Gadgetory

aluminum and glass water and thus proof build flagship specifications great performance one of Android's best cameras on a smartphone we're talking about the sony xperia z3 but we might as well refer to the Xperia z2 while the predecessor was still a phone to get Sony decided to slightly improve it five or six months after its introduction was it really necessary yes according to Sony and now that we have it we'll see if it's a phone you should look into I'm Anton Dean I this is PocketNow and you're watching the sony xperia z3 review our full text review will land shortly on the website so make sure to subscribe to pocket now social media so you don't miss more details sample pictures screenshots etc while you read it you can also follow me on Facebook Twitter and Google+ the Xperia z3 is very similar to the Xperia z2 there are only a few changes but these seem to make all the difference in certain aspects starting with the outside of the device to the untrained eye it looks just like the Xperia z2 however Sony rounded up the edges to make the z3 feel better in the hand you still have the classic sony glass aluminum sandwich body we still have water and thus proofing but this time sony has managed to increase its IP ratings on the z3 from IP 55 and 58 to IP 65 and IB 68 the front firing stereo speakers on the top and bottom have been not only redesigned we now have a smaller cut out for both of them but have also been improved more on that later in the review the notification LED has been repositioned from behind the earpiece to the top left edge and the slots for SIM and microSD are now placed on the same right edge of the phone the rest looks the same granted the z3 has now a smaller footprint at 152 grams and 7.3 millimeters in thickness don't expect to find Sony's noise cancelling gear buds that came with the z2 in the box you'll get a pair of sony MH 750 in-ear headphones they don't have active noise cancellation but sound just as good looking beyond the glass in the loom them and you'll spot more differences however only on paper in real life as you probably see on our XIII versus z2 video the difference is non-existent or negligible at best so what's the same three gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage expandable the camera sensor is also the same but only in its megapixel count Sony has improved both the sensor and lenses in order to offer higher ISO ratings and wider angles the changes however start with the display while we're looking at a 5.2 inch full HD screen same as before the new unit is brighter than before though it doesn't help much in outdoor visibility it's not bad it's not the best either overall performance of the display is good color reproduction brightness and contrast have been all improved as software optimization plays an important role it is definitely one of the best IPS LCD displays we have seen and you can always tweak your white balance to suit your own needs by using sony's own white balance setting side angle visibility has been now finally fixed so you won't have any issues like on the original models and we're not referring to the z2 you but the z1 and the original Z behind the screen and improved Qualcomm Snapdragon processor powers everything it's a quad-core Snapdragon 801 chip clocking a 2.5 gigs a tad fast around paper than the one inside the z2 battery size has been reduced to 3,100 milliamp hours that coupled with the brighter screen and faster processors should offer shorter battery life but in reality sony has managed to actually increase it more on that in our Test notes all the other specs are identical to those found on the z2 including NFC Wi-Fi 802 m ABG and AC Bluetooth 4.0 GPS sensors and so on oh and you have to have a nano SIM for the z3 instead of a micro sim on the z2 button layout has been get consistent as has the overall design of the device earpiece front face sir sensors screen and bottom speaker on the front USB port magnetic dock connector lanyard hole on the Left sim and microSD slots power button volume rockers and camera button on the right headphone jack and microphone on the top nothing on the bottom and the improved camera with flash and NFC on the back waking up the device is just a DoubleTap away and you're being welcomed by Android 4.4.4 with Sony's own UI on top of it we said it with the occasion of our z2 review we'll say it again Sony's user interface is quite heavy but it's not at the expense of speed and performance the phone is snappier than ever and you have a lot of customization options Sony's own what's new section still shares the swipe up gesture with Google now but that's something you have to live with you can also run windowed apps or small apps but it's far from Samsung's implementation of multi window sure you can browse calculate or check your schedule on top of everything else but why would you especially with an implementation like this the notification tray expands from the top as usual but swiping with two fingers brings you straight to the Settings tab within the shade where you can customize your icons and shortcuts to your liking built-in apps like the album or the Walkman music player are beautifully designed and fun to use the app drawer is still easy to navigate but in general you either like or dislike sony's own UI there's no middle ground here you will definitely get used to it but if candy like colored icons are not your thing you'll probably have to switch to another launcher we would also really like to be able to play some shortcuts on the lockscreen but the only way to customize it is by enabling widgets and talking about customization