And everything that we want to see.

Update | 28.01.2018

The Sony smartphone is FCC certified with a 5.7-inch screen, but surprisingly small in size compared to most sony phones... It can get rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack, however.

So we really want to see a new design for the Sony Xperia XZ Premium 2 and luckily it looks like this is in store for us, as not only has the CEO of Sony claimed that some of the upcoming smartphones will receive a new design, but the specifications show the dimensions that confirm design changes.

Big screen

The 5.46-inch screen of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is not the smallest, but in order to really make wide use of its 4K resolution it really needs to get bigger, and with rivals such as a larger diagonal would help the Xperia XZ Premium 2 compete ...

It doesn't have to get huge, but going up to 5.8 inches could make a difference, especially if Sony can shrink the display panels to maintain roughly the same physical size.

Less software bloat

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is burdened with many pre-installed apps, many of which duplicate functionality google applications (which are also present on the phone) or just not very useful.

With the new Sony Xperia XZ Premium 2, we would like less bells and whistles, with a clean version of Android. Considering that the whole app store makes it easy and quick to fill in any problems, so we have enough basic apps, no duplicates.

Dual camera

The XZ Premium offered a good camera, but an extra lens can make it even better.

Sony's flagship phones generally have decent cameras, and the Xperia XZ Premium is no exception. In our review, we commented on the cameras' impressive Slo-Mo and the ability to capture a lot of detail, but this is just one lens against its dual-camera competitors, and we want Sony to follow suit.

The dual lens isn't just a marketing gimmick, as it could unlock new features like lossless optical zoom, which could promise the Xperia XZ Premium 2.

More power!

The Xpreia XZ Premium offered enough performance, but early rumors suggest that the new model won't get an updated chipset or more RAM, which could be disappointing not only because it's reasonable to expect a performance boost from the new model, but also because at the time of the phone's release, the specs will seem downright outdated for a high quality phone.

So hopefully this rumor is wrong and the Xperia XZ Premium 2 actually sees a performance boost. We would like to see a smartphone with the new Snapdragon 845 chipset. RAM may remain at 4 GB, but we will not give up the growth of this figure.

SlotSIM card

It's a small point, but in our review of the Xperia XZ Premium we noted that the SIM card slot is extremely awkward, so we would like to see it redesigned for the Sony Xperia XZ Premium 2.

It's not something most people should interact with often, but that doesn't mean that a SIM card slot doesn't have to be of decent quality.

Don't need a 4K display? probably on the way too.

One of the most interesting exhibits at the annual MWC 2017 at the end of February was the top-end Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone. He was remembered by all journalists not only for his attractive appearance, 4K resolution screen and flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, but also for an incredibly cool camera that is capable of recording slow-motion video at 960 frames per second. This is an absolute record for mobile devices, which no company will be able to break in the near future. The only catch is that even now, two months after the announcement, it is still not possible to buy the Sony Xperia XZ Premium in any country in the world.

A few hours ago, the famous insider Roland Quandt from the German resource WinFuture said that the official sales of the flagship smartphone Sony Xperia XZ Premium will begin this summer. The Japanese corporation is going to launch its new device on sale in Europe on June 1, 2017. Thus, from the moment of the announcement to the start of sales, it will take three whole months, a whole quarter. How this will affect the sales of new items is not yet clear.

Specifications Sony Xperia XZ Premium

The UK office of the Amazon online store also confirmed that the official sales of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone in the UK will begin on June 1. At MWC 2017, a Sony spokesperson hinted that the unit would hit store shelves in late spring. As it turned out, the date shifted a little, but only by a few weeks, not months.

The Xperia XZ2 Premium is Sony's flagship device.

Sony has officially unveiled the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium. The smartphone was released almost two months after the announcement of the "little brothers" - Sony Xperia XZ2 and Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact at MWC 2018. The smartphone boasts a gorgeous display, powerful "stuffing" and a dual camera that takes great pictures in low light conditions.

Design

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has a recognizable Ambient Flow design, which many have already seen in the Sony Xperia XZ2 and Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact.

The body of the smartphone is made of glass. On the front, the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has small bezels on the right and left sides of the display, but the indentations at the top and bottom spoil the whole experience. The rear panel of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium houses a flash, a dual camera with two vertically oriented modules and a fingerprint scanner in the center from top to bottom.

Display

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has a 5.8-inch IPS display. The aspect ratio of the display is 16: 9, and the resolution is 3840 × 2160 pixels (4K).

Top 4K display Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium covered with 2.5D protective glass Gorilla Glass 5.

Performance

The filling of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone is no worse than that of the rest of the 2018 flagships. A system based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip with an Adreno 630 graphics accelerator is responsible for the performance of the smartphone.

