Sony announces 3 new Xperia Z5 phones - including the world’s first 4K smartphone

But does anyone care about 4K?

2nd September 2015 Emma Boyle News, 📱 Tech

But

Sony have announced the next three smartphones in the Xperia line: the Z5, the Z5 Compact, and the world’s first 4K smartphone, the Z5 Premium.

Three phones seems like a lot, particularly when Sony’s smartphone division hasn’t been performing so well, operating at a loss last year. It could be that their intention is to put so many Sony phones on the market you’ll probably end up buying at least one of them.

Also, while a 4K smartphone is cool and will definitely win Sony some tech press headlines (yes, including ours), we have to wonder whether mainstream consumers will notice or care. Do they know what 4K means? Can anyone’s eyes tell the difference? Unless Sony’s looking to get into the smartphone VR headset business, it seems a little unnecessary.

Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact Specs

Z5 (left) and Z5 Compact (right) Image: © Sony

Sony are really pushing camera technology in these new models, bringing to the market the best camera of any leading smartphone. The Z5 and the Z5 Compact boast a 23 MP rear camera and 5MP front camera with the fastest auto focus available in a smartphone, allowing you to capture vivid images in just 0.03 seconds, apparently faster than the blink of an eye. Both phones come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core 64 bit processor (hmm), and 32 GB of storage (expandable to a whopping 200 GB with microSD).

The Z5 comes with a 5.2 inch full HD (1080p) IPS display and 3GB RAM, whilst the aptly named Z5 Compact has a slightly smaller 4.6 inch HD (720p) IPS display and 2GB RAM. Looking at the images above it’s hard to tell the difference between them, and we have a sneaking suspicion Sony have just taken a picture of the same phone but farther away in an attempt to fool us - we’ve seen Father Ted.

The Z5 will be released in white, graphite black, gold and green, whilst the Z5 Compact will be available in Yellow and Coral, in addition to White and Graphite Black. Both will have an innovative fingerprint sensor power button on the side, allowing for easy unlocking. They also promise smart power management, coming equipped with Sony’s power saving technology which promises up to 2 days of battery life (and the Z3 certainly lasted for aeons). Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 is built in, which claims to give 5.5 hours’ usage with just 10 minutes of charging. However, it only works with a certified Quick Charge 2.0 charger, like the Quick Charger UCH10.

Z5 Premium Specs

Z5 Premium in chrome Image: © Sony

The Z5 Premium is largely similar to the Z5 in every way, from processor to memory capacity - aside from the fact that it’s the world’s first 4K smartphone. It has a 5.5 inch 4K Triluminos IPS display, and a more limited handset colour palette of chrome, black, and gold.

Impressively, the Xperia Z5 Premium will upscale native or third party videos from Netflix and YouTube to 4K to make the most of the display. Like the other phones in the series (and Xperia phones for a while now), the Premium will capture video in 4K, except you’ll actually be able to see the quality on your phone with the Premium, with the option of capturing 8MP screenshots.

Xperia Z4 UK availability

So far, we have no information about the Xperia Z5 Premium other than to say it’ll be available globally in November.

Meanwhile, the Xperia Z5 Compact will be available in:

  • White, exclusive to Carphone Warehouse

  • Graphite Black from Vodafone, O2, Carphone Warehouse, EE, Virgin & Three

  • Yellow, exclusive to O2

  • Coral from Vodafone, Virgin & Carphone Warehouse

 And the Xperia Z5 will be available in:

  • Gold from Carphone Warehouse and EE

  • Ice White, exclusive to Carphone Warehouse

  • Graphite Black from Vodafone, O2, Carphone Warehouse, EE, Virgin & Three

  • Green from Vodafone, O2, Carphone Warehouse, Virgin & Three.

Main Image: © Sony

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