Sony’s latest flagship is a small enough upgrade that it wasn’t even worthy of a new number, instead just warranting a ‘+’ sign on the end. The differences between the Sony Xperia Z3+ and the Sony Xperia Z3 aren’t immediately obvious either, especially based on their appearance. But make no mistake, the Xperia Z3+ is an upgrade.
So just what has changed? And how much has stayed the same? Read on to find out.
Sony Xperia Z3+ (146 x 72 x 6.9mm 144g metal and glass) vs Sony Xperia Z3 (146 x 72 x 7.3mm 152g metal and glass)
The Sony Xperia Z3+ (pictured below) has an aluminium frame and a glass back, protected from the elements with water and dust resistance to IP68 certified standards.
The Sony Xperia Z3 (pictured below) has all of that too, but there are some differences, with the Xperia Z3 coming in slightly thicker and heavier than the Xperia Z3+ at 146 x 72 x 7.3mm and 152g for the Z3 and 146 x 72 x 6.9mm and 144g for the Z3+.
However the difference is so minor that you’re unlikely to notice it. Perhaps a slightly bigger difference is that Sony has removed the flap from the microUSB port on the Xperia Z3+, while still keeping it waterproof and the speakers have been slightly repositioned.
But all in all they’re very similar looking smartphones, the design has simply been slightly refined for the Sony Xperia Z3+.
Sony Xperia Z3+ (5.2-inch 1080*1920 424ppi) vs Sony Xperia Z3 (5.2-inch 1080*1920 424ppi)
The Sony Xperia Z3+ and the Sony Xperia Z3 have slightly different designs but they have identical displays, with both phones rocking 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 screens for a pixel density of 424 pixels per inch.
It’s a good size and the use of Live Colour LED’s in both phones make their screens bright and vibrant, but there’s little to nothing to choose between them.
Sony Xperia Z3+ (2.0GHz octa-core 3GB RAM) vs Sony Xperia Z3 (2.5GHz quad-core 3GB RAM)
Arguably the biggest upgrade in the Sony Xperia Z3+ (pictured above) is its processor, as the phone has a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 810 chip with four cores running at 2.0GHz and four lower power ones running at 1.5GHz, all backed up with 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 430 GPU.
The Sony Xperia Z3 is no slouch either, but it’s got a more dated 32-bit quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz along with 3GB of RAM and an older Adreno 330 GPU.
All of which means that while both phones offer slick performance the Xperia Z3+ is far more up to date with specs which rival the HTC One M9.
Sony Xperia Z3+ (20.7MP rear 2160p@30fps 5MP front-facing) vs Sony Xperia Z3 (20.7MP rear 2160p@30fps 2.2MP front-facing)
There’s little difference between the rear cameras on these two phones, with both handsets equipped with an impressive 20.7 megapixel sensor and the capability to shoot video in up to 2160p at 30fps.
However the Xperia Z3+ features a Superior Auto+ mode, designed to improve its performance in all conditions, optimising it for any of 52 different scenes, including a new Gourmet Mode, designed to make photos of food look good enough to eat.
The big camera change though comes with the front-facing snapper, which on the Sony Xperia Z3 is just 2.2 megapixels, but on the Sony Xperia Z3+ has been boosted to 5 megapixels and includes a wide angle lens, allowing for sharper, more detailed selfies with more people in them.
Sony Xperia Z3+ (2930 mAh 32GB 4G NFC) vs Sony Xperia Z3 (3100 mAh 16/32GB 4G NFC)
The Sony Xperia Z3+ has a 2930 mAh battery which surprisingly is actually smaller than the 3100 mAh juice pack in the Sony Xperia Z3. However Sony promises a talk time of up to 17 hours with the Z3+, while the Xperia Z3 offers just 16 hours, so in at least some usage cases the Xperia Z3+ should fare better.
On the other hand the Sony Xperia Z3’s standby time is quoted as 920 hours, while the Xperia Z3+’s is just 590 hours, which doesn’t sound so promising. Still, the Xperia Z3 has one of the best battery lives we’ve seen on a smartphone and we doubt the Xperia Z3+ will be far off it.
Memory options are much the same. The Sony Xperia Z3+ has 32GB of built in storage while the Sony Xperia Z3 has a choice of 16 or 32GB and both phones have microSD card slots with support for cards of up to 128GB.
Connectivity options are also similar. Both phones support 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC, but there are a couple of differences.
For one thing the Xperia Z3+ supports Bluetooth 4.1 while the Xperia Z3 supports Bluetooth 4.0 but more importantly the Xperia Z3+ supports Cat. 6 LTE while the Xperia Z3 only support Cat. 4, meaning the Z3+ is capable of achieving higher speeds on 4G.
The Sony Xperia Z3+ really is a very similar phone to the Sony Xperia Z3. The design is almost identical, the screen is the same, the rear camera is the same, storage options are very similar and battery life if anything may be slightly worse.
But it should still have great battery life, the design while similar is improved on the Z3+, the front-facing camera has been upgraded, as has the camera software, it’s more powerful and has faster 4G support.
It’s hardly the most inspiring upgrade but it’s improving on a recent phone which is still very high end in its own right, so the Sony Xperia Z3+ is still a worthy competitor for the latest flagships from other firms.
Is it worth upgrading from a Sony Xperia Z3 to the Z3+? Almost certainly not, but unless you can get the Z3 a lot cheaper it’s easily the better buy if you don’t have either phone
