Sony Xperia Z5 Review: Same Same, But Different

Yup, you read it right. Yet another Sony Z-series flagship phone review. In case you have forgotten, here's a quick reminder. While the Xperia Z3+ was announced in late May (if you don't count the Z4), the phone only arrived in Singapore early July. So after just little over 3 months, I now have the Xperia Z5 in my hands. And nope, I have no idea what the folks over at Sony were smoking.


Theoretically, Sony's typical 6 months upgrade cycle means that they are able to reiterate, and improve upon their devices very quickly. Whether they are actually able to do that, is another question entirely. The Xperia Z3+ for one was a mixed bag. While it improved in a few areas, it went backwards in others. Resulting in a side step rather than step forward. Perhaps that's why it is called the Z3+ rather than the Z4. So does the bigger number this time round really mean a much better phone? Let's find out.

The Best Looking Xperia Yet

The Xperia Z5 is a beautiful device to look at. The green one that I have bought looks stunning, and so do pretty much all the other colour options. Sony's Omnibalance design has withstood the test of time, and this is the best looking Xperia smartphone to date. The green frosted glass back looks and feels great to the touch (I'll take matte over glossy finishes any day).

The bumpers at the 4 corners of the device blends in nicely with the side of the device too, along with a very subtle Xperia logo on the bottom left hand side.

While the device is nice to look at, using it is another story. The blocky device and thin sides makes it a little harder to pick up off a table-top. When holding it in hand, you can clearly feel that the back glass is a little sunken in compared the the sides. That rough edge doesn't feel nice in the hand at all.

Then there is the volume rocker which is placed below the sleep/wake button. It is nearer to the dedicated 2-stage camera button rather than the sleep/wake button. Using the device with my right hand, the volume rocker feels awkward. A situation that can be improved by moving the rocker a little higher, and nearer to the sleep/wake button. Using the device left handed feels more natural. While my index finger is on the power button, my middle and ring finger rests nicely on the volume rocker.

Fast, Accurate, & Well-positioned Fingerprint Sensor 

The sleep/wake button also doubles up as a fingerprint sensor at the side of the device, which is actually a pretty great place for the sensor actually. The position of the button means that my finger is going to be there anyway. I set up both my thumb and index finger on both hands, and that pretty much has me covered.

The reading and unlocking of the phone seems just as quick as Samsung’s offerings too, and seems just a tad more consistent. The trick to making it more reliable is to make sure that when you are setting up your fingerprint, try to replicate real life usage as much as possible.

Visual & Aural: Good, But Not Great

On the front of the device, you have a 5.2” Full HD LCD display. Just like on the Z3+, the 1080p display still looks good enough on a screen this size. Colours looks pleasing and accurate to me as well. I did find the brightness a bit on the dimmer side though, and when viewed at extreme angles there seem to be a bit of colour shifting. Minor, but worth noting. It’s a nice looking display, but far from the best in the market.

Also on the front, are the front firing stereo speakers which are nicely hidden at the top and bottom of the device. I actually found that on my unit the top speaker sounds a tad louder than the bottom for some reason. Also in terms of volume and clarity, it is no where near what HTC has to offer on their One M9.

I also did a quick comparison with the Galaxy Note 5 as well. The Note 5 sounded not only louder, but also clearer as well despite only having a single firing speaker. But, being front mounted means that when it comes to playing games, watching videos, it’s going to give a nicer experience just by being positioned in the right place.

A Familiar Powerful Performer 

When it comes to performance, the Z5 uses the same Snapdragon 810 processor as its predecessor, the Xperia Z3+. While it is a powerful 64-bit Octa-core chipset, it has been known to get warm a bit quicker than older Qualcomm chipsets. I have used several smartphones with the Snapdragon 810, and while they do get warm more easily, it didn’t felt like a huge issue. The heat tends to emanate from the top region of the device, which isn’t a position our hands are normally at anyway.

