Sony Xperia XZ review: Imperfect but sufficient faith machine

Almost a year later, Sony once again brought a new generation of flagship smartphone Xperia XZ to the Chinese market.

The Xperia X Performance at the beginning of the year did not really get the chance to meet domestic consumers, and the 4K screen of the previous generation Z5 Premium was not retained. This makes people seem to have waited for a long time when talking about the Xperia XZ machine, but there is nothing surprising.

Of course, when you actually hold the Xperia XZ in your hands, this idea will change instantly.

New design style makes you love the back

Starting with Xperia Z, Sony itself has finally gotten tired of the design language that has been used for several years. The new Xperia XZ will make you feel like Microsoft's Lumia or even Xiaomi 3 on the promotional page. However, this is only on the promotional page.

The double-sided glass and the metal frame sandwiched with plastic have been removed. The Xperia XZ starts with the screen glass. The wrap-around side does not make the whole machine look overly rounded, but the corners of the palm-held part are curved. The distinctive Japanese aesthetics still occupy the first impression of the product.

As a mobile phone with a 5.2-inch screen, the biggest feature of Xperia XZ is that it is extremely slender. The screen-to-body ratio on the front is only about 70%. While the sides of the screen are narrowed as much as possible, the elongated upper and lower parts bring excellent dual speakers on the front, and the 3.5mm headphone jack has not been shrunk.

Xperia XZ still uses Sony's usual side fingerprint unlocking power button. The actual recognition efficiency is comparable to that of iPhone 6s, which is greatly improved compared to the Z5 series. The volume button and the two-stage camera shutter button are located at the lower part of the same side. The SIM card slot on the other side can be pulled out by hand without a card pin, which is a relatively bold approach in triple-proof mobile phones.

Without a large area of ​​glass, the change in the back cover material is the highlight of this Xperia XZ. It is neither the coldness of metal nor the luster of glass. Although it is still a collector of stains on your hands, this special treatment can be said to have brought Sony mobile phones to new heights in terms of appearance and touch. The phantom black in our hands is definitely different from the black of other mobile phones.

In fact, the entire back of the Xperia XZ is composed of three different parts including the sides and the back cover. It not only reflects the fine workmanship of the product, but also shows that Sony is adept at handling different materials. The camera is not protruding, and the antenna is not so pretentious as to think about "how to draw the white belt?" The simple and direct division of the back of the phone is enough to please the eye.

In terms of appearance design, you can say how much some people like curved screens, or that the newly released Xiaomi MIX has been hyped up to tens of thousands of yuan, but Sony is Sony. This is an ability to demonstrate top industrial design standards from all observation angles of the product, which goes beyond the narrow scope of simply discussing the screen-to-body ratio or metal-to-body ratio of ordinary mobile phones.

Especially the change in the material of the back cover of Xperia XZ, which makes people see the unique taste that electronic products give to users in today's homogeneous smartphone world, just like the MOTO RAZR that was once obsessed with Kevlar material. This is something that the all-metal bodies and highly reflective materials on the streets cannot do.

Perfect hardware configuration, camera with extremely fast focusing

With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 3+64GB memory combination, a 5.2-inch 1080P display, a battery capacity of nearly 3000mAh, and a 13-megapixel + 23-megapixel front and rear camera combination, the Sony Xperia XZ is high-end but not radical in configuration. This time, the black technology is basically focused on the camera part.

24mm G lens, laser focus, five-axis image stabilization and the legendary triple image sensing technology. After being "brainwashed" by the concepts of Dafa, the most profound feeling that the Xperia XZ gives people when taking pictures in practice is the fast focus. And it is the kind of speed that does not need to be specified in the press conference PPT in a few tenths of a second, but the user can feel it personally.

The most intuitive manifestation of fast focusing is undoubtedly the object tracking of the Xperia XZ camera interface. Regardless of whether you want to focus on an object of regular shape or just a part of an object, the Xperia XZ camera will circle a square area to focus on on the interface based on its own understanding. As long as the movement of the object does not exceed the framing range, the focus will automatically track, and the effect is extremely efficient and accurate.

In terms of actual photo performance, the F2.0 wide-angle lens makes the Xperia XZ's field of view in full-pixel 4:3 mode larger than that of the iPhone 6s in default photo mode. The 23-megapixel camera also surpasses Apple in terms of control of photo details, making it a powerful tool for shooting large-scene landscapes.

However, in terms of exposure control, the Xperia XZ tends to take brighter pictures compared to the Apple iPhone, which tends to be more realistic with the naked eye. The advantage is that the dark details of the picture will be clearer, but the disadvantage is that it can easily cause color distortion in some of the bright parts of the photo, which affects the true color restoration to a certain extent.

Finally, we have to mention the camera interface of Xperia XZ. Sony has done a lot of subtraction. Most ordinary users will only choose the advanced automatic mode when taking photos. The 4K video shooting, which has always been the main feature, is low-key hidden in an independent project of the camera application. There will still be a "thoughtful" overheating reminder when it is started for the first time.

The new UI interface just selected a few good wallpapers

Unlike MIUI, Flyme and even EMUI of domestic mobile phone manufacturers, the performance of international brand Android phones has never made much progress. Samsung's TouchWiz is often complained by users, and Sony is loyal to Android's native interface elements and obviously has no intention of putting much effort into the software.

After the Sony Xperia XZ adopts Android 6.0, Sony's new system UI has a redesigned lock screen interface, which can create a "push open" effect from the right side with the side fingerprint recognition, which is enough to keep Sony fans playing for half a day.

However, apart from the lock screen, the new UI interface still cannot escape minor improvements based on the native Android, such as adding a one-click way to clear background programs, changing the icons for pre-installed programs, replacing the Google search that cannot be used in China with the more localized Baidu search, etc., which can be said to be down-to-earth.

If we have to say what is the difference between the Sony Xperia XZ and previous Sony phones, or even phones with native Android systems, it is probably that it comes pre-installed with wallpapers in a more Xperia style. Although they look very good and match the phone, the appearance of the phones that Xperia has been insisting on for several years has changed, and it may be time for a breakthrough in the system UI.

So, is this belief worth recharging?

It's time to discuss whether to buy it or not, or in other words, whether the 5,000 yuan faith recharge fee for Sony Xperia XZ is worth paying.

There is no doubt that when the Samsung Note 7 exploded, few ordinary consumers would consider Sony phones as another option for Android flagships. When it comes to camera imaging and system stability, the Sony Xperia XZ is not yet strong enough to compete with Apple, which has joined the dual-camera camp.

But it is undeniable that the Xperia XZ is not only the best Sony Xperia phone to date, but also the product that you may be most willing to keep and take out with you after playing with many flagship and non-flagship smartphones.

The unique design, clever fingerprint unlocking method, and even the tracking of the focused object when taking pictures all reflect the Xperia XZ and its users' attitude of not following the crowd.

Isn’t this the essence of Sony products that attracts followers to continue “recharging”?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.