Sony announces accessories for the Z5 range: flip cases, headphones

Alongside the Xperia Z5 range, Sony announced a number of accessories to complement the high-end smartphones. For starters, there are flip cover cases to fit each of the three devices, which come in the respective colors and feature a window to display the clock and notifications.

A built-in NFC connection inside the case allows it to communicate with the device. This activates the case window interface and also offers you to download a theme matching the color of your case of choice.

Flip cover case on the Xperia Z5

A minor gripe is that, the displays being LCD, they need to be lit up entirely whereas AMOLEDs could save some mAhs when kept in such a case and used mostly for voice calls.

Flip cover case on the Xperia Z5 Compact

Additionally, the cases don’t seem overly keen to stay closed and have a tendency to flap around. The units we got to fiddle with were prototypes too, so who knows, the commercially available ones might be superior.

Cases to match the color options on each of the three smartphones – Z5, Z5 Compact, Z5 Premium

A high-end headset model was presented as well, and in some markets it will be part of the bundle that comes with the smartphones.

The Sony MDR-NC750 supports Hi Res Audio and active noise cancellation.

The first is a broad set of standards for audio encoding and playback, which relies on a higher sampling rate (24bit/96kHz or 24bit/192kHz), compared to the 16bit/44.1kHz of the CD. The end-result is, well, higher sound quality. Notable examples of file formats that can handleHi Res Audio are .WAV, .FLAC, and ALAC.

Active noise cancellation comes courtesy of a mic in each earbud, which captures ambient noise, sends it to the smartphone, the built-in software analyzes it and then sends back to your ears the music you’re listening to, accompanied by sound waves that cancel out the sound waves of the environment. More or less.

High-end headset with active noise cancellation

Then comes the Bluetooth headset SBH54. Easily paired via NFC, the bundle consists of the clip-on amplifier/battery/remote control piece and a pair of headphones.

Bluetooth headset