Sony Xperia Z Preview

By Alex Angove

Last updated 04 March 2013

The Sony Xperia Z is Sony’s first big entry to the quad-core Android wars that are sure to hit 2013 with more power than they did 2012. Encoragingly, the Xperia Z represents an almost new era for Sony. This new flagship smartphone really does sport modern hardware and a new UI skin.

Traditionally we’ve seen Sony offer solid smartphones, but they always seemed to be just a few months behind the pack. Instead of a quad-core there would be dual-core, or the Android operating system would be one or two versions out of date. Of course, no phone is perfect and most of even the biggest hitters lag behind the competition in one or two key areas, but Sony always seemed to be just a tiny bit behind across the board. Now, the Sony Xperia Z could hopefully change all of that.

Design of the Sony Xperia Z

It would be hard to call the design of the Xperia Z ‘unique’. It’s very much a monochrome slab of technology and, if you ignore its sheer size, is reminiscent of the iPhone 5. Its front-and-back shatter-proof glass build does little to expel the illusion that it could, in the very least, be a distant cousin of Apple’s latest offering.

You can’t really discount it’s size though, which ultimately means that the Xperia Z does manage to differentiate itself from the iPhone 5, even if only when seen in person. If you thought the HTC One or Galaxy S3 were too big then this is not the phone for you.

Where the Xperia Z probably sets itself apart is its durability. No, this isn't a 'tough' phone that you can throw against a wall, but it does offer impressive water and dust resistance. The Xperia Z can apparently last up to 30 minutes in 1m of water, making it all but impervious to accidental spills, or even dropping it in the toilet or sink. Of course, this kind of water resistance means that most of the ports are covered with protective flaps, but that's a small price to pay for surety of mind. We'd actually like to see more manufacturers focusing on making their products a bit less fragile when it comes to accidental damages and we think this could be a decent selling point for any user who's ever lost a gadget to the ravages of water.

Hardware

Just quickly, the hardware specs are:
Quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor
2GB RAM
5 inch, 1080p display
13MP camera
Xperia Z Display
16GB onboard storage
Android 4.1
4G LTE connectivity
2400mAh battery

Xperia Z Display

The 5 inch, 1080p ‘Reality Display’ of the Xperia Z sports an impressive 443 pixels per inch (ppi). Compare that to just 326 of the iPhone 5 and you’re cheering. Of course it’s slightly under the 468 that HTC is claiming for the HTC One, but that’s purely down to the increased screen size. Fortunately, the Xperia Z has pretty thin bezels, allowing for a 5 inch screen without increasing its size to ridiculous proportions. Where the 4.8 inch Samsung Galaxy S3 has dimensions of 136.6x70.6x8.6mm the Sony Xperia Z is comparable at 138.6x71x8.1mm. The thinner profile of the Xperia Z should add to comfort levels with keeping it in the pocket, hopefully negating some of the detractions caused by its other larger dimensions.

Whether it’s 468 or 443ppi, anyone who’s not used a 1080p display is going to be impressed. There have been a lot of nay-sayers asking what the point is to such a detailed screen resolution and to them we say “just give check it out for yourself”. Even we were a bit sceptical at the beginning of the year and, while we never doubted that a 1080p screen would be beautiful, we questioned if it was worth the trade-off in battery life just yet.

Battery Life and Management

Although we’re yet to review the Xperia Z ourselves, what we’re hearing about battery life is leaving us a little concerned. According to numerous reports, the Xperia Z offers around 5 hours of battery life when used on a high brightness setting.

To combat this, Sony has implemented Stamina Mode. Stamina Mode is an aggressive battery-conservation system that cuts off certain elements of a phone’s functionality when in standby mode. For instance, all mobile data activity is completely switched off once the screen shuts down. This sounds like a potentially incredibly annoying restraint and, while totally optional, leaves one with the choice of little battery or restricted connectivity.

So far reviewers haven’t been too harsh on Stamina Mode, so perhaps it’s not all that bad, but this is something that we’d definitely have to try out for ourselves before making any judgements.

OS and UI

The Sony Xperia Z comes running on Android 4.1. It’s no Android 4.2, which is a disappointment, but to be honest we wouldn’t have been surprised if it was 4.0.4, given Sony’s track record. Sony is promising that an update to 4.2 is in the works and will be released shortly after the phone hits shelves, but we advise against any potential buyers to bank on this. Always buy a phone for what it does now, rather than what it may do later. Smartphone updates, especially Android ones, have a history of seeing multiple delays and sometimes even disappearing completely.

Still, Android 4.1 isn’t too much of a step down for 4.2; they’re actually so similar that they’re both called “Jelly Bean”, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.

The new Sony UI is looking pretty good. The lock screen has a nice ripple effect that resembles windows blinds. It’s similar enough to the effect on the GS3 lock screen without being so close to it as to look ripped-off.

Perhaps our happiest piece of news is that Sony’s TimeScape widget – that awful social media aggregator – is gone. Happy days.

Camera

The 13.1 MP camera has us worried. Where HTC has gone and embraced technology based on fewer pixels, Sony seems to have continued on the old staple of “add more megapixels!” We can’t say it often enough, but more MP does not mean better pictures. As a matter of fact, a 13.1MP photo would take up so much storage that any snap-happy vacationer would find themselves running out of space on the 16GB hard drive pretty quickly. Of course, most users won’t be taking 13.1MP photos and the default is likely to be around the 8MP mark, if that.

According to a few first impressions we’ve read the camera does appear to take pretty good photos, but we’ll wait till we can get it in the hands of Pete, our resident camera expert, to see for ourselves. Until then we’ll just say that, in theory, it should offer up some pretty good shots, but we can’t speak as to how well it functions in low-light situations.

Overall

All up we’d have to say that we’re pretty impressed by the Sony Xperia Z. Not only is it a thoroughly modern and stylish device, it actually looks like it could go toe to toe with the HTC One and, assuming that Samsung hasn’t invented a completely new kind of smartphone, even the Galaxy SIV.

This could be the start of a new level of quality coming out of Sony and we definitely recommend that anyone in the market to compare phones at least give the Xperia Z their consideration.