Sony XZs evaluation: opening a new era of mobile photography

IT 168 evaluation at MWC 20 17 this year, Sony released four models in one breath, namely Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Sony Xperia XZs, Sony Xperia XA 1 and Sony Xperia XA 1 Ultra. Among them, Sony Xperia XZ Premium is the top flagship mobile phone, and this time it is also two technologies that Sony has precipitated from other industrial chains. One is the introduction of 4K HDR display, and the other is the three-layer stacked CMOS in the black card, each of which can lead the industry for at least half a year.

If the product is good, the price will be higher, especially for brands like Sony. Judging from the pricing strategy of Sony Xperia XZ Premium abroad, the retail version should cost at least 6,000 yuan, while Sony Xperia XZ, as the flagship mobile phone last year, obviously cannot support the price range of around 4,500 yuan. The birth of Sony Xperia XZs can not only prop up the Premium for premium high-end series, but also make up for the lack of XZ performance. It can be regarded as an iterative product for positioning the sub-flagship.

▲ Sony Xperia XZs ice blue

Although XZs is a bit dull under the illumination of Sony Xperia XZ Premium. However, from the perspective of its product positioning, Sony Xperia XZs is still a particularly unique selling point and advantage. For example, it is more suitable for one-handed body size and excellent feel; Several models in Sony's flagship mobile phone that are not easy to be contaminated with fingerprints; The image conforms to Sony Xperia XZ Premium, and IMX400 image sensor is also used. In other words, if you think that the product strategy of Sony Xperia XZ Premium is too radical and the introduction of new technologies and processes cannot support such a high price, then Sony Xperia XZs will be a good choice.

Ice blue will refresh you all summer.

Although the appearance of Sony Xperia XZs is no different from XZ at first glance, from the perspective of body material, Sony has indeed reconsidered this product. Sony Xperia XZs*** introduced three color schemes: warm silver, dark blue and ice blue. Although it is a little simpler than the naming of streamer silver, quiet blue and phantom black, it is not cheap in quality.

▲ The rear camera is slightly prominent.

Sony Xperia XZs still uses ALKALEIOD metal body, which is also a proud selling point of Sony. It is a brand-new material made by Sony and Kobe Steel, one of Japan's three largest steel mills. However, unlike Sony Xperia XZ, XZs emphasizes matte texture, while XZ emphasizes metallic luster. Because everyone's preferences are different, I forgot to judge which is better or worse, but XZ's fuselage back is more likely to leave tiny scratches and residual fingerprints.

Sony Xperia XZs's most noteworthy color matching is this ice blue. Compared with the quiet blue of XZ, it is obviously much fresher. The concentration of blue is very weak, and it will look a little close to silver under the illumination of light. According to its official explanation, the inspiration of ice blue comes from the color of ancient glaciers. Ice itself is colorless, it is transparent, but when the light hits the ice layer, the blue will disperse.

▲ Double Nano card slot, supporting the combination of single card and SD card.

In fact, in the Sony booth of MWC 20 17, in addition to the three colors of black, silver and blue, a yellow version of Sony Xperia XZs was exhibited. According to Sony's consistent marketing strategy, it is still very likely to launch this yellow version in the future. However, this color may also be cancelled directly.

It's just right anyway.

Sony Xperia XZs and XZ are identical in size and weight. The average size is about 146 x 72 x 8. 1 mm and about 16 1 g. Although the screen ratio of Sony mobile phones has always been a spit point, compared with iPhone 7, the two are basically 50-50. In addition, the 5.2-inch display is also a panacea for most young users, and it is very easy for both men and women to hold it with one hand.

▲ Girls are also easy to pick up girls.

In terms of hardware, Sony Xperia XZs gives people the feeling that it is just right. It didn't choose Qualcomm Opteron 835 processor and 4K HDR display as aggressively as Sony Xperia XZ Premium, but it still continued Opteron 820 processor and 1080P resolution display on XZ. However, 3GB of running memory, which has remained unchanged for ten thousand years, has been upgraded from XZs to 4GB. Although there are many mobile phones with 6GB storage on the market, 4GB is enough for most scenarios. Attached below is the parameter comparison of Sony Xperia XZ/XZs/XZ Premium.

