The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium: A Flagship Smartphone with a Compromise

One of the key features of the Sony Xperia Z5 premium is its display, which boasts a 4K resolution. However, it's worth noting that the phone runs at 1080p most of the time, around 90% of the time, to conserve battery life and reduce power consumption. While this may be disappointing for some users who want the full 4K experience, it's likely to be acceptable for many others.

The Xperia Z5 premium is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, which is an older model compared to what's currently found in most flagships. This means that the phone can feel quite sluggish at times, particularly when opening games or closing apps. However, Sony has made efforts to optimize the performance of the phone, and the interface still feels quite sleek.

One area where the Xperia Z5 premium really shines is its camera. The new camera boasts a 23 megapixel sensor with phase detection autofocus, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), and a plethora of camera apps. It's also capable of recording 4K video, which is a major improvement over previous Xperia models. We conducted an in-depth camera test as part of Best of Android 2015 and pitted the Z5 premium against some of the best smartphones on the market. While it didn't come out on top every time, overall, the camera is definitely on par with most flagships.

However, there are a few areas where the camera falls short. One of the biggest issues we found was inconsistent performance in certain scenes. The camera can take simply stunning images, but in others, the shots suffer from too much noise, over-processing, and a lack of detail, particularly in complex scenes like wildlife and landscape photography. If you plan to take a lot of these types of photos, you may find that the Z5 premium falls short.

Fortunately, the camera does come with some features that will help mitigate this issue. One of them is Sony's Superior Auto mode, which is the default mode and the one most people will use. It also includes a manual mode that allows you to tweak the white balance and ISO. While it doesn't come with full manual controls like other smartphones, it should be good enough for most users.

The Xperia Z5 premium comes with a relatively hefty price tag of around £600, which equates to approximately $900 USD. This will likely price out most people interested in buying the phone, but whether or not it's worth spending that much money on depends on why you want to buy it. If you're looking for the 4K display alone, then honestly, it's not worth it.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a larger display and don't mind the compromise of 4K at 1080p, then the Xperia Z5 premium is certainly the one to consider. It ticks all the right boxes in terms of features, but so does the rest of Sony's range. The key thing about the Z5 premium is the size of its display, and if you want the Xperia Z5 with a larger screen, this is the phone for you.

Upcoming Features: Android Marshmallow Upgrade

Sony has been working on an Android marshmallow upgrade for their flagships, including the Xperia Z5 premium. The company's approach to the update is unique in that they're making it a user-focused program, which allows users to influence the upcoming update. This means that Sony will be gathering feedback from users and incorporating it into the final version of the update.

One of the biggest improvements promised by the marshmallow upgrade is the speed of the interface. The older hardware on the Xperia Z5 will run faster than what's currently found in the phone, which should improve the overall performance of the device. Sony has kept the interface almost stock-like with just a few tweaks and changes, but it promises to be one of the fastest smartphones on the market.

The camera is also getting an upgrade, although not as significant as some other flagship phones. The new camera will still boast a 23 megapixel sensor with phase detection autofocus, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), and more camera apps. It's capable of recording 4K video, but that's where the upgrades end.

What to Expect: A Compromise

The Sony Xperia Z5 premium is a flagship smartphone that offers many impressive features, including a stunning display, a great camera, and a host of other goodies. However, it comes with some compromises, particularly when it comes to performance and power consumption.

If you're looking for the best phone money can buy, there are several options available on the market that may be worth considering instead. However, if you're willing to accept some compromises in exchange for the features and display of the Xperia Z5 premium, then this could be the phone for you.

