Sony xperia z3 black. Mobile phone Sony Xperia Z3 (black). Hardware platform, performance

Mobile phone Sony Xperia Z3 (black)

Waterproof smartphone Sony Xperia Z3 embodies the elegance of design and the power of high technology. Sony's latest creation proves that beauty lasts. An ultra-thin aluminum frame with rounded edges, durable tempered glass panels and an exclusive power button design give the new premium smartphone a prestigious and elegant look. But looks aren't everything, are they? That is why Sony has taken care of a balanced symmetrical design so that the device fits perfectly in the hand. And thanks to a simple and user-friendly interface, using this smartphone is surprisingly comfortable.

PROTECTION AGAINST WATER AND DUST

Slim and sleek, Sony's Xperia Z3 boasts an impressive IP65/68 rating, meaning dust and water won't get in the way of your smartphone's work or your entertainment. With the waterproof Xperia Z3 smartphone, you can take up to 30 minutes of photography while swimming in fresh water. With it, you can even dive to a depth of 1.5 meters! Just remember that all connectors must be securely closed.

TAKE GREAT PHOTOS

The Sony Xperia Z3 camera is equipped with an Exmor RS sensor for mobile devices and has an incredible ISO 12800 light sensitivity that is unmatched in smartphones. And that means you can now shoot even in the dimmest light and still get perfect photos.

HANDYCAM VIDEO CAMERA IN YOUR SMARTPHONE

The Xperia Z3 features the digital recording technologies used in Sony's award-winning Handycam camcorders. Capture the most important moments of your life in breathtaking 4K resolution (3840x2160) and edit videos right on your smartphone. And so that the image does not tremble, as often happens on ordinary smartphones, the exclusive SteadyShot technology has been developed. Together with the new Intelligent Active Mode, it evaluates motion parameters and analyzes dozens of frames to compensate for shaky video and stabilize the image.

ENTIRE 2 DAYS WITHOUT CHARGING

The Sony Xperia Z3 is built with efficiency in mind. Every smallest detail in it is carefully thought out so as to work for the result. An incredibly powerful battery with 2 days of use on a single charge ensures that this Android smartphone will last as long as you need it. Work and play all day long: Sony Xperia Z3 will not run out of battery even after a day.

UNBELIEVABLE POWER AND INCREDIBLE SPEED

Want a smartphone with lightning-fast internet, impressive multitasking, and an interface that listens to your every thought? Then the Sony Xperia Z3 is for you. It is equipped with a new, powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor with an impressive clock speed of up to 2.5 GHz. Since all cores are powered independently in an asynchronous processor, you get exactly the level of power you need at the moment, and the battery is not wasted for a second.

Detailed testing of the new flagship Sony Mobile

Perhaps it’s worth starting with the fact that Sony, having once again updated its main and most popular line of mobile devices called Xperia Z, this time brought everything “to a common denominator”, giving all devices included in the updated series, without exception, an ordinal number 3. Thus, even a miniature version of the flagship smartphone Sony Z3 Compact immediately "jumped" one digit in its index, so as not to differ from its comrades in the line. There is no and never will be a model called Xperia Z2 Compact, users immediately received the third “mini” version, and now all three main products in the top family have the same Z3 index in their names.

The new line of Sony mobile devices was presented at the very beginning of autumn during the world exhibition IFA 2014 and includes three top devices: the flagship smartphone Sony Xperia Z3, its miniature version Xperia Z3 Compact, and a new eight-inch tablet called Sony Z3 Tablet. This is with regard to the main devices of the line. In addition to them, the new series of Sony mobile products includes the budget smartphone Xperia E3, a watch, and a new bracelet with an electronic ink screen… But everything has its time. Today we present to your attention a detailed test review of the most important device in the top family - the Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone, which very quickly replaced the Xperia Z2 presented literally in the spring. The Japanese firmly adhere to the once chosen course to update the flagship line every six months, rightly believing that during this time enough reasons have accumulated to update the lineup.

Unlike the Xperia Z2, which has progressed in terms of technical improvements compared to its predecessors, the Xperia Z3 has practically no changes in this regard. But on the other hand, a very tangible work was carried out on the appearance of the product itself and the user graphical interface, that is, most of the changes this time lie precisely in the plane of design and embellishments. However, this does not mean at all that the next update should be treated with disdain. On the contrary, the Sony Xperia Z3 eliminated all those shortcomings and roughness that annoyed the powerful, but in many ways turned out to be rude Xperia Z2. However, in terms of technical characteristics, there have been some changes. Let's talk about everything in order.

Video review

To get started, we suggest watching our video review of the Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone:

Key Features of Sony Xperia Z3 (Model D6603)

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC), 2.5 GHz, 4 cores
• GPU Adreno 330
• Operating system Android 4.4 KitKat
• Touch IPS display, 5.2″, 1920×1080
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• microSD card slot up to 128 GB (SDXC)
• Protection against dust and moisture according to IP 65/68
• Communication GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Communication 3G UMTS HSPA+ 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz
• LTE Band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 20 (2600/800 FDD are used in Russia)
• Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
• Support DLNA, MHL 3.0, OTG, Media Go, MTP, Miracast
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS/Glonass
• 20.7MP Exmor RS camera, autofocus, LED flash, 4K video
• Front camera 2.2 MP
• Non-removable battery 3100 mAh
• Dimensions 146×72×7.3 mm
• Weight 152 g

Contents of delivery

The Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone is packed in a fairly simple outwardly, which has already become classic for the latest products of the Sony mobile line, a flat and square box made of thin unvarnished cardboard with a cardboard tray and three different-sized compartments inside, separated by thin partitions.

The Sony Xperia Z3 package bundle is very laconic: a compact charger and a Micro-USB connecting cable. Headphones Sony has decided not to invest in a set of their flagship products anymore, they will be offered separately at a fairly reasonable price, as an additional accessory.

Appearance and usability

If most of the main changes in the Sony Xperia Z2 touched on the technical side, then in the third incarnation, the previous content was dressed in a much fresher shell. Since the very first Xperia Z, the appearance of the case of all the flagship smartphones of the line has not changed much over the generations, remaining the same type. The basis of the design, which the developers even gave their own name OmniBalance, was a frame with flat edges. And recently it has taken the form of such a rough heavy all-metal construction with cut off sharp edges that the Xperia Z2, for example, was already really uncomfortable to hold in your hand. The main claims that immediately fell from users regarding the Xperia Z2 presented in the spring concerned precisely the rudeness and heaviness of the novelty case. This time, the developers took into account all the negative nuances and changed the feeling of using a smartphone beyond recognition.

Moreover, they didn’t have to do almost anything: they just removed the flat chamfers from the surface of the side frames, which is why the rough edges that stuck into the palm also disappeared. The metal frame has become completely streamlined, flat and sharp edges have been replaced by rounded sidewalls, which makes the device really nice to take in hand.

The polymer spacer between metal and glass, which disappeared in the latest models, has not returned here, but the metal edges of the edge no longer dig into the skin as before. Now in the hands of the user is a pleasant to the touch, smooth and streamlined "bar", which, moreover, also threw off the weight. The mass of the Sony Xperia Z3 was brought to a comfortable level, which had the most favorable effect on the overall perception of the device - now there is simply nothing to complain about.

As for the general structure of the case, the smartphone is still a monolithic non-separable monoblock, consisting of two glass plates and a metal frame that runs along the entire side perimeter of the case. The metal surface is matte and slightly rough, which makes the smartphone perfectly held in the fingers and does not slip out of the palm.

At the same time, even greater changes have been made to the design of the frame than are immediately noticeable to the eye. The fact is that the corners of the frame this time were made of polycarbonate material, which dampens the impact when the device falls. Now they play the role of a kind of shock absorbers, which, in theory, should favorably affect the “survival” of the product after falls from a height. This plastic is indistinguishable in appearance from the metal of the frame itself, so that in general the case retains a uniform look.

Another change has affected the thickness of the case: the smartphone has become a little thinner, and it looks very cool. True, the decrease in thickness led to a decrease in the volume of the built-in battery, but the changes in this regard are not too significant.

Otherwise, everything remains in place: the front and rear glasses no longer have a factory protective film, the glass is similar in characteristics to the popular Corning Gorilla Glass, but the proud Sony does not like to talk about its suppliers. The screen is now made using IPS technology, next to it on the front side there are two stereo speakers facing the user. Not forgotten and a special connector with an open pair of contacts for installing a smartphone in a docking station. The connector is universal: most modern Sony devices, including tablets, can be installed in the same docking station, purchased separately.

The covers on the side frame are still made of metal and equipped with rubberized gaskets. As a result, the smartphone, like its predecessors, is provided with maximum protection against ingress of water and dust according to the IP 65/68 standard. There are two covers, they hide slots for a memory card and a SIM card, as well as a Micro-USB connector. By the way, changes have taken place here too: now top-end Sony mobile devices use Nano-SIM cards, obviously with an eye to a painless possible transition of some users from the Apple iPhone. The rest will have to go to the communication salon again and change their SIM card to a new standard card.

