Latest sony xperia z5 premium. Review of the smartphone Sony Xperia Z5 Premium: the sum of technology

The port for connecting the docking station on the left side face was removed. Due to the lack of a plug on the microUSB connector, it has become irrelevant. The only plug on the case hides the tray with a SIM card and a memory card and looks quite reliable. So it will not fall off the way it happened on the Xperia Z2 and even Z3.

Smart phone - smart screen

The screen of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium turned out to be surprisingly mysterious. In 4K mode, it does not always work, but only in some cases. Namely, when playing videos and viewing photos through built-in applications, as well as on YouTube and Netflix. On the desktop, in all submenus, in games, social networking applications and in the browser, the display displays a picture in a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Sony's argument sounds quite convincing: in this way, it is possible to optimize power consumption, besides, Android Lollipop does not know how to work with such displays. An upcoming update should fix this, but Sony has yet to say anything about new ways to use 4K. There is no section in the settings that allows you to force enable UHD mode, and it is not known if it will appear in the future.

World's first 4K smartphone

At IFA 2015 in Berlin in autumn, Japan's Sony Mobile Communications (“Sony Mobile”) unveiled the fifth generation of its flagship smartphone family: the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, and the world's first smartphone with a 4K display, the Xperia Z5 Premium.

The “basic” smartphone of the new line, the Xperia Z5, we have now come to the turn of the most technically interesting model of this trinity, a device with an extremely high screen resolution, which the developers themselves call “4K”. We will consider the screen that is of great interest in detail in the corresponding section, but otherwise it is worth noting that the Z5 Premium differs quite little from the main Z5 model, but there are still some differences, including even in the appearance of the novelty. It is with them and with the main characteristics that we, perhaps, will begin.

Key Features of Sony Xperia Z5 Premium (Model E6883)

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, 8 cores: 4×2.0 GHz (ARM Cortex-A57) + 4×1.5 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
• GPU Adreno 430
• Operating system Android 5.1
• Touch display IPS 5.5″, 3840 × 2160, 806 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 32 GB
• SIM cards: Nano-SIM (1 or 2 pcs.)
• Support for microSD memory cards up to 200 GB
• GSM networks 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• WCDMA networks 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
• Networks LTE Cat.6, LTE FDD (Band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20, 28)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2 bands) MIMO, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
• Micro-USB 2.0, OTG
• DLNA, Media Go, MTP, Miracast, MHL 3.0
• GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• Direction, proximity, lighting sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, magnetic compass, fingerprint sensor
• Protection against ingress of water and dust (IP65 and IP68)
• Camera 23 MP, Sony Exmor RS, autofocus, LED flash
• Camera 5 MP, Sony Exmor R (front)
• Battery 3430 mAh, non-removable
• Dimensions 154×76×7.8 mm
• Weight 181 g

Appearance and usability

In general terms, in design as a whole, the Z5 Premium version almost exactly repeats its brother in the line. Both models differ from their predecessors in having flatter side bezels, a difference that is striking as all previous Xperia Z smartphones had a much more bulging and rounded bezel.

Here, the frame is made of metal, and, according to Sony, it's not even aluminum, but real steel. The most noticeable difference between the novelty and the usual Z5 is the back surface of the case: if the Z5 used frosted glass with a coating, then the Z5 Premium uses the usual transparent glass with a mirror substrate.

This has its pluses and minuses. There is no doubt that fingerprints are more visible on smooth glass. And while the Z5's matte finish is much more slippery to hold in your hand, the Z5 Premium doesn't have that problem.

Pictured: Sony Xperia Z5 Premium (left) compared to regular Z5

However, the Premium version has noticeably grown in size, including the thickness of the case, although with such dimensions, the thickness of 7.8 mm still seems quite small. Traditionally, there are no complaints about the quality of materials and assembly, Sony does not give cause for concern in this regard. The smartphone is very solidly tailored, looks and feels solid and reliable product, in the corners there are familiar inserts of painted polycarbonate to dampen impact energy when dropped.

The only complaint is traditionally associated with the same corners: in Sony devices they are very slightly rounded in plan, so the smartphone takes up more space in pockets and sometimes unpleasantly rests on the body, although there is no technical need for such sharp corners, this is a purely design decision. It is quite possible to round them more strongly, as most manufacturers do - then the overall shape of the case would become more interesting than such a simple rectangle drawn on a ruler.

Otherwise, there are no noticeable differences from previous Sony models. Card slots are usually covered with a cover with a rubberized gasket, since the device has been assigned an IP65/68 protection class. As before, this does not mean at all that you can swim and take pictures underwater with a smartphone, since the official signature on the company's website literally reads: “The device is not allowed to be completely submerged under water, and also not to be exposed to sea, salt, chlorinated water and such liquids. like liquor."

SIM-cards are installed in the side slot, driving into it on a plastic tray, which is equipped with compartments for two Nano-SIM cards. Another separate slot is for a microSD memory card. As is the case with the regular Z5, the Z5 Premium is available with single or dual SIM versions.

The hardware buttons are located on the opposite side, there are traditionally three of them, as Sony continues to support the idea of ​​a dedicated photo button. Two buttons are ordinary, sticking out of the case and, it should be noted, quite hard, but the third one is completely flat, you can’t feel it blindly. The fact is that in the new generation of the Xperia Z family, such a convenient and becoming standard unlock tool as a fingerprint scanner has appeared. It also supports the FIDO standard - fingerprint authorization for online payments. True, the scanner platform is limited by the width of the power button embedded in the side face, so you will have to get used to working with a scanner of such an unusual shape at first.

The front panel is habitually covered with a kind of "tempered glass", the manufacturer of which Sony traditionally does not disclose. The glass has two narrow cutouts at the top and bottom for sound output from the speakers, for which proprietary S-Force Front Surround technology is implemented.

