The Sony Xperia Z3 is special for many reasons. It has great specs, an awesome build quality and impressive resistance to the elements. There is one department where this device excels and goes unnoticed, though. It happens to have a magnificent screen, even if a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS panel sounds as average as it gets.

Much like megapixels don’t necessarily translate to better photos, the Sony Xperia Z3 doesn’t need 2K definition to make a good display. Sony is very careful with its screen technology. They offer vibrant colors and superior brightness, but what makes these panels special is that Sony manages to offer this vivid image without wasting battery.

How do they do that? Sony engineer Takao Yagi takes it to the Sony Mobile blog to explain to us how this is accomplished. They manage to save battery while offering optimal brightness by taking 3 steps:

A new “local adaptive contrast” algorithm has been introduced to the Xperia Z3. It analyzes every single pixel and optimizes its contrast individually. This increases the dynamic range without having to raise the back light.

Sony also uses a technique in which they “shift phosphor material instead of cutting light by color filters”. This allows Sony to use “colder” whites (leaning towards the blue spectrum), which tend to look brighter.

More light-efficient LEDs are also used, which would be more of a hardware upgrade. Sadly, Sony doesn’t go too deep into this section.

There are many reasons why having higher brightness can improve your experience. Sony states that memories and experiences create a bigger impression in us when perceived in brighter light. Not to mention, screens tend to look much nicer when bright, and outdoor reading is substantially improved.

The Sony Xperia Z3 definitely doesn’t skimp out in this department, something you can clearly see in our hands-on post. We sure wish we could have a higher-definition screen in it, but do we really need it? The Xperia Z3 display is already great and it’s better to be safe than sorry.