The front and back glass panels are now free of those factory protective films that have been so controversial. Maybe this is for the best, since the films, of course, wore out faster and were covered with a mass of scratches than glass, and it was quite problematic to remove them, and besides, the glass then lost its grease-repellent coating.

Grilles for sound output are located at the top and bottom of the screen, the role of the gratings is played by two symmetrical slots in the glass. A completely logical solution is to turn the speakers towards the user, and not away from him, and there are two speakers themselves. By the way, the sound of the new flagship has become much louder than that of its predecessors, even despite the gaskets that protect against water. Another change: it used to be through the top slot of the speaker that the light of the status indicator made its way, now its role is played by a more traditional separate LED dot. There is an item in the settings menu where you can turn off some of the indicator functions, leaving it to notify only about the charging status.

Below the screen, as usual with Sony, there are no hardware touch buttons; control is carried out using virtual buttons on the screen. So here below you can only find the grille of the lower speaker, and even then there is not much space left for it. In general, the bezels around the screen are very thin on all sides, so the smartphone case with such a large display area remained in quite digestible dimensions - both for the average human hand and for a pocket of any size.

The back wall of the case is exactly the same as the front: it is made of glass, there is no protective film on it, there are no gaskets between the glass and metal of the side faces, and of the functional elements there are only a camera window and a flash eye. The flash here consists of a single LED, while most competing flagships have had twin flashes for a long time, and now they also come in multi-colored ones. It’s good that they didn’t forget to provide the smartphone with pre-installed software that allows you to use this module in flashlight mode.

The power and lock button is located on the right side, next to the volume rocker. It traditionally looks like a metal round for the latest Sony smartphones, but in models of the third series it is somewhat different in appearance. All keys are large, easy to grope blindly, have a distinct spring-loaded stroke, so there are no complaints about the Sony Xperia Z3 controls.

At the bottom of the right side there is a dedicated hardware camera control key, due to which the smartphone can be used to shoot even underwater, although the screen at this time becomes insensitive to touch. The ability to shoot on Sony mobile devices under water is such a branded “trick”, constantly played by the company in advertising and on posters.

The headphone jack (3.5 mm) is located on the top here, and it is not covered by any plugs. However, it is also protected from water getting inside the case. There is nothing on the bottom end - the universal Micro-USB connector, which, by the way, supports connecting external devices in OTG mode, is hidden under a cover on the left side face. For daily charging, you will have to flip this cover every time - or use a separately purchased docking station. Sony is in no hurry to integrate wireless charging support into its mobile devices.

Another hole has been made in the lower left corner of the case - this is the traditional strap attachment that is present in all Sony smartphones, and it is a pity that other manufacturers neglect this useful element.

The color scheme of the cases of the new flagship has undergone significant changes. Quite unexpectedly, the smartphone was presented not only in traditional black and white, and, quite expectedly, golden colors, but also in a completely new mint green, which the developers simply call green. In fact, this color has a soft pastel, as if a slightly faded greenish tone; the color is discreet and very pleasing to the eye. But the golden color is more reminiscent of polished copper to a shine, for which it got its name Copper (copper-red).

Screen

Smartphone Sony Xperia Z3 is equipped with an IPS touch matrix. The screen dimensions are 64 × 114 mm, the diagonal is 5.2 inches, the resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels. A parameter such as pixel density is 423 ppi here. From the developers themselves, this type of display received the brand name Triluminos.

Outside, the screen is covered with protective glass without a factory protective film - this branded distinctive feature has completely disappeared from the screens of Sony mobile devices. The thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the case is about 3 mm - the frames are very narrow.

The brightness of the display can be adjusted manually, or you can use automatic adjustment. Multi-touch technology here allows you to handle up to 10 simultaneous touches. The display supports operation with gloves, as well as with wet fingers. When you bring the smartphone to your ear, the screen is locked using the proximity sensor.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens of both devices (Sony Xperia Z3, as it is not difficult to determine, is on the right, then they can be distinguished by size):

Both screens are dark, but the Sony screen is still darker (its brightness in the photo is 98 versus 103 for the Nexus 7). The tripling of reflected objects on the Sony Xperia Z3 screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass (it is also a touch sensor) and the matrix surface (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better with strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, perhaps better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control, its maximum value was about 680 cd / m², and the minimum - 4.7 cd / m². The maximum value is simply huge and is a record for this type of technology, and, given the good anti-glare properties, in bright daylight and even in direct sunlight, the image on the screen should be clearly distinguishable. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. Automatic brightness control works by light sensor (it is located to the left of the logo on the front panel). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness control. If it is at maximum, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 130 cd / m² (too much), in an office lit by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 350 cd / m² (very much), in a very bright environment (corresponds to bright daylight outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 580 cd/m² (sufficient). If the brightness slider is at half the scale (it is very non-linear - after 50% the brightness goes up sharply as the setting is increased), then the screen brightness for the three conditions indicated above is as follows: 68, 240 and 580 cd / m² (suitable values). If the brightness control is set to a minimum - 7.4, 120, 580 cd / m². As a result, the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This screen uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without hue inversion and without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here is a photograph in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia Z3, while the brightness of the screens is initially set to about 200 cd / m² (white field in full screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K Perpendicular to the plane of the screens is a white field:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

The colors on the Sony Xperia Z3 screen are oversaturated, the skin tones are heavily shifted to the red, and the color balance is very different from the standard. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the Sony Xperia Z3, the contrast decreased to a greater extent due to the strong black highlights and the greater decrease in brightness. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Sony Xperia Z3, the brightness drop is greater (brightness in photos is 216 versus 230 for Nexus 7). At the same time, the color tone has changed slightly. The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted strongly and acquires a purple or red-violet hue. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):

And from another angle:

With a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is average, since there are areas with a slightly increased brightness along the edge:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 690:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 23ms (14ms on + 9ms off). The transition between grayscale 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back in total takes 33 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with an equal interval according to the numerical value of the gray tint did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function turned out to be 2.31, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve strongly deviates from the power dependence:

The smartphone has a dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight, depending on the nature of the displayed image. The general trend is that the brightness decreases on dark images, but the algorithm is somehow complicated, and as a result, the brightness periodically jumps noticeably, which is annoying, and reducing the brightness on dark images reduces the visibility of gradations in the shadows under ambient light conditions. That is, the benefits of this function are zero, only harm. As a result, a number of tests - determining the contrast and response time, comparing black light at angles - we carried out when displaying special patterns with consistently average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in full screen. Of course, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential grayscale output almost on the entire screen.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

They are very atypical. According to the Sony website, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows you to get a wide color gamut. Unfortunately, as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above. Note that when compared with the Sony Xperia Z2, it can be seen that the manufacturer tried to improve the situation with oversaturated colors, and increased the cross-mixing of the component to bring the coverage back to normal, but something stopped it at the phase of de-saturating the green color. Thanks for trying, but we need to go further, reduce to sRGB.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is far from ideal, since the color temperature is above the standard 6500 K. True, the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) in most of the gray scale is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. But at the same time, the variation in color temperature and ΔE is large, which negatively affects the visual perception of color balance. (The dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This smartphone has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors. What we tried to do, the result is data signed as Corr. on the charts above. As a result, we slightly reduced ΔE on white and brought the white point a little closer to 6500 K (but also greatly reduced the brightness).

We were prevented from bringing at least the white point back to normal by the limited range of adjustments and high resolution, which is actually higher than the adjustment step. However, such a correction did not reduce the oversaturation of colors.

If someone still finds the image on the screen of this smartphone not bright enough, then you can turn on the corporate mode X-Reality for mobile. The result is shown below:

Saturation and contour sharpness are programmatically increased, and there are fewer distinguishable gradations of shades in the area of ​​saturated colors. But the picture, yes, has become brighter. For color extremists, there is a “ultimate brightness” mode, in which a mockery of the image (and common sense) exceeds all reasonable limits. Here's what we got:

Of course, such a picture will find fans. We are all very different.

Let's summarize. The brightness adjustment range of this screen is simply nowhere wider, and everything is in order with anti-glare properties, which allows you to comfortably use your smartphone both on a sunny day on the beach and in complete darkness. It is permissible to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works absolutely adequately. The advantages also include a very effective oleophobic coating, no flicker and no air gap in the layers of the screen. The disadvantages are a strong lightening of black when the gaze deviates from the perpendicular to the screen surface and aggressive dynamic brightness adjustment. With color reproduction, things are not the best way, the colors are oversaturated (especially skin tones suffer), the color balance is different from the standard. The presence of appropriate adjustments allows you to slightly correct the balance, but not completely and by reducing the brightness. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices (and the most important thing is the visibility of information in a wide range of external conditions), the screen quality can be considered high.

