Initial Thoughts on the Sony Xperia XZ Premium

Hey there, everybody! It's Joshua Vergara here, and I'm excited to bring you my first impressions on the Sony Xperia XZ premium. We've been talking about this device for a while now, but now that pre-orders are starting in the US on June 12th, with shipments going out on June 19th, it's time for me to share my thoughts on this flagship phone.

As I'm currently in Taipei for Computex 2017, I was lucky enough to play with the Xperia XZ premium for a little while. Our full review unit is on its way to Android Authority soon, but I wanted to give you an early look at what we can expect from this device. One thing that struck me right away is the design of the phone. The 5.5-inch display feels just a bit too big, especially considering how much goes on above and below it. It's almost as if Sony is struggling to compact their phones into smaller sizes.

However, despite some initial reservations about the size, I have to say that the Xperia XZ premium looks incredibly symmetrical. The blue hue is particularly stunning, with a glossy finish that makes it easy to recognize from a distance. However, this also means that handling takes a bit of a hit, as the overall device is quite large and prone to fingerprints. But despite these minor drawbacks, I think the design is still one of the standout features of this phone.

The 5.5-inch display is another area where the Xperia XZ premium really shines. With a 4K resolution and HDR capabilities, you can expect a truly exceptional viewing experience. I've had a chance to play with the display settings, and it's clear that Sony has put a lot of thought into creating an immersive visual experience. You can choose from various color modes, including a "super vivid" mode that really pumps up the saturation, or stick to an SRGB mode for more accurate colors.

Now, let's talk about one of the marquee features of this phone: the 19-megapixel camera. This is definitely going to be one of the standout aspects of the Xperia XZ premium, and I'm excited to test it out in more detail. The camera can shoot at 960 frames per second slow motion video, which should look incredible on this device. In my brief time with the phone, I've been using it for some vlogging and photography around Taipei, and I have to say that I'm really impressed with the results so far.

Colors come out looking great, and detail is still pretty high. The SteadyShot feature does a good job of reducing camera shake and jitters, making it ideal for capturing smooth footage. If there's one thing I love about Sony Xperia devices, it's the strict camera button – it's always a joy to use. However, one area where the camera falls short is in its interface. It feels a bit cluttered, with too many modes to navigate through before you can access 4K video mode.

That being said, everything else about the camera is on point. The 19-megapixel sensor delivers great results, and the Super Slo-Mo feature is an absolute blast to use. I've also been happy with how well the phone handles stills photography, capturing some beautiful images around Taipei. Overall, the camera feels like one of the best aspects of this phone.

Software-wise, the Xperia XZ premium feels incredibly snappy. The animations are certainly more noticeable than on other Android devices, but that might be due to Sony's unique take on Android Nougat 7.1.1. I didn't experience any lag when switching between apps or using the camera interface extensively throughout the day.

Finally, let's talk about the battery life and charging capabilities of this phone. The Xperia XZ premium boasts a 30-hour battery life, backed by Quick Charge 3.0 and Adaptive Charging. This means that you can quickly top up your device when you need to, making it perfect for heavy users or those who want to stay connected on-the-go.

That's all for now – these are just my initial thoughts on the Sony Xperia XZ premium. We'll be following up with a full review soon, taking into account all of its specs and features. Stay tuned to Android Authority for that, and don't forget to check out our YouTube channel and other properties for more coverage of Computex 2017.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's Joshua Vergara what's going on everybody and I'm here to bring you some first impressions on the sony xperia XZ premium now we've known about this device for a little while but now we know that in the u.s. pre-orders are going to start on June 12 with the shipments going out on June 19 the thing is I'm not in the US right now I mean Taipei 4 combi tix 2017 but I was lucky enough while here to play with the Xperia XD premium for a little bit now our full review unit is coming to Android authority very very soon so our review is going to come after that taking into consideration all the specs and the features initial thoughts on the design the phone feels just a bit too big a 5.5 inch display is not too large however there's so much going on above and below it that it feels like Sony just doesn't know how to compact their phones as well anymore that said this phone is incredibly symmetrical with this blue hue that is incredibly glossy and as such pretty fingerprint prone handling takes a bit of a hit because of how large the overall device is but all in all it's a great looking phone and part of the reason why it's a great looking phone is because of that 5.5 inch display it has 4k resolution and HDR capabilities now I can't speak to either of those extra features just yet and I plan to in the full review however 4k resolution just makes everything look incredibly sharp already one thing I noticed however was in the display settings there are a lot of options for changing the coloration of the display you can have a super vivid mode that really bumps up the saturation or you can stick to an sRGB mode for more accurate colors that said that 19 megapixel camera is probably one of the marquee features of this phone not only is it capable of 960 frames per second slow motion video which were really excited to test out pictures and video should be pretty awesome on this phone and I've been using it a lot for a little bit of vlogging and also for a lot of pictures around Taipei video in particular I've been pretty happy with because colors come out pretty good detail is still pretty high and at the SteadyShot set two intelligent active mode does a good job of making sure that my jitters aren't showing up on the screen and if there's one thing I'm always going to love about Sony Xperia devices it's that strict camera button if there's one negative I can give at least for now on the camera it's just that the interface is a little bit cumbersome everything seems to be a mode and you have to swipe over to get to the video mode or you have to open up the mode selection screen just to get to 4k video it's a few too many steps to get to something that should probably be a button on the original camera interface but for now you can enjoy these clips and pictures from Taipei and you can see what the quality is like for yourself as we are going to continue testing it for our full review so that takes care of the main features we'll just go ahead and give you the rest of the specs including the snapdragon 835 4 gigabytes of RAM 64 gigabytes of on-board storage with expandability and Android nougat 7.1.1 now the software on the Xperia XD premium actually feels really snappy and that might be because the animations are turned up in sony's version of android that certainly makes everything feel faster but I also did not notice any lag when going through all of the different applications and in particular when I was using the camera interface pretty incessantly throughout the day and finally there's a 30 to 30 milli amp hour battery in the Xperia XD premium backed by a quick charge 3.0 and an adaptive charging layer that is on top of that so you can really juice up the phone in no time at all so those are just some initial thoughts and just a quick spec rundown of the Xperia XE premium overall I think that the design just kind of shows that Sony is sticking to its guns when it comes to how they build their phones but when the specifications are this high you might really have a contender on your hands a 4k display could mean one of the best display experiences especially with everything that sony puts into their triluminos display and then of course the 19 megapixel camera that is really easy to use with that extra button but also with its super slo-mo and also its intelligent auto modes that we've seen in Sony phones before you might have a great shutterbug companion on your hands so we hope you enjoyed our initial thoughts at least on the XV premium like I said we're going to give you a full review very soon so make sure you stay tuned to Android 30 for that and even more head over to our other properties for more coverage of Computex 2017 as well and remember to come on back to Android Authority calm and our YouTube channel subscribe to it if you haven't already because we are your source for all things Android\n"