Sony Xperia XZ review

The Sony Xperia XZ may be the brand's fourth flagship in the last two years, but it's been a whole year since it released the Xperia Z5 to critical acclaim at IFA 2015.

In the meantime Sony has released the Xperia X, which we believed to be its latest flagship handset at the time – but it wasn't. The Xperia XZ is that lcd screen replacement .

The Xperia Z line is now dead. Every Sony phone will now be part of the Xperia X line, whether it's a budget, mid-range or high-end device, and will sit under the top-dog Xperia XZ – at least until we see the Xperia XZ 2.

It's the best of the best of Sony's mobile tech in one full package. It features all the highlights of Sony phones we've seen the past, put into a melting pot and blended to create something familiar, yet different.

If this was an iPhone, it would be an S iteration. There are small improvements to the design, camera and battery tech – but there's no big, headline feature or major difference when you compare it to the Xperia Z5.

On the iPhone 7, for example, the headline feature was the introduction of a water-resistant build – but Sony has been there and done that, waterproofing its flagships since the Xperia Z back in 2012.

Instead it's a reworking of the highlights from the last few years – and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Sony's Xperia XZ is out in both the US and UK but there's no sign of a launch for Australia.

When the flagship launched it cost $699.99 (£549, about AU$939) which is similar to what the Xperia Z5 cost when that first phone came out. Now Sony has announced the newer Xperia XZs so the price of the Xperia XZ has dropped too.

In the UK you can now buy the Xperia XZ for around £379.99, while those in the US can get the screen repair for only $429.99 from certain retailers.

Google Pixel 2's missing headphone jack could be justified by Android O

If recent rumors are to be trusted, the Google Pixel 2 won’t feature the common 3.5mm headphone jack. It won’t be the first to rid of it – the iPhone 7, HTC U11and the Moto Z were among the more popular models to lop it off in the last year. And it certainly won’t be the last.

It’s difficult to excuse any company for leaving out such a trusty port. But unlike other ipad battery replacement manufacturers, the Google Pixel 2 might have the best reason for cutting the cord so far: Android O. Specifically, the new operating system’s support for a plethora of high-quality Bluetooth codecs, including aptX, aptX HD and LDAC.

A codec, by the way, is a data compression standard. Many of today's popular Bluetooth codecs, like AAC and SBC are highly compressed and if you're a discerning listener, these typically don't result in a great listening experience.

Typically, the onus to include support for one of these low-compression codecs has been on the side of the device manufacturer. To name a few examples from the past, we’ve seen the LG G5’s support for aptX HD, as well as the many, many Sony Xperia iPad Mini parts that support LDAC, the company’s own Hi-Res audio codec. If you want solid wireless performance, only a few Android phones can suit those needs.

But given what we’ve seen in the Android O developer preview, this practice seems to be shifting away from the currently fragmented per-device basis to potentially encompassing each and every device running the latest Android software.

While one company cites “courage” as the inspiration behind leaving out the legacy port, and others offer up nary a reason for doing the same, the Pixel 2’s total shift to wireless might be the most encouraging nudge for those who are hesitant to make the switch to wireless headphones due to the warranted worry of reduced sound quality. Additionally, the lack of headphone jack in Google’s next flagship could actually be the one to push the wireless headphone industry forward.

Still, it’s hard not to consider that Google could be making the same strides in wireless all while keeping the headphone jack. Why does one have to come at the expense of the other?

Sony Xperia XZ Premium replace cracked screen

Released on June 2017, this Xperia XZ Premium is the newest flagship smartphone of Sony. It comes to us with a 4K 5.50-inch touchscreen display, IP68 certified, Snapdragon 835 chipset, 19M rear camera. Here we’d like to show you the whole teardown process of this Sony Xperia XZ Premium, showing the ropes on how to replace its screen assembly, battery, charging port replacements etc.

Tools needed:

Heat gun

Philips screwdriver

Tweezers

Spudger

Plastic thin card

Visit the original article here: http://bit.ly/2vLQw2Q

LG V30 just completely leaked out

LG's latest partnership with Hitrecord has given us a good look at the yet-to-be-released LG V30.

The Smartphone parts maker has worked with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt over the past couple of years on promotions for its flagship devices. More specifically, it partnered with the actor's Hitrecord studio in order to get amateur creatives to make interesting videos with its devices. But LG's latest collaboration with Hitrecord is the most interesting one yet, as it is just fully revealed the upcoming LG V30.

This year's Hitrecord competition for the phone ended on 31 July, and the submissions have just gone live. Stills from the submissions show off the unreleased LG V30 phone. From what we can tell, the phone matches the leaks we've seen recently. However, these are not in HD, so it's hard to get a good look. We can see the metallic back, dual-camera setup, fingerprint reader, and “V” branding on the rear, though.

And, on the front, we can see the 6-inch display, rounded corners, and minimal bezels. So, yeah, thanks to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, we've already seen LG's marketing materials of the LG V30. Only thing left to do now is wait for LG to actually unveil and launch the ipad replacement screen . The LG V30 is expected to debut a day before IFA 2017 on 31 August. Pocket-lint will of course be there to bring you the latest as it happens.

Nubia Z17 with 8GB RAM, 64GB internal storage spotted

Nubia launched Nubia Z17 in China in June this year in three variants - 6GB of RAM coupled with 64GB or 128GB of internal memory and 8GB RAM variant with 128GB of internal storage. Now seems like the company is working on a new variant of Nubia Z17 as Nubia Z17 iphone battery replacement has been found listed on TENAA, a Chinese certification website with a new memory variant and model number NX563J.

The new variant comes with 8GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The existing smartphone comes in different variants including 6GB RAM with 64GB storage priced at Yuan 2799 (approximately Rs 27,000), 6GB RAM with 128GB storage comes with a price tag of Yuan 3,399 (approximately Rs 33,000) and the top-end variant with 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage is priced at Yuan 3,999 (approximately Rs 38,000). So, the new leaked variant is likely to be priced between the 6GB RAM + 128GB model and the 8GB RAM + 128GB model which is priced at Yuan 3,399 and Yuan 3,999 respectively.

The iphone digitizer comes in Aurora Blue, Black Gold, Obsidian Black, Solar Gold and Flame Red colour variants. It sports a 5.5-inch bezeless Full HD display with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor along with Adreno 540 GPU. It comes in 6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB RAM and storage variants.

On the camera front, you will find a dual-camera setup at the back with a combination of 23-megapixel and 12-megapixel sensors. The 23MP camera comes with aperture f/2.0, while the 12MP sensor comes with 1.4-micron pixel size, f/1.8 aperture, ½.55 inch CMOS sensor and dual-tone LED flash. For the front, there is a 16MP shooter with aperture f/2.0, 8—degree wide-angle lens for selfies and video calling.

It runs on the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat based on Nubia UI 5.0 and also features NeoSmart Artificial InteJ.lligence. The device also boasts FiT 3.0, which basically allows you to interact with the edges to perform different functions. Then there is a 3D Touch shortcut, similar to what we have seen in Android O Developer Preview. It also houses an IR blaster on the top to control different home appliances and there is a fingerprint sensor at the rear panel.

On the battery front, it is juiced up by a 3200mAh battery with Quick Charge 4.0, which the company claims can charge the device from 0 to 50 percent in 25 minutes. There is also Dolby Atmos certified speakers on the device, which provide Hi-Fi audio output. On the connectivity front, it supports, 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, USB Type-C. The device measures 152.60×72.38×7.6 mm and weighs 173 grams.