Parameter comparison of Sony Xperia XZ/XZs/XZ Premium

mobile phone

Sony Xperia XZ

Sony Xperia XZs

Sony Xperia XZ Premium

screen size

5.2 inches

5.2 inches

5.5 inches

resolution ratio

1920x 1080

1920x 1080

3840x2 160 HDR

processor

Qualcomm Xiaolong 820

Qualcomm Xiaolong 820

Qualcomm Xiaolong 835

Random access storage

3 GB

4 GB

4 GB

Body memory

64 GB

64 GB

64 GB

Main camera

IMX3 300 million pixels

Imx400190000 pixels

Imx400190000 pixels

front-facing camera

13 megapixels, F2.0

13 megapixels, F2.0

13 megapixels, F2.0

Fuselage size

146 x 72 x 8. 1 mm

146 x 72 x 8. 1 mm

156 x 77 x 7.9 mm

Fuselage weight

16 1g

16 1g

195g

battery

2900 mah

2900 mah

3230 mah

Fuselage color

Magic night black, streamer silver, deep honey powder, quiet blue

Ice blue, warm silver, dark color

Mirror silver, mirror black

eigenfunction

Three-image sensor

Triple impact sensor, super slow motion video

4K·HDR, Super Slow Motion Video

Sim card

MicroSIM Dual Card Mobile/Unicom Dual 4G

operating system

Based on Android 7. 1. 1

price

4399 yuan

4699 yuan

Or about 6000 yuan.

Judging from the above parameter table, the improvement in photography is undoubtedly a bright spot for Sony Xperia XZs. Take the lead in carrying Sony IMX400 sensor. The sensor is the industry's first three-layer stacked CMOS image sensor for smart phone platform. It adds a DRAM layer to the previous two-layer stacked CMOS, so it can shoot ultra-slow motion video at 960fps. You know, before CMOS appeared, the maximum slow-motion video of all mobile phones was only 240fps. To some extent, this is a big leap in the CMOS performance of smart phones.

In fact, as early as February 7 this year, Sony has announced the IMX400 photosensitive element to the public. According to Sony's official explanation, the traditional double-layer CMOS image sensor consists of a back-illuminated pixel layer and a signal processing circuit layer with a pre-installed circuit chip, while the new CMOS image sensor has a new DRAM layer between these two circuits. Simply put, Sony packaged a memory into CMOS, which enabled IMX400 to exchange image data more quickly.

▲ Comparison between traditional CMOS structure and IMX400

From the comparison above, I can clearly see that the DRAM layer is located between the pixel module and the circuit module. When the pixel module obtains the image information, it will be transmitted to DRAM for short-term storage, and then the image information will be processed by the circuit module, and the DRAM layer plays a buffering role.

The sensor with DRAM layer has derived two characteristics, that is, it can capture the still image with minimum distortion of objects in high-speed motion and shoot ultra-slow motion video. Let's interpret them one by one.

Anti-distortion shooting

According to Sony's official exhibition, with the help of high-speed, low-energy and large-capacity DRAM in the stacked structure, the new sensor can read the still image of1120 seconds (about 4 times faster than the traditional product), and at the same time, it can reduce the delay of reading each pixel. This technology of keeping the focal plane distortion of static images to the lowest level may be applied to smartphones that lack mechanical shutters to control exposure time, helping them to take images of fast moving objects.

Due to the limitation of processing performance and circuit width of mobile phone ISP, the traditional CMOS pixel module cannot transmit all the data after analog-to-digital conversion to ISP. With the DRAM layer, the data converted from analog to digital can be temporarily stored in DRAM, and then the stored data can be continuously transmitted to the ISP after the ISP has processed the previous data, thus ensuring that the data can be completely preserved. Simply put, the traditional CMOS mobile phone can save 1 card per second, and the DRAM mobile phone can save 4 cards per second.

▲ On the left is the shooting effect with reading speed of 1/30s, and on the right is the shooting effect with reading speed of1120s.

From the comparison chart, we can intuitively see that at the reading speed of 1/30 seconds, the front of the photo is tilted to the right, while at the reading speed of1120 seconds, the front of the photo maintains a normal image. It can be seen that IMX400 CMOS anti-distortion performance is immediate. In addition, due to the application of this technology, Gensonnie Xperia XZs supports the preset shutter function. It can detect the moving subject, and can save up to four full-pixel photos in a short time before the user presses the shutter and during the time when the user presses the shutter, which is convenient for the user to capture the desired moment.

