Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
In the third quarter of 2015, the Japanese company Sony launched a new smartphone. It was the successor to the Xperia Z3 series. As the number ‘4’ is considered unlucky in Asian countries, it became the Xperia Z5 series. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium was one such model. We’re reviewing it today in our weekly column ‘The forgotten smartphone’.
This Sony phone was regarded as one of the most ambitious smartphones of 2015. Sony wanted to show what it was capable of, and so packed the device full of innovations and impressive specifications. The most distinctive of these features was evident in the display. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium was the first smartphone to feature a 4K display. It was a 5.5-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. This resulted in a pixel density of 806 ppi. However, the screen did not always run in 4K. Only compatible content was displayed in full 4K resolution, in order to balance performance and battery life. For everything else, a lower resolution was often used.
The smartphone had a luxurious look, featuring a glass front and back, a metal frame, and a special, mirror-finish Chrome version. The Z5 Premium was also available in black and red. Like many Xperia Z devices, this Premium model was dust- and water-resistant, which was by no means standard in 2015.
Technical specifications
In terms of specifications, the device was fully equipped. It featured a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. You could also expand the storage using a memory card. However, the chipset was immediately a weak point of the Xperia Z5 Premium. The processor was known to run hot, generating a considerable amount of heat, which was particularly noticeable under heavy load. The same processor was also used in the HTC One M9, where the chipset caused similar issues. LG, on the other hand, opted to use a different processor in the LG G4 at the time: the Snapdragon 808.
The Xperia Z5 Premium’s battery had a capacity of 3430 mAh. Getting through a full day was no problem for most users. Sony claimed a battery life of two days. As we’d come to expect from Sony, this device also featured a fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button. It also featured high-quality audio speakers with extensive support for various codecs and technical innovations, and you could stream games from the PlayStation 4 to the phone thanks to PS4 Remote Play.
Photography had always been important to Sony, and the Xperia Z5 Premium was designed to reflect that. It featured a 23-megapixel camera, complete with an LED flash. Video recording was possible in 4K at 30fps. On the front was a 5-megapixel selfie camera. Sony launched the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, alongside the Xperia UI skin. The device was updated up to and including Android 7.0 Nougat.
For €799, you could get your hands on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium. It wasn’t exactly a standout device. The competition was also fierce. Samsung, for example, had the Galaxy S6, as well as the Note 5.
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium summarised in 3 points
- First 4K smartphone
- Stunning design
- 23-megapixel camera
