The Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact marks their 6th generation of flagship waterproof smart phones, a showcase of the best of Sony in a handheld device. Still running on a 2 flagships per year cycle with no signs of slowing down, the Xperia Z5 marks yet another evolution with some welcome upgrades.
The Xperia Z3+ or better known as the Xperia Z4 in Japan was seen as stop gap measure launching just months ahead of IFA 2015. Now the Xperia Z5 and its Z5 compact appears to be a more worthy replacement of its former Xperia Z3 series, launched exactly a year ago.
Xperia Z5
In terms of design, the Xperia Z5 still looks familiar but there are some subtle tweaks to its appearance. The aluminium frame now gets a carved Xperia on the sides and the iconic power button has been replaced with an integrated fingerprint scanner. In the past Xperia Z series, the glass back is elegant to look at but it is also a huge fingerprint magnet. This time, Sony has opt for a frosted glass back, which aims to put an end to smudgy looking phones. Surprisingly the dimensions of the Xperia Z5 is identical with the Xperia Z3 at 7.3mm thick and it weighs slightly heavier at 154g (Xperia Z3: 152g). This makes the Xperia Z3+ the thinnest and lightest Xperia Z flagship at just 6.9mm and 144g respectively.
The front display is the same 5.2″ Full HD unit and under the hood it gets the same 64-bit Octa-Core Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB of RAM. On-board storage still stays at 32GB with expandable storage made possible with microSD up to 200GB. Like the Xperia Z5 Premium, the new 23MP sensor takes centre stage at the back, promising ultra-quick captures with its 0.03 second focus time.
For selfies, it gets the same 5MP shooter as the Xperia Z3+ along with a wide angle 25mm lens. The battery on the other hand is slightly smaller than the Xperia Z3+ at 2,900mAh but Sony still reckons it maintains the same up to 2 days of battery life on a single charge.
In terms of colours, the Xperia Z5 comes in Graphite Black, Gold, White and Green. It is also available in either Single and Dual-SIM variants, supporting 4G LTE.
Xperia Z5 Compact
Offering a flagship experience without the bulk, the Xperia Z5 Compact comes with a smaller 4.6″ display that does HD 720p (1280×720) resolution. It shares the same Snapdragon 810 processor as the bigger Z5 brother but it comes mated with just 2GB of RAM. Storage remains unchanged at 32GB and it also gets the same 23MP main and 5MP front cameras. Keeping the lights on is a 2,700mAh capacity battery that’s rated to last up to 2 days.
Being a more youthful device, the Z5 Compact comes in Graphite Black, White, Yellow and Coral colours. Overall, it is slightly thicker at 8.9mm but it weighs a much lighter 138 grams. Both the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact runs on the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop and both are expected to go on sale internationally from October 2015 on wards.
For more info, visit Sony Xperia’s Z5 and Z5 Compact pages.
Xperia Z5 Images
Xperia Z5 Compact Images
