Sony has remained a small player in the smartphone market when compared to giants like Samsung and Apple. The recent Xperia phone, the Sony Xperia Z5, is the culmination of 18 months of incremental improvement for Sony’s series of Xperia devices. The phablet is likely to be released on February 7th all over the US. However, as the Z2, Z3 and Z3+ are barely any different from one another, the Xperia Z5 represents a significant step forward.
Sony’s Xperia Z5 flagship is stuffed with plenty of top tech features that is expected from a high-end smartphone. It incorporates a full HD display, tons of power and a great 23 MP camera. Mix in the list that it sports a waterproof design and you will get yourself the phone of the year. Really?
Well no. Though the smartphone landscape has changed drastically in the past few years with Samsung really shaking up the market with its Galaxy series, especially the Galaxy S6 Edge. In contrast, Sony is doing little to wow consumers in its flagship refreshes. The Xperia Z5 is the successor of Xperia Z3 which has an identical display and similar design. This doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the new Sony phone. It looks perfectly fine as it has got a solid lineup of specifications.
Design
Even a passing glance is enough to notice the phone is from the same family as the Z3 and Z2. It keeps the glass front and back with a metal edge. It displays minor changes like the rear panel is frosted. The metal edge is flat giving the phone a blocky look and feel. At 7.3mm thick, the touch is chubbier than some of its rivals. The 5.2-inch screen has the same full HD resolution giving it a similar pixel density as that of the Z3. The display looks perfectly crisp.
Software and Processor
The smartphone comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop on board. The only reason why Sony takes so long to update its Android phones is that it heavily customizes the Android interface. There are a number of pre-loaded apps that clutter things up, but you can easily uninstall most of them. The Z5 engine is a Qualcomm 810 octa-core chip with 3GB of RAM backing it up.
Camera
Sony has provided Z5’s camera with a load of tweaks to improve it over the Z3. The front camera delivers a whopping 23MP for crystal clear shots. The resulting photographs are huge, clocking in at 5,520×4,140 pixels. The extra resolution delivers flexibility to digital zooming into a scene without losing too much detail. You can also take advantage of a variety of various shots like panorama and others with the augmented reality feature.
Conclusion
Sony Xperia Z5 is an amazing phone with great performance. Its camera takes some perfect clicks. Though a decent phone, it still lacks the real wow factor. As it stands, the Xperia Z5 is a solid all around device that arrives too close to the last generation of flagships to be worth buying.