Flipkart, one of India’s two largest online shopping websites, has started selling Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, India’s most expensive Android phone, at Rs 59,990.
The price, though high, is actually slightly lower than what was expected. It was seen at above Rs 60,000.
The high price is due to the display on the device. The Z5 Premium is the world’s only mobile device — other than certain premium Windows-based two-in-ones — to come with a 4K UHD display. 4K displays (TVs and computer monitors) cost Rs 40,000 or more at present.
Flipkart is offering immediate availability and users do not have to go through the ritual of pre-orders and waiting. You also get free Sony Bluetooth earphones alone with the phone.
A full-HD display has 2 mln pixels or dots on it, while a quad-HD display has 4 mln.
The UHD display, in contrast, has a total of 8 mln pixels on it.
Squeezing in that many pixels onto the 5.5-inch screen would result in a pixel density of over 800 dots per inch.
In comparison, the iPhone 6 Plus has a pixel density of 400 per inch while the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus has a resolution of 520 pixels per inch.
The Z5 Premium was expected to cost over Rs 70,000 as it was rumored to come with the Snapdragon 820 chipset. However, the actual model being launched in India comes with the slightly old Snapdragon 810 processor.
The 810 has not been a very successful product for Qualcomm due to heating issues which required the processor to be tuned down. In addition, it does not have Cortex A72 technology, which is about 40% more powerful than the Cortex A57 technology found inside the 810.
The Z5 Premium also with 23 MP cameras with F1.8 aperture and 1/2.2 inch sensors.
The camera will have a unique ‘multi-focus’ feature that lets users keep a larger area in focus compared to traditional cameras. Nokia had tried something similar with its E7.