Sony Xperia Z3
The Sony Xperia Z3 is an Android smartphone produced by Sony. Part of the Sony Xperia Z series, the Xperia Z3, at that point known by the project code name "Leo", was unveiled during a press conference at IFA 2014 on September 4, 2014. It was first released in Taiwan on September 19, 2014.
Specifications
Like its predecessors, the Xperia Z3's design consists of a metal frame with a glass backing; the metal frame has been rounded, and the device itself is slightly slimmer than the Z2. The device carries slightly higher IP ratings for water and dust-proofing than the Z2. The device features a 1080p display with a density of 424 ppi, featuring Sony's "Triluminos" technology. The device features a 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 system-on-chip with 3 GB of RAM. The Z3 includes a non-removable 3100 mAh battery. The Xperia Z3's rear-facing camera is 20.7 megapixels with a Sony Exmor RS image sensor, along with improvements to its "SteadyShot" and "Intelligent Active" modes.Software
History
The Xperia Z3 shipped with the Sony OEM version of Android 4.4.4 "KitKat". New additions to the bundled software include the Lifelog app, Sony Select, and support for Remote Play on the PlayStation 4 video game console. Android 5.0 "Lollipop" was first released for the Z3 in March 2015 in selected territories. Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" was first released in April 2016.Developer preview builds of Android 7.0 "Nougat" were released for the Z3, but Sony stated that it was unable to release the final version due to "unforeseen platform limitations"; Qualcomm stated that it will not provide support for Nougat on any device using the Snapdragon 801 or 800 chipsets. The Adreno 330 GPU does not support the Vulkan or OpenGL ES 3.1 graphics APIs, which must be present in order to meet Google certification requirements for 7.0.
The Xperia Z3 was officially supported by LineageOS through versions 16.0 - 18.1, which correspond to Android releases 9 - 11. This means that the Xperia Z3 has supported seven major releases of Android.
Supported Android versions
Release history
On October 23, 2014, Sony Mobile released the Japan-only SOL26 and SO-01G models for au by KDDI and NTT DoCoMo respectively, as well as the Sony Xperia Z3v, a variant of the Xperia Z3 exclusively for Verizon Wireless in the United States. On October 29, 2014, the D6616 model was released exclusively for T-Mobile US and on November 21, 2014, Sony Mobile released the 401SO model exclusively for SoftBank Mobile in Japan.Sony Xperia Z3 unlocked was made available via the Sony store on November 10, 2014.
The Xperia Z3 was quietly discontinued by T-Mobile in April 2015, but returned to store shelves less than a month later with a price reduction. Verizon discontinued the Xperia Z3v in August 2015.