Good real-world performances with a premium build quality and design. The Z5s have handy features, even if they’re not any more special than before.
Good real-world performances with a premium build quality and design. The Z5s have handy features, even if they’re not any more special than before.
If you’re familiar with Sony’s Xperia family of phones, they’ve always had a certain consistency to design and specifications. The latest Z5 Compact, Z5 and Z5 Premium are so identical, that we’ve decided to group them into a single review. Now, they do have some elements that differ from their predecessors – the Z5 and Z5 Compact sport a frosted glass rear, though the Z5 Premium is a glossy fingerprint magnet. The new versions also depart from their raised display feel. All three phones have a thicker metallic rim, resulting in a display that sits slightly deeper inside the phone’s monolithic form. This change makes the smartphones feel friendlier to the touch. Waterproofing is also maintained at IP68 rating with a flap-less design like the Z3+ before.
On paper, all Z5 phones have similar specifications; you tell them apart through size and display quality. Taking 5.2-inch Full HD (428ppi) Z5 as a base model, there is the 4.6-inch Z5 Compact with a HD (323ppi) display and a smaller battery, and a larger 5.5-inch Z5 Premium with a ridiculous 4K (806ppi!) display and a significantly larger battery.
The main talking point of the Z5 series is a brand new 23-megapixel camera thanks to a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS For Mobile image sensor, with a Sony f/2.0 G lens. It also features technology from Sony’s Alpha series of cameras, such as the 0.03-second Hybrid Autofocus system and extreme low light shooting up to ISO 12,800. The Xperia Z5 trio has a Manual mode, but it’s limited to adjusting ISO and white balance. Otherwise, you can generally stick with Superior Auto. Sony also claims to have improved the processing algorithm to bump Clear Image Zoom from 3x in past Xperia phones to 5x now.
Between the three Xperia Z5 phones, there’s very little difference in camera performance and image quality. Overall, it’s definitely decent, but it’s not the best smartphone camera today, especially at flagship levels. The new sensor barely addresses the old artifact problems since the Xperia Z1 and that’s disappointing.
In terms of display quality, all three phones offer consistent vividness and color reproduction when projecting the same test image. Colors are vibrant and distinct, not oversaturated, but slightly cooler in temperature. As expected, sharpness is the biggest difference as there’s a noticeable upgrade in screen quality from HD to 4K when you go up from the Z5 Compact to the Z5 Premium. Individually, each phone is sufficiently clear and precise for its size and choosing a suitable display boils down to your needs.
All three Xperia Z5 phones run Android 5.1 (Lollipop). They’re packed with 32GB onboard storage and expandable with a MicroSD card slot (up to 200GB sized cards). The new fingerprint sensor on the Z5 trio is now incorporated into the power button and it is fast and responsive after setup. If you find that it can’t read your prints regularly, a quick re-calibration within the security settings should fix things in a jiffy.
All three Sony Xperia Z5 phones are powered by the same 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (divided into a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57 array) which has a maximum clock-rate of 2.0GHz. The Z5 and Z5 Premium come with 3GB of RAM, while the Z5 Compact has 2GB only. Now, the Snapdragon 810 has had a rocky history of overheating problems, but we feel that the issue was taken care of. In all our tests, none of the phones heated up beyond normal and only the Z5 Premium felt a little warmer than the other two.
Performance-wise, the Z5 phones are a very well rounded trio with no significant issues. We didn’t experience any noticeable lag when loading web pages, with acceptable micro delays when opening some apps.
The Z5 Premium scored a little lower than its two peers in the battery life department despite its huge battery capacity, most probably due to its 4K display and video up-scaling capabilities. The other Z5 phones do slightly better, but still not as efficient as AMOLED-equipped smartphones (Note 5 and Nexus 6P).
There’s no doubt that the Sony Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact and Z5 Premium are good smartphones. They have decent real-world performance, consistent premium build quality and design, plus handy features like waterproofing. The phones have a clean interface that matches their appearance, but the upgraded camera modules still performed below expectations. The Z5 Premium’s 4K display is gorgeous, but honestly excessive and superfluous for the additional cost. If you’re a Sony Xperia fan, the latest Z5 is another step in the refinement of the series, and while all three phones are solid devices but there’s nothing here that really stands out.
