Hands on Review of the Sony Xperia XZ with 23 megapixel camera

Hands on Review of the Sony Xperia XZ

OCworkbench 30 Sep 2016

A few days ago, Sony Mobile officially launched it’s Sony Xperia XZ flagship phone. The Xperia XZ comes boasts better specs compared to the Xperia X which was launched earlier this year.

The Xperia X and Xperia XZ are truly siblings with XZ at 5.2 inches versus 5 inches of the Xperia X. They look alike in design and has a more squarish look compare to the Xperia X. If water and dust resistant is what you were looking for, Xperia XZ comes with this feature. In addition, it comes with a finger print sensor which is not found on the Xperia X.

Another difference is the processor of the smartphone. The Sony Xperia XZ is powered by the Snapdragon 820 while the Xperia X is powered by Snapdragon 650. The Snapdragon 820 is definitely faster with it’s high clock speed of up to 2.2GHz Quad Core and modem supporting CAT12/13 speed of up to 600Mbps down and 150Mbps Up. The Snapdragon 650 on the other hand runs up to 1.8GHz with a 6 core and supports only up Cat 7 speed of up to 300Mbps downlink and 100Mbps uplink.

The Xperia XZ has a larger battery capacity of 2900mAh compared to 2620mAh on the Xperia X. Sony also added a new battery management feature which prevents it from overcharging when left unplugged overnight.

When it goes retail, the phone will be preloaded with Android marshmallow 6.0.1 and in the upcoming months, Sony will make Android 7 Nougat available for firmware upgrade.

Camera wise, the Xperia XZ spots the same 23 megapixel front and 13 megapixel selfie camera. The new addition is the 5 axis image stabilisation and Xperia XZ can shoot 4K videos while Xperia X is limited to 1080P.

The rear camera of the Xperia XZ features a new multi-aspect 24.8MP Sony Exmor RS image sensor, officially named as Sony IMX300. Similar to the Xperia Z5 series, the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance, it has 23 megapixels with a sensor size of 1/2.3 inch and a f/2.0 aperture. Sony introduces the Triple Image Sensing technology with the Xperia XZ, comprised by the Image sensing (CMOS sensor with PDAF), Distance sensing (Laser AF sensor) and Color sensing (RGBC-IR sensor) systems. It features a hybrid autofocus that utilizes phase detection to lock focus on a subject within 0.03 seconds, also same with the Xperia Z5. It also includes phase and contrast detection along with predictive motion tracking, both working together to adjust the right amount of contrast accurately and significantly reduce blur and image shift caused by shaky hands.

The Xperia XZ, for the first time, includes a laser autofocus sensor alongside the hybrid/PDAF in tracking and locking focus on an object faster than regular autofocus modes, and an RGBC-IR (RedGreenBlueClear-InfraRed) color sensor that assists the white balance function of the camera by providing additional data about the light conditions of the environment, thus improving the color accuracy of the image.It also has an upgraded SteadyShot with Intelligent Auto in addition to the 5-axis image stabilization. The front selfie camera has a 13 megapixel sensor with 22 mm and 90 degree wide angle lens, making it the highest-resolution front-facer on a flagship Sony device.

#XperiaXZ #sony

It also has the best selfie 13 Megapixel camera with low light exmor RS and 22mm wide angle lens, which is comparable to most main camera specifications.

In the following pages, we will take a look at some of the pictures taken using the 23 megapixel lens.