Sony's Z series flagship smartphone has stagger for three years. After five generations of flagship phones, it has finally built a machine that is balanced from inside to outside. Although it came a little late, it finally came. Its name is Xperia Z3+
Specifications:
5.2 inch 1080p IPS screen;
146.3mm × 71.9mm × 6.9mm，144g；
IP65/68 waterproof and dustproof;
Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 2.0GHz/1.5GHz 64 bit eight core processor;
3GB RAM, 32GB expandable memory;
Android 5.0.2 operating system;
20.7 megapixel main camera, 1/2.3 inch Exmor RS ™ For mobile sensor, 25mm wide-angle Sony G lens BIONZ ™ Image processing technology, high sensitivity ISO12800;
5 megapixel front camera, Exmor R ™ For mobile sensor;
2930 mAh built-in battery, supporting fast charging;
Active noise reduction technology, dual card and dual standby, support mobile 2/4G, Unicom 2/3/4G, and provide four body colors of black, white, gold and blue.
appearance:
Yes, yes, Z3+ The appearance is almost the same as that of the Z3. Sony's double-sided glass full balance design, which has been used for five generations of flagship phones, has recently been criticized as rotten. Although every generation from Z to Z3+will make fine adjustments in appearance, compared with the ups and downs of Samsung's phones, Sony's Z series flagship phones always give people the feeling that "it is better to use them than find a good design", However, since it is Sony, there must be iron powder to tell you that there are differences here and there. In line with the principle of evaluation, we will show you some modifications related to the actual use experience.
As for the series of games that you come to find fault with, we are not ready to play in this image and text review. This time, Z3+officially launched four colors: black, white, gold and blue. If gold and blue are the official names of Sony, they are called copper and lake green. In short, whatever the color, these two colors are quite funny. It is right that Sony works hard to mix colors, It also makes the appearance that has been used for 5 generations look less old. As for whether Z3+will introduce the purple option reserved by Sony in the future, let's leave it to time to confirm.
The test machine Sony gave us this time is a black engineering machine. It is known that the black and gold Z3+frames use polished surfaces, while the white and blue Z3+frames are frosted. In terms of hand feel, the metal frame on the polished surface is naturally less delicate than the frosted surface. The four color Z3+corners use plastic materials, For the sake of signal quality or drop buffer, it is there. The most controversial design inherited from Z3 is on Z3+, which is still the most controversial.
Another small detail about the material use is that the base plate of the Z3+card holder is made of metal, which is more durable than the thin plastic of the previous Z3. This is better than the S6 Edge card holder whose surface is metal but the frame is plastic, but it is still not easy to pull out the card holder.
The most obvious change in the appearance of Z3+is naturally the speaker design and the exposed USB interface. The speaker and earpiece design return to the slim bar design close to the frame similar to Z2, but the LED status light is not hidden in the earpiece like Z2, but is placed in the corner like Z3, with a slight lack of fuss, As for the exposed USB interface, it is greatly convenient for charging and data transmission. However, if you have just finished running the water, we suggest you wait for the USB port to dry before charging or data transmission. After all, no powerful hardware can defeat the user's own death.
In practical use, the biggest advantage of Z3+with modified speaker design over Z3 is that the sound quality of the speaker is much better, and after soaking in water, there will not be often moisture blocking the speaker opening. Even if the speaker gets into water, the water will flow out when the phone is placed sideways, without affecting the volume and sound quality of the speaker, This is a gratifying progress for Sony users who like to wash their mobile phones every day.
Another change on Z3+is almost exclusively for Chinese consumers: the glass panel is lowered below the frame. For Chinese consumers who like to apply film, After Z3+is coated on both sides, the original scratch frame feels much better. To be honest, we strongly recommend users who buy Z3+to apply the film on both sides of their new machines, because the antifouling coating on the surface of Z3+glass is quite expensive. After all, no matter how hard the glass is, it can only guarantee that it will not break, The coating on the surface is easy to scratch when facing daily use.
Another small change in Z3+is the back lens. The lens is no longer an independent protective glass, but an integrated design with the whole back glass, The LED fill light was dug out of a small hole independently (this is to prevent the light of the fill light from refracting in the glass and affecting the image quality when the fill light is turned on for taking photos). It is necessary for Z3+to redesign this small area when considering the resin lens on Z3 that is easy to peel off the coating film and scratch.
