Sony is looking to spearhead into taking an early chunk of the Christmas rush with its 4th flagship phone in the last two years. Will it be convincing enough to make you get an Xperia for yourself? Let’s find out.
Design
Taking cues from what makes an Xperia stand out, the XZ borrows some of that design aspect while adding some refinements. Starting from the first thing you’ll touch, the back is made from what Sony is calling ‘Alkaleido’ material which is some form of aluminum or metal alloy. Whatever it is, it will feel cool and smooth to the touch. Nothing much is present at the back apart from the camera above the phase detection, autofocus module and the dual tone LED flash.
The metal build continues to a boxy, flat, and edgy top and bottom portions housing the headphone jack and USB type C respectively. The right panel houses the responsive and snappy fingerprint sensor embedded on the power button above the volume rocker. Sone centimeters below will be a dedicated camera shutter. The opposite end is where you’ll find the hybrid dual sim car slot.
The 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass acts as the first line of defense for the 5.2 inch Full HD IPS LCD display, the NFC module placed awkwardly between the the ambient light and the front facing camera. Other features include the proximity sensor, the LED notification and dual front facing stereo speakers.
It’s not the super clear and sharp display of the Xperia Z Premium but it’s nice to see Sony go back to reasonable resolution after realizing that not a lot of media available on mobile go as far as 4k.
What Sony does with display, it does well as images are clear and crisp and colors are punchy and bright. No problems under direct sunlight here.
Camera
The manufacturer of almost all camera sensors and set-up on most mobile phones stands true as images come out at top quality from the 23MP setup built into the XZ. Daylight shots are amazingly detailed, color accurate but sometimes over-sharpens. The proprietary camera app automatically adjusts for scenarios in auto mode where it can determine whether you’re shooting for macro, scenic, or action. Manual mode provides more controls but you will only be limited to choosing preset modes apart from adjust for shutter speed, white balance and focus.
Night time images are just as great with some underexposure in tow. Manual mode aides in the desired effect should you want more light to come in. Just make sure you know what you’re doing. Steady hands or a monopod may be required.
Selfies are just as amazing on the 13MP front facing shooter that arrives at the same results as those of the main camera. Details, color accuracy and all.
Videos will reach 2k resolution at 30fps with astounding results. The absence of physical optical image stabilization does not and will not deter jitters and shakes in videos as the software can more than adjust with its proprietary 5-axis stabilization built into the app.
Performance
The Xperia XZ will be powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset paired with 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage for the single sim version and 64GB for the dual sim option.
As per usual 800 series, the XZ did not fail, lag, or stutter on graphic intensive apps and games. It will come with proprietary bloatware including features such as swiping down from the home screen will call upon suggested apps that show you your most used apps among other things not present that can be installed. It’s not that it makes the experience horrible, and that customization are not inherently bad. They’re a nice feature if you’re looking for them. It’s just that consumers should not be relearning how to use a phone when picking up a new Android phone from a different manufacturer because everything is in a different place.
Aside from mentioned, it’s a standard Marshmallow 6.0 affair with Xperia UI on top that adds proprietary icons and some Sony flair to let you know you’re using a Sony made smartphone.
Battery
The battery is a decent 2900 mAh pack that clocked in about 24 hours of standby time and somewhere around 3.5 to 4 hours of average screen on time on regular usage. Topping up took a quick hour and 45 minutes thanks to QuickCharge 3.0.
Audio
The dual front facing speakers sounded well with some absence of low tones and the bass. Outside of that the XZ stands to be a good device for media consumption.
Price
Retailing at about 29,000 to 33,000 pesos or about 600 to 700USD Sony’s latest flagship phone stands at the pricey range with good overall adjustments to their formula.
What do you think of the Sony Xperia XZ?
let us know at the comments section below.
Mabuhay, Manila.
Sony Xperia XZ F8332 Full specs, Release date, Official price in the Philippines
- Display: 5.2-inch 1080p FHD IPS LCD, 424 ppi
- Design: Curved glass, curved aluminum flat top and bottom
- SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor clocked at 2.1GHz speed (high-end chip for early 2016)
- GPU: Adreno 530
- Memory: 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage, expandable via microSD card up to 256GB
- Camera: 23MP f2.0 main sensor (IMX300), LED Flash, PDAF, laser focus, 4k, 5-axis stabilization
- Selfie: 13MP f2.0 front-facing, 1080p video, wide-angle
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac, 4G LTE, Dual-SIM (hybrid), Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS 4G LTE, Dual SIM (hybrid)
- Security: Fingerprint scanner
- OS: Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, upgradeable to 7.0 Nougat
- Battery: 2900mAh battery capacity, Quick Charging 3.0
- Ports and charging: USB Type-C
- Audio: High-res 24bit audio, stereo speakers, FM Radio
- Release Date: September 2016 availability in the Philippines
- Official price: estimated at $650 or P32,000 pesos price official SRP from Sony Philippines
