Sony Xperia ZR review: Ready to dare

30 July 2013
Squeezing your flagship smartphone in a tinier, sportier shell is the fad in Android these days. Not the one to blindly follow the pack, Sony has chosen to do things differently. The Xperia ZR didn't get as far down as the Galaxy S4 mini and the...

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • IVx
  • 31 Jul 2013

Paximos, 31 Jul 2013I don't understand why Sony does not get it. All their phon... moreDude they were made by the Japanese and the Japs are concerned about other people looking at your screen. That is their culture. Go to Japan and you can even find a toilet bowl with a speaker to imitate the flushing sound. Just for covering the sound of your poop splashing into the water. If they want to make it wide angle they can easily do it like their TVs

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • tTW
    • 31 Jul 2013

    AnonD-3678, 31 Jul 2013Because Sony cannot make such LCD. Viewing angle matters mo... moreMan.. U should know this.. In terms of TFT LCD, Sony is better than Samsung or HTC LCD. Sony is the company making best LCDs. Samsung LCDs are also very very good but lacks some extra pixels and thats why is the low price of their LCD TVs. If u don't believe me, search google.
    And the best display today is TRILIMINOUS Display, which is a recent innovation from Sony. Just see the picture. Only One word - Mind Blowing.

      • D
      • AnonD-11603
      • K2G
      • 31 Jul 2013

      Thanks GSMArena, been waiting a while for this review :)

        • D
        • AnonD-150047
        • IVN
        • 31 Jul 2013

        I don't care about viewing angle in smartphone, it only matter when it come to TV screen or computer screen. in fact I even use business laptop with a screen filter that would restrict viewing angle so that the next person beside me do not know what I am doing.

          • D
          • AnonD-78583
          • sye
          • 31 Jul 2013

          Funny.,.,.
          Key feature: VGA front facing camera
          Disadvantage: Low-res front facing camera

            • D
            • AnonD-3678
            • txq
            • 31 Jul 2013

            Paximos, 31 Jul 2013I don't understand why Sony does not get it. All their phon... moreBecause Sony cannot make such LCD. Viewing angle matters most for TV and we see now that Samsung & LG TV beats Sony. Sony TV unit has been losing money for years.

            This is good article how Sony lost electronic market:
            http://kotaku.com/5960411/how-sony-is-turning-into-a-ghost-in-japan-and-around-the-world

              Disadvantages?
              Below-par viewing angles of the display - no one views the phone in an awkward angle. Go figure.
              Feeble loudspeaker – who turns on the speaker underwater?
              Low-res front facing camera – front camera is used primarily as video calling, it has to be low res for it is better to strea low res images. Damn u selfie loving gsma

              I noticed how did XSP beat XZR in almost every benchmarks? Spec wise ZR is superior than SP.

                • D
                • AnonD-114170
                • thH
                • 31 Jul 2013

                Paximos, 31 Jul 2013I don't understand why Sony does not get it. All their phon... moreWow! You buy phones for their viewing angles? If that's the case, you don't deserve an Xperia, go to HTC or Samsung.

                  • S
                  • Sadako
                  • t7R
                  • 31 Jul 2013

                  kanor, 30 Jul 2013Waiting for this. From philippines It's already available in the Philippines priced at PHP 25,990 in Sony Xperia Stores. Kimstore sells it at PHP 20,300.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • YV7
                    • 31 Jul 2013

                    Paximos, 31 Jul 2013I don't understand why Sony does not get it. All their phon... moreThey have fixed the viewing angle issue, in fact the triluminos display is by far the best screen i have seen, compared to super LCD 3

                    ZR > SP because ZR dives and take great pictures!

                      • P
                      • Paximos
                      • kc7
                      • 31 Jul 2013

                      I don't understand why Sony does not get it. All their phones suffer from sub-par viewing angles of the display. I have a Sony Xperia T and until this is the issue, that is my first and last Sony phone.

                        • e
                        • edyl
                        • Thi
                        • 31 Jul 2013

                        First time to see for an Xperia with 60+ hours of battery life. Things are now really starting to look good for Sony

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • uju
                          • 31 Jul 2013

                          Im torn between the ZR & the ZL. Their prices are the same in here. Any advice?

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                            • AnonD-127312
                            • 6P%
                            • 31 Jul 2013

                            I was going to buy xperia sp but this review saved me, just superb i must say. Right now i have two concerns, first xperia sp is very much compatible with XZR over the benchmarks and price difference between XSP and XZR is far greater than the performance difference right now... so maybe have to wait a bit more. XZR all the way.
                            Thx Gsmarena

                              • a
                              • atb
                              • pcE
                              • 31 Jul 2013

                              A very good review from gsmarena and her is moore good news the 4.2.2 jelly bean update with builtnummber:10.3.1.A.0.244 is now availlbly for xperia zr ijust updatet my xperia zr a few minutes ago so just have a look if this update is out in your region good luck

                                • D
                                • AnonD-111968
                                • Iac
                                • 31 Jul 2013

                                Wow, the ZR now has the longest battery life with web browsing. Longest or not, waterproof or not, Sony Mobile Sg and StarHub, etc... make this phone available with a data plan here in Singapore. This is a very valuable smartphone. But I cannot afford to buy without a 2 yr contract.

                                  • G
                                  • Gauron
                                  • t7J
                                  • 31 Jul 2013

                                  Its like a raptor small but terrible "power,compact,easy to carry,compact"

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                                    • AnonD-8221
                                    • tA$
                                    • 31 Jul 2013

                                    Great review, at least better than PA's review on ZR.
                                    the things that missing is how many zoom available if the camera is set to the max MP, the white paper says it can be zoomed up to 16x but is it on 13MP?

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                                      • AnonD-80468
                                      • GRm
                                      • 31 Jul 2013

                                      Only if it had a dual SIM support and a pentaband to make it a world phone, this was an unbeatable package ... almost matching what the earlier GSM Arena initiative of compact high end phones was about ...

                                        • M
                                        • MdN
                                        • B}Q
                                        • 31 Jul 2013

                                        AnonD-79514, 31 Jul 2013to the gsmarena team, there's also another error, in the pa... moreTo me the 360 degree view doesn't load (it loads on other phones)...