The overall appearance is basically like this. The workmanship of our Z3+is also improved compared with that of the Z3. The gap between the frame and the glass panel is relatively uniform. However, we recently saw online pictures, and found that it is also related to individuals. The black Z3+is still quite good in my opinion. The overall design of the black appearance is also up to standard, And it is low-key and cool enough. As for those who want to be bright, they can choose blue or gold. The real machine is very beautiful.
As for the anti fouling ability, although there is an anti fouling coating on the surface, the black model is still a finger print, and it is difficult to clean it 100% simply by washing it with water. As for the use of detergent, we recommend users to be cautious. After all, there is still a waterproof cover on Z3+, which means there is a rubber waterproof ring, Rubber waterproof rings are prone to stability problems when facing organic detergents and high temperature liquids. If they accidentally fall into organic liquids such as alcohol or gasoline, swelling will eventually affect the waterproof. In short, remember that, Although Z3+is waterproof, if you take it to the seaside or hot spring, or simply wash it with hand sanitizer, or directly wash it under water, you are advised to be cautious. As for the hotpot cooking and other death videos widely circulated on the Internet, we can only advise you to bear the consequences of all attempts. Dafa warranty does not guarantee the damage caused by improper use.
Screen:
Z3+has a very good screen. Of course, this premise is based on the premise that the screen white balance has been adjusted. Under the default white balance, Z3+can reach 590nit brightness, but the screen color temperature is very cold by default, which has no egg use. In addition, the warmer the screen is when adjusting the screen white balance, the lower the measured maximum brightness.
As for our Z3+, the benchmark for adjusting the screen white balance was the S6 Edge standard mode at that time, so the following screen effect pictures were also screen shots with white balance adjusted. Tones are still related to personal taste, so don't bother too much, but after this adjustment, the maximum brightness dropped to only 350nit.
As for the minimum brightness, we measured that it was 2nit, which was very excellent, second only to the 1nit score of S6 Edge. It was very eye friendly when used at night.
The color saturation of the Z3+screen is very high, and the viewing angle is good. However, due to the obvious front reflection, the brightness will drop significantly when looking at the side. In short, it is a good screen, which is worthy of the flagship positioning of Z3+. Although compared with Z3, the brightness of the screen has dropped significantly, the color restoration of the screen is much more comfortable than Z3, This screen brightness is enough for all use scenarios.
In addition, the screen of Sony Z3+can be controlled by wet hands. Even if there is a certain amount of water droplets on the screen, the screen can still be controlled normally. Although it sounds nothing, compared with the previous screen of Z3, the use experience is greatly improved.
Performance:
Mobile phones with 810 processors are basically the same. However, the 810 on the Z3+does not know whether it is "weird" because of the control of heat. Although four A53s are fully opened and two A57s are randomly opened every day, the characteristics of the 810 are the same as other 810s, but even if it is running GeekBench 3, a very popular runner up software, The CPU will not have any special calls. At first, we thought it was caused by high temperature. However, there will still be no change when running points underwater. So it seems that Sony did not "specially optimize" the running points in this software, so the score of GeekBench 3 is also particularly ugly. The score of more than 600 single cores and 2700 single cores is similar to that of 801 processors, It is almost the bottom of the 810 mobile phones we have tested, and the CPU related results of Sunspider, RAR, etc. are also not good.
As for GPU performance, Z3+has a very impressive performance. It is among the best in many GPU performance tests. If Sony has not made any special optimization, it is still good. In short, this year's 810 processor is just like that. For specific performance comparison, please refer to our Score database 。
In daily use, the smoothness of Z3+is much better than the same 810 LG G Flex 2 with 1080p and some domestic brands of mobile phones. The response to user input is very fast, the application loading speed is very fast, and the background can fill a pile of applications, OK (in fact, the main reason is that the UI is almost native). In addition, if you want to break away from the party, you should not consider any mobile phone except Samsung S6 at the beginning.
As for the heat, the performance of Z3+is very worrying. The heat is huge during the game. If you use an AR that relies on real-time CPU computing to take photos, the camera APP will automatically overheat and exit within two minutes. In addition, the body of Z3+is very thin, and the heat is quickly transferred to the surface of the body. However, the heat pot should not be carried by Sony, but Qualcomm should be blamed, When you see the fields that express the meaning of "Qualcomm 810 processor", please automatically associate the following features in your mind:
High heating, high power consumption, serious frequency reduction, difficult to fully open 8 cores, performance inferior to Samsung 7420.