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal UFS flash memory. The smartphone supports the installation of microSD memory cards.

Camera

Sony engineers paid special attention to the camera of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone. Its main feature is the actual ability to shoot in complete darkness due to the possibility of raising the ISO to 51200 for photos and up to 12800 for movies. Of course, this falls slightly short of the Huawei P20 Pro (102400), but it still looks pretty decent.

The main camera Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium - dual with vertically arranged modules and LED flash. The resolution of the camera modules is 19 Mp and 12 Mp, respectively. The first module is a color Motion Eye with a 1 / 2.3-inch Exmor RS sensor, f / 1.8 aperture and a pixel size of 1.2 microns. The second is black and white with a 1 / 2.3-inch monochrome sensor with an f / 1.6 aperture and a pixel size of 1.55 microns. The bottom line is the dual main camera of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone supports HDR photo / video and video recording 960 fps Super slow motion (FHD / HD).

Front camera Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium - 13 megapixels with 1 / 3.06-inch Exmor RS matrix with f / 2.0 aperture. In the process of taking selfies, you can use the smartphone screen as a flash.

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has 5-axis image stabilization in common with the dual main and front cameras.

Connectivity and communication capabilities

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone has support for 2G / 3G / 4G / LTE (Cat. 18), Wi-Fi b / g / n / ac, GPS / GLONASS and Bluetooth 5.

In addition, the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has an NFC chip, USB Type-C 3.1 (up to 5 Gbps) and a 3.5 mm headphone adapter.

operating system

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone runs on the Android 8.x Oreo mobile operating system.

Battery

The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone boasts a 3540 mAh battery. The smartphone supports wireless, adaptive and fast charging according to Qi, Qnovo and Quick Charge 3.0 standards, respectively.

Dimensions and the rest

The dimensions of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone are 158 x 80 x 11.9 mm, and the weight is 236 grams. The thickness and weight of the smartphone is significantly greater than that of the key opponents of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium - Samsung Galaxy S9 / S9 +, etc.

According to a long tradition, the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has IP68 support, which allows the smartphone to easily endure dust and immersion in water to a depth of more than 1 meter for more than 30 minutes.

The cost

The cost of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium is still unknown. However, following sound logic, we can assume that the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium will have to pay a little more than the Sony Xperia XZ2 is currently worth. In Russia, the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact costs 50,000 rubles, and the Sony Xperia XZ2 - 60,000 rubles. Accordingly, the cost of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium will probably start at 70,000 rubles. The start of sales of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone is scheduled for summer 2018.

We remind you that it was originally planned that the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium smartphone will be officially presented at the MWC 2018, which took place in February 2018 in Barcelona. However, Sony only announced the Sony Xperia XZ2 and Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact, leaving the flagship for later.

World's first smartphone with 4K HDR display and 960fps slow motion

Last spring in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bthe international GSM association at the annual Global Mobile Awards (Glomo Awards) announced that the new flagship Sony Xperia XZ Premium was the best in the category "New smartphones and mobile devices at MWC 2017". And this is not the only award received by the well-liked press and critics for the Sony Xperia XZ Premium during the exhibition. In this regard, President and CEO of Sony Mobile Communications, Hiroki Totoki, said: "The Xperia XZ Premium is the most technically advanced smartphone we've ever made." At the very least, the Xperia XZ Premium is the world's first smartphone with a 4K HDR display (5.5 ″), as well as a new Motion Eye camera capable of recording videos at 960 frames per second and playing them back in slow motion. four times slower than other smartphones. Finally, the new Japanese flagship has arrived in Russia and is now available in official retail.

Key features of Sony Xperia XZ Premium (G8142)

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (MSM8998), 4 Kryo cores @ 1.9 / 2.4 GHz
• GPU Adreno 540
• Operating android system 7.1.1
• 5.5 ″ IPS touchscreen display, 3840 × 2160, 801 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 4 GB, inner memory 64 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• MicroSD support up to 256GB
• GSM / GPRS / EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• WCDMA / HSPA + networks (850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz)
• FDD LTE Cat.16 networks
• Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac (2.4 and 5 GHz) MIMO
• Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• USB 3.1 Type-C, USB OTG
• Main camera 19 MP, autofocus, f / 2.0, 4K video
• Front camera 13 MP, f / 2.0
• Proximity, lighting, pressure, magnetic field sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, step counter
• Super slow motion video at 960 fps
• Dust and moisture protection IPS65 / 68
• Battery 3230 mAh
• Dimensions 156 x 77 x 7.9mm
• Weight 191 g

Appearance and usability

Sony Mobile remains true to tradition, this applies to both the appearance of its smartphones and the software shell. In the design of the novelty, the same familiar Loop Surface principle is used: the metal frame, bending, with its curved edges goes into all panels - front, back and side. The frame itself is made of polished metal to a mirror-like shine, it is echoed by two glass panels of Gorilla Glass 5. As a result, we have one of the most slippery and easily soiled smartphones, in this only Xiaomi Mi Mix can compare with it.

