Sony's waterproof Xperia Z smart phone is plagued by a power glitch that sees the enormous 5-inch blower stopped dead in its tracks, according to disgruntled forum members. But Sony claims the bug only affects a "very small number of devices".
Xperia Z owners have been taking to Sony's official forum for the last few weeks to complain about the issue, which seems to see the quad-core phone suddenly powering down without warning.
"I've only had my Xperia Z a day and it's totally dead," the first poster explains. "My XZ (black) is ok but my girlfriend's white one died three times today," another says.
"Got my Xperia Z yesterday," one unhappy owner comments. "Everything was fine 'til the morning. Tried turning on and didn't do anything. No light when plugged in charger as well." Some commenters have reported repeat instances, while others report that the phone can be resuscitated by holding down the power and volume buttons.
A Sony support member posted in the thread to say the problem had been identified. "A fix for this will be implemented in next software update for the phone," they said.
They said they weren't able to give an estimate on when that update would arrive, though a thread on XDA-developers reports a software update (10.1.A.1.434) is now available. It's not clear whether this update has fixed the issue.
In a statement Sony apologised for the glitch, saying, "We are sorry that a small number of our customers are experiencing power issues with their Xperia Z.
"We would like to reassure all of our customers," the statement continues, "that this is affecting a very small number of devices. If you have experienced any issues, please contact your local customer support centre who will be able to advise you on some easy steps you may take to resolve the issue."
Has your Xperia Z switched itself off for no reason? Let me know if you've spotted this beastly bug in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
24 month contract
24 month contract
Comments 31
Add your comment
anonymous 22 March, 2013 19:17
I've got my Xperia Z on the day one. I've charged the battery to 100% before going to bed and I didn't even turned on before leaving the house in the morning. When I was tried to access the phone in tube it had already died. I didn't had any clue what's wrong with that. CPW replaced my mobile, the second one when I'd switched on for the first time and while configuring the phone I felt the phone is getting heated a lot. I'd tried to use the phone for a week time but some times I felt something wrong with the phone, overheating on few mins of browsing. Again I took to the CPW and they have tested the phone and said the phone is faulty and replaced one more time. Now I'm with the third one and so far I'm happy and nothing is going wrong going with my BEAUTY :)
Mez Di Wallace 24 March, 2013 12:20
mines fine iv got no complaints at all the first sony iv had with no issues im suprised but happy
anonymous 24 March, 2013 22:54
Mine died after 12 days. Had to send it off for repair to Sony. Sent my phone to them Friday March 15th, still not got it back :/
anonymous 25 March, 2013 16:28
It seems the brand new Xperia Z is suffering from similar problems as the Xperia V, which was only released in December 2012. Is it possible then that either Sony is incapable of producing technically advanced phones that have been checked and work properly, free of bugs and battery problems? It certainly seems so.
Check out the problems with the Xperia V on the following link, particularly the 'Random freeze in Standby' issues (often referred to as 'SOD' or 'Sleep of Death'), for which there is still no solution (finally now confirmed after over a month and a long-term campaign to force SOny to reply to its customers).
If you get no joy from Sony Mobile here then try 'direct messaging' then on the Sony Mobile Facebook page for your own country, and get a refernce number and the name of the person you speak to. Keep a record of all communication with the company.
If that doesn't work and Sony will not refund your money for another sub-standard product then I suggest you send a copy of everything to various Tech and mobile phone magazines and ask themn to take up the case for you. Sony will not do this as they wish to keep problems quiet (on here) and away from the attention of the public and media, so you may have to force their hand! Try things like GSM Arena, CNet, TechCrunch, What Mobile, Mobile Gazette, Mobile Choice, and any others you can find (do a search for 'mobile phones' on Twitter for instance).
Frankly I would insist on your money back if your phone does not work without problems. The Xperia Z is after all a new phone and Sony's flagship. Good luck... I think you are going to need it!
: V
anonymous 27 March, 2013 17:07
I am one of those V owners experiencing SoD issues. As the previous poster has stated, Sony is slow to resolution; in fact, they have done nothing. At the official Sony customer forum, there are SoD complaints beginning from Dec. 2012. The only successful repairs seen have been the replacement of the motherboard....and approx. 3 owners have gone through this process.
anonymous 1 April, 2013 09:57
I woke up this morning to a totally dead Z. Nothing worked- Not charging it 3 hours, not connecting to a computer, nothing.... Thought Sony finally did it right this time....
anonymous 4 April, 2013 17:49
my sony xperia z is completely dead after only having it one month! Really not a happy bunny :@
anonymous 6 April, 2013 04:21
Same here. Black xperia z. Woke up this morning to find it totally dead. Less than two weeks old. Sigh...
anonymous 7 April, 2013 09:29
Same here. Black Xperia Z ... There are few more problems i have observed, one is suddenly speaker slow down automatically and other one is heating problem...
anonymous 7 April, 2013 16:51
If like mine your Xperia Z 'dies' just hold the start button and the up volume switch and it reboots itself.