OK, so many manufacturers that do not independently develop mobile phone SoC, including Sony HTC and others watched with eager anticipation that Qualcomm had dug the hole of 810. Everyone knew that jumping would hurt, but not jumping would be blamed for lack of sincerity, so they had to jump together hand in hand. Maybe the official version of Z3+would make some changes to the internal structure and software to reduce fever, but 810 was always the same, Just be a joke.
System:
Sony's mobile phone system has always been another controversial point. Many people say that the UI is ugly and many people say that it is beautiful and elegant. Today, we will not discuss the aesthetic issues. The overall smoothness optimization of Z3+is very good. Except for the drop down notification bar, there will be visible frame drop when clicking the top to expand, there is no problem with the smoothness of other places.
As for Sony's best optimization of the system, it is actually in terms of energy saving. Sony's STAMINA mode is very different from Samsung's power saving mode. Samsung's power saving mode reduces the power consumption when the screen is lit by limiting the processor performance globally, reducing the screen brightness and turning off touch lights, while Sony's STAMINA mode will not have any impact on the performance of the screen, Instead, the power consumption is reduced by waking up the background and allowing only the applications set by the user to be connected to the network. Applications that have not been added to the white list will be completely prohibited from being connected to the network, while common apps such as WeChat will not be affected after being added to the white list, So Sony's power-saving mode focuses on power-saving when the screen is turned off (of course, there is a switch that limits the performance of the phone, and the performance of the screen will also be limited when the phone is turned on). The all-weather power saving mode will not affect the experience as Samsung's power-saving mode does. We will talk about the battery life later.
However, all the text descriptions on this interface are not particularly concise and difficult to understand. They are awkward, wordy and unsatisfying. I was stunned when I first met them.
In addition to power saving optimization, Sony's system is nothing special. The desktop has added the option of small icons to make the UI look more refined. Then there are double clicking on the bright screen and intelligent keeping the bright screen, as well as the screen color temperature adjustment function we mentioned earlier, and image enhancement that has never been enabled by individuals, And because Sony has always had the function of double click bright screen without anti false touch, the false touch rate is very high, so individuals also did not enable it.
Small applications are Sony's characteristics. By clicking the multi task switch button, you can call up the interface. When you see half of the web page, you can get a calculator to figure out what is useful. You can also convert desktop widgets into small applications. Praise. Then you can open more widgets. Through the drop-down bar, you can uniformly minimize or close them.
Very comprehensive theme functions and good aesthetics, but there will be more beautiful themes on Google Play. As for Bank of China, you can download APK by yourself.
The built-in permission management software is very powerful, but I don't know why it intercepts any application, so I have to pop a notice to tell the user (this notice seems to be impossible to close). In the face of the domestic software environment full of cancer, it can intercept nearly 800 unreasonable requirements a day, but I'm really not interested in knowing what you have intercepted for me at any time.
The other is the function of Bluetooth connection with the PS4 handle. Since it is a home product, there will be no problem with compatibility. After pairing the PS4 handle with Z3+, you can use the PS4 handle to control your phone. Playing games depends on the support of the specific game for the handle. This function is more intended to enable Z3+to serve as the wireless display screen of the PS4, However, in actual testing, the screen will have a delay of about half a second, which is far from the control experience of PSVita directly connecting to the PS4. Therefore, if you want to use Z3+to play FPS or RAC on the PS4, you should not think about playing round based games.
In addition, Z3+has Sony's active noise reduction technology. However, the noise reduction effect is great with special earphones and NC31EM, but the sound quality of Z3+is not good. It is only used to isolate noise in roaring planes or noisy offices. It is OK for those who need it.
In addition, Z3+also has the function of automatically "optimizing" the sense of hearing according to the earphones. However, this function can only make the sense of hearing worse by pressing the intermediate frequency into a concave position and forcibly pulling up the two ends, making Z3+'s already poor sound quality worse. So it is judged as a chicken rib function. Even Sony officials did not mention this function when promoting Z3+. Is it self-knowledge?
In addition, Z3+has joined Sony's new Bluetooth stereo technology LDAC, which we have discussed in detail in the evaluation of Sony headset 1ABT before. This technology is useful only if both the Bluetooth output and the Bluetooth headset/audio support LDAC, which is also beneficial to this technology, The sound of Z3+and 1ABT is better than that of a phone without LDAC (such as Samsung S6) with 1ABT. There are obvious differences when listening to Hi Res music. However, after the 1ABT connection, you need to manually turn on the high quality Bluetooth mode. At present, the LDAC technology is unique to Sony, so everyone knows it.
