Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions: Impressive camera, Stylish Looks but Over-Priced

By Vigneshwar
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When someone is constantly pitted against the failure, some might just give up, (I am not talking about Blackberry here), while some choose to fight back.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

It's no secret that the Sony has been struggling to make a breakthrough in the mobile market for past 1 year or so. Moreover, the slowing handset sales in Sony are matched by other business segments including gaming consoles, music, VR's and etc.

SEE ALSO: Sony Xperia XZ with 23MP Rear Camera Launched in India for Rs. 51,990: 10 Features to Know

In an attempt to spruce things up and gain back its place in the Indian mobile market, Japan-based handset maker Sony has launched its flagship smartphone dubbed as Xperia XZ.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

This smartphone comes with some eye pleasing features including rear camera, 5 axis video stabilization technology, triple sensor imaging technology and much more. But, there is a catch here! We will tell you about this at the conclusion part!

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

Talking about the built, the Xperia XZ comes with traditional Sony's Omni-balance design language measuring 146 x 72 x 8.1mm and weighs at 161grams. This time, the company has added a loop surface design in XZ, where it comes with attenuated edges between the frame and adjacent surface, giving us comfy hold.

The rear panel of the device is made out of a special metal called 'Alkaledo' giving us a shiny bright back with a premium look and touch in it. The phone is also IP68 certified, meaning it is water and dust-resistant, where it can withstand a 30-minute stay in the water, up to 3 feet deep.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

Up front, the Xperia XZ comes with glossy glass panel sporting a 5.2-inch Full HD display. Just like Xperia X, this device has power button with integrated fingerprint sensor, volume rocker, and dedicated shutter button. Moreover, it has dual SIM slots on the left, 3.5mm audio jack on top and USB Type-C port on the bottom. All these are placed on the polycarbonate frames on the sides of the smartphones. The Xperia XZ comes in three color choices -- Black, Platinum, and Forest Blue.

In terms of display, the Xperia XZ sports a 5.2-inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels on board translating into a 424ppi. While other makers like Samsung and LG offers Quad HD display, Sony is still stuck with the Full HD one. However, the display of the smartphone seems to be sharp with excellent contrast ratio as well. But under the sunlight conditions, it tends to reflect sometimes due to the glass panel on the top.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

Moving on to the hardware, the Xperia XZ comes clubbed with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Soc, 3GB RAM, 64GB inbuilt memory. As we used it for a brief period of time, we found no complaints on the hardware configurations. It is smooth, steady and stable.

However, the device gets heated up after a while, in case if you are using a camera! The company has promised to solve this issue with an update in the near future. With 64GB of storage on board, the user will be getting around 50GB for the usage. It's worth mentioning that, the onboard memory can be expanded up to 256GB via MicroSD card slot.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

Talking about the camera, the Xperia XZ flaunts a 23MP rear camera with custom-made Sony IMX300 sensor of 1/2.3" size, which is currently one of the largest sensors on the phones. Moreover, the device comes with a "Triple Image Sensing" technology, that allows you to capture amazing photos in virtually any conditions. The triple image sensing technology comprises of -- Image sensor, Laser autofocus, and RGBC-IR sensor. We will discuss about it in-depth in the review!
Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

The rear camera takes some pretty impressive shots under the da light condition and the front camera with 13MP does a decent job for selfies. Meanwhile, we also noticed some loss of details during night shoots along with some noises spread out as well.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

This time, the Xperia XZ comes with 5 axis video stabilization technology (optical image stabilization) enabling you to shoot smoother and stable video. However, we have tested it out and got some good results in it. The focus in the smartphone is really good and accurate. Moreover, it also has a tracking auto-focus feature that lets you to take moving object without any shakes.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

Overall, the image quality of Xperia XZ is good, but no way near the biggies including iPhone 6s, Galaxy S7 and LG G5.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

The Xperia XZ is shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box and also promised the Android 7.0 Nougat roll out really soon. If you are a loyal Sony Xperia user, you won't find much difference in it. However, there are some minor additions including an app cache cleaner, matching themes.

The Sony Xperia XZ is powered by a 2900mAh battery with Qnovo Adaptive charging technology. One of the best features in this is the 'Battery Care' that optimizes battery charging on user behavior and battery conditions.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

Moreover, in the box, you will be getting an Quick Charge UCH12 in the box that enables you to use 5.5 hours of normal usage with 10 minutes of charging. With a single charge, we have managed around 5 hours and still have some 40% left in my XZ, while I am writing this. We will give an in-depth report about the battery performance in the upcoming review article.

Overall, the Xperia XZ is a good outing from Sony, on a flagship level. On the whole, the Xperia XZ is the end product of some perfect combination of recipes that includes an amazing camera, good hardware, and an impressive display. As I mentioned above, there is a catch to it! You can get your hands on Xperia XZ at Rs. 49,900.

Sony Xperia XZ First Impressions

While it is a decent phone, with the camera being a stand out feature, it is indeed difficult to justify the price tag, when compared to other Chinese flagship models including OnePlus 3, Xiaomi Mi 5, Huawei P9, that has more in less.

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