Three weeks before it's official Philippine release, I got a chance to do some hands-on of the upcoming Sony flagship smartphone. Here is my take on the Sony Xperia XZ
Front: 13 MP front camera, Sony logo, dual speakers, 5.2 inch IPS FHD LCD display with Gorilla Glass protection
Back: 23 MP PDAF rear camera with laser AF and color sensor and LED flash, non removable back cover
Internals: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, 3 GB RAM, hybrid dual SIM (SIM 2 as micro SD slot up to 256 GB), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, NFC, 2,900 mAh built-in battery.
The top has the 3.5 mm. audio jack while at the bottom, you can see the USB Type C port and pin hole microphone
The whole right section features the physical shutter button, power/unlock button which also has the fingerprint reader and volume rocker. For this feature, I chose the mineral black variant.
On the main page, there are really some elements of stock Android Marshmallow some of the basic apps have some Xperia flavor including the phone and messaging apps.
The circular-based app icons are also kinda previous Xperia models. In their presentation, they are proud that this phone only has 3 GB RAM, it has very good RAM management compared to other flagships with 4 GB RAM. Upon checking the developer options menu (I wiped the running apps first), this might be something to expect once you have it as I got less than a gig of RAM.
The camera app has the number of camera modules when you swiped from the right edge to the left. Unlike in their previous model, the 23 MP camera can now fully utilize on both the manual and superior auto modes which those 3 camera sensors come in to play.
The System UI tuner can be unlocked in this device and interesting on some pieces that you put in in the pulldown menu including LTE mode, Sony's own Stamina mode and VoLTE.
I had this test together with some people behind a number of Sony Xperia Philippines -based Facebook groups in their recent meet-up last weekend in Commune, Makati. The camera output quality is there on superior auto but I really do not like on this phone with a flagship SoC inside is the slow imaging processing time after you push the shutter button on the display. In a time that you already know that you do not need the assistance of the said camera mode and you need to shoot a number of pics in a short amount of time, this might not help for me. If there is only a normal auto mode in this one. After on what I experienced, I instantly approached on some Sony Xperia PH officials about this issue and they will look up into it soon. The best that you can do for now is the manual mode. The 13 MP selfie camera was superb for me as you can also tweak in on some options for a better looking you not just only thru the usual beauty mode.
Sony Xperia XZ rear camera samples (in superior auto mode)
Sony Xperia XZ front camera sample
If you pre-order the Sony Xperia XZ right now until November 6, 2016 in participating Sony stores, you will gonna get a 32 GB USB thumbdrive, 5,000 mAh portable charger and smart case. Sony Xperia XZ SRP for the Philippines is at Php 37,990 and it will be officially available this November 18, 2016