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Sony Decides Its Waterproof Xperia Phones Are Not Actually Waterproof
Mark Wilson writes: Sony seems determined on confusing its customers by giving very conflicting advice about its Xperia smartphones. If you're familiar with the range, you'll no doubt be aware of the advertising material that appears to show users taking photos in the rain and even (seemingly) underwater at the pool. Take a look at the picture above and you'd probably assume that a) it depicts someone shooting a video or taking a photo in a swimming pool, and b) you can do the same with your phone. But you'd be wrong (at least on b) because Sony has changed its mind about what waterproof means. Or it doesn't know. It really depends on where you look on the Sony website.
Look, we all know that marketing materials are fluff, and should not be relied upon when buying or using a piece of equipment. It seems fairly obvious to me that by "water proof" they mean "water resistant" and they make it clear that it is not designed for dedicated underwater use such as a GoPro-like device. But you can probably still drop it in your toilet and it will work after being fished out.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
and legal.
People working with ads are braindead. It doesn't matter if it's on the web or at some big electronics company. They need to be put in concentration camps.
I know because I've used it underwater multiple times without the slightest ill effect. This is warranty semantics, nothing more or less.
you need to root the phone to make it waterproof.
lucm, indeed.
Ads for trucks often show warranty-voiding off road activities. It's not CGI, the trucks will DO the stuff in the ad, but you're probably SOT (Spot Outta Truck) when you break it that way.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
If it says Sony, it's a phony. Stay dry.
Life is not for the lazy.
Honestly, I wish I dunked my Z2 the day it came in the mail. This way, if there was a problem, I could just chargeback. (I bought it straight from Sony.) Otherwise, the wettest I've gotten it is to dip a corner.
No, I will not work for your startup
I assumed the phone, xperia z1 comact, is waterproof and shot some pics in the pool. Nothing happened to the phone. The pics are fine too. Two years later the rubber bands around the charching port flap are all destroyed and i will not try the trick again.
You expect the Truth ? Oh damn! Did I just *go there*?
Wayne?
I work for a wireless carrier, I would endure a lot less headache if people weren't dunking their phones because they think they are waterproof. I wouldn't believe it and just assume the phone is water resistant. Just do yourself a favor and keep your supercomputer tricorder phone out of the pool.
It appears that it does meet the long-established standard, and Sony explains what the standard requires. The ad showing the person in the swimming pool may be a bit questionable , though. On that note ...
We offer an inexpensive hot spare service, so that if anything happens to your server, our copy takes over. Right at the top of the order form, it says clearly that this is designed to be an inexpensive service, to provide great value. Everything is therefore fully automated and nobody has tested it with your specific setup. I thought about doing an ad in which, for dramatic effect, we take a machine gun to a running web server and watch as the site switches over to the hot spare. That SHOULD work, but I wouldn't RECOMMEND actually shooting up your datacenter. Sony may be in a similar position - testing suggests it should work okay, but they don't recommend pushing the limits.
http://downloadmoreram.com/
same shit since 1979... "The first Walkman weighed in at a solid 390 grams (plus 50 grams for the headphones). With its strong square lines and metallic blue finish, it was almost as streamlined as today's surge protectors. To emphasize its portability, Morito reportedly had a shirt custom-tailored with an oversized chest pocket in which to carry the 3.5 x 5.5 x 1.25 inch device." https://reason.com/archives/20...
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
Waterproof, The Coast Guard definition is found in 46 CFR 110.15-1(b)19, which states that a "Waterproof machine means a totally enclosed machine so constructed that a stream of water from a hose with a nozzle one inch in diameter that delivers at least 65 gallons per minute can be played on the machine from any direction from a distance of about 10 feet for a period of not less than 5 minutes without leakage..."
Passionately Indifferent
"... doesn't make 'it' legal."
Did anyone at Slashdot really believe they'd be able to shoot underwater videos with $900 cell phone!? (Go price a Nikonos underwater camera setup.)
Why would anyone ignore the obvious lessons of childhood? The vast majorityof us recognise that we live in a world where nearly every word has more than one definition and we all had to learn to deal with context long before we could afford a cell phone, even one purchased on contract. Does it really shock you to learn that diving into a pool with an Xperia might void your warranty, or that Betanews' big scoop could really have been confined to explaining the methodology used in the IP standards testing process?
There really ought to be a designated kiddie section of the internet...
I have some experience working for a company that advertises devices at higher waterproof/resistance ratings than they mostly are. Some people use them in water no problem, most can't. WaterProof requires qc that would reduce ceo's profit margin by .1 cents and he can only get a gulfstream 1 instead of the latest gulsfstream3. Thus the legal team makes all support and technical documents downplay the design specs that the mamrketing team advertises.
They claim the Apple Watch isn't waterproof, yet there's plenty of evidence you can swim with it with no ill effect.
My $147 camera is water and shock proof, so yes, a $900 cell phone could be waterproof.