At the same time, the design and decoration are really impressive: the case with a mirror-like shine with sharp corners and flat end panels looks at least impressive, and maybe even status. Another thing is that all this splendor runs counter to ergonomics and comfort: sharp corners take up a lot of extra space in your pocket and dig into your hips, and shiny surfaces, of course, are instantly covered with fingerprints.

This is not to say that glass panels themselves are very slippery, but no one usually holds a smartphone for them. But the polished and varnished sides of the convex metal frame are extremely slippery, so it is rather difficult to lift the smartphone from the table.

As for materials and build quality, here, of course, there can be no complaints, Sony is always in full order with this. But about the dimensions it is worth saying a few words. The Sony Xperia XZ Premium has a 5.5-inch screen, which is not that big by today's standards, but it is comparable in size to the Samsung Galaxy S8 + with a significantly larger screen (6.2 ″).

The bezels around the screen look too wide, especially the top and bottom segments, which are 17 mm high, and there are not even touch buttons at the bottom. A lot of space is empty, and the only explanation for such indents is stereo speakers placed at the top and bottom in the frontal plane.

The glass of the panel has barely noticeable curvatures at the transition to the end faces, but only on the sides. There is an LED event indicator above the screen.

The back panel here is also a real glass, it's not plastic, but the same Gorilla Glass 5 as the front. The camera module is single, not double. The camera does not protrude beyond the surface, the back panel is absolutely flat.

All hardware buttons are located on the right side. The one that is responsible for power and locking has a built-in fingerprint scanner, it is easy to touch it, it is convenient to use. The other button responsible for volume control, on the contrary, is quite smooth, slippery, shallow; It is difficult to find it blindly. There is a third, very small and barely noticeable, it is traditionally for Sony responsible for working with the camera.

The card slot is hybrid here: you can install two Nano-SIM cards or replace one of them with a memory card. Sony usually makes two variants of each model - single and dual SIM, and the Xperia XZ Premium is no exception. Only here are not one, but two pull-out trays, and they are covered with a convenient lid that does not need to be squeezed out with a paper clip. All Sony smartphones automatically reboot as soon as the card sled is removed from the case, regardless of whether there are any cards at all.

The smartphone is IP65 / IP68 waterproof. The standard assumes that the device can spend up to half an hour under water, but Sony prohibits this, mentioning only protection from splashing rain or from an accidentally spilled glass.

At the top there is an audio output for headphones (3.5 mm), as well as an auxiliary microphone.

The bottom end is for the main conversational microphone and a universal USB Type-C connector that supports connection to uSB mode OTG.

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is available in three color options: Luminous Chrome, Deepsea Black, and Bronze Pink. We tested the "regular" black version, but apparently, Sony is betting on the pink bronze. Designer Satoshi Aoyagi particularly commented on this: “We wanted to find a shade that would create a sense of warmth and at the same time exemplify premium design and functionality. Bronze metallic overflow adds depth to the color of the front and back of the smartphone, while diamond cut technology adds extra shine to the top and bottom bezels. "

Screen

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium features an IPS display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Uses Triluminos, X-Reality for mobile and Dynamic Contrast Enhancer. The dimensions of the screen are 68 × 121 mm with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. The resolution is 3840 × 2160, the density of points is very high here, about 801 ppi. It is the world's first smartphone with a 4K HDR display.

The frame around the screen is wide by modern standards, more than 4 mm on the sides and 17 mm at the top and bottom. Together with the sharp corners of the case itself, all this looks quite cumbersome.

The display brightness can be manually adjusted or automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multitouch touches. The screen supports gloved operation.

A detailed examination using measuring devices was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev... Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are slightly better than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens of both devices (Sony Xperia XZ Premium, as it is easy to determine, is on the right, then they can be distinguished by their size):

Both screens are dark, but Sony's screen is slightly darker (its brightness in the photo is 107 versus 117 for the Nexus 7). The tripling of reflected objects in the Sony Xperia XZ Premium screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass (aka touch sensor) and the matrix surface (OGS-type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense ambient light, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, even better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are much easier to remove, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and displaying the white field in full screen, its maximum value was about 460 cd / m², and the minimum was 4.7 cd / m². The maximum value is high and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. Automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the right of the slot of the front speaker). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness control, with it the user can try to set the required brightness level in the current conditions. We slightly increased the brightness in complete darkness and found that in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 12 cd / m2, in an office lit with artificial light (about 550 lux) it sets to 190 cd / m2, in a very bright environment (corresponds to a clear light during the day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) increases to 460 cd / m². The result suits us perfectly. It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize his work for individual requirements. Only at a very low brightness level there is a significant modulation of the backlight, but its frequency is high, about 2.3 kHz, so even in this case there is no visible screen flicker.

