Review: Sony Xperia Z (C6603)

[Pipinhot]

Hi my name is beau this is my first review, i hope you find it interesting enough to read through and if you get the whole way let me know what you think and where i should improve.

 

--------------------

 

Introduction:

For about a year and a half i was using a Galaxy S2, it was a fast well equipped and beautifully designed phone, tho made of plastic it was solid, right up until the day it had a seizure.

It beeped indicating it needed to be charged, *i only just took it off charge*. It powered off, i powered it back on, I then received a message from my mum, quite long so i pulled down the notification bar hit the new message, "Last message received 4 weeks ago....." my phone was now loosing its mind.

 

My phone for 4 days straight beeped uncontrollably, turned off, opened applications, closed applications while i was in them and would not display any new messages. As this was happening, so was CES 2013.

In the following 3 months after the CES reveal of the Xperia Z 5 people i encountered with S2's all ran into the same problem after a year and a half (mine being the earliest case.)

 

So from there, I farewelled my first smartphone and looked to my next....

 

I looked at the next big phone from Samsung, the S3. The shape was not appealing, the amount of useless Samsung apps in every corner drove me crazy topped with a $729 price tag. I just turned and thought "where does all this hype come from".

With S4 rumors bouncing around pics and specs of the HTC One plastered everywhere, there was one phone, I had only caught a glimpse of it from a 2 minute overview earlier this year it wasn't screaming for attention just sitting aside as the new guys came in and stole the glory.

 

That phone came from Sony.

 

 

I walked into the Vodafone store, browsed the display phones seeing people crowded around the S4 wanting to get their hands on it, staff recommending the new HTC One as a great deal, tho it was on pre-order due to stock delay, the One was very tempting. But i was after a specific phone, i walked around the store twice and finally there it was in the corner finally being put on display. The guy booted it up and said go for it.

 

 

 

First impressions:

What i saw was extremely simple, the sales rep says "The phone is too big" i picked it up it was perfect, yes there was a big jump in size from the S2 but it didn't feel big.

I booted up the camera in the shop and it was stunning and took amazingly fast photo's, i spammed that button and 3 seconds later i had 15 pictures of the store all in a self made panorama like shot.

The phone was fast it handled multitasking with ease multiple games in and out starting and stopping YouTube videos to editing photos on the fly with the free editing software Sony gives as a gift valued at 5.99.

I looked over the phone again, very Sony like, clean, nothing super drastic but not boring, amazing build quality strong yet well weighted, the glass being characterized as good if not better than gorrila glass expandable memory on top of the 16GB internal storage.

The 4g receiver shocked the sales rep when he told me to turn off wifi, BAM into Google then YouTube to watching the first video we could see within 4 seconds, the rep beside me slowly being drawn in as we uncover new features and power said "you know its waterproof", i had heard it being something of the sort, maybe more along the lines of water resistant where it could brush of a splash of water and be ok.

 

So what does he do, he grabs this bowl full of star wars plushies empties them on the counter goes out back and fills it full of water, comes back and plops the phone in the bowl......The guy said "they have stated on the box that it is capable of more than a bowl of water, if it fails during this then it would be a manufacturing fault" pretty much the whole store is scrambling for room at the counter waiting to see the phone fizzle or do something expected.

For a minute and a half face up playing the demo loop it never faulted, he took it out shook it, barely a drop left on it, he resumed the YouTube video i was watching, before he chucked it into the bowl again. It was kinda like a show trick.

 

 

People start disbanding seemingly sad it didn't just blow up, and after a few minutes its back to me and this one sales rep just kinda having nerdgasms, he cleaned up the desk, while i fiddled with the stamina mode features which sounded very promising. I asked how much it was outright, he mentioned a few prices of local outlets that sold it unlocked around the $678 where for some reason Samsung want $828 for the S4. I went over to the S4 which wasn't being used anymore, I fiddled with that for a few minutes and was kind of confused, it did everything the same as the Xperia Z, i did notice a few settings that seemed to be missing from the Sony but that's nothing an app cant fix. lots of noises and exaggerated effects literally just to open a menu, apparently it has a 400Mhz faster processor i couldn't see it working any better than the HTC and the Sony, games loaded nearly identical, the camera software was very nice on the S4 but quality and speed didn't seem consistent, i stumbled across a few useless features on the S4 and alot of silly inconvenient Samsung apps, it didn't feel the same as the first big hit the S2.

