Sony brings Xperia XZ to the PH next month, pre-orders start Oct. 21

The flagship smartphone space, while less crowded than the entry-level and mid-range market, still has a number of options open for consumers. One of them is the new Sony Xperia XZ.

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The Japanese tech company is dropping its Xperia Z brand to start this new line of smartphones that pays homage to the X line of the past as well as the aforementioned Z of recent years.

You’ve probably seen the announcement at IFA in Berlin but now we’re getting the unit here. Sony is bringing it in next month, November 18 with pre-orders starting tomorrow, October 21 until November 6, 2016. The Xperia XZ gets a flagship-worthy price of P37,990. But what does that get you?

We did a quick rundown of the phone’s specs before for IFA but let’s delve deeper into one of the main features Sony is promoting with this phone: the camera.

Sony has packed in two additional sensors into the XZ’s rear camera to promise a brighter, clearer, and better image. There’s the original Exmor RS sensor, Laser AF sensor, and RGBC-IR sensor. The first one helps make tracking a moving person or object. Laser AF with distance sensing makes it easier to capture photos sans blur in challenging, low-light conditions. RGBC-IR sensor with color-sensing technology, on the other hand, tries to take accurate colors and its varying shades.

We got to see the Xperia XZ work its magic at a live teppanyaki demonstration at Ogawa Restaurant in Bonifacio Global City the other night. You’ll see some of the sample shots and videos below.

We’ve noticed that the photos do seem to come out brighter. But instead of being life-like as Sony was pitching to us, it does what a lot of premium Android phones do. The Xperia XZ enhances the photos a bit to make the colors pop. From our brief hands-on time with the phone, we see it works pretty well, even with the quick hand movments of the chef. Blur is inevitable in some shots but it generally got clear photos.

Sony boasts they integrated a lot of the features its camera line has. This phone even comes with 5-axis stabilization on both the front and rear cameras for smoother videos. Upon playback, you see it does stabilize videos well enough. But for now the Xperia XZ still isn’t the phone to make me give up the interchangeable lens camera I use (which happens to be a Sony camera). It does give you a lot of great shots to work with, though.

Here’s a quick refresher of the other specs you can expect from the Xperia XZ:

• DISPLAY: 5.2″ Full HD TRILUMINOS (1080p resolution)
• SIM: Dual
• PROCESSOR: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 64-bit quad-core
• OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 6.0
• MEMORY: 3GB RAM
• STORAGE: 64GB internal, expandable up to 256GB via microSD (uses SIM 2 slot)
• CONNECTIVITY: LTE 4G Cat 9, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, DLNA certified, Google Cast, NFC, A-GNSS (GPS + GLONASS)
• CAMERAS: 23MP rear with 1/2.3″ Exmor RS mobile image sensor, 24mm G Lens, 5x Clear Image Zoom, BIONZ image processor, up to ISO 12800, 4K video recording, SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode; 13MP front with 1/3.06″ Exmor RS, up to ISO 6400, 22mm wide-angle F2.0 lens
• OTHER FEATURES: IP65/68, fingerprint sensor, high-resolution audio, PS4 Remote Play
• BATTERY: 2,900mAh with Qnovo adaptive charging and Battery Care
• DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT: 146 x 72 x 8.1mm, 161g

If you plan to pre-order the device, Sony is bundling a 32GB Sony USB To-Go worth P1,200, Krussel Made for Xperia Sigtuna Smart Case worht P1,790, and a Sony 5,000mAh portable charger worth P1,390. The phone is available at 0% interest for 12 months.