The Sony Xperia XZ Premium: A Flagship Device with its Flaws

It might be a little bit tough to find the perfect moments, but when you do get it, the results are pretty great. Unfortunately, the super slow mode doesn't work very well in any condition other than maybe broad daylight. Even in mediocre lighting, it just looks like a smudgy mess on the topic of video. I use the XZ Premium as basically a vlogging camera during a couple of days in Taipei and then out in New York.

I enjoyed what videos came out of the 1080p mode, however, one of my gripes about the software is that you have to go into the extra mode selector just to activate 4K. It seems like one too many steps to get to a feature that should be easy to get to, especially for vlogging types like myself. But overall, the video experience was quite good and the same could be said for picture taking. Superior Auto is still a great go-to in order to get the best possible shot given the scene and tapping on any portion of the viewfinder to focus the camera allows it to track that portion for proper effect.

Pictures get a great amount of detail given the 19 megapixels packed in, but color and exposure are pretty much where they should be. I did find in a couple of photos that exposure was just a little bit too high, but that was more than likely because it was trying to compensate for the dark area I may have tapped in lower light. The XC Premium is only really hindered by the slower shutter speed that needs to compensate for the f2.0 aperture, which means that even small movements could blur the photo a little bit, especially if you're using that dedicated camera button to press the phone down.

Portraits also get a little less love because of that slightly higher aperture, there is less of a bokeh effect compared to other phones like the Galaxy S8. As a result, but when the detail is as high as it is, it's kind of a small trade-off and speaking of portraits, the front-facing 13 megapixel camera does a pretty good job on its own. So, as the top manufacturer for the world's most common smartphone camera sensors, it's good to see that Sony is using its own hardware to great effect.

Finally, we can talk about the software. A lighter edition of Android that comes in the XZ Premium, especially when compared to let's say LG and Samsung counterparts, the Simplicity of this version of Android is pretty easy to see just at the home screen it still uses an AB drawer button and you can swipe over and Google Now is already built-in. Sony's own applications however do fall into that redundancy trap, there are a few applications here that seem to be out of place when you consider that Google's own editions are already built-in.

The photos and video applications are right alongside Google Photos, and there's even a news aggregator that while it does look pretty good is right next to the Google Now that's like I said built into the home screen. It might seem a little bit counterintuitive, but one of the greatest strengths of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is the fact that it doesn't try too hard with the Android software and as we said before, the fact that it has been sped up especially in its animations really shows that this phone is really powerful speedy and incredibly smooth.

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is not going to be widely distributed on US carriers which is a thorn in the side of Sony that they've been dealing with for the number of years now, however, it is available for $799 on e-commerce channels for unlocked editions and this includes places like Amazon and Best Buy. And really, I have to say it was refreshing to come back to the Experia line after having such fond memories of the many that I used to review and Sony has done a good job of keeping up with the competition.

It's a little bit of a give and take though, a solid even if kind of all too familiar design literally makes it shine and the 4K display on a phone is a wonderful addition despite its lack of overall usefulness but for anybody that hasn't visited the Sony Experia line in a while, this might be one of the best times to check it out. You can have one of the most forward-facing devices that Sony has ever created.

