A big screen change for Sony
Update: We've had the phone for two days, here's what we think so far, expect the full review in the coming week.
The Sony Xperia XZ3's OLED screen with Bravia technology is without a doubt, the best smartphone screen we've ever seen from Sony. In fact, this could be the best screen we've ever seen from any manufacturer to date - it's that good.
Two days in, and it isn't just the screen that's impressing us. The premium design and the fact it's running the latest version of Android all come together beautifully. With plenty of power and a respectable battery capacity, it also looks good from a specs point of view.
Having said that, the camera is the same module as that found on the Xperia XZ2 and XZ1 before it, neither of which were best in class. All said and done though, is the XZ3 a phone we would recommend?
You're reading our early impressions after 48hrs with the XZ3, check back in the coming week for our full review.
Display
The screen on the Xperia XZ3 is the core upgrade, and you can expect to see Sony start pushing this tech as being among the best on the market.
First off, the 18:9 aspect ratio and no notch design seen on the Xperia XZ2 is back here, but that's all the company has brought forward from the last generation phone when it comes to the screen.
There's a 6-inch screen squeezed in here, and Sony is embracing a new tech for the first time on its phone range.
Specifically, the Xperia XZ3 includes OLED tech for the first time – usually Sony uses IPS LCD panels – and it comes from the company’s BRAVIA tech division too. It's a similar tech to what the company uses for its Sony A1 TV range.
This screen tech makes video and images look bright, vivid and striking as soon as you lock eyes with the phone. It made a genuine impact, and its QHD+ resolution is more than enough to make video look great.
After two days of use, it's clear that the default display settings showcase a wonderful balance of deep, slightly muted colour, plenty of detail with an incredibly broad tonal range.
There’s less punch, pop and contrast than found in phones like the samsung galaxy Note 9 That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, with the results producing more of an HDR look. This applies to everything from pictures right through to the user interface.
So while Sony may be late to the OLED game, but boy are we glad they’ve arrived
The display tech will upscale content to varying degrees depending on the quality you’re watching. If you’re watching a Full HD video on YouTube, the phone should be able to upscale it almost to QHD resolution.
Unlike most other flagship phones in 2018, the Xperia XZ3 doesn’t feature a notch even though it has an 18:9 aspect ratio. Instead the company has opted to keep thicker bezels along the top and bottom of the display to house the speakers and front-facing camera tech.
For those who don’t like notches, you may be excited by this prospect, but even if you don’t mind a notch you likely won’t be disappointed here as the bezels along the top and bottom are still fairly thin considering each houses a speaker and more
This ability is called Side Sense and it gives you a quick way to open up apps on your phone. Double tap on the side of the display and it will open up a quick launch menu with all of your favorite apps listed in one place.
Want to go back a step within an app? Just slide your finger down the side of the screen for a bit and it will step back. It will even allow you to take photos by tapping the display edge within the camera app.
After two days of using the phone, Side Sense has definitely been more miss than hit. Activating multiple times unintentionally, failing to fire up at other times and loading after a significant delay if activated for the first time in a while – it definitely isn’t as polished as the rest of the UI.
It is useful when it works though, giving you quick access to predefined apps within easy reach. The smart, AI shortcut mode, which populates apps based on your usage also seems to learn quickly.
With any luck, stability and speed of the feature will be refined in updates, then it could be something we’d recommend keeping turned on. Until then, you may want to deactivate it if the continual misfires get on your nerves.
Design
If you’ve seen the Xpeira XZ2, you’ll know a lot of the design language here. There's a 3mm aluminum frame around the outside of the phone, with glass that protrudes from that making it much thicker. It's actually quite thick as a whole at 9.9mm, but we didn't particularly notice that when holding it in the hand.
There’s curved glass on the rear of the phone too, which probably helps it feel thinner. Both the front and back are protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and it comes in a selection of four different colors: black, white silver, forest green and Bordeaux red.
Black and white look good, but we particularly liked the red and green variants as they look different to a lot of other devices on the market. The darker shades help it look premium, but we found the back of the phone to be a bit of a fingerprint magnet even though we only used the phone for an hour or so.
After two days of usage, the XZ3 still feels and looks sleek, from both front and the back. It slides comfortably into a pocket and feels incredibly rich in the hand. We have the Bordeaux red version and it is standout – and despite the fact it attracts fingerprints readily, it isn’t as bad as many devices we’ve seen with similar glass finishes.
The bottom edge of the Xperia XZ3 features a USB-C port, but there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone so you’ll have to use Bluetooth headsets or an adaptor in order to be able to listen to audio privately on the move
Update: We've had the phone for two days, here's what we think so far, expect the full review in the coming week.
