Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Sony Xperia XZ

Top positive review

Finally a Premimum Android Smartphone Stateside

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2016

Beautiful design. Feels expensive and good in the hand, not too big not too small but of course is is relative as we all have difference size hands.

Amazing screen! The colors are rich and vibrant when using it, viewing pics, or watching videos.

Powerful! It flew threw setup and installing my last Android backup in record time. Also it updated to Nougat while I was setting it up for the first time, so the latest Android OS right from the start was a great bonus!

Yes the international version is 64GB of internal memory vs the US's 32, but with up to 256 MicroSD expandable memory, that's not really an issue. Plus not all US carriers provide full bandwidth support for the international version (i.e. you might not get LTE, only 4G) so do your research before buying based on specs alone.

Price is right compared to other phones on the market, i.e. the new Google Pixel. I had already pre-ordered my XZ but watched the Pixel announcement and really liked what they are finally doing, but also had some concerns: 1) it's first gen tech. Google is an amazing company but i've been burned before and make it a point to never buy 'the first' of any new tech that's released. 2) it's expensive! if you get the big 128GB model and the insurance it's going to sent you back just under $900 bucks. That's asking a lot for a smartphone, even one that's 100% Google made. So when i looked at the two, i stuck with my XZ and couldn't be happier.

And battery life has been really good. Using it all day (8AM to 9PM) without charging and still have 30-40% juice left. Mine came with Sony's rapid charging wall-plug, and I bought some Anker 3.0 USB-C cables (bought through Amazon of course ^_^), so she charges very quickly. I think in under 10 minutes I went from under 50% battery life to 100%.

I'm not a tech professional by any means, I'm just your average consumer that's tech savvy and values my dollars going to quality products that I'll get at least 2-3 years solid use out. Yes, there are other Android phones on the market with bigger/better technical specs, but not everything needs to be 100% top-end. If you do that you get crap battery life because that bigger processor and better screen and finger print scanner and all those other 'nice to haves' need juice to run. The more you tack on, the harder the phone has to work, the hotter it runs and the crappier the battery life is. So I'm happy with the Sony XZ because it takes advantage of everything I want in a premium phone, has high-end specs that work in its beautiful design, and they made it so it works as hard without over doing it.

All in all it's one of the best Android phones I've ever used, and I've used all the majors (Samsung, Motorola, and HTC) and none of them compare to this. I only hope it sells well so that Sony further invests in the US market because we've been waiting for high-end Android phones like the XZ for years.

35 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Terran

Ok Phone, Just hope it never breaks.

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2017

Phone overall was a good phone. Did not stand out as better than anything I had before. But it did the job. It had a few issues with memory but I was able to mitigate that once I found out what programs were the issue. That being said if you plan on buying a Sony hope you do not need to have it fixed. Sony does not care about you as a customer. My phone ended up bricking about 5 months after I bought it. The phone did not turn on, no lights even when charging. You would think it was an open and shut case and I will get a warranty. Nope, once I shipped it (under my dime) to their facility it seems like they just opened my box, made up some bull about physical damage (No signs of being dropped or abuse whatsoever mind you) and just shipped it back. I was not notified or anything. I found out when I received the phone. To make matters worse I called prior to receiving my device back for a status update and they told me the phone was being inspected by quality control to check the repair was done right. If my claim was denied due to "physical damage" then why would it be sent to quality. They just lied to me. Never buying a Sony phone again.

5 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Tuffie

Finally a Premimum Android Smartphone Stateside

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2016

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

35 people found this helpful

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sprg

Sony continues their line of flawless flagships

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017

Color: BlueVerified Purchase

Sony, Sony is a very strange company sometimes and can really make you wonder what in the world they are doing, but one thing has seemed to always hold true throughout their insane decisions, quality. Everything Sony has ever made has absolutely flawless quality, all of their products are the epitome of perfection, and the Xperia XZ absolutely continues that tradition.

I had an Xperia Z3 for two years before buying this phone, and I was stuck on outdated Android 5 because of T-Mobile pretending they never sold it, and I refused to switch to another brand, even with old, outdated Android, and it starting to show its age (although, still running fantastically well, and if I could get a newer OS on it, would probably still be using). Sony's Xperia line of phones are just so far ahead of everything Samsung, LG, or whatever else is out there it's unbelievable. My Z3, after *two years* still managed at least two days worth of battery life, no problem. And I have no doubts that the XZ will live up to the greatness that has been established.

