Firstly thanks go to @Martin-O2 for allowing me to try the tech with this device. Secondly let me apologise for lack of images. These are coming, i'm just having phone issues at the moment...
Where to start, firstly the phone is what I would now consider a standard size in modern phones, finished in a lovely blue colour, feels nice and solid. The only drawback for me is the Xperia design is quite tired, it has been used for a large number of iterations now and I’m hoping that Sony will soon change the design.
In the box, since this is a review unit is the USB C adapter and the handset itself. No adapter or headphones in this unit.
First impressions are the handset is solid, well built and would probably survive a few drops before shattering the display, however in the day of less bezels this phone design looks old, it feels bigger than it should do and this is to do with the bezels. A 3.5mm headphone socket is still present on this device and Sony are still on the ball with having the fingerprint scanner in a place where you thumb more often than not gravitates to during use, and speaking of the scanner its accuracy is brilliant, during my two weeks use as a daily driver it recognised my prints every time.
Sony advertise the device as being waterproof (or more specifically water resistant), sadly I wasn’t brave enough to try this however a number of online reviews and videos prove this work. It seams water proofing has become more of a mainstream inclusion now whereas initially Sony were the only ones to provide this
In terms of resolution, unlike competition from Samsung and HTC, the Xperia XZ is still only Full HD.
The display is bright and looks good despite it being only 1080. Given the size of the display I would still say that the resolution is good enough, phones which offer 2K or higher most of the time the average user cannot see the difference. This would definitely not be a deal breaker for me.
For day to day usage Sony have made good inroads in making their UI look closer to stock Android than it did with the original Xperia line (excluding the windows mobile varients). The interface is smooth and responsive, but you will still find Sony’s overlay on key applications like message, phone and contacts. Included in this are a number of Sony’s own apps such as Playstation, Xperia Lounge, etc.
When watching movies or playing music without headphones the stereo speakers are a great win, whilst there doesn’t appear to be an improvement over the other Xperia phones before them it is still good, and the distance from the top to bottom speaker when held in landscape does allow for some stereo effect when watching movies.
You may find storage a bit of an issue. Sadly the Xperia XZ comes with 32GB as standard and there's no larger-capacity model on offer, as you can imageine, with movies, music and photos it's not too hard to fill up 32GB (given that Android takes up 10GB before you add any apps, music or movies). But it shouldn't be too much of an issue with 256GB of microSD space available – if you're going to pack this phone full of media, just be sure to get yourself a large microSD card.
Battery wise the phone will easily see you through the average day, perhaps two if you’re frugal with usage. I found taking the phone off charge at 7am by 10pm it would be between 30-50% so the second day was always a guess. The feature I did find useful was the phone learns when you have it on charge, so if for example you always put it on charge at midnight and off charge at 7am it learns the routine and pauses charging around 70% to save the battery and then before 7am will re-enable charging up to the required 100% ready for the day. Sony says this helps with longevity of the battery, only time will tell on this. There are a number of low power (stamina) modes available which will help heavy users last a complete day away from the charger. One disappointment I found was no wireless charging.
The Xperia XZ comes with a 23MP rear camera, has a maximum aperture of f/2.0 and an LED flash, sadly nothing new on the imaging front. Still, like all phone cameras the results are depending on your circumstances. Good sunny days produce excellent clear images with minimal noise; as the available light drops the noise increases and the resolved details drops.
The camera has an auto mode by default but also includes a plethora of manual options on the Xperia XZ. If you're willing to delve into these settings and experiment, you can enjoy some excellent and weird results, including some fabulous AR shots with dinosaurs and more!
Sony's camera also features optical image stabilisation, and records video in 4K.
Overall a good phone, and given its age its not bad value now and can keep up with the newer releases in terms of applications, games, etc, but the design is dated and needs to be improved.
