Sony Xperia Z4 Review

What We Want to See

The Sony Xperia Z3 has just arrived on shop shelves but with Sony now in a pattern of releasing two flagships a year we're surely only a matter of months away from the Sony Xperia Z4, so it's not too early to make a wish list of what we want to see.

There's not a huge amount of rumors surrounding Sony's next flagship just yet, but one report reckons the Japanese firm will return to an annual launch of its top device, ditching the recent trend of every six months.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? Sony's next flagship smartphone
• When is it out? Possibly early 2015
• What will it cost? A lot - this will be a high-end device

News and rumors

The Xperia Z3 hasn't been out for long, but already there's chatter on the web about its successor, the Sony Xperia Z4.

In fact we could be on for something quite special as Android Origin claims its source revealed specs which would make the Xperia Z4 the most powerful smartphone around.

A 5.5-inch QHD 1440 x 2560 display, 64-bit 2.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, Adreno 430 GPU, 32GB of storage and a Exmor RS CMOS sensor have all been touted for the Xperia Z4. This is one to keep an eye on.

Sony Xperia Z4 release date

We can also take a guess as to when the Xperia Z4 will launch (though whether or not the Z4 and the Z3X are one and the same is unclear). Sony announced the Xperia Z2 at MWC 2014 on February 24, so it's likely that the Xperia Z4 will arrive at MWC 2015, which next year is set to happen on March 2-5.

That will put almost six months between the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z4, so it would make sense if Sony is sticking to two flagships a year. As for what we want to see, read on for all our thoughts.

4K video that actually works

Sony's been trumpeting its phones 4K video capabilities since the Xperia Z2, yet neither that nor the Xperia Z3 can actually record for more than around five minutes without heating up and shutting down the video.

That's obviously a major problem and while it doesn't quite render the 4K feature redundant it does severely limit it. The fact that Sony has left it unfixed in the Xperia Z3 is perplexing, presumably there isn't an easy fix, but if longer videos were possible it could be a genuinely useful feature, whereas right now it's just kind of an embarrassment.

So hopefully it will be fixed for the Sony Xperia Z4. You never know, some people might even have 4K televisions by then too.

A QHD display

The Sony Xperia Z, Z1 and Z2 all had 1080p displays and that was fine as that was the best any smartphone had at the time and the screen size was at least being increased.

But then the Xperia Z3 also launched with a 1080p screen and that was slightly more disappointing, since the size remained the same and other than increased brightness there wasn't much of an upgrade, plus some other phones, such as the LG G3, have started including QHD displays.

We want the Xperia Z4 to wow us and a 1080p display for the fifth time in a row won't do that, so we're hoping its QHD.

Smaller bezels

The Sony Xperia Z3 looks great, but the bezels above and below the screen are off-puttingly large. Presumably there's a reason for their size, they're likely housing vital components required to make the phone actually work, but they're unsightly and we hope they're smaller next time around.

Improved low-light performance

For the most part the Xperia Z3 has a perfectly capable and even impressive camera, but its low-light performance could still use some work.

Sony made some strides with the Xperia Z3, improving it over the Z2, but seemingly more with software than hardware as its low-light photos tend to come out over-processed, leaving it trailing behind the likes of the iPhone 6and the HTC One M8 in darker scenes.