SONY SMARTWATCH 3: SPECS
- Android Wear OS
- 1.6in Transflective LCD touchscreen display 320x320 pixels
- 4GB internal storage (approx 2.6GB available)
- 512 MB RAM
- Quad-core ARM V7 1.2GHz processor
- Bluetooth 4.0 LE
- microphone
- gyro, accelerometer, compass, ambient light sensor
- GPS receiver
- NFC
- 420mAh battery
- microUSB charging
- IP68 dust and water resistant
- Core unit 45g
SONY SMARTWATCH 3 REVIEW
Android Wear is Google's operating system for wearables, and most new smartwatches including the SmartWatch 3 have adopted it rather than use their own system. In our Sony SmartWatch 3 review we'll look at how this Android Wear device compares to its rivals, including the excellent - but expensive - LG G Watch R.
SONY SMARTWATCH 3 REVIEW: DESIGN AND BUILD
It may not be quite as stylish as some circular smartwatches, but the SmartWatch 3 has a certain charm about it. There's no big SONY logo or anything to draw your eye away from the 1.6in square colour screen. The only button is to the right, but you'll rarely need it as the display lights up when you raise your arm or tap on the screen.
They're made from sturdy rubber and have an equally sturdy buckle mechanism like you'd find on a metal-strapped gents watch. It's easy to adjust the strap for size without cutting.
We found the rubber uncomfortable to wear when hot - sweat is trapped under it, so it's best to take it off regularly, and certainly at night.
Instead of wireless charging, Sony has opted for a standard microUSB port. That's great news in some ways as you can charge it practically anywhere; there's a good chance that any given office or home will have a microUSB cable and charger.
The USB port is covered by a captive rubber bung - the watch has an IP68 rating, so it's dust and water resistant. We wouldn't advise swimming with it, but you'll be ok in the shower or going for a run in the rain.
SONY SMARTWATCH 3 REVIEW: SCREEN AND BATTERY LIFE
We found the 420mAh battery lasted exactly two days, which is slightly disappointing given then unusual screen technology. Instead of AMOLED or IPS, Sony has gone for transflective which means the display is still readable - given sufficient ambient light - without the backlight. It's the same technology used in many outdoor GPS devices.
You can choose whether or not to keep the screen on all the time. If you turn it off, you'll have to wake it up just to check the time, but if you leave it on permanently, you can merely glance at your wrist without having to tap or lift your arm.
Sony has also included an ambient light sensor so brightness can be adjusted automatically, but it doesn't appear to yield any extra battery life.
The 320x320 display has a few more pixels than the circular watches we've seen but there's no real difference in the amount of information shown. The disadvantage of using a transflective display is that while colours look ok square-on, viewing angles are terrible by today's standards.
If battery life were more like 4-5 days we'd forgive this, but LG's G Watch R also lasts two days between charges. Recharge time is roughly an hour.
SONY SMARTWATCH 3 REVIEW: FEATURES
Storage remains the same as the Sony SmartWatch 2 and rival Android Wear devices at 4GB eMMC flash memory. This can be used to store music which can be played without a companion smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth.
The SmartWatch 3 does have one ace, though: built-in GPS. With an on-board receiver, there's no need to take your smartphone with you on a run, hike or bike ride. The GPS can record your route and feed the data back to the Sony Lifelog app.
There's also NFC, a gyro, compass, accelerometer and Bluetooth. The latter isn't merely useful for connection to a smartphone for Android notifications: you can pair the SmartWatch 3 with some headphones and listen to music stored on the watch (there's 2.6GB of usable storage) when you're exercising.
What it doesn't have is a heart-rate monitor, although that doesn't mean the G Watch R is the best choice for fitness enthusiasts. The LG has a heart-rate sensor, which takes on-demand readings rather than monitoring heart rate over time. If you need that, consider one of the new Fitbit trackers: the Charge HR or Surge.
Also, unlike those activity trackers and Sony's own SmartBand Talk, the SmartWatch 3 has no barometer to detect floors climbed and neither does it track your sleep.
You can install apps on Android Wear, though, which add functions and features which could be even more useful. Right now the selection is rather thin on the ground, but it's sure to improve over time.
