Sony Xperia Z3

We have a love and hate relationship with Sony’s OmniBalance design. On one hand, Sony has managed to make it a distinct identity for most of its smartphones, but in the process, it’s become quite monotonous too, blurring out the lines across different devices. It doesn’t help that the design is also quite blocky, and makes the handsets a tad uncomfortable to hold. All that stops with the Xperia Z3. Make no mistake… the Z3 still sports the same OmniBalance design, but Sony’s engineers deserve kudos for the way they’ve managed to change it drastically without disturbing the balance (pun intended).

The Sony Xperia Z2 rocked a 5.2-inch display with full HD resolution. The Sony Xperia Z3 rocks a 5.2-inch display with full HD resolution. No, we aren’t repeating ourselves here – the Z3 sports the same screen specs as its predecessor, offering 424ppi density for your visual pleasure. While many premium flagships are now embracing 2K resolutions for their screens, Sony has chosen to stick with 1080p… and we think it’s a wise choice. While 2K screens do look a tad better, the resulting impact on battery life (not to mention the cost) isn’t worth the benefits as of now, and full HD remains good enough for day-to-day usage.

If you’re looking for freshness in the UI department, you might be in for some disappointment. However, there’s no point in trying to fix something that isn’t broken, is there? The Xperia Z3 runs the same custom UI we’ve seen on Sony’s handsets previously, retaining the original feel of Android without being too overpowering. The base platform is Android KitKat v4.4.4, and we’d have expected nothing less.

The Sony Xperia Z2 offered a 20.7-megapixel primary shooter. The Sony Xperia Z3 offers a 20.7-megapixel primary shooter. We hope we aren’t going overboard with this, but it’s important to ram home the point. But then, 20-plus megapixels are much more than what the usual shooting shenanigans require anyway, and in any case, the latest device’s predecessor already had a very capable snapper in terms of image quality and the available options. The one gripe we had with it was that the camera app used to shut down in a few minutes while shooting, thanks to the device heating up quickly.

The Xperia Z2 was a scorcher in terms of performance. Powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chip and 3 gigs of RAM, it offered blazing speeds in terms of both routine and intensive usage. And the Z3 is really no different. The latest flagship uses the same 3GB RAM and Snapdragon 801 combo, with the latter clocked marginally higher at 2.5GHz. The UI flies on it, and there’s no sign of any speed bumps whatsoever – whether you’re performing basic, productivity-related tasks, or burning up the racetrack on Asphalt 8. We wouldn’t have expected any less from it, considering its hardware prowess, and it refuses to disappoint.