Also on the front panel at the top are sensors, a front camera and an LED event indicator. The operation of the indicator is adjusted by the user in the section on sound in the system settings. There are no touch hardware buttons at the bottom under the screen.

The back side, as usual, is reserved for the camera module, which, unlike many modern flagships from other manufacturers, does not protrude beyond the surface of the case. Nearby is a flash, which for some reason Sony is in no hurry to make a double one - again, unlike most other manufacturers.

At the bottom there is a familiar Micro-USB connector that supports the USB 2.0 specification and a kind of connection of external devices in USB OTG mode, which must first be initiated by an independent device search and manual connection. Here, next to it, there is a very rare for today, but useful fastening for a strap.

The top end traditionally contains only a headphone jack, and nothing more. I would like to see in Sony devices someday an infrared transmitter for controlling home appliances, this can be very useful.

As for the colors of the case, this time there were no bright and unusual colors. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is available in three color options: light gray (“mirror chrome”), all-black, and gold, among which, oddly enough, gold looks the most impressive. It should be noted that in the case of the light gray version, only the color of the back wall and sidewalls changes, while the front panel still remains black.

Screen

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch screen. The physical dimensions of the display are 68 × 121 mm, the diagonal is 5.5 inches. At the same time, the screen resolution is 3840 × 2160, the dot density is approximately 806 ppi. Sony claims that this pixel density is 10 times that of Full HD TVs and twice that of most smartphones. Compared to Full HD, the resolution of 4K (Ultra HD) is twice as high on each side, that is, in such a screen there are four times more dots. Note that some tests, including AnTuTu, determine that the screen resolution of the Xperia Z5 Premium is not 4K, but Full HD (1920 × 1080).

The frame around the screen looks standard: its width is only about 3 mm on the sides and 16 mm on the top and bottom. With such a large overall dimensions of the case, such a frame certainly cannot be called wide.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on a light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 10 simultaneous touches. Operation modes with gloves and wet fingers are supported.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are slightly better than the screen of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens of both devices (Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, as you can easily determine, on the right, then they can be distinguished by size):

Both screens are dark, but the Sony screen is still slightly darker (its brightness in the photo is 105 versus 108 for the Nexus 7). The tripling of reflected objects on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass (it is also a touch sensor) and the matrix surface (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better with strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, even better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with a white field displayed in full screen, its maximum value was about 605 cd/m², and the minimum was 4.6 cd/m². The maximum value is very high, and given the excellent anti-reflective properties, in bright daylight and even in direct sunlight, the image on the screen should be clearly distinguishable. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. The automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the right of the logo on the front panel). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness control. If it is at maximum, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 22 cd / m² (normal), in an artificially lit office (about 400 lux) it sets it to 400 cd / m² (too high), in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 610 cd/m² (even a little higher than with manual adjustment). If the brightness slider is at half the scale (it is very non-linear - after 50% the brightness goes up sharply as the setting is increased), then the screen brightness for the three conditions indicated above is as follows: 13, 210 and 520 cd / m² (suitable values). If the brightness control is set to a minimum - 7, 18, 440 cd / m² (only the average value is greatly underestimated). As a result, the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately, and it is possible to adjust the nature of the brightness change to the user's requirements. Significant backlight modulation appears only at a very low brightness level, but its frequency is high, about 2.3 kHz, so even in this case there is no visible screen flicker (but can possibly be detected in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect).

This screen uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

However, the subpixels themselves are located unconventionally - typical columns go in the horizontal direction, but in each of the columns the triad of subpixels is shifted vertically by one subpixel, first up, and down three columns later. Note that we have already seen a similar arrangement of subpixels in the case of Lenovo K3 Note. As a result, the ratio of horizontal columns to vertical triads is 3 to 2, the actual vertical resolution is 1/3 less than the horizontal one. Here and below, the landscape orientation of the screen is meant. That is, the dots (RGB triads) on the screen are actually only 3840 by 1440. At the same time, the manufacturer writes about the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium: “4K UHD display (3840 × 2160)”.

Additional tests have shown that, in principle, not every application is generally capable of displaying an image in this conditional 4K resolution. For example, MX Player, FIV, Google Photos output exclusively in Full HD resolution, that is, 1920 by 1080 pixels (the smartphone itself scales to the screen resolution), and only Sony's image demonstrator displays a picture in 4K resolution (perhaps a regular video player Sony knows how to do it too). Here is such a limited "4K", not for everyone. Well, we found the program, let's consider the features of the output using the example of a vertical and horizontal world with black stripes one pixel thick through a white gap also one pixel. The original test image is available at this link, the world is in the center. Here is her fragment:

With vertical (on the right side) stripes, everything is fine - clearly, pixel by pixel. With horizontal ones (on the left side), everything is worse, since dark gaps are only one subpixel thick and visually the world is seen simply as a gray field. On the vertical, if desired (and with the help of a magnifying glass), the strips can be considered. In addition, at the bottom, at the beginning of the horizontal world, instead of a strip, some kind of mess is displayed - a conversion error into the resolution of a strange matrix. However, formally the black-and-white resolution of 3840×2160 pixels is still implemented. Is there a horizontal black bar? There is! It will no longer be possible to sue Sony for cheating, and no one explicitly promised to implement a color resolution of 3840 × 2160 pixels. However, these are all nit-picking, the screen resolution is still prohibitive.