One thing that absolutely floored me as soon as I started using the XZ was its camera, now my Z3 had a pretty damn good camera too, and before that I had a Lumia 925 as my daily driver, but the XZ's camera is *scary* how great the pictures come out, from my testing I have a damn hard time believing that a phone took them. Obviously a DSLR can still do better, but for something you will always have on you? The camera on this phone is unbelievable, and the "laser autofocus" system is stupidly fast and very accurate, in under a second the focus is perfect and right where it needs to be, even in low light conditions. Some testing I did was in a room with just a 40w lightbulb on and it had focus almost instantly, every time.

Performance is stellar too, it just flies through everything I even try throwing at it, even while downloading all of my apps onto it there was barely any stutter, and now that everything is installed and up to date, everything just glides.

I also like how out of the box the default configuration pushes you towards full device encryption, and when you put in a microSD card it pops up a notification asking it you would like it encrypted as well, massive props to Sony for pushing for privacy there.

The only real negative thing I can even think of saying about it would be that the fingerprint reader is disabled on the US version of the ROM, which, honestly doesn't really bother me that much, but would be a nice feature to have. Luckily, if I do want it, flashing the UK ROM enables it no problem.

Overall, it is a stunningly gorgeous phone that completely exceeds all of my already high expectations from previous Sony phones, it's a damn shame that there are no carriers that still offer Sony phones in the US so that more people can see how great they are. Even paying full price upfront, it's still worth it.

Stop looking at the garbage that LG and Samsung put out that die after a year (more of a jab towards LG there, everyone I know has had at least one LG phone die to bootloop woes, and Samsung isn't much better), and go with Sony, you won't regret it.

14 people found this helpful

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F. D. Rizzo

A solid upgrade from the mid-range market

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2017

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

I bought this phone back in May when it was available for closer to $350, and so far I am very satisfied with it. I came from a mid-range Xperia before this (C4), and before that had an Xperia Z2. While I loved the software experience with both, I had issues with the camera and Bluetooth. I was excited to upgrade back to a flagship quality phone and so far things have been great.

The 5.2" display seems like a great compromise between some of the smaller options and phablets that have also graced the market. The screen on this phone is excellent. There is so much talk these days about AMOLED and other emerging technologies, but Sony still manages to make a killer IPS LCD display. There's simply no need for 2K or 4K on a phone in my opinion, so Sony doesn't waste their time on the specs competition with this device. Contrast is great, sunlight readability is perfect, and reviewing my pictures on the phone is always a very pleasing experience.

This phone zips through day to day tasks incredibly well. It has handled everything I've thrown at it with complete ease. Sometimes the camera will load with a blank screen, but all I need to do is re-launch the app to resolve that . Other than that, I really am yet to deal with any software/functionality glitches whatsoever with this phone.

The thing that really excited me about the Xperia XZ was the thought of getting a flagship-grade camera for a sub-$400 price. I was well aware of Sony's struggles with cameras on their phones, but I have always thought it was a bit overblown. The one thing that does drive me nuts about this camera is the wide angle lens. I see clear blur of foliage in the left corner of all the pictures I take, and it is incredibly frustrating once you notice it and effectively can't "unsee" it. While this is a known issue with wide-angle lens, there is no way it should be this prominent on what was once a $700 phone. Another issue I have with the camera is the postprocessing algorithm - photos usually come out over-sharpened, and textures tend to have a blurred, oil pastel appearance when zooming in. However, it's not all bad, as colors are reproduced very well and macro shots look fantastic.

Battery life is above average for this phone, and can be great if you are willing to make some small changes. I have never had an issue getting through the day. I'm not someone who spends a ton of time on social media, but between Reddit, internet browsing, YouTube videos, GPS navigation and taking a lot of photos this phone has always gotten it done for me. I highly recommend installing an application from the Play Store called Greenify, which closes out all apps running in the background when your phone is not in use. It has definitely added the extra bump I needed to get through closer to 2 days instead of 1-1/4 with the original setup.

Overall, I would recommend this phone at the $400 price point. There are some known concerns about the USB-C port on the bottom, but I think more than anything treating it fragile will be good enough to ensure it holds up. Beyond that, it's hard to pass up a phone that comes across as so reliable between the battery and software experience. I have never had an issue really with performance on a Sony device - their Android optimization is just that good. I definitely see this as being a nice, flashier alternative to some of the phones Moto has been putting out. If you want something with better all around specs yet that reliability of good software and battery, this is by far one of your best bets.

