Sony Xperia XZ Premium hands-on: A closer look

1 March 2017
MWC is an information overload galore. Now that we’ve covered the main announcements and we have them out the gate, we spent some extra time with one of the stars of the show – the Xperia XZ Premium.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • d%t
  • 03 Mar 2017

AnonD-235041, 03 Mar 2017Good set but display is no match for Samsung and bezels are... moreNo match for Galaxy? That's yet to see. It'll be interesting to compare the 4K HDR display in the XZ Premium vs the Samples in S8.

    • N
    • Nobody
    • AIA
    • 03 Mar 2017

    AnonD-235041, 03 Mar 2017Good set but display is no match for Samsung and bezels are... moreYes bro they put a bomb in smaller footprint{note 7} than xz premium

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • IbE
      • 03 Mar 2017

      AnonD-359894, 02 Mar 2017How lamely you are trying to satisfy yourself!!! I know OL... moreSorry but LCD can never have deeper blacks than a good OLED. It's impossible to get a darker pixel than a turned off pixel.

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        • AnonD-235041
        • XMu
        • 03 Mar 2017

        Good set but display is no match for Samsung and bezels are a little too big, making the size much larger for a 5.5 phone.
        I like Sony but it need to work on increasing screen to body ratio to 75% at least.
        Plus I don't understand why the battery is so small compare to the size of phone? Samsung put 3600mah in much smaller footprint!

          • S
          • Slayer
          • nE8
          • 03 Mar 2017

          The only Sony phone I would consider buying even with those bezels which would not be so bad if they had stretched the screen to 5.7". I quite like bezels but, Sony, time to slim them down a bit, not necessarily a big fan of the proposed S8/S8+ which look kind of weird, although could live with the LG G6. This phone's specs simply ring all the bells. It would be interesting to play with these in the metal before buying. Always loved Sony but have got bored with the lack of design change...but could live with the XZ Premium given the overall offer..!

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 6XU
            • 03 Mar 2017

            Cool phone. Probably the best phone of 2017.

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              • AnonD-39937
              • ajP
              • 03 Mar 2017

              Oushi, 02 Mar 2017maybe those bezels are working like heat sink ! i wonder.That's a good one, man! :)))))

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                • AnonD-632062
                • J7S
                • 03 Mar 2017

                I think the XZ Premium was the best smartphone to come out at MWC and it sees Sony back at it's innovative best! I'm eagerly waiting for the full review.

                  viveksubhash, 02 Mar 2017can you read???? i said its a cosmetic thing... and fyi i ... moreI wasn't talking specifically about you. I was talking in general amd in plural "you". Don't get offended or get NE wrong.

                    Good overview! Now, this is what unbiased article mean. Either way, still going to buy this baby. True innovtion at it's finest. Good job! Sony and Gsmarena.

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                      • AnonD-359894
                      • 3u%
                      • 02 Mar 2017

                      Orson Krennic, 02 Mar 2017I don't think LCD and OLED as personal preference anymore, ... moreHow lamely you are trying to satisfy yourself!!!
                      I know OLED is next gen. But LCD will live exactly same long as OLED will. Actually OLED is has a shorter life span. I still prefer LCD to OLED.
                      OLED is power efficient on black, and LCD does the opposite. Neo LCD has as deeper black level as OLED. And OLED will never be as realistic as LCD. But the problem is people like the brighter and deeper colour, whether it is realistic or not.
                      Sound quality matters a lot to me, as I don't use headphones most of the time. Only LDAC enabled Bluetooth headsets are able provide almost as good quality as wired ones. Where Sony is doing good as well.
                      Big fan of iris scanner you are. You're smart but not wise, sorry to say.
                      I don't know what secure folder is, can't reply.
                      I need bezels on top and bottom (but not that big like XZ premium).