The screen has good viewing angles without hue inversion and without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here is a photo in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, while the brightness of the screens is initially set to about 200 cd / m² (on a white field in full screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. White field perpendicular to the plane of the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

The colors on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium screen are oversaturated, skin tones are heavily redshifted, and the color balance is noticeably different from the standard. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, the contrast has remained at a good level. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, the brightness drop is slightly larger (brightness in photos is 232 versus 235 for Nexus 7). The black field, when deviated diagonally, is not highlighted very strongly and acquires a purple hue. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):

And from another angle:

The black box on the Nexus 7 is still a little darker at the corners. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is excellent:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1060:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 26 ms (16 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between grayscale 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 35 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the gray tint did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function turned out to be 2.40, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2, however, this does not have any values, since the real gamma curve deviates noticeably from the power law:

This is due to the presence of an aggressive dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (in the dark, the brightness decreases). As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential grayscale output almost on the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black flare at angles - when displaying special patterns with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in full screen. In general, such a non-switchable brightness correction does nothing but harm, since reducing the brightness in dark images reduces the visibility of gradations in the shadows under ambient light conditions, and constant brightness jumps are very annoying. That is, the benefits of this function are zero, only harm.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

They are very atypical for top Sony mobile devices. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows you to get a wide color gamut. The red phosphor apparently uses so-called quantum dots. Unfortunately, as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is mediocre, since the color temperature is much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE), although not very large, jumps noticeably from hue to hue. But at least the variation in color temperature is small. (The dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance is not of great importance there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This smartphone has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors.

What we tried to do, the result is data signed as Warm on the charts above. As a result, we corrected the color temperature and at least lowered ΔE on a white field. This is a good result, but the variation in ΔE has increased, and the brightness (as well as contrast) has greatly decreased - from 600 to 380 cd/m². And such a correction did not reduce the oversaturation of colors. If someone still finds the image on the screen of this smartphone not “bright” and “colorful” enough, then you can turn on the corporate mode X-Reality for mobile.

The result is shown below:

Saturation and contour sharpness are increased by software, and there are fewer distinguishable gradations of shades in the area of ​​saturated colors. But the picture - yes, became brighter. There is also an extreme Extreme brightness mode, in which the trend of "improvement" of the image reaches its peak. Here's what we got:

Let's summarize. The brightness adjustment range of this screen is very wide, anti-glare properties are excellent, which allows you to comfortably use your smartphone both on a sunny day on the beach and in complete darkness. It is permissible to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works absolutely adequately. The advantages also include a very effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, moderate black lightening when the gaze deviates from the perpendicular to the screen surface, and excellent black field uniformity. The disadvantages are aggressive dynamic brightness adjustment. Everything is very bad with color reproduction, the colors are oversaturated (skin tones are especially affected), the color balance is bad. The presence of appropriate adjustments allows you to slightly correct the balance, but at the expense of a very strong decrease in brightness (and contrast). Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices (and the most important thing is the visibility of information in a wide range of external conditions), the screen quality can be considered high. It is better not to watch movies and photographs on this and not show it to anyone, but the text or, for example, maps will be clearly visible.

Sound

The sound of the novelty seemed to us less impressive than that of the same Xperia Z5, although, perhaps, this is a shortcoming of a particular test sample - after all, this is not a serial smartphone from the store. In any case, the sound of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is not impressive. Two stereo speakers are located at the top and bottom of the front panel, the sound output is implemented through two barely visible slots, due to which it is possible to realize surround sound, called here S-Force Front Surround. The sound is not bad, clear, but still deaf and not powerful enough and loud - waterproof pads affect.

The sound is better in headphones, but it clearly falls short of the quality of the same Oppo. The sound is bright, loud, but still does not have the full breadth of the frequency spectrum, and crystal clearness too. Extraneous noise impurities are audible, the maximum volume level is not excessive, it is barely enough for comfortable listening, there is no desire to lower the slider lower.

The device uses its own branded player to play music compositions, which has suddenly ceased to be called Walkman. Otherwise, everything is familiar here: the user is traditionally given the choice between manual adjustment and automatic optimization of all sound parameters using the comprehensive ClearAudio + function. It includes a lot of various technologies, you can read more about this on dedicated to sound technologies used in all modern top-end smartphones of the manufacturer.

There is an FM radio in the smartphone; there is no automatic recording of telephone conversations from the line using standard tools.

Camera

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium features the same two 23MP and 5MP digital camera modules as the regular Z5. The front-facing 5-megapixel Exmor R module is equipped with a 25mm wide-angle G Lens with f / 2.4 aperture and fixed focus, it does not have its own flash. The front camera, like the main one, can operate in manual and automatic shooting control modes. The developers emphasize that here for the video there is a SteadyShot electronic stabilization function with Intelligent Active Mode. The camera also supports HDR mode, can recognize a smile and add a “soft skin effect”. The camera does a good job of taking selfies.

The main camera is equipped with the same latest 23-megapixel Sony Exmor RS module for mobile devices with a 1/2.3-inch sensor and a wide-angle G Lens (24mm) with f/2.0 aperture, hybrid autofocus and single-section burst LED flash. Autofocus is fast, using hybrid autofocus technology that combines the capabilities of contrast and phase focusing technologies: the first is responsible for accuracy, and the second for speed. And with focus points spread across the entire viewfinder, it takes significantly less than a second (0.03 s) to bring your subject into focus anywhere in the frame.

To mention the Bionz image processor, the low-light technology has also been improved, which provides better photos without distortion and blur at night or in the dark. All Xperia Z5 series smartphones have received an updated version of SteadyShot stabilization technology with Intelligent Active Mode, providing smooth stabilization without distortion. And, of course, do not forget that Sony is practically the only manufacturer that still installs a separate hardware camera control button in its smartphones.

In manual shooting control mode, you can set ISO, white balance, change the type of focus. There is a five-fold digital zoom, carried out using Clear Image scaling technology.