8 people found this helpful

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TNVGAMING

A Fantastic, Yet Underappreciated Phone by SONY

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2017

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

I have been an Android user for years now, and I've been around the block with the OS, and hardware manufacturers after being exhausted with Apple's lack of progress with their phones and iOS itself. I've used HTC, LG, SAMSUNG, etc. you name the brand, I've probably used it at some point or another.

Of all these manufacturers, Sony Mobile Communication's line of XPERIA smartphones have been my personal favorite, and the XPERIA XZ is currently my favorite of them all. Yes, the design is drastically different the the previous XPERIA Z5 and XPERIA X series of phones, but it's so much more appealing to the eye, and comfortable to hold. So let's get to the strengths of this phone:

- Excellent build quality; the phone is all metal, except for the screen, and it definitely feels like a premium handset.
- Unique design; Sony seems to have a fairly unique design that while it's not flashy, it certainly looks elegant and appealing to the eyes.
- Expandable memory up to 256GB; which many other hardware manufacturers seem to lack
- A 3.5MM Headphone Jack, which seems to be vanishing from their competitors.

Other Pros:
- The pre-installed software ins't intrusive, and in some cases useful; the SONY Walkman-Music App is simple, clean and has plenty of features that have pushed me to transfer my music files from Google's App, to the Walkman-Music App.
- PlayStation Network (including PlayStation App, Remote Play, and PlayStation Music) If you're a PlayStation Gamer like me, and you're invested in PS3, PS Vita and/ or PS4, the PlayStation App allows you to message your friends, download games, check system settings, control your PS4 via Second Screen, or Remotely, etc. the Remote Play App allows XPERIA users to stream their PlayStation 4 Games to their phone with a DualShock 4 Controller, which is great when I have friends over and they want to watch YouTube in my living room where my PS4 is.
- The rear-facing camera takes some gorgeous pictures, and when set to manual, they look even better!
- Aside from Sony's pre-installed apps, Sony doesn't drastically change or manipulate Android to the point where it's unrecognizable like other brands do.

Some Cons:
- Price; Sony's phones are priced more than others, which can turn potential buyers away
- Availability; Why Sony Mobile Communications doesn't partner with Sprint or T-Mobile and create some worthwhile marketing campaigns for these phones is beyond me
- Software Updates; because Sony Mobile Communications manufacturers so many different XPERIA smartphones and tablets, Android updates can take longer, but this can be excusable for most, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

To Summarize:

Sony Mobile Communications is, in my opinion, THE place to go to for Android-based smartphones, the cameras are great, there's features like expandable memory and headphone jacks that seem to be disappearing from their competition, and the design is unique enough to where I have curious passer-byes asking in admiration what kind of phone I have.

18 people found this helpful

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Terran

Ok Phone, Just hope it never breaks.

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2017

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

5 people found this helpful

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Kevin Nicholls

A truly outstanding phone dying for more storage.

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2016

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

The Xperia XZ is truly a beautiful device. While the "slab" appearance my turn some people off, it's very comfortable to hold, and is narrow enough that it never feels like it's about to fly from your hand. The display, while not mind-boggling in terms of specs, borrows heavily from Sony's television expertise, and looks more "natural" playing HD movies than the iPhone 7 Plus and Galaxy S7 Edge.

Sound quality, while maybe not quite to BoomSound's bar on earlier HTC devices, is also surprisingly good. It may not be the "best" Android device I've used for media consumption, but its the most enjoyable.

Signal quality is something of a mixed bag. In places where other phones have marginal LTE coverage, I noticed the Xperia would drop to 3G more often than not. In places with stronger LTE coverage, I was seeing results like this when comparing with the same SIM:
OnePlus 3: 32mb down / 8mb up
Galaxy S7 Edge: 33mb down / 8mb up
iPhone 7 Plus: 35 down / 7mb up
Xperia XZ: 27 down / 4mb up

(Tests were run multiple times, and results are rounded and averaged.)

The digitizer is nice and accurate, with almost perfect sensitivity. And throughout the device, there are numerous design cues that took me back to the Clie series of PDA's back in the long-long-ago. Even the no-needle-necessary SIM/SD tray is a welcome addition. You really do get a sense that this phone is "expensive" and attention was paid to every detail.

Except one.

