Sony Xperia Z preview: First look

Introduction

Failing to react to market tendencies has been an Achilles' heel of sorts for Sony in the past. Joining the dual-core and to quad-core parties late over the past two years has caused the once mighty smartphone maker to slide down in ranks and came dangerously close to the role of an also-run.

Sony Xperia Z official photos

It appears that the Japanese giant may have finally learned its lesson though, and this time around they are among the first to jump onto the 5" 1080p bandwagon. But the Xperia Z is more than just a pretty face - with a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and a glass-covered back, this is also a properly powered and properly built flagship powerhouse.

As usual, we start with a quick rundown of the Sony Xperia Z hardware.

Sony Xperia Z at a glance

• General: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri/penta-band UMTS/HSPA, optional 100 Mbps LTE
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm, 146 g
• Display: 5" 16M-color 1080p (1080 x 1920 pixels) capacitive touchscreen TFT with Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2
• CPU: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait
• GPU: Adreno 320
• Chipset: Qualcomm APQ8064
• RAM: 2GB
• OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Memory: 16GB storage, microSD card slot
• Camera: 13 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps with HDR, LED flash, 2.2MP front-facing camera
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
• Misc: IP57 certified - dust-sealed and water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes; Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass for the front and the back panel

The specs sheet seems to leave no boxes unchecked and even the most demanding of geeks will struggle to find something wrong with it. The Sony Xperia Z is less than half a millimeter wider than, say, the Samsung Galaxy S III, yet it packs a larger battery, a screen of more than twice the resolution and a chipset fully capable of handling all those pixels.

Sony Xperia Z at ours

And if that's not enough for you, the Sony is willing to throw in dust and water resistance on the Z, so you don't have to worry about a spilled glass of wine ruining your evening. There's also a new 13MP camera and HDR 1080p video recording which the cameraphone enthusiasts can look forward to. It seems then, that with the latest Sony flagship it comes down to a question of not whether it is better than other smartphones on the market, but by how much.

As long as everything works as promised, the Sony Xperia Z has all the necessary ingredients to lay a proper claim to the smartphone throne. Let's find out how it all comes together at first glance.