Between wireless charging and bluetooth there is no need for ports or air spaces inside the device. Customers get a cool scuba diving phone and manufacturers end up with much better reputation and lower repair costs for water/sand/dust damage. Win-win!
I took the phone into a 45 min cenote swim trip in cancun and it's still working (I'm typing on it now). I took pictures and video but the touchscreen was flaky when wet. It mostly sat in my pocket under water.
However I did develop corrosion in the headphone jack within a week. This made the jack useless until I tried lemon juice (fail) and later vinegar (ftw) to fix it.
Before my purchase, advertising said you could take video underwater. Photos showed a guy underwater with it. But Sony's later backpedaling basically says the phone is not waterproof and they will not replace any water damage.... As clear a case of false advertising as I've ever heard of. My attempts to contact them were ignored.
Class action layup if you ask me.
Because even a sealed phone will eventually have it's seals wear away. Especially in salt water! This is why Sony is COVERING THEIR ASS from Joe Moron.
No such thing as waterproof, only water resistant to specified depths.
When these phones first came out, I remember shopping mall stands where they had aquariums with submerged phones. People were handed phones and shown how to take photos under water. Clearly marketed as being able to withstand being under water.
I bought an Xperia Z1 from swappa for $150 (to replace my aging Samsung Galaxy S) and it was a pretty good phone. Now I can barely use the thing without bluetooth as the microphones are wonky and 50% of the time I use the damn thing to call someone they can't hear me. I did put it under running water a couple of times (made sure all the little rubber gaskets were secure and rinsed it for 2 seconds in tape water). I'm not sure if that borked up the 2 microphones or not.
Le sigh.
I followed most of the recommendations, check the seals. I have used it in ponds, salt and fresh and in the ocean, but always less than 1 meter deep. I have had mine sincerity was released in Australia.
I don't want a phone I can use underwater. I want a phone that will be fine if I accidentally drop it in water, get pushed into a swimming pool or get drenched in a rainstorm. As long as the common accidents are survivable, I'll be happy.
Why would anyone ignore the obvious lessons of childhood? My childhood was in the 80's so the lesson I learned was no matter how good the box art is on that Atari 2600 game, actually game play will only involve a series of coloured blocks.
This is just to save Sony the lawsuits by idiots who drown thinking they can talk underwater.
A friend had older model and got somehow tricked by advertising, decided to dive to sea with it.
They restored the SD card, it actually has video of fish checking it out.
I've owned a Z3 compact for a year. Best phone I've ever had. Not because of the waterproofing but due to the awesome battery life and small (in today's terms) size. But that's just by my criteria.
As other owners of the line have noted above: yes I do use it while having a bath, and I casually wash it off under tap water. Never taken it to a pool, though it has been submerged in the bathtub (though the depth would be something like 10cm). Would I try to take an underwater photo? Yes, I wouldn't think twice about it. It is possible to access the camera and shoot merely through tapping the screen. Would I use the fast-shoot button though? Probably not, I'd avoid any mechanical moving part underwater.
The USB flap is the most annoying thing on the phone. I _NEVER_ use it. I bought the magnetic cable that sticks to the side of the phone where the two charging pins are in my first week of having the phone. There is a second flap where the mini-SD card plugs, which I assume is still there, though I doubt anyone would need to use it often (as opposed to the USB port which is used for charging). I'm 100% certain that if you open this port daily it will gradually wear (it's mad of rubber I think) and lose its effectiveness.
In short, I think that the phone will do everything that is claimed in the ad, as long as it's used properly (don't forget the flap open) and it is new (flap won't help after X number of open/close cycles). So, the catch is that normal wear and tear (i.e. using the USB port flap every other day for charging) will probably break its waterproof ability.
It sucks, but they seem to have fixed it in the Z5 compact (thinking of buying it) which has a flap-less USB port that is waterproof. And even the current model has ways around it (the magnetic charging cable I mentioned, or a dock, combined with transferring files via WLAN rather than attaching it to your computer with USB).
To err is human, but to forgive is beyond the scope of the Operating System...
I modded your comment down, but realized it was only because I disagreed with your statement, and I should be voicing my disagreement with a comment instead.
A sealed phone as you describe means a battery that is not user serviceable. I am strongly in the "a device's battery should be user serviceable" camp.
Let's be real there though. Is the real use case for the waterproof feature, taking the phone into a swimming pool? Or is it to protect the phone from dropping in a toilet or urinal? I know where my vote is going.
I had a Galaxy XCover 2 that got water damaged after filming underwater.
I brought it to the service center and they basically told me that waterproof phones are actually not meant to be used underwater, that they get them regularly and they are often not covered by warranty. I think they even said "false advertizing" explicitly.
They sent my phone back to Samsung and I got a replacement for free so I guess I was lucky.
"Waterproof" is a relative safety feature but don't expect more.
I don't see how that's relevant. Not everybody wants a user serviceable battery, and many phones don't have that, so it isn't a need.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Wait, Sony actually makes a smartphone?