Sound

For the first time, the sound of Sony's flagship smartphone truly pleased. During the behind-the-scenes first acquaintance with the Sony Xperia Z3 prototypes at the IFA exhibition in Berlin, the device did not impress with its sound. However, the serial sample sent to us later to the editorial office pleasantly surprised us with the power of its sound and the depth of sound, especially considering that the speakers here are also covered with membranes that protect against water ingress. The new Xperia Z3 has become much louder and better than its predecessors, the sound remains clear at the maximum volume level, low frequencies are not in excess, but quite enough, the maximum volume is high. Looking ahead, it is worth noting that the mini version of the Xperia Z3 Compact is not so rosy with this, the devices are clearly equipped with speakers of different quality.

The device traditionally uses the branded Walkman player to play musical compositions. The standard audio player is rich in settings and additional software sound enhancements, such as a built-in equalizer with a lot of preset values ​​​​(you can set your own), Clear Phase technologies, xLoud or virtual surround sound. Management of most settings is available if the complex ClearAudio + function is turned off, otherwise all settings are left to the machine.

FM radio is standard on the smartphone. Traditionally, it works only with connected headphones as an antenna; it does not have the ability to record programs. There was no voice recorder in the standard configuration of the flagship, as, by the way, in the Xperia Z3 Compact.

Camera

Sony Xperia Z3 is equipped with two modules of digital cameras with a resolution of 20.7 and 2.2 megapixels. The hardware base here is exactly the same as in the Sony Xperia Z2, only software effects have been added. The main 20.7-megapixel camera is equipped with a G Lens with a focal length of 27mm and an aperture of F2.0. The camera uses a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS for mobile sensor and a Bionz for mobile processor.

By default, the cameras of all Sony devices work as standard in the so-called super auto mode (iauto) with a wide aspect ratio of the frame, but you can switch shooting to manual settings. It is noteworthy that when you use the hardware button on the side of the device to quickly turn on the camera, it is always activated only in automatic shooting mode, even if manual mode was previously enabled. If you start the camera application by touching the icon on the display, then in this case everything goes as usual, and the camera leaves the previous settings intact, that is, it starts in manual mode, if it was set earlier. Note that there is a big difference between automatic and manual modes, because the maximum resolution of images can only be set in manual adjustment mode. When shooting in automatic mode, which is set by default, photos are obtained with a size of 3840 × 2160 (8 MP), and in manual mode, the maximum possible resolution is just the same 20.7 MP (5248 × 3936).

In addition to automatic and manual, the Sony Xperia Z3 camera software has a few more interesting additional shooting modes. The Info-eye mode, for example, substitutes contextual information for an object in the frame using augmented reality technology. In Timeshift burst mode, the camera takes up to 61 shots two seconds before pressing the shutter button, from which you can then choose the best one. The Social live function allows you to upload footage directly to Facebook and view comments on them on the smartphone screen. AR effect makes it possible to combine images with animation using proprietary SmartAR augmented reality technology. In addition, the set of additional applications that increase the choice of various shooting modes can be expanded by downloading applications, the number of which is constantly growing. To do this, simply turn on the camera, press the shooting mode icon, and select "+Apps" to view more options.

The camera can shoot video in 1080p and UHD (4K), but the main thing is that there is also the ability to shoot in the most interesting of the modes - 1080p at 60 frames / second. An example of such a video is shown below.

• Clip #1 (84 MB, 1920×1080, 60 fps)

	Good (but not great) sharpness on the left side of the frame, which cannot be said about the right side and edges.
	To medium plans, the sharpness drops noticeably. The camera adjusts the exposure too sensitively.
	There are problems with exposure, as well as noise in the shadows and the borders of objects.
	The color of the sky is quite “even”, although the wires simply “drowned” in it for this reason.
	In this case, the exposure is well chosen, and the shadows are worked out. But there are still problems with the noise reduction and the right side of the frame.
	Again, an unpleasant choice of exposure and a large area of ​​blur on the right.
	The foliage in the background is worked out perfectly in places, and in places it is terrible. The number of the nearest car is distinguishable.
	Some sharpening is noticeable on the wires, which still does not save them from drowning in blue.

Trying to keep up with the inexorable progress, manufacturers do not always present ready-made devices. It has happened more than once that the very first models turned out to have something “damp”. Unfortunately, sometimes eminent manufacturers also sin with this.

The smartphone came to us even before the official presentation in Russia, and therefore we recall the case of the Sony Z1 Compact, whose camera we not quite deservedly “hacked to death”. The problem was that due to the “dampness” of the sample, good pictures were obtained every other time, or even after three. Most likely, the matter was in the camera firmware, which did not adequately process the signal from the image sensor, which is why there was a characteristic blur in the pictures. A similar effect occurs when the camera rotates around the optical axis at relatively slow shutter speeds, while the sharpness deteriorates noticeably from the center to the edges of the frame. As a result, it was probably possible to shoot with a camera only from a tripod. But in later copies of the smartphone, the camera has become noticeably better.

A similar effect is present here: part of the image is blurred, as with a slow shutter speed. Perhaps the reason is that the camera takes several shots at too long an interval. In any case, we hope that everything will be fixed soon enough, and Sony, as we have already noticed, brings its products to a decent state.

	Lighting ≈3200 lux. The camera works well.
	Lighting ≈1400 lux. The situation practically does not change.
	Lighting ≈130 lux. The grain from the noise reduction becomes a little larger.
	Lighting ≈130 lux, flash. Flash does little to improve the situation.
	Lighting<1 люкс, вспышка. Камера справляется немного хуже, чем в прошлый раз. Вспышка очень слабая.

As for this camera "here and now", it does not correspond to the flagship of this level. Software processing is not the worst, but it is clear that it was done in haste: there are barely noticeable traces of sharpening and "ladder" on straight lines, exposure metering is overly sensitive, and noise reduction works randomly and (not always in places) rudely. Noise canceling does not handle shadows very well for a flagship, but acceptable. Worse, it spoils medium and long-range plans, although the sharpness of the optics and the resolution of the sensor are quite able to work out such details, which is confirmed by the graph, which in this case somewhat rehabilitates the camera and gives it the right to life. Ultimately, all the problems (I want to believe) rest on the program, which the manufacturer did not have time to bring to the ideal. The reason to believe so is also given by the feeling that a module is installed in the camera, very similar to the Z2 camera. At the same time, Superior Auto mode gives pictures of a different size than in the case of Z2. Therefore, if the assumption is correct, then the module is definitely good, and the program is completely redesigned and, apparently, (yet) underdeveloped. But Sony is unlikely to leave their flagship to its fate, and this problem should be fixed in serial samples. Well, in any case, the physical parameters of the camera are very worthy, and after completion it promises to be interesting. And even now, with a certain skill, it is suitable for various subjects.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and there is also support for the fourth generation networks (LTE) used in Russia. In practice, with a SIM card from the domestic operator MTS, the smartphone confidently recognizes and works with 4G networks. The network capabilities of the smartphone are extensive, they correspond to a truly top level: there is support for the 5 GHz Wi-Fi range, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, as standard, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The external device connection mode (USB Host, USB OTG) is supported, so you can connect flash drives and mice with keyboards to the Micro-USB port. The navigation module works both with GPS and with the domestic Glonass system.

Spontaneous reboots / shutdowns during testing were not observed, as well as slowdowns or system freezes. When you bring the smartphone to your ear, the screen is blocked by the proximity sensor. The LED indicator at the top of the front panel serves to notify you of charging status and incoming events.

There is no dedicated top row with numbers on the standard keyboard by default, you need to switch the layout every time, or manually connect the number row through the settings menu. The layout itself and the layout of the keys are standard: to switch the language layout, just click on the button with the corresponding icon. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is also carried out immediately by the first letters in contacts. There is a convenient opportunity to shift the keyboard closer to one of the sides of the screen, so that it is easier to reach the fingers of the hand holding the smartphone. Naturally, Swype continuous writing (sliding your finger from letter to letter) is also supported.

OS and software

The operating system uses the latest version of the Google Android 4.4.4 KitKat software platform, on top of which its own proprietary graphical user interface is traditionally installed. The internal arrangement of the shell, all menus, settings items and pop-up contextual submenus - everything remained exactly the same. However, outwardly the shell has undergone significant changes. Previously, Sony's GUI elements were drawn quite small. Now, unexpectedly, all the elements on the screen, and most importantly, the application icons themselves, began to look much larger and clearer. Fonts have increased, such sudden transformations have only benefited the smartphone. There are also less conspicuous, but in some ways more useful improvements. Finally, for example, the function of rebooting the device appeared in the menu, because before that only Sony smartphones suffered from the lack of such an opportunity. If it was necessary to restart the device, it was necessary to first turn off and then turn on the smartphone, which was annoying.

