Sony Xperia Z5 Premium review: Premium Definition

25 November, 2015
Sony's flagships have always been playing off each other in a nice but, after a certain point, rather repetitive way. When Sony decided to pass on QHD screens, it looked like it had the right reasons to keep up with 1080p for flagship generations on end...

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  • AnonD-375713
  • Pkp
  • 26 Nov 2015

AnonD-4254, 26 Nov 2015I don't care about 4K seeing how minimal the differences ar... moreIn fact, anything that improves quality of something already lost in compression, is fake invention of what should be there. Likely it just inverts the compression algorithm used in mixing, an expander, to have drums hitting faster and harder peaks, these things get lost in mixing nowadays (see Loudness War and Brickwall filtering).
Now this still is trying to invent what it was, with mixed results, usually towards just... fake placebo. A bit more fancy way of making audio sound better than just pumping bass like was usually done.

Upscaling audio does absolutely no benefit to quality, just like it doesn't with pictures, you're just making digitally what the filter capacitor is already doing in analog (so nothing).

Would it be pitch shifting or some other editing it could benefit from prior upscale but not in quality.

I'm inclined towards they've studied a very good placebo, searched for what makes people think better audio is in general, and made the filter do this artificially.

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    • AnonD-437562
    • 8xr
    • 26 Nov 2015

    Pretty nice job GSMArena!!

    The review was pretty detailed and very direct, impartial and honest. overall pretty helpful.

    Thanks to the reviewer(s)! (seems like people here take things for granted and don't even appreciate all the time and work it took to make this review).

    The phone looks good.

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      • AnonD-4254
      • X0@
      • 26 Nov 2015

      I don't care about 4K seeing how minimal the differences are in visual quality and how they affect processing.

      What I don't understand is, what GSMArena thinks on the HighRes Audio?
      They say it boosts quality by increasing the refresh rate... This is just like upscaling an image, right? No visible benefit actually?
      But, they could have a benefit if, in image scaling they have an "average pixel" with values from its surrounding pixels. I think a similar thing must be used in Z5 to upscale audio, but I don't understand why isn't the audio quality class leading now?

      Samsung, HTC, Apple, Nokia, etc. Damn even Xiaomi with their Redmi 2 have shown us classic audio quality examples.
      So, why not Sony, which should be an Ace here?

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        • AnonD-469344
        • Ydg
        • 26 Nov 2015

        I love the reviews but all of the benchmarks and diagrams are jibberish to me , I would prefer a simplified version in the lines of : faster than XX phones but slower than XX phone , overall above (or under ) average. same for audio quality , speakers are loud and sounds good or volume is disappointing and distortions could be eared. Or you could do like the screen test and battery test pictures witch are very understandable. in the end it would give us a good idea of the phone's performance. Overall everything else is great . also, are you guys from the U.S or Russia , I checked the pictures taken from the phone and found myself confused with the signalization . although this is not a complaint just an interrogation .

          meh, 26 Nov 2015Because thay realize 4k is useless. sam's spen and appl's f... moreSpen is useless to me, I usually use finger to swipe phone, I don't draw a lot in such a small screen, I don't use that fancy features too.

          3D touch is a fancy features but this just same as the "touch and hold" function and this is not cool.

          4K display is the king of display, because it superb image quality for your amazing record memories.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • t7W
            • 26 Nov 2015

            AnonD-362866, 26 Nov 2015I doubt anyone would be streaming 4k content, and who in th... moreso when will the market need it? when apple tells you? it has playstation streaming so it can definitely use the 4k

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              • AnonD-22824
              • bJ6
              • 26 Nov 2015

              Kyle K., 26 Nov 2015First page, first paragraph. It's just for few days (3 tops... moreNo man! even i did not like this new type of review keep it the way it was! :)

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                • AnonD-22824
                • g33
                • 26 Nov 2015

                AnonD-324394, 26 Nov 2015Yah it does help the z5 premium can record 4k up to 55min t... moreOh yeh then u can fry a egg on it.with duel heatpipes.Lol

                  • m
                  • mav3rick
                  • Rca
                  • 26 Nov 2015

                  Betcha - You can make Tea on this device when it 'heats' up :)

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                    • AnonD-324394
                    • LxI
                    • 26 Nov 2015

