Gadgetory

it wasn't such a long time ago that we reviewed the Sony Xperia z2 and yet here we are four and a half months later reviewing its successor the Xperia z3 while there's absolutely no doubt about the fact that the z3 is an update to the z2 well an incremental one and an improvement over its predecessor should you be disappointed that your current z2 flagship is no longer the Sony flagship should you go out and sell your z2 in order to grab the new kid on the block we'll try to answer that and more right now I'm Anthony Nadia this is PocketNow and you're watching the Xperia z3 versus Xperia z2 comparison video sony committed to releasing a flagship every six months and so far it has delivered on its promise the z1 landed in September of 2013 followed by the z2 at the 2014 MWC in February and more recently the z3 at the 2014 Eva and September and so far every new model was an improvement over the previous one sony is staying true to its design language to its roots the Z flagship has changed very little over time and this is also valid for the z3 those who expect major changes should look elsewhere hard as they might be the spot there are some minor tweaks though but nothing groundbreaking the overall construction is still a glass sandwich and aluminum frame for the body we still have those relatively large bezels on the top or bottom which you can either ignore or dislike there's no way in lacking them though or it's very hard to find reasons to do so however similar as they might be the z3 looks like Sony has put the z2 on a diet the z3 is 0.8 millimeters shorter 1.3 millimeters narrower and almost a millimeter thinner at just 7.3 it is also 11 grams lighter but these reduce dimensions they'll make it feel unsubstantial not at all the aluminum frame on the side is curved making the phone feel much better in hand than the z2 which had its rough edges and corners aesthetically sony has made other tweaks as well we still have the top and bottom mounted front firing speakers which are more powerful and deliver higher quality audio than before but their design has been slightly changed the LED notification has also been moved from behind the ear piece on the z2 to the top-left corner on this e3 the button placement is the same as it was before with the volume rockers and the classic camera shutter button on the right edge however the slots have been moved around a little bit with the sim and microSD card tray both residing on the right side this time instead of one on the left and one on the right on the z2 and while talking about building aesthetics the z3 has managed to also improve its ingress protection ratings over the z2 while previously we had ip55 and ip57 65 and ip68 what does this all mean well sony explains it well quote the phone is thus tight and protected against low pressure Jets of water from all practicable directions and compliance with IP 65 and/or can be kept under 1/2 meters of fresh water for up 30 minutes and compliance with IP 68 this of course if all ports are covered and flaps are secured the hardware has also improved while we still have a 5.2 inch full HD screen the bezels on the sides have been reduced to about 2 millimeters each the panel is now brighter sony claims it is quote the world's brightest display of leading premium smartphones of course with some disclaimers and while still a triluminos unit the ex reality engine has been tweaked in order to offer better overall contrast and viewing performance all of these really make the z3 a better solution when viewing in direct sunlight where the Xperia z2 was really not excelling under the glass the processor powering the z3 is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip clocked in 2.5 gigahertz which is somewhat faster on paper than the 2.3 gigahertz chip inside the z2 memory options have been kept the same meaning 3 gigabytes of RAM up to 16 gigs of internal storage and up to 128 gigs of expandable memory via SDXC microSD card the camera duo is still the same pair of twenty point seven and two point two megapixel shooters but the main camera on the back has received some notable enhancements over the z2 while the megapixel count has been kept the same the lens is accompanying the Exmor RS sensor are now 25 millimeter wide angle Sony G lens and while talking about the sensor low-light sensitivity has been improved with the camera being able of going as high as 12,800 when selecting ISO sensitivity 4k video recording is also supported in case you are wondering audio output has been improved both for the front firing speakers as well as via headphones the volume is still a little bit on the lower end with headphones like on the z2 and we'd appreciate the availability of just one or two notches but the z3 no longer comes with the noise-canceling headset the z2 was bundled with instead you get a pair of Sony MH 750 headphones which sound just as good if not better with some software tweaks enabled but sadly won't kill environmental noise beyond the construction of the standard in ear canal headphone software wise those of you familiar with Sony's offerings will feel right at home with the z3 just like they did with the z2 the company's own custom user interface is running on top of android 4.4.4 and it's a newer version of the UI with larger icons opposed to the smaller icons and Sony's UI running on top of 4.4.2 on the z2 other than that and a couple of tweaked widgets everything is similar including the app tray which slides your panels to the right then reveals a special menu when scrolled all the way to the left the camera application is also the same with some special modes being added as well as the ability for a user to download additional shooting modes and apps steady shot Sony's own digital image stabilization now gets three setting toggles for off standard and intelligent active instead of just an on/off toggle switch before on the z2 manual mode has some hidden changes as well with the ability to only go up to ISO 3200 manually and the addition of a face metering mode if the faster processor wouldn't be typically called out on a spec sheet we wouldn't even notice there's no difference between the Z 3 and the Z 2 when performing day-to-day tasks we can discern the difference while playing games either both generations are powered by the MSM 89 74 pro chip which is the snapdragon 801 the only difference is that the z3 is barred by the AC bryant and the z2 by the a/b version that and two hundred megahertz and the z3 favor while it is too early to tell battery performance on the z3 yet we are curious to see whether it will be worse than on the z2 for starters it is 100 million powers smaller than the 32 hundred million power battery and inside this e3 couple that with the brighter screen and the faster processor and the z3 has every chance of performing worse on paper that is except if the AC version of the chip we mentioned before doesn't make a difference with improved power efficiency we'll have to wait for our full review to judge battery life cool quality though is identical with clear sound you will still have to disable microphone noise cancellation on the z3 just like on the z2 should the people you talk to inform you that you sound terrible but the switch is an easy fix speaker film is louder with more oomph and richer sound than the z3 and the camera delivers similar results on the regular shooting conditions it's the low light performance that makes a difference and we're sure that it is thanks to the new lens paired with that insane ISO rating that the z3 outperforms the z2 not by a large margin though and not in the sensitivity itself or the capability of amplifying even the slightest light source but by the level of detail found in low-light images even under regular circumstances images captured with the z3 appeared to be sharper though the color balance we found to be sometimes a little bit off when viewing images individually and away from the scene or subject you are shooting they look good but they seem to not stay true to reality something which only the author of the images can tell and something were sure Sony can easily fix with a software badge well time to draw a conclusion and the would be easier if we look at the z3 by itself and not compared to its predecessor question is if you already have a z2 should you upgrade to the z3 if you are diehard Sony fan and you have to have the latest than by all means in any other case while the z3 is definitely step up from the z2 you might want to wait for the z4 chances are that improvements on the z3 won't impress you that much coming from the z2 you'll be giving up on a brighter screen yeah a camera that has been somewhat improved not that the previous iteration was a slouch a slightly faster processor which will bring you unnoticeable speed increase and about a millimeter of thickness the z2 remains a flagship phone that can stand on its own while the z3 builds on that slightly improving it in certain aspects bottom line you cannot go wrong with neither of the two folks stay tuned to pocket now as we'll have lots more on the sony xperia z3 including comparisons with other flagships devices from the competition and our full review coming next week I've been Anton denied you can follow me on social media and don't forget to subscribe to pocketknives youtube channel as well as its social media outlets so you don't miss a video like this one when it lands until next time thank you very much for watching stay safe you