This screen uses an IPS matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS sub-pixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

However, the subpixels themselves are located unconventionally: typical columns go in the horizontal direction, but in each of the columns the triads of subpixels are shifted by one subpixel vertically, first upward, and three columns downward. Note that we have already seen a similar arrangement of subpixels in the case of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium. As a result, the ratio of columns horizontally to triads vertically is 3 to 2, the actual vertical resolution is 1/3 less than the horizontal one (hereinafter, we mean the landscape orientation of the screen). That is, the dots (RGB triads) on the screen are actually only 3840 × 1440, not 3840 × 2160.

Additional tests have shown that not every application is capable of displaying an image at this conventional 4K resolution. For example, all tested third-party applications believe that the screen has a Full HD resolution, that is, 1920 by 1080 pixels, and the image is displayed in this resolution, and the smartphone itself scales the picture to the true screen resolution. Sony's own image demonstrator only (app Album) displays a picture in 4K resolution. The second exception is video output using hardware decoding. Let us consider the features of such an output using the example of a vertical and horizontal worlds with black stripes one pixel thick through a white gap also one pixel. The original test image is available at this link, the world is in the center. Here is a snippet of it:

With vertical (on the left) stripes, everything is fine: clear, pixel by pixel. With horizontal ones (on the right side), everything is worse, since the dark gaps are only one subpixel thick and visually the world is seen simply as a gray field. In addition, at the bottom and at the top of the horizontal target, instead of stripes, some kind of mess is displayed - apparently, this is an error in the conversion to the resolution of a strange matrix. However, formally, black and white resolution of 3840 × 2160 pixels is still implemented.

The screen has good viewing angles without inverting tints and without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here is a photo in which the screens of the Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia XZ Premium are displayed the same images, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m2 (across the white field on the whole screen), and the color balance on the camera was forced to 6500 TO.

White field perpendicular to the plane of the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And the test picture:

Colors on the Sony Xperia XZ Premium display are oversaturated, skin tones are reddish, and color balance is noticeably different from standard. Also, as shown by additional tests, the color contrast is slightly increased.

Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much for both screens, the contrast has remained at a good level.

And a white box:

The brightness at an angle on both screens has noticeably decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, the brightness drop is slightly less (the brightness in photos is 232 versus 226 for the Nexus 7). The black field when deflected diagonally does not lighten very much and takes on a purple tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):

And from a different angle:

The Nexus 7's black field at the corners is still slightly darker. When viewed from a perpendicular view, the black field uniformity is excellent:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 960: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 24 ms (11 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 34 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted at 32 points with equal intervals by the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage either in highlights or in shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function was 2.31, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

We did not reveal the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

By default, the color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

If the image on the screen of this smartphone still seems insufficiently "bright" and "colorful" to someone, then in the screen settings you can enable Extreme brightness mode.

The result is shown below:

Saturation and color contrast become even higher. The gamut in this mode almost completely covers the gamut of Adobe RGB.

We look at the spectra:

They are typical of Sony's top-end mobile devices. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix light filters, allows a wide color gamut to be obtained. Yes, and in the red phosphor, apparently, the so-called quantum dots are used. Unfortunately, as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and there are the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photos above.

However, not everything is so bad, in the mode Professional coverage is adjusted to sRGB borders:

We look at the spectra:

It can be seen that in this mode, the color components are mixed with each other, which makes it possible to reduce the color gamut. Let's look at the test image in this mode:

So much better! Hence the advice: having a smartphone at your disposal, be sure to select the mode Professional, only in this mode can you view photos and watch movies obtained from most sources available to a common user.

By default, the balance of shades on the gray scale is slightly compromise, since the color temperature is higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of a black body (ΔE), although not very large, changes noticeably from shade to shade. But at least the color temperature variation is small. (The dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there does not really matter, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This smartphone has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors.

Which is what we tried to do; the result is data signed as Corr. in the graphs above. As a result, we corrected the color temperature and, at least in the light area, reduced ΔE. This is a good result, but the brightness (as well as the contrast) has dropped from 460 to 415 cd / m².

