My Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact review

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I wish Sony would stop installing apps like Spotify as system apps. You can't uninstall them, only disable. It's irritating.

 

[libra89]

I wish Sony would stop installing apps like Spotify as system apps. You can't uninstall them, only disable. It's irritating.

I don't disagree but the AVG one bothers me the most. Spotify and Facebook are understandable because people use them. AVG is overkill on a phone.

 

[krazyatom]

I got my Sony compact zx1 but I can't use the phone yet because I don't have case yet I did set up the phone and it looks good so far. I am using pixel 2 at this moment and pixel 2 camera just blows away xz1 compact but that was expected. Man I was going to return pixel 2 but pixel 2 is also surprisingly good lol.

 

[Eggmundo]

I got my Sony compact zx1 but I can't use the phone yet because I don't have case yet I did set up the phone and it looks good so far. I am using pixel 2 at this moment and pixel 2 camera just blows away xz1 compact but that was expected. Man I was going to return pixel 2 but pixel 2 is also surprisingly good lol.

Are you keeping both? How will you use them? Lol.

Is the Compact's camera not great?

 

[libra89]

I got my Sony compact zx1 but I can't use the phone yet because I don't have case yet I did set up the phone and it looks good so far. I am using pixel 2 at this moment and pixel 2 camera just blows away xz1 compact but that was expected. Man I was going to return pixel 2 but pixel 2 is also surprisingly good lol.

Ooh you got both together?! You are a lucky one.
I can relate to that, it's a hard decision. I'm going through this with my original Pixel and this phone.

 

[krazyatom]

Are you keeping both? How will you use them? Lol.

Is the Compact's camera not great?

I really can't keep both for finance reason Sony compact zx1 camera is not bad at all but pixel 2 is much better. I am a photographer so xz1 camera is more than enough for me but pixel 2 is just another class.

 

[libra89]

Is the Compact's camera not great?

The Pixel seems to require less adjustment, especially in low light conditions.

For me, the ZX1 Compact is nice with details but not always with colors. The Pixel just nails it. Even my Galaxy A3 2017 seems to be better with colors (similar to Pixel) but a bit noisy in low light conditions.

If time permits, I plan to do a shootout with the iPhone SE, Pixel and ZX1 Compact without any adjustments. I'm not krazyatom so my pictures will be just average ones lol.

 

[krazyatom]

Ooh you got both together?! You are a lucky one.
I can relate to that, it's a hard decision. I'm going through this with my original Pixel and this phone.

It's hardddd. I want to keep both but I can't justify to keep both lol. I will try both for now!

 

[libra89]

It's hardddd. I want to keep both but I can't justify to keep both lol. I will try both for now!

I totally understand that but I wouldn't be surprised if you keep the Pixel 2 lol. From what I have seen, regardless of light conditions, pictures from that seem to be amazing.

 

[Alex_Hong]

Just sharing my review here as well, thought a bit much to start a new thread for this, so hope TS don't mind i just continue the discussion here. This is my favourite phone from Sony this year for sure, probably because i'm biased and like smaller phones. Also because it's in a really unique position where it's one of its kind.

(also this is from a slightly different perspective since in Singapore the price is S$668, which is around 490 USD. Which i think makes it a pretty decent deal.)

Highlights:
- great performance in a small package (much better thermal performance too compared to Z3/Z5/X Compact)
- Speakers are finally loud enough
- IP68 is back
- the pricing is good
- 960fps is still awesome.
- Battery life has been solid

Downsides:
- the front camera is bad in low light to me.
- the rear camera is decent but not the best, it still loses out to a lot of other flagship phones
- Android Oreo hasn't really been as solid in my time with it? maybe need more time to fix bugs.
- the fingerprint sensor felt a little mushier than older compact devices, but just nitpicking here.

Neutral points:
- The design is still a little old with the large bezels and all, which some may not like. I find it okay though. Like for a smaller size phone i think a bit of bezel looks okay.
- not sure why sony still using the older style of app drawer, and why they even still have a launcher when they already took out so many features. Like even double tap to wake.