Super slow motion video shooting

Before CMOS with DRAM layer appeared, at present, all mobile phones supported the maximum slow-motion video shooting of 240fps. Sony Xperia XZs can shoot up to 960fps in 1280x720 pixel mode, which is about four times that of traditional CMOS. It can record 0.2s seconds of content in real scenes, and finally present a video with a length of 6.4 seconds. The following video is a demonstration of Sony Xperia XZs in super slow motion.

Sony Xperia XZs*** supports three slow-motion video shooting modes. They are super slow motion, super slow motion (one-time) and ordinary slow motion. Among them, super slow motion is my longest mode, and I can switch between 960fps shooting and normal shooting freely. The operation mode is somewhat similar to that of capturing photos in normal video recording, except that what is captured here is a slow-motion moment; Super slow motion (one-time) means that you can only shoot a moment in slow motion, and the video length is fixed at 6.4 seconds; Ordinary slow motion supports unlimited recording of 120fps slow motion video, and users can freely choose the interval of slow motion at the end of recording.

However, it is worth noting that shooting ultra-slow motion video requires very strong light, so it is difficult to shoot an ideal picture without indoor lighting. At night, super slow-motion videos are useless.

Sony Xperia XZs continues the triple image sensing technology on XZ, and the front and rear cameras support the five-axis electronic image stabilization function in recording mode. The main camera of Sony Xperia XZs adopts F2.0 aperture and supports19 million effective pixels. The sensor size is still 1/2.3 ". However, because the number of pixels is reduced compared with the previous generation, the unit pixel size is increased to 1.22μm, and the photosensitive performance is better.

Although the first-class flagship mobile phones all use CMOS provided by Sony, the imaging quality of Sony's own mobile phones is always a little worse. Sony Xperia XZ is often vomited by users, because the photos taken have obvious smearing feeling. Let's first compare the proofs of Sony Xperia XZs and XZ to see if Sony has any repairs or improvements in this respect.

▲ Contrast in backlight environment

I chose to take this photo in the backlight environment, because it can compare the color performance and brightness of the sample more obviously. First of all, from an intuitive point of view, the photos taken by Sony Xperia XZs have been one level higher in screen brightness. This makes the flowers look more transparent and the leaves look full of vitality. On the contrary, XZ's photos give people the impression that they are slightly underexposed.

In terms of details, in the photos taken by Sony Xperia XZs, the petal edges are sharp and the transition with the background is natural. XZ does have a relatively obvious sense of smearing. In addition to the smear marks at the petals, even the blurred background is dotted with smear marks. It can be seen that Sony Xperia XZs has indeed fixed the serious phenomenon of photo smear. Of course, the test conditions I chose are also harsh, which makes the contrast more obvious on the one hand, and proves that Sony Xperia XZs can cope with more complicated shooting scenes on the other hand.

▲ Comparison under normal circumstances

When I choose to take a contrast sample of ordinary outdoor scenes, I can see that the overall impression of the two is similar. Relatively speaking, the color saturation and contrast of Sony Xperia XZs are slightly higher, and the photos present a better visual impression, which is more pleasing to users. In addition, after reducing and enlarging the proofs, we can still see that Sony Xperia XZ still has a certain sense of smear, but it is much stronger than the previous photos.

▲ Comparison between Sony Xperia XZs and iPhone7 Plus

In addition to comparing yourself with yourself, I also found Apple iPhone7 Plus and Sony Xperia XZs for comparison. As can be seen from the comparison chart above, there is obvious contrast between the two imaging styles. Sony is more inclined to emphasize bright colors and is very sensitive to colors such as red, green and blue, so the sky, flowers and leaves have obvious division and saturation. Apple is more inclined to restore the truth, and the overall picture is slightly dull. The advantage is that it looks more transparent.

The following is the real shot of Sony Xperia XZs, but the picture has been compressed due to upload restrictions. If you want the original picture, you can follow my Sina Weibo @ A Liang dll and ask me for it in private. Of course, you are also welcome to join us ~

For Japanese manufacturers who advocate the concept of minimalism, Sony chose to respect the running logic and functions of native Android to the greatest extent in software. Whether it is the launcher style, notification bar, multi-task menu or general design interface, Sony has hardly made any changes in these UIs. But in every new Sony mobile phone, we can see brand-new Sony elements. For example, Sony Xperia XZs has adopted a new clock plug-in, a new dynamic wallpaper and some new functions.

