Impressed with Sony's Android 'Bridge' software
I dusted off my Sony Xperia T yesterday and found an operating system ‘update’ notice. Unfortunately in order to upgrade from Android v7.x.x to v9.x.x I had to plug in the device to a computer.
How quaint, eh?
I haven’t actually done this — with any phone — for absolutely ages. I’d go so far as to say I haven’t plugged a phone into a computer for the purposes of synching for at least one year, possibly two.
Everything is in the cloud. I just upload directly nowadays. I’ve typically no need to mess about with synching nowadays.
However, on this occasion I thought I’d play ball.
I prepared for the inevitable bucket-of-shit that I’d have to wade through with Sony. For a long time Sony’s desktop software has been nothing short of appalling. And the level of arse was only magnified if you tried to use their stuff on an Apple device.
That’s all in the past now, clearly.
I’m sorry to say I was totally, totally surprised when I was able to locate the software within seconds. I just Googled “Sony Xperia Bridge” and got the result first time (“bridge” is the name of their Mac sync tool). Time was you had to spend a good half an hour on some half-arsed bollocky Sony support site to find drivers and whatnot. Remember those days with Minidiscs?
Bridge installed right-away. I plugged in the Xperia T still not believing my eyes. Butter me in Scotch and call me Susan: It worked.
The device was identified immediately and I was installing the new OS upgrade a few moments later. Boom!
Very impressive.
The media syncing looked rather smart. I sucked all the photos and video off the device and stuck them into Picturelife while I was at it — that was a breeze too.
Nice work Sony. Someone clearly got the memo.
I’ve been enjoying the company’s handiwork with the Xperia Z (the first gen waterproof device) and this positively smart seamless experience only encourages me to step toward them further. Like James Whatley, I have been giving a lot of thought to getting hold of the new Sony Xperia Z2. Whatley is one step ahead. I think I saw on Facebook today that he’s just placed his order.
If you haven’t already checked out their Android sync software, do take a look. The PC equivalent (“PC Companion”) is right here.
