Best apps for the Sony Xperia Z

That's all it does, but for a one-trick app it's a really very impressive trick. The app's maker is currently battling legal complaints from a few of the commercial TV providers who aren't overly happy about it re-upping their content, so get it while it's still available.

6. MX Player

MX Player

If you'd rather go down the unofficial route and play back thousands of gigabytes of ripped movie files on your phone, try this.

MX Player adds support for a comprehensive set of video codes to the phone, plus of particular use to those who download media through unofficial channels is its reading of subtitle files for enjoying foreign-language "art" films and those times when secrecy demands you keep the volume low.

7. Super Hexagon

Super Hexagon

This is an astonishingly impressive game, one that's all the more mesmerising on the Xperia Z's enormous HD display.

You play the part of a little arrow that spins around in a circle. The walls are endlessly closing in on you, so you have to spin around to get through gaps. Which sounds easy.

But it's not. It all unfolds at lightning pace and seems virtually impossible to play the first time you pick it up, before your brain gradually cottons on to the surreal concept and, slowly, over a period of weeks and months, you begin to get better. Then you unlock even harder modes and suffer more.

8. BBC News

BBC News

In a nod to the ever-growing screen resolutions offered by HD mobiles like the Xperia Z, the BBC recently pushed out an update to its news app that optimised it for use on 2013's new wave of 1080p capable hardware.

Which means you get a slick, grid-like interface packed full of the BBC's newest news stories, with simple sideways swiping for idly leafing through updates in whatever category floats your information boat.

There's also a very cool little "stack" widget included nowadays, which lets you leaf through headlines on one of Android's Home screens.

9. Carbon

Carbon

One of the newer Twitter apps on the block, the super stylish Carbon will look well at home on the slick Xperia Z. It comes with a complex user interface that has tabs sliding in and panels pulling down all over the shop, initially bewildering you with a look and feel that's a million miles away from the bland official Twitter app.

There are also plenty of clever and intuitive features added to the way the app's controlled, such as a two-fingered "power scroll" to automatically bounce you up to the top of the timeline, plus threaded direct messages and filters to block out tiresome hashtags.

10. Endomodo Pro

Endomodo Pro

The king of the outdoorsy app. If it moves Endomondo can track it – and provide a detailed breakdown of exactly how fast it was going and where it moved to.

The app uses the water resistant Xperia Z's GPS feature to gain a lock on your position, before tracking your run, bike ride, kayak expedition or boring old brisk walk, with the subsequent details of your workouts easily spammed out to social networks, seeing as a gruelling bike ride over rough terrain is something you will almost certainly want to tell people about.

Whether they care or not. It's worth paying for the Pro version as this gives you better a mapping breakdown of your trip, including elevation levels that show how high you cycled, ran or climbed.