Sony Xperia Z3 Under Review

The Sony Xperia Z3 comes hot on the heels of the Xperia Z2 that was only released a few months ago which could possibly irritate purchasers of the earlier model. The Xperia Z3 cuts a similar profile, all glass and metal, and looks the part to be sure. But how does it fair against the other high-end smart phones?

Design

This sleek 5.2-inch model of design has rounded sides and metal edges that have a layer of nylon to protect from corner drops. The front side includes shatter-proof glass. The Sony Triluminos display is a IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen capable with 1080 x 1920 pixels (424 ppi). There is an almost invisible bezel on the left and right sizes, but a sizeable one top and bottom. The shiny silver power button is half-way down the right side, so depending on how you hold the phone you might keep accidentally prompting a power down.

The design conforms fully to the IP68 standard so it is dust proof and can resist taking on water to a depth of 1 meter for half an hour. Essentially if you get caught out in the rain and your smart phone pocket gets soaked, at least your phone will be okay. If your Sony Xpedia Z3 slides into the bath when it is full, it'll be touch & go; performing CPR may not revive it.

The Xperia Z3 comes in black, white, brown or green with silver color themes. It is slimline and only weighs 152 grams.

Compatible With PS4

The trick that the Xperia Z3 does is that when set up correctly it can take over as the display for your Sony PS4. Add the appropriate app, boot it up, connect the phone to the same Wi-Fi network that the PS4 is connected to and hey presto... you can use your Xperia Z3 as a HD PS4 display.

You will need a PS4 controller lying around somewhere which will connect to the Xperia Z3 via Bluetooth. Theoretically you can also play over mobile networks and across more than one Wi-Fi network too but that may be more difficult to do in practice. This may be a key selling point for buyers who like everything Sony but more of a gimmick for everyone else.

Operating System

Android 4.4.2 KitKat is present with the Xperia Z3. The Sony overlay skin is a little tricky to get used to and to recognise the different icons if you're used to other skins like TouchWiz from Samsung or the plain vanilla Android look with Nexus phones.

Specifications

The Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 chipset and Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 processor combination keep the smart phone humming along.

Two phone versions offer either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage, with the option to add a microSD card up to 128 GB.

The 3 GB of RAM memory ensure that the phone has more than enough ability to load the apps into memory and run them quickly. No bottlenecks here. A 3,100 mAh battery is enough power to ensure a good few hours of use with Wi-Fi or 4G LTE turned on.

Communications

The Xperia Z3 comes with support for numerous 4G LTE bands to cover global needs, though regionally Sony may offer less of a choice with different versions of the same phone. 4G LTE is up to category 4 with a maximum 150Mbps downstream and 50Mbps upstream (so no category 6 here with a maximum downstream of 300Mbps). 3G and 2G are also supported.

Wi-Fi is covered right up to the broadest ac Wi-Fi standard. Dual-band as well for improved Wi-Fi speeds. Wireless beaming via DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct for linking to other devices, Wi-Fi hotspot for tethering, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC are all present.

Cameras

The rear-facing camera is the high point at 20.7 megapixels with a 1/2.3'' sensor which will deliver 5248 Ñ… 3936 images. The LED flash and auto focus, face detection and image stabilization help to produce better photos. The panorama and HDR modes also help with that. The rear camera has an
ISO 12,800 certified rating.

The front-facing camera for selfies away from the bathroom mirror can take shots using the 2.2 megapixel camera.

Video can be recorded up to 2160p at 30 fps, 1080p at 60 fps and 720p at 120 fps. The front camera can also record 1080p video at 30 fps.

Conclusion

The Sony Xperia Z3 is an update of the Z2 rather than really being a new phone per se. It is doubtful that buyers other than extreme early adopters will bother to upgrade from the previous version to this just a few months later.

The specs are pretty decent overall. The latest phones are starting to have resolutions that beat the 1080p offered on this phone but in other respects like the processor and ability to add a 128 GB microSD card, the specs are top flight. The looks are good too, but the skin over Android does take a little getting used to and won't be for everyone.