One of the few waterproof flagship smartphones on the market

May 24, 2013 17:01 GMT  ·  By

For the first time in many years, Sony’s mobile division managed to pull in a big increase in sales thanks to its new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z.

According to the company’s latest financial report, Sony sold no less than 33 million smartphones last year, only 1 million short of Sony’s forecast.

With Xperia Z now available in most countries worldwide, Sony hopes to sell even more Android smartphones by the end of the year.

It goes without saying that Sony’s success on the smartphone market is due to popular devices such as Xperia Z. However, the Japanese company plans to launch new high-end handsets by the end of the year, some of them potentially replacing the Xperia Z.

It is also worth mentioning that Sony Xperia Z is the only waterproof flagship smartphone currently available on the market.

None of the important brands offer this feature onto their flagship Android handsets, which is one of the reasons Xperia Z is so popular among Android enthusiasts.

Sony Xperia Z was officially announced back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, and made its debut on the market one month later.

The smartphone is now available for purchase for around $550-$600 (€425-€460) outright, depending on the region. Obviously, customers willing to commit to a long-term contract will be able to grab the Xperia Z much cheaper.

Currently, Sony Xperia Z is only available in black, white and purple, but additional color options may be launched later this year.

Design

Sony has always been attentive when it comes to the design of its products and Xperia Z is no exception to this rule. Many Android enthusiasts consider Sony Xperia Z one of the best-looking smartphones available on the market.

Obviously, opinions can be subjective when it comes to chassis’ aspect, but given the phone’s popularity among customers, it’s clear that Xperia Z is one of the most successful smartphones launched by Sony in a long time.

Although Sony Xperia Z is one of the biggest 5-inch smartphones available on the market, the Japanese company did a good job of making the bezel smaller, so users can handle the phone much easier.

If I had to compare the Xperia Z and the Galaxy S 4, the latter is easier to handle due to its rounded corners and slightly smaller height. I’d say that, when it comes to 5 inch+ phones, 1mm can make all the difference.

  Sony Xperia Z measures 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm and weighs only 146g (battery included). However, unlike the Galaxy S 4, which can be easily mistaken for the Galaxy S III, Sony Xperia Z is recognizable even at first glance.

The rectangular form factor of the Xperia Z stands out from the entire Xperia series. The front and back parts of the smartphone are covered in scratch-resistant glass, while the sides are made of glossy plastic.

In order to acquire its IP57 certification, Sony Xperia Z features some flaps on both edges as well as on the top side, which protects critical components such as microSIM and microSD slots.

The good news is that there are no gaps between these flaps covering these ports, so you won’t even notice these are actually present until you check the edges of the smartphone more closely.

However, users will have a hard time accessing any of these ports due to the fact that the flaps covering them are well stitched in their slots.

Even though the Xperia Z features tempered glass covered by shatterproof film on front and back, which makes it one of the sturdiest smartphones on the market, the trade-off is that it will be a fingerprint magnet.

  The right side of the phone accommodates the volume key and Sony’s brand signature in the form of the power/lock button, which is the only one protruding from the smooth rectangular shape of the device.

At the bottom, Sony has also included the only loudspeaker of Xperia Z. The microSIM slot can be found on the right side of the phone as well.

The left side of Xperia Z includes the microUSB and microSD slots, while the top side features the usual 3.5mm audio jack port.

Above the 5-inch display, there’s a secondary camera, along with the phone’s proximity sensors and ambient light, as well as the usual earpiece.

Sony Xperia Z does not feature a dedicated camera key or any physical buttons below the display. Instead, users will be able to take advantage of the phone’s on-screen touch keys: Back, Home and Menu.

The 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back features a small LED flash. There’s also a secondary microphone on the back side of Xperia Z, which will allow users to capture videos with stereo sound.

Unfortunately for some of Sony’s fans, the Xperia Z comes with a non-removable battery, so there’s no point in carrying an extra one with you.

According to Sony, the new distinctive design of Xperia Z is called “OmniBalance” and is a tribute to balance and perfect symmetry.

