The Sony Xperia Z3 Review - First thoughts

Hiya,

Over the last few years Vodafone UK have been investing in their network, upgrading and improving 4G services to the point they could comfortably release some fantastic value devices with RED 4G services and features, that I've talked about already on prepay!
As impressive as the upgrades have been, around a month ago it was announced by our local store that Vodafone had rolled out an improved 4G services, bringing in wider coverage, faster internet speeds and improved call clarity within the UK, let alone the local area. As a result of this I was challenged to put the network through it's paces with the Sony Xperia Z3 and their exclusive Spotify premium entertainment bundle on the RED XL tariff.



In the first few hours of use I have to say I like it a lot. It feels incredibly solid and looks beautiful, compared to the Samsung Galaxy s5 it feels nicer in the hand.
Internal wise it's also very impressive, The 2.5GHz Quad core Snapdragon 810 packed with 3GB ram and 16GB internal storage (32gb model also available) makes for an ultra powerful, fast smartphone. With additional features including IP65 water resistant construction, shatter proof glass, NFC and smart watch compatibility, topped off with the Sony Home launcher it's high quality throughout.

On first tests of local 4G Services I was impressed too, with speeds at between 13 and 27Mbit/sec it's fast enough to download a whole album and a few games in minutes, rather than waiting until you get home.

The specifications, as always with big love to team GSMArena.

NETWORK Technology : GSM / HSPA / LTE

BODY:
Dimensions 146 x 72 x 7.3 mm (5.75 x 2.83 x 0.29 in)
Weight 152 g (5.36 oz)

Uses Nano-SIM

DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.2 inches (~70.9% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~424 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes, up to 10 fingers
Protection Shatter proof glass - IP68 certified - dust proof and water resistant over 1 meter and 30 minutes

OS Android OS, v4.4.4 (KitKat), upgradable to v5.0 (Lollipop)

Chipset
Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 SOC
CPU Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400
GPU Adreno 330

MEMORY
MicroSD Card slot Maximum capacity, 128 GB
Internal Storage 16 GB,
Ram 3 GB RAM

CAMERA
Primary 20.7 MP (5248 х 3936 pixels)
Features 1/2.3'' sensor size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama, autofocus, LED flash,

Video
Primary Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps
Secondary Video 1080p@30fps

COMMS
WLAN - Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
Bluetooth -  v4.0, A2DP, apt-X
GPS - Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
NFC - Yes
Radio - FM radio with RDS
USB - microUSB v2.0 (MHL 3 TV-out), USB Host

FEATURES
Sensors - Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Messaging - SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
Browser - HTML5 (chrome pre-installed)
Java - via Java MIDP emulator

ADDITONAL FEATURES
- Fast battery charging: 60% in 30 min (Quick Charge 2.0)
- ANT+ support
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- Xvid/MP4/H.264 player
- MP3/eAAC+/WAV/Flac player
- Document viewer
- Photo viewer/editor
- Voice memo/dial
MANUFACTURER BATTERY INFO
Non-removable Li-Ion 3100 mAh battery
Stand-by Up to 890 h (2G) / Up to 740 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 16 h (3G)
Music play Up to 130 h

The full review will be up on Friday, as the phone will be back with Vodafone by then. But, you have any questions, please ask and I'll respond as quick as properly.

Paul :)