Could these things had made Sony Z3 even beter?

The Sony Xperia Z3 is here and it's great, but... it somewhat lacks that "wow" factor that makes a certain electronic gadget stand out. Despite the deja vu in some areas, the Xperia Z3 is a decent upgrade over the Xperia Z2. Honestly, we didn't imagine that Sony will radically overhaul its Omni-Balance design, but that doesn't mean that the hardware specs should have been that similar to the ones of the Xperia Z2. We guess that this is the price Sony has to pay for adopting a 6-month "refresh" cycle.

"Never change a winning team", right? That's generally spot-on, but if you want to always keep your team in a winning streak, you have to boldly set yourself from the competition from time to time. We feel like there are certain key areas, in which the Xperia Z3 could have been a lot better than its predecessor. Thus, we decided to make a concise list for your eyes to feast upon, which comprises some notable features and improvements that could have made Sony's new flagship even better.

By the way, what's your opinion on the matter? What other improvements (different from the ones we've detailed below) could have made the Xperia Z3 better than it is? Drop a line or two in the comments section!

6 things that could have made the Sony Xperia Z3 even better

1. The mighty Snapdragon 805

The quad-core Snapdragon 801 was a top-of-the-line SoC... half a year ago. Now, Qualcomm's finest is the Snapdragon 805, and it is gradually being adopted by the major manufacturers. It's probably disappointing for many, but the Xperia Z3 does not come with this exact silicon chip inside. We're at least dealing with the most powerful iteration of the Snapdragon 801 – the 2.5GHz MSM8974AC, but that comes to little consolation of the specs-hungry users.

2. Smaller bezels/Refreshed design

Frankly said, the Omni-Balance design of Sony's smartphones is quite distinguishable from the competition's, but isn't it getting a little long in the tooth, already? Don't get us wrong, there's nothing wrong with the looks of the Xperia Z3, and those bezels are there for a reason. However, Sony might want to be bold enough and give something new a try before its design language begins to sound like a broken record on repeat.

3. Pixel-rich Quad HD goodness

Well, there is still a lot of debate if we need Quad HD displays on our smartphones, as their surplus of pixels comes with a rather deal-breaking price. However, the manufacturers have found a new playground to play on, and it is more than sure that we'll be seeing more and more Quad HD-equipped devices in the upcoming months. Unlike the LG G3 and the Galaxy Note 4, Sony has not endowed its newest flagship with such a pixel-rich display. This might be a winning move, but we are sure that Sony will receive a lot of critics for once again being behind the competition in yet another pretty important department.

4. Optical image stabilization

If Sony had endowed the Xperia Z3 with optical image stabilization, and not digital one, it would have probably amped up the imaging game of the flagship even more. Yes, the Xperia Z3 has already scored some nice improvements over the Z2, but such a stabilization technology would have sit quite nice on the specs sheet of the new flagman.

5. A better front-facing camera

Sony already has a "selfie" phone, the Sony Xperia C3, which sports a formidable 8MP camera at its front. Well, we don't say that Sony should have strapped an 8MP sensor on the Xperia Z3 as well, but a better selfie shooter would have put it slightly ahead of the herd. As most of its rivals flaunt roughly 2MP front-facing cameras (except for the HTC One (M8), which has a 5MP one), Sony truly had the chance to amp up its game in this department, which would have mostly appealed to the selfie-obsessed Asian markets.

6. Some kind of biometric sensors

It is yet to see if the latest trend to endow flagships with fingerprint scanners and other biometric sensors will live on or will be quickly forgotten, but we feel that Sony could have joined the likes of Apple and Samsung by endowing the Xperia Z3 with similar capabilities. Not that these hate-it-or-love-it features are something that most users can't live without, not at all. But if Sony wants to play catch with the bigger fish in the smartphone sea, it has to show that it can promptly follow the latest trends in the industry. But then again, Sony has probably restrained itself from jumping on this bandwagon for a reason. Any thoughts?