The most important innovation that has occurred in terms of software with the new Sony mobile devices is the appearance of tight integration with the Sony PlayStation 4 game console. If the house already has one, then the Xperia Z3 smartphone, or the Xperia Z3 Tablet, will be able to act as a "portable screen" , that is, everything that happens begins to be displayed not on the TV screen, but on the screen of the mobile device. This is, for example, convenient when you need to free the TV if one of the family members suddenly wants to watch some other program on TV. For this use, Sony will produce a special mount that is able to connect a smartphone or tablet to the game console's joystick. This service is called Remote Play.

Performance

Like the previous flagship, the Sony Xperia Z3 hardware platform is based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 single-chip quad-core system (SoC) with four Krait 400 cores. Z3 it is increased to 2.5 GHz. This is explained by the fact that a slightly more advanced version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC) is used here.

The processor is supported in graphics processing by the same Adreno 330 video accelerator. About 11 GB out of 16 GB are initially available for the user's needs in the device. The amount of RAM of the smartphone is 3 GB, and this Sony Xperia Z3 stands out among its direct competitors - everyone else received only 2 GB of RAM. MicroSD memory cards in this model are supported up to 128 GB, you can also connect external flash drives, keyboards and mice to the Micro-USB port using a special adapter in OTG mode.

To get an idea of ​​the platform performance of the tested smartphone, let's run a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing in MobileXPRT, as well as in the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

According to the results of testing in benchmarks, the device proved to be one of the most powerful and productive modern mobile devices on the market. It is worth noting that all the figures almost coincided with the results of the previous model Sony Xperia Z2, which passed exactly the same tests not so long ago. As for the relates in the AnTuTu test, they have increased significantly, but it is not yet clear how the results of the two versions of the popular benchmark correlate with each other, because now the fifth version has replaced the fourth version, and all new devices are now tested in it. It is not known whether the developers have brought everything to a common denominator, so for now it will be necessary to mark in the tablets with which versions of the benchmark this or that model was tested. However, for sure, the difference is not so great, all top-end smartphones based on Snapdragon 801 are, in any case, the most powerful mobile devices on the market today, the hardware capacities of which will be enough for a long time to perform any tasks.

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (due to which the speed can rise above 60 fps).

The results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

According to the test results, the Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone was not equipped with all the decoders necessary for the full playback of most of the most common files on the network. But the first smartphone of the series, the Xperia Z model, played all the same files without any problems without the need to resort to third-party solutions. Here, for their successful playback, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it will also have to first change the settings, switching from hardware decoding to software or to a new mode called Hardware+(not supported by all smartphones), only then will the sound appear. All results are summarized in a table.

¹ Audio in MX Video Player only played after switching to software decoding or new mode Hardware+; The regular player does not have such a setting.

Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it, we used the LG IPS237L monitor, which supports direct MHL connection using a passive micro-USB to HDMI adapter cable. At the same time, MHL output was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels at a frequency of 30 fps. Regardless of the actual orientation of the smartphone, the display of images on the screens of the smartphone and the monitor is carried out only in landscape orientation with the connector on the smartphone facing down. At the same time, the image on the monitor fits exactly into the boundaries of the display area (if you do not forget to increase the setting Image size up to 100%) and one to one repeats the image on the smartphone screen.

The sound is output via MHL (in this case, the sounds were heard through the headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and has a good quality. At the same time, sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the smartphone itself, and the volume is not adjusted by the buttons on the smartphone case, but is turned off. In our case, a smartphone with an MHL adapter connected, judging by the charge indicator, was charging.

Further, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied 1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels and a frame rate of 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps. In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware+ mode. The results of this (block titled "Smartphone screen") and the following test are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the frame output criterion, the playback quality of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) may output with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. The displayed range of brightness is equal to the standard range of 16-235, that is, in the shadows and in the highlights, all gradations of shades are displayed. When playing video files at 1080p (1920 by 1080 pixels), the image of the actual video file is displayed exactly to the width of the screen, in its original Full HD resolution.

With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing video, the monitor displays an exact copy of the screen of the smartphone, that is, the output is in true Full HD resolution in the case of 1080p files.

The brightness range displayed on the monitor is equal to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in the shadows and in the highlights. The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the "MHL (monitor output)" section. The output quality is good. For files with 50 and 60 fps, we do not provide results, as this does not make sense due to the output mode at 30 fps. For games where higher frame rates are desirable, you can use available external adapters that provide 60fps output at 720p, or you can try to find monitors/adapters that support 1080p MHL output at 60fps.

The conclusion is typical: the MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, web browsing and other activities that benefit from a larger screen size.

Battery life

The lithium-ion battery installed in the Sony Xperia Z3 turned out to be quite a bit smaller in volume than that of the Xperia Z2, but still has a capacity of 3100 mAh that is quite decent for a modern flagship. Sony's new flagship did not become a record holder in terms of battery life, but on the whole it showed itself no worse, and maybe a little better than its predecessor. Perhaps a new type of battery is affecting, or power consumption optimization has become better, but in any case, a slight decrease in the volume of the new battery did not adversely affect the battery life of the device in test modes.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted more than 20 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the same level of brightness through a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 10 hours. In the 3D gaming mode, the smartphone worked for almost 5 hours. The device charges quickly enough, the time for a full charge is less than 3 hours.

Outcome

Once again, Sony Mobile has released an excellent top-end device of the highest quality and performance class. The flagship of the Japanese boasts an expensive, catchy and stylish design and, of course, premium materials. Among its strengths are also the presence of a high degree of protection against water and dust, the highest hardware performance and technical equipment to date, as well as a powerful battery and good sound quality. The screen and camera are not exactly great, but they generally correspond to the high level of a smartphone. However, at this point I would like to state with a little sadness that we did not see any breakthroughs in the next update. Smartphone stuffing remained almost the same, the changes are noticeable, but still, for the most part, cosmetic. However, we did not see any breakthroughs in the new season from other manufacturers either, the market froze in anticipation of new technical discoveries, and we are also looking forward to them.

Specifications

• Android 4.4.4
• Screen 5.2 inches, 1920x1080 pixels, IPS, automatic brightness control
• 3 GB RAM, 16 GB built-in, memory cards up to 128 GB
• Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC, 4 cores, 2.5 GHz, GPU Adreno 330
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band, MHL 3.0, USB on the Go, GPS/Glonass, ANT+;
• LTE Band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 20
• Camera 20.7 megapixel Sony Exmor RS, autofocus, LED flash
• Front camera 2.2 megapixels
• Protection IP68
• Battery 3100 mAh Li-Pol
• Dimensions - 146x72x7.3 mm, weight - 152 grams

Contents of delivery

• Telephone
• Charger with USB cable
• Instruction
• Desktop stand (not for all countries, not in Russia)
• Wired stereo headset (not for all countries, not in Russia)

Positioning

Sony has chosen a semi-annual pace of updating its flagships, unlike all major manufacturers that can only afford to release flagships once a year. With such a speed of release of new models, one cannot count on the fact that the number of changes will be large, each subsequent device will be perceived as a slightly improved version of the previous one. If you read reviews of the Sony Xperia Z2, then most of them call the device work on the Z1 bugs, which is quite logical. A dozen reviews of the Sony Xperia Z3 use the same phrase - bug fixes, a fixed version of the Z2. I am sure that in January 2014, if Sony does not change anything in its approach, we will see feedback that the Z4 is also a work on the bugs. For Sony, this becomes a serious problem, since such a perception makes sales of the flagships of the Z line difficult, and the release of new models leads to lower prices for old ones, making them more profitable. It is curious that Sony unwittingly created for themselves not just a headache - the company, with its flagship release schedule, has formed a whole galaxy of those who are waiting for price cuts for previous models and choose them.

With relatively similar characteristics of models, promiscuity of buyers and selection of goods from the shelf, the same design is already becoming a problem. But for the Sony Z2 and Z3, we can also talk about comparable characteristics, the buyer in the store does not realize the difference between these devices, they simply will not see them. But he will feel the difference in price of 5,000 rubles and the fact that the Z3 delivery set is noticeably poorer.

Sony has fallen into the grip of its own choice - they need to release a flagship every six months. Sales of the Z line have long been minimal, the device competes with the same Samsung Galaxy S5, but while the first Z was sold in small but noticeable quantities, the same Z2 fell to minimal volumes (the reasons are described above). In Russia, the sales ratio of Z2 to Galaxy S5 is 1 to 12. And here we come to the conclusion that when releasing a new flagship, Sony cannot position it higher than the market and other models that are present on it, for example, the same Galaxy S5 which is the leader in the segment.

Compared to Samsung Galaxy S5

It becomes vitally important for the company to achieve the minimum cost for its product - therefore, a proven solution, a reduction in the delivery set, is used. In Sony Z2, along with the phone, branded headphones with a noise reduction system were supplied, which were of high quality and cost about 1,700-2,000 rubles separately. And it was a serious plus, an argument in favor of the Z2.

