Sony Xperia Z5 review: An ageing beauty

Latest news: 2016’s Sony Xperia Z5 is no longer Sony’s flagship smartphone. It’s still available to buy, however, and with 2018’s handsets costing more than ever, it’s certainly one to consider.

At the time of writing, the price of the Sony Xperia Z5 had dropped to a very reasonable £325. That’s compared to this year’s offering from Sony, the Xperia XZ2 ­– which will set you back £699.

You’ll find Jonathan Bray’s original Sony Xperia Z5 review below.

Sony Xperia Z5 review: In full

When it first launched, the Sony Xperia Z5 represented the culmination of 18 months of incremental improvements for Sony’s range of Xperia smartphones, and now even more than a year on it remains one of our favourite smartphones.

That’s despite the appearance of two other versions of the Z5: the diminutive Z5 Compact, and the slightly larger Z5 Premium, which is almost identical, the somewhat superfluous 4K screen aside. And then there’s the more recent Sony Xperia X, Sony Xperia XA and Sony Xperia XZ, two phones that would seem to signify a move away from the Z series as the firm’s smartphone standard bearer.

All those phones offer a variation on the Xperia theme, but none of them quite manages to match the Xperia Z5’s combination of superb design and all-round competence. Grab it for under £450 on Amazon UK (or for about $479 on Amazon US).

Sony Xperia Z5 review: Design

That’s why, for me, it’s the Xperia Z5 that deserves its place at the head of Sony’s smartphone range – despite its age – and it all starts with that gorgeous, almost-all-glass design. Although Sony has stuck with the design language that has stood it in such good stead over the past few years (so the phone keeps the trademark Xperia glass-slabbed front and back and squared-off profile, and it remains both water- and dust-resistant to IP68), it is different and chock full of refinements that really make a difference.

The aesthetic alterations are the most subtle: there’s a new engraved Xperia logo on the left edge; the Xperia Z5’s metal frame has been squared off ever so slightly; and Sony has swapped the glossy glass rear for a smooth-to-the-touch frosted glass plate. Surrounding the screen at the very edge is a slightly raised lip, a design feature intended to prevent the phone slipping off inclined surfaces. And in each of the white, “Graphite Black”, gold and green colour options, it looks simply gorgeous.

As with all glass-backed phones, however, if you buy one of these, you’ll need to be careful how you handle it. I dropped my review sample from the height of around 30cm onto some gravel, and it shattered the rear into thousands of tiny shards. That wouldn’t have happened to a phone with a plastic or metal rear casing. I’d advise using a case, or at the very least a screen protector applied to the rear, just to be on the safe side.

The biggest departure in design terms, however, is the look of the power button. Sony’s trademark protruding chrome-effect circle, which has been around for years, has now been replaced by an elongated lozenge, slightly inset from the edge to prevent you accidentally pressing it.

This seems a frivolous change on the surface, but there’s considerably more substance to it than first meets the eye, since  the button hides one of the Z5’s big new features: a fingerprint reader.

So far, most smartphones with one of these components have opted to pop it beneath the home button, or on the rear, both approaches that have their problems. The front reader can be difficult to reach with a one-handed grip, and you run the risk of dropping the phone because you’re holding it right near the bottom edge. Rear readers are better for one-handed use, but you can’t use them to unlock a phone while it’s sitting on a desk.

The Sony Xperia Z5’s is the best compromise I’ve come across so far. It can be used on a desk or in your hand, and its positioning is such that it naturally falls under your finger or thumb when you pick it up. It works reliably and quickly, too. It’s the best-thought-out fingerprint reader yet.

The one design change I’m not entirely sold, however, on is the repositioning of the volume rocker from just next to the power button to lower on the right edge, right above the camera shutter. It’s a baffling design decision and makes it tricky to adjust the volume one-handed with your thumb. 

Sony Xperia Z5: Cameras

The other big change for the Z5 is the camera, which sees its first hardware upgrade since the advent of the Xperia Z1 back in September 2013.

The new Exmor RS rear camera module bumps up the maximum resolution to 23 megapixels, the sensor size to 1/2.3in, and also incorporates SteadyShot optical image stabilisation (OIS) plus hybrid autofocus by adding phase-detect pixels to the image sensor.

Unsurprisingly, Sony claims its autofocus system is the fastest in the business, capable of focusing on your subject in as little as 0.03 seconds. It’s certainly quick, but it does hunt a touch, especially in low light and when you use the camera shutter, so you’re never quite sure if it’s locked on or not. It spoils the effect somewhat, and leads to the odd out-of-focus shot.

In a more tangible win over the opposition, Sony’s sensor has its phase-detect sensors scattered all over the sensor, even into the corners, which means you can tap anywhere on the screen to focus. I found this was the most reliable way of setting focus on the Z5, and when I used it this way, it felt far more surefooted.

