After a rather boring 2016, Sony Mobile wants to make a comeback with its new Xperia XZ Premium. Instead of rehashing the same product with minor hardware updates, Sony wants to stand out as an innovator by introducing a couple of firsts for a smartphone.
Xperia XZ Premium
Sitting at the top of the range is the new Xperia XZ Premium. It’s a supercharged Xperia XZ flagship that comes with a chrome mirror finish like the Xperia Z5 Premium. As usual, imaging is a key focus for Sony and the Xperia XZ Premium features the world’s first memory stacked camera sensor which they call motion eye.
With this new 19MP 1/2.3″ Exmor RS sensor, the Xperia XZ Premium is also the first smartphone to feature super slow motion at an epic 960fps. The extra DRAM layer in the image sensor also allows faster data readouts to minimise distortion when shooting fast moving objects.
So that you won’t miss a thing, the new Predictive Capture feature will start capturing moments based on your movements even before you tap on the shutter button. Similar to the original Xperia XZ, it gets Sony’s triple image sensing setup which includes laser auto-focus and an RGBC-IR sensor for white balance. For selfies, it gets a 13MP f/2.0 Exmor RS sensor upfront that has a 22mm wide-angle lens.
The Xperia XZ Premium is also the world’s first smartphone to feature a 4K HDR display on a 5.5″ panel. In terms of content, you can now enjoy HDR content on selected Amazon Prime original series. For better audio enjoyment, the XZ Premium supports High-Res Audio playback and it also upscales your existing audio with Sony’s DSEE HX technology.
Under the hood, the Xperia XZ Premium will run on Qualcomm’s top of the line Snapdragon 835 processor that is mated to 4GB of RAM and has 64GB of expandable storage (up to 256GB with microSD). For faster connectivity, it even supports Gigabit LTE with Qualcomm’s X16 LTE modem.
Similar to other recent Xperia devices, it gets a fingerprint sensor on the power button and it charges up via USB Type-C. Keeping the device running is a 3,230mAh battery which supports Sony’s Qnovo Adaptive charger for better battery longevity.
For added protection, the Xperia XZ Premium uses Gorilla Glass 5 for both front and back plus it is also dust and water resistant with an IP68 rating. The Xperia XZ Premium will come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and it is available in either Luminous Chrome or Deepsea Black colours. The Xperia XZ Premium is expected to be available globally from late Spring, which is somewhere towards the end of May 2017.
Xperia XZs
In addition, Sony has also introduced the Xperia XZs which also features their new 19MP Motion Eye camera. Instead of a 5.5″ 4K display, the Xperia XZs gets a 5.2″ Full HD display and it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM. On-board storage is listed at 32GB but you do get 64GB for the dual-SIM version.
Like the name suggests, this is an update of the current Xperia XZ flagship. It also retains a 13MP f/2.0 selfie camera, 2900mAh battery, IP68 dust/water resistance. The Xperia XZs will be available beginning of April 2017 and it comes in Ice Blue, Warm Silver and Black.
