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Sony Xperia Z3+ is definitely not a worthy candidate to enter the exclusive club meant for the likes of Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, says Himanshu Juneja.
Sony has finally revealed its latest phone in the Xperia Z line series and has aptly named it as Xperia Z3+. The naming confirms the fact that Sony has sidelined its policy of refreshing the flagships every six months. This surely will be appreciated by the Sony fans.
It has been no secret that Sony phone owners were not too pleased with spending top money for a phone which would be trumped withing six months by a superior sibling. The Xperia Z3+ goes by the name of Xperia Z4 in some regions; Sony explained that it is due to carrier requirements only.
The Z3+ looks like a slight improvement over the Xperia Z3, but tries to match the class leaders like Samsung Galaxy S6 vis-a-vis the pricing. Lets see if the non-flagship offering from Sony justifies its price tag.
Build
Sony seems to be playing it safe here and only tinkered around with the Xperia Z3's build minorly to bring forth the Z3+. The new Xperia phone sports the tempered glass build, and is a shade thinner.
Measuring 5.75 x 2.83 x 0.27 inches, dimension wise, the Z3+ weighs 144 gms and doesn't feel that heavy when held. Noticeable addition is the shock absorbent caps at the edges, and the screen guard which has been slapped on the screen.
This screen protector is a fingerprint and smudge magnet, and users can very well do without it.
Sony has been able to retain the IP 65 and IP 68 certifications, which makes the device water and dust resistant.
Design
While subtle, the noticeable change with the design is the placement of microSD card as well as the nano SIM slot on the left side of the phone, well protected with a flap.
The right edge sports the power button and the volume rocker. On the same side is the dedicated camera button as well. The micro USB port has been placed at the base, while the top edge carries the 3.5 mm audio jack.
It is nice to see that the micro USB port is not being covered, as prying open the flap every time was a task in itself. The magnetic charging dock has been done away with.
Display
The Xperia Z3+ comes with a 5.2-inch full HD display, a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The pixel density of 424 ppi is impressive and ensured that the text came our sharp and crisp.
Sony brings forward its Triluminos display with X-reality engine incorporated. This is supposed to make the contents easily viewable under direct sunlight, but only a full fledged review can dispel the reports of the Z3+'s screen struggling when held outside on a sunny day.
The display otherwise is very good, with punchy colours, and brightness also being impressive. Somehow, the display didn't quite make the same grade as that of Samsung Galaxy S6, the current benchmark for the phones.
Hardware
Sony made some major tinkering here. Improving upon its predecessor's processing capabilities, the Z3+ comes with a 64 bit, eight core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset.
The CPU consists of a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57 combination, assisted by 3 GB of RAM. Supplied alongside is the Adreno 430 GPU.
The phone comes with 32 GB of onboard memory, out of which about 18 GB is available for the users. This of course can be further enhanced by another 128 GB via external memory card.
Connectivity
The phone carries a single SIM slot which accepts a nano SIM card. The device offers connectivity features like Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, GPS (with A-GPS), and GLONASS as well.
The support for USB OTG completes its impressive resume.
Operating system
Sony has done well here in providing the users with the advantage of Android's 5.0.2 Lollipop. Sony has obviously slapped its own User Interface atop the Android OS.
With the initial run down, phone seems to have been loaded with Sony's own widgets, propriety apps, and media content. Users can remove a good deal of the pre-loaded software, which was nice to see.
As has been the norm, Sony included the remote play support for PlayStation 4 as well.
Performance
While the phone performed according to expectations and admirably well, the presence of the controversial Snapdragon 810 chipset does raise the concern levels automatically.
While the phone is smooth with its tasks, it unfortunately does start to get heated up while performing any strenuous task, and this included clicking photographs and videos, as well as gaming.
A Sony phone user would definitely be harnessing the device's camera prowess, and this is something disappointing, since the phone's top portion at the rear did get hot enough to pose an unease while handling.
Since the Xperia phones are known to get warm, it will be interesting to see how Sony handles this issue via future software updates.
The speaker was impressive only at mid to low levels.
Battery
While battery has been one of the strongest points for Sony, the company has been observing the trend of reducing the battery capacity with every new iteration. This may be due to the mobiles acquiring slimmer and slimmer profiles.
Xperia Z3+ comes with a non-removable 2930 mAh battery pack, and as touted by Sony, can easily deliver a back up of two days' worth. The phone comes with quick charge support, which tops up the battery in 45 minutes flat. This is while charging with Sony's own charger.
There are various power saving and stamina modes that Sony offers to ensure the users get enough options to prolong the battery life if the need arises.
Camera
Bringing wide angled lenses and Exmor Sensors, Sony has supplied a 20.7 MP camera with LED flash for the rear version, and a 5 MP pixel camera at the front. Clearly, Sony is fine tuning the phones for the selfie enthusiasts.
While a full-fledged review will clear things out properly, the performance of the rear camera looked impressive even with the indoor shots; the outdoor pictures were very good.
The camera is capable of snaring videos at various resolutions, like 2160p, 1080p, and 720p, the heating issue unfortunately popped up quickly as well.
The camera app has the familiar Sony stamp; there are various modes onboard for the users to obtain their best shots. Modes include intelligent auto, manual mode, HDR, AR effects etc.
Verdict
While the Sony Xperia Z3+ comes across as a solid premium device when held, it doesn't quite break into the league of Samsung Galaxy S6 and Apple's iPhone 6.
It is truly an evolutionary phone than a revolutionary one, and the owners of Xperia Z3 will do well to hold onto their handsets for some more time.
Sony seems to have revised its policy of refreshing its flagship phones, and this explains why the Z3+ isn't coming chock-a-block with flagship worthy features.
Since the Sony Z3+ release will mean phasing out of Xperia Z3, Sony really should bring the prices to realistic levels as it is definitely not a worthy candidate to enter the exclusive club meant for the likes of Samsung Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6.