Overall, the Xperia Z5 premium is a great device that offers many impressive features at a relatively high price point. While it may not be perfect, it's definitely worth considering for anyone looking for a flagship smartphone with a large display.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwith smartphones ever evolving it was only a matter of time before a company push the technological envelope to deliver the world's first 4K smartphone do you need 4k on a smartphone does it impact on the battery life as much as we expected and is 4K set to be the new standard let's find out hey what's up everybody it's nirav here for Android authority and I'm bringing you our review of the Sony Xperia Z5 premium the Xperia Z5 premium comes with the same design as the Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 compact which has been tweaked and improved slightly since past Xperia handsets the rounded corners and glass back are comfortable in the hand and the weight of the handset results in an overall premium experience the front of the Xperia Z5 premium is dominated by the 4K display which is flanked by two front-facing stereo speakers there's a small bezel either side of the display and this is coupled with very large bezels above and below the screen the small LED notification light in the top left corner is large enough to notify you at a glance whether you actually need to power up the full display the right hand side of the Xperia Z5 premium houses all the buttons and the less recessed buttons provide quite tactile feedback however the cramped design of the buttons with all the buttons in the bottom half of the phone can be quite difficult to use and this is especially if you have big hands like me the fingerprint sensor is located in the power button on the right and while this will be near useless for anyone who is Left-Handed the larger size of the Xperia Z5 premium means this is more comfortable to use than on the regular Z5 to the left and Sony have kept the SIM card and micro SD card trays hidden underneath the flap and the large size of the enclosure makes it quite easy to take the unified tray out one of the tweaks in the Xperia Z5 Premium versus older Xperia handset is the glass back which improves the field of the handset but presents a very large problem within days of getting mine the back scratch attached really easily in general day-to-day usage so if you're someone who likes to keep your phone naked this is something to keep in mind to the bottom of the handset is a capitalist USB port and despite this and the open headphone jack at the top the Xperia Z5 premium remains waterproof at 7.8 millimeters thick and weighing 180 grams the Xperia Z5 premium is definitely not the lightest or slimmest handset on the market but it is a pleasure to use the overall asymmetric design works really well and the Xperia Z5 premium feels well more premium than the Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 compact 4K display is the biggest selling point but also the biggest controversy on the Xperia Z5 premium first let us say that Sony have done exceptionally well to deliver the world's first 4K smartphone as they've managed to pack Ultra HD resolution into a handset that measures just 5.5 inches now to the controversy the Sony Xperia Z5 premium has 4K and it doesn't as it's only 4K when you're viewing a video or a photo on the 4K display Android lollipop itself doesn't support Ultra HD resolution natively and to get around this Sony runs the Xperia Z5 premium in 1080P resolution which is exactly half of 4K and then upscales 4K content to use the full resolution of the screen when you want to watch something in full 4K resolution you have two choices either capture a 4K video from the camera itself or sideload 4K content from the library on your computer the display offers 806 pixels per inch density and while many people claim that you can't see this extra resolution recent Studies have shown that the human eye can see up to 700 or even 800 pixels per inch density depending on how good your eyesight is to put this to the test we found a 4K soccer highlight video and decided to play it back on the screen now you you might not be able to discern all the differences between 4K and 1080p but the video certainly looks absolutely fantastic and there is a noticeable improvement over the exact same video in 1080P now what about the colors on the Xperia Z5 premium display and does the world's first 4K screen have the most accurate colors to test this we profile the display using the spectrophotometer and found out some very interesting results firstly colors on the Xperia Z5 premium are surprisingly accurate aside from the color white which has the largest Delta error in our testing when profiling the color white it comes up with a blue tint now there's no doubt that Sony has done amazingly well to deliver 4K in a 5.5 inch display but it's not without its compromises probably the biggest of these is the lack of 4K content as YouTube itself on your Android won't let you view a 4K video in Native 4K resolution and the other is the type of display that Sony has used and while neither of these is a deal breaker it's worth keeping this in mind if you plan to buy the Xperia Z5 premium just for its display the Xperia Z5 premium comes with impressive hardware and is definitely premium under the hood it's powered by a Snapdragon 810 processor with three gigabytes of RAM and 32 gigabytes of storage and this delivers impressive performance that's on par with most flagships on the market the Z5 premium also comes with micro SD card support which many oems seem to be dropping and with a total available storage of 232 gigabytes there's plenty of storage for all those 4K videos waterproofing is a key feature that sets Sony apart handsets apart from the competition and the Z5 premium is no different with ip68 certification allowing you to use it for up to 1.5 meters underwater for up to 30 minutes like most Flagship smartphones Xperia Z5 premium comes with an array of connectivity options including Bluetooth 4.1 with aptx Wi-Fi n slash AC NFC and an FM radio the Xperia Z5 premium is powered by a large 3430 milliamp hour battery which is definitely large compared to other Flagship devices but is a necessity given the 4K Ultra HD display to find out just how long it will power you through the day we put it through some testing