The New Sony Xperia Z4 Is Officially Out, But Only In Japan For Now

The new Sony Xperia Z4 has officially been launched and it’s welcome news for users of its predecessor the Xperia Z3. It is only available to the Japanese market for now with rollout to the rest of the world expected soon.

There is also another slight setback. If you’re big on battery power you have to know first of all that the Sony Xperia Z4 has been downgraded to a 2930mAh battery, compared to the Z3’s 3100mAh one, even though both come with fast charging capabilities of up to 60% in 30 minutes.

It’s also lighter than the Z3 which was 152g. It’s shorter than the Z3’s 7.3 length, but has the same screen size of 5.2 inches. The front camera on the Z4 is also better at 5.1 Mp compared to the Z3’s 2.2 MP so yay to better selfies!

It runs on the latest Android 5.o (Lollipop) operating system and has a bigger internal memory at 32 and 64 GB compared to the Xperia Z3’s 16 and 32 GB options. Both phones have a microSD slot that allows memory expansion up to 128 GB.

Here’s an outline of the Sony Xperia Z4’s specifications/features:

Dimensions	146mm × 72mm × 6.9mm
Weight	144 grams
Battery capacity	2930mAh
Display	5.2-inch Triluminos Display for Mobile at 1920×1080
Memory	32GB / 3GB
SD Memory Slot	microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC (maximum 128GB)
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, 2.0GHz / 1.5GHz Octa-core
External Connectivity	Bluetooth® 4.1, microUSB / MHL / headset connection terminal, DLNA
Main Camera	20.7-megapixel backside-illuminated Exmor RS for mobile
Rear Camera	5.1-megapixel backside illuminated Exmor R for mobile
Camera shake correction	Electronic (video / still image)
Video recording	Main camera: 4K (2160p), full HD 60fps (1080p) / Full HD 30fps (1080p) / HD (720p) / VGA (480p) / MMS Front camera:Full HD (1080p) / HD (720p) / VGA (480p) / MMS
Flash	Main camera only
Waterproof/Dustproof	IPX5 / 8, IP6X
NFC	Yes
Wifi	IEEE802.11a / b / g / n (2.4GHz / 5GHz) / ac compliant, MIMO support
Colors	White, Black, Copper, Aqua Green

(Table courtesy of Android Central)

Our opinion: The Sony Xperia Z4 is too similar to the Z3 to make a huge hit on the latter. What’s under the hood is almost the same, with the Z4 being slightly faster. It just has a better front camera but pretty much has the same specifications. The Sony Xperia Z3 will also be eligible for upgrade from Android 4.4 (KitKat) to the latest Android 5.0 (Lollipop) operating system meaning the software on both phones will be the same.

Is our breath taken away by the Z4? Not really, but until we experience the phone’s capabilities hands-on, the phone gets a 3-star rating from us. We will also inform you of the retail price it will get in Zambia as soon as it launches here.