Powering a huge screen with such an astonishing resolution is no easy task for a battery and indeed it does take its toll. On the front is a 5-megapixel camera which will snap some good selfies outside in the sunlight, but suffers from image noise in low-light situations. Footage plays back smoothly and it's generally well-exposed, although the iPhone 6S Plus achieves richer colours in video. The rear camera can shoot video in 4K resolution. Both phones have their good and bad points in low light. It's not as bright, but it does have less image noise, resulting in sharper edges. The iPhone 6S Plus's attempt at the same scene is good too. IPhone 6S Plus low-light camera comparison (click to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET Clearly then, there's no difference in performance between the two sizes. Similarly, the Premium racked up an impressive 26,180 on the 3DMark Ice Storm: Unlimited graphics test, while the standard Z5 achieved 26,887. On the Geekbench 3 test, it achieved 609 (single-core) and 2,861 (multi-core), while the standard Z5 achieved 610 and 2,926 respectively. As that's exactly the same setup as you'll get inside the Xperia Z5, it's no surprise it gave almost identical results on my benchmark tests. The beating heart of the Z5 Premium is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, with 3GB of RAM. You'll appreciate the reduced clutter in the long run. Before you start adding your own stuff on board, spend a bit of time clearing out anything unwanted and give yourself a blank slate to start from. Mercifully, you can uninstall many of the pre-loaded apps and I recommend you do. The various widgets you'll find scattered across the home screens don't help either. It all helps the phone feel somewhat cluttered before you've even downloaded your first app. Beyond Sony's own calendar and email clients (the latter a baffling addition, given the phone also arrives with Google's Gmail on board), you'll find Amazon's shopping app pre-installed, as well as various PlayStation stores, Kobo's e-book app, OfficeSuite, a news app, AVG antivirus, and various other bits and bobs. Sony typically adds in quite a handful of software extras and the Z5 Premium is no exception. I much prefer the frosted glass back of the standard Z5. The back panel is extremely glossy, and easily picks up fingerprints. The minimalist style, with its buttonless front, is as stark and monolithic as ever, but the squared-off sides make the phone look too blocky. Sony has stuck rigidly to its usual Xperia look, which is beginning to look a little tired. I'm disappointed with the Z5 Premium's design. Oddly, you can't do this from the pull-down quick settings panel, and I found the auto mode to heavily restrict the brightness. It's bright too, once you go into the settings to disable the auto brightness. I sometimes found it a little too vivid, with colours looking unnaturally oversaturated, so I tweaked the colour balance in the settings to find a more realistic look. It's unquestionably pin-sharp, and the colours are rich and vibrant, with great contrast too. That's not to say this display is bad though. On paper, that's an impressive feat, but the reality isn't quite as groundbreaking. That's the highest resolution I've seen on a phone, beating both iPhone 6S Plus (401ppi) and the Samsung Galaxy S6 (577ppi). The Z5 Premium's resolution equates to a massive 801 pixels per inch. Sony has yet to announce whether it'll be available in the US, but that UK price converts to around $960. In Australia, it'll set you back AU$1,199 but comes bundled with a digital noise-cancelling headset worth AU$79. In the UK, the Z5 Premium can be yours for an eye-watering £630, SIM-free, directly from Sony. It's where I'd spend my money, over the Z5 Premium. Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge costs less and looks far more stylish. Yet it's all let down by a design so dull it could send a hyperactive toddler to sleep and a price tag somewhere north of ridiculous. Fortunately, the Z5 Premium has other bragging rights, such as a meaty processor, a waterproof design and a 23-megapixel camera that puts it on par with any of today's top-end flagships.
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