Sony has recently announced the Xperia Z4 smartphone quietly in an event in Japan. The tablet version of this phone was already announced in the Mobile World Congress event last month. This phone was also expected to be released at the same time, but Sony gave us a surprise. Now, after a long time of rumors and news, the phone is officially unveiled by the company.
Key Specs of Sony Xperia Z4:
| Sony Xperia Z4 | ||||||
| SoC | MSM8994 2/1.5 GHz A57/A53 Snapdragon 810 | |||||
| Memory and Storage | 32GB NAND + MicroSDXC, 3GB RAM | |||||
| Display | 5.2″ 1920×1080 IPS LCD | |||||
| Cellular Connectivity | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm UE Category 7/9 LTE) | |||||
| Dimensions | 146 x 72 x 6.9 mm, 144g | |||||
| Camera | 20.7 MP Sony Exmor, 1/2.3″ Rear Facing, 25mm focal length 5.1MP Front Facing |
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| Battery | 2930 mAh | |||||
| Other Connectivity | 2×2 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, microUSB2.0, NFC, GPS/GNSS | |||||
| SIM Size | NanoSIM | |||||
| Operating System | Android 5.0 Lollipop | |||||
The Sony Xperia Z4 has a slightly tweaked OmniBalance design with 6.9mm profile with a metal frame running around the sides. Just like the predecessor, the Xperia Z4 brings IP68 certification for dust and water resistance. The corners are built with resin to provide strength and entire phone has two-layer coating to retain the overall shine. Sony has come up with a new technology for its camera as well for the Z4. The 20.7MP rear camera with Exmor RS image sensor is coupled with the BIONZ image processing engine.Clad with G Lens, the 1/2.3-inch image sensor can offer sensitivity all the way up to ISO12800 to capture well exposed images in poorly lit environments. Along with the usual set of HDR and the imaging modes, Sony has added new ‘Cooking Mode’ for clicking the best images of your food.
As for now, the phone is only available in Japan, but the device is clearly meant for global markets as well, since it supports a number of languages besides Japanese, including English, Chinese and some European languages. The move by Sony comes amid reports that the company was planning to scale down or even pull out of its smartphone business.
However, though this phone has pretty decent specs to be a flagship, and comes under Sony’s flagship hood- Xperia Z series, this is not the company’s flagship device for this year. As it turns out the lack of fanfare for the Xperia Z4 launch in Japan was intentional, as the phone will remain as an exclusive for its homeland. Instead Sony will be premiering a proper flagship smartphone later this year, supposedly this May. There are no details on the alleged flagship phone, but if previous rumors are to be trusted we’ll be seeing a screen resolution bump. Sony recently promised to focus on the user experience instead of only hardware upgrades, so we should expect improved Android OS and proprietary apps.
We don’t have any details about the pricing and availability of the Sony Xperia Z4 yet, and as stated above, all we know till now is that the phone will very soon be available in the retail markets of Japan and will come to the International market on stages. We can expect the price to be similar to the Z-series flagships as they had the tag while being released, which could probably be about $700. We will update about any information available further, so stay tuned.
