Sony Xperia XZ Premium Review: Enjoy The Wonders Of Slow Motion

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is the latest incarnation in Sony’s long running family of smartphones. Sony’s newest Xperia meets many of the standards of today’s Androids, but does it do enough to encourage you to abandon your Samsung Galaxy S8?

SONY XPERIA XZ REVIEW

The Xperia family is known for its minimalistic design, of which the XZ Premium continues. While there is something to be said for not fixing what isn’t outright broken, the Xperia family would benefit from an aesthetic makeover. Similarly, the dimensions are reminiscent of those in its lineage.

However, while its external appearance is predictable, the Xperia XZ Premium’s internal components can rival the best phones currently on the market. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor is a creditable foundation, ensuring the Premium can keep up with its peers on the market. It exceeds the capabilities of Sony’s prior Androids as well, offering “20% faster CPU and delivers 25% faster graphics.” And, speaking of graphics, the Premium can link up to your PlayStation 4, rendering you able to game from anywhere in your home.

64GB worth of internal memory is housed within the Premium, although 256GB more can be applied via a microSD card. The XZ Premium’s display is one of its strongest assets. With a screen spanning 5.5 inches, the resolution is a clear 2,160 by 3,840 pixels. Furthermore, its 4K visuals are stunning, utilizing technology from Sony’s BRAVIA televisions. Plus, its battery should safely last throughout your day.

The Premium’s exclusive talent is its slow motion capture. Viewing the world at 960 framer per second adds a novel way to witness events, from the mundane to grandiose. However, CNET’s review acknowledged how this function, while fun, could be more intuitive; pressing record begins at a normal speed, and you have to press record a second time to initiate the feature. Moreover, it only records in slow motion for approximately a second, meaning it takes practice to master recording what you want in that brief window.

$799.99 is the price of entry for a Sony Xperia XZ Premium. While its roughness makes it hard to recommend over its rivals at that price, it’s still overall a very strong phone.