Sony Xperia ZR in the flesh, first impressions

Announced back in May, the Sony Xperia ZR is a somewhat toned down yet more affordable version of the Xperia Z.

The Xperia ZR has a smaller screen size, a similar design as the Xperia ZL and the same IP58 rating for water and dust resistance. What makes the ZR more palatable is the fact that it has a user-removable battery.

This brings us to wonder how it could maintain the water-resistance properties despite the seemingly normal design and construction which easily exposes the internal parts to foreign objects.

Sony’s simple yet elegant solution was to properly protect the electrical components with a rubber enclosure which means once the back cover is sealed in place, those tiny rubber dike prevents entry of water and dust (see the dark red rubber in the back plate above as well as the duct on the battery compartment that seals them together).

Event he speaker grilles at the bottom end of the back cover are also protected by a fine mesh of water-resistant screen that still allows air to pass but keeps water out.

The other ports found in the exterior of the handset are also sealed with a rubber flip cover, just like in the Xperia Z.

This slight departure in the original execution of the IP58 rating resulted to making the Xperia ZR a bit chunkier than the Z at 10.5m. It’s not much really and could be a pleasant trade-off to the other benefits that came with it.

The smooth, matte finish on the back side kind of feels a bit slippery though and since we’ve been using a lot of 4.7 or 5-inch smartphones, the 4.55-inch size of the Xperia ZR felt a bit smaller than we expected.

From the hardware side, the Xperia ZR practically offers everything you’d expect from a flagship smartphone.

Sony Xperia ZR specs:
4.55-inch LCD display @ 720×1280 pixels, 323ppi
Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2
Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 1.5GHz quad-core
Adreno 320 graphics
2GB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G/HSPA+ 42Mbps, LTE 100Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, WiFi Direct
Bluetooth 4.0
NFC
FM Radio Tuner
13MP rear camera, LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps, HDR
VGA front-facing camera
Li-Ion battery @ 2,300mAh
IP58 certified – dust and water proof
131.3 x 67.3 x 10.5mm (dimensions)
139 grams (weight)

Though it’s not yet officially launched in the Philippines, the Sony Xperia ZR sells for about Php22,990USD 392INR 33,211EUR 373CNY 2,853 over at Widget City {see listing here}. We also apologize for the color but this is the only remaining color variant we’re able to get our hands into.

Updated: Sony Philippines has set the local launch of the Xperia ZR on July 19.