With big guns Apple and Samsung flexing their muscles and advertising flair in the iOS/Android war here in Australia, it’s easy to forget that Sony also makes smartphones and not just gaming consoles. Sony seems keen to make their presence known, throwing down the proverbial gauntlet at IFA 2015 and unveiling three new Xperia phones to make up their flagship line. These new iterations take on the form of the Sony Xperia Z5, Sony Xperia Z5 Compact and Sony Xperia Z5 premium, following Microsoft’s new penchant for skipping sequential numbers.
Let’s break down each phone separately.
SONY XPERIA Z5
Sony’s standard flagship smart phone comes with a re-designed camera module to back up a 23MP rear facing camera and 5.1MP front facing camera. This is the first redesign of the Sony camera module since the Z1 and is touted to be able to focus within 0.037 seconds (faster than you can blink). It will sport a 5.2 inch full-HD display powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset with 3GB of ram. It will launch in White, Graphite Black, Gold and Green.
SONY XPERIA Z5 COMPACT
Like the previous iteration of a compact model (Xperia Z3 Compact), this phone will sport a 4.6 inch screen with a 720 x 1280 resolution. However it is beefed up to be almost on par with the standard Z5 containing a similar Snapdragon 810 chipset (albeit with 2GB of RAM instead of 3GB) and sporting the same cameras and camera module seen in the standard issue Z5. This phone seems to strive to be the same experience as the standard issue phone without the size. It will launch in White, Graphite Black, Yellow and Coral.
SONY XPERIA Z5 PREMIUM
The surprise for everyone comes with this phone, launching out the gate with a 5.5 inch display with a 2160 x 3840 resolution. That’s right, sony is launching the first flagship consumer phone with a 4K UHD display. It will also allow for 4K recording and export to 4K displays via DLNA or MHL 3.0. Beyond that the Premium phone features a mirrored body in contrast to the coloured frosted glass body of the Z5 and Compact and on paper features the same stats as the standard Z5. It will launch in black, gold and chrome.
All phones feature a unibody design and 32gb capacity stock standard, however it is expandable via a micro sd card (a feature neglected in many unibody phones). They all are accompanied by a IP65/IP68 certification for dust and water resistance, capless USB charging, Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC as well as a new tiny finger print scanner on the power button. All models will launch with a dual sim compatible alternative as well, for those who travel frequently. Finally, while differently sized and not removable, Sony is detailing that all phones will sport a “2 day” battery.
We will see Sony’s next family of Xperia phones hit the market in October, and I can’t wait to see more.
