IFA 2016: Sony unveils new Xperia XZ flagship

Sony’s been a global powerhouse ever since their first television sets became standard issue in most upper-class households in the 70’s and 80’s. From there, the brand has grown its portfolio of products, gaining recognition for their quality and craftsmanship. Sony has offered its own smartphones in addition to home/personal entertainment products in the digital age, and has enjoyed a following.

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At IFA 2016, Sony’s presentation touched on their upcoming smartphones – proving that the company hasn’t stopped producing them. They also announced a crop of new headphones, their Playstation VR add-on, and even teased a working model of their pocket projector.

Xperia XZ and XZ Compact

Sony’s new flagship has updated the brand’s iconic box-like design with more rounded edges that make it more comfortable to hold. The metal unibody gives it a premium feel, with the power button doubling as a fingerprint sensor. The 5.2-inch Triluminos screen outputs Full HD (as opposed to 4K) and the handset comes with a 23MP rear camera with laser autofocus, baked-in white balance software, and 5-axis stabilization so you can shoot (up to 4K) videos with the XZ without need of further stabilization equipment.

Under the hood, the XZ has a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 3GB RAM, 32GB of memory for the single-SIM and 64GB for the dual-SIM, an Adreno 530 graphics chip and comes with smart charging, Type-C technology. Basically, the phone learns your charging habits over time, so if you leave the phone charging overnight and unplug it the next morning, the phone will top up to 90% as fast as possible, suspend all activity, then finish the remaining 10% before you wake up.

Sony has mentioned that the XZ comes with IP65/68 certification, marking the return of waterproof Xperia devices. Powering the device is a 2900mAh battery which, combined with their smart-charging tech, should be able to hold up (and keep up) for the long term. The phone comes with Android Marshmallow but Sony has said that it will upgrade to Nougat as fast as possible. The Xperia XZ will be released in the UK by October, with other regions following suit throughout 2016.

The XZ Compact on the other hand, continues the tradition of previous Compacts, bringing midrange specs in a smaller form factor. The handset has a 4.6-inch display with a resolution of 720p. Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor, which is a little disappointing since there are last-gen models that have higher specs than the XZ Compact.

The phone also comes with a fingerprint sensor located with the power button, and a Type-C charging. A bright note on the handset rests in its camera: a 23MP sensor with 5-axis stabilization and laser autofocus tech also present with the XZ. A 5MP front shooter and 2700mAh battery round out the must-know specs of the XZ Compact, with units shipping in the UK as early as now.

MDR-1000X

Sony’s newest headphones claim to feature a “Sense Engine”, tech that’s able to adjust the level of noise-cancelling on the wearer’s head shape, hairstyle, the use of glasses, and how they wear the headphones themselves. The cans themselves look sleek and very function-focused instead of aesthetic-driven.

Another interesting feature of the MDR-1000X is that it has microphones placed inside and outside the device, a pair for each ear. The inside microphones help run the Sense Engine tech, but the outside phones are there for a very specific purpose: to let outside noise in.

This mode of the headphones helps out when you need to tune into the world without taking the cans off. This is very helpful when you need to listen to the train station announcements or biking on roads where you need to also listen to traffic. Another feature of the MDR-1000X is gesture-based: holding your hand to the right side of the headphones automatically lowers the volume of your music and the outside mics will beam in outside noise directly to your ears without the muting effect of the cups closing over your ears. Removing your hand turns off the mics and returns your music to the same volume level.