Sony Xperia Z3+ review: The pre-sequel

08 June 2015
The Sony Xperia Z3+ is the Japanese flagship we’ve all been anticipating, but is it really the one we’ve been hoping for? Or are the predictable chipset update and minor design touches simply a prelude to a proper upgrade later this year?

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  • D
  • AnonD-265341
  • xsY
  • 02 Jul 2015

Anonymous, 02 Jul 2015This is the retail unit, do you actually think Sony can mak... moreI agree on the battery part, it is not acceptable at all. But if you think people need help for choosing this over g4 or s6, well i think you ruiend you comment with that. I will not be buying any of them, spesialy now that the battery is that bad. I will probably wait until next gen, as non of this year flagship impressed me so far this year.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • sG%
    • 02 Jul 2015

    AnonD-66340, 02 Jul 2015For battery life problem, it is early to say because it the... moreThis is the retail unit, do you actually think Sony can make the battery life go from 65 hours to 90+ hours in just 1 software update to the 5.1?

    Man sony fanboys need to stop lying to themselves and tell sony to step up their game instead of praising it, no wonder Sony is going down hill, they need to stop listening to their fanbase.

    With a really bad battery life, 1080p screen, no unique features when compared to the Z2 and Z3 and yet sony is still selling it at a premium price without bothering to improve this flagship phone.

    Isnt it embarrassing even the small battery S6 with QHD screen beats it in battery life?

    If sony fanboys think the Z3+ is better than the G4 or S6, then boy they need help.

      • D
      • AnonD-66340
      • X}G
      • 02 Jul 2015

      For battery life problem, it is early to say because it the "Running in Vein" problem of 5.0. Once updated to 5.1, then to judge. For Other areas, Sony seriously needs to get ahead of the competition !!!!

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • ty@
        • 02 Jul 2015

        AnonD-152638, 02 Jul 2015I think you guys might be too kind in this case "That... moreWho is so smart to use SD 808 ?

          • D
          • AnonD-152638
          • mhB
          • 02 Jul 2015

          I think you guys might be too kind in this case
          "That's not to say the Sony Xperia Z3+ is a bad performer, on the contrary - we it to be quite snappy and issues-free in real world operation. It just points to some synthetic-related nicks Sony can easily deal with via software."

          Ok, it's not a bad perfomer in everyday life, that is probably very true, but relative to other phones even sporting the same CPU, it's quite bad in the charts. The difference shouldn't be that big. Certainly not on a device with it's pricetag.


          And for the last part, I dont think that is true. SD810 runs too hot. And the Z3+ case isn't the best at trasporting heat away from the CPU. THey had to throttle it more than the competition. And they cant improve the cooling properties of the case via a software update. Sure it might get a slight performance bump via software updates (but other SD810 phones might get that as well, when companies work out the perfect balance between performance and heat), sony might not have found the perfect performance balance for this chip, but I don't think it can catch up completely with the SD810 competition.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • X{X
            • 02 Jul 2015

            What happened to its battery life! :O I think gsmarena should re-check this part again. :-/

              • D
              • AnonD-122899
              • QXP
              • 02 Jul 2015

              Another boring phone from Sony.... At least Samsung has released something different this year.

                • D
                • AnonD-242099
                • 7XN
                • 02 Jul 2015

                I would like to suggest SONY communication, that as you are very well know for your camera's and display so you should do enhancement in that portions, beacuse if you will not upgrade your camera and display specs.then its not worth to launch new flagship's,as Xperia Z1 is also having the same feature as well as the sony xperia Z3 and now Z3+ ,so therr is nothng new except the processor in that also you should inceease RAM memory,as Nowadays sony fans are only buying sony phones, and I m a sony fan, s. SONY Communication have to do some innovative and customer revelidation work,otherwise Sony xperia will be no more after 2-3 years..!

                  Pre-release unit: ok, well the battery life is understandable with the increase in water sensitivity and the smaller battery on lollipop.

                  Retail unit: ugh no, SD810 + lollipop 5.0 = battery life failure.

                  Please put a SD808 into your next compact if SD820 isn't finished!

                    Just make some quality display panels Sony, please, and let me come back to you.
                    I found the camera images to be very good.

                      • S
                      • S0m30n3
                      • pTg
                      • 02 Jul 2015

                      Sony ? Are you ok ? less battery life and less cpu performance together ?! I jumped to performance benchmark section and when I saw that cpu is performing worse than before I thought that great! now it comes with better battery life than z3 and then I went for battery life test page and ...

                      Sony, please just keep this one for Japan only and give us z4

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • avW
                        • 01 Jul 2015

                        not too high resolution is not a disadvantage.
                        too high resolution is not good for games and battery

                          • D
                          • AnonD-63308
                          • IVN
                          • 01 Jul 2015

                          Sad about their sweep panorama. Still horrible after a few years. It seems like they don't care. And it comes from a company who makes camera sensor for many top smartphones.

                            • w
                            • walkman8
                            • 0xd
                            • 01 Jul 2015

                            So now we have a situation where a device, that was nothing much start with, got even worse as a retail unit.

                            Beautiful.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-391800
                              • Bmu
                              • 01 Jul 2015

                              Ouch, that battery life downgraded... Did arena test the unit with .24 firmware update? Users that updated the fw are reporting quite different results... Ha?

                                • x
                                • xperiafan324
                                • Kgf
                                • 01 Jul 2015

                                Gsmarena's scores are frankly some of the worst I've seen from a final firmware xperia z3+, really not sure what's going on there, maybe they didn't update to the latest firmware, as the launch firmware was simply horrible and the minor launch day update (at least for UK) alleviated all the issues AND provided more consistent synthetic benchmarks, which were a cut above the m9 and g flex 2 scores. Definitely below the pre-production firmware, but not by the margin in gsmarena's update. Just read around some xperia forums and you'll see what I mean. The update I'm talking about went live on 18 June, if anyone's wondering. Oh well, real world performance as evident by youtube hands on videos is quite simply amazing, especially in games thanks to the upgraded adreno GPU. Was hoping for a better video playback battery time from the device though, still it's the best all-rounder I have seen this year, and the ONLY proper waterproof flagship in 2015. Let us see if Sony does unveil a z5 this year though a CES 2016 reveal is more likely considering that even Sony gives 6 months to its flagships.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • mTn
                                  • 01 Jul 2015

                                  Hold on.. So Sony does this:


                                  "Mere fractions of a millimeter have been trimmed off the thickness, 0.4mm to be precise - just enough for marketing to have something to work with. The difference is not really easily felt in real life"

                                  ... which we won't notice as a user.

                                  "Sony equipped the Xperia Z3+ with a 2,930mAh battery, a downgrade in capacity ..."

                                  ... so they must do this.

                                  "...the results came out quite underwhelming compared to the Sony Xperia Z3 and worse compared to the pre-production Xperia Z3+ unit we tested a while back..."

                                  ...Which we WILL DEFINITELY notice as a user!

                                  WTF is THIS a pissing contest between manufacturers?
                                  F U Sony! Make us a proper flagship or go to hell!

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-251095
                                    • i5S
                                    • 01 Jul 2015

                                    You got the retail unit but the last page still is not updated.. : "Camera output is detailed, with more laid-back processing than the Z3. We'll be more specific once we get a retail unit to play with."

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-265341
                                      • xsY
                                      • 01 Jul 2015

                                      Goddamit! The battery downgrade is dealbreaker. 65 h, WTF, thats the only letdown

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 7Xr
                                        • 01 Jul 2015

                                        The camera is fantastic. I viewed the images and zoomed them in. Images are super sharp, and i love the details and contrast.