A few weeks ago I was discussing my need for a new mobile phone to replace my existing three year old HTC Desire and after much research I finally settled on the Sony Xperia Z Ultra 6.4″. Online retailer amazon.co.uk had a SIM-free version with a Sony SmartWatch 2 SW2 and shipment to Ireland for only €727.66 which was just too tempting to resist (considering that the device is not available on any of the Irish networks and the phone alone is selling for €779.00 direct from sony.ie followed by €746.24 from Dabs, €704.99 from Expansys and €681.90 from Pixmania it was a deal and a half). I also received £1 credit to download any music from Amazon MP3. Unfortunately that is for British residents only which is typical of the fairly shabby treatment Irish consumers of Amazon UK and Ireland have come to expect. Anyway it arrived on Friday and I’ve been setting it up (or playing with it) ever since. There were absolutely no issues installing a Vodafone Ireland SIM card in the phone beyond swapping my old one for a micro-SIM (less than a minute in the Vodafone shop, no costs involved).
As for the device itself it is truly beautiful, a fantastic balance between a smartphone and tablet. Yes, it does look fragile due to its oblong length and extreme thinness so I will be investing in a case or cover but worries about it being too big or awkward for use have proved foundless. It is simply a technological device that cries out to be used and to be honest it is all too easy to fall into the category of social misanthrope as you become absorbed in its many features. Next on the shopping list a nice fat 64GB micro-card for the memory slot.
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
Hope you are happy with the new toy Séamus 😉
If I may say, you are doing the smart thing by actually buying the thing and putting your Sim card into it. I presume you are on a “Sim only” contract?
The absolute worst way to get a new phone is to get it on a 24 month contract, particularly if you also pay through the network provider for insurance.
I only pay £7.50 incl VAT for my own deal and I can exit at any point. The phone, needless to say, is my own and please don’t ask, you don’t wanna know lol
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I think I may be too happy 😉
Ah yes, I always prefer SIM-free phones. I had a bit of trouble giving away an old phone before, getting it unlocked etc, so that put me off network-locked phones. I used to buy phones from Carphone Warehouse but I had a couple of very bad experiences with them so buying them online from the likes of Amazon is actually a safer bet. Incredibly enough.
I never bother with point-of-sale insurance. Heard too many horror stories of people being duped by the providers. Actually experienced it through an ex-girlfriend where Curry’s refused to honour the insurance policy on a laptop she had with them. It was only resolved after we had a blazing row with a particularly condescending manager in the middle of one their shops and refused to leave until they sorted it out. Ah memories… 😀
Going to need a good case though so ordered this today.
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My current Sony xperia is an older model but for the times we live in (globalised commerce, anti-local), we need to be ‘reluctant consumers’! – my card is pay-as-you-go and with Vodafone bonus points I got for free new Sony xperia j – hope to get another model with separate card – no way I’d get tied with phone contract! -:) @
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I had a ton of Cherry points that I was building up towards getting a new phone for a sibling and Vodafone simply took them off me and rolled them back to zero because they were not used before a certain date. When I protested I was told that the rule was “in the small print”!! 😦
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yeah i know, sionnach – awful bad luck – i got lucky there a month ago when i got that new phone for my sister’s 50th next february – i’m 68 points away (1432-1500) from another Sony Xperia J (goddaughter’s birthday in january!) – i read that rule before during the summer (as well that we can’t swap cherries with that of another sim card) although watched the 600 webtexts allowable reverting to zero without voda fone biting off my cherries…. a gamble – wouldn’t be topping up for 3-6months after, especially of i get the second phone – will keep you posted! – ta, @
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that should have been 300-odd webtexts, left changing to original 600…. ;p — say – you listen to Myles Dungan last night? – http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show – not one irish language book listed (Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, Proinsias Mac an Bheatha, Leon Ó Broin et al) – yet Padraig Yeates is listed twice by Diarmaid Ferriter! @
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The “loyalty card” version used by Vodafone through the building up of cherry points is a good idea. Ripping off the consumer by time-limiting the points so that one cannot build up enough to get the value from them is a bad idea. Like many others I ma looking at alternative networks.
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The two Ferriters theory! – http://mylesdungan.com/2013/09/18/the-two-ferriters-theory
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Ferriter is such an odd sort that I could well believe in a Jekyll and Hyde version 😉
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