Sony Xperia Z (C6602) Review

Back when Sony parted ways with Ericsson, the company promised they would be doubling their smartphone efforts and we caught the first glimpse of it with the launch of the Xperia S, the first Sony-branded Android. Since then, we've seen a wave of handsets being pumped out by Sony in order to plug every conceivable price segment. Most of them were slightly modified clones of the flagship with one unique feature, which differentiated them in the line-up. Cut to the present and it seems as if Sony is running out of alphabets for its phones. The Xperia Z is the latest flagship from the Sony stable, which was launched along with a smaller sibling, the ZL. In true Sony fashion, this handset too has one stand out feature that sets it apart and that’s the IP55 and IP57 certification which makes the Z, the first ever high-end Android to be dust and water proof. Design and Build Sony has managed to achieve this feat and still keep the width down to 7.9mm and the weight to just 146g, so you understand why we were so excited to get our hands on it. You have a choice of colours with white, purple and black options. The handset looks good in white although some of us in the office felt it resembled a bathroom tile, which in all fairness, it does from the back. The Z carries forward the block-like design of previous generation Xperias and is completely flat from all sides with the exception of the corners and the edges being rounded off. It does feel unusual in your hand at first and the sides aren’t very grippy either. It’s not the most comfortable smartphone for sure and with a 5-inch display, you’ll have some trouble adjusting if you have small hands. To counter this, Sony has placed the power and volume rocker lower down on the sides so your thumb easily reaches it when held with the right hand. Just below that is the speaker grill, which we’ll talk about more in a bit. The rest of the ports are distributed around the phone and are safely ensconced with rubber-lined flaps. There’s a microSIM, microSD, microUSB and headphone jack, all protected from dust and water. Sony even throws in a lanyard loop at the bottom, not something we see a lot these days. Click here for full story