Hardware

Depending on how you count, this is either the fifth, eighth or tenth handset to bear the "Xperia Z" name. They're all pretty similar-looking on account of the firm's Omnibalance design language that emphasizes symmetry and inoffensiveness, so not much changes year over year. Whereas previous generations of the device featured a prominent sleep/wake button on the right-hand side, this one adopts a flatter, wider alternative. That's because the button now doubles as a fingerprint sensor.

It's a uniquely Sony thing to do, since most other companies would simply have either discarded the feature or added it somewhere more convenient. HTC, Samsung and Apple have all placed fingerprint sensors on the home button, while LG and others have placed it on the underside of the device. That wouldn't have been good enough for Sony, however, and so it had to make it work so that it fitted in with your natural grip. It's an impressive amount of effort that will probably go unnoticed by a large number of users.

Another thing that Sony has clearly put plenty of effort into is ensuring that the 5.2-inch device feels a lot smaller than it actually is. At first blush, you might think that it's all hard angles and straight lines, but the sides of the device have all been rounded-off to ensure it doesn't dig into the fleshy, pain-sensitive parts of your palm. It all adds up to a piece of kit that's comfortable to hold for prolonged periods of time, although the trade-off here is that the phone's smooth glass back is pretty frictionless -- so there's that lingering risk that it could slide out of your greasy paw.

As with most of the company's devices, the Xperia Z5 is water and dust proof with an Ingress Protection rating of 65/68. In English, that means that it'll theoretically work in the harshest of sandstorms and can withstand immersion in shallow water for a short period if time. Of course, that only applies if the port cap that hides the SIM and microSD card trays is sealed, otherwise there'll be no comeback if the device breaks. Meanwhile, the micro-USB port that lives on the bottom of the device is "capless" and so the company advises that, should the worst happen, you let the phone dry out before attempting a recharge.

To finish off our hardware tour, the combined SIM and microSD tray is housed on the left side of the device, while the micro-USB port sits on the bottom. Remember the dock port that popped up on previous generations of Xperia Zs? That's gone too, making the whole device look less fussy and cluttered. Up top, you'll find the usual 3.5mm headphone jack, while down on the right you'll find the power sleep/wake fingerprint sensor, volume rocker and the dedicated camera button. The only features on the front beside that display is a super-subtle Sony logo and an adjacent 5-megapixel selfie cam, while the primary lens is in its usual place in the top left corner of the back.

Display and sound

Were you aware that Sony produced HDTVs and high-definition audio equipment? Because, come on, you should be; it's 2015, guys. As such, you'd expect this 5.2-inch 1,920 x 1,080 Triluminos LCD display to be one of the finest mobile screens on the market. The short answer, is that yes, it is, with faithful color reproduction, beautiful black levels and decent viewing angles that'll enable the person next to you on the plane to at least have a decent view of what you're watching.

As for sound, Sony has included the usual forward-facing stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the device that do a similar job as HTC's BoomSound setup. At full volume, audio is crisp, clear and just loud enough to enable you to hear it from across the room, but I wish it was louder and had stronger bass. Sony disagrees with me, of course, opting instead to bundle in its own high-res audio converter that trades loudness for clarity. That becomes more obvious when you put on a pair of half-decent headphones, since the phone can even make your average YouTube clip sound special.

Software

Sony's famous for dragging its feet when it comes to getting users onto the latest and greatest version of Android. We may be celebrating the arrival of Marshmallow, but the Z5 is still lagging behind with Lollipop, although Sony is promising an update at some point. Sony has done its usual job of almost, but not quite, leaving Android alone, albeit with the usual additional apps and overlays that remind you that the company has video and audio stores it'd like you to buy from.

I won't bore you with discussions of Lollipop because, at this point, it's a year old and Sony's touches aren't noteworthy enough to talk about in detail. The one thing worth discussing is how the power button can pull double-duty as a fingerprint scanner. Setting this up was relatively easy. The app will repeatedly ask you to place your finger on the pad until it's developed a comprehensive picture of your print. If there's an issue with that, it's because, unlike when you shove your finger on a home button, you're not really thinking about where you drop your digit in its natural hold stance. Unfortunately, that means it fails to unlock the phone about a third of the time until you re-adjust your fingers.

Camera

Sony makes cameras for itself, components for firms like Nikon and Fujifilm, and imaging sensors for devices like the iPhone. It should come as no surprise that the Z5's 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS 23-megapixel camera is this device's standout feature. Behind the science and jargon is the claim that the phone's autofocus will be able to snap images into clarity within 0.03 seconds. In the company's promo materials, much was made of the phone being fast enough to catch your baby's first word or steps. In reality, the only thing that lets the camera down is the app's slow load time, which would delay you just long enough to miss being able to capture junior's first words.