Review: Sony Xperia Z

How many times a day do you touch the power button of your smartphone?

According to Sony Mobile, the average number of button-presses is 76. No surprise, then, that the company has put so much engineering detail into that big, round, silver button sticking out of the right-hand side of the Xperia Z handset. Among the crop of lookalike Android phones, this alone makes the Z stand out. It doesn't stun you with awe or anything, but this new handset is certainly more of a looker than those awkward Xperias of yesteryear. Oddly, it's not yet available from a U.S. carrier, but it's a worthy contender if you're looking for an unlocked device to hack, or to play around with.

Unveiled this past January and released soon after in Japan (where it's a big hit), the newest Xperia smartphone is encased in an all-black, rubbery fiberglass frame, and it features tempered-glass front and rear panels, just like the old iPhone 4 and 4S. It's not Gorilla Glass, though – something you'll notice after a few days of normal use by accidentally scratching the glass. You'll also find yourself repeatedly wiping both sides free of fingerprints and detritus. For some reason, the smoother, all-white version of the phone collects less gunk – or at least wears it better – than the black version.

Even so, the Xperia Z is dust-resistant, so while it may soil, it won't get damaged. It's also water-resistant, meaning it would survive a plunge in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes. All the ports and connections – including microSD, microUSB 2.0 with MHL HDMI, headphone socket and SIM tray – are sealed with flaps to keep everything waterproof. I dunked my review unit in the sink, let it sit under cold running water for a few minutes, and I tossed it in a puddle outside, all with no damage at all. One thing, though – the air-tight build traps the heat in, and when holding the Z tight in your hands, you'll sense it heating up across the back as the hardware gets busy.

This is Sony's flagship for 2013, so it has all the specifications you'd expect – a big, powerful screen, some hot-dog internals, and an excellent camera.

The HD display is an 1920x1080-resolution TFT panel with the latest iteration of Sony's Bravia engine working behind the scenes to boost the color saturation. The screen is also very sharp: 441 pixels-per-inch, which is on par with the Samsung Galaxy S4's 441 ppi. However, boosting the brightness hurts black levels, and viewing angles are not the best I've ever seen. Slim and reasonably light, it doesn't look very large, but it feels huge when you hold it – at least as big as many of the other 5-plus-inch smartphones on the market.

Inside is a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor backed by 2GB of RAM. It also supports a full range of wireless connection capabilities, so it will work almost anywhere in the world. As I mentioned, it's already a popular choice among buyers in Japan and in limited European markets, but it isn't available in the U.S. yet. Customers stateside can buy the device unlocked at full price and use it on GSM, HSPA+, or LTE networks.

Sony is a company with a long history in photo hardware, so you'd expect the camera to be nothing short of fantastic. The Xperia Z delivers by packing a 13.1-megapixel Exmor backside-illuminated sensor. Pictures can be taken at up to 12 megapixels (3920x2940) in 4:3 ratio and up to 9 megapixels (3920x2204) in 16:9. It can take stills while capturing 720p mp4 videos, too. It also has a burst mode with the ability to capture up to 14 frames per second – my own tests at the highest quality registered a fast 7 fps. The camera software includes nine different filters and 17 scene modes, plus a "Superior auto mode" and a panorama mode that lets you select from all four shooting directions. There's no dedicated shutter button, and at the beginning, it will be easy to mistake the power button for a shutter. You'd be better off enabling the "Touch capture mode," which lets you fire the shutter by just tapping on a subject on the screen.

Although battery is rated at 2330mAh, it won't last a whole day between charges. In fact, the phone will be dead within six hours even if you're not a heavy user. Sony's main solution for increasing battery life is something the company calls Stamina mode. It disables mobile data when the screen is off, but you'll still get texts and calls. You can turn notifications on and off – Facebook, Twitter, whatever – to save power. There's also an option that automatically loads saved location data whenever you're in range of a known Wi-Fi network and passes that saved data to any services that request it instead of pinging the GPS.

Sony ships the Xperia Z with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean software, but you wouldn't know it unless you burrowed into the settings. The whole user interface has been customized by Sony, and it comes with a heap of bundled apps: Music Unlimited, PlayNow, Socialife, Sony Car and Wisepilot, Sony Select, and TrackID. Most of those are take-it-or-leave-it. I was, however, impressed with the customized keyboard that supports gesture input and bilingual words suggestions, plus a number of optional extras, including text-to-speech output, emoticons, and smart period and comma keys. If you're not a fan of Sony's customizations, you'll be happy to know the Z can run CyanogenMod.

Finally, there's the NFC chip, which is mostly used for transferring files among supported Android devices, and for easily connecting to supported accessories – most notably, Sony's various TVs, DLNA hardware, Bluetooth speakers and other wireless do-dads. Sony is good about goosing its own ecosystems, and in the near future, the Z will tie into the company's mobile gaming offerings, too. Sony says you'll soon gain the ability to pick up your handset and continue a game you started on the PlayStation. Thanks to the Gaikai cloud gaming service Sony bought last summer for $380 million, a bookmark will always know where you left off. But, not yet.

Also not yet: buying the Z through a U.S. carrier. If you want it stateside, you have to buy it unlocked on the open market and jump through a hoop or two to get connected. So fire up Google Translate and bring your wallet. Also be on the lookout for the Xperia ZL, a cheaper version of the Z without the water-resistant stuff or the glass back. Sony is putting more muscle behind the flagship Z, but the ZL is already available in Canada and through some online outlets.

WIRED Dust and water resistant. Awesome screen, awesome camera. Connects to 4G LTE, HSPA+ and GSM networks. I'm awfully fond of that power button.

TIRED Battery won't last more than six hours. "Stamina" mode helps, but making it all the way to bedtime is still a challenge. GPS is very slow. Port caps feels fragile.

Maurizio Pesce is the technology editor at Wired Italia. Follow him on Twitter.

UPDATE: Corrections were made concerning the Xperia Z's pixel density and the availability of the Xperia ZL.