which revealed a total standby time of around six and a half hours we took this further and found that if you used it exclusively for Wi-Fi browsing the Z5 premium can last for almost eight hours the biggest feature on the Z5 premium is the 4K display so just how long can you watch it video for on a full charge in our testing we found it lost 5 hours and 38 minutes when playing back 1080p video or just over three hours when playing back 4K that's the measure testing but what about in actual usage this is where the Z5 premium is a letdown for me personally over the past few weeks the battery life has been hit and miss with average usage it can last you anywhere from one day to two on a full charge but there are some real world cases that just make very little sense as an example let's take video calling the other day a 90-minute video call resulted in the battery dropping from 88 to just two percent if you plan to use your handset for video conferencing on the go for work the Z5 premium is probably not the one for you for the times when the Z5 premium doesn't get you through a full day there's Quick Charge 2.0 but crucially the quick charger isn't included in the box if you don't have a quick charger to hand and need to eke out every last minute of battery life Sony has also included its stamina Ultra stamina and lower battery modes and these can be used to extend your battery by around 20 or more the Sony Xperia Z5 premium runs on Android 5.1.1 lollipop with a planned upgrade to Android marshmallow alongside the lollipop OS Sony have added some small tweaks and changes including their their own short apps and improvements in the home screen management settings and more Sony's Android interface has always been quite pleasing to the eye but I found that it does feel quite sluggish at times and sadly the Xperia Z5 continues in the same mold while the interface does seem to be very Sleek there can be a noticeable delay when opening games or closing apps and in particular in the camera there is a definite delay when taking and capturing an image however there is good news on the horizon for all Sony fans and this is where the Xperia Z5 premium will really shine in the future the planned upgrade to Android marshmallow as you might have seen from the video we published a few weeks back Sony's working on its marshmallow update in a different way to its rival oems instead of developing it behind closed doors Sony has made its concept for marshmallow a user-focused program that allows users to influence the upcoming update one of the biggest improvements in the concept for marshmallow is the speed of the interface the older Hardware on the Xperia Z5 three running marshmallow provides a faster experience than the current Flagship Hardware inside the Xperia Z5 premium at the moment Sony has kept the interface almost stock-like with just a handful of changes and tweaks and if the final version is anything like the current build of the concept the Xperia Z5 premium will be one of the fastest smartphones on the market now to the camera and one of the biggest changes in the entire Xperia Z5 range is the camera with Sony delivering the first major camera update to the Xperia Z range since the first Xperia Z handset the new camera boasts a 23 megapixel sensor with phase detection autofocus old to Auto HDR and a plethora of camera apps along with the ability to record 4K video the camera is always subjective so we conducted an in-depth camera test as part of best of Android 2015 and pitted the Z5 premium against some of the best smartphones on the market the Z5 premium didn't come first and it didn't come last and overall the camera is definitely on par with most flagships out there the biggest issue with the camera that I found is inconsistent performance in some scenes the camera can take Simply Stunning images but in others the shots suffer from too much noise too much over processing and especially in a complex scene a significant lack of detail if you plan to take a lot of Wildlife and Landscape scenery shots you'll probably find the Z5 premium lacking for your needs but if you just want to Capture Moments and share them with your friends without worrying about the little details the Z5 premium camera will probably do the trick for you all of our pictures were captured in Sony's Superior auto mode which is the default mode and the mode that most people will use the camera in for those who need more customizable options Sony has also included a manual mode that allows you to tweak the white balance and the iso it doesn't come with the full array of manual controls found on other smartphones but it should be good enough for most people safer professional photographers who are looking for a portable camera to use on the Move now to the price an innovation certainly doesn't come cheap as you might have expected the world's first 4K smartphone comes with a relatively Hefty price tag although it's not too far out of reach in the UK the Xperia Z5 premium retails for approximately 600 pounds which equates to around 900 US Dollars this will probably price out most people interested in buying the Xperia Z5 premium but is it worth spending the extra money on as far as Flagship smartphones Go the Xperia Z5 is certainly up there with the best of them a lot depends on why you want to buy the C5 premium if you're buying it purely for the 4K display then honestly it's not worth it after all it's running in 1080P around 90 of the time if you're in the market for the Xperia Z5 premium for its other features the handset certainly ticks these boxes but so does the rest of Sony's range the key thing about the Z5 premium is the size of its display and if you want the Xperia Z5 but with a larger display then the Xperia Z5 premium is certainly the one for you as long as you're willing to understand the compromise with the 4K display and pay the rather large price tag so what do you think of the world's first 4K smartphone and this video let us know your thoughts in the comments below and give us a thumbs up if you like this video check out all the amazing content from my colleagues on the right and don't forget to hit subscribe at the top and stay tuned to androidauthority.com because we're your source for all things Android and we've got something Ultra special just for you this week we're answering the question that so many people want answered what