At their event in Sydney tonight, Sony Australia has unveiled their plans for the local launch of their Xperia Z5 range of phones.
All three phones in the Xperia Z5 range will all be coming to Australia, with the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact launching in retail and at Telstra next week. The Xperia Z5 Premium with its incredibly high resolution 4K display will also be launching in Australia, but not until November. The Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact and Z5 Premium will be available through retailers JB Hifi and from Sony Kiosks and online, with Dick Smith only selling the Xperia Z5 Premium in November.
| JB Hifi | Xperia Z5(Black/White) Xperia Z5 Compact (Black/White) Xperia Z5 Premium (Chrome) |
Xperia Z5 Compact: $849 Xperia Z5: $999 Xperia Z5 Premium $1,199 |
|---|---|---|
| Sony Kiosks and online* | Xperia Z5 (Black/White/Gold/Green) Xperia Z5 Compact (Black/White/Yellow/Coral) Xperia Z5 Premium (BLack/Chrome/Gold) |
|
| Dick Smith Electronics | Xperia Z5 Premium (Black/Chrome/Gold) |
* Sony expects stock at Sony Kiosks by Tuesday next week.
Carrier wise, the Xperia Z5 Compact is heading to Telstra as an exclusive, while the Xperia Z5 will be available on all three carriers. Vodafone and Optus have given indicative plan information but unfortunately Telstra has not given any details as yet but should in the coming week.
| Optus | Xperia Z5 Black | $5 per month on an $80 My Plan Plus or $984 outright |
|---|---|---|
| Vodafone | Xperia Z5 White | $10 per month on an $80 Red Plan |
| Telstra | Xperia Z5 Compact (Black, White and Coral) Xperia Z5 (Black, White and Green) |
The Xperia Z5 series are all extremely well designed, with the IP 65/68 dust/waterproof rating attached. The phones are also carrying an extremely great camera which recently took out the top spot on DxOMark list with an extremely good report card something the sample photos provided by Sony attest to.
But as usual with cameras we like to test these things ourselves, but having seen this comparison of the Xperia Z5 against the iPhone 6 at night, we’re quietly confident that this camera will be a very impressive one – (Xperia Z5 on the left).
Two photos. Same circumstance. No flash, low light, night photo. The Sony Xperia Z5 vs iPhone 6 – amazing difference pic.twitter.com/yn6N0OAC1i
— Trevor Long (@trevorlong) September 2, 2015
The video on the Sony Xperia Z5 series also features some impressive video stabilisation with SteadyShot that includes an ‘Intelligent Active Mode’. The net effect of this Intelligent Active Mode is a smoothed out ‘hyperlapse’ like effect that means less shake in your videos and less blur for low-light shots.
As well as great camera and design, Sony are also pushing the 2-day battery life of the Xperia Z5 series, something Chris has absolutely loved on his Xperia Z3. Sony has again returned with the Stamina mode on the Xperia Z5 series and we hope to get great results out of the range this year. With the Snapdragon 810 processor on board, you will also get the benefit of Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 2.0 for an extremely fast charge.
Full Specs for the Xperia Z5 series :
| Xperia Z5 Compact | Xperia Z5 | Xperia Z5 Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 4.6″ HD 720p (1280×720) Triluminos display for mobile X-Reality for mobile Dynamic Contrast Enhancer |
5.2” FHD 1080p (1920×1080) Triluminos display for mobile X-Reality for mobile Dynamic Contrast Enhancer |
5.5” 4K UHD (3840×2160), 806 PPI Triluminos display for mobile X-Reality for mobile Dynamic Contrast Enhancer |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994)64 bit Octa Core processor | ||
| RAM | 2GB RAM | 3GB RAM | |
| Storage | 32GB Onboard storage with up to 200GB microSD Card | ||
| Rear Camera | 1/2.3” 23 MP Sony Exmor RS™ for mobile sensor Hybrid Auto Focus 0.03 sec 5 x Clear Image Zoom Up to 8x Digital Zoom Wide angle G Lens (24 mm) Up to ISO 12800 Photo / 3200 VideoSteadyShot™ with Intelligent Active Mode – video stabilisation 4K video recording Pulse LED Flash |
||
| Front Camera | 5 MP front camera Sony Exmor R™ for mobile sensor Full HD video SteadyShot™ with Intelligent Active Mode – video stabilisation Wide angle lens (25 mm) |
||
| IP Rating | IP65/68 | IP65/68 with capless microUSB | |
| Bands | GSM GPRS UMTS HSPA (3G) LTE (4G)/ LTE (s4G) Cat 6 |
||
| Sensors | aGPS Bluetooth 4.1 wireless technology DLNA Certified® WiFi SISO MHL 3.0 NFC |
||
| Battery | 2700mAh Battery with Quick Charge 2.0 | 2900mAh Battery with Quick Charge 2.0 | 3430mAh Battery with Quick Charge 2.0 |
| OS | Google Android™ 5.1 (Lollipop) | ||
| Dimensions | 127 x 65 x 8.9 mm @ 138 grams | 146 x 72 x 7.3 mm @ 154 grams | 154.4 x 76.0 x 7.8 mm @ 180 grams |
We have an Xperia Z5 review unit on hand and we’re looking forward to putting it through its paces in the next couple of weeks, but after a play with the phones at IFA last month and at the launch tonight, if you’re looking for a phone you’re definitely going to have to check these out before you look elsewhere.
Did I read this right? No local telcos doing the premium?