There are so many Z3+systems. Everything else is full of Android native style, which is smooth and easy to use. Key functions are available (such as comprehensive application rights management and the best power saving optimization program settings in Android phones at present), However, the non key functionality (such as the disabled app store, the lack of call location and automatic yellow page classification, and the lack of call/SMS blacklist) is relatively lacking. This is Sony's style all along, and it seems that Sony has no plans to change it.
Endurance:
Endurance is the last dignity of Sony mobile phones.
This statement is not a joke. This year is the year when the flagship mobile phones are popular. The reason for this is that Qualcomm's 810 processor cannot escape its responsibility. As for S6 without 810 processor, the battery capacity is too small and it has to be on the streets.
Our endurance test process is as follows:
The fixed screen brightness is 200nit. First run the large game NBA 2K15 for 30 minutes, then surf the Internet for 30 minutes with Wi Fi/4G, then watch high-definition video for 30 minutes, and finally turn off the screen for 30 minutes to play music.
Z3+finally completed the test with 58% power. Although the remaining figure is not particularly attractive, the standby power consumption of Z3+is very low, so the remaining power can be almost used for the next day's use. Our dual card version only inserts a Unicom card in the Wi Fi and LTE hybrid network, The pure continuous screen can be lit for more than 6 hours (if the mobile phone is used for a very sporadic time, it will certainly be lower than this number). As for the use of the high intensity mixed working conditions (a lot of chat on WeChat and microblogging, and also watch an hour and a half of online video every day) of the author, we can insist on about one and a half days, and the total screen lighting time is about 5 hours, so there is no pressure to save two days of use, This achievement is the only setback compared with Z3, but even so, the endurance of Z3+has defeated S6 Edge. In theory, the endurance of the single card version of Z3+will be better. As for the actual verification, please forgive us for our inability (after all, there is no machine).
As for the charging speed, we have heard that the Z3+of the dual card version does not support fast charging before. However, through actual tests, the Z3+of the dual card version supports fast charging. The Xiaomi fast charging head can be used for 9V/1A fast charging. As for the specific charging time of 0~100, we think it is better to use the EP880 fast charger that Sony will standard in the future to measure, As for the engineering machine sent for testing, there is no such accessory, so we will not discuss the charging time for the time being. In short, Z3+supports the fast charging of Qualcomm QC2.0 standard.
Camera:
Daytime imaging:
The important things should be left at the end, so finally we are talking about the camera. The Z3+photography level easily killed the Z3+, especially the white balance, which has greatly improved, Z3's tendency to redden has finally been corrected on Z3+. The Z3+daytime photos have beautiful colors, accurate white balance, high contrast, and excellent detail performance. The exposure in the golden camera mode is high by default, so it is recommended to use manual mode to adjust EV correction, and the manual mode can also use all 20.7 million pixels, Next, take a look at the daytime samples (the samples below are all 16:9, and the total number of pixels is about 15.5 million pixels. If it is expanded to 4:3, it will be all 20.7 million pixels).
So when Sony phones take photos, it is better to use manual gear or manual gear. Although manual gear sounds troublesome, it is good that Sony has put the two key options of white balance and EV compensation on the surface. Let the phone automatically use ISO or something.
HDR imaging:
As for the HDR imaging capability of Z3+, it can only be enabled under 8 million pixels. The steps to enable it are: start the camera → manually → adjust the photo size to below 8mp → turn on the HDR switch. It is very troublesome to enable it once. Theoretically, there will be times to enable HDR in the golden camera mode, but to be honest, I want to hold the right to choose in my own hands.
Fortunately, the HDR imaging of Z3+can finally be said to be "good". Although it is a software synthesized HDR with only 8 million pixels of detail and slow synthesis speed, the overall tone is finally OK, the white balance is also accurate, the balance of highlight and dark light is well controlled, and the photos do not lose the sense of hierarchy, which is a big improvement compared with Z3.
Night imaging:
In dim light, Because Z3+is not equipped with an optical anti shake lens, it suffers a lot in the face of S6 and G4. Under dark light conditions, the film rate of Z3+will decline significantly. In terms of specific film quality, there is no problem with the white balance and contrast of Z3+color, and it performs well. Night photos are bright in color, well arranged, and even beautiful. The decline is mainly due to the details of the picture.
