Sony's XZ is picture perfect

AN IMAGE sensor of the same heft as those used in compact digital cameras helps make Sony’s latest smartphone, the Xperia XZ, a force to be reckoned with.
With three different image-sensing technologies, the phone produces sharp, vivid photos, adding to the allure of a device packing a powerful processor.
Sombre and sleek in a durable, curved-edge frame of high-sheen Alkaleido metal, the XZ feels comfortable in the hand at 8.1mm in width and 161 grams in weight.
It comes in Forest Blue, Mineral Black or Platinum, the first being a new colour for the range.
The substantial power comes from a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 64-bit quad-core processor with LTE 4G connections. You have three gigabytes of working memory (RAM) and 64GB of internal storage. The latter can be boosted to 256GB with a microSD card as long as you’re not using two SIM cards, because the dual slots are shared.

The bright, beautiful 5.2-inch Full HD Triluminos Display has an X-Reality mobile-picture engine. The resolution is 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and the brightness is a gleaming 600 nits.
That makes the display great for viewing high-definition videos and photos – like the ones taken with the phone’s excellent camera. The images are so good that you won’t even need your compact digital camera.
The main camera uses a 23-megapixel 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS image sensor, a match in size for most compact digital cameras, huge for a smartphone. On top of that you have Sony’s award-winning G lens with an f/2 aperture, so you’re capturing more light.
The 24mm-equivalent wide-angle lens comes up with terrific landscapes and group shots. The photos go through Sony’s Bionz mobile image-processing engine, resulting in vivid colours and less noise.
With all this technology, the XZ can take gorgeous shots in low light, up to a remarkable ISO12800.
The triple image sensing makes the pictures much sharper than you might expect. The camera can analyse scenes and adapt to complex lighting, whether dim or from the back, and also when the subject is moving.
The Exmor RS image sensor is married to Predictive Hybrid auto-focus to make an educated guess as to the speed and direction of the moving subject. More accuracy and better results are achieved with Phase Detection Auto-focus, a Laser AF sensor and an RGBC-IR colour-sensor that adjusts white balance.
You end up with blur-free photos in virtually any light.

The main camera is always ready to work in an instant. Press and hold the dedicated shutter button and it goes from standby to capture mode in six-tenths of a second.
Automatic exposure mode is excellent, but you also have the option of full control in manual mode as well. You can change the white balance, exposure compensation and shutter speed and even focus manually.
While testing a Forest Blue model, I found Auto mode great for capturing crisp, lovely shots in various lighting conditions. Pictures of streetlights at night came out as clear as could be.
The predictive and focus tracking were highly effective – I got great, sharply focused pictures of a shy fish darting around a fish tank.

In manual mode you can choose among several useful scene options – Hand-held Twilight, Blacklight Correction HDR, Soft Skin, Anti-motion Blur, Gourmet and Fireworks.
Hand-held Twilight is the one to select for urban lights at night. From our 31st-floor office terrace I shot wonderful images along Bangna-Trat Road, showing the streams of car taillights and jazzy street lighting in sharp contrast to the surrounding darkness.
The main camera also has 5X Clear Image Zoom, a big improvement on digital zoom and close to optical zoom. It worked beautifully in my test, bringing objects much closer and keeping them in focus.
With the main camera you can record 4K movies, and SteadyShot technology with Intelligent Active Mode, which uses five-axis stabilisation, makes it suitable for fast action.
Meanwhile the 13MP front camera is your go-to selfie pal with its 1/3-inch low-light sensor and 22mm-equivalent wide lens.
As mentioned, LTE connections are speedy. I tapped into TrueMove H’s LTE network in a blink and was soon quickly downloading apps and backing up my pictures to a Google Photos cloud. The Ookla Speedtest app clocked the download speed at 97.12 megabytes per second and uploads at 30.82Mbps.
Wi-Fi 802.11ac MIMO wireless protocol is supported. I ran the phone through my 802.11ac Linksys router, connected in a jiffy and quickly streamed multimedia files from my home network computers.
Like other X series models, the XZ has a fingerprint sensor atop the power button on the right side. I had no problem using it to scan my right thumbprint to unlock the phone.
The phone is also water-resistant, with an IP65/68 rating.

You can play High-Resolution Audio in various formats, including FLAC 24bit/192kHz and DSD. High-Res Bluetooth connections using LDAC wireless protocol are supported. I tried it with Sony’s MDR-1ABT, via both audio cable and LDAC and the music quality was impressive, rich with instrumental details and solid bass.
The 2,900mAh battery can comfortably survive a whole day on a single full charge. You have Qnovo Adaptive technology that “learns” your charging patterns, which ultimately can double the battery’s life span.
Finally, there’s a USB Type-C port for easy connection to a charger and attaching accessories.
The Sony Xperia XZ has a suggested retail price of Bt23,990.

Key Specs

- Operating system: Android 6.0.1
- Networks: GSM GPRS/EDGE (2G), UMTS HSPA+ (3G), LTE (4G) Cat 9
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 64-bit quad-core processor
- Memory: 3GB RAM
- Storage: 64GB, expandable with microSD up to 256GB
- SIM: Dual nano slots (one sharing with microSD)
- Display: 5.2-inch Full HD Triluminos
- Main camera: 23MP 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS sensor with 24mm G lens, 5x Clear Image Zoom
- Front camera: 13MP 1/3-inch Exmor RS with 22mm wide-angle lens
- Durability: IP65/IP68, Corning Gorilla Glass
- Connectivity: USB Type-C, |Wi-Fi 802.11ac MIMO, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2
- Battery: 2900mAh
- Dimensions: 146x72x8.1mm
- Weight: 161 grams