features a full 32GB of internal storage.

Software and interface
Motorola took a similarly light-handed approach with the Droid Ultra's software as it did with the Moto X. Running the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2), the Ultra's OS is essentially stock Jelly Bean. That's understandable given Motorola's recent acquisition by Google, the technology wizards behind Android.

You slide a padlock icon outside of a virtual ring on the phone's screen to unlock the device. With that accomplished you're greeted to the central home screen plus four other panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets as you see fit.

The Circles widget finds new life in the Ultra.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Motorola managed to hold on to the Circles settings widget, placed at the center of the main home screen, a leftover from the company's previous Droid Razr handsets. Aside from offering quick access to time, weather, and system settings, the tool flaunts a few new tricks.

View the original article here

Motorola Ultra Droid

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The Droid Ultra's $199.99 price and even its very existence baffles me. Standing smack dab in between the affordable $99.99 Droid Mini and pricey $299.99 Droid Maxx, the only reason to choose the Ultra is either because you value trimness above all else, or don't care to spend $100 more for the Maxx's massive battery and 32GB of storage. The Ultra's limited 16GB of internal memory also makes it less enticing than other superphones such as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Design
Up until the Droid Ultra landed on my desk, my most recent mobile companion was the compact Moto X. And since I've become accustomed to its petite build, when I first picked up the Ultra I was immediately struck by its large, wide frame.

Measuring 2.8 inches wide by 5.4 inches tall, the phone seemed positively gargantuan. By comparison the Moto X is a narrower 2.6 inches wide and a shorter 5.1 inches tall.

The Droid Ultra is certainly a handful.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

That said, while the curved edges of the X begin at a very thin 0.22 inch, at its thickest point the pint-size phone swells to 0.4 inch thick. That's a lot fatter than the Droid Ultra's flat chassis, which is a uniform 0.28 inch in thickness. At 4.8 ounces, the Droid Ultra is also relatively light considering its size.

The Ultra is under a third of an inch thick.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Of course being superthin doesn't automatically make a phone ergonomically superior. As I've learned from handling the smoothly tapered backs of the HTC One and Moto X, what matters most is how a handset fits in the palm.

Both devices may be thicker and heavier (4.6 and 5 ounces, respectively) but are a joy to hold. That's because they possess a solid feel and natural shape that's extremely comfortable to grip. Just imagine a river rock honed by millennia of flowing water and you get the idea.

Compared with these gadgets, the Droid Ultra is another story altogether. It is so trim is almost feels two-dimensional, and comes close to being too wide to hold in one hand. Like the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Ultra does sport smooth, rounded edges and corners, a tactic other wafer-thin devices would do well to adopt. Case in point: the Sony Xperia Z, which has a classy all-glass chassis but also painfully sharp corners and straight right angles.

Like Sony's latest flagship, the Droid Ultra's glossy surfaces make it a fingerprint magnet. Just a few minutes were enough for me to cover the Ultra's screen and back panel in slimy streaks and prints.

Another design detractor is that the phone feels downright slippery, almost like a bar of wet soap -- not exactly a quality I seek in a smartphone. Motorola does claim that the Ultra uses Kevlar unibody construction for greater strength so hopefully it'll survive If you drop the device by accident.

Glossy surfaces act as a print magnet.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

The Droid Ultra doesn't have many physical buttons, just a power key and volume rocker on the device's right edge. There are three capacitive buttons below the screen to control basic Android functions. Above the display is the earpiece and 2MP camera for vanity shots and self portraits.

Around back you'll find the Droid Ultra's main 10-megapixel camera lens and LED flash. Ringing this imaging array is a sizable rectangular speaker grille. It belts out a surprising amount of volume, even more than the HTC One with its vaunted BoomSound -- quite a feat for a handset so thin.

Capacitive buttons sit under the screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Display
Undoubtedly the Droid Ultra's star attraction is its big, bright 5-inch HD OLED screen. With a 720p resolution (1,280x720 pixels) it may not boast the same amount of pixels as its competition, namely the HTC One (4.7-inch, 1080p LCD) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch, 1080p OLED). Even so, the Ultra's high-contrast display produces vibrant colors that pop and deep, dark black levels.

I honestly didn't notice any absent detail in photos, Web sites, or text-heavy documents. I also enjoyed viewing my typical choices for mobile entertainment on the device, a copious amount of Netflix movies sprinkled with the odd HD YouTube trailer. By the way, that new "Riddick" flick looks mighty tempting.

Movie trailers are fun to watch on the Ultra's big screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Core components
In terms of internal electronics, Motorola has made a very unconventional move with its 2013 smartphone lineup. Instead of engaging in the brutal processor arms race like practically every other handset maker, the company decided to sidestep the issue completely. All the new Droids, including the Droid Ultra, are powered by a homegrown processing solution Motorola calls the X8 Mobile Computing System.

The same silicon engine pushing the new Motorola flagship along (the Moto X) at its heart, the X8 is a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. It doesn't have the raw horsepower of the true quad-core processors ticking inside the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 600).

What the X8 lacks in brawn, it makes up for by being efficient. The main dual-core application CPU is backed by muscular quad-core Adreno graphics, plus two additional "cores": a natural language processor and one for contextual computing.

Aiding this hardware is a healthy 2GB allotment of RAM. Internal memory, though, is the Droid Ultra's weakness. As with the Moto X and Galaxy S4, the Ultra comes with just 16GB of storage space. There's no SD card slot for upping your storage options, either, which is huge bummer. Keep in mind that the Ultra's big brother, the Droid Maxx, features a full 32GB of internal storage.

Software and interface
Motorola took a similarly light-handed approach with the Droid Ultra's software as it did with the Moto X. Running the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2), the Ultra's OS is essentially stock Jelly Bean. That's understandable given Motorola's recent acquisition by Google, the technology wizards behind Android.

You slide a padlock icon outside of a virtual ring on the phone's screen to unlock the device. With that accomplished you're greeted to the central home screen plus four other panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets as you see fit.

The Circles widget finds new life in the Ultra.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Motorola managed to hold on to the Circles settings widget, placed at the center of the main home screen, a leftover from the company's previous Droid Razr handsets. Aside from offering quick access to time, weather, and system settings, the tool flaunts a few new tricks.

View the original article here