Sony Xperia Z5 Premium review: Premium Definition

Contacts and telephony

The contacts app uses a tabbed interface, consisting of Contacts, Favorites and Groups.

The app no longer comes bundled with the phone app, but you can still quickly jump to it from the dialer.

The contact list has a dedicated search field plus it offers a very nicely animated alphabetical scroll bar.

The dialer supports smart dialing, so you can seamlessly search for a number or a name using the corresponding keypad buttons.

Phonebook • Dialer

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium was able to hold onto signal very well. Calls remained uninterrupted and the sound quality was okay even in tight places. Voices came out loud enough. Clarity was also quite good.

The noise cancellation system is also pulling its own weight ensuring pretty good background noise suppression, as reported by the other side.

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium loudspeaker setup is a little on the quiet side and scored a Below Average mark in our loudspeaker test. The score was achieved with Sony's Clear Audio optimization turned off, as it does take away some of the loudness, making the situation even worse.

We have definitely seen louder devices, but let's not forget that the Z5 Premium does have stereo speakers, ideally positioned on the front of the device.

This helps for a much more immersive multimedia experience, be it for watching videos, playing games or listening to music and most phones with stereo speakers are hardly chart toppers in terms of loudness. Its score is also fairly comparable to the Z5, so this loudness level comes as no surprise.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Sony Xperia Z5	65.1	62.3	66.3	Below Average
Apple iPhone 6s Plus	65.8	65.1	64.6	Below Average
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium	66.6	65.2	66.9	Below Average
Sony Xperia Z3+	66.7	66.6	67.7	Average
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+	65.8	64.8	70.4	Average
LG G Flex2	66.5	65.8	70.5	Average
Meizu Pro 5	67.7	66.6	68.7	Average
HTC One M9	65.2	64.6	76.1	Average
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge	69.7	66.5	73.5	Good
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini	73.5	67.7	78.7	Very Good
Meizu MX5	75.7	73.5	79.5	Excellent
OnePlus 2	75.7	73.5	80.7	Excellent

Messaging

Messaging hasn't really changed and is the same familiar Xperia experience (yeah it does sound weird), but now with a prettier Material design interface. Text messages and MMS use standard thread layout. Adding multimedia (photos, videos, sounds, etc.) will convert the message automatically into an MMS.

Messenger • Gmail • Email

Naturally, the Gmail client and the default Email apps are onboard. Gmail can not only sync with multiple Google accounts, but now has the ability to pull messages from any POP or IMAP server. This does render the default messenger somewhat obsolete, but it still has its place if you want to keep your work communication completely separate from Google.