Sony's New Xperia Z Goes for a Quick Swim and Survives

Sony's Xperia Z is a beautiful piece of kit. With its glass front and back, a 5-inch screen with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, as well as 2 GB of RAM and Jelly Bean, this phone can go toe-to-toe with the best of them. However, one of our favorite parts about this smartphone is the fact that it's water resistant. Sony was more than happy to let us test that feature out at Pepcom's Digital Experience on Monday night, too. The company had a fish bowl on hand and let us dunk the phones to our hearts' content.

Once removed from the water (having spent a couple of minutes marinading in there), the phone worked perfectly. Sony has ensured that no water get in via the ports by plugging them up with port covers. Love them or hate them, without them, the Xperia Z would surely drown. We inquired as to how sturdy the port covers really were, wondering if users might accidentally pull the finicky tabs off accidentally. Sony seemed confident it wouldn't be an issue.

 

 

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Jane McEntegart
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.

  • internetlad
    did they use a system similar to what Liquapel where there's a nano-thin coating on the electronics, or did they just plug up all the holes?
    Reply
  • joytech22
    internetladdid they use a system similar to what Liquapel where there's a nano-thin coating on the electronics, or did they just plug up all the holes?
    They just plugged up the holes. If water got into the inside, it would surely die.
    Still, a pretty nifty device since I've recently (due to hot Australian weather) taken a liking to water parks.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    There are many waterproof cameras on the market that have a warranty that sounds like this: "If this waterproof camera comes in contact with water, your warranty is void."

    And a lot of people got screwed over when they attempted to RMA their bricked waterproof cameras.

    I wonder what the Xperia Z's warranty say...
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    would be nice if they can come up a waterproof earbuds + allow earbuds to stay plugged while ur phone is underwater.
    Reply
  • Regarding the waterproof earbuds, Sony have actually announced just that. But these of course come with the waterproof walkman (w-270 series). So maybe they will come out with those seperately for their phones in the near future.
    Reply
  • I think is Android 4.1.2
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    Tomfreakwould be nice if they can come up a waterproof earbuds + allow earbuds to stay plugged while ur phone is underwater.
    Water-proof (or more accurately, water-resistant) ear buds shouldn't be difficult to make IMO and the same is true for keeping them plugged in underwater (although I doubt that they'd work well underwater unless your ears are covered by air-tight containers with the ear buds inside them).

    All that you'd need to do for the ear buds is protect the little speakers with something water tight such as a little rubber and they should be fine, even if a bit muffled in sound quality. The connector should be easy to water proof without any issues.
    Reply