Sony Xperia Z Ultra

Price

At $750/Rs. 46,990, the phone isn't cheap, but that's no surprise given its top-of-the-line specs and performance.

Design

At first glance, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra looks like a slab of premium chocolate - it sports the same rectangular design, and is about the same thickness, and the Black colour variant looks especially biteable. Pick up the phone and try getting your fingers around the width of its display and you realise that the phone just about fits in your hand, if you have big hands that is. If you have a tiny frame, forget about trying to get your fingers around the sides of this monster. Don't even think about trying to operate the phone with just hand, unless you have it resting on a surface.

Display

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra comes with a 6.44-inch full-HD display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. While the pixel density takes a hit due to the humongous screen size, at around 340ppi, most won't notice the difference in the quality of text and images.

While the Sony Xperia Z Ultra does not bundle a stylus, the screen will recognise taps from a stylus, or even a pen or a pencil, if you prefer to use your device in that manner.

Camera

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra comes with a 8MP Camera with Fast Capture and Exmor RS With 16X Digital zoom with auto focus

the camera on the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a bit of a mixed bag. The images look good on the phone's display or when you are viewing images at the default zoom level.

Software/User Interface (UI)

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean carrying build number 14.1.B.0.471.

The Ultra is quite heavy on skinning, customising stock apps and adding a number of pre-installed apps. Like other devices in the Xperia series, you have WALKMAN (for Music), Album, and Movies for media consumption, all with additional functionality and UI touches from Sony. Other pre-installed apps on the Xperia Z Ultra include Socialife (A Flipboard-like app from Sony), TrackID (Sony's answer to Shazam), Wisepilot for XPERIA (GPS-based navigation app), File Commander (a file explorer), Voice Dialer, Word Search, Converter, X4 Video Player (lets you play four videos simultaneously), McAfee Security, Foneclay (live wallpapers), PicsArt (photo editor), Smart Connect (perform actions when certain accessories are connected), X-Alert for XPERIA (Sony's anti-theft solution), Notes, and Drag&Share. The list of bundled apps doesn't end there, with popular apps like Facebook, Chrome, YouTube, WhatsApp, Box, and LinkedIn thrown-in for good measure.

Performance/Battery Life

Sony Xperia Z Ultra is powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor alongside 2GB of RAM. It's safe to say it is the fastest device we've come across, handling everything that we threw at it with great aplomb. From multi-tasking and switching between apps, to casual as well as heavy duty games, everything was butter smooth.

Thankfully, the phone doesn't feel too heavy despite weighing 212 grams, since the weight is evenly distributed across its large frame.

Battery life is another area where the Xperia Z Ultra just about does the job and it should last a full working day with moderate to heavy use. The giant display on the device is a bit of a battery guzzler and power users will likely find themselves reaching for the charger before the day is over.

Pros

• Brilliant performance
• Good display

Cons

• Battery life could be better
• Clicked pictures lack detail, no flash
• Too bulky for most