Should mention the free bluetooth speaker HERE

I assume this phone isnt selling. As a Z3 owner, it is physically a step backwards from the Z3. The Z5 feels more plastic and cheap despite being made of metal and glass.

Is the Z3 a better phone, in a dilemma now as was just about to buy the Z5 as I thought it was a step up? Any info would be appreciated, TIA.

Of course the Z5 is much better but don't be put off by the negative comments try one for yourself.
The only thing is that atm its just not the massive leap forward many have come to expect after seeing iPhone and Samsung upping their game so the price tag cannot be justified but it's still a great phone with 4k amongst other features such as battery life.

Cheers, thanks

Hot, cheers OP, just saved £21 after getting this delivered yesterday and Amazon refunding the difference :smiley:

wait for metal version to come out if you bothered about plastic ?me not as I always get a case that covers it anyway

Have heard battery life on Z5 is not as good as Z3 either, though the Z5 Compact is supposed to be good.

I am on the look out for the z3 compact cheap I think it looks better than Z5 Compact.

​we get the Z5 Premium too. the only main difference against the standard is that the Premium has the ability to display 4k content (only when needed - to conserve battery)

the premium has a bigger screen, 5,5 and is close to being a "Phablet" whereas the normal z5 is still large but only 5inch screen.

normal z5 screen is 1080p
Premium is 4k (at times) most content is displayed at 1080p but when looking at photos, videos etc the screen will switched to 4k otherwise its 1080p for the most part to save battery and keep internal temps down

If only that was dual sim version...

So, what happened to the Z4 and Z5? I've been researching new phones to buy and people keep saying just go for the Z3, how come?

Agreed. It's an utterly brilliant phone. The front facing camera could be better and I'd like the flapless charging socket, but otherwise I've no reason to upgrade. It's damn near perfect.

If I was buying a phone now then the Z5C would probably be it, but either one would be a great choice.

How are we getting the free speaker? I'm adding it to basket, no discount at checkout. Also I can't see anything listed anywhere. Any help appreciated!

Ah so they won't arrive at the same time. Thanks for the reply guys.

Currently have the S6 Edge, love the phone but the battery life does me. The Z5 will clearly hold charge for a full day. Now to make the purchase!

I was also contemplating an 'upgrade' to Z5 from Z3, but after trying Z5 hands-on, Z3 feels supreme and I could swear I could notice throttling in games on the Z5.
The fact that physically Z5 has a slightly smaller battery (which is it has to make up for by more aggressive throttling and power management and the fact that the phones take pretty much take the same picture, finally convinced me to stay with Z3.

Real life use and test show that the Z5 camera still suck ass like all other Sony cameras. Despite the score from DXO mark , pictures from real life use show its inferiority to the competition. I really wanted this camera to be the best but it isnt.

I had a z1 and its put me right off tbh they came with a god awful bit of tat plastic glued to the screen which scratched as soon as you looked at it meaning you either had to carefully peel it off then clean the screen up or put a SECOND bit of plastic tat over the screen. It just didn't feel like a premium phone at all in fact my Galaxy S2 it replaced had a nicer feel to it, also the camera was supposed to be amazing and I was never really happy with it either.

I ended up going to an S5 which just has a nicer feel to the touch screen and the camera is superlative. Got the wife a Note 4 and its the first touch device she's actually liked.

That experience just put me right off, oh and 18 months later the battery life on the Z1 was awful. My fad wants a Z5 premium so ill play with that next upgrade is next summer.....

Do you have a link to the camera tests you're referring to? Thanks

How will this handset be for Android updates? I would like to upgrade from my Nexus 5 for better battery and camera but worried it will get left behind with timely updates?

How good is the camera to the Nexus 5X or 6P which were the other handsets I am considering.

I also tested the Z5 Compact and that seemed to be a great size.

Got this from amazon for £530 a few weeks ago coming from an s6,
Pros: build quality, look, feel, waterproof, SD card for cheap storage(£35 argos for 128gb), the OS is very good, basically stock android with very few sony apps. Way better than touchwiz.
Bad points: Takes ages to charge (compared to s6), camera is absolutely rubbish in auto mode, you have to use manual mode for good pictures which is a bit annoying. It gets hot, although doesnt overheat. And the power button is hard to find in the dark (it doesnt stick out, flush with phone). Also the screen is a bit dark and bad.
Battery life is average although a million times better than the s6.

i had a good play with the z5 and s6 in cpw and the s6 felt really nice in my hands. The z5 was too angular and not very comfortable at all.