If the Japanese company managed to achieve these traits with the Xperia Z is a question that each Android enthusiast should answer for himself.

   Display and Camera

The Xperia Z boasts a stunning 5-inch full HD capacitive touchscreen display that supports 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution and features Sony’s second generation of Mobile Bravia Engine technology.

This is definitely one of the phone’s selling points, but does Sony really manage to rise to consumers’ expectations? Although Xperia Z’s display offers 441 ppi pixel density, I wasn’t too excited about the image quality and view angles.

After reviewing the Galaxy S 4, I can tell Sony Xperia Z is a bit behind Samsung’s flagship smartphone when it comes to display technology.

The Xperia Z does have a good display, it’s just not good enough for a flagship device in my opinion. Contrast is obviously not on par with other flagship smartphones available on the market, while colors seem less vivid than I had expected.

Overall, the smartphone has one of the best displays embedded onto a Sony Xperia, but when put against other flagship handsets, it’s not that great.

    Moving on to the camera, Sony Xperia Z packs an impressive 13-megapixel photo snapper under the hood. User interface is populated with a buck load of features that you can take advantage in order to help you shoot great-looking pictures.

Sony thought it would be wise to offer two options for capturing photos in case you are not a professional photographer. The Xperia Z let you choose from Superior auto mode, which automatically adjusts each setting according to the scene you are trying to capture.

Even though the camera might not guess correctly the scene you want to shoot, the Superior auto mode allows you to make any changes to the settings before taking pictures. That’s if you know what needs to be changed of course.

    The second option is a basic auto mode that will allow you to modify pretty much all the settings included in the interface. From what we have experienced, the Superior auto mode is the perfect choice for those who are not into photography, as most of the time it correctly adjusts all the settings for capturing good pictures.

The phone’s camera can capture pictures with a maximum resolution of 4128 x 3096 pixels, but it can go lower than that when using other settings/modes.

Apart from the two modes presented earlier, the camera has all sorts of useful features, including face recognition, white balance, smile shutter, ISO, touch capture, HDR mode, geo-tagging and more.

I was pleased to find Sony has also included the Panorama feature allowing users to capture more of the environment.

    Quality-wise, Xperia Z’s 13-megapixel photo snapper is superior to most 8-megapixel camera phones available on the market, so those who are looking for a good camera phone will not be disappointed by Sony’s flagship smartphone.

Last but not least, Sony Xperia Z users will be able to capture 1080p videos at 30fps. This feature has become mandatory for a flagship smartphone, so there’s no surprise here. Check out below some sample pictures captured with the Xperia Z.

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Menu and Software

Sony Xperia Z was launched on the market back in February, thus it’s the first smartphone to come with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box.

However, the handset does not feature stock Android Jelly Bean, but Sony tried to keep it as simple as possible. The proprietary launcher has been slightly updated and some of Sony’s widgets for various social and multimedia features are included.

Although the phone comes with 5 panes by default, you will be able to add more and even set any of them as Home screen. Keep in mind though that it’s not possible to have more than 7 panes.

     The default widgets included in Jelly Bean are resizable, so you will be able to easily populate the phone’s panes with them. The bad news is that most of Sony’s widgets cannot be resized. Hopefully, this will change in the next Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update, which has already been confirmed by the company.

The lockscreen is a bit different from the standard lockscreen included in previous Xperia phones. The Xperia Z provides quick access to camera and music player directly from the lockscreen, by simply swiping to left or right.

The main menu, also known as application drawer, can be sorted alphabetically, by the most used and recently installed app, but you can also manually choose the layout of your apps.

     Aside from the standard notification bar that contains five toggles, Xperia Z also comes with an original task manager that was introduced with the Sony Xperia T.

To bring up the task manager, simply click on the Menu key, one of the three touch-sensitive keys that are placed at the bottom of the screen. It will show you the last apps that have been opened so you can manually close it, but it also gives users access to “small apps.”