The national version of Sony Xperia XZs is customized based on Android 7. 1. 1. An interesting upgrade on the UI is the addition of a brand-new dynamic wallpaper. This kind of dynamic wallpaper is interesting because it has different dynamic performances in different scenes. For example, when the screen is locked, the ring will be located on the right side of the screen, suggesting that you know that the fingerprint key on the right side can be unlocked. In addition, the mobile phone will turn red when the battery is low, reminding you to find a place to charge quickly!

Xperia Actions is the latest product of Sony Xperia XZs. It has three usage scenarios: good night, focus and abroad, and can automatically turn on some function options in specific scenarios, so that users can get the best experience in this scenario. For example, I sleep at 10 half every day and get up at 7: 30 in the morning. Then in the meantime, my mobile phone will automatically reduce the brightness of the screen and turn on the Do Not Disturb mode. This avoids being disturbed in the middle of the night, and you are not afraid of being deceived when you use your mobile phone to see the time at night.

Sony Xperia XZs and XZ have exactly the same battery capacity as processors, so their power consumption is similar. From my experience, when dual card dual standby and WIFI are turned on, Sony Xperia XZs consumes 5% standby power for about 8 and a half hours a night. During the whole process, third-party software such as WeChat, QQ and Weibo did not consume abnormal power. More interestingly, Sony Xperia XZs can prompt when the phone will run out of power according to your usage habits. The longer it takes, the more accurate it is.

On the whole, the software system of Sony Xperia XZs is a bit acclimatized in the domestic market. With the crazy development of the Internet industry in the domestic market, content ecology has become the mantra of every conference of mobile phone manufacturers, and mobile phones have naturally become the carrier of content. However, due to geographical restrictions and different market strategies, Sony mobile phones are lacking in content introduction in the domestic market. I hope Sony can try to integrate some domestic ecological content into its mobile phone, such as music, video, life service and so on.

Always insist on doing your own Sony mobile business.

In the domestic market, if OPPO and vivo know the psychology of mass consumers best, then Sony may have been running counter to it. The comments on Sony's mobile phone product design in the network are obviously divided into two levels. For Suofen, from Xperia Z series mobile phones to X series and then to XZ series, this is a gradual evolution and evolution from the concept of full balance to the concept of integration. However, for ordinary consumers, Xiaomi 3 can also be compared with Sony Xperia XZ, saying that it adopts the design of Xiaomi a few years ago, or that the design of Sony mobile phones has remained unchanged for thousands of years. However, no matter how the outside world struggles, Sony still carries out its original intention and brings a brand-new lifestyle to consumers around the world with innovative products. More specifically, it is to create touching products.

If you talk about qualifications, Sony Xperia XZs seems to be a bit overwhelmed. Sony Xperia XZ Premium, the top flagship model with better performance and more radical technology, and Xperia XZ, the pioneer of Sony's integrated design concept. And it's the middle of the relay race. It doesn't need to sprint like the last player. It only needs to consolidate the advantages of its own team on the basis of predecessors, and then steadily pass the baton to the next player.

Therefore, Sony Xperia XZs gave me the impression as mentioned above. It not only has the same imaging ability as XZ Premium, but also has the same size as XZ, and it also makes up some performance. Most importantly, the ice blue color scheme is enough to set off the "Sonny" temperament. As a singer, there is really nothing to be picky about. More objectively, it would be better if the battery capacity could be improved.

Choose Sony Xperia XZs or XZ?

If you think that the Xperia XZ Premium to be launched in June is not your dish, then only Sony Xperia XZs and XZ are worth buying at present. In my opinion, the most important factor affecting my purchasing power is color matching. The ice blue of Sony Xperia XZs and the deep honey powder of XZ are absolutely the perfect couple colors. If you like shiny metallic luster, I recommend XZ; If you prefer matte texture, XZs is recommended.

The second is imaging ability. I have to say that Sony Xperia XZs has really improved and upgraded its imaging. However, although ultra-slow motion shooting can be called a good product highlight, it can't poke the pain points of most people. Therefore, if you don't use your mobile phone as the main tool for taking photos every day, the upgrade of your image ability can't be the dominant factor of your purchasing power.

But then again, if the price of Sony Xperia XZs and XZ is really only in 300 yuan, I still suggest buying new ones instead of old ones.