So does the device get warm? Yes. It does so easier than the Galaxy Note 5’s Exynos 7420 chipset, and just as easily as the Xperia Z3+, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Is it too warm? Most of the time no. It only got really warm during the initial setup while I was installing apps at the same time.

Being the top of the line processor as of now from Qualcomm, the Xperia Z5 handled games with ease as well. But I do see inexplicable lag throughout the system pretty often. Janky animations, scrolling, swiping, etc. It probably has more to do with Sony’s launcher and poor optimisation rather than a lack of processing power. A minor annoyance that I have been seeing on far too many Android devices.

On the Xperia Z5 though, the UI lag seems a little bit more severe. Occasional frame drop when scrolling through the home or app pages, stutter when swiping away an item in the recent apps menu, etc. Things that felt smoother on the Z3+ and Z3 Compact I had. Hopefully these will be fixed with future updates, but as it is, it’s unacceptable for a flagship device in 2015.

Inching Towards Stock Android, But Not Quite There Yet

Continuing on the UI front, Sony has been toning down their UI customisation over the years and adopted a more stock Android-like look and feel. The Xperia Z5 is no different. It still has some Sony’s "flare" in it, which can be either good or bad. Some of it are useful, some of it pointless. But one thing Sony (and in fact other Android OEMs) has not pared down on, are bloatwares.

In Sony’s case, it is a lot of them, including Sony’s own. I say this when reviewing most Android devices from various manufacturers, both large and small, and I will keep saying it. I understand that they have to find a way to make money off their devices, but shoving bloatware down consumer’s throat isn’t the way to do it in my opinion.

Bigger Battery > Thinner device

So with a combination of a not so frugal Snapdragon 810 processor, Sony’s software, and a 2,900 mAh battery capacity, how does the phone match up against Sony’s claim of “up to 2 days battery life”? It doesn’t.

Sure it is completely possible to get up to 2 days of battery life for light usage in stamina mode, but that should not be how they market the Xperia Z5. If you use your phone like a smartphone, you are going to be charging it daily. The good thing is that it will most likely last you a day of use pretty easily, which is still a pretty admirable performance.

(Z5)

In one of the days I got 3 hours 20 mins of screen on time, a total of about 19 hours of use (including sleep) before I hit 3%. This is without the use of Stamina mode, and with moderate to heavy use. Playing a bit of games, taking a lot of photos outdoors, testing the camera, etc. The camera probably impacted the the battery life the most on this day though.

I would say on average use, it has about the same battery life as on the Z3+, but being a newer device, it would be nice to have more improvements. If only they had kept the same battery size as on the Z2 instead of shrinking the battery size with every generation.

Fast Charging Sort Of Available

If you ever find yourself low on power and need to quickly top up your phone, I have 2 good news and a bad one for you. The first good news is that like the Xperia Z3+, it supports Qualcomm’s QC 2.0 (Quick Charge 2.0) which lets you quickly top up your phone’s battery. The second good news, is that since it’s using Qualcomm’s tech, it will support quick charging on third party QC 2.0 charging adapters too. And those, are relatively cheap and easy to find if you need a couple of extras.

The bad news? The retail package in Singapore doesn’t include one in the box. Which is a peculiar situation considering the Z3+ did come with one. For a flagship phone that is retailing at a recommended retail price of SGD $998, that is ridiculous. Even Asus will throw in a QC 2.0 charger if you get the higher end version of the ZenFone 2, and that is a phone that is about half the price of the Xperia Z5.

Great Camera, But Not The Best

Then we get to final piece of the puzzle, the camera. For the last four flagship device in a row, Sony used a similar 20.7 MP Sony Exmor RS camera setup. Thankfully this time round, they are using a brand new sensor. There is no doubt about Sony’s ability to churn out great camera sensors. Just ask Samsung, Apple, LG, and a bunch of other manufacturers. But for mobile photography, I think software plays a really big role too, both in terms of camera UI as well as image processing.

