Sony launches Xperia XZ and X Compact camphones, preorders begin on 11Street
Sony looks like they still have the magic on the smartphone front as they’ve just launched their Xperia XZ and the X Compact camphones in Malaysia. Both phones are available for preorder exclusively on 11Street from now until 4th October. While stocks last, preorders of the XZ will receive an RM600 bag of freebies that consists of a 64GB USB Type-C OTG flash drive or a Bluetooth headset, a casing for the phone you buy along with a matching screen protectort.
Xperia XZ
The XZ sports what Sony calls their ‘Unified’ design that has a seamless unibody casing machined of aluminium. The unibody casing is also rated IP68 for water resistance while the USB Type-C port at the base of the phone is capless, completely eschewing the need for onerous port covers as the waterproofing is internal. In terms of colour choices, you get Mineral Black, a silvery looking Platinum or their flagship Forest Blue.
The front of the Xperia XZ comes with a 5.2-inch 1080p display enhanced with their customary Triluminos imaging tech and their X-Reality for mobile engine. In terms of hardware, the Xperia XZ runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow on a Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 3GB RAM and 64GB of storage expandable storage. The Malaysia variant will have a hybrid SIM card slot that lets you use either two nano SIM cards or one SIM and one microSD card.
A 2,900mAh battery keeps the XZ powered and also integrates Quick Charge 3.0 tech. According to Sony, the battery has what they call Qnovo Adaptive charging tech that anticipates usage scenarios and optimises battery charging to ensure a longer lifespan for the battery. Rather than the usual front or rear placement, the XZ has a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
The front selfie camera has a 13-MP sensor with a 22mm wide angle lens, an F/2.0 aperture and their Exmor RS for mobile image sensor with 5-axis image stabilisation and the ability to capture Full HD video.
The Xperia XZ’s 23-MP rear camera is impressive, with a full monty of hardware that includes the aforementioned 5-axis stabilisation on the front camera for jitter free snaps, their vaunted F/2.0 G Lens, their Exmor RS for mobile image sensor, hybrid autofocus, their Bionz image processing engine and Triple Image Sensing tech that combines laser autofocus, phase detection autofocus and an RGBC-IR colour sensor to create a potent rear snapper that can capture 4K video and brill snaps too.
Xperia X Compact
The smaller X Compact comes with a 4.6-inch 720P display, also enhanced in a similar fashion as the XZ with Triluminos and X-Reality imaging tech. Backing this up is a midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage.
The rear of the X Compact comes with a similarly powerful camera as the XZ – a 23-MP model with their Exmor RS image sensor and 5-axis stabilisation though it’s only capable of capturing 1080P video. The front is a 5-MP snapper with their Exmor R for mobile image sensor.
The X Compact’s battery is a 2,700mAh job with Qnovo Adaptive charging tech and Quick Charge. Like other Compact phones in Xperia’s older line-ups, it’s sized well and is petite in an era where phones easily average 5-inches and up. Small handed users will likely appreciate what it has to offer. In Malaysia it will retail for RM1,999 in three colours – Mist Blue, Universe Black and White.
