Sony has Nougat upgrades planned for a bunch of Xperia devices, but not the Z3 or Z3 Compact

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

While Android enthusiasts understandably celebrated the highly anticipated public rollout of a final, fully polished 7.0 Nougat build a couple of days ago, it’s important to remember this also marks the beginning of another major struggle.OEMs will now start over-promising and under-delivering, missing their own self-imposed deadlines, snubbing popular, relatively new devices, or worse yet, they’ll stay completely mum ...

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Sony pushes Marshmallow goodies to Xperia Z2 Tablet, more Z2 and Z3 phones

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

It’s almost impossible to be a major Android device manufacturer and not get flak at some point from disgruntled owners of this phone and that tablet. Either you roll out software updates with great delays (the most common complaint), or you give priority to a newer product over an older, more popular one.Following a habitually late and timid start to Marshmallow promotions however, Sony kicked the upgrading machine into high gear recently, making it very difficult for the OEM’s fans to show any sort of dissatisfaction.The Xperia Z5 family was of course

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Sony Xperia Beta Program set to continue until ‘at least the middle of the year’

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

The news that a trio of older Xperia flagships was finally treated to official, fully polished Android 6.0 updates no doubt pleasantly surprised the vast majority of Z2, Z3 and Z3 Compact owners. But there were probably also a few users who deemed the rollout a bit of a bittersweet scenario.Namely, beta testers of early Marshmallow builds, which appeared doomed to have their special support wrapped up. Only Sony isn’t ready ...

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Sony spreads Marshmallow love to Xperia Z2, Z3 and Z3 Compact

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

To our knowledge, Sony is yet to iron out the kinks that recently put the Android 6.0 upgrade on hold for the Xperia Z5 in certain markets. But a trio of other Z-series devices are now getting official OTA Marshmallow goodies, signaling everything will be alright soon enough for the entire flagship family.You’re looking at major UI makeovers for three fairly old phones, ...

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Sony Xperia Beta Program brings early Marshmallow to older hardware

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

There are plenty of reasons you might want to be critical of Sony’s smartphone game, from the slow-to-evolve design language of its handsets, to a hard-to-predict launch schedule, to a failure to make its phones widely available in some popular markets. But the one thing it’s hard to complain about is the degree to which Sony goes out of its way to connect users with in-development software, giving them early access to new Android builds before they’re ready for mass distribution.

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Sony testers make their voices heard: Don’t take away our Marshmallow

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Android users know all too well the pain of waiting (and waiting, and waiting, and waiting) for the most recent version of the platform to arrive for their phone. Sure, those lucky Nexus owners get their updates straight away, but for the rest of us, we’re subject to both OEM and carrier delays. That’s why it was such great news when in October of last year, Sony invited owners of the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact to get a super-early taste of Android 6.0 Marshmallow through the ...

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Sony’s Marshmallow Concept program will apparently continue a while longer

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Technically, none of the 14 Xperia devices Sony promised to bring to Android 6.0 eventually has been properly and officially updated yet. But if you own a Z3 or Z3 Compact, and don’t cringe at the thought of unpolished, experimental software, chances are Marshmallow holds no secrets from you.As part of a “Concept” trial, the Japanese hardware ...

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Sony brings Marshmallow to Xperia Z3 through Concept for Android program

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

This summer, Sony began an interesting experiment with its Android software, inviting select users to try a very stock-ish, minimalistic Android build that was in contrast to the company’s usual skinning. This “Concept for Android,” as Sony called it, was available for Z3 users in certain markets who signed up, and earlier this month we heard that the next wave of the project was nearly upon us, ready to ...

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Sony opens Android Marshmallow beta program for 10,000 Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact users

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Finally realizing it needs to take immediate measures to win the interest and loyalty of as many mobile users as possible, Sony just issued a long though hopefully incomplete list of Android 6.0-ready Xperias, also expanding the Concept initiative to include Marshmallow test builds.If you’re quick to sign up through the Concept for Android app, and own an Xperia Z3 or Z3 ...

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Sony Xperia Z3 Compact – After The Buzz, episode 48 (Video)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Most new device launches go the same way: usually the press gets review units before they’re widely available, and we get to use them for a few days -or a week if we’re lucky- as we work on our review.Then press day arrives. The embargo on media coverage lifts, and everyone posts their reviews and videos at the same time. It’s a huge frenzy, commenters go nuts, and it’s a giant explosion of frantic opinion-sharing activity.For about … a day. And then it all goes away. Sure, there’s followup coverage as people find bugs and hidden features, but after that initial blast, not many ...

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Most exciting things of 2014

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

As usual, at the end of every year, we’re looking back at what happened over the course of twelve exciting months — that got us a lot of extraordinary products and services. We not only do this because it’s fun and important to recap some crucial events, but also because we usually also look at the future, trying to anticipate what the next year will bring us; and, in order to realistically try to predict things from the future, we need to know what happened in the past.So far, we looked at what we think were the 

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Should you use antivirus software on your Android?

Posted on by Joe Levi

A while back, Jesper Jensen from Denmark wrote in to the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast with a question about antivirus software for Android, specifically, whether or not he needs it on his new Xperia Z3 Compact.I have just received my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and I am infatuated with this little beauty. Coming from a Nokia Lumia 620 it is quite a leap ahead, though I do find I miss a few things about Windows phone. One of the things I didn’t miss about Android is the … more or less useful (apps that come pre-installed from Sony, such as) ...

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Galaxy Note 4 review, Nexus 6/9 anticipation, new iPad thoughts & more | Pocketnow Weekly 118

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Updated with the high-quality version of the podcast. Enjoy!Samsung’s latest, greatest phablet is here, and it’s a hard-edged reminder that it’s no longer enough just to be big; you’ve got to be smart about it, too. We’re talking everything from #gapgate to Multi Window to the S Pen on today’s podcast-style Galaxy Note 4 review … and to help us do that, we’re bringing in two very sharp tacks from respected corners of the mobile community: Brad Molen of Engadget and Florence Ion of Greenbot!This week’s news didn’t stop at the ...

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The Nexus cometh – week 42 recap: week in review

Posted on by Adam Doud

The technology world is a fast moving one, and hence, there are more than 100 stories we publish on a weekly basis here on Pocketnow. Those include reviews, videos, editorials, news, and more. With this new, weekly series, we’re making it easier for you to look back at the most interesting, exciting, and popular topics of the week, in case you missed anything.Look for the Pocketnow Week in Review every Saturday morning. It contains the most popular ten stories of the week printed on the portal, as well as top ...

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Sony Xperia Z3 Compact review: a small phone that packs a big punch

Posted on by Taylor Martin

Sony has earned a reputation – be it good or bad – for releasing new phones almost twice as fast as its competitors. While Apple, Samsung, HTC, and the handful of other globally known OEMs typically release an updated version of their various smartphone lineups once per year, Sony keeps its hero series of Xperia devices fresh with an update every five to seven months.That’s approximately one-fourth the typical 24-month agreement here in the States, or one-sixth ...

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