Introduction
Sony has been among the more prolific smartphone manufacturers over the past few years. Throughout 2016, the Japanese manufacturer unveiled seven new smartphones, and at MWC this year, it introduced four more handsets. The top device in the latter bunch was the Xperia XZ Premium.
With the XZ Premium, Sony promises unparalleled experience thanks to its revolutionary camera tech, excellent 5.5-inch 4K display and Qualcomm's latest silicon – the Snapdragon 835. Let's see if it delivers.
Design
That's one big and gorgeous fingerprint magnet.
The XZ Premium is a beautiful phone. It comes with a 5.5” display in a rather bulky chassis, but still feels quite comfortable to hold. The body is mostly glass and metal, and it feels satisfyingly solid thanks to its size and weight. There's just one aspect to the Xperia XZ Premium's design that we're not too keen on, and that's its susceptibility to fingerprints, courtesy of its otherwise stunning mirror-like finish.
When it comes to the fingerprint scanner, it will be available outside the US only, as expected, and it's embedded in the power button on the right side. The same side of the phone also holds the volume rocker which is placed above the power button and is far more comfortable to use than those of the Xperia XZ and Xperia XZs.
When you look at the Xperia XZ Premium's front, you see a classic Sony design – bezels that are slightly on the big side, but also give the device a rather stylish formal look. Pair this with the impressive display and the dual front-firing speakers, and you have a truly great-looking handset that certainly catches the eye.
Overall, Sony did a great job with the phone's looks.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Dimensions
6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches
158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm
Weight
6.63 oz (188 g)
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Dimensions
6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches
158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm
Weight
6.63 oz (188 g)
To see the phones in real size or compare them with other models, visit our Visual Phone Size Comparison page
Display
A very solid screen, despite being a bit blueish.
When it comes to the Sony Xperia XZ Premium's display, it's hard to find something not to like about it. It's a 5.5-inch 4K LCD panel, which makes it plenty crisp in all possible use cases. This includes games, video content, web browsing and what not. That being said, for videos and movies, the difference between a 4K display and a 1080p one would be barely noticeable, unless you really look for it. So, in case you're wondering what the benefits of the 4K panel are, they're most noticeable with VR content, where you will suffer far less quality loss. Bear in mind that Sony doesn't have its own VR platform for smartphones, but you may use the XZ with Google's Cardboard.
We have only one complaint about the panel – its colors are somewhat unrealistic. However, it does feature three display presets that you can choose from to change the way colors are shown – Standard, Super-vivid, and Professional Mode. The first is the default profile the phone comes with, the second obviously over-saturates all colors, and the third is meant to present you with the most realistic colors. That effect, however, is somewhat spoiled by the slight blueish hue of the screen. Thankfully, you can adjust the white balance as well, using the provided sliders under the Display option in the phone's settings, and completely get rid of any unwanted tints.
89 Comments
pyradark
Posts: 895; Member since: Jun 10, 2012
what a surprise PA!! Good Job Sony for this awesome phone
posted on May 16, 2017, 9:29 AM 4
maherk
Posts: 6430; Member since: Feb 10, 2012
Ikr?!! Finally a fair score for a Sony device.
Although I got the S8 and I'm loving it so far, the XZP is still my favorite phone of the year. It was just small stuff that I got used to have on my phone that kept with Samsung this year.
I just hope reviewers will give this phone enough coverage for it to succeed, as Sony deserves it for the effort they brought with this one.
posted on May 16, 2017, 9:48 AM 13
Nathan_ingx
Posts: 4764; Member since: Mar 07, 2012
Tried S8 and S8+ yesterday, compared it to my OP3 and the size impressed me. And as I suspected, the fingerprint scanner will need time to get used to. It needs quite a travel.
But Sony here, they did a marvelous job...I'm super stoked with the Super slow mo.
posted on May 16, 2017, 12:51 PM 0
aBoss
Posts: 164; Member since: Sep 15, 2014
yea this Sony Xperia XZ Premium is currently the greatest phone out right now. The only phone that may beat it is the Note 8 and thats only if it is coming with a removable battery as I doubt it will come with a 4k screen, 960p slow motion or the perfect fingerprint sensor placement like this Sony
posted on May 17, 2017, 3:59 AM 1
dubaiboy78
Posts: 432; Member since: Sep 19, 2014
Wow finally from iphonearena! Xz premium with Good grade!
posted on May 16, 2017, 9:29 AM 4
yann
Posts: 604; Member since: Jul 15, 2010
Yea. 8.7:is good, but look at the cons:
1. Fingerprint magnet - how the same problem is not a con in Galaxy S 8 phones reviews?
2. Super slow-motion can be hard to time right - this is unique feature and you complained about it? At least it's there - even for 0.2 sec(not as you wrote 0.15);
3. Cumbersome camera UI - in iPhone 4K video shooting is also different app(not in video settings) but you didn't complain about it? Also it depends from the point of view.
posted on May 16, 2017, 10:11 AM 12
NoAllegiance unregistered
The more ridiculous cons, the better the phone as they couldn't find fault in other aspects.
posted on May 16, 2017, 11:06 AM 7
tyrion_lannister unregistered
Just because iPhone's camera UI is crap doesn't make the Xperia UI better. Sorry, but a camera UI that doesn't even allow HDR in auto mode, let alone auto HDR is a garbage UI.
posted on May 16, 2017, 11:25 AM 1
josephnero
Posts: 771; Member since: Nov 16, 2011
it has HDR in auto mode.it's just called baclkit scence genious.
posted on May 16, 2017, 1:12 PM 9
DanteTheGreat
Posts: 67; Member since: Jul 31, 2014
It has HDR in auto mode. Don't state falsehoods like they are facts.
posted on May 16, 2017, 1:57 PM 7
timaustin2000
Posts: 42; Member since: Feb 15, 2013
Eh? It has got HDR in Suprior Auto - it's on by default. They call it "Backlight" but it's HDR.
posted on May 16, 2017, 3:05 PM 5
kabiluddin
Posts: 272; Member since: Feb 28, 2015
@tyrion_lannister I'm not sorry to say that you are dumba**. Pretend to be known it all jacka** like you should eat $hit and shut up.
posted on May 17, 2017, 2:03 AM 3
Valinor
Posts: 148; Member since: Mar 26, 2013
Actually, the real big cons for me are:
- audio output (how can they build great audio players but put crappy audio in their phones)
- lowlight photos (saw some samples, they really really suck. All my life i've been buying sony cameras, love the photo quality.... but their phone photos can be so much better)
-that bottom bezel.... at least add physical buttons to it. Now its just useless space while the onscreen buttons are also taking up space.
I was about to pre-order but lowlight photos and good audio are really important for me.
posted on May 16, 2017, 8:46 PM 1
androiduser
Posts: 489; Member since: Jun 18, 2014
Nokia 9 and oneplus 5 . I'm waiting for those 2
posted on May 16, 2017, 9:31 AM 0
* Some comments have been hidden, because they don't meet the discussions rules.
- Display 5.5" 2160 x 3840 pixels
- Camera 19 MP / 13 MP front
- Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Octa-core, 2450 MHz
- Memory
- Storage 64 GB + microSDXC
- Battery 3230 mAh(24.7h 3G talk time)
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