Let's summarize. The brightness adjustment range of this screen is wide, the anti-glare properties are excellent, which allows you to comfortably use your smartphone both on a sunny day outside and in complete darkness. It is permissible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages also include a very effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flicker, moderate black lightening when looking away from the perpendicular to the screen surface, excellent uniformity of the black field. By default, the color balance is not the best, but the presence of appropriate adjustments allows you to correct it to an acceptable level, albeit at the expense of a slight decrease in brightness (and contrast). Taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices (and the most important thing is the readability of information in a wide range of external conditions), the screen quality can be considered very high. Compared with the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, we can conclude that Sony has done an effective job of correcting errors, the new smartphone finally has a high-quality sRGB mode and eradicated dynamic brightness adjustment depending on the nature of the displayed image. We've been waiting for this since 2014, when the Sony Xperia Z2 appeared on the market. Better late than never!

Cameras

The front module has an Exmor RS sensor with an area of \u200b\u200b1 / 3.06 ″ and a resolution of 13 megapixels, as well as a 22 mm wide-angle lens with an f / 2.0 aperture without its own flash and autofocus. The maximum sensitivity of the matrix is \u200b\u200bISO 6400, there is the same five-axis SteadyShot stabilization with intelligent Intelligent Active Mode, as in the main camera. The shooting quality is generally good: the image is bright, sharp and detailed. However, as can be seen from the examples, the matrix still fails to organically expose both dark and light areas at the same time, the sky is completely lightened even in even daylight.

For the main camera, Sony has saved a new exclusive module that other manufacturers will not get yet. It uses a 1 / 2.3 ″ mobile Exmor RS sensor with 1.22 µm pixels. The 25mm wide-angle G Lens has an f / 2.0 aperture. The maximum light sensitivity of the matrix is \u200b\u200bISO 12800, but you can manually set only ISO 3200. The main feature of the new Motion Eye camera is its own fast memory, which made it possible to shoot Super slow motion video at 960 fps. True, there are noticeable limitations. First, the super slow mode is only available in 720p, and the picture quality in it, of course, leaves much to be desired. Secondly, it is impossible to simply start shooting video in this mode, it can only be activated for a few seconds during normal shooting, and the result will be presented as frames in a standard video. That is, you either have to capture the moment with filigree, which is sometimes not easy, or just cut pieces of slo-mo into a longer scene. It is impossible to manually select areas after shooting on the resulting video, what happened is what happened.

The rest of the camera's capabilities are familiar to us: there is a predictive hybrid autofocus and a proprietary five-axis stabilization SteadyShot with two modes, the most "smart" of which (Intelligent Active Mode) is better not to use - everything "floats", the shape of objects in the frame is noticeably distorted. Standard SteadyShot works much better.

Manual settings, as usual, allow you to set the shutter speed, sensitivity, exposure compensation, white balance, and select the focusing option. However, if you use the side button, the camera always turns on in auto mode. But in automatic mode, she knows how to take several frames even before the user presses the shutter button (Predictive Capture).

The camera can shoot video in maximum 4K resolution, but this mode is selected in the menu separately. There is also a shooting mode at 60 fps, normal Full HD @ 30 fps, as well as the aforementioned slow motion. Unlike huawei smartphones, here the H.264 codec is used for both 4K video and 60 fps, not H.265. The camera copes well with video shooting. Focusing does not fail, there are no jerks, no artifacts, the image is bright and detailed. Sound recording is performed at a decent level, the noise reduction system also copes with its tasks.

• Movie # 1 (111 MB, 3840 × [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Movie # 2 (34 MB, 1920 × [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Movie # 3 (40 MB, 1920 × [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

	Decent sharpness across the frame.
	There is good detail in the middle of the frame, but there are large areas of blur on the sides.
	The camera copes well with macro photography.
	The text has been worked out well.
	Quite good detail in the distant shots. There are still many areas of confusion.
	Detail is good only in the middle of the frame.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

The camera turned out to be good, but this time I can't call it flagship. Some strange software processing inherent more in the middle segment of cameras immediately catches the eye. There are huge areas of blur, completely unjustified. We, of course, know that Sony has a habit of refining cameras by the time of the start of sales, but for now it is difficult to argue that these zones will disappear. In the center of the frame, the detailing is at a very good level, but in its current form the camera can only be recommended for documentary shooting.

The laboratory bench confirms a good resolution in the center of the frame, but only in good lighting conditions. However, the edge of the frame isn't too bad either. But the camera flash is very weak. Hopefully, with the updates, the camera manages to curb its noise and geometric distortion.

