Sony’s Xperia ZR is the latest waterproof smartphone in the company’s Xperia series. The company had officially announced its Xepria ZR smartphone a month earlier and now the company seems to be all set to launch it in India. The smartphone is now available for pre -order through online retailers like infibeam.com and Flipkart.com. There is no official date when the device will go for sell but infibeam.com mentions that the smartphone will be available from June 15, while Flipkart.com has not mentioned any date and says the expected launch date of Xperia ZR will be in third week of June.
The big sell in this device is waterproofing ,which the company has introduced with one of its flagship device the Sony Xperia Z. But this time the device seems to be coming with more vigor of it as it comes with IP55 and IP58 compliance against the Sony Xperia Z’s IPX5/7 grading. It means that where the Sony Xperia Z was only water resistant, the Sony Xperia ZR can survive underwater up to 1.5 metre for 30 minutes which can be used for capturing images or videos inside the water as well.
Camera and Internal Storage
The Sony Xperia ZR sports a 13MP camera, to be more precise, 13.1 MP rear camera. This camera seems really powerful as it is a fast-capture camera with Exmor RS featuring 16x digital zoom. The camera is also featured with Geo-tagging, Touch focus, Face detection, Image stabilization, HDR and sweep panorama mode. The Camera is capable of capturing a video at 4128×3096 pixels and it is accompanied with the LED flash.
Coming toward the front side, the device got a VGA front facing camera. This is mostly used for video calling and hence doesn’t matter a much. The device has a dedicated hardware button for the camera which you don’t find in Apple’s devices but allows using it even when the screen is locked which is similar in the iPhones.
On the Storage Front, the device comes with an internal storage of 8GB which is expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. We could have expected it to be expandable till 64GB but I personally believe 32GB is more than sufficient unless and until you want to store number of movies and videos in your device.
Processor and Battery
The device is powered with an excellent Quad core processor running up to 1.5GHz . The Chipset used in the device is Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 (Snapdragon S4 Pro) . This sanapdragon S4 Pro is said as a monster of a chip as it easily beats the Nvidia Tegra 3 on phones like the international HTC One X and the Samsung Exynos 4412 on the Galaxy S III. To give you a better idea of how much faster the quad-core S4 Pro is than the current crop of chips, let’s just mention that out of the box, Qualcomm’s mobile development platform for it scored around 7,700 on Quadrant, more than twice better than the Tegra 3-based Nexus 7.
The processor comes with a GPU of Adreno 320 for graphical processing. So by integrating this new GPU, the MDP/T provides over 2 times faster graphics processing capabilities than the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 MDP/smartphone which includes the Adreno 225 GPU. It has also been confirmed that along with the Qualcomm APQ8064 quad-core processor, the phone will come with Qualcomm’s multi-mode LTE-enabled MDM9615 baseband.
With this powerful processor the device has got a Li-ion 2300 mAh battery which should easily run for stand- by-time of Up to 470 h on 2G and Up to 520 h on 3G. The expected talk time with this battery is up to 11 h on 2G and up to 13 h on 3G.
Display Size and Type
With the body dimension of 131.3 x 67.3 x 10.5 mm and weight of only 138 g, the device features a display if 4.55 inches. It is featured with TFT capacitive touchscreen supporting 16M colors and a display resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. This device got a superb pixel density of 323 ppi. Not only this but also the device has got Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass i.e. Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 which can protect your device from dust and scratches.
Comparison
The device can be a good competition to the company’s own Sony Xperia Z which was one of the most selling devices in the company’s portfolio. Both share some come looks but Z was one of the slimmest device we had in this segment and ZR is fatter, at 10.4mm thick compared to the 7.9mm of the Z. The other body dimension are same including the weights that is even 6gms light in case of ZR.
The Xperia ZR is protected against total immersion in water as it comes with IP55 and IP58 compliance, making it dustproof and is water proof against water ingress at 1.5m for duration of 30 mins. The Sony Xperia Z, on the other hand has IPX5/7 grading, meaning it is only resistant to water. Sony even suggests that you can use the ZR to shoot underwater images and video. Try that with a Z and all you’ll get is a broken device.
The display is something where the buyers of Xperia ZR can get confused. The display is bit smaller and has a 4.55-inch display, whereas the Xperia Z gives you 5 inches. The ZR has 1280 x 720pixels of display resolution where as the Z has sharp 1920 x 1080pixels of display resolution. The front camera is also weaker in ZR as it offers only a VGA front-facing camera whereas the Sony Xperia Z boasts a 2-megapixel front camera. The Sony Xperia ZR is listed as offering only 8GB of internal memory, whereas the Xperia Z will give you 16GB. That’s not a huge deal, as both offer expansion via microSD.
The processor is again a factor here in ZR. The Chipset of Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 (Snapdragon S4 Pro) should not be ignored as it easily beats the Nvidia Tegra 3 on HTC One X and the Samsung Exynos 4412 on the Galaxy S III and which is better than the Tegra 3-based Nexus 7. A “Battery Stamina” technology is also included in the Xperia ZR. So concluding the overall comparison, Sony Xperia ZR seems to be having an upper hand on Xperia Z.
| Model | Sony Xperia ZR |
| Display | 4.55inches TFT capacitive touchscreen with Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass Resolution: 720 x 1280 pixels (pixel density:323 ppi) |
| OS | Android v4.1Jelly Bean OS |
| Processor | 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad Core Processor. |
| RAM, ROM | 2GB, 8GB, expandable up to 32GB |
| Camera | 13.1MP, 0.3 MP |
| Battery | 2300 mAh |
| Price | 29,990 INR |
Conclusion
The technical and hardware specs of the device looks really great with ports are all firmly secured, device being dustproof and shatterproof with a scratch-resistant glass.”Battery Stamina” technology gives it a boast by saving 4x of battery conservation with the automatic shutdown of battery-consuming applications. The display and the Android Version 4.1 can be something that can force the buyer to think twice before purchasing the device but as rightly said by the director of the company the Xperia ZR pushes the boundaries on where and how consumers can use the full potential of their smart phone. The device will come packed with Handset, Battery, Charger, User Manual, Warranty Card and can book your pre-order at infibeam.com and Flipkart.com for 29,990 INR.
