The Sony Xperia Z is a touchscreen enabled Android smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Sony.
The phone was announced by Sony at CES 2013 and was released on 9 February 2013 in Japan and 1 March 2013 in Singapore and the UK. The Xperia Z was initially shipped with the Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system. The smartphone has Ingress Protection Ratings of IP55 and IP57, making it dust protected, low pressure water jet protected, and waterproof, which allows for immersion under 1 metre of water for up to 30 minutes, and features a 13.1Â MP Exmor RS camera sensor as well as a full HD (1080p) display, encompassed in Sony's 'Omni-Balance' Design.
Along this, Sony unveiled a variant called Sony Xperia ZL which uses the same hardware as the Xperia Z, but sacrifices water resistance for a smaller frame, a physical camera button and an infrared blaster.
In June 2013 Sony unveiled a phablet version of Xperia Z, called the Sony Xperia Z Ultra.
Its successor, the Sony Xperia Z1, was released on 20 September 2013.
Design
The Xperia Z is a rectangular slab that marks a departure from Sony's 2012 design. The design is "Omni-Balance", according to Sony, which is focused on creating balance and symmetry in all directions. Xperia Z has subtly rounded edges and reflective surfaces on all sides, which are held together by a skeleton frame made from glass fiber polyamide. The phone features tempered glass covered by shatterproof film on front and back. The aluminum power button is placed on the right-hand side of the device. The location is said to make one-hand operation easier.
Hardware
The phone's dimensions are stated to be 139 x 71 x 7.9Â mm and its weight is 146 grams (including battery). It comes with a Lithium-ion battery, rated at 2330 mAh.
It includes a 13.1-megapixel rear camera with an Exmor RS sensor, flash, image stabiliation, HDR, face detection (with red-eye reduction), Sweep Panorama, scene recognition and 16x digital zoom, and a 2.2-megapixel front camera with an Exmor R sensor. Both cameras record video at 1080p. It was the first phone to feature HDR video.
The smartphone has a capacitive touchscreen with a 5" size, and its resolution is 1920x1080 pixels (1080p) at 441 ppi, with 16 million colors. The screen uses Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine 2 for picture enhancement. In addition to this, the smartphone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage flash memory (with approx. 11 GB available to the user) and a microSD card slot which accepts cards up to 128 GB.
The smartphone has a built-in 3.5Â mm audio jack for headphones, GPS and GLONASS support, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, HDMI (via MHL), MirrorLink 1.0, Miracast and NFC, in addition to being DLNA certified. In Japan, the smartphone features an infrared blaster.
The phone is covered on the front and back by tempered glass, where the front is Dragontrail Glass from Asahi Glass Company resin-bonded to the LCD, and the back is Corning Gorilla Glass.
Software
The Xperia Z originally ran Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sony's launcher and additional applications, including Sony's media applications (Walkman, Album and Movies). The device received an update on 24 June 2013, to Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. In December 2013, the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean software update rolled out for Xperia Z devices. In May 2014, the Android 4.4.2 KitKat software update rolled out, later followed by Android 4.4.4 in September 2014.
On 16 October 2014, Sony reported that it would be updating the entire Xperia Z lineup of devices, to Android 5.0 Lollipop, beginning in early 2015, for the core Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z2 devices, with others following soon after. Later in CES 2015 at Sony's event, they announced that Android 5.0 Lollipop would be rolled out to Xperia Z series starting February 2015.
On 29 May 2015, Sony released Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Xperia Z, followed by Android 5.0.2 from 23 May 2015. On 7 September 2015, Sony released Android 5.1 Lollipop for the Xperia Z. A release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow for older devices is unconfirmed as of yet.
Network compatibility
The following table shows which UMTS and LTE bands are supported. See the list of UMTS networks and the list LTE networks to find which bands are required to use a cell phone service provider.
All variants support four 2G GSM bands 850/900/1800/1900.
Features
The Xperia Z was launched with Android 4.1.2 with Sony's custom skin laid on top and an update to Android 4.4.4 KitKat has been released for the device. NFC is also a core feature of the device, allowing 'one touch' to mirror what is on the smartphone to compatible TVs or play music on a NFC wireless speaker. Additionally, Xperia Z includes a battery stamina mode which is believed to increase its standby time up to 4 times.
The body is made from a glass-fibre polyamide. It is certified to IP55 and IP57 standards to be dust protected, low pressure water jet protected, and waterproof, allowing immersion under 1 metre of water for up to 30 minutes.
Several Google applications (such as Google Chrome, Google Play, Google search (with voice), Google Maps and Google Talk) come pre-loaded onto the device.
Reception and sales
The Xperia Z has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Damien McFerren of CNET gave the phone 4 and a half stars out of five and said "The Sony Xperia Z combines looks, power and connectivity to supply one of the most impressive Android experiences we've seen in quite some time. The lack of Android 4.2 at launch is unfortunate and that 5-inch screen isn't going to suit everyone, but there's little room for complaint elsewhere. This is easily Sony's best phone yet, and one of the best Android phones ever released".
Android Central gave the phone a positive review saying "For Android fans, the Sony Xperia Z was one of the highlights of a fairly quiet CES. A 5-inch, 1080p phone with a bold new design language and fancy new camera technology, the Xperia Z was probably the most compelling phone of the show. And just a couple of months later, it's now available to buy in the UK. Without a doubt Sony Mobile's new baby is one of the largest, specciest Android phones around".
Audience reactions to the phone have also been positive. At CES 2013, the Xperia Z won the ‘Best Smartphone' and ‘Best of Show' awards. According to a Sony executive, Mcdougall, early Xperia Z sales have been strong. He states, "It [the Xperia smartphone] sold over 150,000 units in its first week in Japan, taking a 24 percent market share straight away." "It may be a bit too early to say but the first signs are very positive."
Google Play Services battery drain
When the phone was updated to Android KitKat 4.4.2, a major issue appeared on the Sony Xperia Z, ZL and ZR where Google Play Services drained the device's battery at a rapid rate. Many users reported that the phone was almost unusable due to this issue. Many customers expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw as Sony and Google's poor handling of the issue. Sony gave a workaround to fix this that involves downgrading the Google Play Services to an older version. This workaround however significantly reduced the functionality of some key apps such as Google Maps. This problem was not resolved for several months but has now been rectified.
See also
- Xperia Z series
- LTE (telecommunication) (3GPP Long Term Evolution)
- LTE Advanced (next version of LTE)
- List of LTE networks
- UMTS frequency bands
- E-UTRA
References
External links
- Official website