The Sony Xperia XZ3's OLED screen with Bravia technology is without a doubt, the best smartphone screen we've ever seen from Sony. In fact, this could be the best screen we've ever seen from any manufacturer to date - it's that good.
Two days in, and it isn't just the screen that's impressing us. The premium design and the fact it's running the latest version of Android all come together beautifully. With plenty of power and a respectable battery capacity, it also looks good from a specs point of view.
Having said that, the camera is the same module as that found on the Xperia XZ2 and XZ1 before it, neither of which were best in class. All said and done though, is the XZ3 a phone we would recommend?
You're reading our early impressions after 48hrs with the XZ3, check back in the coming week for our full review.
Display
The screen on the Xperia XZ3 is the core upgrade, and you can expect to see Sony start pushing this tech as being among the best on the market.
First off, the 18:9 aspect ratio and no notch design seen on the Xperia XZ2 is back here, but that's all the company has brought forward from the last generation phone when it comes to the screen.
There's a 6-inch screen squeezed in here, and Sony is embracing a new tech for the first time on its phone range.
Specifically, the Xperia XZ3 includes OLED tech for the first time – usually Sony uses IPS LCD panels – and it comes from the company’s BRAVIA tech division too. It's a similar tech to what the company uses for its Sony A1 TV range.
This screen tech makes video and images look bright, vivid and striking as soon as you lock eyes with the phone. It made a genuine impact, and its QHD+ resolution is more than enough to make video look great.
After two days of use, it's clear that the default display settings showcase a wonderful balance of deep, slightly muted colour, plenty of detail with an incredibly broad tonal range.
There’s less punch, pop and contrast than found in phones like the samsung galaxy Note 9 That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, with the results producing more of an HDR look. This applies to everything from pictures right through to the user interface.
So while Sony may be late to the OLED game, but boy are we glad they’ve arrived
The display tech will upscale content to varying degrees depending on the quality you’re watching. If you’re watching a Full HD video on YouTube, the phone should be able to upscale it almost to QHD resolution.
Unlike most other flagship phones in 2018, the Xperia XZ3 doesn’t feature a notch even though it has an 18:9 aspect ratio. Instead the company has opted to keep thicker bezels along the top and bottom of the display to house the speakers and front-facing camera tech.
For those who don’t like notches, you may be excited by this prospect, but even if you don’t mind a notch you likely won’t be disappointed here as the bezels along the top and bottom are still fairly thin considering each houses a speaker and more
This ability is called Side Sense and it gives you a quick way to open up apps on your phone. Double tap on the side of the display and it will open up a quick launch menu with all of your favorite apps listed in one place.
Want to go back a step within an app? Just slide your finger down the side of the screen for a bit and it will step back. It will even allow you to take photos by tapping the display edge within the camera app.
After two days of using the phone, Side Sense has definitely been more miss than hit. Activating multiple times unintentionally, failing to fire up at other times and loading after a significant delay if activated for the first time in a while – it definitely isn’t as polished as the rest of the UI.
It is useful when it works though, giving you quick access to predefined apps within easy reach. The smart, AI shortcut mode, which populates apps based on your usage also seems to learn quickly.
With any luck, stability and speed of the feature will be refined in updates, then it could be something we’d recommend keeping turned on. Until then, you may want to deactivate it if the continual misfires get on your nerves.
Design
If you’ve seen the Xpeira XZ2, you’ll know a lot of the design language here. There's a 3mm aluminum frame around the outside of the phone, with glass that protrudes from that making it much thicker. It's actually quite thick as a whole at 9.9mm, but we didn't particularly notice that when holding it in the hand.
There’s curved glass on the rear of the phone too, which probably helps it feel thinner. Both the front and back are protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and it comes in a selection of four different colors: black, white silver, forest green and Bordeaux red.
Black and white look good, but we particularly liked the red and green variants as they look different to a lot of other devices on the market. The darker shades help it look premium, but we found the back of the phone to be a bit of a fingerprint magnet even though we only used the phone for an hour or so.
After two days of usage, the XZ3 still feels and looks sleek, from both front and the back. It slides comfortably into a pocket and feels incredibly rich in the hand. We have the Bordeaux red version and it is standout – and despite the fact it attracts fingerprints readily, it isn’t as bad as many devices we’ve seen with similar glass finishes.
The bottom edge of the Xperia XZ3 features a USB-C port, but there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone so you’ll have to use Bluetooth headsets or an adaptor in order to be able to listen to audio privately on the move
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