Sony Xperia Z3 review: Pricey but premium experience

  In less than a year after it launched the Xperia Z2, Sony has come out with Xperia Z3. Announced at recently held IFA 2014, Berlin, along with its younger brother the Xperia Z3 Compact, the Z3 is the new flagship Android phone from Sony. When it comes to Sony smartphones, India is among the first countries to get them after their global launch. With the Z3 too, it is the same. We have been testing the product for more than a week. Read on to find if it is any good.

Design

When you look at the Sony Xperia Z3, it is easy to mistake it for the Xperia Z2. It seems as if Sony has gone into the 'designer's block' similar to that of Samsung, giving its next-generation smartphones just minor tweaks. But a closer look reveals some differences. The Xperia Z3 measures 5.75 x 2.83 x 0.29 inch (146 x 72 x 7.3 mm), making it slightly shorter, narrower, and much slimmer than the Z2. The device has tall looks due to its 5.2 -inch diagonal display. It is taller than competing phones like the Galaxy S5 and the HTC One (M8), which makes it a bit unwieldy.

It is possible to use the Z3 with a single hand, but it is in no way a pocket friendly smartphone.

Sony uses 'OmniBalance' design language for the Xperia series. The sleek metal-and-glass unibody of the Z3 is part of this design. The device has rounded edges, something that would help users carry it. The glass on the back of the Z3 is a fingerprint magnet. On the black Z3, these fingerprints and smudges are easily visible. The white one fares better in this aspect. It looks neat and the smudges are not all that easily visible on it.

Display
The display on the Sony Xperia Z3 is very good. The 5.2-inch screen has a resolution 1080x1920 pixels. Sony claims the Z3 display can hit a peak of 600 nits of brightness. While we haven't calculated the numbers in absolute terms, we can confirm the Z3 display is very bright. This makes using it in sunlight a great experience. It is easy to read text on it, even if you are directly under the sun.

The colours are on the cooler side for our liking. They are also not as saturated as the colours on an AMOLED display. Though Sony's proprietary X-Reality engine does a good job of boosting colours to enhance saturation and contrast. However, we feel it could have done a better job.

We also think the Xperia Z2 offered better colour fidelity than the Xperia Z3. But viewing angles on the phone are better than what users got on the previous Xperia phones. Overall the display is really good.

Software

The Sony Xperia Z3 offers a UI that has some small little goodies that will put a smile on your face. For example, you can double tap on the display to wake up the phone. It runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system but comes with Sony's Xperia user interface. The UI is clean and has been kept minimalistic. Sony has changed the look and feel of some stock apps, but mostly it is for the better.

One great feature that we found on the Z3 was the screen recording function. To record what you are doing on the phone, you can long press the power button and choose from a 1080P or 720P video recording. This feature was introduced on Android KitKat but not many manufacturers have used it. There are also third-party screen recording apps available but they are usually paid apps and not that good. The Sony's screen recording feature is easy to use and has been implemented well on the Z3.

The Z3 includes Sony's DSEE HX (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) technology, which upscales audio tracks (MP3, AAC). The hi-res quality for audio is attained by analysing and enhancing the files, the frequency range, and by reducing noise and distortion. This is a great feature that audiophiles will appreciate, and the difference is quite evident. There is also support for noise cancelling headphones. The Sony Xperia Z3 comes with front-facing stereo speakers, but they are nowhere close to HTC Boomsound speakers found in the HTC One (M8).

Performance

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor powers the Z3, which is one of the best processors smartphones can currently use. The processor is clocked at 2.5GHz. Overall performance is seamless and smooth whether you are working in apps like Facebook or playing 3D games. The phone does not lag at all. But the prolonged gaming sessions tend to heat up the device a little bit. We tried games like Dead Trigger 2 and Real Racing 3 and the Xperia Z3 was quite responsive and ran these games well.

If you care about the RAM in your phone, you will be happy to know that Sony is giving generous 3GB RAM in the Z3. On board, internal storage is 16GB and the usable space is around 12GB. There is also a microSD card slot that can be used to expand storage. Up to 128GB cards can be used with the Z3.

Camera

Camera is one of the most used features on a smartphone. And we feel that you will love the Z3 camera. The Z3 offers the same 20.7-megapixel 1/2.3" Exmor image sensor that we saw on the Z2. The size of pixels -- 1.12 micron -- is also same. The major difference is that the Z3 has a new 25mm G Lens (f2.0). The large image sensor also allows Sony to offer ISO of 12800 in the Z3. Though such high ISO is useless in a smartphone -- the sensor is too small -- it is nice to know that the functionality is there.

The Z3's camera app is easy to use, especially the Superior Auto mode, which attempts to automatically pick the best settings for you, depending on the scene you are trying to capture. The Superior Auto mode shoots at 8-megapixels out of the box, but it does use the full resolution of the 20-megapixel sensor. It scales down the images so you end up with high-quality 8-megapixel photos. There are also some other interesting camera modes in the Z3. For example, there is Info Shot, which attempts to give you useful information about the object that you're photographing.

The images that we shot with the Z3 were good and balanced. The images shot in low light were also mostly noise free and clear. The images captured in daylight have natural tones and are clean. The 2.2-megapixel front-facing shooter does a good job for selfies, with natural colours and details in good light. In low light, the performance of the front camera is not good.

With the Z3 you can also do 1080P video recording, either in 30FPS or more smoother 60FPS. The "steady shot" gives clear and sharp video footage and the stabilisation while panning and tilting is amazing. The Z3 is also capable of shooting 4K video. Though the phone captures a lot of detail in the 4K mode, it also heats up the device and takes a lot of space on the internal storage.

Battery life

The Z3 has a 3100mAh, non-removable battery. While using the device, we found that it lasts full day of use with ease. According to the company's spec sheet, the Z3 offers 16 hours of 3G talk time or 37 days of stand-by time. It is also capable of delivering up to 130 hours of continuous music listening, or up to 10 hours of video playback. But don't go by big numbers. This is a power-hungry smartphone and even if you are very careful with how you use it, the device will not last more than 24 hours on one full charge.

Should you buy it?

Rs.51,990 is a steep price for a smartphone. In fact, the Z3 is just slightly cheaper than the iPhone 6, which will go on sale from October 17 in India. That being true, the Z3 is also an exceptional smartphone. It ticks all the right boxes. It has a good screen, a good camera, fast performance, and superb battery life. It even throws in a slim design which is water resistant, and that is one trick the iPhone cannot replicate. Arguably, at the moment, it is the best large-screen Android smartphone in the market.