Sony Xperia Z5 Pro Reviews

The Xperia Z5 is a huge improvement on the Xperia Z3+ with a new fingerprint sensor and a sexy design, but there are still a few little issues stopping it from getting that perfect score.

At the end of the day, the Sony Xperia X turns out to be a good phone with a beautiful and refined design, while performance is decent in practically every department, but never great. The phone is priced at $550, upper mid-range territory and $150 less than the Galaxy S7, which typically retails for around $700.The Xperia X feels a bit pricey, especially in this fiercely competitive market. Its display might look good to lay-men, but upon closer inspection, you’d notice that it's a bit bluish and colors are not well-balanced; its Snapdragon 650 is a noticeable step below the Snapdragon 820, which will be noticed for those who edit pictures, browse the web a lot, and play games on their phones. And then, the image quality and camera experience is a bit below expectations. It also lacks catchy new features that the Galaxy S7 has aplenty in the form of Motion Photo, Always-on Display, Game Center, and so on.In a direct comparison, regardless of price, we’d pick the Galaxy S7 without hesitation: it’s faster, has a mind-bogglingly speedy camera, as well as waterproofing and wireless charging – two very nice extras. While a bit overpriced, the Xperia X will still appeal to lovers of great design and the Sony brand name, but looking at the bigger picture, it underdelivers.

Available for order at $549.99, the Xperia X is a smartphone that doesn't disappoint, but feels a bit too expensive for what it offers. And thanks to its seniority, the Xperia Z5 is dangerously close in terms of pricing—nowadays you can score one for as little as $600.Taking these prices in mind, we're unable to recommend the Xperia X over the Z5. We like the way it feels in our hand better, sure, and its display is truly summer-proof, but in terms of camera and game performance, it's just not quite up there. The Z5 also comes with a great perk: water protection. A saving grace is the X's better battery life, but we didn't find that to be large enough of a lead to warrant a reconsideration on our part.

New smartphones tend to be either totally revised, or incremental refreshes, and the Z5 is definitely the latter. Outside and in, it’s virtually identical to the Z3+ it replaces, and while the tech specs are still impressive, the speed of flagship smartphone development will doubtless make the Z5 date more quickly than most of its rivals. Apart from the new fingerprint sensor, the most notable upgrade over the Z3+ is the camera. It’s great on paper, with Sony’s super-fast autofocus figures and the high pixel count, 1/2.3-inch sensor. However, real-world image quality is at best equal to the competition when shooting close-range subjects, and, thanks to aggressive noise reduction processing, rivals like the Galaxy S6 and LG G4 do better when shooting landscapes. High ISO performance is the Z5’s forte, but even here the best results are achieved by reducing recording resolution to 8MP, yet the competition comes close to offering comparably clean images at up to 16MP. The Z5’s comprehensive camera app and hardware shutter release button are its most attractive camera features, and its fingerprint sensor and IP68 water resistance add more value. But given the Z5’s image quality can only equal that of the Galaxy S6 and LG G4 – and how much of its hardware is recycled from the Z3+ – the Z5’s price will need to drop well below £500 to make it a truly compelling buy.

The Xperia Z5 isn’t the easiest smartphone to recommend this year, which may come as a surprise considering it's arguably the best device Sony has produced. But with great devices in the market to choose from like the Galaxy S6, iPhone 6s, and new Nexus devices from LG and Huawei, being merely ‘good’ isn’t enough to take out the win.

We wanted to like the Xperia Z5, but Sony isn't making it easy for us. This otherwise good-looking phone doesn't feel quite right in the hand. The software experience moves at a satisfying pace, but comes with a bunch of issues and imperfections that don't quite suit its price point. The new camera may be fast to focus, but its quality is weaker than expected. At the end of the day, there seem to be few reasons to go with this phone, aside from the fact that it's Sony, and it's water-resistant; neither of which are that high up in our priorities. Sony hasn't been particularly ambitious in mobile lately, that's not a secret. And with the Xperia Z5, the company is showing us this isn't changing anytime soon. The Z5 gives off the impression that it's been built to merely keep Sony in line with the times, in case it eventually decides to invest itself more significantly in smartphones. Until that day comes, though, Sony's flagship will remain outplayed by most of its rivals.