Sony Xperia Z Review

Sony Xperia Z Review

Alex Colon is the managing editor of PCMag's consumer electronics team. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Writing and Literature from Pace University and got his start editing books before deciding technology would probably be a lot more fun. Though he does the majority of his reading and writing on various digital displays, Alex still loves to sit down and read a good, old-fashioned, paper and ink book in his free time. (Not that there's anything wrong with ebook readers.) More »

The Z’s battery-saving Stamina mode turns off data when the screen is off, boosting standby time by a factor of four, and we found it hardly lost any charge overnight – around 1 per cent, or none at all. When in use it drains just as swiftly as any other flagship – the Z will last five hours of intensive use on full brightness.  

It's not night-and-day by any means, but HD content on the Xperia Z is undeniably crisper and more wow-inducing than on the Galaxy S3. It's a shame that right now none of the big movie streaming services are offering 1080p to mobile devices, but we know that Netflix is looking into it and the likes of Sony's own Video Unlimited can't be far behind.

Despite the Xperia Z's enhanced durability, it remains extremely thin, flat and pocket-friendly. Measuring a mere 0.31 inch thick by 5.47 inches tall and 2.79 inches wide, I found it svelte enough to slip into tight jeans pockets and compact enough to lose in messenger bags. That said, the phone's angular edges and flat back make it less comfortable to hold than the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, which have gently curved backs. The Xperia Z's battery is also embedded, so you can't swap it out for a fresh power pack in a pinch.

There are only a couple of ways to watch 1080p movies on the Xperia Z right now, and that's to film them yourself using the Z's camera or transfer 1080p content from your computer. Make the effort and the results are superb, even though this is 'only' a 5in screen.

Sony reckons its Mobile Bravia Engine 2 software can improve most photos and videos, but since most sites and apps still use low-res images, they won’t benefit from the Xperia Z’s extra pixels. At least not yet.

Call quality 9/10 Voice from other side is clear, loud, and I wish only it could be better directed to ear. I feel that there is sometimes sound dissipation presented, like all of sound that comes from phone isn't well directed to ear. Maybe it is because of small earpiece grill.

Some who've used the Sony Xperia Z describe the screen as a disappointment because Sony has gone for TFT - albeit with 1080 x 1920 pixels, giving a pixel density of 441ppi, which would explain why it looks a bit washed out. If you've come from a Super AMOLED screen you'll definitely feel the difference.

meerkat82 January 8, 2013, 4:10 pm Does the waterproofing mean that you can use the phone with wet hands, it's still responsive?This looks like the best android phone out there - the Samsung's are awfully plasticky and nothing else is catching my eye either (HTC, LG). This is probably my next phone. Just hope Sony don't cock it up somehow and sell us short

Smart sleek and durable. I'm lovin every corner piece and pixel of it. Best phone I've ever had so far! It's very gorgeous, my friends and officemates even love its design and looks. I love how I can multitask in the shower. Hahahaha. And I don't have problems using my phone in the rain, in the pool and in wet places -- definitely a show-off feature which is very useful! It very modern minimalist in aesthetics, it looks timeless. Never lagged so far, processor and innards are exceptionally great. Great multimedia phone I must say. Call quality is good, thanks to secondary noise cancelling mic. Overall, it's a great smartphone by Sony! Totally worth owning. :)

In addition to the striking, primarily glass design, the Xperia Z meets military specifications IP55 and IP57. That means the phone is dust resistant and submersible in up to three feet of water for up to 30 minutes. For this to work, you need to make sure that all of the external ports are properly sealed, but the phone is programmed by default to let you know when they aren't (you can turn these popup notifications off if you wish to live dangerously). We tested the Xperia Z's water resistance by submerging it in a pitcher filled with water for 30 minutes at a time, and never once did it falter. In fact, you can even turn on the video camera and film underwater, which I'll discuss in more detail later.

This was a crap phone almost 2 years ago and that remains today.Poor screen, buggy, and the back plate came unglued when the phone heated up due to the poor adhesive used.

The ports are spread out with the headphone jack up top, the SIM slot and volume rocker on the right - either side of a silver standby button - while both the microSD and charging ports are on the left, alongside contacts for accessories. A watertight port covers each.

Camera 9/10 One of best cameras in phones. Sure is not perfect, but it is on top 5 or 10 cameras on all cell phones, and it serves me well.

Camera  The Xperia Z sports a 13.1MP rear cam with a ‘Superior Auto’ mode that jumps between 36 scene modes. The camera’s Cyber-Shot style interface is intuitive and there’s a huge range of settings (including focus modes, HDR and image stabilisation) plus plenty of space to see your subject even when zipping through the options on the 5in display.  The 13.1MP snapper is up there with the best smartphone cams we've used: you'll get natural, bright images from the Xperia Z in daylight with good levels of detail, so much so that you can probably ditch your compact cam.  That said, we sometimes got slightly better images from the Galaxy S3. For example, although the Xperia Z was seriously quick at jumping to Night mode when we walked into a poorly lit room, the results weren't as sharp as with the S3's low light mode even when you jump into the Xperia Z's ISO and exposure menus. Video, on the other hand, was more consistent, with clear, bright and smooth 1080p footage – plus there's the option to capture HDR video and the useful trick of taking 1MP snaps as you film.

Submitted by stephen taylor on Fri, 2014-12-19 07:25. Well, I've been using this crap phone as a mine site worker since release. It's now happily running stock sony 4.4.4 and I've an internet data background. Sony makes near pure android skins and in my view the best android phones and there the best non nexus phones in the world. It's showing its age a bit and I'd mark it down on speaker, battery life and screen brightness compared to the latest Z3. It's certainly far from crappy though and I've had no problem with it delaminating. It's been very sturdy with a case, waterproof, comes standard with a screen protector already fitted. My next phone will definitely not be a Samsung, Sony will be hard to resist if I don't move to pure android.