Have a video review too for anyone is interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDCtIw0U8k

 

[libra89]

Just sharing my review here as well, thought a bit much to start a new thread for this, so hope TS don't mind i just continue the discussion here. This is my favourite phone from Sony this year for sure, probably because i'm biased and like smaller phones. Also because it's in a really unique position where it's one of its kind.

(also this is from a slightly different perspective since in Singapore the price is S$668, which is around 490 USD. Which i think makes it a pretty decent deal.)

Highlights:
- great performance in a small package (much better thermal performance too compared to Z3/Z5/X Compact)
- Speakers are finally loud enough
- IP68 is back
- the pricing is good
- 960fps is still awesome.
- Battery life has been solid

Downsides:
- the front camera is bad in low light to me.
- the rear camera is decent but not the best, it still loses out to a lot of other flagship phones
- Android Oreo hasn't really been as solid in my time with it? maybe need more time to fix bugs.
- the fingerprint sensor felt a little mushier than older compact devices, but just nitpicking here.

Neutral points:
- The design is still a little old with the large bezels and all, which some may not like. I find it okay though. Like for a smaller size phone i think a bit of bezel looks okay.
- not sure why sony still using the older style of app drawer, and why they even still have a launcher when they already took out so many features. Like even double tap to wake.

Have a video review too for anyone is interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDCtIw0U8k

Yes thank you for sharing! I loved your review! I was actually hoping that you would post it here sometime, so it's much appreciated. I totally agree with you on mostly everything you said.

Coming from an iPhone SE, the front camera has more detail in low light over the SE but in my opinion, it has color issues. Totally agree about the back camera. Great review! I am finding that using another camera app as "default" fixes this (for both cameras) but at the price, it's up to the person if they don't mind doing that.

 

[raqball]

Mine should be here tomorrow. I went with a international Silver version. I usually always get black phones but wanted to mix it up this time around.

Had the Z3C, the Z5C and the XC. Excited to get this one as the Compacts are my favorite devices of all time.

I was a bit bummed with the XC since it went mid range specs but it performed well so no real complaints with it but I am thrilled to see it return to flagship specs.

 

[libra89]

Mine should be here tomorrow. I went with a international Silver version. I usually always get black phones but wanted to mix it up this time around.

Had the Z3C, the Z5C and the XC. Excited to get this one as the Compacts are my favorite devices of all time.

I was a bit bummed with the XC since it went mid range specs but it performed well so no real complaints with it but I am thrilled to see it return to flagship specs.

Sweet congrats! The camera might not seem better over the XC but it is. I'll be looking forward to your thoughts/impressions on it.

 

[Andrew_404]

I'm curious. What version of Compact XZ1 do you have international or other version?

 

[krazyatom]

I got international model.

 

[libra89]

Same here.
Sony phones usually have the same core bands regardless of the model.

 

[Andrew_404]

(Before I start, I am going to warn you that this will be long. I will space it out appropriately.) I have had this phone for a week and have used it consistently as my phone for that time frame.

The tl;dr version (too long; didn't read):

-Size is great and the display is fine for me
-Battery life is excellent
-Performance is great
-Fingerprint sensor is fast
-Sony's UI is light, even though there's a lot of addons
-Cameras have improved this year on the software side but in low light situations, the picture can be yellowish
-The stereo speakers sound so good

Overall rating is 9 out of 10.

Alright, on to my more detailed review:

Design & display

-I love the size of this phone. It reminds me of the size of the iPhone SE which I do own, but a little bigger. To me, it's great for those of us who desire a small phone that is actually powerful and has a good amount of screen, which I will get to that point shortly.
-This time around, Sony decided to put the volume rocker above the power button which is a great place. On the X Compact, it was below the power button, which was just a pain for me. The only quirky thing about this is that I find myself pressing it and then realizing that isn't the power button because of my other phones.
-Almost forgot the concern about the corners that some people have. It's been fine for me, the corners don't feel sharp to me, and I have had no issues holding it and using it with the same hand. (I'm naturally thin so one would think if anyone would feel sharpness, it would be me.) Speaking of one hand usage, this is a perfect one hand use phone. Like the SE, you can reach all corners with one hand.
-I haven't had any issues with the 720p display. It fits the phone. Also the LCD is pretty good.
-The brightness has been fine to me. There's actually a setting that stops the screen from dimming once it senses that it is in your hand. For the most part, this has worked well. When it doesn't sense that it is fully there, you see the screen debating if it wants to go dim or stay lit. It doesn't bother me but it is noticeable.
-Speaking of modes, there are three display modes. The default mode is not very saturated but there is a mode for that. I just hate that look so how it looks is fine for me. It doesn't look cold. Additionally there is a glove mode which is awesome to have when it gets cold.