As always, thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, it's kind of a mouthful but then again there are plenty of things to like about this 4K display toing phone. There's a whole lot that you can really enjoy on this device, and if you haven't used a Sony phone in a while, well, this might be the time to check it out. Keep it tuned to Android 304 even more and more reviews and comparisons on all of the flagships that are coming in this year keep it tuned here and don't forget to subscribe for more content like this.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit's been a while since I've reviewed a Sony Xperia device the footage that you're seeing right now is from the Sony Xperia Z3 and that feels like a long time ago 2 years to be exact but since then we have gotten iterations of the xeria line pretty much every 6 months and there are quite a few out there now however this latest one brings a 4K display and some of the best specifications you might have ever seen on a Sony Xperia device how does it stack up well it's Joshua vagara what's going on everybody and this is our full review of the Sony Xperia XZ premium now while the word premium is in the name it might not be the absolute best word to use for this phone's design the premium is definitely a looker with glass on glass designs that support a dark blue sheen at least in our review unit the translucent color shines beautifully and makes for a very Sleek device but the glass all over design is something that has been tried and true in the Experia line before and it makes for a phone that is ultimately all too familiar not to mention the fact that it smudges up via fingerprints all too easily even after just a short time of usage the screen is 5.5 in and we'll talk about that screen later however there's so much Bezel on the top and bottom to accommodate the front-facing speakers and a few other bits and pieces it just feels like this phone is a lot bigger than it should be especially when you consider how tall this phone is compared to other phones that we've seen this year that sport things like Infinity displays or have 18 by9 aspect ratios that allow for a slightly taller but also more narrow device all around but despite all of this the handling could be a lot worse the flat bottom and the flat top help rest the phone squarely on a balancing Pinky and the rounded sides are good for a nice vice grip to keep the phone from slipping about thankfully even if it did slip the IP certification allows this phone to take a dip and still keep on going but my favorite part about the XZ premiums design is the tactile input the power button even if it's not the big silver power button that I remember from the experience I used to review is really easy to find and is very tactile thanks to its concave design and then below it further down is the dedicated camera button something that I absolutely adore on this phone in the previous 4K toing xeria device the high resolution was only used when 4K content was detected in this case it's 4K all the time as far as specs go this 5.5 in display is 3840 X 2160 in total resolution making for some of the sharpest rendering we've ever seen and Sony has injected into this triluminous display it's Bravia TV technology that allows for great colors and a lot of customization when you go into the display settings there are so many options to allow you to change not only the color gamut but also the white balance which allows for a very impressive amount of control but let's get back to that 4K resolution for all intents and purposes having the resolution turned up to 11 at all times makes the screen really enjoyable there is an upscaling that occurs when viewing anything below that high resolution but that is where the Bravo capabilities come into play Nothing looked overtly pixelated or blown up to the point of distraction on the flip side 4K native content is actually kind of hard to come by if you're using Amazon Prime video that's one good place to watch some 4K content but if you're on YouTube you have to sort of dig through a lot of the 4K content that might be sprinkled about its Library the biggest issue with a 4K display is not how fun or how good it is to use but just the fact that there's not a whole lot of content out there that doesn't take away too much from the 4K display it is just going to be a little bit too ahead of its time to really make it an essential feature now one of the most enjoyable experiences I had on the XE premium was playing Final Fantasy 9 for extended periods of time and thankfully the sharpness and color in the game were still topnotch but also there was powerful performance thanks to the Snapdragon 835 that comes with 4 GB of RAM and together they allow for a very Speedy experience and I really mean it the Android iteration on this phone is one of the smoothest and snappiest I have ever used mainly because Sony have tweaked the animations inside of the software to make it feel that way but I never had any problems with having multiple apps open and plenty of them in the background still remained and going in and out of different applic applications to multitask was also a breeze it is not only a skin of Android but it's enough of a custom build that it has caused a few holes NFC is clearly marked on the back with an NFC icon however when trying to use this phone with Android pay it complained that this version of Android is too custom this ROM made it trigger its security features making Android pay inoperable in my usage and another bummer about this phone is that the fingerprint reader is not available in the west this change is sorely felt because I used the XZ premium out in Taipei while I was in computex and using the fingerprint reader on that phone was actually pretty Sublime unlocking the device easily by just pressing the power button because it is also reading the fingerprint made for a very Speedy experience and as for the rest of the inclusions the micro SD card slot can be used as an extra SIM tray depending on what Market you're using this phone in and it bolsters the already included 64 GB of onboard storage the large bezels Make Way for those stereo front-facing speakers