In addition, the settings traditionally contain a lot of additional modes, including entertainment ones, such as, for example, an augmented reality mode called AR effect, which makes it possible to combine real shots with animation. Recently, the choice of options for AR has been greatly expanded. Some of the shooting settings can be passed to third-party applications for control via the Camera2 API, but RAW recording is not supported.

The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 4K, there is also a shooting mode at 60 frames per second. By the way, from your videos shot in 4K, you can choose the frames you like and save them as 8-megapixel photos. It looks something like this:

The camera copes with shooting video in all these modes with dignity, while recording sound cleanly and efficiently, the noise reduction system copes with its tasks adequately. Thanks to the SteadyShot technology with Intelligent Active Mode, shooting on the move is very smooth, this is truly one of the strongest points of Sony's mobile cameras.

• Clip #1 (34 MB, 1920×1080 @60 fps)
• Video #2 (129 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)

	The number plate of the closest car is distinguishable.
	The white balance is periodically lost, and blur zones appear in the corners.
	Excellent sharpness in the central part of the frame, but it falls off towards the corners.
	Good detail in the background in the central part.
	Excellent sharpness and detail.
	Not bad sharpness in the field and according to the plans, it drops a little in the corners.
	The camera copes with macro photography.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench according to our methodology.

As already noted, the Premium version is not much different from the regular Z5. This also applies to the camera. Despite the shortcomings listed above, the camera is the same as in the Z5, but do not forget that its best qualities appear when shooting at 8 megapixels. In this case, blurry corners can be avoided and the overall sharpness of the image can be improved. However, the central part looks good on 20-megapixel shots, and sometimes the camera manages to process the entire field quite well.

Some of the roughness inherent in the first firmware of new Sony smartphones can still be found here, but they practically disappear when switching to shooting at 8 megapixels. The laboratory test does not allow to prove the identity of the Z5 and Z5 Premium cameras, however, the firmware of the latter clearly does not look final, which is why the images show some artifacts that make such a difference. As a result, we can conclude that the camera will cope well with many scenarios.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone can operate in most bands of 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation LTE Cat.6 FDD networks, that is, this device provides a theoretical download speed of up to 300 Mbps. At the same time, the smartphone has support for all three of the most common LTE bands among domestic operators (B3, B7 and B20). In practice, with the SIM card of the MTS operator in the Moscow region, the smartphone was confidently registered and worked in 4G networks. The quality of signal reception does not cause any complaints, the device confidently maintains communication indoors and does not lose the signal in areas of poor reception. The list of the main frequency bands supported by the device in Russia is as follows:

• LTE FDD: 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz
• WCDMA: 850/900/2100 MHz
• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

The device also has support for Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, dual Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) and 2 × 2 MIMO speed mode, Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The Micro-USB connector supports the USB 2.0 specification and the connection of external devices in USB OTG mode, but for this you need to manually start searching for devices through a special item in the settings.

The navigation module works with GPS (A-GPS), Glonass and Beidou (BDS). There are no complaints about the speed of the navigation module, the first satellites are detected during a cold start within the first tens of seconds. The smartphone is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the compass of navigation programs functions.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search for contacts is also carried out immediately. Text input is supported by seamless sliding from letter to letter (Swype), and virtual keyboards can also be reduced in size and brought closer to one of the edges of the display for ease of control with fingers of one hand. The look and organization of the keyboard itself is traditional for Sony smartphones, you can choose from several options. The so-called "small applications" mode allows you to display some regular programs, such as a calculator, a timer, a calendar, and even a browser, in the form of separate small resizable windows. You can open several such windows, that is, in fact, this is such a multi-window mode, but not for any application.

The smartphone supports two SIM cards, but only the data transfer function can be tied to a specific card, and for voice calls and text messages, you must select a SIM card each time in the corresponding interface when sending. In general, this does not cause irritation at all, but someone may lack such obvious functionality as the initial binding of certain functions to specific cards.

SIM card slots are equal in their capabilities, high-speed data transfer in 3G (4G) networks is supported by a card in any slot, switching is carried out directly from the menu without the need to physically change slots. Work with two SIM-cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

In terms of the software platform, there are no differences from the regular version of the Z5. Here, the same fifth version of Google Android (Lollipop 5.1.1) with its own shell is used as the operating system. The shell is well known from previous generations of Sony smartphones, there are no noticeable differences from model to model, although something is still changing in small things. For example, here, as in the usual Xperia Z5, the usual navigation panel that slides out on the left in the application menu suddenly disappeared. The leftmost home screen now contains a large widget called What's New, which offers announcements of the most interesting (according to developers) programs and games. The Small Applications menu, called up in the same place as the menu of recently opened programs, has remained in its place, but its appearance has changed, although the functionality remains the same. In general, Sony developers do not introduce drastic changes to their interface so that the owner of any of the old models of the flagship Xperia series can easily "change" to a newer model.

Performance

The hardware platform of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is based on the familiar 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC. This 64-bit SoC is made on a 20 nm process technology, it includes four powerful 64-bit ARM Cortex-A57 cores up to 2 GHz, which are complemented by four simpler 64-bit Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.5 GHz, providing high power efficiency or performance depending on specific applications.

The Adreno 430 video accelerator is responsible for processing graphics in the SoC. The smartphone has 3 GB of RAM. The user initially has access to about 21 GB of free flash memory out of a total of 32 GB. The memory can be expanded with microSD cards up to 200 GB, in practice our 128 GB Transcend Premium microSDXC UHS-1 test card was recognized by the device. It also supports connecting external devices to the USB port in OTG mode, but for this you need to manually start the search for devices through the section in the settings.

However, the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform is quite capable of competing with other modern flagship alternatives such as HiSilicon Kirin 935 and MediaTek MT6795. In graphics tests, the Snapdragon 810 GPU shows results that are no less than those of the listed SoCs. At the same time, the Snapdragon 810 is quite a bit inferior in everything to the currently leading Exynos 7420 (represented in the tables by the Meizu Pro 5 smartphone).