you can change the overall look and feel of your device by choosing one of the seven themes available on the phone or you can download a new one at any time the 20.7 megapixel camera was the main selling point on the z1 and z2 and it is on the z3 as well it's not the same camera though the z3 sports and improved sensor which can ramp up its sensitivity to ISO 12800 and the new wide-angle lens allows you to capture more these two combined result in better low-light images however the lack of optical image stabilization will often require you to prop up your device against something in order to avoid motion and use blur even if the excellent software image stabilization bundled the great job the camera key which should come standard on every phone and we keep on saying this and we'll say it again and again allows you to quickly wake the device into the camera app snap a picture or have press to focus the camera application is packed with modes though you'll spend most of your time in Superior Auto and manual and if those are not enough you can also download more when it comes to performance we can easily name the XIII one of the best cameras on an Android smartphone the superior auto mode does a great job at coping with different shooting conditions and if you want more color and contrast depending on the scene you're shooting manual mode allows you to further improve your stills low-light performance is excellent we've actually started complaining at one point that the camera amplifies the existing light to an extent where night photos appear to be taken late in the day not bad at all oh and you know you can shoot underwater pictures as well 4k video recording is available but we shut our samples in 1080p with the new intelligent active setting for steady shot Sony software image stabilization your videos will look like they've been shot with a device that features hardware oh is it's that good we have nothing to complain when it comes to video needed in the audio or video department at the end of the day we love the camera experience in the z3 from the quality it delivers to the ease of use we consider the z3 to be the phone to offer the best camera experience on an Android smartphone it's no surprise we said the same thing about the c2 as well we think the z2 offers the best overall camera experience you can find on an Android smartphone today we spent an entire week with Xperia z3 on 3G and 4G networks in Europe we can't complain about data speeds and reception but we wish the phone would do a better job and hanging on to 5 gigahertz Wi-Fi networks Cole quality was good and people we talked to sounded good as well and they said the same about us after we disabled microphone noise suppression with the setting on we were told we sounded like a robot at the end of the 1980 landline speakerphone performance is also good and so is media playback on the front firing speakers which are improved read the ones on the z to the audio frequency ranges wider volume is higher the phone is louder and while it's no blue sound it's definitely close you can also enjoy multimedia with the bundled earphones no they're not the noise canceling butts the z2 came with but the audio quality is very good Sony's own software enhancements play an important role but it's all thanks to the hardware we were afraid that the smaller battery brighter screen and faster processor would result in shorter battery life compared to the z2 it's not the case the z3 performs much better than the z2 which was no slouch either we've managed to go for more than two days on a single charge and still have 9% left with a little over three hours of screen on time and as well as moderate to heavy use on a different attempt we managed to squeeze one and a half days out of it with more than four hours of screen on time software optimization and probably some improved power efficiency features inside the newer snapdragon processor allow the 3100 milliamp hour battery to last longer long enough to satisfy everyone's needs not to mention that you can also extend this further by using Sony stamina mode and the other power related features like location-based Wi-Fi expect these numbers to be lower if you're heavy on games as the z3 doesn't get as warm as the z2 and it can cope with any modern demanding game out there but the battery will deplete faster at the time of our review the Xperia z3 is not yet available in the US however this can change as we're ahead of the US Sony event happening on October 9 but as we're currently recording this one day before you can only import it to the States if you live in Europe you can grab it from third-party retailers like loaded code at UK and the UK or your local leading online store prices range from market to market going as high as 800 dollars for an unlock unit of course out of which a big part is European value-added tax so should you buy it it's a small improvement over the z2 which was a small improvement over to z1 will say this if you currently own a z2 you might want to wait for the z4 which should land early next year if you are looking to upgrade your current Android phone or you want to switch platforms the z3 should definitely be on your top three list it's got a powerful camera looking water and dustproof build great screen excellent performance and all-around capable device just like its predecessor the Xperia z3 is also the Xperia z2 is worth every penny worth every penny for the full score screenshots camera samples and more make sure to check out our text review coming really soon on pocket now this has been anthony nod thank you very much for watching til next time stay safe