Thanks Ausdroid :P, now am I torn between the Z5 Premium and the Nexus 6P. Originally I was gonna pick up a Moto X Style but the Australian release is a shambles.
Hoping Telstra get the premium too!!!
Dan, when you test can you spend some time shooting photos and videos outdoors on a warm day. I find that my z3 overheats very quickly in these scenarios, which is a common complaint with all the z phones so far. I would not buy another one unless this was fixed.
Z5 can get warm in hand when it’s busy .. we’ll try an outdoors shoot as part of the review process.
Awesome, thanks. My z3 starts getting seriously hot when using the camera, particularly outdoors on a typical Queensland summer day. It doesn’t take long before it starts getting warnings and then shutting down the camera app. From the various forums, it seems to be a common problem. The thin form factor with all that glass seems to be quite poor at dissipating all that heat.
yeah my Z3 did that also South Australia warm sunny day camera just overheats
I’m waiting to see what the pricing through the Sony X program will be for these. The Z3 Compact is $551 through Sony X, quite competitive with grey imports, and the Z3 is 721 (which is way too high, as Sony hasn’t dropped the RRP on it).
They’re up. They were actually up a few weeks back but got taken down again.
Z5 Compact:
$ 764.15 (AUD inc. GST)
Z5
$ 849.15 (AUD inc. GST)
No sign of the premium. Still pretty damn expensive oi.
Ouch! That’s a big jump for the compact!
Sony wonder why their Xperia business isn’t succeeding, look at the specs for the price. Besides the 810 SOC, its significantly more pricey for specs that aren’t that much more then other mid-price phones.
In the Z5 range, at least, the killer feature (besides design, which I think is a bit of a wank) is camera and battery life .. first day results with the battery aren’t promising, but the camera certainly looks sharp.
🙁
GSM arena tested the Z5 Compact at 83hrs I think compared to the Z3 Compact that lasted about 101 hours on their same battery life test. So its a 15-20% drop in battery Iife compared to their previous flagship phones :/
pumped for this phone! pricey though!
$1200, man that is a lot of cash to spend on a phone
Will ones direct from Sony be able to update android without having to worry about delays with Australian carriers?
Also, does the Z5 have capless USB or is that just the Z5 Premium as the table suggests?
Only info we have says Capless USB on Premium only.
Updates should be direct from Sony without carrier testing.
But the nexus 5 updates should come out when google release them, but telstra block itit for a few weeks, if you do not use telstra you get them with the rest of the world
Pretty sure the whole range is waterproof with capless USB; the Z5 has no cap on the USB port, and its IP68 rated.
My z1 compact was purchased unlocked and outright from Telstra and never saw updates because Telstra wouldn’t validate them. Given the Z5 Compact is a Telstra exclusive I hope they’ve changed but I doubt it.
Any phone purchased from a carrier is going to be subject to their carrier testing on software updates. Only phones purchased outright from the manufacturer themselves (Sony Kiosk or online) or through the retailers (JB/DSE etc) will get updates straight from Sony.
Z5 Compact is available from JB Hifi and the Sony Kiosks, if you don’t want to be subject to the carrier testing on software updates, you’ll have to purchase from either of those two.
Totally, although there were people in online forums saying the Z1 Compact stock from JB HIFI were also dependent on Telstra validation for updates. I hope these people were just mistaken although it might be worth waiting and seeing how others fare if this is a concern for prospective buyers.
I wasn’t aware of this before purchasing my Z1 Compact and it’s my bad for not researching more thoroughly. On the flip side if you purchase a phone unlocked and outright to use on a different carrier is there any reason why you should be subject to Telstra’s validation process? There’s probably a perfectly good reason I’m unaware of but it doesn’t make sense to me.
Experience with the Z3 series suggests that if you buy direct from Sony, updates might arrive a few days earlier – but still later than they do in the rest of the world.
The Z5 should still have capless USB, even though it isn’t listed in the official spec sheet (unless there’s a specific meaning to capless beyond the obvious).
I really want the premium model.. I want this for the camera experience, however after watching a YouTube Video from SuperSafTV with the Z5 vs 6s+ it shows a very different story to that of the dxobenchmark gave us.. Whether or not it was a bad day to take photos with the Z5 but his reviews are pretty detailed and thorough. Hopefully you guys can give me better hope otherwise it could be Nexus 6p for me
I was considering a Z5 too because I prefer Sony’s take on Android and the better battery life. The comparison Saf did between the Galaxy S6 and the Xperia Z5 really made it hard for me to continue wanting the Z5. Although Sony’s stabilisation has improved and the images seem a little cleaner there’s still too much fuzziness or haziness and too much noise in low light. Autofocus is a bit slow and the macro performance in Saf’s test was pretty awful. It hurts me to say this because I really want Sony to succeed but Samsung are doing a… Read more »
I cant get over that these at first glance look like the same phone they released 3 years ago. But now $400 more expensive. I bought an Experia Z from HarveyN for $650 about 2 months after release.
These will likely be similar price after 2 months. Usually the RRP from the Sony store is quite high. Im sure JB will probably sell them $50-100 cheaper if you ask nicely.
Also consider the exchange rate is much worse now.
I think they may not be as aggressive with price drops given their very survival in the mobile market depends on them stopping the massive losses this year. I like Sony and the design but if they do sell off the brand and have a different manufacturer I doubt I will be as keen to keep supporting them
I’ll be getting one next week. Hopefully the Marshmallow update isn’t too far away.