More: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/smart-watches/sony-smartwatch-3-review-3543048/
The Sony SmartWatch is a cool and attractive gadget, offering plenty of apps and functionality. The downsides are a slightly bulky design and the need to charge it up regularly. Read our Sony SmartWatch review to find out more.
SONY SMARTWATCH REVIEW
There're plenty of rumours floating around suggesting Apple, Samsung and Google will all launch their own smart watches. However, Sony already has one of its own. Read our Sony SmartWatch to see what it can do for you today. See all Smart Watch reviews.
The Sony SmartWatch is a wrist-ready Android device with a 1.3in OLED screen. So the SmartWatch really is like having a tiny smartphone strapped to your arm. See also Apple iWatch release date and specs.
We can't help but notice how similar it looks to the iPod nano, launched two years earlier. The screen resolution is rather low at only 128 x 128 pixels, about half that of the iPod nano's 240 x 240 pixel display.
Whether it's an intentional copy or not, the SmartWatch looks undeniably cool with its rounded corners, silver metal edge and glossy black fascia.
However, the SmartWatch is quite bulky at 12.8mm thick, making it tricky to fit underneath some clothing. It's lightweight at just 40g with the wristband.
You don't have to wear the SmartWatch on your wrist, though. It's got a clip on the rear so you can attach it to whatever you want. It simply clips to the supplied wristband which comes in different colours but its rubber material means it can get quite clammy.
Sony does supply an adapter which means you can instead use your own strap.
SONY SMARTWATCH: FEATURES
So what can the SmartWatch can do for you? Once you've hooked it up to a Google Android phone via Bluetooth – thankfully an easy and simple process – it can do quite a lot.
It's worth noting that you don't have to have a Sony smartphone for the SmartWatch, as the device is compatible with most Android handsets. You’ll need to check first though.
Navigation around the SmartWatch is similar to a smartphone because it's got a touchscreen. The gestures aren't overly intuitive but you soon learn them - if you get stuck there's a guide within the smartphone app.
As you would expect, the device can tell the time, and since is uses a screen like your smartphone, you can select from a number of clock faces. A recent update brings this up 10 to choose from, both digital and analogue watch styles.
The only issue here, and one that might really annoy some people, is that the time isn't shown continually. To save battery life the screen times out so glancing at it is not an option. Instead you must push the button on the side to bring the screen to life.
Beyond telling the time, the Sony SmartWatch can give various notifications and perform different tasks. You choose which features you want to use, in the same way you decide which apps to download to your smartphone and how to arrange your homescreen.
Custom apps and widgets for the SmartWatch are downloaded and installed by the Google Play Store, it's easy to do this via the smartphone app. The smartphone app is also used to arrange the installed apps and widgets as this would be difficult to do on the SmartWatch's small screen.
The apps range from the basic text messaging, call handling, weather and email, to social networks, fitness and more.
It's really handy getting notifications via the SmartWatch. If you often miss text messages and calls because your phone is in a pocket or bag then the device is a real boon – it’s impossible to miss when it vibrates on your wrist. You can also use it as a remote control of your phone; to control what music is playing, for example.
You can't bring up an onscreen keyboard and reply to messages (the screen is just too small) but you can send a pre-defined reply from the SmartWatch.
There are hundreds of apps beyond the regular ones, too – far too many for us to try out. However, they range from games, to presentation tools and camera companion apps.
SONY SMARTWATCH: BATTERY LIFE
One of the main issues with a smartwatch is that battery life may not match a normal watch. Not only will you have your Android phone to charge on a regular basis, normally daily, you'll have an Android smartwatch to top up too.
Over a few weeks of use, we found the Sony SmartWatch typically lasted us around two to three days of use before needing a charge. Sony is about right when it says heavy usage will mean it lasts a day and low usage will give you up to a week.
Charging is made more difficult since the SmartWatch uses a custom USB cable which you need to make sure you carry around with you. And in case you’re wondering, no, you can't charge it while it's on your wrist.
