Hands on with Sony’s Xperia XZ3

Every Android phone maker at IFA 2018 seems to be shamelessly copying the iPhone X. Every company except Sony.

Rather than look to Apple for inspiration for its latest Xperia XZ3 Android phone, the beleaguered phone maker has instead decided to mimic features Samsung pioneered on its Galaxy smartphones.

Sony’s new Xperia XZ3 comes a mere six months after it announced the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact at Mobile World Congress earlier this year.

Back in February, I said the phones were an improvement for Sony (the fingerprint reader was finally activated again on U.S. models), but ultimately still lagged behind the competition as they moved towards shrinking the bezels around the display.

The XZ3 doesn’t quite follow the latest mobile trends, but it’s yet another improvement for Sony nonetheless.

The phone comes with a 6-inch 18:9 OLED display with 2,880 x 1,440 resolution. There’s still bezel above and below the screen, but they’re narrower than before. 

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the phone is how much it feels like a Samsung Galaxy. The edges of the display are also curved, although in a more subtle way than on Samsung devices.

And get this: There’s even an similar Edge Screen like feature where you can double tap the side of the bring up apps. Sony’s version is a little different — the phone uses AI to show apps you might want to use — but come on, it’s the same idea.

Powering the phone is a Snapdragon 845 chip and 4GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of internal storage and there’s a microSD card slot to expand that with an extra 512GB. There’s also a decent-sized 3,330 mAh battery as well as wireless charging. 

Another trend Sony seems uninteresting in copying is dual cameras. The XZ3 has a single 19-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture. On the front is a 13-megapixel selfie camera with f/1.9 aperture.

It’s also great there’s a fingerprint reader on the back below the cameras. But if you’re looking for a headphone jack, you won’t find one on the phone.

The hardware looks great and the software’s up-to-date. When the XZ3 ships in September, it’ll come with Android 9 Pie right out of the box — something most other Android phones not called Pixel can’t boast about.

Sony’s making progress with each new phone release, but they may not be enough to save their business. The Xperia business continues to be a money loser every year and it’s unlikely that the XZ3 will turn things around for Sony, especially when phone makers like OnePlus and Xiaomi are killing it with flagship phones that don’t cost a fortune.

Pricing hasn’t been announced for the XZ3 yet. But even so, if Sony still wants to be taken seriously in the phone market, it needs to start hitting some home runs with a string of new devices with features that other phones don’t have. My two cents: Nobody wants 3D object scanning in a phone.