​i have both the Z3 and the Z5 and the audio on the Z5 is far superior than the Z3

Go over to the xda z5 forum or just search youtube. Plenty of info about

I did and it's not as it first appears, if you read through the comments and user threads.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z5/general/disappointed-z5-camera-pictures-quality-t3217766/page2

The initial poster states the Z5 has a bad camera compared to the Note 5, however read through the comments, there's 11 pages worth, where they criticize his comparison.

Then check the comments on this article >

http://www.phonearena.com/news/First-Xperia-Z5-vs-iPhone-6-Plus-vs-S6-vs-Z3-vs-G4-camera-samples-comparison_id73408


"I've had the Z5 for a few days (with a G4 for testing), and here are my initial thoughts on the Z5 vs. G4 low light performance. Evaluating it has so far not been as simple as I had thought. I'll write up a more detailed post (with pics) in another thread later. Superior Auto tries to do quite a bit.

I've tried two scenarios:
a) Low light (60w incandescent light over head)
b) No nearby light source (light from another room)

- 23/20 MP modes were slightly more detailed than 8 MP modes in (a), but much noisier. Little to no detail difference in (b), except for the noise.
- If SA detects movement and/or faces, it will lower exposure time (and increase ISO) to minimize motion blur (G4 didn't do this). This results in lower level of detail (obviously). Good to know when taking night time photos with and without people/moving objects, as results will be different.
- Under the same (low light) conditions, the G4 produced a better level of detail, but with poorer colour accuracy and more noise (vs. Z5 8 MP). The Z5 pics were cleaner, more realistic/accurate, but the pixel binning did not provide as much detail as the bigger pixels.
- In scenario (b), it usually took about a second or so for the low light symbol (i.e. candle icon) to appear, usually after the walking icon disappeared. If the candle icon does not appear, the exposure time cannot go beyond 1/16 sec, I believe.
- Night modes were generally not necessary for taking good low light pics. Night portrait can produce better results with steady hands. Night scene, I'd only recommend on a still surface or tripod.

So is the Z5 better or worse than the G4 (and hence S6) in low light? In terms of hand-held night pics, I would say (pixel-peeping) detail is "worse". In terms of realism/accuracy, I would say "better". The super-sampling is an advantage in most situations, but isn't a panacea for everything. Using a tripod/steady surface (i.e. tripod icon), the Z5 will increase exposure time for a better level of detail. So you can have the best of both worlds."

What's clear is that if you have a Note 5, G4, S6 or Z5 you have a decent enough camera, and the Z3 camera is not as good as any of the forementioned.

Ok. as a z1 owner on a contract which is due up in December ( I love the Z1) I was looking at the new z5 series.

I've got a 4k tv ao the premium seems ideal when out. but I'm unsure now. need some help on this. Don't want an iPhone

theres plenty of upgrades from the z3. the camera is much better, the finger print scanner is excellent, surely your sick of that annoying charging flap?

my z5c is excellent. first few weeks were very buggy. am update this week end improved it and marshmallow promises further improvements. my girlfriend has the z3c which was whay convinced me to get this. it is a very good phone which can probably be had for a gid price now. I only paid 300 for Z5 with stag discount so it was a no brainer. of ur on a budget the z3 would still be a good buy

​I'm struggling to get my footage working on my 4k TV.

No it doesn't. For a myriad of reasons...most of which are summed up pretty succinctly in the following article;

http://twentyfirsttech.com/2015/09/24/sony-xperia-z5-first-impressions/

The S6 has a better camera, as does the G4 (particularly in manual mode). The new Lumia 950/XL looks likely to better them all.

Sony always mess up their smartphone cameras by their hobbled manual mode and their poor image processing.

http://twentyfirsttech.com/2015/09/24/sony-xperia-z5-first-impressions/

There are plenty of other reports from around the web bemoaning the image quality (or lack thereof). & if you do a 'Xperia Z5 vs xx' search on Youtube, the Z5 will invariably have far worse photos.

I personally think this is because of the auto HDR mode in full auto - which cannot be disabled. It just fires when Sony's algorithms think it should. Given the requirement to hold the camera still during HDR photos, I can see how end users may end up unintentionally shaking the camera thinking that it's just taking single shot photos.

Also, in camera HDR always seems to bring in unwanted noise - regardless of the processing systems used. & the manual mode is so hobbled too that it can't even be used to compensate for the weaknesses in the auto mode.

