Gadgetory

with a bi-yearly release schedule there are some concerns about what kind of upgrades we would see in each new Sony Xperia release and in this review we see if that worry actually holds up hey it's Josh regard from Android Authority and this is the Sony Xperia z3 if there's one thing you can count on what Sony it's their design language once again we have the black site design consisting of dual glass panels held together by a metal frame the metal frame has been given a more polished rounded look and feel giving it an even sleeker profile than was found in previous iterations a classic trope of Sony phones returns with the big silver power button the volume rockers and a dedicated camera button down on the bottom portion but given that the buttons needed to blend in with a much more rounded design I unfortunately did feel that they were not as meaty as before there isn't that much distance in the press and it just doesn't feel as good as it did in previous versions some changes have been made to the already established formula though the covers also have a rounded and polished look to them now feeling completely flush with the frame the presence gives sign to another big Sony trope water and dust resistance the dual front facing speaker setup has also been altered to a couple smaller grilles rather than the slits that were found on the Xperia z2 if you already liked the design language that Sony puts into their experian well you're going to like the Xperia z3 however I will say that because of the very soft feeling sides and the dual glass panels I did find that the phone felt pretty slippery at times I didn't constantly feel like I was going to drop the film but that thought did come up from time to time and also because it is glass on both sides it's really hard to get this fingerprint and smudge prone phone to look as pristine as it did when I first took the plastic off I will go ahead and say that the further perfected design of this Xperia v chip is a worthy upgrade from the version from half a year ago and it is as enticing for veteran users as it should be for newcomers long gone are the days when we were somewhat underwhelmed by the screen of the Xperia z1 as the improvements were plainly shown the z2 they then carried over and now provide these z3 with a great display experience the same enhancements to this IPS LCD display returned in the triluminos tech and the ex reality engine ultimately providing an even better color production here than found in standard IPS offerings the result is a screen coming in at 5.2 inches 10 resolution and 424 pixels per inch that provides a lot of contrast and the kind of viewing prowess you'd come to expect from let's say Sony televisions text looks great as do all games and media the viewing angles are also quite great and are a vast improvement from previous generations of this screening and the signature brightness of an IPS display shines through here as well though Sony looks to stay ahead of the curve with the release schedule they fall slightly behind here with the performance aspect or as we will be hearing the term Snapdragon 805 more and more these days Sony has opted for the Snapdragon 801 for their latest smartphone backed by the adrenal 330 and 3 gigabytes of RAM now for those of you who want to be on the absolute bleeding edge this might be a bit of a deal-breaker but it actually makes a little difference in the overall experience all but the most recent and most power hungry games for example still performed wonderfully and getting general tasks done is still very much possible especially with the Xperia U eye which keeps things simple minimal and dust fast jumping between applications and the recent apps screen is still a breeze for example making multitasking as easy as it can be while it certainly would have been nice to see the latest and greatest processor on the Xperia c3 it will still be a top-tier performer for the vast majority of you out there hardware has always been a strong point for Sony whose offerings often bolster the media experience the front-facing speakers return and they are the great performers they have always been though there are some options in the sound settings that could make them even better and louder the default settings at max volume still allowed for enjoyment even in the very noisy environments I tested them I can't explain I feel oh the only thing I thought was missing in the sound Department was the inclusion of the noise cancelling headphones that were included with the Xperia z2 but I have been told that they are available in the box according to region so I guess my version just didn't make the cut what also didn't make the cut was an IR blaster so you won't be using the Xperia z3 like a remote but all the other connections did come back here like for example and of see also make sure you get the right version for your network my d6 65 3 was unable to connect to t-mobile's high-speed Internet and instead was only able to get the 700 bands for 18 T the internet was still pretty fast but the constant search for signal and reception took a massive blow on my battery life making true battery testing kind of tough to do but speaking of battery a 3100 milliamp our unit is bolstered by the usual suite of sony battery saving options so under the correct circumstances longevity should be at a very comfortable high my constantly searching radio antenna did help drain the battery life in around 13 hours unfortunately with pretty high usage but with at least the stamina mode on it trucked on for close to a day and a half due to the pretty stellar standby time and in the end we can't forget that all this goodness is protected by IP certification making this one of the sturdiest