Before I got my hands on the phone, DXOmark ranked the Xperia Z5 as the No.1 smartphone camera in their tests, which looks really promising. But after trying the Z5’s camera for myself, I have to respectfully disagree with their ranking. Of course keeping in mind, different people have different preferences for how photos should look. Or it could be because DXOmark breaks the performance down into different categories, so maybe the Z5 was impressive in one particular area that gave it a huge advantage over the others.

Because in my time with it, after spending some time comparing the images it too with other devices, I would not rate it better than the S6 or the G4. Don't get me wrong, the camera is great. But it's just not the best in the market in my opinion.

Nitty-Gritty

The camera app is still too convoluted, packed with modes that aren’t that useful. I personally prefer a simpler interface for phones. "Manual" mode, doesn't really let you tweak much things at all. I still think that Sony should simplify the app further and make those add-ons (augmented reality stuff) additional installs rather than having them baked-in.

While the fast focus is impressive, and enjoyable to use, its capture speed isn't. After each shot, it has to process the image before you can take the next shot. Sometimes after I take a shot, after the image finish processing, and I want to tap into the gallery to look at the photo, I am presented with a black screen until the image actually loads 2-3 seconds later.

(I am shooting in 8MP Superior Auto Mode as that is the default mode on the phone)

(Fast focus speeds)

The image quality is actually pretty great in day-light. The Xperia Z5 produces natural looking images that are truer to the actual lighting conditions compared to other smartphones I have tested. When you shoot in 8 MP Superior Auto Mode, the phone downsample the 23 MP image into an 8 MP one to produce better looking images.

The good news is that images do look a bit better. More balanced exposure, better dynamic range, better contrast, and a bit better colours depending on the scene that it detects. The bad news is that Superior Auto Mode isn’t spot on all the times. At times you will find images that are over-exposed, or white balance that are way off.

In low-light conditions however, the image quality is good, but not great. Without OIS the camera opted for a lower ISO, resulting in more noise, less details, and heavier-handed image processing. In fact when comparing night shots taken by the Z5 with the Z3+, the Z5's image processing looks a bit overboard when it comes to noise-reduction and sharpening. The consolation is that if you're just viewing the photos on a phone screen, it'll still look pretty decent.

Overall, the camera is a really nice upgrade from the Xperia Z3+. While the images tend to look a bit cooler than I would have liked, they do look more natural. Superior Auto Mode has gotten a lot more consistent too, and better at detecting scenes. When Superior Auto Mode is spot-on, the images looks great.

There are a few annoyances though. First, the Superior Auto Mode isn’t always spot-on. Second, the image processing speed isn’t quick. Third, the camera app contains too much unnecessary modes. If camera is your main priority, there are other Android devices that provides a better camera experience, and low-light image quality.


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Jack-of-All-Trades

What we have here is yet another Xperia phone. One that is better than its predecessor in many ways. Sony stumbled upon the original Xperia Z and has stuck to it ever since. Slowly improving on it, making minor adjustments and changes. For people who love the Xperia Z Series, this is going to be a nice upgrade.

The Xperia Z5 does almost everything well. Decent camera, decent screen, stereo speakers, decent battery performance, great design, modern hardware, decent software. It also has the plus side of being IP68 certified. But that’s the thing that worries me, because what Sony needs is not just a good phone, it needs a great phone. The Xperia Z5 does a lot of things well, but it is in a market where a lot of phones does that too, and then some.

For people looking for a great looking device that does most everything well, and is water resistant, the Xperia Z5 is a great choice. For fans of the Xperia Z series, this is the best Xperia Z series phone yet. It is the result of years of improvements and refinements towards the same ideology.

Which is part of the problem with what we have here, the same "If it ain't broken, don't fix it" phone. But the thing is, Sony is clearly struggling right now to make money from their mobile division, and I would definitely consider that "broken". But it seems to me like Sony still isn't doing anything different from before. The specification and design might be a little bit better, but this feels very much like the same company at work.

Perhaps the Z5 Compact, or the Z5 Premium will be better. But at this point, I’m not holding my breath anymore.