Sony Xperia Z3 review: Fantastic in 2014, outclassed in 2018

Sony Xperia Z3 review: Battery life

Of course, there’s always a risk that powerful hardware will take its toll on the phone’s battery life, but Sony’s claim that the Z3 can last up to two days on a single charge may well be accurate this time round. In our continuous video playback test, the Z3’s 3,100mAh battery lasted a massive 18 hours and 29 minutes with the screen set to half brightness and all power-saving modes disabled, which is a full hour more than the Galaxy S5, and almost two hours more than the Z2.

In fact, looking at every smartphone I reviewed in 2014, the Xperia Z3 only loses out to Samsung’s oversized Galaxy Note 4 phablet and the unnaturally long-lasting Xperia Z3 Compact – it exceeds anything from Samsung, LG, HTC or even Apple in our video rundown test.

This is outstanding for a flagship phone and lighter users should easily be able to stretch that out even further, particularly if they take advantage of the Z3’s three separate power saving profiles. Low-battery mode disables mobile data, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and auto-sync, while Stamina restricts hardware performance as well. Ultra Stamina mode, meanwhile, only lets you use a few basic functions, such as calls and texts.

The Z3 is available with 16GB of storage, but can support microSD cards up to 128GB, so you should have plenty of space to store your files. Sony’s File Commander app also makes it easy to manage your storage and move files between folders.

Sony Xperia Z3 review: Camera

On the back is Sony’s 20.7-megapixel 1/2.3in Exmor RS camera sensor. Like previous Xperia phones, you can access it simply by holding down the dedicated shutter button on the side of the phone, and there are multiple picture modes to choose from. Be aware that the default Superior Auto mode only takes 8-megapixel pictures, so you’ll need to switch to Manual to get full 20.7-megapixel shots.

On Superior Auto mode, photos looked great. The brickwork in my test shots was full of detail, and it coped well with the mid-afternoon sunshine shining almost directly into the camera. Images looked a little fuzzier toward the edge of each frame, but colours looked natural and accurate and didn’t suffer from gloomy underexposure.

^ In Superior Auto mode, images looked bright and vibrant even as the sun was beginning to shine into the lens

^ The phone produced well-balanced exposures in varied lighting conditions

Manual mode was much the same, producing rich, detailed photos that looked great in the centre of each shot, but weren’t quite so crisp elsewhere. Noise was also more noticeable in this mode, particularly in large expanses of blue sky, but at least Manual mode gives you more options to adjust the image to your liking. You can adjust the ISO, white balance and there’s a slider bar for exposure compensation. There’s also an HDR mode and different scene options, although the latter becomes unavailable when you select the 20.7-megapixel resolution size.

^ After switching to Manual mode, we still found that photos weren’t quite as detailed toward the edge of each frame

^ There was also much more noise present at the photo’s native resolution, but the Xperia Z3’s plentiful supply of controls should help counter this

Sony Xperia Z3 review: Verdict

The Sony Xperia Z3 is another incremental improvement on Sony’s distinctive-looking handset, but its industry-leading battery life, amazing screen and excellent performance finally gives it the tools it needs to play ball with today’s current flagships. The Remote Play feature is a particularly enticing prospect for PS4 owners as well, as the ability to play console games without hogging the TV should be enough to persuade many that the Z3 is a better bet than other comparable handsets.

It’s also a better bargain than the Xperia Z3+, as I much prefer the Z3’s design and the difference in speed isn’t worth paying such a high premium for. However, its performance levels are starting to look slightly long in the tooth compared to the rest of the competition. However, if battery life is your number one concern, then the Xperia Z3 is still an excellent choice.