Sony Xperia Z Ultra C6806 Google Play Edition 16GB (Factory GSM Unlocked) 4G LTE Android Smartphone - Black

As soon as I first laid my eyes on this beautiful device I fell in love with it. Nearly 2 years later I had both the funds, and a reason (that being a broken phone) to buy this device. The first thing you notice is the AMAZING display. At 1080p some may think that the pixel density would feel a little light seeing as there are far smaller phones with 1440p screens but this display is very detailed, and paired with Sony's Triluminos technology, the colors look almost lifelike on the 6.44" IPS display. The next thing you notice is the gorgeous design of this device. While it has a 6.44" screen, a height of 7" and a width of 3.6", the phone is incredibly thin at a mere 6.5mm thick and it weighs just under half a pound (212g for my foreign friends). Now on to the hardware. This phone is packing a 3050mAh battery with the Snapdragon 800 chipset which consists of a quadcore Krait 400 based processor running at 2.2Ghz and the Adreno 330 GPU paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM, 12GB of which is available to the user. Even two years later, this setup is no slouch. I was easily able to score 41,182 on Antutu benchmark, scoring just 1255 points under the Samsung Galaxy S5. All games run amazing, and at 1080p, look amazing too. And the hardware is coupled by great software as well. Since this phone is under the Z line of Sony's phones, it receives Android updates very quickly. Currently I'm running on Android 5.0.2, (!WARNING! This version of android has battery life issues on the Z Ultra. If you buy this device, wait until July when Sony rolls out Android 5.1 for this device to avoid a below average battery life.) and the plethora of software that comes pre-installed by Sony is more useful than just bloatware. Some apps included are Playstation (though the phone does not currently support PS4 remote play), Smart connect (this is similar to Motorola's smart actions that are used in the Droid line of devices. This lets you setup events for when connecting a device. Like starting a playlist when headphones are connected or beginning an emulator when you connect a PS3 controller, BTW, in order to use a PS3 controller you have to connect it to the device with a USB OTG cable first, then every time there after it can be connected wirelessly with Bluetooth), and Xperia care which is a support app for Sony devices. It gives you access to troubleshooting tips, updates about upcoming software, user manuals, and even live chat support. The Xperia UI is minimally invasive on Android and adds mostly useful additions. When you edit your screen, you can apply themes to the device to change the look of just about everything. Sony includes small apps which is a very handy form of multitasking that even lets you take your favorite widgets and use them as small apps, a very welcome feature. One small thing that I thought was a nice touch was that Sony has built in screen recording software, no root required, just hold down the power button and there it is. The keyboard is where the majority of this phone's size comes into play. The large display gives you a very comfortable keyboard, almost tablet like, that lets you use it one handed by shifting to one side of the screen or the other. It also has adaptive handwriting. At the beginning of using the handwriting function it may detect your writing wrong but the software can learn your personal "font" through Email, text, and web browsing input. In fact, I'm writing this review on the Z Ultra using the handwriting function. And to assist with the handwriting, the display supports the use of a pencil, or any other metal surface. This is very useful because it eliminates the need for using a first or third party stylus (looking at you Samsung). As far as use goes, it's probably the best phone I've ever had the pleasure of using. The phone is blazing fast and very responsive, and as a media consumption device, it's second to none. The only problem I had with this device was the camera. At 8MP it's not that detailed and with no flash, low-light shots look grainy and poor quality, but that's to be expected. If you buy a tablet like device, expect a tablet like camera. This however, does not seem to be an issue to me as I never or very rarely take photos. Watching Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube is where this device shines. The screen looks beautiful and watching any movie or show is truly a grand experience on such a large screen. Even lower quality content looks less pixelated because of the X-Reality for mobile software, which smooths out blurry video to made it appear better than it really is. This is useful if you're on a limited amount of data but still want to watch YouTube, you can just turn down the quality to save data while still maintaining a very pleasurable viewing experience. The screen is pretty bright and has good viewing angles, which will be great when showing your