                    AnonD-22824, 26 Nov 2015Duel heatpipes are not helping sd810 & Z5P either.Yah it does help the z5 premium can record 4k up to 55min thats a lot and they say it doesn't even get hot so yah

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                      • AnonD-451592
                      • mA{
                      • 26 Nov 2015

                      Anonymous, 26 Nov 2015During a hot summer this phone most likely won't be nice to... moreLook at the good part,after two years of purchase your wranty will be over and u will be able to root your phone and downclock the cpu
                      Beacuse that i love the sd810

                        Vinay, 26 Nov 2015Please GSMArena, please stop this stupid new type of review... moreFirst page, first paragraph. It's just for few days (3 tops) and it will go back to normal. This is not a 'stupid' new review system. See these as multiple polls, not new features. We are not changing anything, we are just collecting data for a short period of time.

                        We got lots of complaints about people not reading our message in the beginning of the review. And the polls are beginning to makes sense, don't they?

                        Cheers,
                        Kyle

                          • m
                          • meh
                          • PxV
                          • 26 Nov 2015

                          Dual heatpipes, 26 Nov 2015There are no 4K display in future for IPhone and Samsung ph... moreBecause thay realize 4k is useless. sam's spen and appl's force touch display are much usefull than 4k. spen is just a gimmick, but it is usefull for some people.
                          4k is just a useless expensive gimmick, not usable for all people.

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                            • AnonD-432899
                            • tue
                            • 26 Nov 2015

                            AnonD-467475, 26 Nov 2015I am disappointed ;( from 66h of battery endurance rate of ... moreyou say that 66 hours is suck??my phone has 12 hours of battery life only for standby mode and it takes up to 4 hours to charge from 0-100 while the phone is off

                              • D
                              • AnonD-22824
                              • bJf
                              • 26 Nov 2015

                              Dual heatpipes, 26 Nov 2015There are no 4K display in future for IPhone and Samsung ph... moreDuel heatpipes are not helping sd810 & Z5P either.

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                                • drifter77
                                • fk9
                                • 26 Nov 2015

                                So the only thing "premium" about this phone is price. Battery life results are mediocre, the phone heats up significantly... just like my old Z3C it used to pick up heat the moment you touch it, no matter what. Camera is still not improved, and overall not premium by any means.

                                  There are no 4K display in future for IPhone and Samsung phone, because they are late and they even can't manage battery life for the 4K display at this moment.

                                  What can do they do?
                                  Trolling only lol.

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                                    • AnonD-391800
                                    • m@t
                                    • 26 Nov 2015

                                    Anonymous, 26 Nov 2015Impressive but no matter how fan you are of Sony, you have ... moreYou are kidding me right?
                                    S6 edge+ 64 gb version (no expandability) costs about the same as this Z5 Premium, that accepts sd cards up to 200 gb (50$) providing you with 220 gb of total space...
                                    Note 5 64 gb ( no expandability) costs more than z5 Premium...

                                    So what you get for 850$ ?
                                    Either Z5 premium with 220 gb storage
                                    Or s6 edge + with 64 gb storage for 50$ less,
                                    Or Note 5 with 64 gb storage

                                    Be wise to pick...
                                    For me there is no question about it. Z5 premium without a second thought.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • pWQ
                                      • 26 Nov 2015

                                      DenisXD, 26 Nov 2015I said it before, the whole 810 bad reputation is based on ... moreDuring a hot summer this phone most likely won't be nice to hold - because of the burning hot chip. No thanks.

                                        There are no 4K display in future for IPhone and Samsung phone, because they are late and they even can't manage battery life for the 4K display at this moment. What can do they do? Trolling only lol.

                                        For the naive disadvantage comments…
                                        -Why use 4K for all the content? Do you really crazy for 4K? But why you can said there are no different between 2k and 4k? Are you self-contradictory!
                                        -The waterproof is for smart people, I wash my phone everyday no problem at all, all the bacteria wash away too.
                                        -Iphone and Samsung also have use the non-removable battery, so is no a big deal.the reviewer prefer a wireless charger, but it is fine with wire, wire or wireless charging? Don't nitpicking okay?
                                        -I really don't use the IR blaster, why should the IR blaster is important for the reviewer? To me the IR blaster is a garbage in the device.