SONY SMARTWATCH: SPECS
- Sony SmartWatch review: Specs
- 1.3in OLED screen (128 x 128 pixel)
- Android (compatibility 2.1 and up)
- Bluetooth 3.0
- USB charger
- 36 x 36 x 12.8 mm
- 40g including wriststrap
We only got the Sony Xperia Z3+ recently, but already the Sony Xperia Z5 has been announced and with a new number there's an expectation that it will be a significant upgrade.
While not everything has changed in Sony's latest the addition of a fingerprint scanner alongside an improved camera and a hefty amount of power should keep fans happy. But it is enough for the Xperia Z5 to go toe-to-toe with smartphone heavyweights like the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6?
Design
With a slim 7.3mm thick metal frame and a frosted glass back the Sony Xperia Z5 doesn't stray far from the form factor of previous Sony flagships, but the power button on the side has been slightly redesigned to incorporate a fingerprint scanner.
Sony Xperia Z5
That's a first for Sony and its set to support online payments, as well as being a speedy way to unlock the handset.
Like the Xperia Z3+ the Sony Xperia Z5 is also IP68 certified dust and water resistant, with a capless microUSB port, so you don't have to fiddle with a flap every time you want to charge the phone.
It's a premium if slightly overfamiliar design, finished off with a choice of either plain black or white colours or more adventurous gold or green options.
Galaxy S6
Samsung completely changed things up for the Galaxy S6, but in doing so created a handset which looks a bit like a cross between the iPhone 6 and the Sony Xperia Z5. It has a sleek 6.8mm thick metal frame and a glass back, but the corners are more curved than on Sony's phone and the back isn't frosted.
Like the Sony Xperia Z5 it has a fingerprint scanner, but this time below the screen and unlike Sony's handset it's not dust or water resistant.
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 has a similarly rounded shape to the Samsung Galaxy S6 and also has a fingerprint scanner beneath the screen. It's almost as slim too at 6.9mm thick, but unlike Samsung and Sony's flagships it has a metal unibody. It's a great design, but all three handsets look distinctly premium.
Display
The Sony Xperia Z5 has a 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS display with a pixel density of 428 pixels per inch. An anti-fingerprint coating should keep it smudge-free and it's designed with good contrast and vibrant colours in mind.
Galaxy S6
The Samsung Galaxy S6 might have it beat though, with its 5.1-inch 1440 x 2560 Super AMOLED screen, giving it a pixel density of 577 pixels per inch. Not only is it incredibly sharp, but it sports bright, vivid colours and good outdoor visibility.
The iPhone 6 has the smallest and lowest resolution screen of the three, with a 4.7-inch 750 x 1334 display for a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. But while it's a shame it's not sharper, the display on the iPhone 6 still offers brilliant contrast and colour reproduction.
Sony Xperia Z5
Power and performance
There's an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor and 3GB of RAM at the heart of the Sony Xperia Z5. That's the same as the Xperia Z3+, but we found performance with that phone was generally smooth, so it's not too much of a worry, though the Z3+ did sometimes heat up.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 has an octa-core Exynos 7420 processor plus 3GB of RAM, which also delivers silky smooth performance for the most part, though waking up the phone from sleep can noticeably take a second or two.
On paper the iPhone 6 is the least powerful of the three, as it has just a dual-core Apple A8 processor and 1GB of RAM, yet as with its rivals it offers generally slick performance in day to day use.
Camera
Sony has done a lot of work on its smartphone snapper, equipping the Xperia Z5 with a new 23MP sensor. Low light photography is supposedly better than it's ever been in a Sony phone, while autofocus happens in just 0.3 seconds, which Sony claims is faster than any other smartphone.
The snapper also supports 5x clear zoom with minimal loss of quality and can shoot video in 4K, using an improved version of Sony's SteadyShot technology for blur-free footage.
The front-facing camera meanwhile is a 5MP one with a 25mm wide-angle lens, so you can fit lots in the frame and it has the same SteadyShot technology as the main snapper.
S6
That all sounds impressive, but the Samsung Galaxy S6 has one of the best smartphone cameras we've ever come across. Its 16MP sensor is highly capable in both bright and low light and while you can easily point and shoot there's also a strong selection of manual controls.
