Ever since the original Xperia Z, buying one of Sony's flagship smartphones has always been a bit of a gamble. When a new model is brought out nearly every six months, it means that newer, shinier versions of Sony's range-topping handsets are always just round the corner. Indeed, the Z3 has already been replaced by the Xperia Z3+ - a kind of stand in for the Xperia Z4 - which in turn is soon to be succeeded by the Xperia Z5.
However, that's not to say the Xperia Z3 is now old hat, as I think it's much better value than the Xperia Z3+, and (if Sony decide to keep the Z3 on sale) it should prove a great alternative to the Xperia Z5 as long as prices don't stray too close to Sony's latest handset. At the moment, the Z3 is still relatively expensive as far as flagship smartphones go, coming in at roughly £375 SIM-free and around £33.50-per-month on contract. Samsung's Galaxy S6, for example, is only a little more at £480 SIM-free or £31.50-per-month.
The Xperia Z3 still has plenty going for it, though, not least its superb design. On paper, the Z3 isn't actually that different from its predecessor, the Xperia Z2. It's kept the same 5.2in Full HD display, and it still has plastic flaps on the side of the phone to help protect the micro USB port and microSD card slot from water damage - up to a 1.5m depth. In your hand, though, it feels like a completely different handset, as its new rounded nylon corners are much more comfortable to hold. They're a world away from the sharp, angular edges of the Z2, and they've been designed to help take the brunt of an impact should the phone slip out of your hands as well.
The Z3's rounded aluminium frame also helps provide a bit more purchase on the phone's slippery glass back when using it one-handed. It's nowhere near as grippy as the Galaxy S5's textured rear, but we think it inspires much more confidence than the glass back of the S6, for example.
Display
Sony has also improved the Z3's screen. It's now much, much brighter, and Sony claims it's the world's first phone to deliver a brightness level of 600cd/m2. My own tests weren't far off, as our colour calibrator measured a white level of 592.12cd/m2, making it by far one of the brightest screens I've ever tested.
This is great news when summer rolls around (or if you're lucky enough to be going skiing come winter), and it really makes colours pop out of the screen. This is partly thanks to Sony's X-Reality technology, which helps make images appear noticeably richer and more vibrant onscreen, but the screen itself has fantastic colour accuracy regardless of whether X-Reality is enabled or not. Our colour calibrator showed it was displaying an impressive 97 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, which is just what I'd expect from an IPS panel.
A higher brightness does have its downside, though, as it means the screen's black levels aren't as deep as phones with dimmer displays. I measured a black level of 0.52cd/m2, which is a little higher than I would have liked for a high-end phone, and it meant that blacks appeared slightly grey compared to the phone's black bezels. Still, contrast was excellent, measuring 1,139:1, providing plenty of detail in darker areas and crisp, easy to read text; it also has superb viewing angles.
^ As well as white, the Xperia Z3 is also available in black, copper and light green
Performance
Inside, the Xperia Z3 is once again very similar to the Z2. It uses the same quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor as its predecessor and comes with 3GB of RAM. The main difference lies in an increase in the processor's clock speed from 2.3GHz to 2.5GHz, matching the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the LG G3. It's a small change, but one that makes the phone feel that much more responsive compared to the competition.
Sony's version of Android 4.4.4 zipped along at a blistering pace, with menu screens and the app tray feeling much quicker and snappier than the G3. I'm also a big fan of Sony's dynamic ribbon background, which twists and turns and gradually changes colour with every swipe of the home screen.
The Z3 produced great scores in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarks as well. It sped to an impressive 815ms in Chrome, putting it just in front of the Z2's score of 862ms and the G3's score of 977ms. The Galaxy S5 still has the edge, both in Chrome where it scored 731ms and in Samsung's proprietary browser which scored a super fast 391ms, but you're unlikely to notice the difference in day-to-day use-
The Z3's Adreno 330 GPU is also one of the most powerful graphics chips I've seen on a flagship phone. It maxed out both our 3DMark Ice Storm and Ice Storm Extreme tests and scored an impressive 18,228 (or 75.3fps) in Ice Storm Unlimited. This is more than enough power to run any type of game or app in the Google Play Store, and its average frame rate of 54.2fps in Epic Citadel on Ultra High Quality settings means that even the most demanding games should still look spectacular.