In any case, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone in terms of its performance is at the level of modern flagships, and its hardware capabilities will definitely be enough for a couple of generations to perform any task, including demanding games.

Testing in the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3 comprehensive benchmarks:

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark gaming tests, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (due to which the speed can rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

thermal images

Below is a thermal image of the back surface taken after 10 minutes of running the GFXBenchmark battery test:

Heating is strongly localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 45 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is significantly higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats that make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, you should not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the test results, the test subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are required for the full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to using a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings in it and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.

¹ Audio in MX Video Player only played after installing an alternative custom audio codec; The regular player does not have such a setting.

Video output features tested Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. Apparently, only Sony still supports image transmission via a wired connection (MHL 3.0 support is declared), since the number of devices that can display an image via MHL or Mobility DisplayPort is rapidly decreasing. For MHL testing, we used a monitor ViewSonic VX2363Smhl, which supports direct MHL connection (in version 2.0) using a passive Micro-USB to HDMI adapter cable. At the same time, MHL output was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels at a frequency of 60 fps. Regardless of the actual orientation of the smartphone, the image is displayed on the screens of the smartphone and monitor in landscape orientation with the connector on the smartphone to the right. At the same time, the image on the monitor fits exactly within the boundaries of the display area and repeats the image on the smartphone screen one to one. The exception is the start screen and, apparently, the windows of programs that, in principle, do not support landscape orientation. They are still displayed in portrait orientation, on the monitor - with wide black margins on the sides:

Sound is output via MHL (in this case, we used headphones connected to the monitor) and has good quality. At the same time, sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the smartphone itself, and the volume is not adjusted by the buttons on the smartphone case, but is turned on / off. In our case, a smartphone with an MHL adapter connected, judging by the charge indicator, was charging.

Next, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the output frames of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied 1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels and a frame rate of 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps. In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode. The results of this (block titled "Smartphone screen") and the following test are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the frame output criterion, the playback quality of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) may output with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in the shadows and in the highlights. When playing video files with a resolution of 1080p (1920 by 1080 pixels), the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly on the border of the screen in its original Full HD resolution.

With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing video, the monitor displays an exact copy of the smartphone screen, that is, the output is in true Full HD resolution in the case of 1080p files.

The range of brightness displayed on the monitor is the same as when displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the "MHL (monitor output)" section. The output quality is good, and even 60 fps files are output perfectly smoothly, without twitching. Recall that traditionally, to control playback from a smartphone, you can use the remote control from the TV (apparently, Sony).

The conclusion is typical: the MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, web browsing and other activities that benefit from the increase in screen size.

Battery life

The capacity of the built-in battery installed in the Sony Xperia X5 Premium is 3430 mAh. Even despite the high screen resolution and demanding platform, the device demonstrates a very decent battery life in all scenarios. As it turned out, not in all cases the smartphone uses a full 4K resolution, so the similarity of the results with the Huawei Nexus 6P with almost the same battery capacity is quite justified.

Continuous reading in the Moon + Reader program (with a standard, light theme, with auto scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted almost 16.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching videos from Youtube in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level through a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted almost 8 hours. In the 3D-games mode, the device worked for 4.5 hours.

The device supports the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2 fast charging function. The smartphone came to us for testing without a bundled charger, and with the help of a third-party charger with an output current of 2 A, the initial charging is carried out with a current of 5.1 V 1.5 A, but as it charges, these values , of course, decrease, and as a result, the battery of the smartphone is fully charged in about 3 hours.

Outcome

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is a rather peculiar mobile device, a kind of “exhibition” smartphone with top-end hardware stuffing “not for everyone”. Why, for example, should an ordinary consumer pay extra for a fourfold increase in the number of pixels on the screen, if he still cannot see the difference without a microscope? In addition, in reality, the screen does not always and not in all applications display an image in the same 4K resolution, and this resolution turned out to be not quite 4K. As for the rest, we are so accustomed to the huge dimensions of such “handheld devices” that we don’t even pay attention to them, having completely untied the hands of manufacturers in this regard. True, even in comparison with the majority of flagships similar in terms of positioning, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium turns out to be one of the heaviest modern smartphones, the mass of which managed to exceed 180 grams.

Nevertheless, the hero of the review actually differs very little from the usual Sony flagships of the Xperia Z series. This is practically the same Xperia Z5, only with a slightly larger screen and, accordingly, dimensions. The sound system, hardware platform, set of communication modules, assembly, materials - everything here is the same or almost the same, and does not cause any special complaints. And the decent level of autonomy in the Xperia Z5 Premium frankly pleased us at all, of course, we expected a worse result. It is also very impressive that Sony, unlike most modern manufacturers, does not abandon the issue of waterproofing mobile devices and does not limit the possibility of simultaneously installing a memory card with SIM cards. For this alone, Sony is supposed to add points to karma.

With all this, Sony equipment, including mobile, has always been and remains one of the most expensive. To be honest, you can now find a lot of smartphones on the market at a price lower than the Xperia Z5 Premium, but with similar characteristics. Take at least the same Huawei Nexus 6P, the price of the 32-gigabyte version of which in Svyaznoy is already 9 thousand rubles lower than that of the Z5 Premium version of the same memory capacity. And yet, the Japanese brand still has enough fans, for sure there will be among them those who are ready to pay an amount of 59 thousand rubles for the model described today - that's how much they are now asking for a certified Sony Xperia Z5 Premium in Russian retail.

