Sony Xperia Z

Introduction

Whether they had a point to prove to the ex or simply kept themselves busy to get over it, Sony were hard at work in the last year or so. They can look back at a prolific period, though somewhat lacking in brilliance. Keen to quickly build a lineup from scratch, the company was consciously avoiding fights that were impossible to win. Steering clear of the premium end, Sony positioned its flagship devices just below the Samsung Galaxies and the iPhones.

   
Sony Xperia Z official photos

Now with solid backup in the midrange, returning to the fiercest battle in the mobile market is Sony's top priority. The Xperia Z, which leads the charge, got us properly impressed in a recent hands-on and if it walks unscathed from a complete review, we'll know the Japanese have hit the form of their life. Sony is the first of the major manufacturers to bring 5 inches of 1080p goodness to the market, which not only is a morale booster, but will get cash registers chiming too.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
• 5" 16M-color 1080p capacitive touchscreen with 441ppi pixel density; Bravia Mobile Engine 2
• Android OS v4.1.1 Jelly Bean with custom UI
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 320 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset
• 13 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging, HDR
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2.2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• IP 57 certification - dust resistant and water resistant
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage; microSD card slot
• MHL-enabled microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Glass front and back panels

Main disadvantage

• Low contrast display with below-par viewing angles
• Non user-replaceable battery
• 13MP camera hardly any better than some competitors' 8MP units
• Feeble loudspeaker

The Sony Xperia Z is stuff geeks' dreams are made of, it's designed and built to the highest standard and has raw processing power to spare. IP57-certified - on top of that - for dust and water resistance, it's tougher than most competitors. High-end smartphones aren't quite fit for the beach or white water rafting, but the Xperia Z won't be at odds with your active lifestyle.

   
Sony Xperia Z studio shots

The Xperia Z seems to have all the best technology currently available under the hood, so no wonder it's been at or near the top of our interest chart ever since it was announced at CES. And now, just one week away from its European release, we are about to see how likely it is to stay there for a good while.

Retail package is par for the course

The Sony Xperia Z comes in a slim retail package that contains the smartphone itself, a wall mount plug a USB cable and a pair of headphones. Unfortunately, you have to use the USB cable with the dedicated charger as it has no cable of its own. Our unit also came with a 2GB microSD card preinserted, but we expect the size of the card (and its presence altogether) to vary from region to region.

 
The Sony Xperia Z retail packge

Sony Xperia Z 360-degree spin

Ever since initial rumors of the Sony Xperia Z and its 5" screen surfaced, many have expressed concerns that the smartphone will be impossible to handle, even before having seen it. However, once more details started to appear, it became clear that Sony has done an excellent job of minimizing the bezel and the Xperia Z is only about a millimeter wider than the 2012 flagships. They also managed to keep the weight under control as the Xperia Z tips the scales at the perfectly reasonable 146g.

Sure, it's a tad taller than the Galaxy S III or the One X, but it's certainly not unmanageable. And if over 50 million pockets and palms were big enough for the flagships of old, then the Sony Xperia Z has nothing to worry about - particularly when you take into account that the tradeoff is a gorgeous fullHD screen.

   
The Sony Xperia Z sized up against the HTC Butterfly and the Oppo Find 5

Design and build quality

The Xperia Z is instantly recognizable as a Sony device with its sharply angular design, but it departs from the arc-inspired back of its predecessor, instead featuring a more modern looking flat back. There's no denying that the smartphone is a real looker - the glass covered front and back panels go along excellently with the rubberized edges and the glossy blue plastic bits on the sides. It's a handset that you'd be proud to be seen with.

There are several flaps on the sides that not only helped the Sony Xperia Z achieve its IP57 certification, but also conform to its design. There are no ugly gaps and openings to spoil the smartphone's profiles - it all looks consistent and stylish. The only exception is the rather big lanyard eyelet at the bottom right corner, but even that doesn't look too out of place.

