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Saturday, September 1, 2018

Sony unveils the OLED-equipped Xperia XZ3 at IFA

A bigger, brighter and more vivid OLED screen is the main upgrade in Sony's new flagship smartphone.


Sony's Xperia XZ range of high-end smartphones was redesigned earlier this year in the shape of the XZ2, XZ2 Premium, and XZ2 Compact, with the 5.7-inch XZ2 receiving a muted welcome in ZDNet's review. Today, at the IFA show in Berlin, Sony announced the similar-looking 6.0-inch XZ3 which, among other improvements, features the first OLED display seen on an Xperia handset.

Here's a comparison of the new OLED-screen XZ3 and the XZ2:

Details Sony Xperia XZ3 Sony Xperia XZ2
Display 6.0-inch OLED, 18:9, 2880 x 1440, 537ppi, HDR 5.7-inch IPS LCD, 18:9, 1080 x 2160, 424ppi, HDR
Dimensions 158 x 73 x 9.9mm 153 x 72 x 11.1mm
Screen/body ratio 80.50% 76.10%
Weight 193g 198g
IP rating IP 65/68 IP 65/68
Colours Forest Green, Black, Bordeaux Red Liquid Black, Liquid Silver, Deep Green/Blue
OS Android 9.0 (Pie) Android 8.0 (Oreo)
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
RAM 4GB 4GB
Internal storage 64GB 64GB
MicroSD slot yes yes (shared with 2nd SIM slot)
Rear camera 19MP, f/2.0, HDR photos, 960fps video (FHD, HD), 4K HDR video, 5-axis EIS 19MP, f/2.0, HDR photos, 960fps video (FHD, HD), 4K HDR video, 5-axis EIS
Front camera 13MP 5MP
Speakers stereo (S-Force Front Surround) stereo (S-Force Front Surround)
3.5mm audio jack no no
USB-C yes yes
NFC yes yes
Infrared no no
FM radio no no
Fingerprint reader yes (rear) yes (rear)
Face unlock yes yes
Battery capacity 3,330mAh 3,180mAh
Fast charging Quick Charge 3.0 Quick Charge 3.0
Wireless charging Qi Qi
Price TBA £699 / $799

Like its predecessor, the Xperia XZ3 emphasizes entertainment features, with a 6-inch OLED HDR screen being the key upgrade. The 18:9 aspect ratio remains the same, but the resolution rises to 2,880 by 1,440 resulting in an impressive pixel density of 537ppi (the 6.4-inch Super AMOLED in the Samsung Note 9, by contrast, offers 516ppi). OLED screens generally offer brighter images with more vivid colors than the IPS LCDs Sony has used on previous Xperia handsets.

The screen glass curves at the sides, giving a near-borderless display and a screen-to-body ratio of 80.5 percent compared to 76.1 percent for the XZ2. Despite the larger screen, Sony has managed to shave 1.2mm off the thickness and 5g off the weight, while a new Side Sense feature lets you double-tap on either side of the display to bring up an AI-generated menu of the apps you're likely to require next.

The rear is glass too and houses a fingerprint reader and the 19MP main camera which, like the XZ2, is capable of shooting 4K HDR video and has a super slow-mo mode with a 960fps frame rate. The front camera is upgraded from 5MP in the XZ2 to 13MP for the new model. If you're shooting in challenging conditions, you can be reassured by the XZ3's IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

The Xperia XZ3 comes in Forest Green and Bordeaux Red, as well as black.
The smartphone platform is unchanged -- a Snapdragon 845 chipset with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, expandable via MicroSD card. However, the XZ3 comes with the latest Android 9.0 (Pie) operating system. The XZ3's battery is slightly larger than its predecessor's at 3,300mAh, but it does have to cope with a larger screen. It's also considerably less capacious than the 4,000mAh batteries in flagship handsets like the Samsung Note 9.

The Xperia XZ3 will be available in selected markets globally from the end of September. Official pricing has yet to be announced.



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