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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devione - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Been using Sony for a while now since they relaxed their policy with regards to phone modding and supporting of said modders / AOSP community.Exynos would be 10 steps back.
xchaotic - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Snapdragon 810 :(kspirit - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
No OIS? What year is this? Android OEMs can't do in 2015 what Nokia did in 2012. :')And the S810 is a hot mess. Literally. I think the S6 is the only worthwhile Android flagship this year. Waiting for the Lumia flagship to be better tho. :)
Laxaa - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
The Galaxy S6 seems to be one of the top choices for this year, although I wouldn't count out LG just yet(the phone might be huge, but the features they've teased so far seems promising)I hope MS hits hard with the new Lumia flagship. The 930 is already a great device, but it need better battery life and more internal storage. Or at least give us the option to expand it.
BMNify - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Even the upcoming Lumia flagship will be on SD 810 as Qualcomm is the sole SOC partner for windows phone. Microsoft even stated few months back that they will use SD 810 soon in their phone.Laxaa - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
And that worries me. Maybe I should just pick up a 930(they're pretty cheap these days) and wait for some more solid Qualcomm silicon.kspirit - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
I know, and that's problematic for a lot of reasons. Sure, WP is more resource efficient than Android, but it can't really be efficient enough to prevent the S810 throttling. :/ Hopefully it'll perform better than the M9 and G Flex 2. Hopefully.josephnero - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
I would love to have one.As a Z2 user i love waterproofness,Sony UI,and build quality is just awesomeserendip - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
I wonder if there will ever be a successor to the Z Ultra. That thing had a huge and lovely screen but was let down by a terrible camera (with no flash!) and a small battery.jagadiesel1 - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Agreed - the Z Ultra was absolutely beautiful in design, the screen was both big and amazing to use, and the waterproofing was addictive once you got used to it. The combination of a screen that big with a thinness slimmer than the iPhone and the design language made for an incredibly striking phone. My colleagues immediately wanted to know what it was - they had never seen anything like it.Also - with kids around, the waterproofing moved beyond 'nice' into 'almost a necessity.' Hobbling it with that bad camera and no flash was a travesty - if it had a real camera and flash, the Z Ultra would have been a near-perfect phablet.
I would love to see an updated Z4 or Z5 Ultra.
And to echo Rustico - yes, Anandtech, please review the Sony smartphones! Their business acumen may be questionable, but the phones have been great. And the Android market could use another of the big 4 (Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony) to come up with a legitimate competitor to the S6 this year. Curious to see if Sony's implementation of the 810 is better as well....