The most awarded phone at the CES 2013 is finally coming to Manila in April. Called a superphone by its executives and dubbed as the “iPhone 5/Galaxy S4 killer” by numerous reviewers, the hybrid Sony Xperia Z is packed with cutting-edge technology drawn from the company’s more than half-a-century expertise in the industry.
What’s the excitement all about?
A full HD, 5” Reality Display with Mobile Bravia Engine 2 for superior screen clarity and brightness; Near Field Communication (NFC) to wirelessly share music, photos and videos across other devices with an NFC tag; a highly durable, slim design of tempered glass and antishatter film on the front and back with water and dust resistance; a 13-megapixel fast-capture camera integrated with Cybershot functions that makes it feel like a real Sony camera; preloaded media applications (such as the Walkman) that deliver instant access to entertainment services; and Battery Stamina Mode that improves standby time up to four times by automatically shutting down all apps when the screen is off.
“[The] superphone experience [is] all this heritage and technology. We’ve got more heritage in audio technology, we’ve got half-a-century in television technology, [and] we are the leaders in imaging and producing technology. We bring all that into this phone. The experience is not simply a high-specification phone experience, but much more deeper than that. We’d like to believe that is the superphone experience,” said Jason Smith, director of marketing in Southeast Asia and Oceania, Sony Mobile Communications, during its press launch in Singapore.
Despite its relatively conservative and nonaggressive promotional campaigns through the years, Sony currently holds the No. 3 spot worldwide in the mobile industry (based on global shipments for Q4 2012). Its flagship Android smartphone Xperia Z could change all that. It could be the phone that will push Sony closer to the cutthroat competition of the two top players.
Easy to navigate
“We’re very confident with the specifications and technology of this phone. We can’t comment on what other manufacturers made. [We believe] this will help us to where we want to be. It’s a real credible challenge to enter the Top 2 in the industry,” said Matthew Lang, Sony Mobile Communications VP and head of Southeast Asia and Oceania customer unit.
Sony’s TV expertise comes to life in the Xperia Z’s easy-to-navigate 5” touchscreen display. It is made of shatterproof sheet on scratch-resistant glass. The bigger screen makes watching movies on-the-go a more pleasant experience as images come alive with vivid colors and razor-sharp clarity.
It also boasts as the world’s first image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video for smartphones that gives clear images even when shooting against strong backlight. Ola Lilja Molén, Sony Mobile Communications head of SEA markets, said the camera’s face detection can automatically lock in on a moving person and keep him/her in focus at all times.
Although its front camera is a mere 2 MP (or 1080p video), the 13 MP main camera features a 16x digital zoom, autofocus, burst mode (for action shots), flash/pulse LED, flash/photo light, HD video recording, image stabilizer, object tracking, red-eye reduction, self-timer, scene recognition, smile shutter, sweep panorama, touch capture, touch focus, white balance, picture effect and a host of other features to make that Instagram post stand out.
The new Walkman app makes accessing Sony’s audio heritage with just a tick of a box. No need to open several windows when making sound adjustments. “You get all of those equalizations, amplifiers, every innovation Sony has bought over the last 50 years with just one touch,” Lang said.
Preloaded Walkman, Album and Movies apps make it a breeze to browse for online and offline content through just a single access point.
Sony now also has an array of NFC-enabled devices, including speakers, headphones and TVs. That means bumping the Xperia Z on the TV’s remote, for instance, will instantly flash pictures and videos on the big screen. Two new NFC-enabled headsets has also been launched—the Stereo Bluetooth Headset SBH20 and the Wireless Headset DR-BTN200M. Again, simply bump the headphone on the Xperia Z to listen to tracks instantly.
The Xperia Z music experience also features 3D surround sound, Bluetooth stereo, ClearAudio+ for instant sound boost and clarity, dynamic normalizer, PlayNow service, TrackID music recognition, album art and so much more.
Texting underwater
Texting underwater is also possible—if you must, that is, or if you want to be the first among your friends to brag about it on Facebook. The Xperia Z can be safely kept under 1-meter of fresh water for up to 30 minutes, as long as all ports and covers are firmly closed. So, yes, you can take your phone with you when you shower, or keep your device and data safe if you accidentally drop it while washing the dishes or doing laundry.
Like all smartphones, the battery life can be exceedingly short. While the Battery Stamina Mode is helpful, battery life will depend on phone usage, said Smith. Video playback can make it last for only up to five hours, music listening up to 40 hours, talk time up to 11 hours and standby up to 550 hours. (Battery is 2330 mAh minimum.)
If you tend to use smartphones like most people do— surfing, streaming videos, checking out Facebook, Twitter or Instagram—bring a charger or, better yet, bring a juice box or two with you. It’s always wise to carry at least one mobile charger at all times.
“Yes, we have a full HD on a 5” screen. But the advantage to the bigger size is it also means a bigger space for the battery. They balance each other out,” Smith said.
Taller than the average smartphone, the Xperia Z is slim at 7.9 mm and light at 146 g, runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) to be upgraded to 4.2 after its release, a 1.5 GHz asynchronous quadcore Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB RAM, and is 4G LTE-ready. It comes in three colors: black, white and purple.