which are small grills on the front that provide not necessarily a very loud loud sound but at least a good stereo sound and things get even better in the audio department when headphones are plugged in there are so many options for catering the audio experience that listening to pretty much anything is enjoyable clear Audio Plus returns and allows for an automatic way of boosting the sound without having to go through the minute customizations and there's even optional enhancement to make compressed audio sound more like lossless audio called dcx to round it all out noise cancellation is also built into the headphone jack when using a compatible headset there's very little to complain about when it comes to the audio of the Sony xeria XZ premium and finally in battery life this 3230 Mah unit actually does pretty impressive considering the 4K display you would think that the XE premium would really falter in this category but with a 4K display pumping out all of those pixels at all times it's actually kind of nice that we got almost 4 hours of screen on time I just want to say it one more time I love this camera button I just wanted to use that nonse to get to the camera of the XE premium really though it's not all that I enjoyed about the camera on the contrary there's been a lot to like about this 19 megapixel sensor that can capture 4K video and super slow motion video at a whopping 960 frames per second before building up to that highest setting there are a couple of other modes a 120 Fram per second mode where you can add the slow motion afterwards or you can do just a one shot that gives you a 5-second super slow mo shot if you can figure out where the best time to do it is the main setting allows you to record a 720p video and then hit a button when you think that the slow motion will be most effective it might be a little bit tough to find the perfect moments but when you do get it the results are pretty great unfortunately the super slow mode doesn't work very well in any condition other than maybe broad daylight because even in mediocre lighting it just looks like a smudgy mess on the topic of video I use the XZ premium as basically a vlogging camera during a couple of days in Taipei and then out in New York I enjoyed what videos came out of the 1080p mode however one of my gripes about the software is that you have to go into the extra mode selector just to activate 4K it seems like one too many steps to get to a feature that should be easy to get to especially for vlogging types like myself but overall the video experience was quite good and the same could be said for picture taking Superior Auto is still a great go-to in order to get the best possible shot given the scene and tapping on any portion of the viewfinder to focus the camera allows it to track that portion for proper effect pictures get a great amount of detail given the 19 megapixels packed in but color and exposure are pretty much where they should be I did find in a couple of photos that exposure was just a little bit too high but that was more than likely because it was trying to compensate for the dark area I may have tapped in lower light the XC premium is only really hindered by the slower shutter speed that needs to compensate for the f2.0 aperture a slower shutter speed means that even small movements could blur the photo a little bit especially if you're using that dedicated camera button to press the phone down portraits also get a little less love because of that slightly higher aperture there is less of a bokeh effect compared to other phones like the Galaxy S8 as a result but when the detail is as high as it is it is kind of a small trade-off and speaking of portraits the front-facing 13 megap camera does a pretty good job on its own so as the top manufacturer for the world's most common smartphone camera sensors it's good to see that Sony is using its own Hardware to great effect and finally we can talk about the software a lighter edition of Android that comes in the XZ premium especially when compared to let's say LG and Samsung counterparts the Simplicity of this version of Android is pretty easy to see just at the home screen it still uses an AB drawer button and you can swipe over and Google Now is already built in Sony's own applications however do fall into that redundancy trap there are a few applications here that seem to be out of place when you consider that Google's own editions are already built in the photos and video applications are right alongside Google photos and there's even a news aggregator that while it does look pretty good is right next to the Google Now that's like I said built into the home screen it might seem a little bit counterintuitive but one of the greatest strengths of the Sony xeria XD premium is the fact that it doesn't try too hard with the Android software and as we we said before the fact that it has been sped up especially in its animations really shows that this phone is really powerful speedy and Incredibly smooth the Sony xeria XZ premium is not going to be widely distributed on US carriers which is a thorn in the side of Sony that they've been dealing with for the number of years now however it is available for $799 on e-commerce channels for unlocked editions and this includes places like Amazon and Best Buy and really I have to say it was refreshing to come back to the Experia line after having such fond memories of the many that I used to review and Sony has done a good job of keeping up with the competition it's a little bit of a give and take though a solid even if kind of all too familiar design literally makes it shine and the 4K display on a phone is a wonderful addition despite its lack of overall usefulness but for anybody that hasn't visited the Sony Experia line in a while this might be one of the best times to check it out and you can have one of the most forward- facing devices that Sony has ever created as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the Sony Xperia XZ premium it's kind of a mouthful but then again there are plenty of things to like about this 4K display toing phone there's a whole lot that you can really enjoy on this device and if you haven't used