In the Z3, they were removed from the delivery set for Russia, the savings for the manufacturer are noticeable and quite justified in the fight for the price on the shelf. Interestingly, a similar approach was used in late deliveries of the Z2 - in Svyaznoy, at a price of 24,990 rubles, you can find Z2 kits with or without headphones. The black device is sold without headphones, which is perceived by many as an amateur retail chain, there are often comments from those who purchased such a phone that, apparently, the sellers stole the headset. But this is just such a kit that was created in the struggle for efficiency.

Sony discussed the possibility of putting the Z3 on the shelf at 32,990 rubles, but retail chains dissuaded the company from this step and did it quite sensibly. Few people will be interested in the bundle, the initial price will scare away, as HTC did with the flagship HTC One M8, which is excellent in terms of performance, but not popular, it has sales similar to the Z2.

In 2014, Sony consistently misses the mark in terms of time-to-market. For example, Sony Z2 was supposed to be released earlier than the flagships of other companies, but it turned out the other way around. With Z3 everything goes according to plan, but the model is not perceived as something new, and hence a lot of different problems, the volume of its purchases by distributors is minimal. But the most important thing is that such products are perceived only by those who remain true to the Sony brand, this is a small audience that continues to buy Sony devices in different segments, adherents of Sony Style. It is impossible to say that Sony is playing in the mass market, comparable to other manufacturers. Among the successful products of 2014, I will single out the Compact series, which had an impact on the market, but everything else passed by and did not attract the attention of the general public. In this aspect, the Z3 becomes exactly the same device, and a number of brand fans who have previously purchased Z / Z1 / Z2 say that they see no reason to change their devices to a new product. This trend is observed not only for Sony, the new products of all companies are perceived critically by customers, they do not see much difference with their current devices, but for Sony it is much more pronounced.

Bottom line, we have the Z3 model, which is positioned as a flagship and is one for a small audience of Sony fans. It is impossible to say that this is a device for the mass market. Moreover, with the release of this model, the attractiveness of previous devices is growing, and Sony is partially to blame for this, which worsened a number of characteristics in its flagship. Let's take a look at what has changed.

Design, dimensions, controls

Externally, the device has not changed much, you look at it and see the same Sony Xperia Z2.

Sony Xperia Z2 and Z3

The dimensions of the phone are 146x72x7.3 mm, weight - 152 grams (Z2 - 146.8x73.3x8.2 mm, 158 grams). The side edges have been made rounded, the metal frame is no longer rectangular, and the device lies very well in the hand. But this also brings another problem, it is noticeably more difficult to lift it from a flat surface, the fingers slide along the side edge, you have to spread them in the shape of a crab and grab the phone.

Compared to Samsung Galaxy Note 3

In addition to changing the outer frame, Sony has almost completely redesigned the body design, which can be imperceptible and which an inattentive person will definitely not pay attention to. To begin with, in the Z2 review, I said that the device has a rather fragile filling due to the design - when it falls, the impact is transferred to the internal board, and the electronics quickly die. It happens that the glass does not crack, but the electronics fail. In Z3, plastic inserts are made at the corners, it is painted to match the body color. This does not mean at all that the phone has become shockproof, rather, it has received additional protection against falls. This approach can only be welcomed, similar inserts will be used on many models with a frame design from Sony.

The model is available in four colors - white, copper, black and emerald.

Let's return to the design changes - one of the weak points in the Sony Z1 / Z2 was sea water - salt corroded the plugs, and despite the support for the IP58 protection standard, it was definitely not worth swimming with these phones in the sea. Protection was from fresh water. The Z3 tried to correct this shortcoming, for this they changed the characteristics of the rubber inserts that are on all connectors. This even made it possible for the Z3 to receive the IP65 / IP68 protection standard - that is, dust protection has increased, all connectors are covered more tightly, and at the same time the location of the microphones has changed. There are no holes on the bottom end, the microphone is hidden behind the grille of the lower speaker, both the speaker and the microphone are covered by one membrane. The second microphone is located on the upper end, it is located next to the 3.5 connector.

Swimming with this device in fresh water is safe, especially if you cover the plugs before diving. In real life, the device is quite slippery, at the level of the iPhone 6, but better due to the larger size. In the water, it stops being slippery, I noticed this even during the tests of the Z2, when I swam with it in the pool.

The front panel, as well as the back, is made of DragonTrail glass, it is no different from the second generation of Corning Gorilla Glass, but less hyped, in fact, it is an analogue. Oleophobic coating for C grade, which is typical - handprints remain with ease. In the sun or in the light, this is not always visible, especially if your device is not black.

On the left side there is a microUSB connector, it is covered with a flap. On the right side, behind a wide flap, there is a nanoSIM slot, it is in a plastic tray, there is also a slot for a microSD memory card.

Above the screen, where the speaker grid is, there is a light indicator - it is wide and can blink red, blue and green. You can turn it off in the settings, but I really like it, as it gives the device a certain charm. This is a typical Sony Style element. On the front surface you can see the front camera, the proximity sensor is hidden behind the glass, you can't see it.

In terms of build quality, this model has no complaints - there are no noticeable gaps, the glass does not always fit snugly against the metal frame, this is not a defect, but the features of the device so that it does not break when it falls. But the gaps are minimal, it is almost impossible to see them without peering. In the same Z2, they were noticeably larger.

Display

The technical characteristics of the screen in the Z3 are the same as in the Z2: 5.2 inches, resolution - 1920x1080 pixels (423 dpi versus 440 in the Z1). The screen uses technology with the big name Triluminos, which suggests that the picture has better RGB coverage than conventional LCD screens. In theory, this is true, in practice there are certain flaws. An explanation of the technology can be seen in a promotional video from Sony.

Also, in connection with this device, the Live Color Led technology is often mentioned, which, in fact, is responsible for the color gamut, which somewhat misleads the user - these names make the head spin. From a marketing point of view, it is noted that the red and green subpixels are made using phosphor, which improves the quality of the color gamut, the colors look saturated.

One of the main problems with the Z2 for the screen was that it distorted the colors - made them bright, but they were not reliable. The built-in tool for setting up color profiles made the picture completely indigestible, it was not worth using it. It turned out that a good screen, due to the shortcomings of the technology, does not give the maximum of what it is capable of. The Z3 tried to overcome this problem, but it did not work out very well - the colors are still distorted, fine-tuning in the menu does not work. Separately, I want to emphasize that for most people this does not play any role - the screen will seem good to them.

Check out the screen comparison with the Galaxy S5 (top) and Note 4 (bottom).

Comparison of Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Compare Sony Xperia Z3 and Samsung Galaxy S5

You can find a comparison of the Z2 screen with other devices at the link.

The Z3 has changed how the image is analyzed, each dot can change the brightness of the backlight, which forms a more reliable picture in different lighting conditions. It was not possible to notice an improvement in the picture, in the sun the previous device behaved quite well, although there was clearly not enough brightness here, it had to be twisted to the maximum, there was no reserve.

The Z3 decided to solve this problem and increased the brightness of the screen by 20 percent (650 cd / m2 maximum value with manual adjustment). Now the device is quite comparable with other flagships of 2014, there are no complaints about this characteristic. This improves the perception of the screen both indoors and outdoors, the information is easy to read.

In the settings there is a mode for working with gloves, you can set the mode for working with wet hands.

In the Z2 review, I called the screen of the device not ideal, but for Sony it was an obvious breakthrough - the rejection of unnecessary film, the improvement in quality, but the presence of such a drawback as insufficient brightness and poor color reproduction. The Z3 got rid of one of the shortcomings, now the screen is bright, they tried to play with color reproduction, but the result was not too different from the previous model. We are waiting for Z4, in which the company will try to fix this defect again. As mentioned, this is a continuous work on the bugs.

Battery

The phone has a 3100 mAh lithium-polymer battery (Z2 has 3200 mAh). For a flagship, this battery capacity is excellent, it is quite comparable with Note 3/4, however, these devices are similar in terms of operating time.

In the description of this device, Sony says that it is able to provide two days of full-fledged work, while up to 5 hours a day of active work. The technique, unfortunately, is not given, but here is a screenshot from the company's website.

My first impression of the battery was fantastic - it lasted a very long time in standby mode, I inserted the card and almost did not drive the phone, and it almost did not run out of power.

When I began to actively use the device, it showed a slightly better result than the Z2, but nothing fantastic happened. The reason is that Qualcomm has worked on the power saving of the processor, and the device consumes almost nothing in standby mode. That is, in fact, one processor core works at a very low frequency. They conjured to glory, in the standby mode the device works just fine.

But in normal modes, the miracle did not happen, it is not so much the processor that affects, but the brightness of the screen backlight and your settings. Taking into account that the brightness of the screen has increased, the consumption has become a little higher, which cancels out all the chipset settings.

So, the video viewing time is the standard 10 hours (without sound or with headphones). Claimed talk time - up to 16 hours, standby time - up to 920 hours (for the previous model - 740 hours). Music playback time - up to 130 hours.

