Experiences with Remote Play on Sony Xperia phones

TheyCallMeTJ

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I have a Sony Xperia Z5 Premium phone with a third party holder DS4 phone holder and a 5gh ac Wifi (most important aspect for smooth streaming).

For the last 3 months, I have been enjoying Remote Play regularly in my bedroom, continuing my playthrough of games that I have been playing on my main console, from small indie games to the blockbuster games like Uncharted. It has changed my gaming lifestyle considerably. Streaming is utterly smooth due to having a 5ghz ac wifi router which I find essential. I had initially tried it out on the standard 2.4ghz speed but this bandwidth resulted in stutters. One thing to note is that 5ghz bandwidth has a shorter range than the 2.4ghz so closer to the router you are the better. Also, if your PS4 is not the later Slim version than you need to have it connected via CAT6 cable to the router's ethernet port (assuming your router is a 1gigabit router and not an old 10/100).

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium was an amazing phone for its astounding 805 ppi and 3 sub pixel matrix display which I utilise in mobile VR gaming and VR cinema theatre mode as it eliminates SDE (Screen door effect) that Rift and Vive suffers from. But to be also used as a proper portable PS4 streaming gaming device has made this phone, my second top gadget of the year for me, my number one being the PSVR...Sony rocks eh.

The DS4 phone clamp is of course pretty essential too. This ebay store sells a third party version for £8. I would have bought the official Playstation clamp but they dont seem to be available anymore but having said that, I think they were selling for £40 or something and this third party version has performed brilliantly for me. Clamps the phone with no slipping and has adjustable tilt. One annoyance though, is that when I use the controller for VR games that scans the controller's spatial positon, at certain angles, the phone holder part blocks the line of sight of controller light and the camera. So I have to unscrew the holder phone part. Another annoyance is I have to connect the controller to the PS4 via cable when I need to pair it up again after pairing up with the phone. I suppose I could buy another controller to eliminate those hassles.

Mobile Phone Holder Clamp Mount for PS4 Controller Playstation 4 Gamepad | eBay


So I am just wondering if there are many of you or only few of you also enjoying your Xperia phone in Remote Play?

For me, in a nutshell, Sony Remote Play absolutely rocks.

My desire for next iteration of Remote Play is to have faster display refresh rates. If only Sony can take notice that the Razor phone has achieved a 120Hz display. Combine that with their next Xperia phone 4k display and wow, that would be bliss. I also wish they had 4G compatibility as I have a 4g eat all you want package, and I think has potential for remote play streaming.
 
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Not sure you'll see 120hz when many games don't even hit 60fps.

I use remote play a lot to my PC as it allows me to game when the wife is watching tv. Fortunately I have a Pro as that allows for 1080p streaming and an overall better experience than the Base machine .
I doubt I'd bother using my phone with it though. Perhaps a tablet at a push. Too small a screen otherwise.
 
I've got an Xperia Ultra, and even that feels a bit small. As Cha1ky says, the experience is much better with the pc/osx app.
Bigger screen, and on a laptop you can still be decently mobile.
 
Not sure you'll see 120hz when many games don't even hit 60fps.

I use remote play a lot to my PC as it allows me to game when the wife is watching tv. Fortunately I have a Pro as that allows for 1080p streaming and an overall better experience than the Base machine .
I doubt I'd bother using my phone with it though. Perhaps a tablet at a push. Too small a screen otherwise.


Yeah, I've tried PC Remote Play and that works really well. But for me, that's not a desire as I have my PC games. PS4 is a living room sofa experience (though I also play my PC games in the living room via the excellent Steam Link stream box).

But I love mobile gaming, elsewhere in the house. You guys talk about big screen but its all a perspective. A mobile screen maybe small physically in comparison but when held up in your hands, its not all that smaller than the TV 4-6-feet away in degrees field of view. If I sit on my sofa and hold my 5.7" phone up, it is just a tad smaller in size compared to my 55" TV. Try it yourself just for fun. I'm currently playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 (single player campaign) and Deus Ex Mankind on my PS4 and in remote play. I am missing no details or those hard to spot collectibles on my phone as the perceptive degree span of the screen is almost the same.

Nevertheless, its not about the size but the convenience and effectiveness for me. I've used my laptop for remote gaming too. But that's more cumbersome to carry around with me in the house. Phone is always in my pocket and I just need to fetch my Dualshock controller. (I hate Remote Play using the simulated controller on the touch screen, though, yuk!).

Regards the TV sharing with family, remote play was a great solution for that! But since I got a PSVR I have been playing games and watch Blu rays/Netflix on a virtual cinema screen while someone else watch Strictly Dancing on the TV. Sony doesnt even sell up that feature but its one I use more frequently than the actual VR gaming.

You're right about the games in 120Hz but Sony does a re-projection trick in PSVR with 60fps games to make them run at 90/120hz. Razer phones dont but is slowly building a library of native 120hz games due to their reputation in the PC gaming market. Anyway, its just a "what I do I wish for" thing. The future is so flux in where anything goes next.
 
Yeah, I've zero interest in mobile gaming hence its never something I'll bother with.

Its either the PC when the wife wants the TV (and I need to play the PS4 not the PC) or the Living room TV for me.

Would be good if they could have made the app for Smart TV's too.
 
Im trying to connect my Xperia Z5 Premium android phone to the remote play on the ps4 but every time I try clicking start it tells me it cant connect to the network. My phone is connected to the WiFi and my ps4 is hard wired. Has anyone else expe this or knows how to correct the problem. Greatly appreciated for any insight.
 

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