Sony Xperia XZ review: Fast, gorgeous, and flawed

So much for the 4K smartphone. After painstakingly squeezing a 4K screen on its previous flagship, the Xperia Z5 Premium, its latest top-of-the-range handset, the Xperia XZ, has reverted back to a standard Full HD display.

Far from a sign of retreat, though, the Xperia XZ is, in many ways, a sign of re-consolidation for Sony, and a return to its strengths. It might have a different name, but the Xperia XZ is very much the true successor to the Xperia Z5, and much more so than the underwhelming Xperia X that came out earlier in the year.

Design

Even though the screen resolution has changed, the Xperia XZ retains the same 5.2in display as previous models, and the familiar ultra-slim power button-cum-fingerprint sensor once again adorns the side of the handset. You'll need to press the sensor before it can recognise your fingerprint, but on the whole it is pretty quick and accurate. Likewise, with built-in NFC on board, it's primed and ready for Android Pay, so you can use it to make contactless payments.

Despite sharing the same screen size as its predecessors, the Xperia XZ's design is rather different from its Z series brethren, as it's ditched Sony's traditional glass back for something altogether more plasticky. In a way, it's the right move, as the frosted glass back of the Z5 was rather prone to shattering. However, it’s not an aesthetic improvement, and it’s particularly good at collecting messy-looking fingerprints.

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The line break on the lower section of the phone's rear also looks like it's been tacked on at the last minute, breaking the XZ's otherwise clean, minimalist design. At least the nano SIM and microSD card tray are no longer covered by a cheap-looking flap. Instead, it's a simple pull-out tray, but you'll still need to make sure it's sealed properly to retain the XZ's IP65/68 water resistance. Contrary to previous Z phones, Sony now doesn't recommend submerging the phone for any length of time, but the XZ should be able to shrug off heavy rain showers and short-lived aquatic mishaps.

Display

The design might not be to everyone's tastes, but the good news is that Sony's IPS screen technology remains first class. To the naked eye, it looks beautiful, and our X-Rite colorimeter certainly thought so too. The 5.2in Full HD display reproduces a nigh-on perfect 99.3% of the sRGB colour gamut, hits a peak brightness of 609.7cd/m2, and has a huge contrast ratio of 1,365:1.

All that adds up to one of the best IPS displays on any smartphone currently available. It might not look quite as saturated as Samsung's Super AMOLED screens on the S7 and S7 Edge, but colours are still beautifully rich and vibrant. Videos in particular look fantastic.

Performance

The XZ’s quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 3GB of RAM are a lightning-quick combination – even if the benchmarks don’t always show it. For instance, its Geekbench 4 scores weren't all that impressive, achieving 1,337 in the single core test and just 3,326 in the multicore test, which puts it more or less on a par with the Snapdragon 650-powered Xperia X Compact. However, having used both phones side by side, the difference is night and day, with the XZ pulling ahead every time.

Indeed, Sony's version of Android 6.0.1 felt silky smooth on the XZ, and web browsing was equally quick, showing few signs of stutter even on pages laden with dozens of images. Gaming performance was impressive, too, as it managed an average of 48fps in GFX Bench GL's onscreen Manhattan 3.0 test, and 46fps in the offscreen version. This is faster than Samsung's S7 and S7 Edge as well as the LG G5.

Of course, being a Sony phone, the Xperia XZ can also be used in conjunction with the company's PS4 Remote Play app, which lets you use the XZ as a second screen for streaming games around your home. This makes it a particularly promising prospect for PS4 owners, as PS4 Remote Play isn't currently supported by any other phone manufacturer.  

Sony Xperia XZ 5.2-Inch 32 GB SIM-Free Smart Phone - Forest Blue

£539.99Buy now

Battery Life

The Xperia XZ has enough stamina to go the distance. Its 2,900mAh battery lasted an impressive 14hrs 32mins in our continuous video playback test when the screen was set to our predefined brightness level of 170cd/m2. That puts it ahead of the LG G5 and HTC 10, but it’s still some way behind the S7, S7 Edge and OnePlus 3, all of which last several hours longer.

That said, this is still a very good result and the Xperia XZ should regularly last at least a day, if not a little into the next depending on usage. Just remember to take your USB-C cable with you: the XZ has swapped the Micro USB port from previous models for the more up-to-date USB Type-C standard.

Camera

There's a rather large cloud hanging over the XZ, however: Sony's overly aggressive image processing continues to spoil the pictures taken by its rear sensor. The Xperia Z5 suffered from this problem as well, and it puts a real downer on the whole phone, as its 23-megapixel camera just can't match the same quality produced by its rivals.

It's a shame, really, as the hardware onboard – 1/2.3in Exmor RS sensor, 24mm wide angle G Lens, predictive hybrid autofocus and ISO levels that go up to 12,800 – would imply otherwise. However, when I looked at my test photos, everything was exceedingly grainy and lacking in fine detail. It also had a habit of taking quite dark shots, making scenes feel rather gloomy as a result. Switching to Manual mode and turning on HDR improved things very slightly, but not significantly.

This trend continued indoors as well, where fine detail was very soft and smeary. Colours, admittedly, looked fantastic, but closer inspection revealed some very hazy outlines, particularly in lower lighting conditions. Admittedly, none of this will probably make a huge amount of difference if you generally only take pictures for uploading to social media, but it's not a patch on the OnePlus 3, LG G5, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Verdict

Ultimately, though, it's the Xperia XZ's price that's the phone's main undoing, as it fails to undercut its key rivals. Available for £540 SIM-free or £36-per-month on contract, it's around as much as the S7, and even a bit more than the LG G5. Then there's the OnePlus 3, which trumps the lot with its respective prices of £329 SIM-free or £28-per-month on contract thanks to its exclusive hot-off-the-press deal with O2. With competition like that, the Xperia XZ fails to make much of an impression, even if its speed, screen and battery life are all excellent in their own right.

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Sony's current pre-order deal does soften the blow somewhat, as for a limited time anyone who pre-orders an XZ will get a free pair of Sony's Extra Bass Bluetooth MDR-XB950BT headphones, which usually cost around £100. That's a reasonable deal if you're in the market for a pair of wireless headphones, but the offer only runs until 5 October so you’ll need to be quick to take advantage.

Deal or no deal, though, Sony just hasn’t done enough to trouble the front-runners in today’s market. It’s a nice enough phone, but until Sony sorts out its camera issues and adds a whole lot more pizzazz to the overall package, the Xperia XZ will just have to be content with mid-table obscurity.  

Sony Xperia XZ 5.2-Inch 32 GB SIM-Free Smart Phone - Forest Blue

£539.99Buy now