In the manual mode, Z3+can even challenge the screen details of S6 to a certain extent as long as the grip is stable enough (It may be necessary to shoot 4 consecutive pictures of certain scenes in order to have the details of a picture equal to S6) But most of the time, the detail performance is not as good as S6. In a word, the overall appearance of the photo is great , but can't stand zooming in to see details.
As for Sony's ISO12800 imaging capability, this is rarely used. This mode can only be unsealed when the phone confirms that the body is in a stable state and the camera mode is a golden camera. After unsealing, Z3+will become a handheld night vision device. In this mode, four ISO3200 photos are combined into one photo, and then noise reduction processing is performed, It can shoot a lot of things that cannot be photographed by mobile phones under extremely weak light conditions (for those talking about long exposure and Lumia, consider the factor of imaging speed). However, the details are basically gone, just look bright and approximate shape.
As for the front camera, Z3+has also been upgraded to 5 million pixels. Now the front camera of flagship phones of major manufacturers is basically 5 million pixels (iPhone: shut up for me), and Sony also has a real-time makeup function. In short, the self portrait effect will also be much better than Z3.
The author takes a positive attitude towards Z3+photography, because Z3+can take very excellent photos, and even in the golden camera mode, it is also a huge progress compared with Z3. But if you want to give full play to your strength, you still have to manually take photos. The operation of manual photography is more cumbersome as usual, compared with S6 Edge's foolishness of taking photos only by composition and shutter, S6 Edge is more comfortable to use. From the perspective of the highest image quality, if the overall image quality of S6 is 9 points, then the overall image quality of Z3+can reach 7.9 points. Considering that Z3+is not equipped with optical anti shake, which leads to obvious disadvantages in night scene imaging, the result is not bad at all.
Summary:
So is Z3+worth buying rationally? For users who have purchased Sony Z2, Z3+is a perfect upgrade - better screen, photography, performance, and thinner body; For users who have already purchased Z3+, the various improvements of Z3+are quite attractive (except for the drop in endurance, of course). As for whether to buy it or not, it depends on whether your parents are interested in your Z3. You know what I mean.
Compared with the existing high-end smart phones on the market, the biggest advantage of Z3+is its endurance, followed by its waterproof, thin body and no prominent camera, plus excellent photo taking effect, smooth system and mainstream hardware configuration, Z3+is really a great smart phone. The price of the Bank of China 4999 is very high. As for the price difference between different versions in different regions, readers who use the Unicom card can choose the version at will after weighing all aspects (such as Hong Kong Branch). Mobile users can only choose the dual card version if they want to use 4G. Sorry for wasting your time, Because all Z3+unlocked versions will not support CDMA networks, as for domestic customized telecom models, they will not be launched, and domestic VoLTE is also far away, so it is better to buy S6 Edge or iPhone.
After weighing everything, if you don't like the S6 or dislike the poor endurance of the S6 or the protruding camera among the flagship aircrafts of major international manufacturers this year, the Z3+may be the most ideal choice - much better performance than the G4, much better photography than the M9, much longer endurance than the S6, and more screens and photos than can be bought some Domestic phones are much better, the body is much lighter than a domestic one, and the appearance is much higher than a domestic ID without a frame. A domestic "high-end" mobile phone with an independent processor has even sold to 35xx after shrinking in many ways, but it still needs to be snapped up (by contrast, the pricing of Z3+is conscience). As for the waterproof ability of Z3+, it is a good selling point, but that's all, It is not worth boasting.
In a word, as the title said, the Z3+is very balanced in all aspects. It's a medium to high quality camera, a medium to high quality screen, a medium to high quality appearance, medium to high quality performance, and excellent endurance. Although the Z3+is a balanced mobile phone, it is late, but fortunately it is finally coming.
advantage:
Excellent photo taking effect;
The system responds quickly and smoothly;
With active noise reduction function (although earphones are required);
The screen is full in color and high in contrast;
The effect of dual speakers is good;
All exposed interfaces are also waterproof and dustproof;
Its endurance is no less than that of the flagship mobile phone of the same generation.
Disadvantages:
It cuts hands if the film is not applied;
It is too complicated to take good photos;
The appearance is too little different from the previous one;
expensive.
