I’m on an Xperia 10 ii since some time, pretty happy and deal with the drawbacks. However, it’s not that fast, hangs sometimes and has a poor camera.
Now, I have a 10 iii here and want to know if it pays to swap the phone. Are there any drawbacks of the 10 iii compared to the 10 ii? What’s better on the 10 iii?
Do you recommend to install a free version first and test it or is real testing only possible with Android app support? Does an upgrade to a full version require a new installation? Is it possible to change the licence to the new phone or do I have to purchase a new one?
Off topic: I need Bluetooth access for Android apps. Is it expected to come somewhen?
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Upgrade from free to full does not require a new installation
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Different device requires a new license, if becomes damaged can transfer existing license to replacement. Xperia 10III faster device but don’t expect camera improvement.
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The “color banding” in low light environment is an issue for both of them, but there are workarounds for it.
X10II supports all three main cameras, whereas X10III does not (yet), so if camera is important, stick with X10II. The default camera has totally fine quality, however! Wait, you said X10II has poor camera, there’s not that much difference in image quality, back when I tested it before flashing…
X10III has twice the memory, so adjust the minfree setting to something reasonable and enjoy 15 applications opened at the same time!
Battery life is similar (1-2 days for me). Compared with pure Android battery life it’s poor, but that seems to be because of the Sony firmware used, so it’s not fixable 
SFOS Android support doesn’t include Bluetooth, so if you have an Android application that requires it, you’ll need a “real” Android or derivative.
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Not recommended if you aren’t sure you are not affected by the mobile network issues of the current 10iii implementation. There are severe problems with network stability with some carriers, and with mobile hotspot generally not working.
Currently, Xperia 10 iii feels a lot like beta stadium, and its only real advantage for me is finally enough memory to prevent the OOM killer to get active.
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I bought a 10 iii on Black Friday a year ago, but I have not later installed SFOS on it and taken it into use due to reading that it doesn’t support MMS fully, as well as the inferior camera implementation.
(Not felt any urgency since my 10 ii anyway works quite well now that VoLTE has been implemented. Except for it’s more recent tendency of frequent browser crashes, that is – which I suspect, though, has something to do with the 70+ tabs I have open …)
Has anything now improved regarding MMS?
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Whilst MMS would not work out of the box for EE in UK without changes in APN, this has now been incorporated within configuration as here:
https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/issues-with-provider-ee-ex-t-mobile-apn-etc-in-the-uk/13905/7
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Personally I would stay with 10ii and try to jump to 10iv which luckily will be announced soon (that’s my guess). SFOS 4.5 will be released in Jan which will bring further improvements and bug fixes hopefully. That might make your decision easier.
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I also have a 10 III sitting on the shelf for 6 months already, waiting for a better release. 10 II mostly does what it needs to as a daily driver.
Yeah, camera is on the weak side, esp. in low light.
Recommendation to wait for 10 IV sounds interesting, but then you might be back to 10 III experience - months and months of glitch.
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I wrote exactly about this here: Sailfish OS: Should you upgrade to the Sony Xperia 10 III 
TL;DR:
So, should you upgrade?
As always, the short answer is “It depends”:
- if you’re running an older Sailfish X device (X, XA2, 10), then the upgrade is totally worth it,
- if you’re running a 10 II and are happy with it (i.e. the memfree tweak works for you), then maybe you can keep it and not upgrade.
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lets see what 4.5 brings as far as fixing bugs before making any hasty decisions…
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Thanks for X10II minfree memory mgmt tip, very strange how I’ve missed it all this time.
I went “half” on the values, and first few days everything’s been good, and so much less dead apps when going in.
you’re welcome, glad that it helped!
What are the current suggested minfree values for the seine platform (X10II)? I found a lot of “testing” feedback but its difficult to find the “results”? Thx!
I recommend checking out this thread:
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Usually before new phones were announced there were ‘leaks’ and spoilers in advance because people spotted something related to the new architecture in the git repositories. Have there been any signs of the 10iv being worked on as of now?
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No, I am not aware of any ‘leaks’, just a speculation that there should be some hints for future devices after the new release maybe?
Absolutely worth it. 10III is so much faster.
I’ve had mobile network issues as well in the beginning when SIM was in slot 1, but in slot 2 it is100% . As I don’t need a SD card in a device with 128GB storage, I’m losing nothing.
the only caveat with using slot 2 is you can’t have VoLTE
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Are the issues with the 10 III’s microphone and noise cancellation solved? When SFOS was first released I remember people being very unsatisfied with it to the point of calling it unusable as a phone.