a Sony phone in a while well this might be the time to check it out keep it tuned to Android 304 even more and more reviews and comparisons on all of the flagships that are coming in this year keep it tuned here and don't forget to subscribe because we are your source for all things Androidit's been a while since I've reviewed a Sony Xperia device the footage that you're seeing right now is from the Sony Xperia Z3 and that feels like a long time ago 2 years to be exact but since then we have gotten iterations of the xeria line pretty much every 6 months and there are quite a few out there now however this latest one brings a 4K display and some of the best specifications you might have ever seen on a Sony Xperia device how does it stack up well it's Joshua vagara what's going on everybody and this is our full review of the Sony Xperia XZ premium now while the word premium is in the name it might not be the absolute best word to use for this phone's design the premium is definitely a looker with glass on glass designs that support a dark blue sheen at least in our review unit the translucent color shines beautifully and makes for a very Sleek device but the glass all over design is something that has been tried and true in the Experia line before and it makes for a phone that is ultimately all too familiar not to mention the fact that it smudges up via fingerprints all too easily even after just a short time of usage the screen is 5.5 in and we'll talk about that screen later however there's so much Bezel on the top and bottom to accommodate the front-facing speakers and a few other bits and pieces it just feels like this phone is a lot bigger than it should be especially when you consider how tall this phone is compared to other phones that we've seen this year that sport things like Infinity displays or have 18 by9 aspect ratios that allow for a slightly taller but also more narrow device all around but despite all of this the handling could be a lot worse the flat bottom and the flat top help rest the phone squarely on a balancing Pinky and the rounded sides are good for a nice vice grip to keep the phone from slipping about thankfully even if it did slip the IP certification allows this phone to take a dip and still keep on going but my favorite part about the XZ premiums design is the tactile input the power button even if it's not the big silver power button that I remember from the experience I used to review is really easy to find and is very tactile thanks to its concave design and then below it further down is the dedicated camera button something that I absolutely adore on this phone in the previous 4K toing xeria device the high resolution was only used when 4K content was detected in this case it's 4K all the time as far as specs go this 5.5 in display is 3840 X 2160 in total resolution making for some of the sharpest rendering we've ever seen and Sony has injected into this triluminous display it's Bravia TV technology that allows for great colors and a lot of customization when you go into the display settings there are so many options to allow you to change not only the color gamut but also the white balance which allows for a very impressive amount of control but let's get back to that 4K resolution for all intents and purposes having the resolution turned up to 11 at all times makes the screen really enjoyable there is an upscaling that occurs when viewing anything below that high resolution but that is where the Bravo capabilities come into play Nothing looked overtly pixelated or blown up to the point of distraction on the flip side 4K native content is actually kind of hard to come by if you're using Amazon Prime video that's one good place to watch some 4K content but if you're on YouTube you have to sort of dig through a lot of the 4K content that might be sprinkled about its Library the biggest issue with a 4K display is not how fun or how good it is to use but just the fact that there's not a whole lot of content out there that doesn't take away too much from the 4K display it is just going to be a little bit too ahead of its time to really make it an essential feature now one of the most enjoyable experiences I had on the XE premium was playing Final Fantasy 9 for extended periods of time and thankfully the sharpness and color in the game were still topnotch but also there was powerful performance thanks to the Snapdragon 835 that comes with 4 GB of RAM and together they allow for a very Speedy experience and I really mean it the Android iteration on this phone is one of the smoothest and snappiest I have ever used mainly because Sony have tweaked the animations inside of the software to make it feel that way but I never had any problems with having multiple apps open and plenty of them in the background still remained and going in and out of different applic applications to multitask was also a breeze it is not only a skin of Android but it's enough of a custom build that it has caused a few holes NFC is clearly marked on the back with an NFC icon however when trying to use this phone with Android pay it complained that this version of Android is too custom this ROM made it trigger its security features making Android pay inoperable in my usage and another bummer about this phone is that the fingerprint reader is not available in the west this change is sorely felt because I used the XZ premium out in Taipei while I was in computex and using the fingerprint reader on that phone was actually pretty Sublime unlocking the device easily by just pressing the power button because it is also reading the fingerprint made for a very Speedy experience and as for the rest of the inclusions the micro SD card slot can be used as an extra SIM tray depending on what Market you're using this phone in and it bolsters the already included 64 GB of onboard storage the large bezels Make Way for those stereo front-facing speakers which are small grills on the front that provide not necessarily a very loud loud sound but at least a good stereo sound and things get even better in the audio department when headphones are plugged in there are so many options for catering the audio experience that listening to pretty much