Sony Xperia 5 review: The next evolution of the XZ1/XZ2 Compact line, and I love it

…and why it replaced the Pixel 3A in my pocket

I have to share this story before I start, which explains why I gave Sony the next chance to be my daily driver phone:

When my son’s old Nexus 5X broke earlier this year, I decided to give him my old Xperia XA2 phone. He is only 13 and forgetful, and of course managed to lose track of the phone awhile back. We looked everywhere for this phone, trying to call his number. It would continue to ring for three days; it did not start going to voicemail, indicating the phone had died. In an of itself this was already a decent achievement of great standby battery life.

What …

My Hands are Declaring War on Wide Phones

I’ve had it with wide phone screens. I tried to adapt, I’ve reached, strained and contorted my thumb to reach the sides and top of my phone. I even tried to chase the trend that people seem to have of slapping rings on the back of their phone to keep their fingers securely on the back of the device.

I found a great ring/stand that works on almost any phone (affiliate link) which I do like a lot and it’s not even pricey. I’ve tried using text to speech, and become exquisitely aware of both how imprecise and vague words in English sound, and how doomed we really are with this technology, unless tech companies secretly employ humans to correct

Moto One Zoom currently on sale for $360 w/Coupon

A quick update that the Moto One Zoom I reviewed earlier is now on-sale (thank you Slickdeals) via eBay for $360 if you follow the details listed in this post, which involves using a coupon code at checkout. I personally think this phone is a steal at this price. Unfortunately it’s currently sold out of that gorgeous purple color, but the others are almost as fetching.

You can always pick one up from Motorola directly, and currently there’s a $50-off sale on their site (bringing the total to $399), or alternatively a free Moto G6 with purchase, if you happen to need a 2nd phone for a family member. Buying direct from Motorola is also a great option if …

Moto One Zoom Follow-ups

Further updates: I managed to hurt my hand because of the screen width – check out my rant about wide phones here.

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Here are some thoughts after my initial post on the Moto One Zoom now that I’ve had some time to think things over…

Hardware Oversights

I never even mentioned the in-display fingerprint reader, and I stand by this decision because unless these sensors are exceptionally bad, people really don’t care about them.  The in-display gimmick is interesting, and probably all phones will have this one day, but it basically does its job.  It’s a little slower than others (notably the Note 10) but it gets the job done.

I should also mention that …

Motorola Moto One Zoom Review: Why Isn’t the Tech Press Talking About This Phone?

Further updates: I managed to hurt my hand because of the screen width of this phone – check out my rant about wide phones here. I no longer recommend this phone to anyone with non-gigantic hands…

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I’m going to be more dedicated to updating my site these days, so let’s start with some quick thoughts on the amazing Moto One Zoom.  Since I’ve seen no one cover the Moto One Zoom yet and I’ve had it almost a week, let’s talk about it: it’s amazing.

tl;dr: you should definitely buy this phone if you use any GSM carrier in the US (e.g. T-Mobile, AT&T, Cricket wireless and many others) or you’re in Europe. Here

Shopping for a new phone? Consider the Galaxy A5 & A8 before splurging on the Galaxy S9

This is not as timely as I’d hoped, but given that the Galaxy S9 is out and deals are everywhere, I wanted to give mention to a phone line which isn’t even on the radar of most Americans.  The Galaxy A series from Samsung has a lot of the nice features of the more well-known S series, but are sold completely unlocked and at a much lower price. They generally have higher end features like IP6X waterproofing, and have a nice speaker placement on the side of the phone versus the bottom which I really like.

Galaxy A5 (2017)

If you prefer your fingerprint reader on the front of your phone, or just like a smaller phone that fits in …

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