
Sony writes off $1.5B from its mobile division - kallesverige
http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/31/sony-writes-off-1-5b-from-its-mobile-division-as-it-cuts-smartphone-sales-target-again/
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pkulak
This is a shame to hear. I really like my z3 compact. Of course, I had to have
it shipped from Europe. I don't think this is a problem with the product.

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listic
Is it not selling in the US? Z3 compact looks like the only phone that kinda
doesn't suck, and not too huge (like all the other modern phones today). What
is the situation with alternate ROMs for this phone?

I was going to buy an older Nexus 4 (cheap, fast enough, not so huge, updates
from Google, no extra crapware), but reconsidered when I tried the original
HTC One mini in store: it felt actually nice, even if just a little bit on the
biggish side (Nexus 5 is much bulkier). Alas, unlike its' bigger sibling, it's
laggy with HTC's own software, doesn't come in Google Play edition, doesn't
have stable CyanogenMod ROM and battery life is inadequate (I haven't bothered
to learn mad battery saving skillz yet). So I'm considering 'upgrading; to the
original HTC One GPE, as a stopgap measure.

How's your experience with Z3 Compact?

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Guillaume86
Not OP but I also have a Z3C, I'm happy with it atm.

There's no alternative roms yet AFAIK but I think it will eventually come as
it looks like it will have a big userbase.

The only annoying thing is losing DRMs if you unlock the bootloader (degrades
low light quality of stock camera, etc), I don't know if it's better with
other brands. I didn't had to unlock it for the moment, I have everything I
need.

Only pain point when switching from Galaxy S2 has been losing full write
access to my SD card with Android 4.4 but it's an android problem (see that
issue:
[https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=67570](https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=67570)).

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bigtunacan
Sony makes and has been making for quite some time some pretty impressive
hardware, not just in mobile, but across a wide range of devices. There has to
be some great technical/engineering talent there, but at the same time there
seems to be a problem with management. Poor marketing and bad strategic
decisions all over the place.

They've had bad marketing behind their phones for ages. I doubt many people
remember the Sony P800 or P900 phones
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_P900](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_P900))
I had one of these back when most people were buying Nokia Series 40 devices.
Back then the P800 was an incredible piece of hardware leaps and bounds beyond
the competition, but no one even knew it existed.

Fast forward to more current times and look at the flop that is the Sony PS
Vita. This is a great technical master piece as far as a dedicated handheld
gaming device is concerned. But Sony threw in the towel early and won't push
any AAA titles to the device. They have essentially said it is a "niche"
product supported by indie games that has to compete with phones. Sony's top
brass is convinced there is no longer a market for dedicated game handhelds;
somebody better notify Nintendo. The 3DS has outsold the Vita by 36 million+
units despite being by far the inferior technical choice (don't take this as
some sort of anti-Nintendo fanboy thing; I own both devices) when we compare
the two devices based on technical specifications rather than libraries the PS
Vita is the clear winner. This points to bad management and bad marketing.

Some of Sony's technical decisions have to be pushed down from on high as
well; things like only supporting their proprietary overpriced memory sticks
rather than standard SD or microSD is a greedy management driven practices
that actively creates hostility and erodes customer loyalties.

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brianbreslin
It's a shame to see Sony these days. Growing up Sony was the cool/cutting edge
electronics company. Now it's so disjointed. I feel they need new leadership
at Sony hq

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tdicola
Yeah at this rate they're probably just going to be a camera and game console
company. I remember when seeing a giant Sony CRT TV in someone's house meant
they were doing something right (or bad with saving money).

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stevebot
Ick, that has to hurt. Maybe they could have some beer with Bezos and share in
the misery.

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_sword
lol

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camillomiller
The chinese manufacturers (huawei, xiaomi, lenovo) are eating everybody's
lunch, but Apple's.

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sremani
Actually they are eating Apple's lunch too esp. outside the US, where the
subsidized device model is not prevalent.

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mathattack
This confirms that the money is in the software, not the harder. I see
parallels with 80s and 90s desktops.

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wmeredith
Tell that to Apple.

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sremani
The Apple model is slightly different, they collect toll for Software through
their hardware and accessory premiums. We will never know, the true-r value of
the hardware unless they decouple their hardware and software.