Like the Sony Xperia Z5 it supports 4K video and with optical image stabilisation you can be confident that your photos and footage will come out smooth. Round the front it has a 5MP snapper too and just like the Z5 it can take wide-angle shots.
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 has a pretty great camera as well. It's only 8MP but it can take impressive photos, helped in part by 'Focus Pixels', which lead to faster autofocus and improved clarity.
It's a strong snapper, with simple, intuitive controls and it's good for video too, supporting slow-motion footage at up to 240fps, though the front-facing camera is just 1.2MP.
OS and features
Both the Sony Xperia Z5 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 run Android 5.1, but the overlays are different and include a handful of special apps and features. The Xperia Z5 for example supports PS4 Remote Play and High-Res lossless audio, with lower quality tracks upscaled to near High-Res quality.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 meanwhile has a heartrate monitor and a Smart Manager app, which shows you the security of your phone, battery life, RAM use and storage all in one place.
The iPhone 6 is the odd one out here as it runs a completely different operating system. With iOS 8 on board you get access to Apple's rich app ecosystem at the cost of some of the customisation and freedom you get on Android. Like Samsung Apple has also gone big on health and fitness, equipping the iPhone 6 with an M8 co-processor, tasked purely with keeping track of movement.
Battery
The Sony Xperia Z5 has a 2900mAh battery, which can supposedly last for up to 2 days of use, with a STAMINA mode keeping it going even longer. It also supports Quick Charge 2.0, so you can theoretically get up to 5.5 hours of usage from a 10 minute charge.
The 2550mAh juice pack in the Samsung Galaxy S6 supports fast charging as well, plus it even supports both wireless charging standards, but you're not going to get anywhere near 2 days out of it. You should get a full working day from it, but not much more.
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 has just an 1810mAh battery but it can keep on chugging for a full day of moderate use. That still leaves it well behind what the Xperia Z5 promises though.
Price and availability
The Sony Xperia Z5 will be hitting stores in October and while no pricing has yet been confirmed we'd expect it will have a premium RRP of perhaps around £500/$650/AU$1000.
S6
The Samsung Galaxy S6 has an RRP of £559/$599/AU$999, while the iPhone 6 starts at £539/$649/AU$999, so they're all expensive, but you don't have to wait to buy an S6 or an iPhone 6, as both are available now.
Verdict
The Sony Xperia Z5 doesn't seem like a massive change from the Xperia Z3+, but with a fingerprint scanner and a new camera it could still be a worthy upgrade.
Those features, combined with its powerful innards, supposedly long-lasting battery and water resistant design should make it a capable flagship. We can't say for sure until we've put it through its paces, but on paper the Sony Xperia Z5 looks to be a worthy rival to both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6S.
See More: http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/sony-xperia-z5-vs-samsung-galaxy-s6-vs-iphone-6-1303068
Sony needs a new flagship phone: it wasn't the Xperia Z3+ or the Xperia Z4, but it's the Z5 that everyone was calling for.
Launched as a triplicate of handsets, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium sits at the top of the pile, bringing with it new levels of bling. Why else would you give a phone a mirrored finish, unless it wanted to undeniably be the centre of attention?
Well, thanks to the small matter of a 4K display, there's plenty to look at both on the front and the back of Sony's latest hero handset.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium display
Let's start at the top, because that's what you want to know about, right? The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has a 5.5-inch LCD IPS display with a 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution. You probably don't yet have a 4K television in your house, but Sony wants to put one in your pocket.
That resolution gives the Xperia Z5 Premium a pixel density of 801ppi, higher than anything we've seen before. There's been a battleground recently around the 500-600ppi mark and never has anyone said that that pixel density was too low.
What does this mean in reality? It means that the Z5 Premium has the ability to deliver fine detail more accurately than lesser devices. Whether your eyes can see that or not is a different matter.
Many will argue that this is really about Sony showing the world what it can do and we're all for that. We spent some time watching videos on the Xperia Z5 Premium and they look stunning. There's bags of detail, but there's a huge caveat that comes with it: sample content will always look good, that's what it's designed for.
What we can't determine yet is how much of a difference that 4K display will make when set alongside, for example, a 5.5-inch 2K device (like the LG G4) playing the same content. That's something we'll be looking at in detail in our full review closer to launch.
