Sony is one of the Android manufacturers that you don't hear much about throughout the year, just has managed to consistently produce decent loftier-end devices for several years at present. Final year's Xperia Z3 was a dandy option for someone after a well-built handset with excellent battery life, while the Z3 Meaty was a solid alternative in a smaller course cistron.

This year Sony has released the Xperia Z5, which brings a collection of updated hardware to the visitor'due south flagship Android device. While technically a successor to the express-release Xperia Z4, Sony is positioning the Xperia Z5 every bit a worthy upgrade over the year-quondam Xperia Z3, or the Xperia Z1 from 2022 for those on two-year release cycles.

In many ways the Xperia Z5 has, on paper, everything yous'd want from a loftier-end smartphone. At that place's a 23-megapixel photographic camera on the dorsum with "Hybrid Autofocus", allegedly allowing it to focus in as quick as 30 milliseconds. There'southward besides a five.two-inch 1080p display powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, giving a mix of performance and energy efficiency. Sony claims two days of battery life from the Z5's 2,900 mAh battery, which is squashed into a 7.3mm thin water resistant body.

Sony is too keeping up with the competition by including features such as a fingerprint scanner, while retaining favorites like the microSD card slot. Unfortunately, there'southward no USB Blazon-C or Android 6.0, so it's lagging behind the latest Nexus phones at launch in that regard.

The pattern of the Xperia Z5 is similar to what Sony has been using since the original Xperia Z. The handset is very rectangular, with almost no curvature leading to a profile that's apartment and slab-like. This makes the phone expect deceptively thick: it's just 7.65mm thick, but a handset similar the Milky way S6 (vi.8mm) looks substantially thinner. It's also not the lightest handset going around, at 154 grams for its v.2-inch body.

While the Z5 might look thick, I actually capeesh the slab design of the handset, every bit it seems more refined and classy than some of its curvy competitors. The bezels that are constitute above and below the brandish are a petty large for my liking, but the minimalist design on both the front and back is appealing.

Sony has updated their choice of materials for the Xperia Z5: the edges are made from a matte metal that feels more like plastic than the metallic you get on the Galaxy S6, iPhone 6s or HTC One M9. In some means this is a regression from the beautiful curved metal edges Sony used for the Xperia Z3, which I experience were easier to grip than the Z5's slipperier sides. However, the ugly and uncomfortable magnetic docking connector is no more, which is a huge improvement.

Both the front and back of the Xperia Z5 are solid slabs of glass, though for the first fourth dimension the rear of the handset uses frosted matte glass rather than a glossy finish. This improves the await of the handset and cuts down on persistent fingerprint crud, though it does nothing to improve the durability of the device, and in that location are already reports that some Z5 dorsum panels have cracked. The rear glass pane on my Xperia Z3 cracked, so let's hope this doesn't happen to the Xperia Z5.

Luckily, the guys over at dbrand provided a wooden skin that has been practical to the back of the handset. It both looks and feels great, and it should improve the durability of the dorsum panel by adding an actress layer between the basis and the glass during any impacts. If you're worried about cracks and don't desire to add together bulk through a case, a skin like this is the ideal solution.

The Xperia Z5 is withal water resistant, like its successors, though we're finally at a stage where all the necessary ports – especially the microUSB two.0 charging port – can be uncovered while still maintaining an IP65 and IP68 rating. Where flaps annoyed me in previous Xperia iterations, the Xperia Z5'south water resistant design is perfect.

Like with all h2o resistant devices that are IP65 and IP68 rated, information technology should be noted that these ratings only utilise for fresh h2o. The device should be fine submerged in a chlorinated pool (though it should be rinsed with fresh water afterwards submersion), just it certainly won't be fine in a saltwater surroundings such as the body of water.

The exposed microUSB and 3.5mm audio ports are constitute on the bottom and top edges of the Xperia Z5 respectively, while there's a flap on the left side that conceals a nano-SIM menu tray and a microSD menu slot. On the left is a very awkwardly-placed volume rocker, likewise as a defended two-phase camera button that'due south especially useful when taking underwater photos.

On the left you'll also discover the new fingerprint sensor, which doubles as a power push button. This positioning of the sensor is the most natural I've seen, and it's easily operated by a right-hander such every bit myself, though I suspect it will be slightly less convenient for lefties. The travel distance and tactile feedback from the button itself isn't swell, though that'due south somewhat understandable because it includes a sensor.

The Z5 fingerprint sensor is reasonably fast to operate, unlocking the handset and turning on the brandish in nether a second, though it's not equally quick as the iPhone 6s' Affect ID. It's also not every bit accurate as Touch ID, declining to register my thumbprint on the kickoff attempt effectually 15-20% of the time. In general, it's still faster to utilise fingerprint unlock as a security organisation than Pin or password unlocking despite its inaccurate moments, and the Z5's implementation is far improve than the OnePlus 2's, for example.

The front of the handset features stereo speakers, which are in the ideal position for gaming and watching videos. One of the features I love about the recent Xperia phones are their front-facing speakers, equally they're reasonably loud, decent enough in quality, and better the media consumption experience significantly over having side- or rear-firing drivers.