By Rich W Woods
As of today, the Sony Xperia Z3 will be available for T-Mobile. I have been spending quite a bit of time with the Xperia Z3 for the past two weeks and have been absolutely delighted with it. The Sony Xperia Z3 is an absolute pleasure to use. It’s super fast, the camera is amazing, it has a beautiful display, and it’s waterproof. Users will be able to play Playstation on it as soon as Sony makes the app available.
While I was spending so much time with the Sony Xperia Z3, I was reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in parallel. While using both phones at the same time, it was like night and day. While the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 was an absolute nightmare, the Sony Xperia Z3 was something out of a dream.
Sony Xperia Z3 Specs
| Processor | 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 |
|---|---|
| Display | 5.2″, 1080p, 424 ppi, LCD |
| Body | 146x72x7.3 mm, 152 g |
| Camera | 20.7 MP, 5248Ń…3936, 2.2 MP Front |
| Video | 4K – 30 fps, 1080p – 60 fps, 720p – 120 fps, Front 1080p – 30 fps |
| Aperture | F/2 |
| Camera Sensor | 1/2.3″ |
| Storage | 16/32 GB, Expandable to 128 GB |
| RAM | 3 GB |
| Price | $699 |
As you can see, all of the specs of the Sony Xperia Z3 are top of the line, but the phone is still faster than other phones with similar specs. For example, just take a look at how much faster the phone is simply waking and sleeping.
Sony Xperia Z3: Camera
The Sony Xperia Z3 has a 20.7 MP rear camera, which is actually more stunning than you would think. Most smart phones with 20+ MP cameras are super slow because the camera is so powerful. This is not the case with the Sony Xperia Z3. It is super fast, just like everything else on the phone.
Another nifty feature on the Sony Xperia Z3 is the physical camera button. Having a physical camera button allows the user to have the look and feel of a digital camera. This is something that Windows Phones are known for. It’s good to see it on Android phones as well.
So far, I have compared the camera of the Sony Xperia Z3 to the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, the HTC One M8, OnePlus One, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, iPhone 6, and Nokia Lumia 1020. Typically, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is the gold standard test because it uses a 41 MP camera and a true xenon flash. The Sony Xperia Z3 was the first smart phone that outperformed the Lumia 1020 in photo quality.
The camera has a couple other features. There is the ability to start a live stream on YouTube, a feature that would be great for people having an event while friends or family couldn’t attend. There’s a manual mode for people that want to manually change settings.
My only criticism of the Sony Xperia Z3 camera is that it doesn’t save camera settings if the user opens the camera with the camera button. When the user presses the camera button, the camera opens in automatic mode, and if he wants a full 20.7 MP photo, he must use manual mode.
Unlike Nokia Windows Phones that have a physical camera button, the Sony Xperia Z3 will auto focus if the user lightly presses the camera button, which can be very useful to take a quick photo.
There has been a bit of confusion about this as of late, but the photos are not scaled down. Simply click on them to enlarge.
All of the photos above were taken in all kinds of lighting conditions, from bright lights to in the shade to indoors to nighttime to nighttime with a flash. Clearly, the Sony Xperia Z3 takes amazing photos and it even outperformed the Nokia Lumia 1020 in low light, something I never thought I’d see.
The Sony Xperia Z3 uses a 2.2 MP front facing camera that records 1080p video. While the 20.7 MP rear camera turned out to be amazing, the front camera isn’t so great. It is not because of the resolution, as you can see from the comparison of the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact to the iPhone 6, Apple does great with a 1.2 MP front camera.
As you can see, the front facing camera on the Sony Xperia Z3 is simply subpar. Let’s take a look to see if it does any better on the 1080p video.
As you can see, it doesn’t look terrible. Personally, I can’t really see the point of taking video with a front camera, but I am sure that there are some that need it.
It’s Waterproof
Sony made a claim that the Sony Xperia Z3 would be waterproof as previous Xperias have been, so I decided to put that to the test. Take a look.
As I said in the video, Sony kept their promises and I can tell you for sure that both phones are working great still.
Sony Xperia Z3: Battery
The Sony Xperia Z3 has a fantastic battery. With moderate use throughout the day, there would never be anything less than 50% left at the end of the day. The battery was very impressive.
Sony Xperia phones are typically known for good battery life, but they are also known for getting hot during processor intensive actions. I did not experience this. Even while running 3D graphics benchmarking tests, the phone became warm, but not hot.
Sony Xperia Z3: Body
The Sony Xperia Z3 has a very solid build. The edges are curved, almost identical in every way except color to the iPhone 6. The rear panel is glass, almost identical to the iPhone 4/4S, so it borrows a lot of design principles from Apple. That is not a bad thing. This phone is absolutely beautiful.
There is a certain drawback to the rear glass panel. If the user places it on a flat service that is on an ever so slight angle, it will slide right off. While I don’t like using cases on devices this beautiful, it would be necessary for the Sony Xperia Z3.
Sony Xperia Z3: User Experience
When I wrote the review for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 entitled Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review: A Perversion of Innovation, part of doing the review was writing about all of Samsung’s bloatware that is part of Touchwiz. I had to write a part for the S Pen, one for S Voice, one for S Health, etc.
That is not the case with the Sony Xperia Z3. There are a couple apps that are likely to sit and never be used such as Xperia Lounge or Sony Select, but at least they don’t affect the phone’s performance.
There is very little bad that I can say about the Sony Xperia Z3. The design is beautiful, the display is vibrant, the photos are sharp, it’s waterproof, it has a physical camera button, and it has a great battery. The Sony Xperia Z3 is a phone that I would have no problem recommending to any user that needs a new phone.
Related
All Sony Xperia Z3 Camera Comparisons
All Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Camera Comparisons
For the Love of Tech 