 
The Sony Xperia Z is certainly a looker

The choice of materials has just one negative side - with twice the amount of glass used, there's that much more area to cover in smudges and fingerprints. Indeed the Xperia Z turns into a greasy mess quite quickly, causing it to lose some of its brilliance. Fortunately, the good news is that cleaning it isn't particularly hard. Besides, you can always opt for the white version, which will certainly make fingerprints harder to spot than on our black review unit.

The build quality seems excellent as well - there are no squeaks, creaks or any other disturbing sounds to be heard when handling the smartphone and it generally feels quite sturdy. We can't do a proper test of the back panel scratch resistance, but Sony claims it's the same as the one on the front so it should be quite durable.

Controls

The Sony Xperia Z has a pretty standard set of functional elements above its screen. The earpiece is flanked by the front-facing camera on one side, and the ambient light and proximity sensors alongside the LED status light on the other.

A couple of sensors, an LED flash and the front-facing came keep the earpiece company

Since the Xperia Z relies on virtual navigation buttons rather than hardware ones, the microphone is all you get at the bottom. While the mic does reside under a grill identical to that of the earpiece, the smartphone doesn't have front-mounted stereo-speakers.

There's nothing but the mouthpiece below the screen

Instead, the sole loudspeaker is mounted near the bottom edge of the Xperia Z's right side. It's joined by the volume rocker and the smartphone's signature power/lock key, as well as the microSIM card slot. The SIM slot is hidden under one of the plastic flaps we mentioned above. Sadly, there's no dedicated camera key here - that's a privilege reserved for the Xperia ZL.

  
The right side hosts the SIM slot, the power key, the volume rocker and the loudspeaker

On top you get another plastic lid with the 3.5mm audio jack hiding underneath. While the cover prevents dust and dirt accumulation (in addition of keeping water out), it does have a somewhat negative effect on its accessibility.

 
The 3.5mm audio jack is on top

On the left you get the MHL-enabled microUSB with USB host support and the microSD card slot. The dock connector resides underneath the two.

 
The microUSB port, the mircroSD card slot and the dock connector

The bottom of the smartphone is completely bereft of functional elements.

There's not much to see at the bottom

Finally, turning our eyes to the back we spot the 13 megapixel camera lens, the LED flash and the secondary microphone. The primary use of this microphone is noise cancelling, but it also enables the Sony Xperia Z to capture video with stereo sound.

  
The 13 megapixel camera is joined by the LED flash and the secondary microphone at the back

Underneath the back cover sits a 2330 mAh battery that should keep the new Sony flagship going for up to 14 hours of talk-time or 530 hours of stand-by.

 
Handling the Sony Xperia Z

1080p display

We come to the main event of the hardware show. The Sony Xperia Z 5" 1080p display is definitely its strongest selling point and with a pixel density of 441ppi you can see what all the fuss is about.

We have already mentioned this a few times, but let's go over it once again just in case. You can actually see the sharpness advantage over the 720p displays of the 2012 flagships with a naked eye. However, the difference is by no means as big as when smartphones departed the WVGA screens and started passing the Retina barrier.

The 1080p display offers impressive sharpness

The Sony Xperia Z also comes with the second version of the company's Mobile Bravia Engine, which should improve its performance for video playback and image browsing. Thanks to that and the immense resolution, the Xperia Z has easily the best smartphone display the Japanase have produced so far. It is also the least reflective so far, which helps it perform much better in bright sunlight. Here's how it did in our dedicated sunlight legibility test.

Sunlight contrast ratio

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• Nokia 808 PureView4.698
• HTC One S2.901
• Samsung Galaxy S II2.832
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus2.801
• Huawei Ascend P12.655
• Nokia Lumia 9002.562
• Sony Xperia Z2.462
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini2.422
• Motorola RAZR i2.366
• Apple iPhone 4S2.269
• HTC One X2.158
• Nokia N82.144
• Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114

However, the screen is by no means perfect. First of all its viewing angles aren't really great. They are a step forward compared to the Xperia T, but a very minor one. In that area Sony still has a lot of work before it catches up with the competition.

