There’s no doubt that the screen on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is stunning. At over 800 pixels per inch, the display is obviously the highest resolution yet, but in terms of everyday use, most would be hardpressed to spot any noticeable improvement in terms of density compared to, say, the display on the Samsung Galaxy S6.
In fact, apart from the occasion when we had both smartphones under the lens in side-by-side comparisons, we didn’t spot a significant difference between the Z5 Premium and the Sony Xperia Z5, which has a’paltry’ full-HD display. The Xperia Z5 Compact has a smaller display and a lower resolution 720p panel.
The headline feature of the new Xperia Z5 series of smartphones is of course the rear camera. The three phones come with 1/2.3 Exmor RS for mobile 23-megapixel sensor and f/2.0 G lens. Sony claims to have designed the camera inside its new flagships using the same technology that’s seen in its Alpha range of interchangeable lens cameras. The camera also boasts of the fastest autofocus in a smartphone - at 0.037 seconds - and while we couldn’t do any side-by-side comparisons with other smartphones during our time with the devices, the camera certainly felt fast enough for most everyday occasions.
One area where we definitely spotted significant improvements is image stabilisation, or SteadyShot as Sony likes to call it. The Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Premium were able to reduce a large part of the jerkiness that comes when you shoot a video while walking, which is an extremely welcome addition.
The other big new feature is addition of a fingerprint scanner, something which people have come to expect from a flagship device. We’ve seen fingerprint scanners integrated into home buttons( usually work well) and we’ve come across fingerprint scanners at back of the device( most with disastrous results), and now we have a fingerprint scanner integrated on to the side. Sony seems to have got the hardware and software implementation done just right, as the feature worked as advertised in the time we spent with the devices.