What we can say is that the display is very good. The colours look fantastic, the viewing angles are excellent, there's punch and pop to everything. But at the same time, there's little out there that calls for that level of detail - many games run at 720p or 1080p, most streamed content is the same, and we doubt that any app developers are looking to boost apps to make use of such a high resolution display.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 4K upscaling
Sony has said that a 2K display isn't relevant because there's no 2K content and there never will be. There's only Full HD or 4K content, and that fits with Sony's end-to-end 4K story. You can capture, share and view in native 4K on the Z5 Premium.
Of course, there isn't, currently, a huge amount of 4K content either (Netflix and Amazon Instant Video streaming, BT Sport Ultra HD, none of which you can get on a phone). But Sony says that upscaling is a huge part of the equation. Exactly how upscaling to 4K is more relevant than upscaling to 2K we'll never know, but that's something for Sony's marketing department to figure out.
Here the 4K upscaling is handled by Sony's X-Reality engine. If that sounds familiar, that's because Sony has been using X-Reality as a display boost in Xperia handsets for a number of years. Now it incorporates 4K upscaling too.
The upscaling aims to make sure that everything looks better, including YouTube, Netflix and anything else you want to watch.
We'll say this: having spent a long time looking at this phone, X-Reality here really works. Without it, video content just looks ok. With X-Reality turned on, it pops out and is laced with fine detail. The image above is cropped from a photo of the display, but it shows the sort of difference when you turn X-Reality on.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium design
The Xperia family all exhibit the same design language. It's a minor evolution from the Z3 and previous devices, but sticks to the minimalist approach, sandwiching a metal frame with glass front and rear.
It's a design we're mostly all for. Sure, there's still some space above and below the display that feels a little underutilised, but on the whole, we've come to accept that this is how Sony is doing phones.
The edges now are slightly flattened for a squarer profile than previously. Slimness no longer seems to be the prime concern and we can't say it matters, because the Z5 Premium feels great in the hand, even if the size will be a barrier to some. The Xperia Z5 Premium measures 154.4 x 75.8 x 7.8mm and it weighs 180g.
There's a wonderfully silky anodisation to the edges, which are still softly curved where they meet the glass, so nothing feels too sharp. Xperia is now engraved on the side for a little extra branding. Some might complain, but we think it looks great: there's something hypnotic about tracing your finger along that line of lettering.
While most of the Xperia Z5 handsets have a lovely frosting to the rear, there's only one thing that people are going to be talking about: the mirrored silver finish of the Z5 Premium.
It displays an exuberance from Sony that we don't always see. It's impractical, of course, but there is absolutely no mistaking what you're looking at. It's so offensively bling, an expression of excess, we can't help but want it. Sure, we'll carry a cloth to polish it with too, as it is the absolute definition of fingerprint magnet.
The Z5 Premium is waterproof, with open Micro-USB and headphone sockets. There's no sign of USB Type-C sadly. There's a covered tray for the SIM and microSD card, supporting up to 200GB.
There's also a fingerprint scanner, again, another reason for the flatter sides. It replaces the round power button that has adorned Xperia Z devices since their inception. That's pushed the other controls - including a dedicated camera button - down towards the bottom. That fingerprint scanner is FIDO compliant, so it's ready for future payment services.
The Xperia Z5 Premium fingerprint scanner falls naturally under the thumb when you grip the phone. It should make for seamless and secure unlocking, although we haven't had the chance to use it in anger just yet.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium specs and hardware
Aside from the display, you'll find that the specs are very much the same across the Z5 family. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB of RAM. There's 32GB of storage, but you'll need to take advantage of that microSD slot if you've any serious desire to watch 4K content.
Sony assures us that the Snapdragon 810 doesn't overheat - a problem that faced the recent Xperia Z3+ - and we didn't find it warm during our testing time. We even tried recording a good length of 4K video and it didn't heat up. But that's no test for what might happen when you're charging, syncing, and watching a 4K movie. We'll be sure to test that when we get to fully review the phone.