In practice, the phone showed excellent results, it works at the level of Galaxy Note 3/4, depending on the load. You can safely count on one day of work with active use, or two days of work with moderate use. If the phone is not used, then it will live much longer.

Full charge time (2A charger) - about 3 hours to one hundred percent. Up to 90 percent is enough for 2 hours with a little. From my observations, the device is very sensitive to the quality of the network and its coverage, if you have data transfer and the network is not of very high quality, then the discharge will go faster than on other phones. But if the network is good, then the operating time, on the contrary, will increase. In any case, this device is different in terms of operating time compared to its classmates (Galaxy S5, HTC One M8), outperforms them and can only be compared with Note 3.

In my opinion, this phone can be recommended to anyone who wants to live quietly until the evening without charging during the day, this is a huge plus of the model. Of the proprietary chips, I want to note the ability to see how long the device will work in the selected mode, there is also the Stamina function, which increases the operating time by turning off data transfer in the background, unloading applications from memory, and so on. This is a lifesaver if you need to hold out until the outlet appears. In principle, the function works, although there are some rough edges in the implementation. Most people do not use it, especially since this device will rarely need it.

There is an intelligent mode when charging, then you can change profile settings and the like.

Memory, memory cards

The phone has 3 GB of RAM (933 MHz, dual channel), which is unusual for models of this level, until recently only Note 3 could boast of this, and only 2 GB was installed in the same Galaxy S5. Just an increase in the amount of RAM does not solve anything at all, it all depends on how it works with the processor, what is the overall performance of the system. Below in the tests it will be clear that here the increase in memory did not give a breakthrough in performance. After launch, about 1 GB of RAM is free.

Built-in memory is 16 GB, of which 11.57 GB is free for you, this can be considered sufficient and typical for Android smartphones. You can connect memory cards of any capacity (up to 128 GB), which is also good.

Hardware platform, performance

The model is built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC) chipset, it is a quad-core processor with a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz per core. It's a different version of the processor, a slightly upgraded version than the Sony Z2, but not much of a difference. In synthetic tests, the performance of this solution is higher than that of its predecessor, as well as competitors, but the difference is very small.

In real life, when working in the interface, the difference is almost imperceptible, if it exists, then it is minimal. Some say it's faster than Sony, some say it's faster than the Galaxy S5, and some praise the HTC ONE M8. As for me, they are all approximately comparable and you can feel the difference only in individual applications, and then it will be measured in fractions of a second.

In resource-intensive applications (games, 4K video recording), the device heats up, due to the case glass, this is more noticeable than in the same HTC M8 or Galaxy S5, where the heat is not so strongly felt on the surface of the case. Sony has already responded to this claim and suggested not shooting 4K video for more than a few minutes, since then overheating can cause applications to close spontaneously, plus the camera will turn off automatically.

Unlike the Z2, the reduced processor frequency in most cases makes it almost impossible to overheat, the device heats up, but not as much as its predecessor. This can only be noticed when the camera is working, in other modes and even in games it is not so noticeable.

Communication options

The device has NFC, which has already become a good tradition, Bluetooth version 4.0 with ANT + support. The microUSB connector supports the MHL v3.0 standard, which allows you to output video to external sources. USB 2.0 version, USB Host supported. Support for LTE Cat 4, download speed up to 150 Mbps. The Wi-Fi version is a/b/n/ac.

Camera

Despite the fact that it is written on the case that this is a 20.7-megapixel module, and a 1/2.3-inch matrix, the EXMOR RS module itself has been redesigned, plus the optical group has changed, it has been simplified and made wide-angle. It is clear that Sony tried to maintain the quality of images, as in previous devices, while reducing the cost of the matrix and simplifying its production. I didn’t make a direct comparison with Z2 / Z1, but according to subjective impressions, from the pros - only rather noisy shooting in night mode (ISO 12800 vs. ISO 6400 in Z2 - achievable only in automatic shooting mode, manual selection is not available).

There is a camera button on the body of the device, when you press it, the automatic shooting mode is always selected, in which the resolution is set to 8 megapixels. If you want to take a picture in manual mode and maximum resolution, then you need to select the appropriate item in the menu. This is terribly inconvenient, but exactly the same approach was in previous models. Look at the difference in pictures when shooting in automatic and manual modes.

Auto	Manual

The camera interface has not undergone major changes, everything is quite simple and clear.

Check out the camera shots as well as the Galaxy S5 comparison.

Of the new modes, it is worth noting the simultaneous shooting from the cameras of two devices (“Multi-camera” mode), in which you can connect another device to the phone and receive pictures simultaneously from two cameras.

Just like in previous models, there is an AR Effects option, these are drawings that are superimposed on a photo in real time, you can create a background of flowers or something like that - a great option for entertainment, however, the same can be done in any graphics editor .

TimeShift video - high frame rate and slow motion effects, some may be interested, especially when shooting sports.

The defocusing of the background is implemented quite controversially - adjust the focus with the slider, then there is a blur, you can choose the geometry of this blur.

Artistic effects - a whole range of different effects, each of which can be applied to a photo. It also replaces a graphic editor, but usually do not use effects, since they spoil the original image, it is easier to edit it than to get a modified photo.

Info-eye - the ability to point the camera at a famous building or similar and get a quick hint about what it is. Explicitly borrowed from the Googles program.

For those who want to upload photos and videos to the network, there is a proprietary PlayMemories service, also familiar from cameras. You can only download via Wi-Fi, but I prefer to use DropBox for this purpose, it is more convenient.

Videos can be recorded in FullHD, the quality of shooting videos is not bad, there are no complaints.

I can’t say that the camera in the Z3 has become noticeably worse than in the Z2 - they are a little different, but this is, in principle, normal for cameras and the perception of pictures from them. In auto mode, the Z3 produces very good 8-megapixel shots, which, like its predecessor, many people like - this is above average quality among many devices, close to the best cameras on the market. No comparison with the Chinese, just a cut above, regardless of the fact that they use Sony Exmor with similar or similar characteristics. For normal everyday use, this is a great camera, few people need to pull pictures from mobile cameras to some quality standard. It may seem like heresy, but the current generation of flagships is very close in terms of its characteristics, the convenience of shooting and the quality of images in different conditions come to the fore. The Z3 is great on a sunny day, noisy in the dark, but that's to be expected. The bottom line is a good camera, which is quite at the level of its price segment.

Multimedia features - sound, PS4 games

If the Z2 came with noise-canceling headphones with a 5-pin connector, then in the Z3 they need to be purchased separately. To fully experience the quality of the music on this model, I tried the MDR-NC31EM noise-canceling headphones, as well as the regular Monster DNA.

Technically, previous models of the line could support Hi-Res Audio and Sony DSEE HX technology, which is used in Walkman players and can “finish” mp3 compositions to high-quality sound, that is, it tries to restore lost frequencies. It does not always work flawlessly, but for those who listen to mp3s of incomprehensible quality and have not switched to lossless formats yet, this is a real opportunity to get high-quality sound in their phone.

Unfortunately, the sound is not fully revealed on third-party headphones, even if you take rather expensive models from Sony - it feels like they optimized the sound specifically for the 31st model, the phone sounds great in them. Having tried different headphones, I can say that they sound good to very good on this model, but the 31s always benefit from noise reduction, the sound is cleaner.

Sony was at the forefront of the musical revolution in the phone market, that's when the Walkman brand was brought back to the market and made sound quality important to millions of people. But if you pay attention, no one has been talking about this for the past few years. Cause? The sound of phones has reached its theoretical limit in large companies, and now you either have to change DSP processors and move to another level, or be content with expanding the number of supported codecs. Sony took the second route, adding the perfect headphone pairing as well, and it's a winning strategy. The only pity is that now the headphones have to be bought separately, they are not included.

For example, comparing the sound of Z2 with Note 4, Galaxy S5 with third-party headphones, one cannot say about the advantage of Z2 - the sound is quite comparable. But with Sony branded headphones, everything changes dramatically. Therefore, it is worth remembering this when choosing the Z3 as a player - it is worth buying native headphones, which, however, will not suit everyone. And one more important point - when purchasing headphones of a higher class ($200 or more), you will not get a qualitative leap in the sound of the Z3, it will play about the same.

The Walkman player has a large number of settings, which is well known from all models from Sony.

Another feature that until recently was not found in phones from Sony is support for PS4 Remote Play. You can install the program on your phone, connect it via Bluetooth to the DualShock4 joystick and, inserting the device into it, play the game on PS4 - a kind of additional screen. That is, the picture instead of your TV will be broadcast to the phone - what is the point of this approach, I absolutely do not understand, this is a very far-fetched function. Why? Yes, because at home it is more pleasant to play PS4 on a large screen, and why a small smartphone screen is needed is not clear to me. Of course, there are very limited use cases where it might be convenient. But these are such rare cases that it is not even worth remembering about them. Sony tried to create a chip, but it is not very successful.