is the best phone that money can buy stay tuned because it promises to be absolutely fantastic and I'll see you in the next video until next time ohwith smartphones ever evolving it was only a matter of time before a company push the technological envelope to deliver the world's first 4K smartphone do you need 4k on a smartphone does it impact on the battery life as much as we expected and is 4K set to be the new standard let's find out hey what's up everybody it's nirav here for Android authority and I'm bringing you our review of the Sony Xperia Z5 premium the Xperia Z5 premium comes with the same design as the Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 compact which has been tweaked and improved slightly since past Xperia handsets the rounded corners and glass back are comfortable in the hand and the weight of the handset results in an overall premium experience the front of the Xperia Z5 premium is dominated by the 4K display which is flanked by two front-facing stereo speakers there's a small bezel either side of the display and this is coupled with very large bezels above and below the screen the small LED notification light in the top left corner is large enough to notify you at a glance whether you actually need to power up the full display the right hand side of the Xperia Z5 premium houses all the buttons and the less recessed buttons provide quite tactile feedback however the cramped design of the buttons with all the buttons in the bottom half of the phone can be quite difficult to use and this is especially if you have big hands like me the fingerprint sensor is located in the power button on the right and while this will be near useless for anyone who is Left-Handed the larger size of the Xperia Z5 premium means this is more comfortable to use than on the regular Z5 to the left and Sony have kept the SIM card and micro SD card trays hidden underneath the flap and the large size of the enclosure makes it quite easy to take the unified tray out one of the tweaks in the Xperia Z5 Premium versus older Xperia handset is the glass back which improves the field of the handset but presents a very large problem within days of getting mine the back scratch attached really easily in general day-to-day usage so if you're someone who likes to keep your phone naked this is something to keep in mind to the bottom of the handset is a capitalist USB port and despite this and the open headphone jack at the top the Xperia Z5 premium remains waterproof at 7.8 millimeters thick and weighing 180 grams the Xperia Z5 premium is definitely not the lightest or slimmest handset on the market but it is a pleasure to use the overall asymmetric design works really well and the Xperia Z5 premium feels well more premium than the Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 compact 4K display is the biggest selling point but also the biggest controversy on the Xperia Z5 premium first let us say that Sony have done exceptionally well to deliver the world's first 4K smartphone as they've managed to pack Ultra HD resolution into a handset that measures just 5.5 inches now to the controversy the Sony Xperia Z5 premium has 4K and it doesn't as it's only 4K when you're viewing a video or a photo on the 4K display Android lollipop itself doesn't support Ultra HD resolution natively and to get around this Sony runs the Xperia Z5 premium in 1080P resolution which is exactly half of 4K and then upscales 4K content to use the full resolution of the screen when you want to watch something in full 4K resolution you have two choices either capture a 4K video from the camera itself or sideload 4K content from the library on your computer the display offers 806 pixels per inch density and while many people claim that you can't see this extra resolution recent Studies have shown that the human eye can see up to 700 or even 800 pixels per inch density depending on how good your eyesight is to put this to the test we found a 4K soccer highlight video and decided to play it back on the screen now you you might not be able to discern all the differences between 4K and 1080p but the video certainly looks absolutely fantastic and there is a noticeable improvement over the exact same video in 1080P now what about the colors on the Xperia Z5 premium display and does the world's first 4K screen have the most accurate colors to test this we profile the display using the spectrophotometer and found out some very interesting results firstly colors on the Xperia Z5 premium are surprisingly accurate aside from the color white which has the largest Delta error in our testing when profiling the color white it comes up with a blue tint now there's no doubt that Sony has done amazingly well to deliver 4K in a 5.5 inch display but it's not without its compromises probably the biggest of these is the lack of 4K content as YouTube itself on your Android won't let you view a 4K video in Native 4K resolution and the other is the type of display that Sony has used and while neither of these is a deal breaker it's worth keeping this in mind if you plan to buy the Xperia Z5 premium just for its display the Xperia Z5 premium comes with impressive hardware and is definitely premium under the hood it's powered by a Snapdragon 810 processor with three gigabytes of RAM and 32 gigabytes of storage and this delivers impressive performance that's on par with most flagships on the market the Z5 premium also comes with micro SD card support which many oems seem to be dropping and with a total available storage of 232 gigabytes there's plenty of storage for all those 4K videos waterproofing is a key feature that sets Sony apart handsets apart from the competition and the Z5 premium is no different with ip68 certification allowing you to use it for up to 1.5 meters underwater for up to 30 minutes like most Flagship smartphones Xperia Z5 premium comes with an array of connectivity options including Bluetooth 4.1 with aptx Wi-Fi n slash AC NFC and an FM radio the Xperia Z5 premium is powered by a large 3430 milliamp hour battery which is definitely large compared to other Flagship devices but is a necessity given the 4K Ultra HD display to find out just how long it will power you through the day we put it through some testing which revealed a total standby time of around six and a half hours we took this further and found that if you used it exclusively for Wi-Fi browsing