The rear camera has an f/2 aperture – matching that of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and lagging very slightly behind the LG G4’s f/1.9. It can shoot 4K video, and Sony has also given its digital ClearZoom facility a boost, allowing you to zoom into a scene digitally by a factor of five. In use it seemed pretty effective, although, somewhat inevitably, it delivered a rather pixellated result.

What does this mean for outright quality, though? In my testing, an awful lot. In short, Sony has brought its smartphone camera bang up to date, and it’s now almost as good as the best in the business. That’s no mean feat when you consider how good the Samsung Galaxy S6’s camera is.

Despite the increased resolution and new optical image stabilisation, however, what really impressed me about the new camera was how reliable the autoexposure proved to be. Every scene I threw at the Z5’s camera it coped with beautifully, capturing photos packed with contrast, detail and balanced colours.

Look closely and you can see that there are more artefacts here than in the Samsung Galaxy S6’s photos, which show up as a speckling around the edges of objects, but generally (and this counts for both the 8-megapixel Auto and 23-megapixel Manual modes) it’s a highly competent snapper.

Where the Xperia Z5 isn’t so good is in low light. Dip the lights and turn off the duo-tone LED flash, and it struggles to keep up with either the Galaxy S6 or the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, with noise and artefacts joining forces to smoosh out detail and stomp all over subtlety.

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It’s rescued somewhat by its excellent video stabilisation. This all but eliminates the jelly-shake you see in most rival smartphones’ video modes, even when you’re walking down the street. Despite that, however, I’d still place the Z5 a fraction behind the leading lights overall.

As for the front-facing camera, that’s seen a boost in resolution as well, from 2.2 megapixels in the Xperia Z3, to 5 megapixels here. This delivers selfies with more detail and texture, but there’s no front-facing flash.

Sony Xperia Z5: Performance

The fingerprint reader and camera represent big enough improvements to warrant an upgrade from any previous Z-series smartphone, so it’s not a particular surprise to discover that the rest of the Z5’s specifications and features represent a much milder improvement.

Beneath the surface is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 chipset, complete with an Adreno 430 graphics chip and a healthy 3GB of RAM. There’s 32GB of storage available, plus a microSD slot for expansion. This draws the Z5 level with the LG G4 in terms of overall flexibility, even if the battery isn’t user-replaceable.

In real terms, the Z5 feels quick and slick. Home-page transitions feel smooth, as does scrolling and panning in web pages and Google Maps, and I noticed no multitasking slowdown or dropping of frames while playing demanding games.

In the benchmarks, the Sony Xperia Z5 performed exactly as I’d expect a phone equipped with a top-end Qualcomm chip to. In both the GFXBench gaming tests and the Geekbench CPU tests, it proved faster than almost any other smartphone I’ve tested – aside from the Samsung S6 family of phones and the Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

The Z5 can get quite warm when you’re playing games, but Sony seems to have tamed the worst excesses of the Qualcomm chip here. After a few minutes of running the GFXBench Manhattan gaming test, the rear of the phone around the camera reached a temperature of 38˚C but remained below 40; this might give you sweaty palms, but isn’t particularly uncomfortable.

As for audio, the front-facing speakers reach reasonable volumes and don’t distort while they’re doing so, and I found call quality to be absolutely fine – clear and distortion-free at both ends of the line. And for connectivity the Z5 runs the full gamut, including support for 4G, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and near-field communication (NFC).

Sony Xperia Z5 review: Battery life

The Z5 is equipped with a 2,900mAh battery, which Sony claims delivers up to two days of stamina. In general use, I’d say that’s achievable if all you do is browse the web, check your messages and listen to the odd podcast. Sony’s battery management schemes are pretty good, and contribute to excellent stamina in moderate use.

Do any gaming, audio streaming or video watching, however, and you’ll be looking at battery life of closer to a day. A comfortable day, with 20% to 30% of battery capacity remaining at bedtime, but a single day nonetheless.

And the test results back up that subjective experience. In video playback, the phone used up its capacity at 7.5% per hour (in flight mode), and while streaming audio over 4G, it fell at a rate of 4.1% per hour. In terms of the flagship phones I’ve reviewed this year, those results place it slightly behind the best around – the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and the LG G4.

Still, the Z5 has support for fast charging, and will give you 5hrs 30mins of battery life from ten minutes plugged into the mains. Alas – rather infuriatingly – Sony doesn’t include the charger in the box.

Sony Xperia Z5: Display

The display hasn’t seen an obvious upgrade. Despite the fact that Sony is lavishing a 4K screen on the larger Z5 Premium, the Z5 remains lumbered with a bog-standard 1,080 x 1,920 IPS display, topped with unbranded tempered glass.