​I'd rather have a phone that displays 2k at all times like the G4, Note 4 etc. Not one that passes itself off as 4k but runs mostly at 1080p.

I don't like you guys. Why must you tempt me when I am still enjoying my Z3.

£464.38 now. Saving you an amazing 61p more!

OK good so we're getting some more information on this issue. Has anyone done comparison tests using manual settings? The sensor should have no issues, Sony make decent camera sensors, the issue should be software based. I would expect manual mode to give much better results, otherwise the software on the phone is really borked. Obviously software updates could resolve any problems in auto mode.

Hot. And I'm not just talking about the phone when playing games, thanks to the notorious overheating 810 processor.

I don't see how this is a fair comparison as the pictures taken with the Z2 and G4 are closer than the pic taken with the Z5?

I would stick to the review by people who know what they are talking about...
http://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Sony-Xperia-Z5-Mobile-review-Best-mobile-photo-video-scores-to-date

The manual mode is hobbled too. You cannot use the full resolution of the sensor in various manual modes (by contrast, the G4 has full and unrestricted manual mode).
The article explains all the shortcomings. They have been there throughout each generation - but Sony really seem to have messed it up this time.



Please don't rely on DXOMark. All of their results are from laboratory settings. You only have to look slightly beyond DxO to see that the Z5 has serious software issues.

Also, how isn't it a fair comparison?! The Z2 is in 'Superior Auto', as is the Z5. The Z5 is terrible in low light using that setting. The Z2 is good. The G4 (in manual mode, admittedly), blows them both away.

The Z5 is a really compromised cameraphone....and I think it's very disingenous for Sony to be marketing it as the world's best cameraphone. The G4, S6, iPhone 6+ and more than likely the Lumia 950/XL are all significantly better than it. & as you can see above, even the older generation Z series phones outperform it in that crucial area of low light performance.

To put this all in perspective, the G4 is £289 - the Z5 is £464. I literally cannot see why anyone would go for the Z5 when the competition outperforms it in all but video stability (steadyshot tech works well in that instance - though even so, I prefer iPhone 6+ footage from what I have seen)

im looking to upgrade from a Galaxy S4 in December. ive been looking at the Z5 and thought it was the one. however it seems to be getting some criticism. are there any other alternatives? baring in mind i would not go with samsung or apple again.

I have already said, it's not a fair comparison because the picture of the three objects taken with the Z5 is taken from much farther away than the other two pictures, of course they aren't going to look as detailed.

So in my opinion it is just a biased review, and after just reading the comments from the link you posted, I am not the only one who thinks that :smirk:

That's an unusual defence to take on that woeful Z5 photo.

The difference in distance between the G4 and the Z5 is marginal. Yet the Z5 has a horrible purple noise haze across the whole image - whereas the G4 not only picks out the towers...it also provides enough colour depth to show the table too.

There are a whole heap of notable issues with the Z5 that the article highlights. Without them being addressed, the Z5 (in real world conditions) will always lag behind cameras like the G4, the S6 Edge, the iP6S & the Lumia 950/XL.

Also, apparently the LG G5 is due to be released very soon. So that is probably going to be worth having a look at...particularly if you enjoy photography.

£509.38 just wanted to order it :disappointed:

I was all up for this phone but hearing mixed reviews on the camera front has made me think twice. I just wanted a phone to take decent snaps or video of the toddler for when not wanting to use the DSLR. Should this therefore be avoided? Any other recommendations?

Being tied in with Google makes it hard to make the jump to Lumia 950 otherwise would have considered it. The OH likes her Lumia and has been using for years but is tied in with Outlook.

The G4 is heavily dropping in price so does seem good value. I may have been clouded by all the new models appearing on the market.

I currently have a Nexus which I like for native Android experience but the camera and battery are just woeful hence want an update after 2 years.

Amazon pulled the free speaker bundle?

& on the Android Authority test, the iPhone spanked the Z5 (and the G4, sigh). If you want a great Android snapper, then the Note 5 is the only one that seems to get close to the iPhone.

If you are happy using manual controls though (as I personally always do), then the G4 still gets my recommendation. But neither it nor the Z5 are good in full auto.

http://www.androidauthority.com/blind-camera-shootout-winner-650299/

(P.S. - the comments section is a funny read. Android fanboys trying to explain why they voted overwhelmingly in favour of the iPhone's photos :smiley: )

Finally decided to upgrade from Z2. Thanks poster!

£464.00 now!

£449 now!