Sony Xperia Z - My review

The latest of Xperia line up. Announced January 2013, and available in February 2013 Main features :

1.  Exmor RS mobile camera sensor with HDR capabilities(13 megapixel)
2. Full HD 5 inch screen(1080p) with stunning Bravia Engine 
3. Stamina mode for longer battery
4. LTE (for some market)
5. Ingress Protection , IP57, can be submerged into water
6. 7.9mm thickness, one of the slimmest phone
7. Processor  : Krait Quadcore 1.5GHz

For more info, refer to : GSM Arena

I have been using this phone for almost one month. My initial review.

General:

This phone have LTE band 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600 . There are very few LTE device in the market right now and some of them are only available for certain band.  In Asia, the LTE band is 1800 and 2600, and Xperia Z is one of the few device to have this band. LTE may have speed of up to 300mb/s depending on service providers. However, LTE is only available in certain place in my country, and the price is very expensive. So, i am unable to test this function. However, having LTE make this phone future proof if you plan on using it for a long time (+1 year).

Of course the phone include voice call, 2G, 3G as other phone would. This phone use micro-sim, which is smaller than normal sim. You can cut your normal sim and use it as the metal connector size are the same. 

Body:

The dimension is 139x71x7.9mm with weight of 146g. That is quite big, similar to samsung S3 size, but smaller than Samsung Note 2. However it is surprisingly light, considering the large size. at 7.9mm, this phone is quite slim and slide easily into my pocket. Xperia Z got a clean slab design, which is to my liking. I know some people hate the box design, but i find it to be nicer compared to Samsung S3 curve .

This phone is rated with Ingress Protection : IP57. Dust Resistance and Water resistance. Theoretically , the phone can be submerged into water for up to 30 minutes for maximum of 1 meter depth.  Amazingly, Xperia Z is so slim yet able to have this function. I have tried washing this phone for a few time, but never got the nerve to submerge it into water. You will notice reduced sound level from speaker, which will return to normal after a few hours . However, you cannot use this phone underwater, the touch screen will not work correctly. Touch screen uses electromagnetic field to detect touch and water conduct electricity, causing it to malfunction. 

Display:

Xperia Z uses TFT capacitive touch screen. 5 inch with resolution of 1920x1080. That result in 441 pixel per inch, way higher than retina display standard (>300ppi)

Sony uses TFT LCD, for an unknown reason because TFT is not really considered premium although it does have it own advantage. There are other well developed screen technology such as IPS, LCD3 and AMOLED. I prefer IPS screen as it have balanced color reproduction and contrast. Xperia Z screen look kinda wash out, with very poor viewing angle. I also notice my unit to have yellowish white. Some developer in XDA already released white balance setting which they pull out from Xperia ZL.

This phone is a one of a few existing full hd phone (1080), however, as pointed out by certain people, the resolution is not really 1080 because of the black navigation bar at the bottom. However, when playing videos or viewing picture, it will use up the whole screen and the bar would be hidden. With BRAVIA Engine 2, videos and pictures is stunning on this phone .

Like most other phone on Xperia line up, Xperia Z have anti shatter layer on the screen. This layer scratch easily, prompting user to pull them off. Doing so will also remove your Sony logo on top of the phone. I suggest user to apply another screen protector as soon as possible.