@JFB: Wondering if this is do-able (or if you'd even want to do it).... I was recently reading a review of an upcoming Sony phone. I wondered how long they last because I'm getting tired of Samsung phones barely lasting 2 years before they start experiencing constant problems. If I had the ability to browse users first by Make and then secondary by Model of phone, I'd be able to select and send them private messages asking about their experience.
Sony is pretty popular here in Europe. They are good phones, well as good as any other I guess. I wouldn't hesitate to get one.
@RadioRaiders Okay, but in your personal experience, how long do they last or how many years do you keep them?
Hard to say. The company I work with has a relationship to Sony phones, so I have had Sony(-Ericsson) phones on-and-off for many years. Generally they are well made. Actually, my wife still uses a w910 phone from 2007 because she has some games installed on there (!!) (she doesn't use it as a phone, just for the games). I have a Sony "Play" phone (Playstation phone) from maybe 3-4 years ago that I use as a backup sometimes. The only problem I had was with a Xperia SP, it came with a faulty proximity sensor from day 1 and I never bothered to exchange or repair it. Except for that, none of the phones I had ever had any problems. Like I said, I'd recommend them.
Chiming in with a good word for Sony, the Xperia X10 was my first Android, it had one of the best build qualities and worked as it was supposed to. It had Eclaire and Death Star dropped support for it and I ended by de branding and updating directly from Sony's website. I can't say what it would do in two yeas, I had it for almost 8 months (pretty average at that time) and never had a problem with it. To me that means a lot specially with a OS that was brand new to me. IIRC, that was Sony's first Android device as well.
I can't remember using one phone for two years but I have two Sony Xperia Z3 Compact phones right now. I am using one for this post and it is a great phone. Unfortunately the other is at Sony for repairs now because it shut off and never came back on after about six weeks of use.
I had a couple different HTC phones - they are rooted, but the kids actually still use the ERIS sometimes. My mom has my ReZound because she lost her flip phone and really wanted to go to a smartphone but wasn't sure about extending a contract for a brand new one. I've had my Moto RazrM for 1.5 years now - but think I'm going to jump back to HTC in the next several weeks. I think some people just find that brand they are comfortable with that "gets" their needs and stick with that.