Sony Xperia U (Android OS) & Nokia 8110 4G (KaiOS)

Even in sports, I always root for the underdog—mostly because healthy competition is good for everyone, and the smartphone market desperately needs a real alternative to Apple and Samsung.

I’ve been a loyal Xperia user for a decade, starting with my original Z5 Compact.

I loved these phones, especially the cameras and design.

But looking back at my purchase history, it’s been a rough ride:

Z5 Compact (bricked)

Z5 Compact #2 (bricked)

X Compact (bricked)

XZ2 Compact (bricked)

10 II (still working fine today!)

1 III (Wi-Fi radio died)

The 1 III was actually a uniquely reliable phone for over 4 years. But last month out of nowhere the Wi-Fi radio croaked(known issue, apparently!). Now I’m stuck relying on mobile data or ethernet just to run a cloud backup.

I've put up with a lot over the years out of love for the brand but now that I live in a country where Sony doesn't officially support or sell these devices anymore, I just can't justify the high price tag to take another risk.

It breaks my heart because I love what Sony *tries* to do.

Ive since purchased a Pixel 10 Pro. I hate that there's no aux port, no SD card, and not even a physical SIM tray. But it's half the cost and statistically wont brick up within its first year.

Please, Sony, get your shit together.

One of my most favorited Xperia devices.

Been seeing a lot of questions about using an Xperia in the US, especially the Xperia 1 VIII (referred to as 1m8 below) that was recently released. I figured it would be good to set up a single reddit to consolidate all information as much as possible. To get some form of consistency, I would like to ask the following:

• If you do not have a 1m8 in hand yet and simply want to ask questions, please review all the posts to ensure your question has not already been asked and/or answered before posting your question.
• If you have a 1m8 in hand and have a question, please review all posts to ensure your question has not already been asked and/or answered before posting your question. Also, please provide your regional variant model number and firmware version so that others with same specs can know what to expect.
• If you have a 1m8 in hand and simply want to share your experiences, please provide your regional variant model number and firmware version to help others with the same model and firmware.

Many questions deal with whether or a 1m8 will work in the US. The short answer is YES but it comes with caveats.

PROVIDERS

• T-Mobile - Probably the best choice. Works out of the box but requires a pre-authorized SIM. You cannot activate a new SIM using the 1m8. It must be activated on an authorized device first.
• AT&T - Will work with an authorized SIM. You may even be able to activate it with the 1m8. But there may come a time when you will be blocked/kicked off because the 1m8 is technically an unauthorized device and AT&T uses a whitelisted device system. That being said, you may be able to get away with it (see below: https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/1v3ss99/comment/oz5o0vb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), but be warned that it's possible to be blocked/kicked off.
• Verizon - same as AT&T.
• The above applies to their respective MVNOs.

SPECS

• Japan Version: https://www.sony.jp/xperia/spec/simfree.html#xperia1m8
• Global/HK Version: https://www.sony.co.uk/smartphones/products/xperia-1m8/spec?sku=xqge54b.gc
• UK/European Version: https://www.sony.com.hk/en/electronics/support/mobile-phones-tablets-mobile-phones/xperia-1-viii-256gb/specifications?srsltid=AfmBOoqj4wzdo1qyY2zisAY0UMwoF2QcsQl0u3lCOtPYadL1_wr7pK23
• Only Japan sells the 16/512GB and 16/1TB versions in all colors.
• Europe and Global/HK versions have 12GB ram models in all colors and the 16GB/1TB in gold only.

WILL 5G WORK?

• No 5G out of the box.
• Can be enabled by unlocking the bootloader and root access, which will essentially factory reset the phone. WARNING: THIS PROCESS CAN BRICK YOUR PHONE IF YOU MESS UP. It should only be done if you are confident in your abilities. If not, it's probably best you did not get this phone.
• Tap to pay and some banking/financial apps will require you to lock the bootloader again or they won't work.
• XDA Guide here: https://xdaforums.com/t/unlock-bootloader-and-root-guide-xperia-1-viii-xq-ge74.4790389/ and https://xdaforums.com/t/enable-5g-global-rf-bands-on-xperia-5g-lte-ca.4753150/
• Potentially can be disabled again by a future software update.
• Even if enabled, 5G will likely only work near large cities because NONE of the variants support T-mobile's extended 5G band N71.

COVERAGE

As noted above, T-mobile is probably the best US provider for using an Xperia. T-mobile is in the process of migrating their 4G LTE bands to 5G to be completed by 2028 (https://www.tmonews.com/2025/10/t-mobile-to-start-phasing-out-4g-lte-network-by-2026/). As noted, T-mobile's extended 5G is N71, which is NOT supported by any of the variants.

T-mobile 5G uses N41. Likely bands to be migrated in the future from 4G LTE to 5G: N5, N66AT&T 5G uses: N2, N5, N66, and N77

Verizon 5G uses: N48 and N77

1m8 will work on LTE for a year or so until the majority of bands are migrated. Then, you may be forced to enable 5G as noted above.

RECOMMENDATION

• YES if you are ok with the caveats above.
• NO if you are not.

If you find any errors, let me know. I will edit the above with relevant information as needed.

I also have an xperia pro-i but i never even considered a setup(?) like this. I dont know much about cameras but how would this work and what use would it have when taking pictures?

Xperia Mini is one of my favorite device, it small, cute and can open back cover to replace battery.

Hello all.

Last week I came to you after experiencing some issues with my 1 VI. It's safe to say that everything has been resolved and it's working so much better now. Where I was getting 3 to 4 hours of screen on time, I'm now getting between 7 and 8 hours of screen on time, exactly like it used to.