In conclusion, we suggest watching our video review of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone:

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is a stylish phone that looks nice and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, but you only need to use it with both hands. Smarfton dimensions - 154.4 × 75.8 × 8.1 mm, weight - 181 grams. The case of the Xperia Z5 Premium turned out to be narrow and thin for its diagonal, but very high, even the large Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML is shorter than it.

In terms of design, the Xperia Z5 Premium is a typical representative of its line, it is a non-separable metal case, covered with glass on both sides and protective steel inserts at the corners of the case. The most "serious" innovation is the rejection of the round protruding power button. The company went for this because of the fingerprint scanner located on the same button. This can be called a kind of triumph of reason, finally this sensor is not somewhere on the back or front side, but directly on the button that is used to unlock the device. The sensor works quickly and clearly, but still slower than on Huawei Nexus 6P. The location of the volume rocker can be called inconvenient - it is located at the bottom right, under the power button. Holding it in your right hand, you will constantly touch these keys. As usual for this line, the stereo speakers are hidden on the front side (top and bottom), they are barely visible, but well audible. The side bezels of the smartphone look narrow, but the ratio of screen area to surface area of ​​the device (71%) could be higher - there is still a lot of space above and below the display that can be reduced. Perhaps the company left it for the next Z5 Premium Plus or Z6, so that they are at least somewhat different from their predecessor.

One of the typical features of the line is dust and water resistance (according to the IP68 standard - immersion to a depth of up to 1.5 m for 30 minutes), and here it is also fully implemented. The smartphone can be bathed, lowered under water, the main thing is not to forget to close the only plug on the side, under which there is a slot for a memory card and a tray for two nano-format SIM cards. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium passed the water jet test in our lab.

The body of the smartphone is non-separable, made of metal and glass. The build quality is top notch, the phone doesn't flex or creak under pressure. The only thing we didn't like was that the case is very slippery (it slides on any flat surface with a slight slope), besides, the glass quickly collects fingerprints. Smartphone Sony Xperia Z5 Premium can be bought in three colors - black (black), gold (gold) and gray (chrome).

Screen - 4.7

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has already made history as the world's first smartphone with a 4K display (3840×2160 pixels). Another thing is that such a resolution is unnecessary for a diagonal of 5.5 inches, and we had complaints about the quality of the screen image.

The image on the display of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium can be called incredibly clear - 801 dpi (for comparison, this figure is 534 in the LG G4). We were only able to see the pixel grid with a magnifying glass. But at the same time, there is one feature - the screen displays a picture in 4K only when playing the corresponding multimedia content (photo, video), and most applications and the system interface are displayed in Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels). A sort of 4K with limitations, however, this is logical - there is not much content and software that supports such a resolution, but you also somehow need to save battery and performance (there are 4 times more pixels in a 4K screen compared to Full HD).

As befits a flagship device, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium screen received an oleophobic coating and scratch-resistant glass. Viewing angles turned out to be only average for an IPS matrix, which is unexpected for a top model. The display supports glove mode, which we found to work fine. The brightness range is excellent - from 4 to 597 cd / m 2. The screen is easy to read in sunny weather, and at night it will not blind your eyes. Auto-brightness is also supported, it works quickly and adequately to lighting conditions. The image contrast is high - 1200: 1, better than that of Huawei Honor 7. The color gamut is atypical, wider than the standard sRGB, but at or Adobe RGB, the colors on the screen may appear oversaturated as a result. The color temperature is not ideal, it is very high - 9000 degrees, which makes the image look cold. The size of the color error is average by the standards of smartphones, although you usually expect the best from a flagship. As with most of the company's phones, in the screen settings you can adjust the white balance to suit your look and color.

Camera

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium received a main camera of as much as 23 MP and a front camera of 5 MP. But in Sony, in our opinion, they did not bring all these megapixels "to mind". Despite the fact that the smartphone shoots well, the photo quality turned out to be lower than that of many top competitors.

Although the camera received a large sensor and a wide aperture - 1 / 2.3 ″ and F2.0, respectively, the predecessor Xperia Z3 + Dual had the same parameters. It turns out that by increasing the number of pixels (perhaps for marketing purposes), the company reduced their size accordingly. And the aperture of the same LG G4 is slightly wider (1/1.8 vs. 1/2.0), which means it lets in more light. The smartphone does not have optical stabilization, but there is fast phase focusing.

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium camera, as always, is crammed with a bunch of modes and "chips" - slow motion video, panoramas, HDR mode, overlaying virtual effects on top of photos and videos, and so on. Its interface in the entire Z5 line was changed, in our opinion, not at all in the direction of simplification. But we were pleased that the photo resolution in the "super auto mode" is not cut to 8 MP, as before, now it can handle all 23 MP. And what we did not like was the lack of exposure metering by pressing the screen. The auto mode is too automatic and it's annoying - not always our desires coincided with the opinion of the camera. Yes, and the quality of the photo is not so high, noise can be seen even in the shadows in daytime photographs, besides, the sharpness across the frame is uneven, the edges of the picture are slightly blurred, which clearly does not pull on a “premium”. Although the camera can take a really good shot, but this requires either luck or manual shooting. Messing around with these settings is an interesting and exciting experience, but more for aesthetes. In our opinion, it is preferable to take out a camera, point at an object, take a picture and get a good photo, than to think about some parameters once again. What else can be added here? I am glad that, unlike the Xperia Z3 +, the smartphone's camera did not overheat and did not turn off during the tests, although when shooting video, the phone warns that such a nuisance can happen to it.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium shoots video with stereo sound, up to 4K, and does it with high quality. Shooting is available in the following resolutions:

• 4K or UHD video, 3840×2160 pixels at 30 fps
• Full HD video, 1920×1080 pixels, 30 or 60 fps
• HD video, 1280×720 pixels, 120 frames per second.

