Will the Slight Upgrade Make a World of Difference?

While Sony and their Xperia XZ Premium may have won as the “Best New Smartphone” at Mobile World Congress this year, we were a little disappointed by one of its predecessors — the Xperia XZ — when we took it out for a spin for its full review. Along side the Xperia XZ Premium, Sony announced the availability of XZs and it has finally arrived at Unbox HQ. Before we give our initial impressions for the device, let’s take a look at its spec sheet.

Sony Xperia XZs Specifications

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Processor
• 4GB of RAM
• Adreno 530 GPU
• 5.2-inch Full HD Triluminous IPS LCD Display with X-Reality Engine
• 64GB of Expandable Storage
• 19-Megapixel Rear Camera; f/2.0, EIS, Hybrid AF, Motion Eye, LED Flash
  (Exmor RS Mobile Image Sensor, Laser AF Sensor, and RGBC-IR)
• 13-Megapixel Front Camera; f/2.0
• 3G, LTE
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint Scanner
• IP68 Certification for Dust and Water Resistance
• 2900mAh Battery; Quick Charge 3.0,
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• Php 39,990

Initial Impressions: This Is What the XZ Should Have Been

In terms of design, there isn’t much of a difference between the Xperia XZs and the Xperia XZ. It has the same loop surface design and ALKALEIDO metal back plate that gives the device a bit of a different sheen to it. Button placement and the layout of the device remains the same as well.

You’ve got the power button/fingerprint scanner on the right side of the device; with the volume rocker and dedicated camera button right below it. The SIM tray slot is found on the left side for housing a nano SIM and micro SD card.

You’ve got the 3.5mm jack on top, and on the bottom you’ll find the USB Type-C port.

On the back of the device, you’ll see the 19-megapixel camera on the upper left hand side of the phone. While it may have gotten a bit of a step down compared to the megapixel count of the Xperia XZ, Sony has put more tech into the phone to help you take better photos, such as the Motion Eye technology that heps track your subject, and the addition of Super Slow Motion videos that are shot at 960fps — just like the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.

You have the 13-megapixel selfie shooter on the front of the phone, which is dominated by the XZs’ 5.2-inch Full HD display. It’s a tad smaller compared to most of the phones we’ve handling so far, but the Japanese brand’s Triluminous displays have always been a pleasure to use when consuming content and is helped along by front firing speakers.

Not much has changed in terms of the Sony Xperia XZs internals either. You still have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor running the show with an Adreno 530 GPU and 64GB of storage, but this time it’s paired 4GB of RAM. In our review, we felt a little shortchanged that the XZ only had 3GB of RAM, and we’re hoping the upgrade will make all the difference this time around; so far, so good though. Navigation is smooth and appears to be snappier than the Sony Xperia XZ we have on hand.

That’s pretty much it for this hands-on with the Sony Xperia XZs. It has been priced at Php 39,990 with payment options at 0% interest for up to 12 months.