After a 6 month “holiday” with an iPhone 5 I decided to give android another go. After doing some researching I decided to snag a Sony Xperia Z, I mean who wouldn’t want a water resistant phone with a 1080 screen? So after pawning of my beloved iPhone to a fellow phone buff for his wife I bought myself a Xperia Z.
Fast forward a day later(overnight shipping) I wake-up extra early and sit by the window waiting for the UPS truck, low and behold it had already been dropped off and had waiting for my eager hands to rip the box open and play around with it. As I’m opening the shipping box full of foam peanuts I see it, a thin square box with the picture of the phone on the cover and I rip it out. I look over the box and then flip it over and see the “typical” back of a phone box, giving basic run down of some of the features, hardware and software on the phone.
Inside the box you’ll find booklets with all your legal matters and other phone/manufacturer mumbo jumbo. A pair of decent looking pair of earbuds, usb-micro usb cable and a non US power block. After looking through the box I take out the phone and press down on what I feel is one of the best feeling and looking power buttons on a phone. The build of the phone itself feels amazing, it’s solid, sleek, sexy and not to heavy. It’s a solid glass body, with a non removable battery and doors that cover the SIM tray, sd card slot, headphone jack and charging port. All doors fit flush with the body and are attached with a flexible piece of plastic and also have rubber gaskets to protect it from water invading its inner workings.
I see the screen lite up with the typical “Sony” and notice how crisp and clean looking it is and am instantly wowed. After it finishes booting up I give it a once over and instantly go for the camera since that was one thing that kept me on the 5 for so long. I snap a quick picture of my hand and see my finger prints in amazing detail and am instantly impressed definitely surpasses the 5′s 8mp with its astonishing 13.1mp sensor.
After playing around with the camera for a little bit I decide to check out all the native apps and features, the stock launcher is like 90% of them out there and not customizable enough for me to like and keep so I replaced it with Nova prime. It comes preloaded with typical Sony bloatware, nothing to really rant about.
The battery in it is alright, it’s a 2330mha. I can usually pull a full day out of it with moderate usage. I’ve also noticed it charges at a decent speed!
Now for the part I’m sure a lot of you have been wondering, does it really hold up under water, have I dunked it? The answer is yes and yes, I’ve shown it off a few times by placing it in a cup of water, however make sure you have those doors tightly shut.
So now the not so great parts, if you’re on At&t it’ll only get 3/”4″G if you’re in a 850mhz area. Don’t expect much in the way of accessories in the state’s, seems everything I’ve found is from the UK or China. The bootloader comes locked, it is unlockable on Xda but when it does it removes Sony’s bravia engine 2.
Overall I’d give the phone a 7 out of 10, it’s screens amazing, cameras great, not so much in the development department.