Sony Xperia ZR

Overview

Large Package in a Small Body

Design

Shades

Misc

Camera

Sony Xperia ZR is a phone that you would call a large package in a small body.

Sony Xperia ZR Design and Build Quality

Look wise the phone looks like any other Xperia phone. It has a glass body and a 4.55-inch screen. The body has a glass like look. The phone is water and dust resistant. User has to take care that the battery cover, USB port and the Audio jack port are closed otherwise the phone does not remain water resistant. The phone comes in attractive colours such as black, silver, ice blue, and purple. The phone is 10.4mm thick but feels comfortable to hold in hand. Unlike some of the other Xperia models, the phone has a removable battery. The battery life of the phone will last you for 14-15 hours. The body of the phone is a fingerprint magnet.

User Interface and Comfort to Use Sony Xperia ZR

The phone has a 4.55-inch screen with 1280x720 resolution. The phone has the IP8 certification. The display is clear and crisp. Even the low-resolution pictures look good. The viewing angles of the phone are not so good. The phone runs on Android Jellybean 4.1.2 software. It also has some of the custom-made Sony Widgets such as social services, connectivity toggles, the Walkman player etc. The UI Of the phone is simple. You can add both live and static wallpapers to the screen. The size of the phone makes it a comfortable fit in your hand and the grip is also OK. The phone has 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad Core Processor and a 2GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM.

Telephony and Phonebook

The phone’s telephony is limited to a single SIM. The phone has a single Micro SIM slot, which supports both 2G and 3G operations. The call quality is quite good but the loudspeaker of the phone is not very loud so don’t take calls in very crowded areas. The phonebook is standard but does not have an option to create an account to sync the contacts.

Messaging and Emails

Messaging, Email, MMS, and IM features are available on the phone. On-screen keyboard works well in both portrait and landscape modes.

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

Sony Xperia ZR is simply the best phone to watch videos on. The screen is excellent, the phone size almost ideal and the player supports all the video formats. All videos play smoothly. Photo viewer of the phone is excellent and gives you many options to sort and edit photos of your choice.

Sony Xperia ZR Music Player and FM Radio

Sony lags a little behind in the music area of this phone. The phone has some great options such as ClearAudio+ and xLoud but the earphones that come with the box are not good and the loudspeaker disappoints. FM player is present on the phone.

Sony Xperia ZR Camera and Image Quality

This is the only phone, which you can take underwater and record HD videos and take pictures. The camera of the phone is 13.1 MP camera with flash. The phone takes decent photos and photos taken in dark light will not disappoint you. The camera has many features such as Exmor RS for Mobile Sensor, Burst Mode, Fast Capture, Auto Focus, Face Detection, Face Recognition, Geo-tagging, Image Stabiliser, Object Tracking, Picture Effect, Quick Launch, Red-eye Reduction, Scene Recognition, Smile Shutter, Send to Web, and Image Sensor. However, the front camera is limited to .3MP only.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The phone can record 1080p HDR videos. HDR recording feature adds highlights the details of the videos and give you a clearer and smooth video recording. The videos are recorded @30fps.

Sony Xperia ZR Connectivity Options

Connectivity options on the phone include dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n with DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, 2G, 3G, USB, and NFC. Connectivity is decent on the phone.

Organiser and Other Utility Tools

Tools on the phone include Screen Mirroring, SenseMe, Motions Gaming, Xperia Link, Google Sync, PlayNow, Bookmarks, NeoReader, Handwriting Recognition, Direct Touch, Face Unlock, Front Illumination, Flight Mode, Alarm, Calculator, Calendar, Stopwatch, Timer, Wi-Fi Direct, and Voice Input. Office suite 7 viewer is the most important tool of the organizer, which lets you view any kind of document.

Web Browser and Applications

Google chrome is the sole browser on the phone. The browser can seamlessly sync with the desktop version and syncs the docs and files easily. The apps include Sony Music App ( Can Download 1.5Mil Songs for Free), Sony Liv App, Google Play, Google Voice Search, Facebook, Google Wallet, Google Talk, Twitter, Gmail, Instant Messaging, and YouTube.

Google Maps and GPS

When using A-GPS on the phone, you can get almost an instantaneous lock with the satellites but with the inbuilt GPS receiver, it will take for about a minute to lock in. Google maps are very efficient.

Distinctive Features of Sony Xperia ZR

The screen of the phone has many features such as OptiContrast Panel, Multi-touch (Up to 10 Fingers Supported), and Auto Rotation, Shatter-proof Sheet on Scratch-resistant Glass, Gesture Input, Wide Colour Gamut, BRAVIA Engine 2, and Screenshot Capturing.

Value for Money

The phone is priced at approx. INR 29000 (approx., may vary) in the Indian market.

Verdict

We would rate the phone a 4.5 out of 5 stars.