Sony Xperia Z – Hands On Review

Processor, OS and UI

Being a flagship device, Sony went for 1.5GHz quad-core processor powered by Qualcomm. The 2GB RAM is enough to run heavy games. The phone is very fast and we didn't find any single loo moment, while testing. As mentioned in the beginning, we tested the device for one long month. By now, we know device positives as well as negatives.

Each day, we used to play at least one high charged game for 30 minutes. This gave us an insight about the battery life, speaker's quality and processor power. We rate battery life to be above average, while the speaker quality is top notch. On a single charge, the battery gave 7-8 hours of talk time on a regular use.

The Xperia Z comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sony has already started to roll out v4.2 Jelly Bean. Its Indian release date is nowhere to be seen. We figured about Xperia UI to be an essential part of testing. Well, its Sony's take on Android.

And we completely agree with Sony. It's far better than Samsung's slapstick comical UI. What makes Xperia UI going is the connectivity with company's leading services. Here are some of the exclusive apps by Sony: Sony Car, Smart Connect, Play Now, Xperia Link, Wisepilot for Xperia, Sony Select, PlayStation Mobile and Note app.

Out of them , PlayStation Mobile is still not available , but Sony India told us that the company is planning to start this service later this year. The UI is highly customizable. For instance, you can change the order of apps in different ways. You can create your own order too: Alphabetical / Most used / recently installed. The home screen supports wide number of changes. Up to 6 home screens can be set up.

You can choose between widgets, apps, themes and wallpapers to give a new look to home screen every time. The update centre also comes handy, which is a nice addition.

Special Mention - Walkman and Notes app

Sony has been known for its Walkman player. This very device comes with packaged Walkman app. The interface is intuitive and perfectly blends with superb audio quality. Unlike boring and dull Android music app, the Walkman app speaks a lot. You can always enhance audio quality by pressing on ClearAudio+.

There are plenty of customizable options too. For instance, we played Adele's" Set the Rain On Fire". The Walkman app helps you to search artist info on WikiPedia or search lyrics on Google or search official videos on YouTube or even find similar tracks on Play Now. The earphones bundled with the Xperia Z are ultimate.

Another app, which appealed to us, is Notes app. You can save notes on a daily basis like any other app. But what makes it different from regular Note app is that you can do much more. From paint to draw sketches, it is likable to some extent. One can add pictures, add sound, insert images or change background and later save it.

We tested some hard gripping Benchmark tests on Sony Xperia Z. The results are in. Have a look!

Sony Xperia Z Benchmark Scores

AnTuTu Test Scores

Overall - 16513

CPU - 7046

GPU- 5580

RAM- 3318

I/O- 769

Quadrant Scores

Overall - 7771

CPU- 20002

Memory - 9535

I/0-6551

2D- 485

3D- 2183

NenaMark 2 - 60.0fps

CF-Bench

Native Score- 14157

Java Score-9044

Overall Score-11089