Software

The handset comes with Android 4.4.4, you can find a full description of the standard functions and the Xperia UI shell in a separate article.

Of the new and unusual features, I want to note the ability to make screencasts, that is, record a video about all the actions on the screen - this function was found on a number of phones from other manufacturers, but for Sony it appears here for the first time. Press the power key and select "screen recording" from the menu. You can also record a picture from the front camera, plus a voice is recorded.

Impression

The stereo speakers sound noticeably louder and better in this device than in the Z2. In terms of sound quality, the device is not bad, it is vociferous, during a conversation it transmits speech well, cuts off unnecessary noise. The vibrating alert is average, you can skip it.

The Z3 turned out to be interesting - the case was heavily redesigned, the water protection standard was increased, and the protection against falls was strengthened (the device is still fragile, so this is relative). The camera was changed, but there was no strong or catastrophic deterioration in the quality of the shooting. The screen has been noticeably improved in terms of backlight brightness, the colors are still the same problem, they are not very natural. And on the screen, the sensor grid was removed, it is now not visible - this could annoy someone in the Z2. We did a good job on the power saving mode and standby time.

In my opinion, Z3 outperforms Z2 in almost everything, but both devices are not popular on the market, in the “Positioning” section I gave the sales ratio with the same Galaxy S5. This is a systemic problem for Sony, not only about the quality of products in previous periods, the blurring of the customer base, but also the inability to highlight its strengths. These devices have Sony Style, they have their own characteristic and different face. But the irony is that for traditional buyers of Sony smartphones, they are already fed up, the question is in appearance. And so many fall in love with the Z3 Compact, and the "simple" Z3 is ignored.

With a price of 29,990 rubles and a very limited package, this device is more expensive than the Z2, by five thousand rubles. Despite the obvious advantages, it is still worth buying the Z2, especially since you can find it cheaper, and if you take the Asian version, you will also get a desktop charging stand. The real difference is 6,700 rubles, since it is worth considering the cost of the headset, which is included in the Z2 kit.

It is necessary and possible to compare this device with other flagships of the season, taking the same iPhone out of the brackets, it exists in a different universe. I can hardly imagine a person who can choose between Sony or iPhone (in fact, I know only one - Sergey Kuzmin, by the way, many Sony Mobile employees use iPhones, and not only in Russia). You can see the comparison with the Galaxy S5 below.

Here everyone chooses his own, I would consider Sony Z3 as an alternative not only to S5, but also to HTC One M8, these are products of the same level. Another thing is that a late release with a semi-annual cycle makes the Z3 more expensive than its competitors - the same S5 costs 28,000 rubles. In my opinion, in this price segment, this difference is not so critical.

The review turned out to be detailed, with all the "little things" that are important for this device. The choice, as always, is yours, our task was to tell you about all the pitfalls, to show the pros and cons of this solution.

This model has a version for two SIM-cards (one radio module), while maintaining support for memory cards, perhaps someone will be interested in such a device.

Smartphone Sony Xperia Z3 (D6603) is another update of the stylish flagship line. The manufacturer “accelerated”: less than six months have passed since the release of the Xperia Z2, as the next model, the Xperia Z3, enters the market. True, with lineup updates every six months, one should not expect any major changes - the Xperia Z2 and Z3 turned out to be very similar to each other. It's good that at least the diagonal growth trend has stopped - it "froze" at 5.2 inches.

The body of the Xperia Z3 has become a little thinner and received plastic corners for increased strength. We can positively evaluate the changes in the display, it has finally become brighter, even, perhaps, too much. The camera is the same as before, 20.7 MP, which can shoot slow motion video at 120 fps, as well as 4K video. The battery still shows good results in tests, especially in the music playback mode, but in the video test the results were more modest, due to the increased screen brightness. The set of interfaces is good, but the same as it was. The smartphone received protection from moisture and dust. The body of the phone is made of glass and metal, the build quality did not cause us any serious complaints.

When it comes to performance, the Xperia Z3 is a powerful smartphone for gaming and entertainment. The device has not received any special changes in this regard, only an increase in the maximum processor clock frequency by 200 MHz from 2.3 to 2.5 GHz. However, at the same time, its younger version, Z3 Compact, slightly outperforms in graphics tests. This is due to the fact that the stuffing of the phones is the same, but the display resolutions are very different: 1920 × 1080 pixels on the older one and 1280 × 720 on the compact Z3.

What are the disadvantages of a smartphone? First, it is a high price. Secondly, the power key protrudes noticeably, and the location of the volume key is inconvenient. Thirdly, the body of the model is non-separable and slippery, and inserting and removing a SIM card from the tray is inconvenient, and the plugs may begin to leak water over time. And of course, the device is bulky to operate with one hand.

In general, we recommend buying a smartphone, but the same compact version, in our opinion, is more convenient to manage, has the same functionality and capabilities, and in some games it can even be faster. Plus, there's no obvious reason to upgrade and upgrade from the Z2 to the Z3, only if you're annoyed by dim displays.

Dimensions and weight - 4.1

Sony Xperia Z3 is a typical, large flagship with a diagonal of 5.2 inches. Sony, at least for now, has suspended the growth of the diagonal of its flagship. Compared to the Xperia Z2, the dimensions of the device have changed, but not very radically. Xperia Z3 dropped 12 grams of weight (152 g vs. 164 g), became a millimeter thinner - 7.5 vs. 8.5 mm. We also note that the Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone has become thinner than the current flagships of HTC and Samsung, but they are not updated every six months. However, the new iPhone 6s are slightly thinner, though. The smartphone in the hand feels wide and large, it will be inconvenient to use it with one hand.

It is worth saying that at the first unpacking, before removing the film, it is not immediately possible to distinguish where the front and where the back panel of the smartphone is. In our case, this is due to the black color of both sides of our model and the glossy surfaces of both the front and back panels. For example, if the back was matte, then everything would be immediately distinguishable.

As is usually the case with the Xperia Z line, the front and back of the phone is covered with glass - it looks spectacular, and together with the metal frames, the Sony Xperia Z3 phone is pleasant to the touch. Of course, the glass collects fingerprints, but they are easily erased. True, it must be said that the smartphone is very slippery due to the notorious glass; in our tests, it slipped off smooth surfaces more than once. In addition, such a material may not withstand an accidental fall on a hard surface and become covered with cracks.

As mentioned above, the side frames are made of metal and have become convex to make the smartphone more comfortable to hold. In addition, as on the Xperia Z3 Compact, to give strength to the corners of the case, plastic inserts are made, made in the same texture and color with the frame.

Also, as in the compact version of the flagship, we found the very close location of the power and volume keys to be inconvenient. It's a little strange that on the Xperia Z3 Compact all trays with a SIM card and a memory card, a USB connector were on one side, but here they are spaced on different sides of the case.

The Sony Xperia Z3 has a waterproof case. We decided to test it for strength and arranged water tests. Bottom line: Sony Xperia Z3 is not afraid of water, it can be immersed in water if you first close the plugs. At first, you may be wary of the lack of plugs for the audio jack, but, as our tests showed, nothing terrible happened in the water. In general, the model looks stylish and attractive, the build quality is good, but, like all previous Xperia Z, after our tests in the water, the case began to click a little audibly under pressure.

Smartphone Sony Xperia Z3 can be bought in four colors: white, black, copper and silver green.

Screen - 4.8

The diagonal of the Sony Xperia Z3 display is 5.2 inches, the resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels, the PPI value is high - 424 pixels per inch. The display is covered with a protective glass, fingerprints are collected quickly and easily, but also easily wiped off. Viewing angles are good, but inferior to the same Super AMOLED displays. The maximum display brightness reached 615 cd/m2 when the Xperia Z2 was dim, but here Sony even overdid it. We recommend that you do not just set the maximum brightness - the image "beats" in the eyes.

In the sun, the information remains readable, in addition, there is an automatic brightness adjustment. In the display settings, you can enable X-Reality picture enhancement technology and picture sharpening mode, which should improve the clarity and brightness of the image. However, we failed to notice any major changes from the use of these modes.

The smartphone supports gloved mode, in any case, we were able to work with the display while wearing gloves.

Cameras - 4.7

The Sony Xperia Z3 has a 20.7 MP camera with a wide range of features. For example, there is an LED flash, face and smile detection, autofocus, image stabilization, panorama shooting, HDR mode and a large selection of settings and modes. The maximum photo resolution is 5248×3936 pixels if you adjust all the settings yourself. True, it's easier and "no worse" to shoot in "Super auto mode", in which the camera takes good 8-megapixel photos, their quality drops noticeably only under poor lighting conditions. At the maximum resolution, some of the settings are “cut off”, for example, the maximum ISO value is reached only at a resolution of 8 MP. In addition to the main camera, there is also a front camera of 2.2 megapixels, with the ability to shoot full-fledged Full HD video at a speed of 30 fps.