friends something on your phone. Did I mention it's IP58 certified? This device is dust resistant and, by dictionary definition, waterproof, meaning it can be submerged in up to 5' (1.5m) of water for up to 30 minutes. Will it survive past that? Most likely, but this is all that Sony guarantees with this device. To continue on build quality, the phone is covered by Dragontrail glass on both the front and back. These are then covered in shatter-proof sheets that have an oleophobic coating, but don't be mistaken, this device is a fingerprint magnet. And to top off the design is the beautiful aluminum band that runs along the perimeter of the device. This makes it for better at surviving falls, and makes the phone feel extremely premium, and this, coupled with the IP58 certification and the Dragontrail glass, makes this phone extremely durable. But with great resistance comes great sacrifice. The IP certification has caused Sony to go with a non-removable battery and a poor speaker. Don't get me wrong, the speaker is great on it's own, but the thoughts of what could have been are what kills it. It would have been great seeing Sony go with dual front facing speakers instead of the small bottom facing speaker that they implemented, but hey, waterproofing. My verdict, this device is a solid 9/10. The great hardware coupled with the great software experience that Sony provides has created what is arguably the best tablet phone on the market, and at the current price, there's no excuse to not get this device. Just make sure your pockets are deep enough because this is one seriously large device, one deserving of the name Ultra.

I think Sony did a good job overall. It's the only phone with awesome quality this size. The only thing that this can be compared to is Nokia Lumina 1520, but Lumina has superb camera.Here are the great things I found to be on point:-Screen quality-Waterproof-Speed and smoothness-Android skin is actually much more pleasant than, say, Samsung's-"Throw" feature to connect to various devices-LTE and other supported band makes this truly international phone-Expandable storage to 64gbs, although it's hard to manage and moving things from and to it-Design and build quality is superb-SONY's own apps like Walkman and Albums are pretty nice and actually usefulHere is what made me not like this phone:-Screen size with bottom and top bezels makes it very hard to use. It's this size that's in-between tablet and phone that I feel awkward using. Screen is great at almost all uses but when typing, browsing Chrome, using some of the older apps it really becomes hard to use and uncomfortable. I found myself always stretching fingers to reach things. Even the setting to type with one hand doesn't work because holding this thing with one hand is already hard and uncomfortable, let alone type. Sony shocks have though of different layout for keyboard options (Windows 8 does this really well with split keyboard).-Ui and Android 4.3 are really not made for this size. Almost all the apps you get are either stretched to this big screen or leave a lot of empty space. Developers are not using space very well, this can be very noticeable with games. It's weird because the apps don't treat the resolution like a tablet, Nexus 7 has same resolution but most apps work well in tablet mode. This Z Ultra treats all apps like phone apps and so they just become gigantic.-Camera! It's amazing to think that Sony manufactures Iphone's lens and chip, but it's so clear that Sony is not great with making the software and hardware work together. I don't even bother taking photos. It's 8mp camera, but the artifacts, compression, light sensitivity and color reproduction is just horrible. It also looks like an afterthought! Not having flash is understandable, but having this kind of quality camera is just sad, coming from Sony.-Glass plastic covers was a huge mistake by Sony. Yes they tried to keep costs down and not have expensive anti-scratch quality glass. Their solution is plastic film that is glued to both sides. So you're not touching glass, but plastic cover. The problem is that this makes it finger-prints-hell, prone to scratches and glare. Again, comparing to Nokia Lumina 1520, the screen glass and feel is subpar.-This doesn't replace tablet, like some say. It is a smartphone.-Mail is also quite bad and unfinished. If Sony wanted this to be an executive device where is the calendar, notes, mail integration. Even Samsung Galaxy Note 3 does a decent job at this.Overall Sony rushed with this model. I do give a lot of credit for the wireless system and accessories that make this phone work better, like the headset, music clip and stylus, but without clear integration into the Ui and work-flow, these things become secondary and not easy to use. They did not spend enough time to make it one of a kind device with specific user interface. It's just their blownup version of what's on their Z series phones and not their Z tablet. I think a 5.5 inch screen would have been better.