the Z5 premium can last for almost eight hours the biggest feature on the Z5 premium is the 4K display so just how long can you watch it video for on a full charge in our testing we found it lost 5 hours and 38 minutes when playing back 1080p video or just over three hours when playing back 4K that's the measure testing but what about in actual usage this is where the Z5 premium is a letdown for me personally over the past few weeks the battery life has been hit and miss with average usage it can last you anywhere from one day to two on a full charge but there are some real world cases that just make very little sense as an example let's take video calling the other day a 90-minute video call resulted in the battery dropping from 88 to just two percent if you plan to use your handset for video conferencing on the go for work the Z5 premium is probably not the one for you for the times when the Z5 premium doesn't get you through a full day there's Quick Charge 2.0 but crucially the quick charger isn't included in the box if you don't have a quick charger to hand and need to eke out every last minute of battery life Sony has also included its stamina Ultra stamina and lower battery modes and these can be used to extend your battery by around 20 or more the Sony Xperia Z5 premium runs on Android 5.1.1 lollipop with a planned upgrade to Android marshmallow alongside the lollipop OS Sony have added some small tweaks and changes including their their own short apps and improvements in the home screen management settings and more Sony's Android interface has always been quite pleasing to the eye but I found that it does feel quite sluggish at times and sadly the Xperia Z5 continues in the same mold while the interface does seem to be very Sleek there can be a noticeable delay when opening games or closing apps and in particular in the camera there is a definite delay when taking and capturing an image however there is good news on the horizon for all Sony fans and this is where the Xperia Z5 premium will really shine in the future the planned upgrade to Android marshmallow as you might have seen from the video we published a few weeks back Sony's working on its marshmallow update in a different way to its rival oems instead of developing it behind closed doors Sony has made its concept for marshmallow a user-focused program that allows users to influence the upcoming update one of the biggest improvements in the concept for marshmallow is the speed of the interface the older Hardware on the Xperia Z5 three running marshmallow provides a faster experience than the current Flagship Hardware inside the Xperia Z5 premium at the moment Sony has kept the interface almost stock-like with just a handful of changes and tweaks and if the final version is anything like the current build of the concept the Xperia Z5 premium will be one of the fastest smartphones on the market now to the camera and one of the biggest changes in the entire Xperia Z5 range is the camera with Sony delivering the first major camera update to the Xperia Z range since the first Xperia Z handset the new camera boasts a 23 megapixel sensor with phase detection autofocus old to Auto HDR and a plethora of camera apps along with the ability to record 4K video the camera is always subjective so we conducted an in-depth camera test as part of best of Android 2015 and pitted the Z5 premium against some of the best smartphones on the market the Z5 premium didn't come first and it didn't come last and overall the camera is definitely on par with most flagships out there the biggest issue with the camera that I found is inconsistent performance in some scenes the camera can take Simply Stunning images but in others the shots suffer from too much noise too much over processing and especially in a complex scene a significant lack of detail if you plan to take a lot of Wildlife and Landscape scenery shots you'll probably find the Z5 premium lacking for your needs but if you just want to Capture Moments and share them with your friends without worrying about the little details the Z5 premium camera will probably do the trick for you all of our pictures were captured in Sony's Superior auto mode which is the default mode and the mode that most people will use the camera in for those who need more customizable options Sony has also included a manual mode that allows you to tweak the white balance and the iso it doesn't come with the full array of manual controls found on other smartphones but it should be good enough for most people safer professional photographers who are looking for a portable camera to use on the Move now to the price an innovation certainly doesn't come cheap as you might have expected the world's first 4K smartphone comes with a relatively Hefty price tag although it's not too far out of reach in the UK the Xperia Z5 premium retails for approximately 600 pounds which equates to around 900 US Dollars this will probably price out most people interested in buying the Xperia Z5 premium but is it worth spending the extra money on as far as Flagship smartphones Go the Xperia Z5 is certainly up there with the best of them a lot depends on why you want to buy the C5 premium if you're buying it purely for the 4K display then honestly it's not worth it after all it's running in 1080P around 90 of the time if you're in the market for the Xperia Z5 premium for its other features the handset certainly ticks these boxes but so does the rest of Sony's range the key thing about the Z5 premium is the size of its display and if you want the Xperia Z5 but with a larger display then the Xperia Z5 premium is certainly the one for you as long as you're willing to understand the compromise with the 4K display and pay the rather large price tag so what do you think of the world's first 4K smartphone and this video let us know your thoughts in the comments below and give us a thumbs up if you like this video check out all the amazing content from my colleagues on the right and don't forget to hit subscribe at the top and stay tuned to androidauthority.com because we're your source for all things Android and we've got something Ultra special just for you this week we're answering the question that so many people want answered what is the best phone that money can buy stay tuned because it promises to be absolutely fantastic and I'll see you in the next video until next time oh\n"