The phone to track your life

The new flagship smartphone from Sony, the Xperia Z3 features premium waterproof design, good performance and a 20.7-million pixel camera that rivals the quality of a compact camera.

Z3 is only 7.4mm thin and weighs just 153 grammes. Its display and back are both protected by durable tempered glass that goes well with the sleek aluminium edge of the phone.

Z3 is available in white, black, silver green and copper and the black model reviewed here won plenty of admiring glances for its sleek good looks.

It’s powerful too thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5 GHz quad-core process. Equipped with a generous 3 gigabytes of working memory or RAM, it also boasts 16 GB of internal storage, which is expandable with a microSD card of up to 128 GB. The smartphone runs on the Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system.

It has a gorgeous 5.2-inch display with 1920 x 1080 pixels, using IPS and Sony’s TriLuminous Display for Mobile to enhance the colours.

Full HD and vibrant colours make the display very good for watching video clips and viewing photos.

The Z3 supports both a LTE 4G connection and a HSPA+ 3G connection. I tested the smartphone on TrueMove H’s HSPA+ 3G connection and was impressed at the data connection speed. Applications downloaded and installed fast. I also managed to check my Hotmail and Gmail accounts fast and smoothly, as well as update my Facebook page and post snapshots from the phone to the page without any problems.

The Z3 is waterproof and dustproof in compliance with IP65 and IP68. This means it can be under fresh water of down to 1.5 metres for up to 30 minutes. But makes sure that you close all port covers before using the phone underwater or risk voiding the warranty.

Being waterproof, you can have fun using it at a swimming pool or water park as well as for taking photos during the Songkran festival.

But the highlight is the camera at the back, which boasts 20.7-million pixel resolution and is also capable of shooting 4K video. The front camera has 2.2-megapixel resolution and 1080p video.

The main camera has an image sensor. It uses the .3-inch Sony Exmor RS, the Sony G lens with f/2 aperture. and has a high ISO of 12,800. With the bright lens and high ISO, the Z3 can take good shots even in a low-light environment. Its lens has 25mm equivalence of focal length that makes it good for shooting beautiful landscapes.

Z3 has several shooting modes, including Superior auto, Manual, Background focus, Creative effect, and Multi camera.

I mostly shot with the Superior auto and I was pleased with the quality of the shots, especially when the subject was well lit. I also managed to take beautiful night shots including one of the decorative lights at Seacon Square. However a close look revealed a lot of visible noise.

In Background defocus mode, you can achieve a blurred background effect to highlight your subject. The camera will take two shots and then identify the background and blur it while keeping the subject sharp and in focus.

The Multi camera mode needs you to have several Xperia devices. This mode lets you take a photo from multiple angles by connecting with other Xperia devices and then the image through the viewfinder of each device appears on the same screen.

The Info-eye modes helps you search for information about things around you using your camera viewfinder. For example, you can snap a photo of a landmark and receive information about it right on your screen. Or you can take a photo of a book or scan a QR code and get background information instantly.

Another nice mode is Social live. It lets you stream video live to your Facebook page though you need to have an active internet connection and be logged into Facebook. Videos. Each session can be up to 10 minutes long.

The Z3 comes with an app that I found very useful called Lifelog. Lifelog will log most of your activities during the day and store them on your account’s space with Sony mobile.

For example, it records how many steps you have walked during the day, how many hours you have biked and run or walked or even travelled during the day. It records the number of photos you shoot with Z3, the number of bookmarks you have made using Internet browser on the smartphone. It logs the time you have listened to music and watched video as well as played games on the phone or reading e-books.

And it also calculates the calories you have burned with all the activities.

Using Internet and GPS connection, Lifelog also displays the map of your journey each day.

The logged data are presented in journey view timeline, dashboard and graphs.

The app can help you try to improve your health.

Z3 is good for music lovers because its Walkman app supports playing high-resolution audio formats of FLAC 24 bit/ 192 kHz and DSF.

I tested the music player with my Razer in-ear phones and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” album, encoded in FLAC 24 bit/192 kHz and was impressed by the clarity of the music instruments and ambient sound effects..

The Walkman app also has DSEE HX function for upscaling audio files, which have not been encoded in hi-res audio format.

Z3 has a large battery of 3,100 mAh capacity, allowing it to survive a day of extensive use per one full charge.

Sony Xperia Z3 has a suggested retail price of Bt23,990.

 

Key specs:

Networks: UMTS HSPA+ 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz; GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz; LTE

Platform: Google Android 4.4.4 (KitKat)

Processor: 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

Memory: 3 GB

Storage: 16 GB, expandable with microSD of up to 128 GB

Display: 5.2-inch Triluminos Display & X-reality for mobile with 1920 x 1080 pixels

Camera: Main camera: 20.7 MP ?.3-inch Sony Exmor RS for mobile image sensor, 25 mm wide-angle f/2.0; Front camera: 2.2 MP Sony Exmor R for mobile

Music: DSEE HX, High-res audio (LPCM, FLAC, ALAC, DSD), Low power audio playback, Walkman application, xLoud

Connectivity: NFC, PC Companion, Screen mirroring, Smart Connect, USB charging, USB High speed 2.0 support, USB Host, Xperia Link, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast

Input/Output:3.5 mm audio jack Digital Noise Cancelling (DNC), ANT+ sport, fitness, health support, a GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, Cast screen, Charging Dock Connector, DLNA Certified, GLONASS, HDCP, High-Res Audio via 3.5 mm audio jack and USB, MHL 3.0 support + 5-pin support, Media Go,

Battery: 3,100 mAh

Dimension: 146 x 72 x 7.4 mm

Weight: 153g