Along with the Xperia Z5 Premium, Sony also unveiled the Xperia Z5 Compact and Xperia Z5 on the sidelines of IFA 2015 in Berlin and it would be an under statement to say that the technology giant swept the viewers off their feet, says Himanshu Juneja
Sony made official the three mobile phones of the Z5 family, namely the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, and the Xperia Z5 Premium. While there was immense amount of interest for all the three handsets, the Xperia Z5 Premium in particular took away the bragging rights by being the first mobile phone to sport a 4K UHD display on a mobile phone.
Let's take a look at the similarities shared by the Xperia Z5 siblings
Hardware
Talking about the heart of the system, all the three mobile phones will be running Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core 64 bit processor.
Sony seems to have tamed the fury of the new processor, or maybe it is the new revised variant of the latest from Qualcomm. Whatever the reason, the test videos showed the handsets chugging on with the tasks without breaking any sweat.
The GPU is handled by Adreno 430. There is 32 GB memory onboard and users can expand this by another 200 GB via microSD card.
Display
All the three handsets get Triluminous displays along with the X-Reality engine. For protection, the display screen gets tempered glass coating and an anti-fingerprint coating as well for a smudge free experience.
The screen sizes vary with the handsets of course.
Connectivity
The phones are equipped with rich set of connectivity options. The three handsets support options like 4G/LTE, 3G, Bluetooth (ver 4.1), Wi-Fi and NFC.
For GPS, AGPS and GLONASS have been provided.
Software
All the three phones get Android 5.1.1 as the base OS with Sony's propriety skin on top. Sony has made intentions clear of going near stock with Android's Marshmallow update.
The iconography from Sony however may remain.
Camera
The Sony bastion. The Xperia Z5 phones get a 23 MP rear camera with Exmor RS sensor, which will stay Sony exclusive at least for a good bit. Sony boasts the camera to be the best one made till date for mobile phones. The camera can attain a lock on the focus in 0.3 seconds flat.
Equipped with software based optical image stabilisation, the images can gain 5x zoom without losing image quality. Ability to capture 4K videos is also onboard. The cameras will come with LED flash system.
The front camera is a 5 MP variant, again coming with stabilisation and 1080p recording ability.
Other features
The iconic round button/power key is now gone, and a new Lozenge shaped button with a fingerprint crammed in it is one of the exciting changes.
All the three mobiles come with front-firing surround sound speakers. As a big relief, the flaps on USB port are gone and should take care of the frequent ordeal of removing them while charging.
All the phones feature quick charging as well. This enables the users to stock up to 5.5 hours worth of battery back up with just 10 minutes of charging via a Quick Charge 2.0 charger. Wireless charging is not supported.
The similarities end there. The phones naturally differ from each other in certain aspects as well.
Xperia Z5
Measuring 5.75 x 2.83 x 0.29 inch, the phone's display is a 5.2-inch affair. With a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, 428 ppi sounds very impressive. Weighing 154 gms, the device comes with 3 GB RAM and a 2900 mAh battery.
The Xperia Z5 will get a single as well as a dual SIM model.
The phone will be available in gold, white, graphite black, and green colours.
Xperia Z5 Compact
The pocket friendly version comes measuring 5.0 x 2.56 x 0.35 inches and with a 4.6" screen. The resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels yields a pretty decent 323 ppi pixel density. The Z5 compact weight 138 gms.
With 2 GB RAM, and a mighty 2700 mAh battery, the phone will come in Yellow, White, Graphite Black, Coral (Pink) colour variants.
Sony decided not go with a dual sim variant for the Z5 Compact.
Xperia Z5 Premium
The Sony showstopper. Measuring 6.08 x 2.98 x 0.31 inches, the Z5 premium's screen boasts of a mind-boggling resolution of 2160 x 3840 pixels. The pixel per inch count rocketed to an unheard of 806 ppi. This hunk weighs a good 180 gms.
The phone is equipped with 3 GB of RAM, 3430 mAh of battery pack, and will be available in a single as well as a dual SIM model.
The available colours will be chrome, gold and black colours. Sony has added mirror finish back to really make the Z5 premium stand out.
The other two mobile phones come with frosted glass backs.
Sony has really upped the ante with its latest set of mobile phones. With Z5 premium, not only has it beaten other manufacturers for the 4k UHD display crown, the other two mobile phones are no pushovers by any stretch of imagination either.
However, it remains to be seen how effectively Sony fulfills its promise of upscaling content to 4k resolution on the Z5 premium, and how good is the battery back up even after a little sustained usage. The biggest query looming is regarding the price point Sony decides for the Indian market.
At present, the only confirmed information is that Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact will be available for sale in October 2015, the Z5 Premium will be made available only in November. The stellar looking phones should generate good interest. Stay tuned for the detailed reviews.