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium battery life is going to be one to watch. Sony has a good history with battery life and this phone is packed with a 3430mAh battery. It benefits from Quick Charge 2.0 charging and Sony has taken a number of steps to ensure the battery life is long. For example, Sony has added memory to the display, meaning that the CPU can be cut as soon as the display is showing what's needed. This is managed by the microsecond, with Sony saying it helps cut main CPU usage and reduce battery drain.
Sony is sticking to its guns and saying the Z5 Premium battery will last for two days in Stamina mode.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium camera
There's a new camera module on the Xperia Z5 family. It's now a 23-megapixel Exmor RS for mobile sensor, paired with a closed loop actuation module for image stabilisation and a new 6-element lens. (Pre-production unit photographed, hence the lack of digits under the camera.)
There's a lot new happening in this lens, addressing focusing speed, zoom, low light and handshake. We've seen some demos of stabilised video captured on a bike and the normal vibration and wobble was almost totally smoothed out.
But the real headline is the use of Hybrid AF, which claims a 0.03 second focusing time in good conditions. The aim here is to make sure you don't miss the action because the camera can't focus. Again, this applies to both photos and video, with fast continuous AF in video.
Looking to address the problems with digital zoom, the Xperia Z5 Premium now has something called Sony Super Resolution Technology, offering 5x zoom in higher quality than previously. Sony's tech analyses the pixels in a frame and replicates the patterns to reproduce the detail. The image is output at 8-megapixels, but the idea is to let you use the zoom without losing all the definition.
The test shots we took with the Z5 Premium looked great and the focusing was fast. We can't judge the performance on pre-release software or until we've got it into the real world, but expectations from this camera will be high.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium software
Sony phones have had similar looking UI for a number of years. There are new themes to match the minimalist looks of these handsets, but there isn't much of a change here. If you're a Sony user, it's all pretty familiar stuff.
Some of the things we complained about previously have been changed, however. Now you're not faced with Sony's What's New service quite so aggressively, but head into the settings menu and everything looks as it did before.
We didn't have the time to drill through the software in great detail, but we didn't spot anything that really utilises the size of the display. LG on the G4 offers split screen functions and Samsung on Note 5 offers a range of multitasking options, something that the Z5 Premium might benefit from.
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium will launch on Android Lollipop and there's no word on a timeframe for update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
First Impressions
There's something about the Xperia Z5 Premium that leaves us a little conflicted. We're not entirely sold on the display resolution being as high as it is. We can't wait to test it in more detail alongside lower res rivals - including the regular Z5 - but we can't help enjoying the fact that Sony is being excessive. Ultimately, this is a great display regardless of the resolution and everything we've seen so far is good.
And we've come to love that mirrored finish. It's brash and offensive and impractical, but who cares? You'll not find anything else like it out there and that's an attractive trait.
There will certainly be those who have doubts about the choice of the Snapdragon 810 chipset for this handset due to its thermal reputation and the performance of the Z3+. That means the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has more to prove than any other phone of recent times: it has to demonstrate that a 4K display makes a difference; it has to demonstrate that Sony's new camera can beat down strong performance from Apple and Samsung; it also has to do all this while not overheating and not draining the battery ridiculously fast.
We were waiting for a new Sony flagship and now we've got one. Welcome to the new 4K king of bling.
More: http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/135065-sony-xperia-z5-premium-android-s-new-4k-king-of-bling-hands-on
Sony announced three flagship smartphones at IFA 2015 in Berlin last week, making up the Xperia Z5 family of devices. Top of the pack is the Xperia Z5 Premium with its 4K display and mirrored finish, followed by the Xperia Z5 and the smaller, but just as powerful, Xperia Z5 Compact.
The Xperia Z5 Compact is Sony's answer to the mini market - smartphones that replicate their bigger brothers' designs, just smaller, but they hardly ever replicate the power. Sony's Compact series has always been a smaller version of the larger flagship without compromising on power or design and the Compact Z5 is no different.
We have put it up against the Xperia Z3 Compact to see how the two devices compare, what the differences are and how the Compact range has evolved over the past year.