 

Roughly 40 minutes later i walked up to the counter and asked the two staff members what they would get, one said the Xperia Z and the other the HTC One. But both agreed if the Samsung was cheaper they would get it first.

So pondering the facts and experiences i have found out across the 3 flagship phones 1 thing occurred to me phones are extremely fragile. 

5 S2's dead for no reason 700-$800 phones that if dropped semi disintegrate, if wet they might just die.

 

And as far as i can see, Sony have made a phone not packed full of silly/experimental features, but probably the most practical smartphone ever made.

Later that day i owned a Sony Xperia Z.

 

After 2 weeks.....

 

Pros:

The Xperia Z is ready for life, its ready for you, don't wait for it.

1.Waterproof: (It really is, want to go snorkeling and take photo's you can you don't need extra cameras and bags to lug around.)

2.Stamina Mode: (With messaging, Facebook and emails as exceptions it held its percentage for 12 hours.)

3.No unnecessary apps: (A couple Sony support apps and free services along side PSN)

4.Fast: (it has more than enough grunt, 1.9GHZ pfft, we need battery before power.)

5.Audio: (Listening via headset is some of the clearest audio i have heard from any mobile/mp3 player, its perfect)

6.Expandable memory: (something of a must, you may have 16gb of storage, but you cant always optimize that space, reach the limit? expand.)

7.Build Quality: (perfect, the phone is not heavy, tho large, its whole body is glass, yet strong.)

8.NFC: (pretty much a standard among high end phones yet it work's better than expected)

9.Price: (they aren't asking a small fortune, but the price flagship phones should be at)

10: Display: (as sharp as it gets, 1080p 5" smartphone 4k 10"Tablet here we come.)

 

Cons:

Nothing is without its drawbacks, but some have fewer than others.

1.Battery: (powering that 1080p Screen is insane while gaming you best remember to have a portable charger)

2.Loud Speaker: (it is not very loud, it is loud enough for messages and calls, but listen to music not the best, I believe it may be a factor of waterproofing)

3.Soft buttons: (navigation bar takes up 1/10th of your screen, granted its not much but some times you just wish you had that bit more) (would have liked to see dedicated off screen buttons.)

4.Viewing angles: (not the best, color dims but picture stays okay. i wouldn't use my phone on an angle anyway.)

 

5.Screen lock: (i did miss it instantly from the S2 it wasn't there straight away and its frustrated me for a while. a simple app later i'm all good.)

6.Sony software: (tho they give you options after options, they aren't always easy to get to. The camera sends you through a maze just to change the effects.)

 

Conclusion:

If your in the market for a new smart phone, don't go off pure specs, go in and get a feel of the phones that are about to cost you over half a grand.

In the case of the Sony Xperia Z it boasts features that seem boring and different and some that are taken for granted, but in the end with all those combined its truly a different smartphone.

For some, its big and impractical and for other its an eye opener. Kudos to Sony for trying something different, its paying off.

Never pay any more than you have to, and Sony hit the nail square on the head.

 

I give it a 4.8/5

 

Thanks for reading.

STRAYA!

[Pipinhot]

Just don't hit it with hammer they might advertise it as strong as steel but tempered glass is weakest at the edges 1 micro crack can cause it to spontenously explode in future if it does't right away from falling.

My Xperia Z went 2 weeks without a case, dropped once in that time after my sister "tried" giving it back to be, directly on the corner on tiles. It suffered a scuff on the polymer but nowhere near major.

The phone now sits comfortably in a Roxfit Gel Case.