The front camera is suitable for video calling and for selfie lovers - 5 MP, it is possible to take wide-angle selfies with HDR mode, as well as shooting Full HD video (30 frames per second).

Photos from the camera Sony Xperia Z5 Premium - 4.1

Photos from the front camera Sony Xperia Z5 Premium - 4.1

Working with text - 5.0

The branded keyboard on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium Dual can be called one of the most advanced - there are no settings and options here. The most common are continuous text input (Swype) and the ability to add additional character markup to keys. In addition, there is a mode for one-handed operation, when the keyboard becomes smaller and can be moved to the left or right sides of the screen. To switch between languages ​​there is a separate key. Lovers of antiquity can choose a 3×4 format keyboard with icons with several letters for each. The downside is that in landscape mode, the keyboard takes up almost the entire screen.

Internet - 3.0

Initially, the convenient and popular Chrome browser is installed on the smartphone. Its main feature is the synchronization of tabs and history with its desktop version. Unfortunately, there is no separate reading mode or multiple page scaling here. But there are settings for saving traffic and choosing a font size for scaling all the text on the page with a double click.

Communications - 5.0

The flagship is a top-end set of wireless communications, however, in the past few years it has already become typical. So, for the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, it almost does not differ from the same for the Sony Xperia Z3:

• dual-band and high-speed Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, with DLNA support
• LTE Cat. 6 - up to 300 Mbps
• Bluetooth 4.1. - with support for A2DP profile and Apt-X codec
• A-GPS with GLONASS support
• FM radio - with RDS support, requires headphones to work
• NFC chip.

For the maximum set, it would be possible to add perhaps an infrared port. Of the connectors, there is Micro-USB 2.0 (Host, MHL 3 TV-out) and Mini-jack, as well as slots for two Nano-SIM cards and a MicroSD memory card up to 200 GB. Separately, we note that there is OTG support, but in order for the smartphone to detect external devices, you need to go into the settings and turn on the “detect USB devices” function. Why such difficulties is not clear, they only confuse users.

Multimedia - 4.6

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium can be called a multimedia smartphone, because it offers good sound quality and supports most common audio and video codecs. So, the phone played music in FLAC format, unable to cope only with AC-3 audio. From video, Xperia Z5 Premium didn't show TS, RMVB and FLV videos.

The pre-installed music player is full of settings and options: displaying album art, track information, equalizing the volume on different recordings, optimizing the sound, and so on. There is even an equalizer with manual frequency adjustment.

We also liked the native video player: it will show subtitles and load information about the video from the Internet, it can even play videos in the background (listen to news, interviews or concerts).

Battery - 3.4

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium showed good results in battery life tests. At the same time, they were still lower than those of their predecessors, it seems that the smartphone's battery has become a victim of the pursuit of the title of "the world's first smartphone with a 4K screen."

The battery capacity of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is 3430 mAh (almost the same as the Huawei Nexus 6P), quite a lot for a thin body with a screen of this size. But practice puts everything in its place - in HD-video viewing mode, the smartphone was discharged after 6.5 hours. Its predecessors, Xperia Z3+, Z3 and , worked in this mode for 8-10 hours. The reason for this "fall" was the high brightness and screen resolution. Although 4K resolution only works when watching appropriate content, the extra millions of pixels don't go anywhere, even when watching HD video. Our assumptions about the main reason for the low autonomy are confirmed by the test results when listening to music. The smartphone lasted for 97 hours (about four days), which is comparable to the results of the "long-playing" Lenovo P70. An hour of running the GeekBench Battery Test with a muted screen “ate” 13% of the charge, an excellent result. In smartphone games, it will last for 3-3.5 hours - in half an hour playing Asphalt 8, the battery lost 14% of its charge.

Performance - 4.1

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has a powerful, but not the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset. The smartphone does not suffer from overheating as much as its predecessor Xperia Z3 +, but its body was still warm during any active use.

The amount of RAM is 3 GB, which is standard for flagships, we saw more, for example, in Asus Zenfone2 ZE551ML (in a modification with 4 GB of RAM). The Adreno 430 accelerator is responsible for the graphics. The smartphone does an excellent job with all its tasks - smooth operation of the interface, applications and games. It slowed down noticeably only when shooting video with virtual effects, which is not surprising, since this is already a difficult task. In benchmarks, the Xperia Z5 Premium scores as expected:

• GeekBench 3 - 4025 points (Samsung Galaxy S6 got 4413 points)
• AnTuTu 5.1 - 58,467 (higher than Meizu MX 4)
• 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited - up to 26,114 (HTC One M9 - about 22,000).

An interesting feature is that the scores in synthetic tests depended heavily on the “heating” of the smartphone. If you run benchmarks several times in a row, the results can drop by 20-40%. Does the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium overheat? No, not that much, but its body is always very warm in constant use. 30 minutes of playing Aspalt 8 heated the glass near the camera lens to 42 degrees. It's an improvement over the 47-degree Xperia Z3+, but the constant feeling of body heat is annoying. At the same time, heating has almost no effect on daily use - only the NOVA 3 game began to slow down a bit from time to time.

Memory - 4.5

The amount of permanent memory Sony Xperia Z5 is 32 GB, but of these, only 22.5 GB is available to the user. It's not that much, 4K video and 23 MP photos will quickly take up all the memory. But do not be upset - the phone has a slot for a memory card (up to 200 GB). Hot card replacement is supported (without rebooting the smartphone) - you can transfer part of the data to it: video, photos, music and many applications.

Peculiarities

In addition to the high price, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium stands out with three main features - a 4K display, water resistance and a fingerprint scanner. Also not very pleasant features of the device turned out to be a slippery and almost constantly warm body.

