Sony Announces the Xperia Z4
by Brandon Chester on April 20, 2015 4:38 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Sony
- Mobile
- Xperia Z4
Today Sony Mobile officially announced the Xperia Z4 on their Japanese website. The Xperia Z4 will be the company's flagship smartphone for 2015, sitting alongside Sony's flagship tablet which is called the Xperia Z4 Tablet. Based on the specifications provided by Sony, it certainly looks like they've done everything possible to make it fit that role with regards to its hardware. Thankfully, Sony's launch page gives pretty much every specification one could be interested in, and I've organized them in the chart below.
| Sony Xperia Z4 | ||||||
| SoC | MSM8994 2/1.5 GHz A57/A53 Snapdragon 810 | |||||
| Memory and Storage | 32GB NAND + MicroSDXC, 3GB RAM | |||||
| Display | 5.2" 1920x1080 IPS LCD | |||||
| Cellular Connectivity | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm UE Category 7/9 LTE) | |||||
| Dimensions | 146 x 72 x 6.9 mm, 144g | |||||
| Camera |
20.7 MP Sony Exmor, 1/2.3" Rear Facing, 25mm focal length |
|||||
| Battery | 2930 mAh | |||||
| Other Connectivity | 2x2 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, microUSB2.0, NFC, GPS/GNSS | |||||
| SIM Size | NanoSIM | |||||
| Operating System | Android 5.0 Lollipop | |||||
The specifications for the Z4 are certainly appealing. Potential speed and thermal issues relating to Snapdragon 810 aside, the Z4 packs what is basically the best internal hardware available for smartphone manufacturers at the moment. Snapdragon 820 won't be available until the second half of this year at the absolute earliest, and so MSM8994 paired with 3GB of RAM is the fastest you'll see in an Android smartphone that isn't the Galaxy S6.
What may be notable for some is the decision to stay with a 1920x1080 LCD. Given the issues with power consumption and brightness with current 2560x1440 LCD panels, and the relatively limited improvement to sharpness at this display size, I think that staying with a 1080p display was the right decision to make with the Z4.
The Xperia Z4 comes in White, Black, Copper, and Aqua Green
Design wise, the Xperia Z4 bears a great deal of similarity to its predecessor, the Xperia Z3. While it's not a full metal unibody design, it does have a metal frame surrounding the outside of the device. At 6.9mm it is as thin as the iPhone 6 which is impressive. Sony has also been able to include one of their 20.7MP sensors without introducing a camera hump, although the compromise is its 25mm focal length. Like most of Sony's recent products, the Xperia Z4 has an IP65 / IP68 rating for dust and water protection, which is something that now differentiates it from the flagship devices offered by other manufacturers.
At the moment, Sony hasn't provided any information about when an international release of the Xperia Z4 can be expected. It follows that the price is also unknown, although one can guess that it will be around the same price as this year's other flagship devices.
Source: Sony Mobile Japan
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AndrewJacksonZA - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
@Xajel I hope so too.Crazy1 - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
Agreed. If 1080p improves battery life over higher res displays, I am all for it. I'm glad the pixel war happened but it needs to end, at least for smart phones. The water protection and SD card support make this a real contender for my next phone, especially if they release it on the Verizon network.Laxaa - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Such a low key announcement. Makes me wonder if there will be a successor announced at IFA again this fall. While Xperia design language is solid, this looks very much like a Z3 and it feels kind of tired at this point.I hope the camera is decent though. Sony has the hardware to show for it, but the software has so far been lackluster.
soccerballtux - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
Sony seems to have a completely dead marketing department. I don't think anyone knows they actually make phones. I wonder why they never advertise?mortimerr - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
I'm almost certain I read somewhere that Sony is going to reduce the amount of time and energy (and money) they spend on the smartphone market and focus on their cameras and gaming divisions.khanikun - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
They had a short story of it on GSMArena about Sony putting more time into their camera sensors and gaming. That's not to say they are exiting the smartphone market, just that they'll reduce time/effort/money/etc in it.I personally think that's sad, as I love my Sony phones. My Xperia T and current Xperia Z2. They've been my only trouble free phones. LG G2x, Dell Streak 5, and Samsung Galaxy S were before that and I always ended having some kind of issue with it. I also had a Sharp something rather Android flipphone, which was hellaciously slow.
AndrewJacksonZA - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
In my opinion as a very happy Z3 owner using a SanDisk Extreme 64GB micro SD card, the Z4 is nice evolution of the Z3, but I was hoping for more. That said, this is the Japanese version, not the international version, so the international version could be better. :-)I was hoping for a device that would make me envious and want to jump and get the Z4 RIGHT NOW, but I don't see the advantage of paying big cash for just a 64bit 8 core 810 and 32GB of internal storage when I'm content with my very responsive 4 core SOC and my micro SD card.
Will the OS be 64 bit? Will it be more responsive than my Z3? Will the battery, even though it's smaller, outlast my Z3?
I'm glad it's still waterproof though. Having a waterproof phone with a micro SD slot is a dealbreaker for me. And yes, I really mean that, I'm not just being a Sony fanboi (even though I am a Sony fanboi. :-)
hughlle - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
I can't really think of any brand that has has made anyone want to jump on a new phone immediately from the previous iteration. Seems they design them to get people go go from the z2 to the z4, gs4 to gs6, m7 to m9 (or not in this instance as the m9 seems a bit of a flop).Think you might have unrealistic expectation to expect such change year on year.
AndrewJacksonZA - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
@hughlle: A few years ago I went from a P990i to a C905, it initially felt like a downgrade (from stylus to slider) but the camera made it worth it.Then from a C905 to an Xperia T (I tried an old Xperia X10 for a month before going back to the C905), the change was quite dramatic, a revelation almost! The C905-Xperia T switch was the most dramatic, including going from a monochrome to a colour phone in '98/'99 (IIRC it was the Siemens S10.)
Then from an Xperia T to the Z3 - wow, what an improvement. Not as dramatic as before, but this phone does what I need, at the speed I need to it (although being more and more responsive is ALWAYS appreciated! ;-) If only the image post-processing(?) software could be the same that Sony uses on their cameras... I mean, other phone manufacturers use Sony lenses and sensors but it seems that they can produce as-good-or-better pictures as the Z3. I don't own another camera, my Z3 is my camera, so I'd appreciate better-quality images from my camera.
hughlle - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
a few years ago, sure, there was a good reason to upgrade, there was constantly evolving tech. Nowadays though, it does seem to be based on a 2 year cycle (tick tock) as the technology is now just stagnated. There are no longer new features from one phone to the next such as greyscale to colour, polytronic to mp3 or whatnot. Nowadays the only things manufacturers seem to be able to do with new releases is increase ppi, faster processing, or a better camera. Current tech just doesn't allow for the kind of innovations that would really make you grab the next version like it did in the past.