Sony’s Xperia XZ: Pricey but on the right track

Sony should long have been killing it in the smartphone space. A few years ago, they came out with some great looking phones with colour highlights that were so attractive. I also remember a flagship in a purple so regal and classy, I would have gladly murdered for it.

Sadly, for the Japanese electronics company though, they are far from killing it. The past so many Xperias have now and again offered a standout feature or two – such as waterproofness, great battery management, an unbelievable display – but they have also been so pricey that they haven’t managed to put a dent in anyone else’s market share. Let’s see if their latest flagship, the Xperia XZ (which I shamefacedly admit I keep calling ZX) has what it takes.

I like to catch my first impression of a device before it escapes me. Both the device and the impression, that is. Well, the first thing that caught my eye and kept it were the unbelievable number of smudges covering the entire body of the smartphone. To be sure, no buyer is going to get a brand new device looking like that and mine was a much-used review unit that had barely made it back to its box, but obviously it’s likely to look like that once it’s in the hands of an owner and being used everyday. The metal and glass sides both pick up finger smudges to a greater extent than I’ve seen before. And they take quite some strong rubbing to be gone.

But lest I’m accused of nitpicking, let me get on with it. The design of XZ is the same Sony kind of flat we’ve seen on previous Xperias, except lately, they were all glass and gloss. The sides have some plastic but it’s been blended very well into the rest of the material, so you can’t tell unless you’re looking for it. The edges on previous Xperia phones have been hard clean-cut, but this time there’s a lot of rounding out for better comfort. Given that the phone is a 5.2-inch one, it’s much easier than most to hold. And not very slippery either. In fact, I would say you could get away with not putting it into a case, unless you have a record for dropping phones already. The phone has a great build — solid, substantial, really. And overall it feels good in the hand.

I well remember the Sony phone displays of a few years ago. Despite all the technological terminology they used, they always looked as if there was a white film over everything. And that, when Sony is the king of displays and cameras. Somewhere along the line, Sony fixed this and the XZ’s screen is a nice and bright one with good colours and contrasts and viewing angles. It’s not a 2K screen so it isn’t crackling with crispness, but very comfortable to use, which is what matters rather than racing for the highest resolution possible — which Sony has already done before. Sony’s interface happens not to be a particularly heavy one. It isn’t laden with gimmicks and customisations that make it lag in performance. With the result that the XZ is a good though not stellar performer and despite benchmark scores that don’t surpass any of the top few flagships, the actual performance is very fluid.

The XZ runs on Snapdragon 820 which is just about beginning to be succeeded by the 821, and has 3GB RAM where others are offering rather a lot more. Remember the 6GB on the OnePlus 3? We have 64GB of storage space and a memory card slot if you don’t use it for a second SIM, but Sony has most unnecessarily packed the phone up with apps of its own and of its choice. You can disable these but not delete, which has always struck me as abjectly unfair.

Unlike in some other geographies, the XZ does have a fingerprint sensor on its India version and it’s housed on the power button on the right edge. It works quite fast but involves two actions with that press, first turning the phone on and then unlocking. The power button is very flush with the phone and many will find it doesn’t have a distinct enough tactile difference. The volume buttons, on the same side, are more regular and you have the camera trigger button under that. The battery for this phone is a 2,900mAh and it lasts a day with moderate use. There are many power saving software features to extend the battery when needed.

Sony makes camera lenses for so many other phone makers. But surprisingly, it hasn’t got its own camera phone perfect. With the XZ, you can see it’s getting there. It doesn’t beat the iPhone 7 Plus or the S7 or the Pixel or even the P9. But it’s still a good camera. Indoor night photos light up and would have been fine except for some softness. Daylight photos are good other than sometimes resulting in saturated colours. The primary camera is a 23MP one with an f2.0 aperture and the secondary, which takes bright clear selfies, is a 13MP. It’s well to get familiar with the many settings and features in the camera app including dozens of scenes and modes.

The problem with the XZ is its price. While being a decent phone all around, it doesn’t have anything over and above the current sought after flagships. So yes, it does have its work cut out for it in the current mobile market.

Price: ₹49,990

Love: Feature rich camera, steady good performance, solid build

Hate: Unrealistic price, no standout feature, takes on finger smudges

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