anything is enjoyable clear Audio Plus returns and allows for an automatic way of boosting the sound without having to go through the minute customizations and there's even optional enhancement to make compressed audio sound more like lossless audio called dcx to round it all out noise cancellation is also built into the headphone jack when using a compatible headset there's very little to complain about when it comes to the audio of the Sony xeria XZ premium and finally in battery life this 3230 Mah unit actually does pretty impressive considering the 4K display you would think that the XE premium would really falter in this category but with a 4K display pumping out all of those pixels at all times it's actually kind of nice that we got almost 4 hours of screen on time I just want to say it one more time I love this camera button I just wanted to use that nonse to get to the camera of the XE premium really though it's not all that I enjoyed about the camera on the contrary there's been a lot to like about this 19 megapixel sensor that can capture 4K video and super slow motion video at a whopping 960 frames per second before building up to that highest setting there are a couple of other modes a 120 Fram per second mode where you can add the slow motion afterwards or you can do just a one shot that gives you a 5-second super slow mo shot if you can figure out where the best time to do it is the main setting allows you to record a 720p video and then hit a button when you think that the slow motion will be most effective it might be a little bit tough to find the perfect moments but when you do get it the results are pretty great unfortunately the super slow mode doesn't work very well in any condition other than maybe broad daylight because even in mediocre lighting it just looks like a smudgy mess on the topic of video I use the XZ premium as basically a vlogging camera during a couple of days in Taipei and then out in New York I enjoyed what videos came out of the 1080p mode however one of my gripes about the software is that you have to go into the extra mode selector just to activate 4K it seems like one too many steps to get to a feature that should be easy to get to especially for vlogging types like myself but overall the video experience was quite good and the same could be said for picture taking Superior Auto is still a great go-to in order to get the best possible shot given the scene and tapping on any portion of the viewfinder to focus the camera allows it to track that portion for proper effect pictures get a great amount of detail given the 19 megapixels packed in but color and exposure are pretty much where they should be I did find in a couple of photos that exposure was just a little bit too high but that was more than likely because it was trying to compensate for the dark area I may have tapped in lower light the XC premium is only really hindered by the slower shutter speed that needs to compensate for the f2.0 aperture a slower shutter speed means that even small movements could blur the photo a little bit especially if you're using that dedicated camera button to press the phone down portraits also get a little less love because of that slightly higher aperture there is less of a bokeh effect compared to other phones like the Galaxy S8 as a result but when the detail is as high as it is it is kind of a small trade-off and speaking of portraits the front-facing 13 megap camera does a pretty good job on its own so as the top manufacturer for the world's most common smartphone camera sensors it's good to see that Sony is using its own Hardware to great effect and finally we can talk about the software a lighter edition of Android that comes in the XZ premium especially when compared to let's say LG and Samsung counterparts the Simplicity of this version of Android is pretty easy to see just at the home screen it still uses an AB drawer button and you can swipe over and Google Now is already built in Sony's own applications however do fall into that redundancy trap there are a few applications here that seem to be out of place when you consider that Google's own editions are already built in the photos and video applications are right alongside Google photos and there's even a news aggregator that while it does look pretty good is right next to the Google Now that's like I said built into the home screen it might seem a little bit counterintuitive but one of the greatest strengths of the Sony xeria XD premium is the fact that it doesn't try too hard with the Android software and as we we said before the fact that it has been sped up especially in its animations really shows that this phone is really powerful speedy and Incredibly smooth the Sony xeria XZ premium is not going to be widely distributed on US carriers which is a thorn in the side of Sony that they've been dealing with for the number of years now however it is available for $799 on e-commerce channels for unlocked editions and this includes places like Amazon and Best Buy and really I have to say it was refreshing to come back to the Experia line after having such fond memories of the many that I used to review and Sony has done a good job of keeping up with the competition it's a little bit of a give and take though a solid even if kind of all too familiar design literally makes it shine and the 4K display on a phone is a wonderful addition despite its lack of overall usefulness but for anybody that hasn't visited the Sony Experia line in a while this might be one of the best times to check it out and you can have one of the most forward- facing devices that Sony has ever created as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the Sony Xperia XZ premium it's kind of a mouthful but then again there are plenty of things to like about this 4K display toing phone there's a whole lot that you can really enjoy on this device and if you haven't used a Sony phone in a while well this might be the time to check it out keep it tuned to Android 304 even more and more reviews and comparisons on all of the flagships that are coming in this year keep it tuned here and don't forget to subscribe because we are your source for all things Android\n"