This phone has genuinely had the best battery life I've ever seen in a phone, and I've used a lot of phones over the past 5 years.

I’m picking up the Xperia 10 soon. Honestly, I think old film photos look so much better than modern digital shots that are overly sharp and overprocessed. The Xperia 10 camera actually retains that natural, classic look. Not many phones can do that nowadays!

My Xperia 1v has been on its last legs for a fair few months, phone works but either antennae or connectivity chip has been on the blink, constantly dropping calls or just not connecting full stop, all other functions work. Recently replaced screen and battery so didn't want to throw any more Money at it. I'll keep it forever and will still use it as a camera and media device as it's a goat!

In the meantime just ordered an Oppo x9 pro. Anybody else made a similar switch?

It just came a few hours ago, 256gb Silver, hopefully it will last a long time. I'm really enjoying it so far.

From old to new baby!Iam so happy 😁

See here: https://xdaforums.com/t/how-to-unlock-this-phone.4795766/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTNoRFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE4M3J5M3l2M1VOSUxBTHdHc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHoJrTs9MhdnWHTdEBxkApwpsgZAs20pxjRlw8hRsuBGTN_zbL-FOxhIbQ-mX_aem_r0PW7vvUosPuhYrQRHpkSQ#post-90668828

My replacement of Xperia 1V arrived with a short delay.

Hi, I have an XZ2 (model H8216)

-It says "unlock allowed: no" and bootloader is lock

-it's the single-SIM, single-SD card version (I tried forcing a second SIM into the SD card slot, but it didn't fit).

-NFC isn't working.

-The back of the phone is marked with "docomo" and "SO-03K".

-Tried unlocking via the website but it didn't work: dell@dell-Latitude-E5440:~$ fastboot oem unlock 0x3866388B7C5A9FFA

FAILED (remote: 'Command not allowed')

fastboot: error: Command failed

-Can I unlock the SO-3K using this method: https://youtu.be/etQm9KKQNms?si=DxcoIXNsX8hDOr-G

and is there a risk of bricking?

(Sorry for using Google Translate)

Hello everyone i recently got a bunch of phones from a friend of mine in there i found a experia e3 unfortunately it was locked i tried to go to recovery mode but i couldn't if there is a way to factory reset it please let me know

Hey all,

I posted in here a month or so asking some questions as a potential Xperia 1 VIII user in the US. I am glad to report I bit the bullet and am expecting it to arrive tomorrow. My carrier is US Mobile and the n41 band is prevalent in the cities I frequent so I think I'll be ok. While I wait for the delivery, I had some questions and was hoping those with the phone in the US can clarify for me:

1. Is 5G still unavailable? I read it was caused by a software update and am keeping my fingers crossed I get a unit that hasn't installed that software version yet.

2. Can I use eSIM or should I stick to physical SIM?

3. How important is unlocking the bootloader? Should it be one of the first things I do?

If anyone can share their experience of using the phone in socal and in East Asia I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Really need help! Been rocking the xz1c and its simply the best phone. My partner got unofficial Lineage running on it as im not ultra tech savy. But i was on a video call, phone died, and when i got it back on, it told me no service, and a blurp that said (Tmobile Sim [on/off) or somethin like that. When i pressed on, nothing happened, so i rebooted again. Now it wont recognize my sim card period. I do not wanna give up this phone!

TLDR: Love it but there are things that kinda bug me.

So the unboxing experience was nothing spectacular. Just a phone in the box and nothing else.

The phone is 6.1" and supposedly a "compact" phone but as you can see with my previous phone which is 6.8 inches, the bezels add up to the bulk and it's actually not that compact.

Few initial things that bugged me were the fact that there's no double tap to wake the screen and sometimes it seems like receiving a notification doesn't wake the screen up, tried looking for it in the settings and I couldn't find it anywhere.

I usually like to place my thumb layed out flat on the side of my phone but the fingerprint sensor was too sensitive sometimes that even after locking it unlocked by scanning my finger. However if its raining cats and dogs, it just doesn't work.

The snapdragon 6 gen 3 was something I thought would fall short, but for my usage its more than enough (especially reducing animation and transition speeds to 0.5x in developer settings) and its really smooth for an average user.

And the battery life is more than satisfactory with atleast a day and a half of usage for me. Although meta services seem to have run in the background for 23 hours and I didn't like that so I disabled the app. Same for Instagram but I dont really care about background usage by insta so I disabled it.

The headphone jack is a win for me honestly but the built in amplifier seems to be logarithmic I guess? I had to drive up the volume to roughly about 70-75% to have comfortable hearing volume (I used my Sennheiser CX80 earphones and audio technica ath-m50x to test)

Coming to the camera, love the native camera app interface but if they went so far to give manual controls for shutter speed and focus, why not give the option to shoot raw as well? Apart from that I'm satisfied with the quality of photos, here Are a couple that I clicked and graded in lightroom:

https://unsplash.com/photos/narrow-street-with-old-buildings-and-an-elevated-red-bridge-a2NlEk4OE2Y

https://unsplash.com/photos/blue-mooring-rope-coiled-around-a-boats-bollard-2P0-NAzcLhQ

And maybe a minor bug but when on an app, pressing any of the back or recent apps button, the animation is cutoff from the sides.

Overall this is a great phone to use on the daily with some minor setbacks!

And a couple questions for people who already have this phone:

Did anyone try disabling the Google photos app and have slightly bad looking photos with just another app like fossify gallery?

- What camera app do you guys use to get Raw photos and log footage?

256GB, black version. Open box $950 retail but the import duties and international shipping pushed it to about $1100.

For those interested, I was indeed able to get 5G working via the DSDS trick on T-Mobile

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All shots are as is, no editing from Xperia 1viii