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Sony Xperia Z3: all the new features

The Sony Xperia Z3 might be just a slight upgrade over its predecessor, but when you think of it, Sony's newly-unveiled flagship addresses several key aspects that amp up the game of the Xperia flagship line even more. Well, not as much as we'd like it to be, but we have to give Sony some credit for keeping its flagships moderately up-to-date and always with a new feature or two.

As the improvements the new Xperia Z3 flaunts over the Xperia Z2 are somewhat hard to spot at first sight, we decided to detail them in handy list. Starting from the improvements to the camera and moving on to the slightly better SoC, the Xperia Z3 will probably appeal to those who have eyed Sony's most advanced lineup with awe, but were reluctant to jump on the bandwagon with either the Xperia Z2 or the Xperia Z1. Not that the Z3 is such a significant upgrade compared to its predecessor, it's just a more polished and refined device as a whole.

Sony Xperia Z3 - all the new features

1. Faster processor

Well, it's not a Snapdragon 805, but the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC in the Xperia Z3 is slightly more power-laden than the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AB inside the Xperia Z2. The latter is already powerful enough to ensure a smooth and lag-free everyday use, but it's always good to have a clock rate that is several hundred megahertz higher, isn't it?

2. New 25mm wide-angle camera lens

The Sony Xperia Z3 comes with a 20.7MP camera that is endowed with a brand new, 25mm wide-angle "G Lens", which allows you to fit more in every shot, as per the manufacturer. We'll have to wait until the first camera comparisons before we can say if this has amped up the image quality, though.

3. ISO 12800 for better low-light photography

Sony boasts that the Xperia Z3 is the first smartphone from a major manufacturer that allows photography devotees to boost the light sensitivity all the way up to ISO 12800. This will most probably allow for more-detailed photos under nightmarish low-light conditions.

4. More lightweight and compact

Sony has really outdone itself in the size department this time, as the Xperia Z3 is shorter, narrower, and extremely thin with dimensions of 5.75 x 2.83 x 0.29 inches (146 x 72 x 7.3 mm). This has resulted in a negative spike in its weight, as well - it tips the scales at 5.36 oz (152 gr).

5. Better water-resistance

The Xperia Z2 is already IP58-certified, but the Xperia Z3 runs circles around it with its IP65/IP68 certification, the "highest waterproof rating". According to Sony, this enables the device to remain undamaged by being submersed up to 1.5 meters of water for as long as 30 minutes, "even with an open headphone jack".

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The Sony Xperia Z3 is here! 7.3 mm-thin with a new, rounded design and improved G Lens

A while ago, Sony made it its official strategy to release a new flagship phone every 6 months. According to company execs, the temp change is simple: technology is just moving too fast, and that a shorter release cycle is the only way to account for that and stay relevant.

It's a nice sentiment at its core. After all, who doesn't want his favorite manufacturer to strive to always bring the latest in tech to its customers? But the reality is that this is a topic of controversy, as many feel that such a pace will inevitably limit the appeal of consecutive device releases, as there simply won't be enough in it to trigger that overpowering feeling that you just have to upgrade to the new best. And now, Sony's new best is here, so say hello to the Xperia Z3.

Design: OmniBalance with a lemon wedge

By now, most of you will have come to recognize major companies' unique design language. All of them usually have a name for it, and Sony tends to refer to its devices' specific curves as representing its OmniBalance design philosophy. The Xperia Z3 is true to that philosophy, but it introduces a twist that is absolutely a-typical: a rounded frame.

We can't stress how welcome this change really is -- after all, while not terrible at ergonomics by any means, previous Z-line flagships have left something to be desired. Also welcome are the reductions in thickness (7.3 mm from 8.2 mm), bezel size, overall dimensions (146 x 72 mm / 5.74 x 2.83 in), and weight (152 g from 162 g). Seeing as the Z3's predecessor was anything but small, these are all changes for the better, especially since they entail no sacrifice -- the phone is still IP68-certified for its dust and water resistance, though Sony is adding an IP65 spec to the sheet, as well, to signify that the phone is also resistant from water shot directly at the phone. What's more, the phone retains it's premium body, with a frame made out of aluminum and tempered glass used for the front and back panels.

Oh, and don't freak out -- the Xperia Z3 does come with seemingly the same S-Force Front Surround stereo speakers found in its predecessor.