The main camera of the smartphone can shoot 4K video - 3840 × 2160 pixels at 30 fps. The arsenal also includes slow motion with Full HD video at 60 fps and HD video at 120 fps. By the way, the Apple iPhone 6 can do the same, plus 240 fps with HD resolution. In addition, you can add a large number of different effects in the settings: defocusing the background, a multi-camera with shooting a scene from different angles, adding virtual scenes and objects to the video, and much more.

Photos from the camera Sony Xperia Z3 (D6603) - 4.7

Working with text - 5.0

The standard keyboard in the Sony Xperia Z3 is comfortable. It has the function of entering text using strokes (Swype), setting up dictionaries, in addition, in the settings you can add markings for additional characters on the keys. Switching between languages ​​is easy - there is a separate key for this. There's also a one-handed keyboard mode: you can move it to the right or left as you see fit. Among the minuses of the Sony Xperia Z3 keyboard is that in landscape mode it takes up almost the entire screen space.

Internet - 3.0

The Sony Xperia Z3 comes pre-installed with Google Chrome as a browser, as it should be, there is support for syncing tabs with the desktop version of the browser. It does not have a separate reading mode and multiple page scaling. But there is a traffic saving mode, and you can manually set the text font size for a single zoom and double-click on the page to fit all the text to the selected size.

Communications - 5.0

Smartphone Sony Xperia Z3 is equipped with a good set of interfaces. The device is available: dual-band Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi modem mode and support for high-speed standard 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 low energy consumption and A2DP, A-GPS with GLONASS support, and an NFC chip. There is also support for Russian LTE frequencies. Smartphone Sony Xperia Z3 works with Nano-SIM cards and microSD cards up to 128 GB. It also features a micro-USB 2.0 port with MHL, USB OTG, and USB HOST support for high-definition video transmission and peripherals like keyboards, hard drives, or even mice. Of the common interfaces, only the infrared port is missing.

Multimedia - 5.0

The Sony Xperia Z3 audio player supports many formats and plays MP3, FLAC, WAV files and a number of less popular formats. It's a bit of a pity, but the Xperia Z2 came with good headphones with noise-canceling technology, in this case they are not. The built-in video player supports most popular video formats. The video player also supports subtitles.

Battery - 4.0

The body of the Sony Xperia Z3 has become noticeably thinner, while the battery capacity has hardly suffered - a non-removable lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 3100 mAh is installed here (we recall that the Xperia Z2 had 3200 mAh). We tested the phone in our two standard tests - the smartphone shows excellent battery life. The device played HD-video at maximum brightness for 8 hours, probably could have been longer, but the maximum brightness is very high. In the mode of listening to music with the screen turned off, the device was discharged in 123 hours - and this is about 5 days! In general, for one working day, charging your smartphone should be enough for you, and maybe even for two.

Performance - 3.7

The Sony Xperia Z3, like the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, uses the Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 platform with a 2.5 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 330 graphics subsystem and 3 GB of RAM (the younger model with 2 GB loses a little in this regard) . For normal operation in everyday use, in our opinion, two cores in a processor with 1 GB of RAM would be enough. It is worth noting that the Sony Xperia Z3 (D6503) does not experience any serious performance problems: the smartphone is fast, does not slow down and allows you to play demanding games. But, of course, if we compare the speed of work, including desktops, with the speed of the iPhone 6, then the Z3 Compact will be inferior to the apple phone.

The device is perfect for any games and applications. According to the results of our synthetic tests, the smartphone ranks well. For example, in the AnTuTu benchmark, he received 41840 points, and in 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited - 17664 points, the results are comparable to the flagships from competitors. Interestingly, the results of the “compact” version turned out to be slightly higher, since the stuffing of the phones is the same, but the display resolution of the Z3 Compact is much lower, and therefore it outperforms its older brother in graphics tests. The chipset used in the Sony Xperia Z3 is one of the most powerful on the market today.

Memory - 4.5

The total amount of built-in memory in the Sony Xperia Z2 is limited to 16 or 32 GB, 32 GB versions, at least in the fall of 2014, are not found in Russian stores. In the modification with 16 GB of memory, about 11.5 GB is available to the user. The phone has a microSD memory card slot, cards up to 128 GB are supported. It is also possible to "hot-swap" a memory card without turning off the device, but then you will have to open and close the waterproof plugs every time.

Peculiarities

The Sony Xperia Z3 phone has a water-resistant housing that is protected not only from water, but also from dust. The smartphone works under water even under jets of water, except that there the touchscreen of the display stops responding to fingers. In addition, we note glass panels and metal frames, a large display, advanced smartphone interfaces and a 20 MP camera.

The device is running Android 4.4.4 and will soon be updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop. In Sony's proprietary shell, all standard applications have been redesigned and have an original look, which, however, practically does not change from model to model. The dialer has Russian letters, which is convenient for finding the right contact, the music player can search for album covers and much more. Preinstalled applications include Lifelog for recording the events of your life, radio (you need a headset), OfficeSuite with the ability to view documents, Smart Connect for connecting devices, a file manager, AntiVirus Pro. For Play Station owners, there is an application for launching Play Station games on the smartphone screen, which will start working from November 2014. Also interesting was the possibility of smooth adjustment of the color reproduction of the display, and not just the presence of 3-4 different modes.

Competitors

The technical characteristics of the Sony Xperia Z3 correspond to the level of modern flagships, we will name Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and LG G3 as strong competitors. All of them are not new on the market and are cheaper.

HTC One M8 is not protected from water and dust, it loses in terms of cameras and battery life. However, it has its own original design and today it is cheaper than the Xperia Z3.

Made of plastic, the Sony Xperia Z3 is made of glass and metal, both protected from water and dust. The cameras of these two smartphones are about the same in quality. Also, both smartphones support operation with gloves. But the Xperia Z3 has the ability to hot-swap Micro-SD cards, smartphones have parity in battery life, one shows video longer, the other plays music longer. In general, both devices are approximately the same, but the price of the Samsung Galaxy S5 managed to go down - in the fall of 2014 it costs several thousand cheaper.

LG G3 is an original design with control buttons on the back of the device, laser autofocus and an incredibly sharp Quad-HD display. On the other hand, the Xperia Z3 boasts a water-resistant body, longer battery life, and a thinner metal body.

The price of Sony Xperia Z3 for the spring of 2015 is about 37,000 rubles. For this price, you get a full-fledged flagship smartphone with a good screen, excellent appearance, thin body and water protection.

To begin with, I chose a phone for a very long time. And I stopped my choice on Sony Xperia Z3 (D6603). There is also a version for 2 SIM cards. Ordered for a birthday as a gift. The phone has been in operation for more than a year and now I will try to tell all the pros and cons. The battery is just cosmic, in idle mode (all means of communication are disabled) it lasts a very long time (5 days). With normal use (player, conversations), two days are free. With active use (games, music), it also did not let us down. in simple games, Sonya doesn't even make you think about the battery in games like WOT BLITZ, Real Racing 3. Let's move on to performance) WOT BLITZ- 60 FPS is the norm. For all the time, no glitches were noticed. I upgraded to Lolipop and then I don’t remember, he downloads and upgrades there himself. The fact is that EVERYTHING WORKS AND DOES NOT BRAKES. How many applications my phone has seen and it doesn't care at all! By the way, after updating to Lolipop, it became possible to install applications on the SD card. I have 64 GB, I regret that I didn’t put more. I recommend setting it to 128. The camera is like a camera. It shoots video. I can’t say anything bad. describing them is a separate topic. And Sony's branded shell takes care of all these amenities. It is possible to shoot 4K video. If you want to shoot high quality, you need to do it in normal daylight - this also applies to SLR cameras. At work, I often had to use the camera in very dark and hard-to-reach places - the flash and zoom really saved, everything you need can be seen on the frames for further detailed analysis. SONY positions this phone as a source of HIGH RESOLUTION AUDIO (this is one of the reasons for choosing) I have SONY mdr nc31m headphones with active noise reduction that is built into the phone itself. By the nature of their activities, they have to be in rooms with such a noise level that is dangerous for hearing and it is necessary to use special protective equipment. So, in SONY, this noise reduction function does an excellent job with this. Quite by accident I managed to listen to my phone with B&W P7 headphones. After that, I really thought about buying new ears and in the future an external DAC / amplifier, there is potential for development! The phone plays DSD and everything else. It also transmits this dsd to an external device. I have a Marantz SA8005 CD player with an external DAC function recognizes dsd from this phone. Protection against moisture and dust (IP65 and IP68) - unfortunately I did not try this function, but it's still nice to have such a feature! I heard many people filmed with a camera under water! Among the shortcomings, one can note the back panel made of glass, but this problem is easily solved with a case to your taste :) But all the same, the glass looks very chic. And another small drawback is the lack of a special cable with a magnet for charging in the package, you have to open the cover on the phone all the time. P.S. After I bought this phone, two more of my work colleagues took the same one, and my older brother took SONY XPERIA Z3 +.