Sony Announces The Xperia XZ, A Smartphone With A 23-Megapixel Camera, Smart Battery

During this year’s IFA conference in Berlin, Sony announced the Xperia XZ, the company’s Android flagship smartphone under the X series. The new handset stands out for having an advanced camera and a new battery technology.

The Xperia XZ combines the best elements from Sony’s X and Z series of smartphones. The handset looks pretty similar to the Xperia X Performance, but it has rounded sides while the top and bottom edges are flat and curved. The XZ also comes with a USB Type-C port instead of Micro-USB. The device is water-resistant and it’s built with a treated metal body that has an aluminum base, according to ArsTechnica.

The Sony Xperia XZ is equipped with a 5.2-inch IPS display with a full HD 1080p screen resolution. Underneath, the device is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chip that’s accompanied by 3GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of internal storage. The device also has a microSD card slot so users will be able to expand storage up to 256GB.

What’s most significant about the Xperia XZ is the rear camera. It comes with a 23-megapixel IMX300 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture lens, and it is also capable of recording 4K videos. The sensor comes with a new autofocus system that combines color detection, phase detection and laser-focusing. Sony calls this system Triple Image Sensing and it will make sure that videos and photos have accurate focus all the time, according to GSMArena.

The only potential downside of the Xperia XZ’s camera is that it still doesn’t come with optical image stabilization (OIS), something that’s a necessity for 4K video recording. Instead, it uses Sony’s software solution called the SteadyShot Intelligent Active Mode. The stabilization software may already be available on Sony’s other smartphones, but the one found on the XZ has been improved and now includes X and Y shift shake to provide five-axis stabilization. Up front, the handset has a 13-megapixel camera.

The Xperia XZ comes with a 2,900 mAh battery. Although the battery capacity isn’t all that impressive, what’s significant about it is the technology Sony has added to it. The handset comes with Qnovo adaptive battery charge, a software that’s able to monitor the battery. The tech will be able to make sure that the battery cells won’t start wearing out due to overcharging which can potentially lessen battery life.

For example, the battery tech will be able to know the user's sleeping and charging habits. If it knows that the user always charges the handset every night before going to bed, the tech will be able to stop charging at 90 percent and finish up just before the user wakes up, according to CNBC.

Sony says that the Xperia XZ will be available some time in early October. It’s pricing has not yet been revealed, but it may possibly be as expensive as (or maybe even more than) the $699 Xperia X Performance.