Sony Xperia Z5 review

    There's a lot of hope resting on the Xperia Z5, but there's a lot to be excited about with a new      design, extra features and some other major improvements along the way.

                 Design

  Sony needed to fix up the design of its Xperia Z series and there have been some big   changes this time. It's still angular and glass-backed, but this time it's a frosted               material instead of the clear glass we've seen on every iteration since the Xperia Z1.

The edges have been rounded off a little more and the placement of the buttons on one edge has been switched.

   The branding is a little more tasteful this time. The Xperia name is etched into the side of the phone and I love the fact Sony has included the NFC logo here too. It makes it easy to know where to tap, and is a trick some other Android manufacturers could learn from (I'm looking at you, LG).

  The camera sits at the top left corner with the flash just below it, and there's also a little note of the sensor details.

Sony has smoothed down the edges on the Xperia Z5 as well. A couple of generations ago, these felt rather sharp on the palm of your hand, so this is a welcome improvement. Even though the design of the Xperia Z5 still feels blocky, it's much more comfortable to hold than the Xperia Z2.

The corners also have caps that help to absorb the impact when you drop it – a feature that was introduced on the Xperia Z3 but still feels like a big advantage of the Sony Z series.

There's only one flap on the Xperia Z5, and that's to cover the microSD and nano SIM slots. The rest of the ports around the phone are waterproof and so don't need the extra protection that Sony has applied with such zeal to earlier phones.

   Fewer flaps is a great thing – you don't have the nuisance of pulling them out to charge up your phone at night or need to worry about breaking them off (which does happen: I managed to do it quite easily to the Xperia Z2 Tablet).

Along the top edge of the Xperia Z5 is the waterproof 3.5mm headphone jack, and the bottom edge hosts the microUSB port for charging and data transfer.

The right hand edge is quite different to other Xperia phones. The power button has been moved down to halfway along the edge. It's now silver and sits flush with the edge of the phone. This is also where the fingerprint sensor is – a great position for your right thumb when you're holding the phone. Sadly, the Sony Xperia Z5 in US any sort of the biometric power button.

   Down at the bottom of the right hand edge is the camera button. It's in the perfect position for taking snaps in landscape, but not so good in portrait. Between those two is the volume rocker, and this really does feel badly positioned.

The volume rocker should sit above the power button, where it would be easier to reach. Every time I tried to change the volume, I'd lose my grip and the phone would almost slip out of my hand.

If you're left-handed it might be a perfect position for your finger tips, although the rest of the button layout will be much less satisfactory.

  

   

  Design on the front of the phone hasn't changed much. The bezels at the side of the screen have been slightly slimmed down to allow a smaller phone without a change in screen size.

  I wouldn't have a problem with the thick bezels across the top and bottom of the screen if each housed speakers or had some other function. The top bar does include the front facing camera, flash and earpiece, but it's not anything that couldn't be included in a slimmer line.

                                                                                                                                    Abdellah slaoui