Performance & battery life

-Performance has been great, as expected on a phone with a Snapdragon 835 processor. I have only had one app closure (Instagram), and just one time, so it might be the app itself and/or Oreo. It feels as fast as the Pixel.
-App reloading is minimal.
-For the first few days, I had a hard time putting this phone down and I expected the battery life to be shot but somehow it never was. I can use it heavy and get an entire day (like 24 hours). It was great to get the phone the first night, update all of the apps and then not feel the need to top it off the next morning in order to get through the next work day.
-This is not a phone where you would worry about battery life, just know that.
-The fingerprint sensor is fast, sometimes too fast for me when I just want to see what time it is.
-LTE speeds are solid, as expected for a phone with LTE Category 15 connectivity.

Sony's skin/UI

-A section for this is necessary, because there are some pros and quirks relating to this.
-Sony still uses an apps button in the dock to get to your app drawer, which is alright. Not really a con but something to note.
-They also have this weird thing that if you want to add an app from your app drawer to your home screen, you have to hold the app and drag it to the "add to home screen" at the top. This is kind of annoying. At the same time, I enjoy that you can make folders in the app drawer.
-Sony now has this great feature in the launcher that enables you to use icon packs from the Play Store with the default launcher, which I am enjoying. There are some other small additions, like adjusting the icon size.
-There's no ambient display/double tap to wake/always on display, which I miss.
-In regards to the pre-installed apps, AVG Protection, Spotify, Facebook are there. You can't uninstall them, only disable them. I use Spotify so I disabled the other two.

Cameras
-Sony has finally improved the software processing on the camera side. Pictures are pretty good.
-Sony is finally done with the never ending list of additional modes.
-The low light performance has improved. Pictures can get noisy in really low light conditions and a bit yellow but you can adjust the temperature before taking the shot.
-As for the front camera, you have the option of wide angle and also regular shots. I noticed improvement on this side too (over the X Compact). It just looks better, but has a similar situation in low light as the main camera. Also, the soft skin effect is on by default, which isn't as crazy as it can be in some other phones but I prefer to turn it off.
-The camera button is so nice to have as well but I only use it to take a shot and not to open the camera since I enabled that on the power button (just personal preference).

Audio
-Stereo speakers are so nice to have. It's been a while since I have had a phone with speakers like this.
-Call quality (no one talks about this, but I'm going to talk about it) is fine. Calling people on 3 different carriers has sounded good. I also don't know if it's just me, but it feels like calls connect much quicker than they have before on my Pixel.

Final Thoughts
-I can see myself keeping this phone. I enjoyed my iPhone SE but the front camera has been hard to me to be pleased with. I have been trying to find an Android replacement for a while now, and I feel that I can finally replace my SE with this phone. I give it a 9 out of 10 because it hits the spot for my most important things in a phone. It's worth the money, but if you want to wait for a price drop, do it.

That's all I got. If you have made it this far, you're a champ and thanks for reading

I'm assuming you have an international version of XZ1? What version of software are you currently on?

 

[libra89]

I'm assuming you have an international version of XZ1? What version of software are you currently on?

On the August patch, still waiting for the October patch which apparently came out a couple of days ago.

Yep I have the international version.

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I'm really thinking of picking one up when my S8 Active sells. I'm wanting a smaller, lighter phone. I'll most likely grab an intentional model for cheaper price and flash a US/UK combo firmware to get VoLTE and fingerprint working.

 

[Andrew_404]

I'm really thinking of picking one up when my S8 Active sells. I'm wanting a smaller, lighter phone. I'll most likely grab an intentional model for cheaper price and flash a US/UK combo firmware to get VoLTE and fingerprint working.

I went ahead and purchased from a company called Eglobal central. The phone already came with the finger print sensor activated. Software is custom Hong Kong. I may flash with the custom US and see what happens.