Sony Xperia XZ3 review

13 September 2018
Few phones can claim they caused quite as big of a stir as the Xperia XZ3. After Sony dropped its first curved OLED Xperia, seemingly out of the blue at IFA 2018, reactions have ranged from overwhelming excitement, through confusion and all the way to denial and anger. That's a level of drama typically reserved for soap operas or celebrity gossip and it all spells out one thing - a massive wave of exposure for Sony.

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  • AnonD-632062
  • 3Yc
  • 13 Sep 2018

Hmm. So all the people who bashed OLED all those years ago, will now have to eat their words as all major brands have turned to OLED. More bezel-less too.

Kudos to Sony for accepting change. The QHD+ OLED will definitely pick up the stagnant sales. And they are reaping the benefits nicely with not only a great screen, but also a great battery endurance too.

Last year, Sony had the first phone to be released with Oreo. And this year, they continue the streak with Pie. Great!

The camera is wonderful and has a lot of raw potential. However, in the low-light, the Note9 and the P20 Pro are more versatile than the XZ3, especially hand-held. If Sony had even better camera software, like Huawei's Night Mode, it could have been excellent.

However, I still don't understand why a traditionalist maker like Sony, which still keeps a dedicated camera shutter button, would drop the 3.5 mm jack. It's a pity, because it looked a great phone otherwise.

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    • Anonymous
    • Jpc
    • 13 Sep 2018

    Does someone know where can I find the wallpapers the guys from GSMArena used in this review? I really lked the one used in the "software" section of the review, and the pink-ish one used in the beggining.

    About the phone I found it fantastic, for quite some time Sony did'nt gave us such a consistent flagship. Maybe the only downside woud be the lack of the 3.5mm jack or maybe the placement of the fingerprint reader.

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      • Uzjal
      • KIJ
      • 13 Sep 2018

      Sony and Google are best ❤, Huawei comes second, Apple is worst, always with same things with higher price tag and nothing much to offerx camera is good in daylight with strange colour reproduction and low light is nothing to home about, Sony might be bit late but when it comes they deliver it best, Sony xz3 os great but the camera should be of xz2 premium, Apple and Samsung are overrated

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        • Anonymous
        • PGq
        • 13 Sep 2018

        Cons

        Awkward fingerprint reader placement
        Even though third-party chargers can up the speed, the bundled adapter is way too slow
        No auto brightness boost, some color shifting at the curved edges, less than stelar color calibration (or lack of one)
        No 3.5mm jack as STANDARD

        There, editor, fixed it for you.

          Nope.

          The reviewer doesn't mention if the XZ3 has Pie's gestures. It seems to have mostly Pie by name and sprinkles of it like the volume settings. The layers of Sony's skin seem to cover up Pie mostly.

          First smartphone to have Pie installed but it doesn't feel like Pie at all. I remember LG bragging it would get Nougat 7.0 early on the V20. Two years later, I'm still stuck on 7.0. Forget Oreo, I never even got 7.1.

          I own a Xiaomi Mi 3. Started from KitKat. Got up to Marshmallow. Never felt like MM with MIUI all over it. Same applies here. Mostly Pie by name. The only good news is Sony's skin isn't as bloated as others.

          It seems to be the only way for me to get Google's true vision is to only upgrade to Pixels no matter how ugly they can be. At least once you get a Pixel 3 / 3 XL, it would "feel" like you're using Pie right out of the box.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • LQw
            • 13 Sep 2018

            Shui8, 13 Sep 2018As expected, XZ3 is finally a good all rounder Sony phone. ... moreDefault is 17MP 16:9
            They changed to 19MP 4:3

            Yes, 12MP has less noise. Sometimes same details of the 19, but not always.

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              • Dan Druff
              • IhE
              • 13 Sep 2018

              LOL! No headphone jack and below average headphone volume. Every Sony phone seems to have the same shape for it's headphone out graph. Pathetic.

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                • Shui8
                • KZ8
                • 13 Sep 2018

                As expected, XZ3 is finally a good all rounder Sony phone. Definitely digging the design than the XZ2 series (apart from fps placement). Really like it. Its just that a reasonable price for it should be $700, comes along with fast charger as default and at least give us 128gb internal memory. 4gb ram is enough.

                As for the camera, best natural color production as always & improved overall quality from XZ2. Its definitely still have that oversharpen thingy causing the 17mp creates a bit noise. Samples of 12mp downsampling res should be put as well for comparing as most flagship phones nowadays tops at 12mp, and Sony should makes the 12mp as default, as it will benefit between less noise & details retained from that big 19mp sensor. Leave the 17mp as an option. But nonetheless its still flagship levels of camera, apart from that bad bokeh effects from single lens which other company expertised from their dual lens.

                Its not perfect but again, a good all rounder phone. Next, waiting for Pixel 3 and Mate 20 series to come out!

                  Glad to see a fair Sony review.

                  This is by far the best Sony phone to have come out in recent years. It's almost perfect. A brilliant display, camera, design & battery life. There are no compromises (except maybe the headphone jack).

                  Hope it sells well. Sony deserves it this time!

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                    • Anonymous
                    • LQw
                    • 13 Sep 2018

                    Dude, 13 Sep 2018Great review, but for my money I'd still go for the cheaper... moreSamsung copied 960fps, may copy the sided FPS for S10. Even got patents from Sony to turn screen into speaker like Bravia Oled.

                    - No other brand has 10-bit screen with BT2020 certification. The other are 8-bit HDR10 only.

                    - Since X Performance, all flagships have 120Hz screen, even XA2. The XZ2P has 144Hz. Most are still 60Hz

                    - SD845 allows to record 4K HDR10 ( only LG chose to offer), while Sony offers 4K HDR Rec2020

                    - Only brand to offer 960FPS Full HD, not 240fps recording that is played as 960 like P20.

                    - Since XZ they offer a tech from Qnovo that protects battery against the damages caused by faster charging.

                    - Sony brought to mobile the ability to blur the background since Z.

                    - Sony was the first to use scene recognition that many are copying and calling AI.

                    - The ability of Nokia 8 to use front and rear cam together has been seen on Xperia since Z phones.

                    - Sony brought AR to mobile

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                      • Anonymous
                      • vjw
                      • 13 Sep 2018

                      Sony just needs to tone down the sharpening a bit more to reduce the noise and haloes. Good details in low light though.

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                        • Dude
                        • 3Kf
                        • 13 Sep 2018

                        Great review, but for my money I'd still go for the cheaper S9+. Sony is always following, never leading.

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                          • Leepu
                          • fCR
                          • 13 Sep 2018

                          Lovely phone, hope it releases in India. Considering Sony the price will probably be around 70k inr (roughly USD 1000). Only disadvantage is lack of 3.5mm jack and low ram(for the price) and older generation camera, still will wait till the price drops to 32k-35k and will definitely buy.

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