I'm thinking of buying the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact

[Harley Quinzel]

Since I'm interested in buying this phone, I just wanted to ask the owners a couple of questions about it, so I'll know that this is the phone for me, (P.S. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy mini 2......which I got last year.....).

- So how does the camera fare when compared with something like the Sony Xperia Z2 or the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s?
- Do you feel the camera button location is good and is it really hard to press when taking pictures?
- Is the phone good at taking low-light, indoor pictures? I ask this since I have heard some criticisms about the camera taking grainy photos with the poorest details and low resolution when in low-light.
- Is the phone small enough to use with one hand effortlessly?
- Is the battery life good?
- Does the phone scratch easily?
- What's texting on this phone like? Can you change the keyboard to another one you got off the Google Play store?
- Can it survive a couple of drops every now and then, without any signs of cracking, since I am a bit accident prone, so I don't want to have a heart attack every time I drop it.
- How are the water and dust resistant properties? Would you say it's on the same level as the Z2 and the S5, despite being a "compact" phone.
- Is this a good phone for gaming?
- Does it feel sluggish at times?

Also, I know that Sony have installed their own type of software, is any of it useful?

Thank You.

 

[Oliver Reyno]

Since I'm interested in buying this phone, I just wanted to ask the owners a couple of questions about it, so I'll know that this is the phone for me, (P.S. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy mini 2......which I got last year.....).

- So how does the camera fare when compared with something like the Sony Xperia Z2 or the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s?
*The camera when compared with the Z2 is comparable, just without the 4k obviously. Pictures are clear and come out more color accurate than the S5 or the 5s since those tend to boost saturation.

- Do you feel the camera button location is good and is it really hard to press when taking pictures?
*The camera button is in a good location, however its feedback could use some improvement since it gets buried too far within the chassis when taking a picture after the focus point. It's not bad per say, but it would be better if it wasn't so flush and had more feedback. I simply use it to activate the camera, and then tap anywhere on the screen to take the picture or the onscreen button.

- Is the phone good at taking low-light, indoor pictures? I ask this since I have heard some criticisms about the camera taking grainy photos with the poorest details and low resolution when in low-light.
*I have not had any problems in low-light, I find it clearer in detail and quality than the Lumia 720 and 920. It necessarily isn't "brighter" but that's when you'd go into manual mode and adjust the exposure. The automatic does a great job and perfect for me, to be able to shoot pictures without having to worry about settings. Of course if gets too dark, there's always the LED flash which also does a good job as well.

- Is the phone small enough to use with one hand effortlessly?
*Yes

- Is the battery life good?
*The battery life when I first got it wasn't that great, but with every charge it got better and it's able to last me 2 days no problem with everything on and actually using the phone at work and at home.

- Does the phone scratch easily?
*I have heard that the anti-shatter film scratches easily because it is essentially a screen protector, and the back is glossy plastic which is more scratchproof than glass, but when I first got my device I applied a tempered glass screen protector on the front, and an IllumiShield protector for the back. At least when these are scratched to a point where it bothers me, I can remove them and reapply another one, however the tempered glass does not have any scratches, but the IllumiShield does and it doesn't bother me though.

- What's texting on this phone like? Can you change the keyboard to another one you got off the Google Play store?
*Texting is okay, definitely not like the Windows Phone keyboard which is still the best keyboard I've used. I just use the stock keyboard and the swiping feature which works great. Prediction is also good but I wish it was able to display more words. Yes, you can change the keyboard to another one from the Google Play store.

- Can it survive a couple of drops every now and then, without any signs of cracking, since I am a bit accident prone, so I don't want to have a heart attack every time I drop it.
*I have yet to drop mine, but I do not baby it and use the phone without a case and place it wherever I feel. I have handled the phone with greasy hands from working on the car, putting it around the engine bay, moving it, etc, and it has held up very well, including the aluminum parts. When you drop it, I would not worry since the glass is not "edge to edge" of the phone, being protected by a curved plastic bezel.

- How are the water and dust resistant properties? Would you say it's on the same level as the Z2 and the S5, despite being a "compact" phone.
*Despite being a compact phone, yes it is rated on the same levels as the Z2 and S5.

- Is this a good phone for gaming?
*Depends, if you think a 4.3in. screen might not satisfy your need when gaming you might have to go bigger. I play games on the phone, and it's fine for me, but I bought it for other reasons and not to just play games.

- Does it feel sluggish at times?
*It's never felt sluggish despite the amount of apps I would have open. It has not crashed or restarted itself, nor have I had to do it. It's been upgraded to KitKat 4.4.4 as well.