This time, we did not show the resolution in the 12 megapixel shooting mode on the graphs, since it is no different from 20 megapixels, except for the size of the picture. If earlier in the 8 megapixel mode the camera used the sensor area of \u200b\u200babout 16 megapixels, then squeezing the image and increasing the relative resolution, now it does not use such tricks, so geometry distortion and sharpness at the edges do not improve. Nevertheless, even a simple reduction of the image size to 12 megapixels will increase the relative resolution and detail, that is, use the same area more efficiently, so it makes sense to shoot not at the maximum resolution. However, this is true for almost all smartphone cameras.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone, thanks to the new SoC, received a modem that theoretically supports data transfer at speeds up to 1 Gbps in LTE Cat.16 networks. In the city limits of the Moscow region the device behaves confidently, does not lose connection in places of poor reception, and quickly restores the connection. Bluetooth 5.0 is also supported, both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) are MIMO 2 × 2, there is NFC with support for Mifare Classic, so the device works with an application for travel documents. You can organize a wireless access point through wi-Fi channels or bluetooth. The reception quality in Wi-Fi networks also raises no problems. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode. The data transfer speed between a computer and a smartphone using a cable via USB 3.1 Type-C ports is about 25 MB / s.

There are no complaints about the operation of the navigation module, it can work with GPS (with A-GPS), and with the domestic Glonass, and with the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites during a cold start are detected within tens of seconds. The smartphone is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the digital compass of navigation programs usually functions.

Software and multimedia

As a software platform, the Android operating system of the latest version 7.1.1 with a proprietary shell is used, which with the update has become the closest to the stock version of Android, both in appearance and in internal structure. Now Sony smartphones inside resemble pure "Googlephones" more than any of the competitors. The once-present side-sliding panel in the menu of the launcher programs has disappeared, mini-applications have disappeared, and the notification curtain, dialer and menu open programs began to look and function the same as in pure Android.

Also familiar is the set of preinstalled programs that move from model to model over the years (Movie Creator, Sketch, aVG antivirus). SwiftKey is now the default keyboard on all Sony smartphones.

To play music, the device uses its own player with a familiar set of settings: the user is traditionally given a choice between manual adjustment and automatic optimization of all sound parameters using the complex ClearAudio + function. The smartphone can play tracks in High-Resolution Audio quality, low quality tracks are pulled using the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE HX) technology. The set includes several more sound technologies, you can read more about all this, dedicated to the sound technologies used in all modern top smartphones of the manufacturer.

The sound of the main speaker is rich and clear enough, not as loud as possible, but bass, slightly dull. As usual, two speakers are used, located at the top and bottom of the front panel, they work in conjunction with surround technology S-Force Front Surround.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 needs no special introduction. It is Qualcomm's flagship SoC and one of the most powerful mobile platforms in the world to date. It is much more powerful than its predecessor Snapdragon 821 and noticeably outperforms Huawei's flagship solution HiSilicon Kirin 960 in all respects. There is no equal to it in the MediaTek portfolio either. Only the top-end platform Samsung Exynos 8895, on which the latest Korean flagships Galaxy S8 and S8 + operate, can be compared with the Snapdragon 835. They outperform Qualcomm's SoCs in benchmark tests, but in graphics benchmarks, Qualcomm's platform is simply unmatched.

In any case, this SoC provides the system with confident performance and, in real scenarios, allows the smartphone to cope with all tasks without exception. All games we tested, including Modern Combat 5, Mortal Kombat X and others, run smoothly at maximum settings. The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is a very powerful device that has a significant "headroom" for future updates.

Benchmarking AnTuTu and GeekBench:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks, we summarized for convenience in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the resulting dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, therefore, many worthy and relevant models remain "behind the scenes" - due to the fact that they once passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in the game tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Sony Xperia XZ Premium (Qualcomm Snapdragon 835)	Lg g6 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 821)	Huawei P10 Plus (HiSilicon Kirin 960)	Meizu Pro 6 Plus (Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa)	Samsung Galaxy S8 + (Samsung Exynos 8895 Octa)
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot (more is better)	3236	2409	1666	1869	2628
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps)	42	12	10	13	19
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps)	41	24	17	24	36
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps)	60	38	39	52	57
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps)	112	61	55	71	103

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal images

Below is a thermal image back surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

The heating is strongly localized on the left side of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 38 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is not very much.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are tabulated.

Further testing of video playback by Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Theoretically, we could not check the possible support for adapters for outputting images to an external device due to the lack of an adapter option that connects to the USB Type-C port, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)" Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with more or less even interval alternation and in most cases without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1080p (1920 by 1080 pixels), the image of the video itself is displayed exactly on the edge of the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: all gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights. Recall that when watching movies, you need to select the mode Professional in the screen settings.

