Sony is back with a new series of phones - a bit earlier than I’d hoped - and there have been some major improvements since the Xperia Z3 Compact.
Sony seems to be the only manufacturer out there that understands some people want a small phone without sacrificing premium spec and gorgeous design.
That’s the mantra of the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact and if you’re in the market for a smartphone that’s both small and premium, you’re looking in the right place.
Sony also a full range of phones to suit everyone. Alongside the Xperia Z5 Compact is the Xperia Z5that features a 5.2-inch Full HD screen and the Xperia Z5 Premiumwith a 5.5-inch 4K display.
The Premium has been grabbing all the headlines but the Xperia Z5 Compact shouldn’t be ignored. It offers a lot of the great stuff Sony has been working on for the last few years in a particularly small package.
Design
Sony’s biggest selling point of the Xperia Z5 Compact is the design. Even those with small adult hands will be able to control the Xperia Z5 Compact – and that’s not something you could say about its larger sibling. Dimension wise it comes in at 127 x 65 x 8.9mm and weighs 138g.
If you were ever familiar with the Xperia Z3 Compactyou’ll notice a dramatic difference in the weight here – it’s much lighter than what we’ve seen before from Sony in a smaller, high-end phone.
The Z5 Compact is a little thicker than the Xperia Z5, but that’s just to squeeze in all the internals and a slightly larger battery than last time. You only notice the thickness difference whenever you place the Xperia Z5 up against the Compact - but it’s minimal and fits well in the hand still.
The left hand edge of the handset features a tastefully indented Xperia logo at the top, then there’s a flap down at the bottom of that edge housing the nanoSIM and microSD slots. This is now the only flap on the phone, the headphone jack and micro USB slots are both waterproof without annoying little bits of plastic covering them.
On the other side is a camera button, a volume rocker (that is a little too far down the phone) and then the power button. The button is easy to reach with your thumb and is much more reactive than previous Sony buttons that don’t sit flush with the side.
Display
The Xperia Z5 Compact comes with a 4.6-inch display packed inside this small body with a screen resolution of 720 x 1280.
It’s not a impressive a resolution and I personally hoped Sony would have upped the resolution so we’d get a Full HD version of the Xperia Compact series, going above the 323 pixels per inch this offers.
It does mean when you’re flicking around the screen you can sometimes see the pixels a little and it’s not what you want on a premium phone.
That said, as with the Xperia Z5, there’s a much brighter display than we’ve seen before – enough that I had to turn it right down when using it in the dark.
Performance
Sony took the strange decision of placing the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset it used in the Xperia Z3+inside the Xperia Z5 series. The Xperia Z3+ had some serious overheating issues but these seem to have been ironed out in the new smartphones from the brand.
In my time with the phone I didn’t experience any overheating – even after gaming for an hour I found the phone to be quite cool on the fingertips. I also did a lot of internet browsing, watching videos and multitasking with apps and didn’t find any issues.
Camera
The Xperia Z5 Compact camera has undergone some big changes compared to the spec listing of last year’s Xperia Z3 Compact. This time around it’s 23MP– one of the highest resolution sensors on the market – and it takes some truly stunning shots.
Battery
Everyone wants a battery that lasts forever in a smartphone (or at least more than a day or two), but that’s not going to happen in 2015. The Xperia Z5 Compact is one of the best phones for battery life right now though, but that’s not exactly saying much.
Due to the 720p screen, I found the phone not to use battery as heavily as the Xperia Z5. In our video test (where we run a video for 90 minutes with full brightness and all connectivity options on) the Z5 Compact finished with 79% of its battery leftover.
T3 verdict
If you’re looking for a premium yet small Android handset, this is really your only choice. But that lack of option isn’t going to be an issues as the Xperia Z5 Compact is a great phone.
It’s a solid improvement on the Xperia Z3 Compact with the addition of a fingerprint sensor, a faster processor and an improved design.
I would have liked to see the screen technology get an upgrade. Would love to hear your views!