I say lumbered, but this apparently “low” resolution shouldn’t be anything potential purchasers should worry about. Despite the protestations of various manufacturers, a 1080p screen stretched across a 5.2in screen diagonal is sharp enough that most people won’t be able to discern the pixels from normal viewing distances.

More importantly, the quality is excellent, particularly when it comes to brightness. Push the Xperia Z5 up to its maximum level (with adaptive brightness turned off) and it reaches eye-searing levels of the kind that make it readable in the sunniest of conditions. Despite the fact that the phone uses a standard IPS panel, Sony’s X-Reality adaptations mean that colours really leap out at you – the effect is not dissimilar to the super-saturated colours you get on Samsung’s Super AMOLED screens.

If you prefer your colours more muted you can always turn it off, and in this case, the display stacks up pretty well. Under testing, using an X-Rite i1 Display Pro, the screen proved to be among the brightest I’ve ever seen, reaching a maximum of 684cd/m2 (with adaptive brightness disabled), delivering a contrast ratio of 1,078:1 and sRGB coverage of 99.4%.

When it comes to outright quality, the Sony Xperia Z5’s screen can’t quite match the immediacy of Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays, or the contrast ratio and solidity of the screens on Apple’s latest smartphones, but it’s the match of anything else on the market right now.

Sony Xperia Z5: Software

Last, but by no means least, to the software, which Sony hasn’t done much to at all. It lives on top of Android 5.1.1 and you’ll either get along with it or not, depending on your personal tastes. 

I don’t mind it at all, but then I’m a tolerant chap, and Sony’s intrusions aren’t all that overbearing. Indeed, the changes to the app drawer allow you to sort and manage items however you like, and are actually pretty handy.

Otherwise, the additions are limited to a few extra apps and icon changes, plus Sony’s power-management facilities, which allow you to eke out extra battery life if you don’t mind compromising on sync frequency, all-round performance and core features such as mobile data.

(Update, 9/3/2016: Sony has now started rolling out Android 6 Marshmallow to global variants of the Sony Xperia Z5, which includes a number of improvements to the OS. Fingers crossed, UK variants won’t be far behind. Among the new additions will be enhanced privacy setting, a completely revamped camera interface, and the introduction of Marshmallow’s Doze feature for improved standby battery performance.)

Sony Xperia Z5: Verdict

It’s good to see Sony finally upping its game and lavishing some upgrades worthy of the name on its flagship phone. With an impressive new camera module, a fingerprint reader and refined design, it’s a highly competent handset that, for fans of Sony phones, raises the bar significantly over the Xperia Z3 and Z3+.

The issue for the Z5 is that, while it’s very good, it slips slightly behind its rivals in most departments. Its camera, screen and battery life are all excellent, but the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6s are superior across the board, while the LG G4 offers more flexibility and an equally strong package for less money.

If you like the combination of weatherproofing and the microSD slot, then this is the phone for you, but for me, it isn’t quite the match of its rivals.

See also: The best smartphones of 2015

Xperia Z5 vs Google Nexus 6P

The Xperia Z5 is a fabulous smartphone, and gorgeous to look at and use, but what if you want a bigger handset? You might want to consider Google’s latest flagship, the Nexus 6P.

It has a glorious 5.7in Quad HD AMOLED display, a stupendous 12.3-megapixel camera that’s almost as good as the Sony’s 23-megapixel unit, great battery life and a design that, while not quite as glitzy and sleek as the Xperia, is highly attractive in its own right.

It’s also very powerful, boasting an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 3GB of RAM. In fact, the only thing it lacks is a microSD slot for storage expansion.

What makes the Nexus 6P our current favourite smartphone, however, is the combination of all those elements with pure, unadulterated Android 6 Marshmallow and a very reasonable price of £449. It’s well worth a look.

Read our full Nexus 6P review here

Sony Xperia Z5 vs Microsoft Lumia 950 

Price when reviewed: £420

Believe it or not, Microsoft’s latest smartphone is a pretty strong challenger to the Xperia Z5 from a hardware perspective. It doesn’t look as pretty, but it’s more practical in some respects, having both a removable battery and a microSD slot. There’s wireless charging as standard, and a high-class camera with a powerful triple-LED flash.

The trouble with the Lumia 950, although it’s only £420 SIM-free, is that it runs Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft’s latest smartphone operating system. This is quite pleasant to use, and a practical alternative to Android and iOS, but if you’re planning on buying any gadgets or gizmos with app control or support, I wouldn’t recommend it. With Windows 10 at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to app development, many manufacturers simply don’t bother to develop Windows 10 Mobile apps for their gear.

Still, if you’re after something different, it’s a decent alternative.

Read our full Microsoft Lumia 950 review here