Battery life

Fixed accumulator batteryinstalled in the Sony Xperia XZ Premium does not have the highest capacity of 3230 mAh - in a large and heavy case, you could probably fit even more. Moreover, the smartphone has a powerful hot SoC and a large screen with a very high resolution. All this leads to increased power consumption of the system and, as a result, to rather modest results of autonomy for such a battery.

Testing has traditionally been conducted at typical power consumption levels without using power saving features. Naturally, there is a proprietary energy-saving Smart Stamina mode, and the already familiar Qnovo Adaptive Charging technology is responsible for a more gentle attitude to battery charging.

Continuous reading in the Moon + Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m2) with auto scrolling lasted a little more than 15 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and with continuous video viewing in high quality (720p ) with the same brightness level through a home Wi-Fi network, the device does not even reach 10 hours. At the same time, in 3D games mode, the smartphone can work for quite a long time, more than 7.5 hours, that is, it turns out that the device "sags" only in the video playback mode.

A smartphone based on the Qualcomm platform naturally supports the proprietary Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging, but in practice we could not verify this, since the test sample came to us without a complete network adapter. From a conventional charger with a maximum output current of 1.5 A, the device is charged for 3 hours with a current of 1.4 A at a voltage of 5 V. The smartphone does not support wireless charging.

Outcome

The device has been presented in Russian retail since the beginning of the summer, the official cost of Sony Xperia XZ Premium is 55 thousand rubles. The price is maximum, and everything should be perfect for products of this price segment, because competitors are the most powerful and popular models of our time, for example, Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8 +, LG G6. What does the new Japanese flagship have? The Sony Xperia XZ Premium has a decent camera with an unusual, if not essential, super slow motion function, one of the most powerful mobile platforms in the world with the widest communication capabilities. A noticeable plus is the presence of moisture protection; in the new season, top smartphones from Samsung, Apple and LG are also provided with it. The screen has the highest resolution and for once the perfect profile system, allowing you to display either bright and colorful, or standard sRGB-picture. The combination of a powerful SoC and a bright screen with an average battery capacity leads to the fact that the hero of the review has far from the highest autonomy among modern flagships. Samsung, LG and Huawei devices are certainly doing better with this. As a result, it turns out that in some ways the hero of the review is inferior to his competitors, and in some ways he is on the same level with them, but the Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone certainly has its own zest that can attract the attention of fans of this brand.

Sony likes to complicate things, and therefore at the MWC 2017 in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bnot one or two smartphones were presented, but four. The very, very XZ Premium (bend your fingers), the most, but the most compact XZs and two middlings in the face of XA1 and XA1 Ultra. The latter with a hefty screen and a cool front camera. And now more about each.

Sony Xperia XZ Premium, which is very ...

Let's start with the most ambitious new product - the Sony Xperia XZ Premium. This device has mainly two unique features:

• rear camera with its own Motion Eye memory, which records video at an incredible speed of 960 frames per second
• 4K screen with HDR content

On the high dynamic range (HDR), it must be admitted, they were obsessed with the exhibition. This content is now streamed by Amazon (Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Originals) and Netflix. Very limited there, too, in the original voice acting, so we can relax.

The display resolution is declared 4K, to be more precise, it is 3840 x 2160 pixels.

• diagonal 5.5 inches
• hDR support
• Sony BRAVIA TV for 4K HDR content
• picture Enhancers: TRILUMINOS ™, X-Reality and Dynamic Contrast Enhancer

Now hipsters hold on! Slow Motion at 960 fps is no joke. Until now, only one smartphone, Lenovo ZUK Z2, could boast of such a video recording speed, but there this functionality is implemented at the Tamogochi level, because the quality is simply disgusting.

By the way, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium test sample wrote the claimed videos at about the same level. However, this is a test specimen, which is quite crude, the technology has not been brought to mind, and in general, the press was forbidden to turn on the smartphone and, moreover, to shoot a video on it. I, of course, did not obey, all for your sake, readers. However, let's take a look at an example of this monster filmed by Slo-Mo.

I repeat, the quality by the time of release will be brought to mind and everything will look much more presentable. I have no doubt about that. However, you should not wait for a level, some kind of rapid-fire specialized camera. Still, a cool Slo-Mo is very expensive and inaccessible for a common consumer. And here we see the first, more or less sane attempt to test this technology on a wide range of consumers. Moreover, through a smartphone.

In addition, the camera tracks the movement of the subject even before the shutter button is pressed. There are 4 images in the buffer zone, from which you can then select the most successful one. The thing is useful if you train yourself to use it on a regular basis.

I will not share examples of photos from the Sony Xperia XZ Premium camera here. Believe me, there is nothing to see yet. The software is still damp, and the copy that was in my hands is far from commercial implementation in terms of photo quality.

