Xperia XZs Review: Small Change from XZ, Big Progress in Camera

In MWC 2017, Sony brought four devices to us: Xperia XZ Premium, Xperia XZs, Xperia XA1 Ultra and Xperia XA1. As for XZs, according to the name of Sony Xperia XZs, we can concluded that there may be no big change in XZs, compared with Xperia XZ.

 

Lots of people would think that all Xperia phones are really similar but actually Sony makes progress in every generation. Sony abandoned the body with double-sided glass and the design with roundness since Xperia XZ came out, which made the device more angular. This feature also occurs on XZs.

 

 

Material

It is made of ALKALEIDO aluminium alloy which is harder and lighter. In addition, the matte texture will be stronger than XZ. Xperia X starts to adopt all-metal design and it can make up for the drawback of glass: fragile and easy to contaminate with fingerprint.

 

 

Colors

 

XZs has three colors: Black, Warm Silver, Ice Blue. The most impressive one is Ice Blue because it is understated but decent. That lets the phones seem on quite the scale. Besides, Sony is still full of Japanese customs, which is different from some brands that always copy iPhone’s look.

 

However, there is still pity here since it sets a plastic plate with chromatic aberration on the back of the device for protecting the signal of the cellphone stable. Some perfectionists may not bear it. On the other hand, the a bulge of the camera for using Motion Eye means that Xperia XZs cannot lay flat on the desk.

 

In other aspects, Xperia XZs is the same as Xperia XZ. Thus, for more, please check: Get to Know About Features of Xperia XZ

 

About its display, it uses 5.2-inch screen with 1080 x 1920 pixels and adds X-Reality moving images to improve the Dynamic Contrast Ratio (DCR) which can well restore the screen details and highlight color saturation. For 5.2-inch devices, it is suitable for one-handed operation but this phone is with 146 x 72 x 8.1 mm and 161g which is not much thin and light.

 

 

4GB RAM

 

This device still has a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, which is the same as Xperia XZ. Nevertheless, it upgrades to 4GB RAM + 64GB storage. Thus, XZs will run faster when playing games and using apps. Just in 0.3 seconds, the camera app can be launched. Besides, NFC and bluetooth 4.2 can also be supported.

 

As for its battery, 2900mAh is still with Xperia XZs but it is upgraded. Generally, charging once per day is OK which is better than the Xperia X Performance.

 

Xperia XZs comes with customized system with Android 7.1.1 and what is different from the native OS is only shown on the icons and menu.

 

 

Motion Eye

 

Sony Xperia XZs can be compared favorably with Xperia XZ Premium after promoting. It is the first time to be equipped with IMX400 sensor on Motion Eye camera.

The primary info of camera makes the device seem really common: 19 MP, f/2.0, 25mm, and even worse than XA. But XZs adopts IMX400 sensor that is the first COMS image sensor with three-layer stack applying on mobile phones. It has one more DRAM, sensor for memory storage, than the previous CMOS.

 

About Capturing Videos:

This DRAM helps capture the moving object with high speed and take a super slow-motion video with 960fps while the other brands’ products only can shoot slow-motion video with 240fps. Therefore, Sony has made some innovation. Sony actually supports three kinds of slow-motion shooting: Super slow-motion which allows to switch between slow motion and common video; super slow-motion in one shot and general slow-motion shooting with 120fps. All these slow-motion video can make fun in photography and capture more exciting moment. Why not to have a try?

 

Nevertheless, there are still something unsatisfying. For instance, it is not so clear with only 720p resolution. And if taking in the dim light, the screen is full of noise. What’s more, you can capture a video with 960fps in 5 minutes, so the photographer should be more skillful in capturing the scenes.

 

 

 

About Taking Photos:

Xperia XZs still uses the technology of triple-image sensor and prediction hybrid-focusing technology. Besides, it adopts its own SteadyShot, five-axis stabilization, to perfect the front and back camera. The main camera is able to capture 4k video with 30fps.

 

In addition, it adds AR mode for shooting. You can select one of AR theme and then take a photo. A motion photo with 3D mode will occur on the screen. After that, you can customize the location of the AR logo, which is really ingenious.

 

When you check the final product that you have captured, you will notice that XZs give us more surprises. Besides the accurate color, the details of sharpness and the texture are really good. If taking at night, you will feel that the photo is smeared by Xperia X performance but XZs fixes this bug and creates far better masterpieces.

 

Sony Xperia XZs can satisfy most users’ photography needs because of its fast startup speed, shutter speed and tracking AF. Once you lock the screen, just tap Camera to get started to take a picture. It only takes a short time to finish focusing and snapshot.

 

 

Conclusion

Pros:

The new color - Ice Blue is one of the most attractive points.

4GB RAM is a big progress, compared with the former Xperia devices.

Use Motion Eye Camera which lets users experience well.

 

 

Cons:

Only equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor.

It may be a little expensive for frankly it has not made big change.

 

Thus, Sony fans would hesitate whether to buy XZ not XZs or wait for the edition of Xperia XZ Premium. If you don’t want the 960fps of XZ’s camera and don’t need the Xperia XZ Premium Edition, I think Xperia XZs is suitable for you.