Sony Xperia Z Ultra review

With the Xperia Z Ultra, Sony is finally turning its attention towards a market segment it has avoided so far. The market headstart of their flagship Xperia Z along with the subsequent releases in the upper midrange has set quite a serious foundation for Sony's mobile phone business creating an excellent possibility for experimenting in a niche that has been invented and so far dominated by Samsung's Note series.

   
Sony Xperia Z Ultra official images

Of course, a 6.4" phablet stands little chance of matching the sales of a proper flagship such as the Xperia Z, but it's all about sending a message. And the message is loud and clear: "Be my guest, Galaxy Note III". There's more to it of course - it's about the company's level of confidence to venture into unknown territories. Indeed, it's not every day that we see a device that not only dwarfs the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, but is getting ready to challenge the Note III. It takes courage to stand up to the standard-setter but, at least on paper, the Xperia Z Ultra has the looks and the powerful hardware to pull it off.

Before we proceed any further, here's the cheat sheet for this review.

key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with 42Mbps HSPA; 150Mbps LTE
• 6.4" 16M-color 1080p capacitive touchscreen Triluminos display (344ppi pixel density); X-Reality engine
• Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with custom UI
• Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 330 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset
• 8 MP autofocus camera with geo-tagging, HDR
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• IP 58 certification - dust resistant and water resistant
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage; microSD card slot
• MHL-enabled microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Gorgeous design and impressively slim waistline
• Ample 3050 mAh battery

Main disadvantage

• Unwieldy size for a phone
• Non user-replaceable battery
• No camera flash or camera shutter key
• Below average loudspeaker performance (probably due to the increased water tightness)
• No proper video playback decoders (XviD, DivX) out of the box

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is one beast of a smartphone (although at this size it already steps on tablet territory). The Snapdragon 800 chipset brings a meaningful performance improvement over an already very snappy Snapdragon 600, while the screen packs all the latest technology Sony has its hands on. The Triluminos display of 1080p resolution promises to solve the long-standing viewing angle issues in Sony's lineup, while the X-Reality enhancements means punchy colors and impressive contrast.

  
Sony Xperia Z Ultra at ours

With the screen and chipset bagging two industry firsts for the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, you'll forgive us for being overly enthusiastic at the start of this review. There's quite a lot to test still and we are itching to see Sony's latest brave our review routine. We start with the design and build right after the break, followed by a closer look at the display before we treat you to a lengthy tour of the UI.

Sony Xperia Z review: Zero hour

Introduction

Whether they had a point to prove to the ex or simply kept themselves busy to get over it, Sony were hard at work in the last year or so. They can look back at a prolific period, though somewhat lacking in brilliance. Keen to quickly build a lineup from scratch, the company was consciously avoiding fights that were impossible to win. Steering clear of the premium end, Sony positioned its flagship devices just below the Samsung Galaxies and the iPhones.

   
Sony Xperia Z official photos

Now with solid backup in the midrange, returning to the fiercest battle in the mobile market is Sony's top priority. The Xperia Z, which leads the charge, got us properly impressed in a recent hands-on and if it walks unscathed from a complete review, we'll know the Japanese have hit the form of their life. Sony is the first of the major manufacturers to bring 5 inches of 1080p goodness to the market, which not only is a morale booster, but will get cash registers chiming too.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
• 5" 16M-color 1080p capacitive touchscreen with 441ppi pixel density; Bravia Mobile Engine 2
• Android OS v4.1.1 Jelly Bean with custom UI
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 320 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset
• 13 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging, HDR
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2.2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• IP 57 certification - dust resistant and water resistant
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage; microSD card slot
• MHL-enabled microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Glass front and back panels

Main disadvantage

• Low contrast display with below-par viewing angles
• Non user-replaceable battery
• 13MP camera hardly any better than some competitors' 8MP units
• Feeble loudspeaker

The Sony Xperia Z is stuff geeks' dreams are made of, it's designed and built to the highest standard and has raw processing power to spare. IP57-certified - on top of that - for dust and water resistance, it's tougher than most competitors. High-end smartphones aren't quite fit for the beach or white water rafting, but the Xperia Z won't be at odds with your active lifestyle.

