Need to upgrade my HTC Thunderbolt. Sony Xperia Z3v or HTC One (M8)??

[ChristinaINTP]

I used to be a photographer since the film days but now that everyone in the world thinks they are "photographer," I gave up. But photos as a hobby is still important to me. I love photo options and high pixels. Sony was nice for that but HTC for affects/ options. Verizon reps knew either nothing or what I already knew. I feel I am teaching them about the Turbo and Xperia Z3. So I need help. I've researched and played with these phones (hated Moto camera interface, LG, Samsung, always hated iPhone): HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z3v. Not sure if Sony uploads to my Mac easily from phone either. I would like the best quality in camera, sound, text/calling experience. Who has the best voice recording? Ease of using personal dictionary, select all/copy/paste? Thanks.

[Tidbits]

Get a Note 4.  It currently has the best camera on any phone to date.  with Android 5.0 it will take better raws than any device on the current market.  You can always use a different camera app than the stock one that comes with the phones.  What's important for photography is the lens.  The Galaxy Note 4 uses the best currently that Sony makes...  Surprisingly even better than the one in the Z3/Z3V which is currently Sony's own flagship.

As far as uploading photos.  Use Google Drive in relation to Google Photos and have it set to upload without compressing, and full resolution pay the $1.99 for 100GB of data.  Then you can always have your photos and videos on your Mac using Google+ Photo's backup.  That's what I do.  You would need unlimited data if you don't use WiFi because it can eat a lot of data quickly. 

As far a user experience.  Android allows you to change your experience by downloading apps to replace what is given to you.

[heedshot]

I have both the Turbo and the Z3v: camera quality(I kind of like the cleanliness of the turbo interface but that's just me) is way better on the Z3v, but sound reproduction is far better on the Turbo. If I am you and I am buying for pics the options of the Z3v far out weight(also MegaPixels) the M8. just my opinion

[vzw_customer_support]

All are great options. I usually go to the store to hold the phone and use them to see how they work. Here is a link to all the wonderful devices we have http://vzw.com/4G

VanetrisC_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

[ChristinaINTP]

Thanks for the responses but I had originally said I HATE the Samsung and I HATE the Moto camera experience. I have an Apple desktop and Samsung doesnt play nice with my computer and I dont like how huge it is or anything about it. I got the Sony and it has nothing over my HTC Thunderbolt. I am hating the new Droids!!

[Tidbits]

You don't have to use a cable to sync your phones. There's Google backup which allows full size images to be backed up and they have an app that'll sync it. You can set it only on wifi and send full size over compressed. That's what I do 🙂 I even do that with my iPhone and iCloud. I don't like cable syncing anymore.

[Tidbits]

Exactly what you don't like about it?

[Irishsettler722]

I had an m8. The 4mp camera is good, but, when you zoom while recording or with a picture after its taking I noticed extremely soft edges and slight chop in the pixels, the 3d effects are nice although you can only view those from the phone. The sound was amazing and the system ran smooth most of the time. However,  I upgraded to the z3v; I am not disappointed the multiple options inside the camera app are insane and it does take some of the best videos and pics I've ever seen in a phone. But,  it's just that,  a phone,  so the audio isn't great and some other things not worth mentioning. The xperia has 3gb ram which provides a noticeable boost in performance, where the m8 would lag here and there. My last gripe with the xperia is that because of its slight "step-chill" hybrid z2-z3 deal they didn't work out keeping data connection while in a voice call,  not a huge deal for me,  but,  there are those occasions when I'm in a call and need to check to see if an email sent or long into a server for work and I have to call whomever back because I can't do both.

I get almost two days out of a full charge on this (1day with a lot of usage), longer if you enable one of the stamina modes; opposed to the m8 I only got a day or a tad longer(less than a day with a lot of usage), but,  usually both streaming Pandora for a couple hours with screen off,  the usual amount of texts and emails and maybe 45 min of Web browsing with a few 20-35 min phone calls.

Waterproof is my big thing,  the xperia is waterproof to a point,  make sure flaps are closed and I bought some silicone headphone jack port plugs and put a little silicone sealer (let it dry) on them to keep the water from entering the headphone port, salt water would wreak havoc in there; I rinse the whole phone with fresh (bottled) water after. No problems.