The Sony XZ Premium has an exceptional screen and a seriously addictive camera
This is the first time such an advanced display has been included on any smartphone
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Your support makes all the difference.Sony has decided to wait a day longer than LG and Huawei to launch its own new flagship smartphone, the XZ Premium.
The Japanese giant has struggled to compete with its rivals in the mobile industry over recent years, but is hoping to bounce back through a handset equipped with a remarkably high-end 4K HDR display.
Sony says this is the first time such an advanced screen has been included on any smartphone.
Impressive as it looks - and it genuinely is strikingly sharp and detailed - there just isn’t a great deal of 4K HDR content available yet.
To address the issue, Sony’s struck up a partnership with Amazon Prime Video, which offers some shows in 4K HDR, but not many.
Somewhat disappointingly, the company’s stuck with the same design blueprint of old. It hasn’t changed much since 2013, and as a result, it’s tough to get excited about the XZ Premium’s looks.
It’s certainly not badly designed, but the Xperia brand has been in need of a makeover for some time.
The ‘luminous chrome’ option is something new, but we’d rather it didn’t exist at all. The mirror-like finish is garish and particularly prone to ugly fingerprint marks. The ‘deepsea black’ option, however, certainly floats my boat.
What’s really cool is the XZ Premium’s camera. It uses a 19-megapixel sensor and comes with a couple of exciting tricks.
The first is Predictive Capture, which automatically snaps four photos when it senses a moving object on the screen. Why? To ensure you capture the moment you want to capture, even if you hit the shutter button a fraction of a second too late.
Better still is the ability to shoot super slow-motion videos at 90fps. It’s a seriously addictive feature, and brings a spellbinding sense of drama to pretty much any material you apply it to, whether it’s a football being kicked or glitter shimmering through the air.
The XZ Premium is also water- and dust-resistant, and is powered by the Snapdragon 835 processor.
There’s no word on pricing yet, but Sony says it will be available to buy in June.
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