anonymous 13 April, 2013 10:47
the waterproof thing is a load of crap i dunked it in water and it broke the speaker, it took 2 days to dry out and for the speaker to work again.
anonymous 13 April, 2013 16:32
i agree with speaker issue plus my phones power button is not working properly
e.g. i press the power button to switch it on and it switches on after a few seconds and when i press it to power of it gives me the option to power off and screenshot
anonymous 16 April, 2013 07:48
Yep my purple died after 6 days, replaced by white, now 11 days old. Have one instance of it powering off so far but did the "holding down the power and volume buttons" and it came back to life. Hoping this one is not going to die too! Lost my pics taken over Easter, but now have installed an SD Card to save stuff to. My fingers are crossed!
anonymous 20 April, 2013 10:24
Can some one please help. I've the sony xpreia z about two weeks and it has died. I can't get it to restart. I hold down the power button and try the volume up as advised on various forums. But no joy, the red LED comes on for a few seconds and then goes off again. Any practical advice appreciated.
anonymous 21 April, 2013 01:38
how to set recovery mode xperia z ????????????????????????
anonymous 21 April, 2013 19:33
Purchased Xperia z a week ago, there was a problem regarding calls,a person I used to call from z couldn't hear my voice at all,tried to reboot it. After then it never started.tried everything but in vain.
anonymous 24 April, 2013 03:51
OMG the Sony xperia Z with the lastes firmware make me more hate sony forever!!! because he update if no use and the battery is die very fast ( i use for 45min the phone left 70% already ) and the speaker extremely low volume and i never put in the water and the sound so suck!!! if i can rechoose phone i will say i will take samsung galaxy s4 better then sony xperia z the update is hopeless better dont update
sorry for my bad english
anonymous 24 April, 2013 20:51
Even on .434 I got sudden death this morning after 2 months of use.
My provider will give me a replacement, and I hope a good one cause it won't be an new one.
I really loved the phone, but now.........
anonymous 26 April, 2013 01:00
Had mine only 8 hrs, have put EVERYTHING on it, all my internet accounts, some music, passwords, photos and now it just stays on the start screen that says sony, red light on, doesn't come on fully and won't switch off fully either!!! Tried pressing the on and vol button for 5 seconds the green light flickers for a split second then it goes off again, now the "SONY" screen just keeps flickering on and off every few seconds! I did try before this to update it, but it kept saying I couldn't despite a message on the phone telling me to update!
anonymous 26 April, 2013 17:04
Got my XZ on March 2nd and it has not stopped working yet. Every time I go looking I find something else it can do. Will have to read on-line instruction manual.
Thanks Sony, great tool.
Jim McLaughlin
anonymous 3 May, 2013 18:07
I've had my Sony XperiaZ for nearly a week and I put it Down I went to use it and it's turned off I go to turn it on and it isnt working and I go to plug it in and it still don't work !!
anonymous 5 May, 2013 02:50
I am on my second sony Z the z means zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz because it seem it switches off every 8 or 9 days this the start and volume together do not correct the problem.This is not good enough you pay for a service even if is broken i feel i have conned if thesoftware is on its way
i am wondering how do i load it on mobile which does not turn on
anonymous 8 May, 2013 05:25
i bought the phone on 2nd of may 2013 and giving you a hands on review.
The phone looks amazing like he said..It attracts you to but the buy .
After using it for few days i found the same issue.. Phone gets heated very fast.
Major Problem is the BATTERY life .. It sucks.. it only lasts for 6 hours going from100% to 15% at one go with only normal usage of whatsapp not even games .. If sony is charging big bucks for their handset and cant even give us a great battery life then it doesnt make sense buying this expensive phone.
Just 6 hours of normal whatsapp usage and its dead..
I wish i would have gone for apple or HTC after using this crappy phone..
anonymous 15 May, 2013 08:19
The glitch just happened to me. I wasreally worried, but fortunately the holding down power button and volume button worked.
anonymous 15 May, 2013 16:39
After charging my Xperia Z overnight I noticed mid morning that phone was lifeless, had to wait till I got home to google any possible problems, found this post and so tried holding the 2 buttons down... sure enough it came back to life, annoying but at least not dead dead!!
anonymous 19 May, 2013 08:57
hi i have a problem with my xperia z at the moment my mobile was less than 50% charge and i try to update it and now its not turning on only a small red light is flashing on the top right corner can you please do let me know what should i do to operate it back to normal please as i just brought it a few month ago thanks in anticipation
anonymous 21 May, 2013 16:54
http://www.sonymobile.com/us/support/contact-us/ you guys who have problems should try talking to them either online or phone or email. They really do help. Hope you guys get the answer you want. :)
anonymous 22 May, 2013 18:27
its normal
solution = hold the powerbutton and volume button for a few seconds and ur phone would vibrate and then get switched on
anonymous 22 May, 2013 22:44
sony z dead screen freeze..what a piece of sht...
anonymous 25 May, 2013 11:36
i have an iphone 5 and its works. thats the reason why i didnt bought this sh it.
anonymous 25 May, 2013 20:38
It keeps turning off without even a warning and
takes its own time to turn on.