Sony Xperia Z3

What is the Sony Xperia Z3?

Sony seems intent on sticking to its crazy-short phone refresh cycle, with the Xperia Z3 arriving just six months after its predecessor, the Xperia Z2. Sony's latest Android-powered flagship, The Xperia Z3 lands alongside the Z3 Tablet Compact and the Xperia Z3 Compact, to complete the Z3 family. Given its speedy turnaround, the question is how much could Sony improve? The answer, not a great deal, it seems.
For looks, it’s not a radical departure from the Z2, though the body is svelter and lighter. Power’s been increased a little, there have been some improvements with the camera, and with an upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop it should prove to be even slicker still. The best news is that all of the things that made the Z2 so great, such as the superb screen, lengthy battery life and super-fast performance have all remained.

As you'd expect of a flagship, this is the best Sony phone yet, and despite the small improvements, the Xperia Z3 manages to keep pace with the HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3 and the iPhone 6. If you own an Xperia Z2, or even a Z1 though, you may be best served holding out for later this summer, when its successor, the Xperia Z4, is pencilled in to arrive.
We sincerely hope the Xperia Z4 makes a more momentous leap forward.

Sony Xperia Z3 – Design

There’s still the same combination of glass and aluminium with features like front-facing speakers and the camera sensor positioned at the back. At 7.3mm thick, it’s slimmer than the Z2 but not quite as svelte as the iPhone 6. It weighs 10g less than the Z2, not that you are really going to notice. What is more evident is the narrower frame, making it better suited for one-handed use.
It’s available in black, green, white and copper, the latter of which we had the pleasure of pulling out of our pocket. It’s actually not as garish or tacky as it first seems and is a colour that kind of grows on you.
The anodised aluminium finish has a very iPhone 6-look about it until you flip it over and see the glass rear. It might look nice, but it has irritating habit of slipping off sofa arms and pretty much any soft, not totally flat surface you leave it on. The S5’s dimpled back and even the all-metallic One M8 offers a more reassuring feel.

The corners are curvier, too, which ought to make it more comfortable to hold. It doesn't. Why? Because on every edge you your hand rests there's a button, a vanity seal or a charging dock. Buttons are at least well placed and thinner and while there’s nothing else out there like the Z3, we’d say the iPhone 6 and the One M8 have the more attractive, less fussy design.
One thing those two phones lack, however, is the Z3’s resistance to dust and water. Sony has moved up to a higher IP68 certification, which means as long as the latches covering the charging port and nano SIM card slot are closed, you can now dunk it into water for up to 1.5 metres for thirty minutes.
Those latches guarding the micro USB charging port, nano SIM and micro SD card slot feel more robust than the ones on previous Xperia Z handsets and should hopefully do a better job of keeping those vital internals protected.