Review of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra
Harold C 22 Aug 2013
Today, SONY introduces it’s latest Z series smartphone, the Xperia Z Ultra. So what is so Ultra about this smartphone ? Is it just another smartphone or tablet. I would say it is a phablet.
For those who longs to have a larger screen, the Xperia Z is somewhat a godsend. Compared to competitors, the Xperia Z is more hip in it’s design and specifications. To date, the Xperia Z Ultra is the world’s slimmest full HD smartphone at 6.5mm thin and weighs only 212 grams. Other than that, it has a 6.44” Full HD TRILUMINOS™ Display for mobile powered by X-Reality™ for mobile engine for the ultimate big screen entertainment experience. Together with it’s Z series brothers, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is also waterproof and dust resistant. Something new is that the ear jack does not come with a flap cover yet it is still water resistant.
The Xperia Z Ultra will also feature the fully integrated Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 processor with 2.2 GHz quad-core CPUs, 4G LTE and HD voice to provide a seamless connected entertainment experience, industry-leading battery performance and amazing speed. With the larger screen and speed, you won’t find any lag in watching high resolution movies and playing games on it. The Battery Stamina mode is also improved to prolong battery life.
On the rear of the smartphone is a 8 megapixel camera with “Exmor RS for mobile” sensor and HDR for videos and photos. Unfortunately it doesn’t come with a flash.
One unique feature that stands out from the crowd is that the Xperia Z Ultra coems with a responsive screen with handwriting recognition which is compatible with any pencil and selected stylus or pen (capacitive stylus or metal pen with tip diameter over 1mm). You can even write notes or sketches during calls so you’ll always be ready capture your ideas as they happen. The easy-toggle keyboard makes it ideal for one-handed input and multi-tasking, with small apps to help you improve productivity so you don’t lose time browsing between windows.
With one-touch functions you can instantly and easily share music, photos and videos from your smartphone to a wide range of NFC-enabled Sony devices, including speakers, SmartWatch, wireless headsets and TVs. There are several new and innovative accessories joining the range of popular connected devices.
As for the battery life, it should be sufficient as it comes with a 3000mAh and can last up to 11 hours of talk time.
| Battery (embedded) | 3000 mAh |
| Talk time GSM | Up to 11 hours |
| Standby time GSM | Up to 550 hours |
| Talk time UMTS | Up to 14 hours |
| Standby time UMTS | Up to 530 hours |
| Standby time LTE | Up to 510 hours |
| Music listening time | Up to 120 hours (world’s longest audio playback) |
| Video playback time | Up to 5.5 hours |
Availability
The Xperia Z Ultra will be available in Sony stores, Sony centres, Xperia concept stores, authorised retail outlets as well as all telco operators from 5 September onwards at a recommended retail price of S$1,038 without contract.
On page 2 , we will take a look at the phone itself and pictures taken by the phone.