“Small apps” is a set of shortcuts for some of the most frequently used apps that shouldn’t require too many resources to open. Sony Xperia Z, by default, enables quick access to Calculator, Notes, Voice recorder and Timer. More can be added though.

     There’s also a neat feature in the Settings menu where users can choose their preferred Power management option: Stamina Mode, Low Battery Mode and Location-based Wi-Fi. Each of these modes is intended to save battery energy without hindering your daily use of the phone, so select any of these or neither of them.

Besides the usual stuff that comes directly integrated within the Android platform, such as Calculator, Alarm, Calendar and Google Play, the Xperia Z also features some social apps and services that have been grouped together to make them easier to access.

The so-called Socialife is the main social hub where users can log in with their Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and YouTube. This was especially created by Sony, so that users can access most popular services from one place.

     Obviously, this means you will receive all notifications from all these social services in a single place, but if you don’t like it, you can still install their dedicated apps via Google Play store.

Viewing documents on Xperia Z won’t be a problem as Sony included OfficeSuite 6. Unfortunately, the application does not allow users to edit documents until they purchase the Pro version.

Communication

As expected, Sony stuffed all connectivity options that you can think of inside the Xperia Z. However, the Japanese company decided to include the Infrared port only with the Xperia ZL model, which is only available in a few countries.

Other than that, there aren’t any important connectivity features that Sony Xperia Z does not offer. LTE, HSUPA (42Mbps), dual-band Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (Near Field Communication), microUSB with MHL and on-the-go support, as well as GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS are some of the connectivity options that Xperia Z users will be able to take advantage of.

Sony also added some proprietary connectivity that will turn the Xperia Z into a remote or sharing device for pictures and music. With Smart Connect, you will be able to set your Xperia Z to start certain apps/tasks when it connects with other accessories/devices.

The Xperia Z only comes with Chrome onboard, so if you’re not a fan of Google’s mobile browser, you might want to check Google Play for alternatives. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to enable Adobe Flash in Chrome.

   When it comes to messaging, the Xperia Z does not come with anything new in terms of features, but offers both generic email and Gmail. You can add multiple Gmail accounts, but each will have its own Inbox.

This doesn’t apply for other email accounts, which can be grouped in a single Inbox for easier browsing and handling.

    Given the fact that Xperia Z is an all-touch smartphone, you will use its virtual keyboard to write messages. The phone integrates Sony’s full QWERTY keyboard that can be customized to display additional functions such as smilies and comma. Gesture input is available as well.
    Sony Xperia Z is the perfect GPS device, as long as you use Google Maps. The smartphone is packed with Wisepilot navigation as well, but you will have to purchase it after the trial is over.
     The phone has not troubles with the in-call sound or GSM reception. Conversations are loud and clear even in noisy environments.

However, I have noticed that the loudspeaker is a bit too low, so some users might miss lots of calls if they do not use vibration as well.

Processor and Memory

Sony Xperia Z is equipped with a powerful Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S Pro chipset that accommodates a quad-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, an Adreno 320 graphics processing unit and 2GB of RAM.

I had no issues with the phone in terms of performance and the benchmarks I ran on it show that Sony Xperia Z is definitely more powerful than other smartphones that use the same chipset.

     Although the Galaxy S 4 and HTC One are better performers when it comes to hardware power, Sony Xperia Z is a worthy competitor that is likely to last on the market several more months.

Even though the smartphone has been packed with 16GB of internal memory, only 11.7GB are available to the end-user. However, thanks to the microSD slot, users will be able to further expand storage up to 64GB via microSD memory card.

     Keep in mind though that you won’t be finding the microSD slot under the phone’s hood, as Xperia Z comes with a non-removable battery. The microSD slot has been placed on the left side of the phone and it’s tightly covered by a plastic flap in order to keep the water/dust away.
     Multimedia

Two multimedia features included within the Xperia Z are very cool: Walkman player and Album. Both are Sony’s work and offer quite a slew of extra features that make them superior to the dedicated counterparts included in the stock version of Android.

