techknow beat
by Bilal Iqbal
There are rumours in the industry that Sony may give up on its six-month release cycle starting with the successor to the Xperia Z3. The strategy might have seemed good when Sony started it — and it still does look rather tempting on paper — but a $1.5 billion loss just two weeks back indicates that the consumers are not biting.
The Japanese giant has been releasing well-reviewed phones that seem to be focusing on things that should matter the most to consumers: the latest Xperia Z3, for instance, is being marketed around as a two-day-charging phone. And if reviewers are to be believed, the claims do hold true.
GSMArena’s battery test puts the Xperia Z3 as good for 85 hours, which means if you use the phone one hour daily each for calls, videos and web browsing, you should easily get three days of use from it. In the individual tests, the phone lasts for about 11.5 hours of web browsing on a single charge, or over 12 hours of video playback. The score is better than the scores put up by the iPhone 6 (61 hours), Galaxy S5 (72 hours), HTC One M8 (71 hours) and LG G3 (69 hours).
You do not sacrifice much in terms of anything. In fact you get waterproofing, something that is only offered by the Galaxy S5 among its direct rivals. You get a FHD 5.2 inch screen, a capable camera, and specifications that match all other competitors. The phone also sports a premium dual-glass design.
The problem perhaps does not lie in the high end devices, but the mid and low range. According to a Fortune.com article, Sony had previously admitted that its devices targeted at developing markets had not done as well as they had hoped. The fact that Sony has failed to reveal its Android 5.0 Lollipop update plans for devices outside of its Xperia Z range also does not bode well for the Japanese giant. This also reflects in Sony’s revision of its target of selling 50mn phones in 2014 to 41mn devices.
That said, Sony is not expected to cop out of the smartphone business, so consumers should not worry about the uncertain state of Sony’s mobile division while making their choices. How then does the Xperia Z3 hold up?
Quite well, actually, when we go by retail prices. But its main competitors (except LG G3) are all older by six months or more now and can be had for far lower prices than Xperia Z3’s QR2,800 asking price. The Galaxy S5, for instance, can he had for around QR2,000 to QR2,100, the HTC One M8 can be had for QR2,400 to QR2,600, often with a QR200-worth Dot View case thrown in for free. The LG G3 already retails for a much lower QR2,460 and comes with QR400 worth of freebies of its own (a JBL headset and an LG Quick Circle case).
Consider also the Xperia Z2, which retails for QR2,600 but can be had for far lower in the open market. It features a marginally slower processor but otherwise comes will all the bells and whistles that the Xperia Z3 boosts and can be had for QR1,900 to QR2,000 in the open market. GSMArena found that the Xperia Z2 does as well on its battery test as the Xperia Z3 (the Z2 got a slightly higher score of 89 hours, but the more important browsing and video playback scores are virtually the same).
There is no doubt that the Xperia Z3 is a definite improvement over the Xperia Z2: it is faster, lighter and more compact. The version in Qatar also has dual SIM support. But we feel Sony held back some of the features they could have put in Z3 in favour of the Z4. It could have, for instance, come with the Snapdragon 805 chipset that comes in the Note 4. The Snapdragon 805 does not offer that much boost in terms of processing power, but features Adreno 420 GPU (vs Adreno 330 in in the Snapdragon 801 chipset found in the Xperia Z3). The Adreno 420 is up to 40% faster than Adreno 330, according to Qualcomm, the chipset manufacturer. While Adreno 330 at present is more than enough, the Adreno 420 offers better future proofing.
Then there’s the matter with the screen resolution. Sony argues that it stuck with FHD resolution instead of QHD (as found on the Note 4 and LG G3) because the latter offers no tangible benefits on a screen this size and is much more taxing on the battery life. The claim is not without its merits — the G3’s battery score suffers primarily because of its taxing screen — but come March 2015, if the Z4 is announced with a QHD display, many will say Sony was just saving for later.
As it is, the Sony Xperia Z3 is a capable phone that is priced simply too high. Sure, it’s new, but it comes with most of the same components as the much cheaper Z2 and the even-cheaper Z1. The three Zs most follow the same formula, with each iteration being a refinement of the previous edition. This is not the same as with other manufacturers, like Samsung with Note 3 and Note 4, HTC with One M7 and One M8 and LG with G2 and G3. Satisfied owners of Note 3, One M7 and G2 may find compelling enough reasons to upgrade their phones to the latest versions, but we cannot imagine a satisfied Xperia Z1 user wanting to upgrade to Xperia Z3.
This in turn is also good news for new buyers then, as you get Sony’s smartphone formula for cheaper in the forms of Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z2.
To us, if the Sony Xperia features and designs tickle your fancy, the Xperia Z2 is the one to go for. The Xperia Z1 is too unwieldy, with big bezels surrounding its 5 inch screen. The Xperia Z2 does a good job with the bezels, becoming compacter while offering a bigger and better screen (Z2 and Z3 have 5.2 inch IPS displays, while the Xperia Z1 has a non-IPS 5 inch display). The Z1 also does not exhibit the same longevity as Z2 and Z3 in terms of battery life.
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