Sony seems to be the only manufacturer out there that understands some people want a small phone without sacrificing premium spec and gorgeous design.
That’s the mantra of the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact and if you’re in the market for a smartphone that’s both small and premium, you’re looking in the right place.
Sony also a full range of phones to suit everyone. Alongside the Xperia Z5 Compact is the Xperia Z5that features a 5.2-inch Full HD screen and the Xperia Z5 Premiumwith a 5.5-inch 4K display.
The Premium has been grabbing all the headlines but the Xperia Z5 Compact shouldn’t be ignored. It offers a lot of the great stuff Sony has been working on for the last few years in a particularly small package.
Design
Sony’s biggest selling point of the Xperia Z5 Compact is the design. Even those with small adult hands will be able to control the Xperia Z5 Compact – and that’s not something you could say about its larger sibling. Dimension wise it comes in at 127 x 65 x 8.9mm and weighs 138g.
If you were ever familiar with the Xperia Z3 Compactyou’ll notice a dramatic difference in the weight here – it’s much lighter than what we’ve seen before from Sony in a smaller, high-end phone.
The Z5 Compact is a little thicker than the Xperia Z5, but that’s just to squeeze in all the internals and a slightly larger battery than last time. You only notice the thickness difference whenever you place the Xperia Z5 up against the Compact - but it’s minimal and fits well in the hand still.
The left hand edge of the handset features a tastefully indented Xperia logo at the top, then there’s a flap down at the bottom of that edge housing the nanoSIM and microSD slots. This is now the only flap on the phone, the headphone jack and micro USB slots are both waterproof without annoying little bits of plastic covering them.
On the other side is a camera button, a volume rocker (that is a little too far down the phone) and then the power button. The button is easy to reach with your thumb and is much more reactive than previous Sony buttons that don’t sit flush with the side.
Display
The Xperia Z5 Compact comes with a 4.6-inch display packed inside this small body with a screen resolution of 720 x 1280.
It’s not a impressive a resolution and I personally hoped Sony would have upped the resolution so we’d get a Full HD version of the Xperia Compact series, going above the 323 pixels per inch this offers.
It does mean when you’re flicking around the screen you can sometimes see the pixels a little and it’s not what you want on a premium phone.
That said, as with the Xperia Z5, there’s a much brighter display than we’ve seen before – enough that I had to turn it right down when using it in the dark.
Performance
Sony took the strange decision of placing the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset it used in the Xperia Z3+inside the Xperia Z5 series. The Xperia Z3+ had some serious overheating issues but these seem to have been ironed out in the new smartphones from the brand.
In my time with the phone I didn’t experience any overheating – even after gaming for an hour I found the phone to be quite cool on the fingertips. I also did a lot of internet browsing, watching videos and multitasking with apps and didn’t find any issues.
Camera
The Xperia Z5 Compact camera has undergone some big changes compared to the spec listing of last year’s Xperia Z3 Compact. This time around it’s 23MP– one of the highest resolution sensors on the market – and it takes some truly stunning shots.
Battery
Everyone wants a battery that lasts forever in a smartphone (or at least more than a day or two), but that’s not going to happen in 2015. The Xperia Z5 Compact is one of the best phones for battery life right now though, but that’s not exactly saying much.
Due to the 720p screen, I found the phone not to use battery as heavily as the Xperia Z5. In our video test (where we run a video for 90 minutes with full brightness and all connectivity options on) the Z5 Compact finished with 79% of its battery leftover.
T3 verdict
If you’re looking for a premium yet small Android handset, this is really your only choice. But that lack of option isn’t going to be an issues as the Xperia Z5 Compact is a great phone.
It’s a solid improvement on the Xperia Z3 Compact with the addition of a fingerprint sensor, a faster processor and an improved design.
I would have liked to see the screen technology get an upgrade. Would love to hear your views!
Comments
Post a Comment
We love hearing from you, please drop your views here!