phones out there right now it's clear that Sony has a lot of faith in their camera optics because this is the same package found in the original Xperia z1 a 20-point 7 megapixel shooter that is capable of some enormous pictures also brings a lot of modes for fun and creativity modes like a rfect background defocus and time shift give you the tools needed to get a myriad of shots plenty more are available for download should you need dedicated cameras for services like Evernote and vine 4k recording is also available but huge file sizes might make you opt for the already good quality 1080p shots unfortunately I still found the same issues here as I did in previous iterations the 20.7 megapixel resolution is only accessible when in the full manual mode after which you can get to a 16 by 9 aspect ratio by jumping down to 15 point 5 megapixels or the superior auto default of 8 and while the superior auto does a pretty good job of catering the settings to the shot such features are not available in the 20 point 7 pixal sighs now that being said the picture quality is still very satisfactory the 20.7 megapixel shots obviously capture more data but for far less noise the 8 megapixel shots of the superior auto will likely please more though there is a propensity here to overexpose the photos this actually works in its favor when considering low-light shots the experience III yielded more usable low-light shots than plenty of its competitors especially due to its capability to go as high as 12,800 ISO and if anything using the dedicated camera button to easily activate the app and then shoot makes the Xperia camera still one of the best tactile experience is currently available though minor upgrades across the board have proven noticeable and welcomed the software aspect doesn't quite fall under that category but that's not really a bad thing the Xperia U eye returns with essentially the same look and feel as before with its decidedly stock like elements and a few additions piled on top if there is one thing that we are always happy about with the UI it's that the simplicity keeps things really fast and the interface seldom slows down due to being overworked nonetheless you get the general home screens the app drawer the notification drop-down with the quick settings shade and the small apps that are found in the recent apps screen if you want some small overlay tasks done the main additions include Sony's specific applications like the Walkman album and the unlimited media buying experience connectivity to a Playstation 4 is possible allowing for streaming from a console to the phone on the same network it's a feature I'm very excited to use but unfortunately I haven't bought my ps4 just yet and the main addition here is the life log which is a robust but somewhat disconcerting data logger that tries to record your entire life everything from internet usage camera usage Facebook usage to even your steps and distance traveled are recorded and illustrated by an avatar on the screen you can literally look back on the life log and see what you have done in the past day or even beyond I wouldn't blame you for being worried about just how much specific data is being monitored but I will admit that for anyone out there that likes to journal or just have logs for everything from fitness to data usage it's an interesting tool that will later connect to Sony's variables for even better data recording ultimately there's a lot to like about the Xperia U I simply because there isn't a whole lot of stuff to wade through Sony continues to put faith in their user interface and we continue to like what we see the Sony Xperia z3 is currently available for the unlocked price of around five hundred twenty nine dollars putting it squarely in the realm of flagship smartphone in both value and price but it is also available for pre-sale on t-mobile in the states right now its main competitors include the other flagships including the Samsung Galaxy s5 and the HTC One m8 especially considering it comes with a comparable performance package and so there you have it to the next iteration of the Xperia flagship line perhaps available too soon for some people's taste and for a number of people out there the upgrades might not fully justify what could be a costly upgrade but for the veteran Experian the c3 provides just enough to keep things fresh and does so very successfully in the design department especially for anyone that hasn't had the Xperia z2 the c1 before it or even the Z before that the Xperia z3 is another example of our phone manufacturers continuously trying to perfect what has already been a pretty good experience we can't fault Sony for having faith in a product that already showed us what they were made of two versions ago and we certainly can't blame them for continuing to make that experience even better now thank you very much for watching this review of the Sony Xperia z3 I do think it is a great offering from Sony but it falls just short of really matching some of the top competitors out there but I'm actually really excited to bring you the other releases by Sony as well the Xperia z3 compact of which you can see an unboxing already on the side and the z3 tablet compact I'm excited mostly about the compact because it does pretty much lie in a class of its own being a small offering with the big performance so keep it tuned here for that and even more from me and my colleagues in Android authority Joe Jay is Kevin the tech ninja and of course lon and from there make sure you drop us some likes on our videos to subscribe to our channel if you haven't already and once you're done with all of that head on over to Android authority comm for even more because we are your source for all things Android