The smartphone is running Android 5.1 and has its own thoughtful interface. An update to Android 6 is planned for the near future. There are many apps preinstalled on the phone, which usually cannot be uninstalled without rooting. Moreover, the set of this software almost does not change from generation to generation. In terms of interface, we note the function of "mini-applications" with the help of which multitasking is implemented on a single display. When you press the "menu" button, icons of "mini-applications" (browser, timer, music, and so on) appear at the bottom, which open on top of the main screen.

4K display at your fingertips

Imagine a smartphone with a bright, crisp display that uses the best of Sony TV technology. This smartphone is Xperia Z5 Premium. Its 5.5-inch display has 4K Ultra HD resolution, four times the resolution of Full HD. The Xperia Z5 Premium takes a giant leap forward in video technology: every inch of the display is divided into 806 pixels, making the picture extraordinarily clear. The pixel density is 10 times higher than on Full HD TVs and twice as high as on most smartphones.

Great content - great quality

Xperia Z5 Premium upscales your photos and videos to 4K, preserving every detail and making them even more expressive.

Star hour has come

Xperia Z5 Premium is not shy of the public - on the contrary, he loves to be seen. The smartphone is true to the corporate style of Xperia: it is available in chrome, black and gold finishes, and its rear panel has a mirror surface.

Capture the world in 4K

With Xperia Z5 Premium, you can shoot video in 4K resolution, which is four times higher than Full HD. Image quality is taken care of by various Sony video technologies, including SteadyShot™, which is responsible for ensuring that the picture does not shake.

Stop, moment

Often the brightest moments are not in the photo, but in the video. From your 4K videos, you can select valuable shots and take high-quality 8-megapixel photos.

The bigger the screen, the better

If you want to show off a breathtaking shot to your friends, it's better to do it on a big screen: you can easily connect your smartphone to a 4K TV via Wi-Fi using DLNA technology or an MHL 3.0 cable

A smartphone that knows its owner

The power button on the Xperia Z5 Premium has a built-in fingerprint reader. The button itself is located on the side of the smartphone so that you can quickly, in one motion, unlock the screen.

4K quality and 2 days charge

Such a powerful 4K smartphone needs a proper battery: we equipped it with a battery that can last up to two days without recharging. All this time you can watch movies, listen to music and chat with friends. If that's not enough, a quick charger will come to the rescue: in just 10 minutes, Xperia Z5 Premium will have energy for many hours of use.

Perfection incarnate

When designing the Xperia Z5 Premium, we stayed true to the Xperia philosophy and paid attention to every little detail to make everything perfect.

Crystal clear sound

With High-Resolution Audio support, every note will sound perfectly clear, and digital noise reduction technology will remove all extraneous sounds.

lightning speed

Under the hood, the Xperia Z5 Premium is powered by a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 810 octa-core 64-bit processor, allowing your smartphone to run at lightning speed.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is a smartphone whose technical stuffing is completely copied from the flagship Xperia Z5: Premium uses the same processor, a similar set of wireless interfaces, the same set of cameras, the same amount of memory - all one to one. From the point of view of the filling, the gadgets are the same.

The difference is that instead of a 5.2-inch Full HD screen, the Premium has a 5.5-inch 4K display with a resolution of 3840 × 2160 dots never seen before in mobile devices. And it is this fact that makes the Z5 Premium not just interesting, but unique.

Xperia Z5 Family Comparison Chart

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics: very easily soiled case

The Xperia Z5 Premium is a fairly large smartphone. Of course, it is more convenient to use it than the same Xperia Z Ultra with its 6.3-inch screen, but you will definitely have to get used to the “Premium”. To reach all four sides of the display, the device has to shift in the palm of your hand or hold it with your other hand. From the average pocket of a jacket, the gadget sticks out, and it weighs a bit too much: 181 grams.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that the body looks quite harmonious with its dimensions. Sony designers have drawn the Xperia Z5 family of smartphones with strict, “straight” lines, without unnecessary rounding, and Premium is no exception here. On the storefront, in official photos, this smartphone looks great.

The magic goes away, one has only to pick up the device. Sheets of protective glass that cover the front and rear panels are very easily soiled. The case of the device is instantly covered with fingerprints, even if you just washed your hands. The glass here has an oleophobic coating, of course - cleaning it is not a problem. However, after a minute, the gadget gets dirty again. And in this form, it no longer looks “premium”, no matter how much it costs and no matter how technically perfect it may be. Getting the Z5 Premium out of your pocket and putting it on the table at meetings was occasionally awkward, unless you had to rub it to a shine first.

The controls of the device are in the same places as other gadgets of the Xperia Z5 family. There are no hardware keys on the front panel of the Z5 Premium. At the top of the front panel there is a front camera lens and a thin strip of earpiece, at the bottom there is a rather large empty area. On-screen navigation keys.

The Z5 Premium's elongated power key has a capacitive fingerprint sensor, just like the Xperia Z5/Z5 Compact. It is used to unlock the device and pay for purchases in virtual stores. The sensor works quite stably, the percentage of errors is small. Next to the lock button are the volume keys and the hardware key to activate the camera. All buttons have a short and distinct stroke. The body thickness of the device is acceptable - 7.8 mm.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium - steel protective insert

The side of the device is embossed with "XPERIA". The same, by the way, is the original Z5, and the "crumbs" Z5 Compact. At the corners of the Z5 Premium case, there are protective inserts already traditional for Sony, but this time not from polycarbonate, but from steel.

The surface of the “back” of our test specimen is mirror-like and glossy. In addition to the already indicated trouble with prints, there is a second one: the smartphone slips in wet hands. The Z5 Premium also comes in black and gold, which are probably more practical options. On the back panel is the main camera lens and a single LED flash. The body of the device is non-separable.