This should all point to a higher rating, but the disappointing and deal-breaking discovery for me is that Sony chose to disable adoptable storage (at the time of this writing, there's not very extensive coverage of the phone, so this may be a more obvious deficiency in the future). I knew out of the gate that this only has 32GB, but with the inclusion of MicroSD support and every other "nice" feature of the phone seems to imply that it would just be there. It isn't, and enabling it over ADB doesn't work. So out of the box, with only software updates to the preinstalled apps and two weeks worth of my GMail account, 40% of the internal storage was already spoken for.

While that might be acceptable for many, the second shoe dropped when it came to using the SD card as a media repository. Playback of Sony's own demo movies from the card (A Class 10 SanDisk Ultra) were choppy, and the transfer speed was dramatically slower than in my S7 Edge. My guess here is for whatever reason, Sony decided to go cheap here.

And that, sadly, is why I'll be returning the phone. Were it not for that awful decision, it would be hands-down the best Android device I've used.

21 people found this helpful

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dnp

Great Design with Performance

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016

Color: BlackVerified Purchase

Color - Mineral Black
I am transitioning from Oneplus 3 to Xperia XZ. I am satisfied with the performance my current phone but I am making this shift to XZ only for the design aspect and camera. I have been waiting so long for Sony to release an all rounder phone that can compete with other flagships in the market and this time they nailed it.
Pros:
Performance: Crisp and fast without any lag.
Design: IMO, this is the best looking handset among the current flagships(including iphone 7 and pixel). It's been 3 days since I started using it, and it had already drawn attention from my friends. In one word it will put all the flagships to shame. Thumbs up for the mineral black color.
Camera: Manual mode is a killer. Auto focus and video quality is also good. Indoor and low light shots are great if you can tweak little bit in the manual mode.
Fingerprint sensor: If you can spend some time and flash the software with UK version, then you will probably unearth one of the amazing and effective finger print sensors in the market. It seems to respond faster than iphone6s, iphone 7 and oneplus 3.
Display: Nothing to complain.
Speakers: Dual speaker are really cool.
SD Card: Not yet installed a micro sd card. So could not comment on that yet.
Water proof: Have not tested and no intentions to do it.
Cons:
Battery: Its just satisfactory. I use my phone quite a bit during day(at least 2 hour talk time, 3 hours of listening music, 1 hour of bluetooth streaming in the car, 2 hours of browsing, social networking and video streaming combined). An extra 10% could have been better in my case.
Wish list:
Charging Time: Oneplus3 and Pixel has fast charge option that can charge 60% of the phone in 30 mins. I miss that feature in Xperia XZ. It usually takes 60 minutes for 60% charge.

Overall: Sony has finally hit the cord by packing all the best and cool features into one single handset XZ. Be it camera, display, performance, fingerprint sensor or dual speakers it perfected each of those features. Price wise it is on the higher end of the spectrum competing with Samsung and Apple. Sony is a premium brand which uses finest materials. It is perceived as an upscale brand even before apple started working on it's ipods. At the same time I would not waste money if they deliver incompetent products(which is the case of some of their earlier xperias).But if a Sony product can compete with Samsung and Apple then I would not mind paying the premium. If you don't want to be one in millions using Iphones and Samsungs and yet do not compromise on quality and performance then the answer is "Own an Xperia XZ".

91 people found this helpful

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MrFoobar2U

A Super Phone - Pure and Simple

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2016

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

This review is for the Sony Xperia XZ. To start, I'm running T-Mobile here in the northeast. Also, we have other Xperia phones (Z Ultra, Z3 and Z5), and this is replacing a Samsung Galaxy S7, as my patience with Samsung and Apple is exhausted. (My wife has always had Samsungs and even she was getting ticked off) First, I'm 100% convinced that so called "Experts" who review phones are being paid by the phone manufacturers, and I'll explain. Take screen resolution. They complain that a particular phone is weak based on specs. Never mind that your eye can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p with screen sizes less than 46", any 5" phone that doesn't have 1080p is committing the ultimate sin in the view, as long as it's not Apple. For me, the order of importance in a phone is the following (starting with the most important): A) It should be able to get a good signal from a cell tower. B) The WiFi should work well and be stable C) The camera should take nice quality pictures. D) It should be snappy and respond quickly E) The build quality of the device and display.

