Weird that there isn't a forum after even the review from AC is out, so thought I'll just share this here. Had the phone for a while for review, and I liked it more that I though I would. I was really hating on the bezels, the chrome finishing, etc. But I got hold of the black unit, and ended up liking it.
It's still way too big for me, and the bezels are rather big, but it's around the same as the U11 or the iPhone 7 Plus, so it's not really an outlier here. Other than that, the phone is really solid. The 4k screen is an overkill for normal viewing distance, but it's still amazing to look close up and see how dense this screen is.
The performance is really good too, with Sony's UI being pretty lean, almost close to stock android. The touch response, app launch speeds, gaming performance are all top notch, and feels speedier than the Galaxy S8 and LG G6. The battery life is surprisingly decent too despite the 4K screen. Sony is probably upscaling 1080p most of the time unless there is a need to display native 4k. Average around 5 hours of Screen on time over a full day of use. Or once I tried really heavy use with lots of gaming and some camera use, got 7.5hours screen on time over 10 hours of use. Pretty decent.
Camera is going to be a bit polarising. Some like the image processing, some just hate it. I used to hate Sony's processing and their camera UI having used most generations of their phones like the Z3, Z3 Compact, Z3+, Z5, Z5 Compact, X, and X Compact. But I can definitely see the improvements over the years. I have no issue with their daylight shots now in full auto mode.
I do agree with Andrew in his review that Superior auto mode can be a bit finicky, but it worked fine for me most of the time. I also find that there is a setting to change the touch to focus to adjust the brightness too, so essentially spot metering. For me the camera works better that way, but pity that there isn't an easy way to slide and adjust exposure like most phones.
The only downside is that low light shots still isn't up to par compared to the other flagships. It still looks good to me, but just that when you pixel peep, it's easy to tell that the camera has to go for higher iso and faster shutterspeed to compensate for the lack of OIS. The aperture not being as wide, might be a factor too. So the images doesn't seem to have as much details with softer edges, more grain, and noise. But it's still good looking enough though.
It does have other things to make up for that drawback though. Sony's steadyshot in daylight and 1080p looks mightily steady, and might be the best stabilisation I've seen on a phone. And the 960fps camera is extremely fun to play around with. It can be challenging to get the timing right, but incredibly satisfying once you do.
I have the full resolution images on Google Photos shared here:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=WUt6V0pHN01sdjJva0o3ODVRU1JPWUVJMkZBSG13
Anyway, sorry for the really long post, but just want to share my thoughts on the phone. For those who don't want to read, i do have a video review up as well.
(the lack of a fingerprint sensor to me is a deal breaker in the US though)
Hopefully when a XZ Premium sub-forum does come about the mods can help to move it to the correct spot.
It's still way too big for me, and the bezels are rather big, but it's around the same as the U11 or the iPhone 7 Plus, so it's not really an outlier here. Other than that, the phone is really solid. The 4k screen is an overkill for normal viewing distance, but it's still amazing to look close up and see how dense this screen is.
The performance is really good too, with Sony's UI being pretty lean, almost close to stock android. The touch response, app launch speeds, gaming performance are all top notch, and feels speedier than the Galaxy S8 and LG G6. The battery life is surprisingly decent too despite the 4K screen. Sony is probably upscaling 1080p most of the time unless there is a need to display native 4k. Average around 5 hours of Screen on time over a full day of use. Or once I tried really heavy use with lots of gaming and some camera use, got 7.5hours screen on time over 10 hours of use. Pretty decent.
Camera is going to be a bit polarising. Some like the image processing, some just hate it. I used to hate Sony's processing and their camera UI having used most generations of their phones like the Z3, Z3 Compact, Z3+, Z5, Z5 Compact, X, and X Compact. But I can definitely see the improvements over the years. I have no issue with their daylight shots now in full auto mode.
I do agree with Andrew in his review that Superior auto mode can be a bit finicky, but it worked fine for me most of the time. I also find that there is a setting to change the touch to focus to adjust the brightness too, so essentially spot metering. For me the camera works better that way, but pity that there isn't an easy way to slide and adjust exposure like most phones.
The only downside is that low light shots still isn't up to par compared to the other flagships. It still looks good to me, but just that when you pixel peep, it's easy to tell that the camera has to go for higher iso and faster shutterspeed to compensate for the lack of OIS. The aperture not being as wide, might be a factor too. So the images doesn't seem to have as much details with softer edges, more grain, and noise. But it's still good looking enough though.
It does have other things to make up for that drawback though. Sony's steadyshot in daylight and 1080p looks mightily steady, and might be the best stabilisation I've seen on a phone. And the 960fps camera is extremely fun to play around with. It can be challenging to get the timing right, but incredibly satisfying once you do.
I have the full resolution images on Google Photos shared here:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=WUt6V0pHN01sdjJva0o3ODVRU1JPWUVJMkZBSG13
Anyway, sorry for the really long post, but just want to share my thoughts on the phone. For those who don't want to read, i do have a video review up as well.
(the lack of a fingerprint sensor to me is a deal breaker in the US though)
Hopefully when a XZ Premium sub-forum does come about the mods can help to move it to the correct spot.
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