Album is Sony’s own version of the Gallery. It’s the place where all pictures are stored, along with information on where exactly they have been taken.

You will notice there are three tabs inside the Album: Pictures, Map and Online. The first contains all the pictures taken with the phone’s camera and allows users to zoom in/out by simply using pinch gestures.

   In the Maps tab, users will be able to see where exactly on the map certain pictures have been captured. Obviously, this will only work if you have the geo-tagging option enabled in the camera UI.

Last but not least, the Online tab is a social hub for pictures where you can see Facebook and Picasa photos.

The Walkman application is an enhanced version of the standard music player included in Android platform. It comes with all sorts of useful features, including Equalizer, ClearAudio+, Surround mode, Clear stereo mode and xLOUD.

   Unlike Samsung Galaxy S 4, the Xperia Z comes integrated with FM Radio feature as well. It supports RDS and requires users to insert their headphones in order to listen to it.

When it comes to quality, Sony Xperia Z performs much higher than average. I tested it against the Galaxy S 4 and Lumia 920 and it does sound slightly better. Obviously, I have used the same headphones and listen to the same songs and it’s clear to me that Xperia Z is better than both when it comes to audio quality.

Last but not least, movie enthusiasts will be happy to know they will be able to use Xperia Z’s full HD display to watch their favorite videos in almost any type of format. MKV, DivX and XviD are among the supported video formats the Xperia Z will have no problem in rendering.

   Battery

The Xperia Z drains energy from a 2330 mAh Li-Ion non-removable battery, which is rated by the manufacturer for up to 550 hours of standby time (530 hours in 3G mode) or up to 11 hours of talk time (14 hours in 3G mode).

We have tested the phone for several days and it is clear that there’s no way that the battery will last more than 2 full days (that’s 48 hours) on average use.

However, Sony Xperia Z’s battery might last longer than that in certain scenarios, but that will require users to disable some of the phone’s features. The power management modes come in handy if you want more juice for your phone.

The fact that it’s non-removable is considered a downside by lots of Android users who prefer to carry an additional battery for their phone in case of unexpected events.

Sales Package

Sony Xperia Z handset 2330 mAh Li-Ion Battery Compact Charger Manual Stereo Earphones USB Data Cable 2GB microSD memory card


The Good

The main advantage of Sony Xperia Z over most high-end smartphones available on the market is the fact that it features IP57 certification. Aside from that, Sony did a great job with the phone’s design, which is another selling point of the Xperia Z.

The glass covering both the front and back sides of the device is another aspect worth mentioning among the positives. Other highlights of the phone that should be listed here is the 5-inch display, 13-megapixel rear camera and powerful 1.5 GHz quad-core processor.

Another positive is the fact that it comes with microSD slot for memory expansion. It appears that some handset makers prefer to launch their flagship devices without this feature, but that’s not the case with Sony. LTE support, Radio FM and audio sound quality are more solid points of the handset.

The Bad

The only things that disappointed me are the fact that its display is not on par with other flagship smartphones available on the market.

The fact that it does not come with a removable battery is another aspect that could be mentioned as a downside, but most users do not take this into consideration when choosing their phones.

Conclusion

The first thing that strikes you when you see the Xperia Z is the beautiful design. Once you keep it in your hand, you discover how light, yet solid, the phone is. The Xperia Z is definitely the phone that Sony fans have been waiting for in the last couple of years. Now if the Japanese company manages to offer constant software update, that would make it an even more powerful tool. Although there are already several Android flagship smartphones that make the Xperia Z look less powerful when it comes to hardware, Sony’s handset stands out due to its rugged features.  The idea of making a water-/dust-proof flagship smartphone greatly improved Xperia Z’s sales and makes the device rather unique at least until Samsung or other well-known handset makers decide to offer a similar product.

Our Rating

looks 4
build 4
speed 3
battery 2
calls 3
camera 3
video 3
apps 3
screen 3
signal4

final rating 3

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Sony Xperia Z
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