Be afraid, Nexus: there’s a new
Android in town
Sony has lagged behind the pack in the
mobile world for a while now. The likes of Samsung, HTC and – with the Nexus 4
– LG have all outclassed the Japanese tech giant.
We’re sure it hasn’t been fun but instead
of bowing out, Sony’s taken its time and is now upping the smartphone stakes in
style. The Xperia Z is a 5in, 1080p quad-core smartphone that’s also waterproof
and 4G ready. Hot under the collar yet?
The
Xperia Z
A 5in screen might seem excessive but
you’ll soon rely on that extra space for watching films, editing images and
scrolling through the web. It might be tricky to hold one-handed for some
though, so it’s worth trying the handset before you buy one.
Web pages and eBooks are rendered
beautifully on the Full HD screen, and at 443 pixels per inch, the Z’s display
puts plenty of breathing room between itself and rivals like the iPhone 5
Sony’s jump to a Full HD display is obvious
to the naked eye when working with high-res images and text. Web pages and
eBooks are rendered beautifully and at 443ppi (pixels per inch), the Z’s
display puts plenty of breathing room between itself and rivals like the 326ppi
iPhone 5.
Sony has also worked hard to improve the
screen in areas other than resolution, using expertise from its Bravia TV
division. To that end, the Xperia Z includes Mobile Bravia Engine 2 tech, which
is designed to improve sharpness and contrast. Turning it on results in
pictures and home-made movies appearing oversaturated, but there is an
improvement in definition – so it’s there if you want it.
A
5in screen might seem excessive but you’ll soon rely on that extra space for
watching films, editing images and scrolling through the web
Aside from Sony’s software tricks, the
Xperia Z’s screen offers up smooth motion and bags of detail when watching HD
flicks. The Sony prefers a cool color palette majoring in detail, something
rival handsets struggle to deliver. Watching an episode of Top Gear and skin
tones and textures of Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May look entirely
believable.
Viewing angles are a problem, though, which
means that when sharing a photo or video with a friend, the TFT display can
appear too washed out to be watchable. Viewed head-on, though, it’s a stunner –
one of the best screens we’ve seen yet on an Android phone, in fact.
When playing Rihanna’s Stay or streaming an
episode of House of Cards, the Xperia Z doesn’t shine with the supplied
headphones. To be fair, they’re better than other pre-packaged buds we’ve come
across – they fit well and sound relatively weighty, but they’re little
boring-sounding. Go for a decent pair such as the B&W P3s, AKG K451s or
even the SoundMagic E10 earphones and the Sony has more of a chance to impress.
There’s plenty of detail to soak up and agile, solid base to admire. There’s a
hint of brightness too, but nothing we’d consider distracting – which makes the
ClearAudio + feature, which boosts mids and treble to inject more excitement
into the sound, seem rather redundant.
Xperia
Z a stylish look compared with the Samsung Galaxy S3
This is one of the best-looking handsets
we’ve encountered, with Sony’s new Omni Balance design getting all the small
details spot on – and many of the big ones, too. The chassis, for instance, is
made from shatterproof tempered glass, which gives the Xperia Z a stylish look
compared with the Samsung Galaxy S3. It’s a solid-feeling unit, and all the
ports and card slots are tucked away under flaps so as not to ruin the lines.
That includes a micro SD slot (up to 32GB), which is good news as Sony is
selling the Z as a 16GB device.
We
know it keeps things waterproof, but having this flap over the 3.5mm jack open
all the time is very frustrating
A water-resilient design
Another reason for everything – including
the headphone jack – being covered is that the Xperia Z is waterproof, with
wet-finger tracking – so it remains usable when soggy. It can spend up to half
an hour submerged in water, and can also handle jets of water.
This is great if you happen to listen to
your phone in the shower with a pair of waterproof headphones, but having the
flap for the headphone socket out and exposed all the time seems like a recipe
for disaster – especially if it ever snaps off.
Sony’s
selling the Z as a 16GB model, but thankfully you can expand the memory using
the microSD card slot on the edge
With Android Jelly Bean 4.1 onboard, the
Xperia Z is lagging ever so slightly behind the version 4.2-toting Nexus 4, but
Sony says that its flagship will get the update this March. As it is,
navigation around home screens, apps and menus is very swift indeed – due
partly to Sony cleaning up its unnecessary widgets. For example, its social
media hub Socialife has been hidden away in the app drawer and Timescape has
been ditched altogether.
The Xperia Z does, however, feature Google
Now, the automatic personal assistant which can come in handy for checking
information quickly, as well as Wisepilot for turn-by-turn navigation and a
spruced-up lock screen for quick access to the camera and music player.