Xperia Z5 Compact adds fingerprint sensor
The Sony Xperia Z5 Compact sticks with the same OmniBalance design as the Xperia Z3 Compact but it features a few design changes here and there, making it easy to differentiate it from its predecessor. Firstly, Sony has switched the green colour offering of the Xperia Z3 Compact and traded it for a yellow finish in the Z5 Compact.
You'll also notice the signature circular power button has changed to an elongated shape on the Xperia Z5 Compact in order to accommodate the built-in fingerprint sensor. This also means that the volume rocker and dedicated camera button have moved further towards the bottom of the handset. The sides are also slightly flatter on the Z5 Compact and Sony also ditched the cap over the Micro-USB port making charging more convenient on the new model.
In terms of measurements, the Z5 Compact is almost identical in size to the Z3 Compact, but 9g heavier. The Z5 Compact measures 127 x 65 x 8.9mm and hits the scales at 138g, while the Z3 Compact measures 127 x 64.9 x 8.6mm and weighs 129g. Both are IP65/IP68 rated so they can both handle a drop in the bath or toilet.
Same display
Both the Xperia Z5 Compact and the Xperia Z3 Compact have 4.6-inch displays, which makes them slightly smaller than the iPhone 6.
They also both feature the same resolution as each other, with Sony sticking to a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution for the Z5 Compact, as it did with the Z3 Compact. It means a pixel density of 323ppi, lower than the Xperia Z5, so there is an element of compromise with this device over the larger device but in the display rather than the power.
You'll find Sony's Triluminos and X Reality for Mobile technologies on board both the Xperia Z5 Compact and the Xperia Z3 Compact, meaning the display experience on these two devices will be the same.
Xperia Z5 Compact has an improved camera
Sony has heavily marketed the camera aspect of its smartphones ever since the Xperia Z1 arrived at IFA 2013. The 20.7-megapixel sensor that arrived on the Z1 has been present in every other Xperia Z device since, up until the Z5 family when Sony changed things up.
The Xperia Z5 Compact comes with a 23-megapixel rear snapper with a 0.03 autofocus, claimed to be the fastest autofocus on a smartphone to date. There is a 5-megapixel front snapper too, which is a slight jump up from the 2.2-megapixel front camera on the Xperia Z3 Compact.
Many of the same features have been transferred from the Z3 Compact to the Xperia Z5 Compact, including Superior Auto, a maximum sensitivity of 12800 and 4K video capture, but the Xperia Z5 Compact has made improvements in the zoom department over its predecessor. Sony claims you will be able to zoom up to 5x and still see a clear image with no loss of quality.
Xperia Z5 Compact will be faster and last longer
Under the hood, the Xperia Z5 Compact boasts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip along with 2GB of RAM. This means the new device has an extra four cores to manage tasks with, although the RAM capacity remains the same.
There is 32GB of internal memory on board the Xperia Z5 Compact, while the Xperia Z3 Compact only had 16GB. Both support microSD for storage expansion but the Z5 Compact can take cards up to 200GB, while the Z3 Compact tops out at 128GB.
In terms of battery, the Z5 Compact has a 2700mAh capacity, which Sony claims will last two days in STAMINA mode. It's 100mAh larger than the Xperia Z3 Compact's battery, and as the battery performed well on the Z3 Compact, we would expect even better from the Z5 Compact.
Similar software experience
If you are a Sony user, the software experience on the Xperia Z5 Compact and the Xperia Z3 Compact will be familiar. Things have been cleaned up a little in the case of the Xperia Z5 Compact, but both devices run on Android Lollipop with Sony's skin over the top.
They both have access to Sony's extra apps including Walkman and Xperia Lounge, as well as PS4 Remote Play, where PS4 owners can use their smartphone as a second screen to play their console.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia Z5 Compact makes several improvements over the Xperia Z3 Compact, as you would expect. The display remains the same, as does the RAM, but other than that, every area has seen a change.
The design has been refined, a fingerprint sensor has been added, colours have been replaced, the camera has been improved, the battery has seen an increase, the processor has been upgraded and storage has been doubled on the new device.
It's clear the Xperia Z5 Compact is the winner in terms of the numbers when it comes to these two handsets and if you're looking to upgrade from the Xperia Z3 Compact, there is enough change to warrant the switch.