-Also, I know that Sony have installed their own type of software, is any of it useful?
*I enjoy using the Album gallery, the Walkman application for music and the Movies for videos and they all work great and have no issues with them.

Thank You.

Hopefully those answers will help you. Good luck!

 

[Yang Wang1]

I bought this phone when it came to UK. Now sony US is selling it.
This is phone is amazing. Nice screen(if you don't care about 1080p), great camera and long battery.
Camera is a good. But you just need to learn how to use maunal instead of auto. Shooting button is good, you can also use volume button as capture. Low light works fine to me and I never use a flashlight.
If you like big screen, go after z2 or s5. This 4.3 inch screen is enough for me and I feel so good with one hand using.
No need to consider too much about processor or ram. They are out performance right now. You don't need a cellphone to compete with pc. What you should consider is how fast you can get the latest system update. And sony is doing a better job than Samsung. But he problem is Song now is abandoning US market. You may have to flash instead of OTA.
BTW, the phone is made by a metal body so it's a little bit easy to get scratch.
Anyway, I highly recommend this phone, neat and beautiful.
Gaming on sony xperia is awesome, all you need is a ps3 dualshock controller. They support each other. You can even turn your phone into a psp.
Water proof is true , but you don't want to take a shower with it everyday.
About 4k video and other new stuff, xda has a lot of devs who contribute and z1 compact now has 4k video and timeshift video. No need to worry about these functions if you know a little bit of android. Keyboard is not even an issue at all.
Sony software is ok, you can delete them as your demand. I keep some such as note and recorder.
Charging dock is available.
Anyway, I like this phone a lot. Hope my words can help.

Sent from my SM-P600 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Ismael B]

Since I'm interested in buying this phone, I just wanted to ask the owners a couple of questions about it, so I'll know that this is the phone for me, (P.S. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy mini 2......which I got last year.....).

- So how does the camera fare when compared with something like the Sony Xperia Z2 or the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s?

The camera is average, and very poor in low light if you had to use the flash and you were unlucky like me to get a unit with the flashbleed issue. Superior auto usually don't get the best results and you would need to learn to play with the manual mode to get better pics. HDR mode is not great at all. My opinion is that the S5 camera is way better than the z1 compact in every aspect so if you need a good camera on your phone go with the S5.

- Do you feel the camera button location is good and is it really hard to press when taking pictures?

Location of the button is good but it's really hard to press so it's kindda useless. I use the on screen button.

- Is the phone good at taking low-light, indoor pictures? I ask this since I have heard some criticisms about the camera taking grainy photos with the poorest details and low resolution when in low-light.

As I said before the performance of the camera in low light is really poor and when you use the flash you might get the flashbleed which gives you washed out photos. To fix this issue I had to paint the chrome ring around the camera lens in black. It defenitly improved the camera but it's not something you should be doing with such a high end phone

- Is the phone small enough to use with one hand effortlessly?

Sure, that's the main advantage of this phone. Unless you have big hands in that case you might have some trouble with the small screen.

- Is the battery life good?

Another strong point about this phone. It can last for a day and a half to 2 days with moderate use.

- Does the phone scratch easily?

The back is plastic and the frame is aluminum. If you don't take care of it it will scratch. I've installed screen protectors on both front and back side and I keep it in a closed case when I'm not using it.

- What's texting on this phone like? Can you change the keyboard to another one you got off the Google Play store?

Texting is good and you can install other keyboards. I prefer to use swiftkey keyboard.

- Can it survive a couple of drops every now and then, without any signs of cracking, since I am a bit accident prone, so I don't want to have a heart attack every time I drop it.

Haven't tried that yet and hope I never have to.

- How are the water and dust resistant properties? Would you say it's on the same level as the Z2 and the S5, despite being a "compact" phone.

Also haven't tried that yet.

- Is this a good phone for gaming?

It would probably handle any game you throw at it with no problems but for me the screen size is not big enough to make it a perfect gaming phone. I don't do much gaming so I don't care a lot but if you're a hardcore gamer I'd suggest you go with a phone with a bigger screen. Also note that Sony removed the ability to move apps to sd card from this phone (and all the z series) so if you"ll be downloading big games you'll find yourself short on internal storage very easily.

- Does it feel sluggish at times?
No

Also, I know that Sony have installed their own type of software, is any of it useful?

No, actually I've uninstalled most of the software that can be uninstalled and disabled the rest. I only use album app and small apps from sony's pre-installed junk.

Thank You.

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