Sony phones too seem to be quite underappreciated.

The Xperia X line came with amazing built-in noise-cancellation, which only required a special purpose made $20 NC31E earphone with a 5-pole connector.

The performance of this combo to my surprise was amazing! It matched WH-1000XM4 and Bose QC20 in home-office environments. Not having to carry around yet another earphone that needs charging was radical.

Sadly, the whole line failed, and the feature was removed in the following series.

People think that "survival" is proof of aesthetic and functional superiority (we've seen this in all sorts of things - from programming languages/OSs to philosophies to races to religions).

It is not.

I love this combo! Since the NC31E were pack-in earbuds, they were dirt cheap on the grey market. I purchased my pair for ~20CAD just before Covid. They work well with my XZ1 compact. After the XZ1, they removed the special 5 pole jack so new Xperias lack the feature.

The implementation is clever too. The wired-noise cancelling doesn't require extra chips. Sony used the built in noise-cancelling feature on the Qualcomm audio chips. The chips also support a "transparency mode" like feature, but there is no convenient way to use it in software.

> Sony phones too seem to be quite underappreciated.

Their phones are excellent, but their not available at all in many marks (they left Canada recently). Xperias are very expensive. For example, the Xperia 10ii costs twice as much as the Moto G8. Both phones have the same SDM665 SoC and budget eMMC storage. On paper, many people would cross shop them.

Since I've owned my XZ1c, I've come to appreciate the durability of Sony phones. I've dropped it, caked it in grease and batter, and generally abused it with no case. It works fine, just some chips in the paint. Based on this I would recommend Sony. They use thick Gorilla Glass 6 and even the cheaper models are IP68 rated. Cell phone durability doesn't translate well to a spec sheet or tv ad very well though.

Sony also doesn't quite catch on in Thailand, and they (somewhat) exited this market for years now. When I need to get a replacement for XA1+, I have to chase around some carrier retailers known to have one, cause it's just won't be around ordinary phone retailers anymore.

Sony was quite a justified spec of its time (though the low battery capacity is my biggest complaint), but more players have emerged with a more competitive spec, and I also have to switch accordingly.

I had the Sony 6.3 inch phone with common glass cracking problem, and mine cracked. Sony denied it was an issue, but it was endemic on that model. In that case it was designed to fail which is the very opposite of durability.

I do find many Sony items to be durable, but clearly not all - do your research first. Also Sony Australia store are bandits but that's another story!

Often it is not just about the products.

Sony as a company has shown so many times what their perspective on customers is (installing root kits on customer devices, the whole PS3 + Linux debacle, etc.), that I try to avoid Sony products as much as I can.

Thank you for mentioning this. It is also the reason why I avoid Sony phones and at the time, their e-ink devices. I'll buy their dumb headphones, but nothing with a microprocessor from that company.

This. I bought a Sony smart TV because it had much, much better picture than competition at the same price level. In the first firmware update they added SambaTV. Now it's best to just keep it disconnected.