After the very successful Sony Z2, we wondered why the Sony has jumped on the market with a new phone already. The new Sony Z3 is a great addition to the Z family, and one you should consider investing in if your contract is up for renewal.

Sony for me have always been a stylish option. The Z3 has kept the ever popular shell, a metal trim with a glass front and back. This time the Sony Z3 comes in a range of colours to really suit your fashion. The phone doesn’t have any kind of grip because of the glass, but the new rounded edges makes it fit comfortably in the hand. Even using the Sony Z3 one-handed I had no issue reaching the other side of the screen thanks to its narrow bezel around the left and right side.

The Sony Z3 has been rated IP65/IP68 which means it is now fully waterproof up to 2 metres for 60 minutes. Pretty impressive and an improvement over the Sony Z2. It is also dust-resistant as well.

The screen is a lot brighter than previous models and battery-life has been improved a hell of a lot. The screen uses IPS technology with their Live Colour LEDs. I got nearly two days use out of the phone using only the apps I needed at the time. This also excluded music and video use.

One of the biggest features of the new Sony Z3 is its new 20.1mp camera. I tested one for a few days and took some wonderful pictures. I’ve even embedded a camera quality test video above pitching it against a Samsung Note 3 to show you the difference. Even in low-light, Sony’s addition of a 12800 ISO setting make photos come out resonably clear and a great camera over phones like the Samsung S5 and new iPhone 6. It uses the popular Exmor RS sensor combined with a G lens so photos come out very sharp and clear. Colour reproduction on the video is good too and doesn’t look false like with some high-end mobiles. It films in 1080p and also has a feature to film in 4K as well. Unfortunately I cannot comment on the 4K quality as I didn’t have a monitor or TV with that capability but on the phone screen, videos looked amazing.

I thoroughly enjoyed using the Sony Z3 and am even considering upgrading my Note 3 once the contract is up. It has some fantastic features compact into an extremely stylish device. You can get yours here directly from Vodafone for free if you take out a contract with them.