When talking display, it's same old same old and that's great

We expected no major changes when it came to the Xperia Z3's screen, and that, perhaps, is why we weren't surprised when Sony made it clear that it won't be jumping onto the Quad HD bandwagon. Of course, we don't necessarily feel like such super-detailed panels add much to the user experience, and we know for a fact that content for that resolution is still exceedingly rare. 

As for the panel in question, we're talking a 5.2-inch IPS unit with a standard resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, or a density of 424 ppi. To spice things up, Sony claims to have used its brightest TRILUMINOS display for mobile with the standard Live Colour and X-Reality engines for a better image. According to the company, this is the "world's brightest display of leading premium smartphones". We are not absolutely clear on that, but we've been hearing the 600 nits figure being thrown around, so perhaps the upgrade isn't trivial. 

On the inside, there's a Snapdragon eight hundred and... one?

Alright, so Sony has used a (higher-clocked) Snapdragon 801 chipset by Qualcomm with the Xperia Z3, and that won't sit well with the specs-obsessed crowd out there.

Quite frankly, if you feel like you belong to that group, we'd be more ready to agree with you if the topic of conversation isn't just that of computing power, as the SD801 has more than enough of that, especially when talking about 1080p displays. Indeed, at least according to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 805 (that you'll soon find on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4) introduces improvements and new features to smartphone cameras, among which Chroma Flash (shoot two snaps in darkness, one with flash and one without, and combines them for a more natural-looking images), Action Shot and OptiZoom (tap on an object to keep it focused as it moves; tap on object and the camera will automatically zoom into it even if keeps on moving). It remains to be seen, however, if the first crop of Snapdragon 805-equipped devices will actually take advantage of these new goodies.

Moving onto memory, the situation here is much the same -- the Z3, like the Z2, will stick to 3GB of LPDDR3 memory, and that's not surprising considering that Android is still 32-bit. As for internal storage, there will be two versions -- one with 16GB and one with 32GB, both with support for microSD cards.

Last, but not least, the entire show is powered by an embedded, 3100 mAh cell. That's right, the thinness of the phone has obviously required a small sacrifice in battery capacity, as the Xperia Z2 boasted a 3200 mAh unit instead.

Say hello to Sony's improved 20.7-megapixel camera

Starting with the Xperia Z1, Sony has transitioned over to an impressive 20.7-megapixel sensor of its own make. The Xperia Z2 afterwards introduced several improvements that made the camera even better, and now it's the Xperia Z3's turn to improve on the successful formula.

To start off, there's no change in maximum resolution -- you've still got 20.7-megapixels to utilize, and the larger-than-average, 1/2.3'' Exmor RS sensor is here to stay. Different here are the new 25 mm wide-angled G Lens, which should give your camera a wider field of view. Sony is also adding new features to the camera software, including Face in (shoots two videos), AR fun (scribble over images), Sound Photo, and more, and, perhaps most importantly, the company has also improved its SteadyShot digital image stabilization tech, which should now be better at compensating for hand movements during video capture.

The rest of the package

Sony rounded up the Xperia Z3 package with a few extras. A major one of those is its ability to communicate with PlayStation 4 consoles through PS4 Remote Play, allowing you to either use the phone as a secondary screen for games, or even play right from the 5.2-inch screen.

The Z3 comes with the very latest update of Android -- 4.4.4 KitKat. The phone also has support for NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, and Cat 4 LTE speeds of up to 

150 Mbps. In some regions, Sony will also sell the new flagship in a dual SIM flavor.

Last but not least, Sony has also changed up the color options -- the Z3 will be available in White, Black, Copper, and Silver Green.

Price and release date

Sony, as per usual, wasn't very talkative as far as a proper release date or pricing are concerned. We were only told to expect a global launch for the Z3 starting in the autumn of 2014, so a roll-out within the next month, month and a half, is plausible. As for pricing, we'll have to wait and see if Sony has finally made any significant progress with carriers in the US, as the company has been altogether absent stateside lately. As for the rest of the world, we expect the new flagship to be priced identically to its predecessor, so about €569 in Europe without a contract.

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