NEW YORK – The biggest smartphone news out of IFA was without a doubt the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and its ultra-sharp 4K display.
In a statement given to PhoneArena, Sony says the Z5 Premium’s 4K display will only take advantage of the full 3,840 x 2,160 pixels when displaying photos and videos. Otherwise, content (the OS, websites, apps, etc.) will be “displayed at 1080p or lower resolution.” It’s unclear if virtual reality apps will get the 4K treatment.
Sony’s reasoning is that displaying content in 4K would have reduced the phone’s battery life significantly; by rendering most content at 1080p, the phone can keep ticking for up to two days. The Xperia Z5 Premium comes in three premium colors: chrome, black and gold.
So, yes, the phone has a 4K display, but you won’t really see the difference (as we’ve said time and again) unless you’re watching videos or viewing photos, and your eyes are really close to the screen. But even then, you probably won’t notice the extra resolution.
When we finally found the Z5 Premium at a European carrier’s booth, we didn’t notice the higher resolution while swiping around the home screen. Well, of course we couldn’t see the difference — it was rendering in 1080p and not 4K.
To be honest, the news isn’t too upsetting. Battery life matters more than screen resolution to most users nowadays. A dead phone is a useless phone, no matter how many pixels it may have.