Sony Xperia Z3 Review: A great upgrade to the Z-series

Sony is trying really hard to get back into the mobile play again, this time within six months they have announced the Z3, a successor to the Z2, with a whole lot of improvements. Sony has done a very impressive job with the Z3, albeit a few minor software issues!! This time around Sony has made a smartphone they can be proud of.

The design of the phone is very familiar and is almost like the previous smartphones, with major improvement on the size. This means that the phone looks and feels slim and sleek compared to its predecessors, which maintained 5.2-inch screens. Dimensions wise, the phone is 146mm x 72mm x 7.3mm and weighs just 152 grams. The Z3 is also IP65/68 rated, which means it’s more waterproof than ever before. A dedicated, physical camera button allows underwater shooting; this is something Sony has retained on almost all their models.

The frame of the phone is rounded (glass) instead of sharp edges on prior models. The edges are made of metal, and the rounded corners are covered in hard nylon covering (elbows), to protect the phone from damage to the corners. With the well-rounded corners of the phone feels comfortable to handle, making the handset grip-friendly.

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Z3 has micro SD card slot, a nano-SIM slot, a power button, volume control and camera shutter on the right side of the device. On the left side are the microUSB charging point and magnetic wireless charging connectors (which is not included in the box—it is an optional accessory that needs to be purchased separately)

The rear panel is made of glass with SONY and XPERIA logos in the center and bottom, respectively. It also hosts a 20.7MP camera with LED flash on top left corner. On the top left edge, a 3.5 mm jack completes the physical connectivity. The Z3’s rear panel is a fingerprint magnet which we personally wouldn’t like to have. However, since it is made from glass, one cannot expect it, not to be.

The Sony Xperia Z3 runs on a quad-core 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM. The display is a 5.2-inche IPS LCD sporting a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels (424 ppi pixel density). The internal memory stands at 16/32 GB and the micro SD card slot can host a good (up to) 128GB SD card.

The Z3 supports 2G, 3G and 4G networks with Wi-fi, Bluetooth and NFC as other methods of communication. The micro USB port is for data transfer as well as charging.

The 20.7 MP auto-focus camera can take 5248x3936 pixel photos and can record 4K video @ 30fps, 1080p @ 60fps, 720p @120fps and HDR videos. The secondary camera is a 2.2 MP and can record full HD 1080p videos @ 30 fps.

The battery is a non-removable Li-Ion 3100 mAh, which can provide up to 16 hours of 3G talk time, 740 hours of standby or up to 130 hours of music play. Pretty impressive compared to phones from the same segment, but again, this will differ from person to person and their usage.

The Xperia Z3 is loaded with Android OS KitKat v4.4.4, straight out of the box, with Sony’s Xperia user interface overlay. On the home screen, you can add or remove panels and set any of them as default. You can't have more than seven panels at any given time nor can you change the order they're in.

The Z3 task manager lets you switch between opened apps for multitasking and also allow you to close apps that you are done with.

There are few pop up apps, known as "small apps", which are available on the Z3. They are accessible via the task manager. They are similar to Samsung's pop up tiny widget-like applications on your home screen, which can be moved around and use without having to open the full-screen app. Presently, there are nine apps available as “mini-apps”: Active Clip, Chrome Bookmarks, Browser, Calculator, Calendar, Gmail, Timer, Notes, and Touch Lock. Hope to see a growing list, soon.

The app drawer works just fine, and transitions between the pages are smooth. One can filter the apps by Alphabetical order or custom order, if one doesn’t want to look at the pre installed apps you can have an app drawer with only downloaded apps too. This is what most of the Android users are used to.

With a Snapdragon 801 and 3GB of RAM to support, along with an Adreno graphics processor, the phone has no lag, whatsoever, while handling app multi-tasking. The UI is pretty smooth and handles any application thrown at it without any hesitation.

This is the department where we always have high expectations from Sony, and yes, they have delivered without fail. The Xperia Z3's camera has a 20.7MP sensor that was introduced back with the Xperia Z1. It shoots at a maximum resolution of 5248 x 3936 pixels (20.7MP) in manual mode, or 3264 x 2448 (8MP) in Superior Auto mode. There is also an LED flash to help you with some low-light photos. The sensor in Z3 supports ISO 12,800 to let the phone handle dark scenes.

The Xperia Z3 has a hardware shutter key. It's one of the things that a lot of users love from Sony as the key is very useful when it comes to taking photos without unlocking the phone. It’s very handy when underwater shots are taken (YES, you can take the phone underwater and take photos, just keep in mind you have only 30-45 minutes underwater!!).

The mode selector now offers an additional tab with the available tab that lets you download extra shooting modes. The available modes include Picture in Picture mode, Multi-cam mode, Sound photo, Live-streaming on YouTube or Facebook, Time-shift mode and some creative effects modes.

Time-shift replaces the burst mode, capturing 30 shots in 2 seconds. Best thing about the Time-shift mode is that it starts to save images immediately—so the perfect moment won’t be missed!

Creative effects modes are cool, but they need to be worked on, some effects take time to get used to but once you know how it works they are quite cool to have on the phone!

The video recording on Xperia Z3 captures max resolution of 2160p (4k) videos @ 30 fps. There are lower resolution options like 1080p @ 60fps and even a slow motion mode at 720p. There's also HDR video, but only in 1080p resolution. When recording at 4k, a warning pops up informing the user that if the phone gets heated, the camera app will close, and the recording will be saved automatically. This is something Sony should really work on, since having a feature, but not able to use it for a long time is what a user does not want.

Sony has brought in PS4 connectivity for Xperia Z3—a great feature for game enthusiasts owning a PS4. The Z3 works with a PS4 controller if both the PS4 and the Z3 are connected on the same Wi-Fi network. You can view the game play on your phone and transfer it to and fro, without being interrupted. You play using a DualShock 4 controllers, which can be used with a mount. This is one feature that’s great for PS4 owners, but to be honest, we still prefer a TV over the phone!!!!

An addition of high-res audio to Z3 is something new to look out for. High-res audio can upscale normal "MP3" & "AAC" tracks. It also handles High-res audio files which can be purchased online. Digital noise cancelling is also built in, but it works only with specific Sony headset to work.

With most premium smartphones being unveiled in the market, Sony is trying to make its space between the rivals. The timing to launch Z3 seems very calculated with iPhone 6 & 6 Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 in 3^rd quarter of the year, people might just go for the perfectly sized Z3 against a huge phablet or the bigger iPhone.

The Xperia Z3 is a very good upgrade from Sony after the Z2. However, it won’t be a great upgrade for Z2 users though. We would say that Z and Z1 users will definitely be interested in getting their hands on the Z3 as a next upgrade. We expect the phone to give good competition to closest rivals in forth coming months. The Sony Xperia Z3 is priced at a whopping Rs 51,990 in India, far more than the expected price we were looking at. However, the Xperia Z2, presently retailing for Rs 39,990, balances it in opting for the newer, more superior Xperia Z3 over the Z2.

Here is what we place forward the main pros and cons of Z3:

Pros: Great display quality, awesome camera performance, great build quality, PS4 remote play compatibility, multi-camera mode.

Cons: Camera Auto Mote limited to 8 MP