Sony’s latest flagship has only launched in a handful of countries since its quiet unveiling in Japan back in April, but the smartphone, or rather the Xperia Z4v, will be heading to the US this summer though Verizon Wireless.
As per Sony’s Xperia naming scheme, the Verizon handset will be known as the Xperia Z4v. However, it is making the journey to the US with a couple of hardware changes, so it’s not quite the same as model Japan’s Xperia Z4, which also known as the Xperia Z3+ in Europe.
The Z4v will ship with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 20.7 megapixel rear and 5 megapixel front cameras, and the same IP65 and IP68 ratings for water and dust protection. The most noticeable change to the Z4v is the new 5.2-inch QHD (2560×1440) pixel display, which is a step up from the 1080p resolution found in the regular Z4. The Z4v also comes with an ever so slightly larger 3,000mAh battery, compared with the normal 2930mAh size, and features dual-mode Qi and PMA wireless charging technology, just like the Samsung Galaxy S6.
However, this extra technology comes at the expense of the handset’s aesthetics. The Z4v is 1.7mm thicker and weighs a minor 18g more than the regular Z4, making it look and handle more like the Z2 than Sony’s slimmer successors.
Much like last year’s Xperia Z3v, Sony is touting media consumption as the handset’s major selling point. Along with its audio software and higher resolution display, Sony is hoping that its PS4 Remote Play feature, which can stream games wirelessly to your smartphone or tablet over your home network, will make the handset an appealing choice for the country’s Playstation 4 owners. While the specifications easily match those of other recent flagships, we’ll have to see if the older look and feel of Sony’s handset is too much of a compromise for US consumers.
Sony and Verizon state that the handset will be arriving this summer, so it might be a few weeks until the smartphone goes on sale. We are still waiting for news about a retail price, but we know that the handset will ship in black and white color options.
What do you make of the Xperia Z4v? Will you be picking up Sony’s latest when it lands in the US?