My wife has the S7. Wherever we traveled, she'd hit weak spots and lose connectivity, while those of us with the Sony phones never have issues (she has had issues in the heart of Manhattan, while I'm getting 5 bars with my old Ultra). At home, I have 3 access points, and the channels are spread out. All the Sony phones have no issues switching from one AP to another, while the Samsung would lose it's mind. The Cameras are equivalent (edge to Sony), the Samsung has a nicer display, but the build and feel of the XZ is just at another level. As the older Xperias Z's are superior to any of the Samsungs, the new XZ is magnitudes better (there is just no comparison).

and that's why I brought up the issue of "professional" reviews. This phone makes the previous Xperias look cheap and they are great phones in and of themselves. How Sony is not dominating the market is beyond me. I don't know much about the LG and HTC phones, but having owned an iPhone and various Samsung Galaxy phones, they can't hold a candle compared to this new XZ

206 people found this helpful

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Michelle

Sticking with the Xperia line!

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2016

Color: BlueVerified Purchase

I've had this phone for a number of weeks now and am very pleased overall.

When I was looking to buy a new phone I was comparing this one specifically to Google's Pixel. Some of my initial concerns were getting updates timely, durability, and price.

The hardware is standard for 2016 phones. The Pixel has a slightly newer processor that's negligibly faster. It was a disappointment the XZ only had 3GB of RAM though. This was still an upgrade from my previous phone however. There's also 1 very important fact to keep in mind when buying the latest and greatest in processing power - battery life. The Pixel had a beefier (ever so slightly) processor, and yet a smaller battery. Battery life will take a hit because of that. I was much less worried about it with this phone. The XZ (in the US) doesn't have a fingerprint sensor which is a bummer but I'm not going to miss it. The camera IS as high quality as Sony claims. I love it and can get off 10+ pictures without slow down.

One of the reasons I was looking into the Pixel was because it would be nice to have a pure android phone. Samsung phones have that god-awful TouchWiz business and Sony's have the Xperia UI. You also have to wait for updates. I'm currently still waiting for Android 7.0 which I'm getting impatient for. The one thing I like about the Xperia is the customizability. Everyone Oo's and Awe's when they see my phone because the menus, buttons, etc all look extremely different from a normal android and they're surprised to find out I haven't rooted it.

Some features this phone has that I couldn't get with Google's.
Waterproofing - This was HUGE for me. I don't go around getting my phones wet however I have dropped one in the toilet before. That slip-up will destroy non-waterproof phones
SD card slot - If the phone has 64GB of internal memory or more it's not an issue. Unfortunately to get that with the Pixel it massively hiked the price. Beyond what this phone cost.
Front facing speakers - This was also a big deal for me. I listen to music quietly in the mornings when getting ready and can't wear headphones while doing it. I hate the way sound comes out muffled when the speakers are pointed somewhere else.

In the end I decided I could live with the Xperia interface, one gig less of RAM and slow updates. I like the way this phone looks. It's unique. Sony goes the opposite direction of simply copying Apple like Google did with the Pixel. Anything hardware-wise the Pixel had over the XZ, this phone beat with additional features (like the waterproofing). I feel like for the money I'd rather buy those features than a sliver of improvement in hardware.

22 people found this helpful

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Takin Notes

Not Ideal, But Still Very Good

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2016

Color: BlueVerified Purchase

My previous phone was a Note 4, so after playing around on this phone for a while, these are my first thoughts.

The power/lock/unlock button is in a really convenient place considering it's in the middle of the phone. It makes it easier to turn on and off without having to readjust your hand which is nice. The volume button took a little getting used to but it turned out better then expected. Although the speakers aren't as loud as my note 4, having both of the speakers in the front of the phone is a lot nicer, no need to cup my hand around to hear videos.

I don't use a lot of apps, and this phone works faster then my last one, and the battery lasts a while, about 1-2 days before needing to charge. The screen is also very clear and crisp. One thing I don't like is that you have to use your typing on their SwiftKey keyboard with auto suggest which I personally find annoying.

The key highlight for the phone is their camera. You can take photos ranging from 8mp to 20mp, (24mp in 4:3 aspect ratio). The lens has a wider angle then most cellphones which is really nice when taking landscape photos, or taking a pic of a bunch of people. Taking action shots is the most incredible I have yet seen in any cellphone camera. The colors as advertised are near identical to real life color as well, without editing. The video in 1080p is really clear, and has a wider angle then I had previously thought. The 4K feature is a little disappointing. Although it may be slightly clearer then the 1080p, you lose a lot of the picture angle when you use it, which isn't worth it to me.

Let me know if this review was helpful

15 people found this helpful

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