We were hoping the excellent Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact would put an end to Sony's minor biannual update schedule, but it seems both handsets have only been partially successful in breaking Sony's bad habits. While it's been more than six months since Sony last launched another flagship phone, it hasn't yet shaken off the urge to make incremental changes rather than pull a Samsung, for example, and deliver something completely new and fresh.
That said, there's no denying that the Xperia Z3+ (or the Xperia Z4 as it will be known in Japan) is a highly desirable-looking smartphone. Measuring 6.9mm thick and weighing 144g, its slimmer, lighter design and liberal touch of gloss makes the Z3+ look distinctly more upmarket than its matt predecessor. The gleaming reinforced corners look particularly classy, and the subtle glitter finish on the rear glass panel shimmers nicely whenever it catches the light.
The Z3+ is also possibly the first Xperia Z handset we haven't been afraid of dropping while holding it with one hand. While its glass rear has an almost oily sort of texture when you run your finger across it, the phone's angular sides and edges offer plenty of purchase when you're gripping it single-handed. Admittedly, the corners felt a little scratchy in our palms at times, much more so than the soft nylon corners of the original Z3, but at least we weren't frightened of it slipping out of our hands accidentally.
As with previous Z phones, the Z3+ is both waterproof and dustproof, but the introduction of Sony's capless micro USB and headphone jack - a welcome feature brought over from the Xperia Z4 Tablet - mean you'll never have to worry about closing off any plastic flaps if you want to take it for a quick dip or drop it down the loo. There's still a flap covering the SIM card slot, but once your SIM's inserted there shouldn't be any reason to keep opening and closing it.
Admittedly, the model we saw was still only a prototype, but the 5.2in Full HD display looked gorgeous. Sony has always traditionally fitted its phones with high quality displays but we'll be intrigued to see whether it can match the high accuracy levels we saw on the Z4 Tablet.
Even if it doesn't, a quick hunt through the Settings menu revealed new White Balance controls, allowing you to adjust the screen's red, green and blue levels. Should the screen happen to have any slight defects, this should help even things out. Black levels, meanwhile, looked quite grey on max brightness, but switching on the adaptive brightness helped rein this in quite effectively.
The Z3+ was also lightning fast during our brief time with the handset, but we'll have to wait until we get final review units before we can see how its 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip and 3GB of RAM measures up against the Samsung Galaxy S6, HTC One M9 and LG G4. Web browsing was a little juddery while pages were loading, but otherwise we had no complaints, as apps loaded in a heartbeat and Sony's Android 5.0.2 skin felt extremely quick and responsive. We're also pleased to see the return of Sony's undulating ribbon effect on the main home screen.
It's a shame that Sony's kept the same 20.7-megapixel camera on the rear of the phone, but our initial test shots showed there was still plenty of detail to be found and lovely, bright, natural-looking colours. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take any of our shots away with us, but we'll be putting the camera head to head with all the other top flagship phones this year as soon as we get a final review sample.
From what we've seen so far, the Xperia Z3+ is a lovely but ultimately very safe addition to Sony's 2015 smartphone line-up. As much as we like the design, we're still waiting for Sony to really blow us away with something extraordinary. Likewise, while its Full HD display has good company with the HTC One M9, Samsung and LG's move to 2,560x1,440 resolution displays now makes 1,080p screens seem a little outdated.
It wouldn't be so bad if Sony was taking the original Z3 off sale, but when the Z3+ still has to compete with its excellent predecessor (which is also likely to receive a significant price-drop once the Z3+ launches this summer), we worry it will suffer by comparison. Either way, we'll be bringing you our final verdict over the next few weeks once we get our hands on a full review sample.