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                        • NamMeo
                        • EDv
                        • 02 Mar 2017

                        This is my guess. To reduce bezel either u increase the screen size or reduce the overall phone size. 4k on mobile screen is fairly new, so I guess they don't have the flexibility of producing 4k screen on various size (5.7,5.7,6.2 etc.), so assume 5.5 inches is what they can produce in large quantity for now. So left us 1 option is to reduce the overall size. This also deem to be difficult due to the components. Look at the tear down, we can see that battery take nearly the whole length of the phone, then there is camera module, speakers, boards. Maybe they can shrink the length but will have to increase the thickness. So they choose the design that can fit comfortably on hands.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • pWQ
                          • 02 Mar 2017

                          AnonD-649097, 02 Mar 2017absolutely, that would be a beast, 1080p and a Snapdragon 8... moreNo, it would be a phone, not a living thing and so it couldn't be a "beast". :-D

                            AnonD-521587, 02 Mar 20174k might be a gimmick but HDR technology is not. Also, i wi... morecurrently hdr is more like vr..i mean there is content..but its limited..and yes 4k is awesome..i have a 58in 4k screen to drool over...not enough 4k content to look for though..atleast not until hevc or x265 comes along as mainstream

                              SonyNerd, 02 Mar 2017If we consider the fact that not anyone can have the naviga... morecan you read???? i said its a cosmetic thing...
                              and fyi i have owned my share of xperia's lgs before going to samsung...infact the only reason i went for the s7 edge was because i couldnt get my hands on a z5 premium ...you know market availablilty..when my old phone crashed

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                                • AnonD-521587
                                • qin
                                • 02 Mar 2017

                                Orson Krennic, 02 Mar 2017Okay LTPS is enhanced LCD, but does it have 0 or pure black... moreLCD has made many improvments the blacks are almost comparable to amoled. ALso amoled does not have pure blacks. The HDR technology used in sony TV brings out shadow details which is a very difficult thing for Samsung amoled to do and in fact it can't do. So it really doesn't have perfect blacks. The HDR lcd technology used by sony really brings out the contrast, the colors, and the dynamic range that makes it a superior offering to samsung.

                                It's no longer the case that the blacks of sony are bad, they are very close in fact hard to distinguish.

                                but the LCD has higher peak brightness and better color accuracy than samsung amoled.

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                                  • AnonD-521587
                                  • qin
                                  • 02 Mar 2017

                                  viveksubhash, 02 Mar 2017thats the thing...all the flagships have reached a neck to ... more4k might be a gimmick but HDR technology is not. Also, i wish all my screens were 4k including my pc mintor and TV. 4k mght be a gimmick sure but the HDR really makes it a noticeably better screen and with amazon video if you consume media on your phone it might make a difference.

                                  4k is definitely not a gimmick on TV's though and other bigger sized devices. It definitely makes a noticable difference even in smaller screens like PC mintors.

                                  Not to mention the camera advancments. I hope they bring the HDR technology to the 1080p screens for the XZ sucessor at ifa.

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                                    • AnonD-521587
                                    • qin
                                    • 02 Mar 2017

                                    Anonymous, 02 Mar 2017Dont forget screen burn in. At my workplace we get a lot... moreamoled is really not meant to last long. We might get OLED in xperia phoens early 2018 but thats because Sony's oled will have many improvments and be far superior to lg and samsung thanks to all the resaerch JDI and JOLEd have produced.

                                      viveksubhash, 02 Mar 2017you have made good points...i was a fan of xperia's glass s... moreIf we consider the fact that not anyone can have the navigation buttons reversed, opposed to what pure Android designed them to be them NO. F@ck hard or touch buttons. I need them to he themed, customisable and have the ability to make them more or less depending on personal usage. Making them be in a certain way and unchangeable is like forcing everyone get accustomed to your mental decease while you were thinking how can I destroy the original design, ohh yes I'll put them the other way around just because I'm mentally ill. Plus soft buttons dissappear everytime they need to dissappear, either being a video on full-screen or a game. It's not that much of a loss the fact that you have a 0.2" loss of screen at worst. Soft buttons can be transparent, of midget size like 0.02" tall and everything tou want them to be. You have to be at least cerebral damaged to not get the benefits soft buttons offer or a total idiot. the fact you've never owned a device other than Samsung or Apple who also ditched hard buttons doesn't mean this is the correct way to be.

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                                        • AnonD-649097
                                        • 7Xs
                                        • 02 Mar 2017

                                        Anonymous, 02 Mar 2017Sony should have put the 835 in the XZs. With the upgraded ... moreabsolutely, that would be a beast, 1080p and a Snapdragon 835. just wow.