Sony XPERIA Z4 vs Sony XPERIA Z3 – What Has Changed?

The Sony XPERIA Z4 was announced quietly earlier today in Japan without much hype or media buzz. The handset is currently meant only for Japan and a report has surfaced stating that while the Z4 is Japan only, there will be another flagship handset launched next month that will be available internationally. We aren’t sure whether this will be a Z4 with higher specs or a different handset all together. But we though in the meantime we will bring to you a post regarding the differences between the Z3 and the Z4.

One look at the Z4 and you know for sure that its a Sony device and one that belongs to the flagship XPERIA Z line. The main difference from the Z3 and Z4 you would notice is the change in the speaker position. The Z4 goes back to the old speaker position which was used in the XPERIA Z2. We always preferred this position and are glad that Sony have decided to switch back to this. The front surface seems cleaner and simpler this way.

The screen size remains the same at 5.2″ and the resolution sticks to 1080p itself. There is no reduction in the bezels either and as a result the height and width of the Z4 remains the same as the Z3. Sony however has trimmed down the waistline as the Z4 measures 6.9mm in thickness while the Z3 measured 7.3mm. That’s a good reduction in the thickness of the device but it comes at a cost.

The Z4 battery capacity has now been reduced to 2930 mAH compared to the 3100 mAH battery on the Z3. While even the Z3 lost 100 mAH compared to it’s predecessor, the Z2, the Z3 in fact had a battery life which was on par if not better than the Z2. We aren’t sure if Sony has optimized the Z4 to be as good as the Z3 but considering the capacity is now reduced by almost 200 mAH this time (170 mAH to be exact), we feel the chances for that are slim. We feel the battery life might be lesser than the Z3. But even then it should be good enough to last you the entire day just as the Z2/Z3 did. Either way we will wait till we get our hands on the device to judge the battery life. The Z4 is also lighter at 144 grams compared to 152 grams of the Z3.

Another really important change is that the microUSB port has now been moved from the top left to the bottom and now is left uncovered. This doesn’t come at the cost of losing it’s waterproofing abilities though. Just like the M4 Aqua, the Z4 is still waterproof even with an uncovered microUSB port. The nanoSIM slot and the microSD card slot have now been shifted to the left side where the microUSB port previously was.

The processor has been upgraded from a Snapdragon 801 to a Snapdragon 810 while the RAM stays the same at 3GB. The internal memory is now 32/64GB instead of 16/64GB variants. The Z4 retains the microSD card slot and supports cards upto 128GB. While the main camera remains the same with it’s 20.7 MP 1/2.3″ sensor and LED flash, the front camera has been upgraded from 2.2 MP to 5 MP.

It will be launched in 4 different colours like the Z3 – White, Black, Copper and Green and will come preloaded with Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box.


Sandeep Sarma: Sandeep Sarma is a blogger and a freelance photographer. Apart from gadgets and phones, he also has a passion for movies and cars. He currently uses the S7 Edge as his main phone. Catch him on twitter at @sandeep9sarma
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