^ The GCM10 Game Control Mount will be available separately, turning your Xperia Z3 into a portable gaming screen for your PS4
It's a very similar set of scores to the Galaxy S5, but I think the Z3 will be a much more enticing option for gamers as it supports PS4 Remote Play. It's an ingenious trick, as it essentially lets you use the phone as a remote screen for your PS4 over your home network, turning your PS4 into a portable games console. Check out Remote Play on the PS Vita if you want to know more.
Battery life
Of course, there's always a risk that powerful hardware will take its toll on the phone's battery life, but Sony's claim that the Z3 can last up to two days on a single charge may well be accurate this time round. In our continuous video playback test, the Z3's 3,100mAh battery lasted a massive 18 hours and 29 minutes with the screen set to half brightness and all power-saving modes disabled, which is a full hour more than the Galaxy S5, and almost two hours more than the Z2.
In fact, looking at every smartphone I reviewed in 2014, the Xperia Z3 only loses out to Samsung's oversized Galaxy Note 4 phablet and the unnaturally long-lasting Xperia Z3 Compact - it exceeds anything from Samsung, LG, HTC or even Apple in our video rundown test.
This is outstanding for a flagship phone and lighter users should easily be able to stretch that out even further, particularly if they take advantage of the Z3's three separate power saving profiles. Low-battery mode disables mobile data, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and auto-sync, while Stamina restricts hardware performance as well. Ultra Stamina mode, meanwhile, only lets you use a few basic functions, such as calls and texts.
The Z3 is available with 16GB of storage, but can support microSD cards up to 128GB, so you should have plenty of space to store your files. Sony's File Commander app also makes it easy to manage your storage and move files between folders.
Camera
On the back is Sony's 20.7-megapixel 1/2.3in Exmor RS camera sensor. Like previous Xperia phones, you can access it simply by holding down the dedicated shutter button on the side of the phone, and there are multiple picture modes to choose from. Be aware that the default Superior Auto mode only takes 8-megapixel pictures, so you'll need to switch to Manual to get full 20.7-megapixel shots.
| NETWORK | Technology | GSM / HSPA |
|---|
| LAUNCH | Announced | 2015, October |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2015, October |
| BODY | Dimensions | 141.6 x 70 x 7.9 mm (5.57 x 2.76 x 0.31 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 137 g (4.83 oz) | |
| SIM | Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| DISPLAY | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 5.0 inches (~69.5% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 720 x 1280 pixels (~294 ppi pixel density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes |
| PLATFORM | OS | Tizen OS, v2.3, upgradable to v2.4 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Spreadtrum | |
| CPU | Quad-core 1.3 GHz |
| MEMORY | Card slot | microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 8 GB, 1 GB RAM |
| CAMERA | Primary | 8 MP, f/2.2, autofocus, LED flash |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Geo-tagging, face detection, panorama, HDR | |
| Video | 720p@30fps | |
| Secondary | 5 MP, f/2.2 |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Yes | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth | v4.0, A2DP, LE | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS | |
| Radio | FM radio | |
| USB | microUSB v2.0, USB On-The-Go |
| FEATURES | Sensors | Accelerometer, proximity |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM | |
| Browser | HTML | |
| Java | No | |
| - MP4/H.264 player - MP3/WAV/AAC/Flac player - Photo viewer - Document viewer |
| BATTERY | Removable Li-Ion 2600 mAh battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Talk time | Up to 15 h (3G) | |
| Music play | Up to 55 h |
| MISC | Colors | Black, Silver, Gold |
|---|---|---|
| SAR US | 0.70 W/kg (head) 0.77 W/kg (body) | |
| SAR EU | 0.53 W/kg (head) 0.48 W/kg (body) | |
| Price group | 3/10 |
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