Sony Xperia Z5

Fancy 4K Display

By Anca Gagiuc on Sep 10, 2015 in Technology

QuadHD displays are yesterday’s hot thing. The new point of attraction is 4K. At IFA 2015, Sony introduced its Z5 family—Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium phones—with Z5 Premium sporting the world’s first 5.5-inch 4K (3,840×2,160) with 806ppi display, “next-generation” cameras, and some teensy-weensy fingerprint scanners.

This is the first time ever that Sony has launched a trio of phones at the same time. They all share many features, but there is one thing that differentiates the Premium from the rest.

The 4K display is a truly ridiculous world-beating panel, with vibrant colors and deep blacks. Unfortunately, the new screen tech was saved only for the Premium, while Z5 stays with the 5.2-inch 1080p unit and the Z5 Compact gets only a 4.6-inch 720p display.

Aside from the 4K monster, the Z5 Premium flaunts a mirrored glass back in black, gold, and chrome. Z5 comes in white, black, gold, and subdued green with a frosted glass back, and Z5 Compact seems to be designed for the younger customer base, dressed in white, black, but also yellow and coral; these too with frosted glass at the back.

If you’re picky about the size of the device you’re choosing for yourself, you’re in luck: Z5 Premium has 5.5-inch display and is 7.8mm thick, the Z5 has a 5.2-inch display and is 7.3mm thick, and the Compact has a 4.6-inch display and is 8.3mm thick. What’s your size?

Specs-wise, the trio shares pretty much the same features. All three have inside Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor, up to 32GB of internal storage (expandable to 128GB by microSD), high-res audio chips, “up to two-day battery life,” and a fingerprint sensor built into the power button on the right edge of the phone, a position that feels more natural than having it on the back or at the bottom.

But there are also plenty of differences. One of them is the battery life: Premium has a 3,430mAh battery, Z5 a 2,900mAh, and the Z5 Compact a 2,700mAh. Furthermore, there is also support for quick charging with a Quick Charge 2.0 charger that promises 5.5 hours of with just 10 minutes of charging.

Another feature separating the three is RAM: Premium and Z5 have 3GB, while Z5 Compact only got 2GB. Like their predecessors, the Z5 trio is rated IP68 (dust and waterproof).

Let’s talk sensors. We know that Sony’s image sensors are everywhere: its own smartphones, mirrorless and STD cameras, in high-end Nikon and Fujifilm models, and of course, in flagship smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G4. Since Sony owns them, it kept the best for itself—all of the Z5s have a brand-new 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS 23-megapixel image sensor, exclusive to Xperias, for now at least.

The new sensor is backside illuminated for better low light performance and has embedded phase-detection pixels for autofocus as quick as 0.03 seconds. There’s a new six-element 24mm lens with a wide f/2.0 aperture which makes for nice depth of field effects. All three can record movies in 4K, but evidently, only the Z5 Premium is capable of playing footage back natively on the phone itself.

Software-wise, the Z5 family runs Android 5.1.1 and the company says there’s likely going to be an Android M update on the horizon. A nice move is Sony’s decision to (finally) remove most of its custom skinning, and opting for a virtually stock Android experience. Differences in iconography can be observed, but the general look and feel reminds of a Nexus device.

The Z5 and Z5 Compact will be available globally in October, and Z5 Premium in November. No word on pricing yet, just this from Sony: “Pricing will reflect the premium quality of the smartphone.” From what I remember though, Sony is not popular for producing budget devices. A likely price point may be around the same as the iPhone, but that’s speculation for now.