Sony Xperia XZ3

Sony is a formidable force in the Tech industry. The Japanese giant’s TVs and cameras have been prominent bestsellers in their respective industries, and its high-end headphones have always been highly recommended.

They have not been able to replicate this success across the board though. In a crowded and supposedly saturated smartphone market, Sony’s flagships have been lackluster at best but have failed to make a significant impact. With the Xperia XZ3, Sony endeavors to make some brilliant strides forward. The introduction of the Bravia OLED screen in the Xperia XZ3 is just one of the many things. For the first time since long, we’re convinced they might be onto something incredible with the inclusion of this new feature.

The Sony Xperia XZ3  Black – 64GB (6GB RAM) is priced at Rs.72,900. It comes with a 6.0-inch Curved Bravia P-OLED capacitive touchscreen display with 1440 x 2880 pixels at 537 PPI (pixels per inch). This flagship is powered by Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 Octa-core processor and comes with 4/6GB RAM. It also has 32/64 gigs of internal storage that can be expanded up to 512GB with a microSD card. The phone runs Android 8.1 and a 3060mAh non-removable battery. It measures 158 x 73 x 9.9 mm and weighs 193gm. Further, it also houses an 19 MP primary camera on the rear and a 13 MP front shooter for selfies.

Sony has moved away from the sharp corners and edges that were used in earlier Xperia phones, opting for the less commonly found curved screen display. It is, however, the first Sony phone we’ve ever seen with a curved Bravia OLED display, which makes us even more excited. The Gorilla Glass 3 coated OLED leaves a lasting first impression. The HDR Bravia-branded screen measures 6-inch along the diagonal, with a resolution of 2,960 x 1,440. Content spills over the sides of the curved glass and looks incredibly sharp.

Packed with Sony’s fancy Bravia TV technology, the XZ3’s contrast ratios are perfect, and the phone is capable of reproducing 99% of the sRGB colour gamut in the phone’s “professional” display setting. The phone does suffer from a problem which has been seen in many OLEDs in the past, though it has been on a minor level. You can notice very clear signs of colour fringing, with hints of purples or blues in the outlines of the text, most noticeable when you have white text on a black background. The sunlight legibility on this panel is great, though the display isn’t the brightest around as it goes up to a maximum of 414 nits with no additional brightness settings in auto mode, as you may find on other phones.

The Xperia XZ3 runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pi, straight out of the box, even leaving the Note 9 behind in this regard. Sony’s latest flagship is powered by Qualcomm’s most recent and till date most powerful mobile chipset, the octa-core Snapdragon 845, which clocks at 2.8GHz and paired with a 4GB of RAM.

The Xperia XZ3 has a single 19 MP primary camera with an f2.0 lens predictive phase detection autofocus and laser autofocus. The users would’ve noticed the same setup on the Sony Xperia XZ1, and while this might put off some people thinking of upgrading from an XZ1, it so happens that the XZ3’s camera is much, much better than that.

For starters, the user interface has been streamlined, with now having to go through less swiping to get to the various selective modes and frequently used settings promptly shown on-screen. The improved interface beckons simplicity and minimal fiddling around when you are prepping for your shot.

In good light, the XZ3 delivers very pleasing photos where the colours are rich, with nice contrast and relatively wide dynamic range. In low-light, the Xperia XZ3 copes equally well; however, you witness some noise. The XZ3 offers a 13 MP selfie camera with autofocus and an f1.9  aperture, owing to which the shots look great when there’s plenty of light.
Where Sony pulls things back for itself is with its video recording feature. The digital stabilisation works pretty well, in good lighting mainly, with the 4K HDR footage that you get to capture coming out simply breath-taking. In contrast to capturing photographs, the dynamic range in video trounces the competition, especially when the footage is viewed on a compatible HDR screen, such as the one found on this phone or the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Incidentally, it is possible for any video buff to get excellent results if the lighting’s right and they’re willing to invest some worthwhile time squeezing the best from the phone’s video camera.

The Xperia XZ3 has a 3300 mAH battery, running an average show on efficiency standards but delivering a respectable endurance rating of 90 hours in battery life. The charge levels reach from 0 to a measly 25 percent charge in half an hour despite its quick charge feature.

With the Xperia XZ3 Sony has set a new standard in the industry. There’s something breathtaking about the Sony Xperia XZ3. It is, without a doubt, the best smartphone Sony has ever made.

There are a few pain points with some UI elements that might start to stutter. However, most of these can be solved by going into the settings and turning off certain features. There’s no getting around the awkward fingerprint scanner placement though, and these frustrations make the XZ3 an almost imperfect smartphone with glimmers of brilliance.