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Like Maratonmannen, I wanted a specific model that is only sold in Japan. Only Japan has 16GB/512GB model in all three colors. For me in the US, the Japanese model actually supports the most 5G bands that are used in the US (though not all the US specific ones). Unfortunately, it is still geofenced and requires system level editing to enable the 5G.

But yes, the primary reason is because I wanted the specific model. It should not have cost me any fees because smartphones are exempt in the US, even with all the crazy tariffs these days. Part of my terrible experience with Buyee is they demanded a flat customs fee when it was time to pay for shipping even though their policy strictly states that the customs fee rate is calculated by item category. I contacted them several times and they simply refused to answer my questions and would not ship my phone, which was already paid for and sitting in their warehouse, until I paid the customs fee.

So, I will never use them again. I've already found another proxy service that I will use in the future if I need to order from Japan.

By the way, it's arriving today! Hopefully, in one piece and in full working condition.

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Posted: 2026-07-30 13:55:30
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Wish you luck! Hope you get happy with your phone! 😊😊😁😁
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Posted: 2026-07-30 14:47:28
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Right! 12gb/512gb only on wondamobile. When in 3/4 Android versions the extra 4GB of RAM will be useful, then I too will buy from other sources.
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Posted: 2026-07-30 15:46:45
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@herasymcuk - in 3/4 versions the standard RAM in smartphones will be 16GB and the "upgrade" will be 20GB or something, so you might not have to buy from other sources
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Posted: 2026-07-30 16:03:45
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Exactly)))
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Posted: 2026-07-30 16:24:10
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Phone and cases have arrived.

First impression is the weight and width compared to my 1m2.

The finish is smoother than I imagined it'd be. People say it feels like sandpaper, but it feels like pretty fine sandpaper to me. I imagined a much rougher sensation on my fingertips.

Screen is nice, but definitely not the greatest display. I feel like there are slight color shifts unless you are directly on center view. Maybe it's just me or maybe it's the theme?

I was able to set it up fairly quickly. Changed the language to US English on the welcome screen. I didn't get a screen like Maratonmannen when he set his up.

Then I did a wifi android to android device setup, which went very quickly. After finishing that, I received two system updates in succession and am currently on 73.0.A.2.53.

So far, so good. The phone is snappy and I look forward to going through all the settings and customizing everything. I'm sure there are so many more things in there for tracking and collecting information and I plan to turn those all off!

And then, this weekend, I hope to take some incredible photos, which i will share.

My biggest problem is that my mobile data is essentially defunct. I am on AT&T and while I can make phone calls, I am geofenced by Sony, so can only detect LTE and since the 1m8 is unsupported on AT&T, they seem to have throttled my LTE speeds. I will have to switch to tmobile over the weekend it seems. That's disappointing but I'd rather have this phone than stick with AT&T hah.

I have the sony style case in red and the spigen rugged case. I like both, but I think I like the sony style case look better. So, I will keep it on for now.

If anybody has questions, let me know!

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Posted: 2026-07-30 22:59:20
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I`m glad you finally got your phone.

Looking forward to seeing a picture of the phone in the original Sony red case.

I have the same system update since July 23.

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Posted: 2026-07-31 05:36:12
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@moogoo Congratz!

A word of warning. With the Sony Style cover, the little stand that pops out? It can come loose very easily and get lost.

I also found the phone feels heavy on your little finger after a while. It must be a world away from your old phone.
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Posted: 2026-07-31 10:54:44
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Thanks guys!

Phone feels good so far after one night of use. Like you @goldenface, I set the battery care to 90% but it charged right through it. Weird. I then just set it to auto and will probably leave it at that. That's what I did with my 1m2 and it did pretty well.

I am contemplating whether I want to go ahead and try unlocking the bootloader/rooting to enable 5G since doing that will basically do a factory reset. I might as well do that before I get everything set up and customized further. I haven't gone through the whole process of flashing, rooting, etc since the my X10, so it's been quite awhile. May look into it this weekend but it makes me nervous about bricking my very expensive phone.

I am trying to get to know the new camera app. There is no telephoto macro mode anymore, correct? You simply select the 140mm and that's that?

I do enjoy the framed AI video stuff. That feature is nice and something I will take advantage of.

@goldenface thanks for the tip. The stand feels pretty sturdy to me so far. Of course, it does feel a bit like the typical case stand that can pop out with enough pressure. So I'll be careful to keep an eye on that.

It's unfortunate Sony doesn't provide better guides/tutorials to use the camera app. All I could find was last year's video tutorial, which is sufficient, I suppose. But there are differences this year and they should be addressed, I think.

My biggest complaint is lack of HDR in many modes and when selecting RAW+JPEG output. Photos have been very sharp though, so that is nice.

Here are some pics for you Maratonmannen. Taken with my old 1m2 which has seen better days.





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Posted: 2026-07-31 15:41:25
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I use Postimages.
https://postimages.org/

There are several others out there.
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Posted: 2026-07-31 18:47:51
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