Sony Xperia Z Tips and Tricks

Warning: This will remove ALL data on the phone, but not the MicroSD card.

From the homescreen, press Menu – Settings – Privacy Factory data reset. Then press Reset phone and Erase everything.

Your phone will now be restored to its original factory settings.

When browsing on your phone you may notice images are quite blurry. This is because your telecom provider is compressing the images before they are downloaded on to your phone.

There is no way to prevent this, but if you have a WiFi connection nearby, then you can turn that on. This will mean that all browser downloads come through the WiFi connection, rather than the carrier, and your images will appear normally.

If you don’t want the Tab bar at the top of the browser, then you can remove this which will use the whole screen while browsing.

Open the standard browser and press Menu – Settings – Labs. Then put a check mark under Quick controls.

To get access to the controls that are now invisible, there is now a neat hidden menu. Position your finger on the right side of your phone, just off the screen. Then slide it onto the screen in a left-ward direction. A circular menu will appear with various options.

Normally you don’t have the ability to create shortcuts to files or folders on your home screen.

There is a workaround however. Go to the Play Store and download an App called Linda File Manager.

Once installed, browse to a file or folder. Then press and hold on the file and select Create shortcut.

The shortcut will be created on your homescreen where you can hold and drag it elsewhere if you want.

To change the homescreen or lock screen wallpaper, press on a blank part of the homescreen. Then press the plus icon in the top-right corner and choose Wallpapers. Then choose Live (animated / moving wallpapers) or standard wallpapers (images) and choose whether you want the wallpaper on the homescreen or the lock screen. Then crop the wallpaper and press Ok in the top-right corner.

You can also use images Gallery images taken with the phone’s camera for your wallpaper.

If you find the vibration of your phone a little too much, this can easily be reduced.

From the homescreen press Menu – Settings – Sounds. Then under Feedback, press Vibration intensity. Then slide the bar left or right to change the intensity.

You can also turn off Haptic feedback if you really don’t want any feedback.

To open a web page in a new tab, find a link on a web page. Then press on it and then choose to open the site in a new tab.

While typing emails or notes, you can simply tap the space key twice and the phone will insert a full stop / period

This tip is relatively obvious, but some users overlook it.

At the top of your homescreen you should see a row of 5 dots. This indicates which of the 5 homescreens you are on. Rather than flick between each screen, you can simply press one of the dots and you will jump to that homescreen.

To soft reset your phone press and hold the Power/Lock button for a 2-3 seconds and the phone will restart. Wait about 10 seconds and then press and hold the Power/Lock button again to restart.

If that doesn’t work, then remove the battery (if it has one). Wait 30 seconds and put the battery back in. Then press the Power/Lock button to turn the phone on.