Sony's newest Z-series flagship phone didn't take long to arrive -- the Xperia Z2 was only announced earlier this year -- but in a flash it took its place as Sony's ultimate smartphone. It brings a new, refined design and is one of the first smartphones along with the smaller Z3 Compact and the Z3 Tablet Compact, to promise a deep integration with Sony's PlayStation 4 games console.
With the Z3, Sony finally integrates its various platforms into an ecosystem that can rival Apple or Microsoft -- but on top of Google's Android. Indeed, the company's purchase of the mobile division from its joint partnership with Ericsson has finally take fruit, after two and a half years.
The Xperia Z3 is on sale now in the UK and set to hit stores Asia in early October. In the UK, it's available SIM-free from around £500 online, or free on monthly contracts from around the £35 mark. There's no word yet on how much the Z3 will sell for unlocked in the US but its Singapore price, S$998, converts to around $800.
In Australia, the Z3 is available for pre-order now at Au$849, but there's no actual onsale date yet. You can get a more detailed look at pricing and carrier plans here.
In the US it's slated for a fall launch with T-Mobile, making it the first time Sony is actually selling its flagship handset at roughly the same time right around the world.
Design
Sometimes there's really no need to deviate too much from a good thing, That's just what Sony has done here, only slightly refining the previous Xperia formula to good effect. It keeps the glass-covered front and rear and the aluminum band that holds it all together, but like Apple, Sony refined the Z3's profile for a new generation. The a result is slightly smaller, slimmer and lighter Z2. The rounded edges also make for a better grip -- the sharper edges of the Z2 can dig uncomfortably into your hand.
Like the recent iPhone 6 and HTC One M8, the Z3 has a premium feel that's hard to beat. The rear glass back can be prone to fingerprint smudges -- particularly the black model, but the white version hides this well.
Like most Sony devices, the Z3 is waterproof and has an IP58 rating. This means that the phone can survive up to 1.5 meters underwater for 30 minutes (note, however, that you shouldn't use it in salt water). As with all phones underwater, the touchscreen doesn't work, but there's a dedicated camera shutter button for aquatic pics. It'll certainly survive a dunk and you can listen to music while in the shower too.
Unlike the HTC Butterfly 2, however, Sony's Z3 has flaps that you'll have to deal with when charging -- HTC's phone does away with the flaps, but cleverly remains waterproof. Like on the Z3 Compact, you'll have to make sure the flaps are tight shut before taking it for a dip. And speaking of HTC, Sony seems to have borrowed the idea of front-facing speakers. This makes it much easier to watch videos since you don't have to awkwardly cup your hands to redirect the sound.
Display
The screen is really the best thing about the Z3, like the Z2 -- the IPS panel is bright and colors are definitely vivid. However, the one thing that irks me is Sony's failure to capitalize on the screen size and resolution -- you're limited to just five rows of four huge icons. I do wish Sony could have tweaked the UI a little to make everything look sleeker, given how thin the phone is.
Home-screen animations were pretty fluid, and while normally I found such features to be gimmicky resource hogs, the wave effects -- similar to the ones seen on the PlayStation -- do reinforce the impression that this is a Sony device.
Software features
Like the Z2, the Z3 comes running Android KitKat, but 4.4.4 instead of 4.4.2. The difference between the two versions are just some bug fixes, so software-wise, the features found on the Z3 are pretty much the same.
You have built-in themes, floating apps, Sony's own take on the image gallery called Albums, a music app called Walkman and a Movie app that lets you rent films (although this doesn't work from where I'm testing in Singapore).
There is new stuff, however, and this includes Lifelog, a health tracker; Sony Select, an app curator; and PlayStation, which lets you play PlayStation 4 games on your phone anywhere at home. You'll essentially be able to use your Xperia Z3 as a remote screen for your PS4, using the PS4's DualShock 4 controller to stay in the game.
PS4 integration
Of the new features, the new PS4 remote play stands out as one of the more important features. Sony has been talking about integration for years now, having acquired the other half of its mobile business from the partnership with Ericsson in early 2012, and the Z3 looks set to properly realise this. If you already own a PS4, there's more reason to get locked in to the Sony ecosystem to get the full experience.
Unfortunately, this isn't quite ready yet -- the rollout looks likely to happen sometime in October or November, and as such, we're unable to test out this feature just yet. Given that this is one of the major calling cards for the new Z3 range of devices, we'll properly evaluate this before we give our final verdict.
The Z3 is the first smartphone that lets you stream PlayStation 4 games to it: a very intriguing incentive, if you already have the console and are desperate to play while other people take their turn on the family TV.
Internal specs
Spec-wise, the Z3 packs a snappy Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.5GHz, and like the Z2 has a 5.2-inch full HD display (1,920x1,080 pixels). Unlike other manufacturers, including Samsung, who have chosen to go with a "Quad HD" display (2,560x1,440 pixels), Sony is sticking with full HD on the Z3 and has come out fighting on this point, saying that the higher resolution isn't worth the tradeoff in reduced battery life. This does make some sense, especially since Sony has claimed two days of battery life for the Z3, but more on this later.
Other specs include 3GB RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage. You'll also have dual band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connectivity.
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