More disturbingly, the display has rather poor contrast for a flagship unit and not really inspiring colors. As testified by the measurements in our dedicated test it comes nowhere near the standard of its main competitors and it even fared worse than its predecessor.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Sony Xperia Z	-	-	-	0.70	492	705
Oppo Find 5	0.17	176	1123	0.51	565	1107
Sony Xperia S	-	-	-	0.48	495	1038
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III	0	174	∞	0	330	∞
HTC One X	0.15	200	1375	0.39	550	1410
Nokia Lumia 920	-	-	-	0.48	513	1065
Nexus 4	0.22	314	1447	0.45	608	1341
LG Optimus G	0.14	197	1445	0.33	417	1438
Apple iPhone 5	0.13	200	1490	0.48	640	1320

Finally here's a photo of the Sony Xperia Z display matrix from our digital microscope.

 
Sony Xperia Z vs Oppo Find 5 display matrix

Battery performance

We put the Sony Xperia Z through our battery routine and it did very good. It scored 48 hours, which means you'll only need to charge the smartphone every 48 hours if you use it for an hour of talk-time, an hour of web browsing and an hour of video-watching per day.

Final words

This must be the best time in a while to be a Sony fan. The year since parting ways with Ericsson has been one of filling in the blanks - fulfilling fans' wildest dreams was not too high on the agenda. This is not to say that the brand's loyal followers were let down over and over again. It's just that they had to teach themselves patience. Well, those who did have their reward at last.

The Xperia Z is a burst of confidence and inspiration that will rally the troops and send a warning to the opposition. Another message is delivered too, loud and clear: Ericsson is no longer a haunting shadow. Sony has moved on.

It wasn't too hard for the Xperia Z to steal the spotlight at CES - the phone has killer looks to match the wealth of skill and power. True, there wasn't much to draw the attention away from Sony's flagship but in hindsight, the top-tier rivals did well to excuse themselves.

That said, the biggest tests for the Xperia Z are yet to come. This one is only the second FullHD five-incher we're reviewing. The Oppo Find 5 is our only proper point of reference. The Chinese droid is powered by the same S4 Pro chipset as the Xperia Z and has a 13MP camera that isn't bad at all. The non-expandable memory and lack of LTE are perhaps Oppo Find 5's only possible deal breakers. We quite liked the gutsy underdog nonetheless.

Oppo Find 5

Our HTC Butterfly review is coming up - but don't worry, there won't be any spoilers here. It's another S4 Pro-powered smartphone, with four Krait cores and Adreno 320. The screen size and resolution are the same too. So, basically, this argument will be down to the details. Sony clearly has the upper hand in imaging, and the water-resistant Xperia Z is better-looking too. We're yet to run the benchmarks though, and have a proper look at the HTC Butterfly's screen.

HTC Butterfly

Well yes, we cannot pretend everything about Xperia Z is perfect. The screen indeed was a slight disappointment. Nothing to do with the size or the resolution - there's just not enough punch in it. Less than stellar contrast simply doesn't do it justice.

Elsewhere though, we're more than happy with how Sony did. The Xperia Z is the current benchmark champion, the Jelly Bean experience is excellent, with a number of custom value-adding apps like the media players and the image gallery. The Xepria Z is an impressive package and looks the part with glass-covered front and rear, and assertive upmarket design. And if you thought it doesn't get better than that, the smartphone is dust and water-resistant.

It certainly sounds like a package that's hard to beat. Not that the flagships of the last generation became obsolete overnight, but the likes of Nexus 4, Samsung's Galaxy S III and the LG Optimus G should be warming up to the thought that their days at the top are counted. And the Xperia Z is just the messenger - the arrival of their own successors (which now have no other option but to match and beat the Sony flagship experience) will seal their fate.

  
LG Nexus 4 E960 • Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III • LG Optimus G E973

So, with most tier-one manufacturers yet to announce their next flagship generation and Barcelona just around the corner, the season is just about starting. The Xperia Z however puts Sony in pole position, and does so emphatically. In honesty, the experience must be new to it, but it's now the competition's turn to be nervous for a change.