Sony Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact announced with 23MP camera

he Sony Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 Compact are now official. The new generation “mainstream” flagship and its pocket-friendlier brother were just announced at a press event two days before the IFA expo opens to the public.

The regular-sized Xperia Z5 comes with the familiar 5.2-inch diagonal established with the Z2, and the Z5 Compact retains the 4.6 inches of the last Z3 Compact. The Z5 has a FullHD panel with a 428ppi density, while the Compact sticks to 720p resolution, resulting in 323ppi. Both displays are IPS units with the TRILUMINOUS and X-reality technologies inside and undisclosed make chemical tempered glass on top.

Sony Xperia Z5

The mighty Snapdragon 810 powers both smartphones with a dual quad-core CPU, ticking at up to 2GHz, and Adreno 430 GPU. You get 3GB of RAM on the vanilla model, but only 2GB on the Compact. Both models will have 32GB of built-in storage, though the Compact may ship with half than in certain markets. The microSD slot is universally available, though. The entire Xperia Z5 family will run on Android 5.1.1 upon launch.

Number one on the new features list is the 23MP camera. It uses a custom-made sensor, exclusive to Sony, housed behind a 24mm-equivalent f/2.0 lens. The sensor’s effective area is actually larger, as we’ll try to explain, and you’ll be able to shoot 23MP images in 4:3 aspect or 20MP in 16:9. The camera app has been thoroughly redesigned as well for a more contemporary look and improved usability.

The Xperia Z5 bears a strong resemblance to the previous model, but a few new design elements clearly set it apart. Chief among those is the reworked power button, now doubling as a fingerprint sensor. The now aluminum frame has an Xperia logo engraved on the side, while a frosted back panel replaces the glossy predecessor, aiming to put an end to smudgy backs and to achieve a more unified look between front and sides.

Measuring 146mm x 72mm x 7.3mm, the Z5 is identical to the Z3 in terms of dimensions and thus marginally thicker than the Z3+. Weighing in at 154g it’s heavier than either of the two older generations, but its battery is smaller, at 2,900mAh. Both have IP68 certification for the lineup’s signature dust and water resistance.

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact

The Xperia Z5 Compact shares the fingerprint sensor and the Xperia logo in the frame but looks a lot chunkier. It measures 127mm x 65mm x 8.9mm so it’s not really thin, it’s just that the Z3 Compact did a much better job at masking its waistline. The 138g of heft are justified here by the 2,700mAh cell capacity.

The Sony Xperia Z5 will be available in the more formal White and Graphite Black, but also Gold and Green, while the Z5 Compact spices things up with Yellow and Coral. The smartphones will be on store shelves globally starting in October, but pricing remains to be detailed.

Sony teaser all but confirms that the Xperia Z5 series will come with a hybrid autofocus system

In the past month or so, the rumored Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact have often been at the center of alleged leaks and rumors. After previously announcing its presence at the IFA 2015 consumer electronics show next week in Berlin, earlier today, Sony confirmed that it's gearing up to launch a new smartphone at IFA 2015 in Berlin on September 2nd. 

Sony's Grand Britain arm recently published a teaser on Twitter that invites fans to "get ready for a smartphone with a greater focus". The smartphone in question is included in the teaser, but we can't really see the design all that well because of the blur. Take a look for yourself:

Now, while reason dictates that the phone in question will be the next Sony flagship, the standard Sony Xperia Z5, the size of the phone in relation to the hand of the user makes us believe that this could actually be the Xperia Z5 Compact. If you're oblivious to rumors and leaks, Sony is expected to unveil both a 5.5-inch Xperia Z5 and a 4.7-inch Xperia Z5 Compact next month at IFA in Berlin. Bear in mind that Sony unveiled its two last major smartphone updates, the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z3 Compact, at the previous edition of IFA last fall.

Back to the teaser image, it's fairly obvious that the upcoming Sony Xperia smartphone will come with some type of fancy autofocus system. Unfortunately for some fans, this really doesn't say too much about the capabilities of the upcoming Xperia Z5 lineup. Remember that the mid-range Xperia M5 comes with a blazing-fast hybrid autofocus system, and this is a $400 phone we're talking about, not the flag-bearing Sony handset.

Hopefully, the Xperia Z5 line-up will also bring a new sensor (fingers crossed for the Sony IMX240 sensor that Samsung makes use of inside the Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge) as well as an updated camera software. With just a little more than a week to go before Sony's IFA 2015 press event, it won't be long before we get to dive in all of the official details.

What do you guys make of this teaser?

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact promotional image allegedly leaks

Sony's next Compact flagship smartphone is the star of what is said to be a leaked promotional image, which you can see below. This is allegedly going to be one of many official promo pictures that the Japanese company will make public once it announces the Xperia Z5 Compact.

Speaking of which, said announcement could come on September 2, when Sony has confirmed it will hold an event at IFA in Berlin. On that occasion we might see both the Xperia Z5 and the Z5 Compact see the light of day for the first time.

Officially, that is, because we've seen them both a couple of times so far in leaked live images, showing off their unmistakably Sony design as well as their side-mounted fingerprint sensors embedded in their Power buttons.

The promo shot that's been outed this time around also confirms that in terms of design, Sony isn't planning on giving up its OmniBalance language, at least not this year. The phone is shown here in white, but it will surely be offered in black and probably another more 'daring' color as well.

Closer look At xperia Z5 and z5 compact.

Rumor: Sony Xperia Z5 coming in September with 5.5-inch FHD screen, SD-810, 3GB RAM

According to serial tipster Leaksfly, the Sony Xperia Z5 will be unveiled in September. The handset is rumored to be equipped with a 5.5-inch screen, which is a slight bump from the 5.2-inch screen found on the Sony Xperia Z3+ and Sony Xperia Z4. The screen will feature a resolution of 1080 x 1920. That works out to a pixel density of 401ppi.

Leaksfly says that the Xperia Z5 will be powered by the Snapdragon 810 SoC. That dovetails perfectly with a User Agent Profile we told you about last week, that had the Xperia Z5 employing the controversial Qualcomm chipset. The Snapdragon 810 contains an octa-core CPU and the Adreno 430 GPU. 3GB of RAM will be inside along with 32GB of native storage. The back to front camera combo will be 20.7MP/8MP.  The tipster says that the Xperia Z5 will come with a fingerprint scanner. 

Sony is reportedly planning on getting the Xperia Z5 out in September to compete with the Apple iPhone 6s, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Last week, we told you that Sony was rumored to be prepping two new high-end Android handsets, the Sony Xperia S60 and Sony Xperia S70. The pricey handsets, rumored to cost as much as $919 USD, are supposed to be unveiled before September's IFA show. The only specs leaked so far show that each model will come with 32GB of internal storage.

As usual with a rumor of this nature, we suggest you take it with the proverbial grain of salt.