My only possible issues with the Z3 series are -
- Price. Yeah the Z3C is near that $400 mark or under, but we've been spoiled by the LOW RISK / HIGH REWARD products offered by Chinese brands, Asus, Nokia, and Motorola. Still $400 for a Z3C is REASONABLE enough for a more popular and familiar global brand like Sony which are known to overprice their phones anyway.
- Glass rear which can make both slippery. This can be remedied by a screen protector but I plan to take it swimming alot and hope it doesn't create bubbles.
- Flaps. Much better now but still a bit annoying. At least the open headphone jack is water-proof.
- Still half-year old Snapdragon 801 when the rumored successor will skip the 805 and go directly to 810. While Sony might ditch the biannual flagships, the Z4 successor announcement could be by CES or MWC which is less than five months away.
But by selling the HTC One (M7), it completely remedies a few things while still maintaining the quality of the M7's best strengths.
- M7's design might still be more appealing to my eyes, but the Z3's rounded edges should be more forgiving to my hands. Z3 might still be the best-looking phone Sony has ever made even if it is generally a rehash of previous Z flagships.
- M7's display was great and I'm hoping the Z3 is just as good. I don't expect the Z3C with its 720p to be as good or as sharp as either.
- M7's sound quality was great internally and externally and the Z3 should maintain that quality with its dual front speakers and even surpass M7's internal audio as Sony being the geniuses behind Walkman.
- Camera. Sony DESTROYS HTC in this area in most cases perhaps Desire EYE included.
- Battery life. Sony is destroying everybody in this area with the Z3 series.
I will miss the default HTC Sense icons and BlinkFeed but a Meego icons pack and Flipboard shortcut are good enough alternatives. I might lose the M7's louder reception quality, Sense being so slick, and the beautiful design with glacial silver resistant to smudges.
Exchanging it for a better SoC, 2-3x longer battery, 2-3x faster Wi-Fi connecting, water/dust resistance, far superior camera, expandable memory slot, excellent sound quality, rounded edges, gaining double tap to wake, no carrier bloat, and PS4 Remote Play should all be worthy tradeoffs.