Sony is a pressure to be reckoned with within the tech world. The Japanese icon’s TVs and cameras have been making waves over the previous couple of years, and its high-end headphones are extremely simple to advocate, with their balanced sound and glorious noise cancelling.
This success nonetheless hasn’t been replicated throughout the board. In a crowded smartphone market, Sony’s flagship Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ2 made little greater than a ripple after they had been introduced.
Now, with the Xperia XZ3, Sony hopes to vary that, and for the primary time in a very long time, we’re satisfied it’s onto one thing unbelievable – particularly its Bravia OLED display expertise for cellular.
Made by Sony, the OLED display comes along with the newest chipset from Qualcomm and a really elegant, albeit acquainted design. It’s clear that that is Sony’s finest smartphone so far – however can it compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and iPhone XS?
Value and availability
- Out October 5 within the UK
- Out October 17 within the US
- Prices £699/$899 (round AU$1,260)
If you wish to purchase the Sony Xperia XZ3, you’ll have the ability to take action from at this time within the UK and October 17 within the US. We don’t at present have a launch date for Australia, however because the Sony Xperia XZ2 got here to that market we’d count on this telephone will as effectively, and fairly speedily.
You possibly can pre-order the telephone now within the UK, and in case you do you’ll get free entry to the beta of Name of Responsibility Black Ops four, and also you’ll even get a free copy of the sport when it’s launched too.
Pre-orders are additionally open within the US and early patrons can snag a free pair of Sony Xperia Ear Duo headphones with the handset.
Within the UK the Sony Xperia XZ3 value is ready at £699. Within the US it prices $899.
Key options
- Loud stereo audio system and Excessive-Res audio help
- Prime-end Snapdragon 845 chipset
- An OLED Sony display for the primary time on a telephone
The Sony Xperia XZ3 is powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset, paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of inside storage. It has microSD help of as much as 512GB, and the Three,330mAh battery is paired with Sony’s Battery Care optimizations and wi-fi charging.
Sony has additionally retained IP68 water- and dust-resistance in its flagship sequence, and has protected the back and front of the telephone with Gorilla Glass 5.
The 6-inch 18:9 display introduces Sony’s OLED expertise to mobiles, which pairs with QHD+ decision and Sony’s proprietary HDR up-conversion software program.
Sony has additionally retained the half.Three-inch Exmor RS digital camera sensor discovered on the XZ2, full with the identical f/2.zero lens and digital picture stabilization.
Video specs additionally stay the identical, with highlights together with 960fps tremendous slow-motion video and 4K HDR recording. Selfies may be taken on the 13MP entrance digital camera, which has a brand new bokeh mode for software-applied background blur and improved digital stabilization.
Sound credentials are additionally spectacular, with Excessive-Res Audio help and Sony’s LDAC codec enhancing audio high quality via wi-fi headphones. A USB Sort-C to three.5mm jack adaptor is equipped within the field, whereas the stereo speaker with S-Power Entrance Encompass promise to be considerably louder than these of the XZ2.
Lastly, with the Xperia XZ3 providing obtain speeds of as much as 1.2Gbps, and Bluetooth 5 on board, connectivity choices are aggressive too.
Design
- Putting shade choices
- Chunky and heavy however nonetheless feels elegant and cozy
- No Three.5mm headphone port
From the entrance, you’d be forgiven for pondering that the Sony Xperia XZ3 was a Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S9. Curved-edged OLED – what different mainstream telephone may it’s? That mentioned, flip it round and it’s virtually a carbon copy of the Xperia XZ2.
A lot of what was good in regards to the XZ2 from a design viewpoint has made a return: IP68 water resistance, Gorilla Glass 5 on the entrance and the again, and an 18:9 side ratio display, coupled with stereo audio system and no notch in sight.
The curved show provides a visible and in-hand magnificence to the design. Colour choices encompass Black, White Silver, Forest Inexperienced and Bordeaux Pink. The latter two are essentially the most putting, with Bordeaux Pink being essentially the most attention-grabbing of the 4.
A stronger metallic has additionally been used within the building of the XZ3’s body, leading to a sturdy system that appears and feels premium.
Our Xperia XZ3 hasn’t had a case on it, and it has picked up a number of noticeable scratches on its again at its thickest level. Curved on each axes, it isn’t stunning that the outermost a part of the glass again is most prone to scuffs, because it’s the one a part of the telephone involved with a resting floor.
