Sony Xperia Z3 review - hands-on

It's just six months since Sony launched its range-topping Xperia Z2 smartphone, and it has already decided to replace it with the Xperia Z3.As you might expect from such a quick replacement, not a huge amount has changed. The new handset has the same 5.2in screen and Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, and Sony hasn't followed the lead of LG with its G3 and attempted to cram 2,560x1,440 pixels into a smartphone display.

Instead, the Xperia Z3 has the same 1,920x1,080-pixel display as its predecessor. This is less surprising on a phone than it is on a tablet, as it's hard enough for the human eye to discern individual pixels on an 8in screen, let alone a 5.2in model. The Xperia Z3 has a pixel density of 423ppi, which is far beyond what Apple classes on its iPhone as "Retina", where the human eye can't discern individual pixels.During our brief time with the handset, we could see that the Z3's is an impressive display, with clear and sharp text and pure whites. The Z3's screen looked slightly warmer than the Z3 Compact's, but we preferred its colour balance, feeling the Z3 Compact's screen looked rather warm. The screen is also incredibly bright; Sony claims it has 600cd/m2 brightness, which would make this the brightest smartphone screen we've seen.

Sony has made some changes to the Xperia Z3 on the outside. The Z3 is slimmer than the Z2, at 7.4mm thick compared to 8.2mm, and has Sony's new nylon corners, which are designed to take the brunt of the impact if your handset takes a tumble. The slimness has led to a very slightly smaller-capacity battery, at 3,100mAh compared to 3,200mAh for the Z2. Despite this, Sony claims the Z3 will have longer battery life than its predecessor, at two days instead of one and a half. We're not sure how Sony has managed this considering the similar screen and same processor, but we'll wait for the results of our tests before passing judgement. 

The Z3 has another couple of tricks up its sleeve. The phone is rated to IP68, which means it's impervious to dust and should survive being submerged in water at up to 2m depth for 30 minutes. It also supports Sony's PS4 Remote Play feature, which will let you play PS4 games on your smartphone using a DualShock 4 controller over your home Wi-Fi connection. There will be a special Gaming Mount accessory to help you clip your phone to your gamepad. PS4 Remote Play will be exclusive to the Z3, Z3 Compact and Z3 Tablet Compact, but there's no word on how much the Gaming Mount will cost. 

Our first look would suggest that the Xperia Z3 won’t be worth an upgrade from the Z2, but there's certainly enough range-topping goodness here to tempt customers away from other manufacturers' handsets.