• sensor resolution Exmore RS 19 megapixels
• 1 / 2.3-inch matrix
• the size of each pixel is increased by 19 percent - 1.22 microns
• hybrid autofocus
• image processor Bionz
• g Lens 25mm
• aperture f / 2.0
• iSO support up to 12 800
• 5-axis optical stabilization
• 4K video recording

The front camera will also not hit the face in the dirt. Here we have a 13-megapixel module with dimensions of 1 / 3.06, a 22-mm lens with a fairly normal f / 2.0 aperture. In addition, it claims 5-axis stabilization and a sensitivity range up to ISO 6400.

We turn to the insides of the apparatus. They will not stand behind them, because inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. Of course, this was not announced from the stage at the presentation, but the press release contains just such information.

In general, the chip maker and Samsung have an agreement under which the first smartphone on the 835th "Dragon" should be the Galaxy S8, which will be announced on March 29th. However, Sony managed to slip past this agreement. Apparently this is another reason why the XZ Premium could not be turned on at the booth.

At the presentation, it was only said that thanks to the "stone" installed inside, download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second can be expected, that is, a new X16 LTE modem is built into the system on a chip, capable of achieving data transfer at the level of wired networks.

Rest sony Xperia XZ Premium specifications:

• 4 GB of RAM
• 64GB onboard storage
• micro SD card support in place - up to 256GB
• 5th generation Coring Gorilla Glass protective fluid
• 5.5-inch display with 3840 x 2160 resolution, 138% sRGB coverage
• connection: USB Type-C 3.1 plus 3.5 mm audio output
• fingerprint scanner in the side power button
• protection against water and dust according to IP68 / IP65 standards
• battery 3 230 mAh plus QC 3.0 fast charge
• Android 7.1.1 OS
• communication: LTE Cat. 16, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, DLNA, GPS, Glonass
• on sale it will be possible to find versions with one SIM or two cards (Nano form factor)
• support for Hi-Rec LPCM, FLAC, ALAC, DSD audio and native LDAC codec for wireless headphones, improve DSEE HX playback quality
• dimensions: 156 x 77 x 7.9 mm
• weight 195 grams

Another advantage of the device is its design. Many people scold the Japanese for the fact that they have been riveting smartphones for the 5th year in a row, like two drops of water similar to each other. I'm on Sony's side in this matter and here's why.

The consumer society taught us that every year, and preferably every 6 months, we want to see new smartphone, in a new design and the coolest. A very sad concept that everyone should rather forget about. For my taste, the fact that Sony has its own preferences regarding the appearance of products and they are true to her is only a plus. And does the XZ Premium look poor? Not a drop!

The design is based on a concept called Loop Surface. Perfectly matched body elements, smooth lines, clear edges - this is what this name should tell us.

The new Premium looks cool and expensive. Much more expensive and impressive than the iPhone 7 Plus Jet Black if we draw parallels.

The glossy body has a significant drawback - it instantly gets dirty and collects literally all prints. They are clearly visible, but, fortunately, they can be easily removed with microfiber. The future owners of the device will not have to part with the latter. Such is the price for the original design of the device.

On the other hand, girls will appreciate this appearance, because XZ Premium can be successfully used as a mirror.

In nature, you can find two color variations: "shining chrome" and "deep black" (in English, the names traditionally sound more harmonious).

I tried both color options and don't even know which one is better. Perhaps the chrome version is more catchy, but the prints are much more visible on it.

Buy Sony Xperia XZ Premium it will be possible in late spring-early summer 2017. There, with them, abroad. There is no word about Russia yet, but the smartphone will definitely reach us. Sony does not deceive Russian users. Of course, nothing is known about the prices, but you should not expect that the new "Premium" will be cheap. My forecast is $ 800 at the start of sales. The Russian price list includes plus 15-20% of this price.

Update! The smartphone went on sale on June 15 in Russia. The official price is 54,990 rubles - at the level of any other top solution of this year.

Sony Xperia XZs is another flagship

Before us is also a flagship, just not so cool. The display of this device is not 5.5 inches, but 5.2, and the resolution has been reduced to the traditional Full HD or 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Fortunately, this smartphone was not deprived of a new camera called Motion Eye (remember the names, technologies). The sensor can do everything the same as the camera in the XZ Premium, and therefore the device can be considered a flagship.

As for the rest, namely, in terms of the specification of the XZs, it is practically the same as the "Premium" we have disassembled. The full specifications of the Sony Xperia XZs are not yet available on the official website, so this point needs to be clarified. There will be something special or different from the top-end device, I will definitely add this information to the article.

Release date XZ Premium - late spring, XZs - early April 2017 Prices: Sony XZs - 49,990 rubles, XZ Premium - 54,990 rubles