It’s only a bit heart-breaking that you simply’ll must cowl it up if you wish to hold your Bordeaux Pink XZ3 trying pristine – however that’s simply the way in which it’s.
Having mentioned that, the high-polish metallic body hasn’t picked up a single scuff, which is spectacular, and specifically exhibits up our ravaged iPhone X and its scratch-magnet chrome steel banding.
Weighing 193g, the XZ3 isn’t mild. It’s heavier than the bigger-screened Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, though coming in at round 10 grams lower than the Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max, neither is it the heaviest telephone round – 236g Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium, we’re you.
The Xperia XZ3 can also be 9.9mm at its thickest level, so isn’t notably slender, although due to its tapered design it nonetheless feels elegant and cozy to carry, extra so than the thinner XS Max.
Disappointingly – and we referred to as Sony out on this after we reviewed the XZ2 – the digital camera remains to be the place the fingerprint scanner ought to be on the XZ3.
With each these parts being too low, a fumbling finger making an attempt to unlock the telephone virtually all the time veers first in direction of the digital camera lens, then right down to the fingerprint scanner. This makes for a grubby snapper most of the time.
Different design highlights embrace a SIM card/microSD card tray that may be eliminated and not using a SIM eject pin, and a bodily digital camera button. In the meantime, the lone USB-C port and lack of a Three.5mm headphone jack is probably not to everyone’s tastes, though a Three.5mm to USB-C dongle is equipped within the field.
All in all, whereas actually not good, the Sony Xperia XZ3 is a really enticing, elegant smartphone that’s out there in some putting colours and showcases a jaw-dropping display.
Show
- Probably the perfect smartphone display ever made
- 6-inch, 1440 x 2880 OLED display
Flat, washed-out, mediocre viewing angles, mismanaged blues… these are all criticisms hurled at Sony flagship TFT LCD screens during the last 5 years. Now Sony has gone OLED, and the whole lot has modified.
As a result of it’s all about high quality, that’s the place we’re going to begin. The depth of the blacks right here, the stability of realism and vibrancy in YouTube movies particularly, the breadth of the tones this display portrays… aspect by aspect with the iPhone XS and the Galaxy Word 9, taking part in the identical Full HD YouTube content material, we’d decide the XZ3 each single time.
Why? As a result of its colours really feel extra dynamic, and it picks up particulars the opposite two screens don’t – in brief, it’s simply higher.
So the XZ3 is the perfect telephone for YouTube – which is an enormous deal, as that’s what extra persons are spending extra time watching.
The rationale for this isn’t simply how the show appears to be like – the XZ3 additionally offers you decision choices that neither the iPhone XS or Word 9 help, as much as 1440p, 60fps in HDR, with the Word 9 solely going as much as 1080p with HDR and the iPhone not even specifying HDR on the time of writing.
Within the settings, there are alternatives to fireside up video enhancements or change your shade mode. Video enhancements take impact throughout YouTube and Netflix, not simply the native video software, boosting saturation and tweaking distinction.
The default setting is fantastically measured for the remainder of the UI, with extra pure vibrancy and distinction ranges than you may discover on competing smartphones.
You even discover the excellence of the Sony Xperia XZ3’s display when performing each day duties – discovering your WhatsApp wallpaper trying that bit higher than it appeared in your outdated telephone, and that app loading display you by no means actually observed earlier than. We’d be very shocked if Apple isn’t eyeing up Sony for future iPhone OLEDs.
With its 6-inch display, the XZ3 sits between the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max when it comes to measurement. Not like Apple’s and Huawei’s flagships, the XZ3 doesn’t characteristic a notch, opting as an alternative for an oblong OLED with curved edges and rounded corners, a la Samsung.
At 1440 x 2880 it’s sharper than the brand new iPhones, at 537 pixels per inch vs 458 pixels per inch. That is extra of a revelation than it sounds for long-time Sony followers – the corporate has lastly bridged the hole between its not-quite-sharp-enough Full HD flagships of outdated and its overkill 4K Premium sequence.
Pair these display enhancement wins with HDR upscaling, Sony’s TRILUMINOS Show for cellular, X-Actuality, and Dynamic Distinction Enhancer – all proprietary software program to assist enhance the picture – and whereas we will’t essentially inform you which one makes the largest distinction, all of them come collectively in visible concord with the XZ3’s to provide what may very well be the perfect smartphone display ever made.