   
Sony Xperia Z studio shots

The Xperia Z seems to have all the best technology currently available under the hood, so no wonder it's been at or near the top of our interest chart ever since it was announced at CES. And now, just one week away from its European release, we are about to see how likely it is to stay there for a good while.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra hands-on

Sony just dropped a real bomb on the phablet market - a 6.4" monster that threatens to flatten the competition. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra the first officially announced device to be powered by Snapdragon 800 and it's also the thinnest device with a 1080p screen.

   
Sony Xperia Z Ultra official images

The list of tricks the Sony Xperia Z Ultra knows is almost too long to fit on even its sizable screen. Seriously, this thing is both massive and packed to the rafters with cool features. It slots between the Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z, using the same sleek OmbiBalance design and philosophy - "glass is good, thin is even better".

 
 
Sony Xperia Z Ultra official images

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra profile measures just 6.5mm, the slimmest 1080p device and close to slimmest overall. We were quite impressed with the Tablet Z and this undercuts it by a fraction. Unlike the Xperia Tablet Z, however, this uses the latest chipset and Android available - Snapdragon 800 and Android 4.2 respectively.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra at a glance

• General: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, penta-band UMTS/HSPA, 100 Mbps LTE
• Form factor: Ultra-thin water-resistant touchscreen phablet
• Dimensions: 179.4 x 92.2 x 6.5, 212 g
• Display: 6.4" 16M-color 1080p (1080 x 1920 pixels) capacitive touchscreen TFT Triluminous display with X-Reality and OptiContrast
• CPU: Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400
• GPU: Adreno 330
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
• RAM: 2GB
• OS: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• Memory: 16GB storage, microSD card slot
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps with HDR, 2MP front-facing camera with FullHD video capture
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
• Misc: IP58 certified - dust-sealed and water resistant beyond 1 meter; Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass for the front and the back panel, metal frame on the sides

This is a no-mercy pre-emptive strike against the Samsung Galaxy Note III and all other high-end phablets that might crop up. So far we've only heard that this or that device will use a Snapdragon 800 chipset, but this one is the first to really go for it. And the attractive design and thin body are bound to win many proponents - they did for the Xperia Z and Tablet Z.

Same goes for the water resistant certification - IP58 means it can go deeper than 1m of water, unlike the sissy Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

Sony Xperia Ultra hands-on photos

The screen has 1080p resolution and despite the big increase in diagonal it still has 344ppi pixel density, enough to qualify it for a Retina display label. It's a Triluminos display with OptiContrast and X-Reality, too, to prove that Sony is throwing the kitchen sink at this one. If it's as good as the one on the Xperia Tablet Z, we'd be stocked (no offence to the Xperia Z phone, but we like good viewing angles).

The slim body did come at a price though, the battery has only 3,000mAh capacity. That's not a lot to go around for a quad-core processor clocked at the insane 2.2GHz (which might be very power-efficient, we don't know yet) and a 6.4" 1080p display.

So, is the Sony Xperia Z Ultra the future - big, high-powered, thin and beautiful - or is it just the king of the phablet niche? Well, that niche has been expanding as of late and so have our pockets. Our first impressions of the Xperia Z Ultra along with live photos follow on the next page of this article.

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Sony Xperia is one the top smartphones of Sony. It seems that it has some life left due to the upcoming update for it, that is Android Jelly Bean 4.1. In the first rumor the date of this was stated as march, but we are already in the month of april and there has yet to be a whiff of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update. but a regional branch of Sony did mention that this particular update should arrive within the coming few days. This regional branch of Sony underlined that claim on its Facebook page, after numerous inquiries “bombarded” then concerning the potential and possible roll out date of the Jelly Bean update. Let us know about your opinion in comments.thanks! Read More at TechHits.Net