Dubai: The loop design of Sony’s new Xperia XZ changes the appearance of the flagship phone. Sony opted to change their smartphone line-up from Xperia Z to Xperia X in 2016.
The phone is little bulky along with large bezels at the top and bottom of the display, but the full metal finish gives it a premium look. There are no sharp edges to ruin the feel and all the parts are perfectly colour-matched.
The XZ is the best of Sony’s mobile tech in one full package with features from its previous Xperia devices — Xperia Z and Xperia X.
The Xperia XZ has 5.2-inch display with 1920 x 1080 IPS LCD display with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage capacity. The hybrid type SIM tray either supports dual SIM cards or one SIM and one microSD card, with support up to 256GB.
The device is powered by 2.15GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 64-bit 820 processor and is water and dust resistant, which was missing in the X series. Dimensions for the device are 146 x 72 x 8.1mm and it weighs in at 161 grams.
The device runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS and upgradeable to Nougat (Android 7.0) OS.
It is sad to say that Sony stuck to the Full HD display rather than Quad HD found most on high-end Android phones. It gives only 424 dots per inch display density.
With the Adreno 530 GPU, one of the best in the market, gaming on the device is excellent but the only drawback is the screen as the graphics aren’t as eye-popping as they could be.
On the positive side, the lower resolution does not drain the battery life.
PS4 Remote Play, which is missing but can be downloaded from the App Store, is a big bonus if you’re into gaming too.
Sony has added a fingerprint sensor and it is not on the front but on the power button on the right side. We are usually used to the home button on the bottom of the front screen. So getting used to it took lot of days. But once I got used to it, now I find that the fingerprint sensor on the side is better.
The audio quality on the phone is really good and in Hi-Res. The front-facing speakers are amazing, and they aren’t that large and pretty well hidden. Sony has added DSEE HX to upgrade the quality of the compressed music to Hi-Res audio quality. There’s also ClearAudio+ to optimise sound settings and finally, the Dynamic normalised, which minimises volume differences between songs or videos.
Connected to a pair of compatible Hi-Res headphones, you’ll get some excellent performance.
Sony is one of the few smartphone makers that are able to have the Google Now page in their launcher. Google Now sits on the left side of the home screen. This allows you to quickly switch over to that page and see what’s going on.
Sony has followed HTC’s footsteps and made the software a bit closer to stock Android despite some bloatware such as Amazon, Kobo and AVG security apps, but these can be deleted if you dislike them. Sony has included a number of its own apps, including PlayStation, Xperia Lounge and Movie Creator.
Sony’s first flagship of the X series — XZ — features advanced camera with triple image sensing technology and 5-axis image stabilisation, enabling users to take the perfect photos without blur and in lowlight. Added to this is the Laser AF sensor with distance sensing technology, which captures beautiful blur-free photos in challenging lowlight conditions.
The Xperia XZ has made a few changes and software enhancements to its camera experience. The new feature is a little bonus sensor on the back that helps the camera judge the correct white balance to use for any scene.
The 23MP rear camera does have all of the bells and whistles included with a 1/2.3-inch sensor that has a 24mm wide angle lens, with an aperture of f/2.0.
On the camera app, Sony has kept it simple with a manual mode, then auto and video. The final side is where all the other modes are included such as AR effect, Sound Photo, Style Portrait, Creative Effect, Sticker Creator, 4K Video, Sweep Panorama and Timeshift Video. There are other modes that you can download as well.
When coming to actually taking photos, the shutter does take a few seconds but the quality of images is not bad. It can record videos in 4K.
The rear camera can record 2160p at 30 frames per second (fps), 1080p at 30fps and 1080p at 60fps.
In terms of regular photography, you’re going to get some great-looking shots out of the Xperia XZ using the auto mode.
The news autofocus technology on this device takes phenomenal moving shots with the rear shooter and it’s incredible.
The main issue I have is the interface. The High dynamic range (HDR) mode is accessible only in manual mode while other devices have on the camera’s main home screen.
The 13MP front camera with 22mm wide angle lens takes fantastic selfie images with sharp detail and bright colours. There’s also a new ‘wave to capture’ mode, which enables you to balance your phone on a wall or other surface, then step and take a photo without having to touch a button.
It can take Full HD videos with front camera and is one of the best selfie cameras in the market.
Regarding connectivity, it has 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, WiFi, WiFi Miracast, WiFi Direct and USB Type C.
The 2,900mAh battery gives around 15 hours for heavy users, which are pretty average but with the two battery saving modes — stamina and ultra-stamina — it gives two days of moderate use but it disables some functions on the device.
It sports Type-C USB to charge the intelligent battery with Smart cleaner and Qnovo adaptive charging technology which monitors and adjusts the charging current to avoid damage for battery longevity whilst Battery Care controls the charging based on learnt habits and avoids excess charging by pausing charge at 90 per cent and only completes the charging just before it’s needed. It can full charge in just less than one hour. It is priced at Dh2,299 and comes in forest blue, mineral black and platinum colour variants.
Pros
• Build quality
• New refined design
• Impressive camera hardware
• Return of waterproofing
• Fingerprint on the side
Cons
• Position of the volume rocker
• Only Full HD screen
• Camera software needs fine tuning
• Battery life is average
• Bit pricey, bulky and heavy