At techbuzz we like to hear your thoughts on your shiny new tech and we welcome guest reviews on site and today one of our long time readers Liam Burke has sent us his thoughts on his own Sony Xperia XZ1 compact we too will be sharing our thoughts on this and the compact version in the coming weeks. Liam is also very helpful on forums too with mobile phones with tech support. We also have both devices in house to check out and you can see the unboxings below and first look..
Coming from the Xperia Z5 Compact the Xperia XZ1 Compact is a great upgrade, keeping the same size screen as the Xperia Z5 Compact but lighter. I love the form factor of the Xperia XZ1 compact, it fits perfectly in the hand it feels like a premium handset with its unibody that is made from glass fiber woven plastic, which is both strong and lightweight and its rounded edges it feels very ergonomic.
The fingerprint scanner on the side of the phone is a great feature as it is super easy to unlock the phone with the added security of using your fingerprints. Android 8.0 Oreo is running on the phone out of the box which adds improvements over Nougat, I didnt find any lag in the phone when I was using it.
It improves on all aspects from the Xperia Z5 Compact.
Even though the 2,700 mAh battery is the same capacity as the Xperia Z5 Compact, the latest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 optimizes the battery and I was able to get 2 days usage out of the handset. The front of the phone has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for added protection with scratch resistance as well as having stereo speakers and a led for notifications. I found the 4.6 inch 720p HD display bright and vibrant the phone does a great job of reproducing colours as its using the technology thats in Sony Bravia TVs for the image processing. Its rated IP68 water-resistant so it can withstand an immersion in fresh water (up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes) so you dont need to worry about it getting wet in the rainy Irish weather.
Camera Tech
Rear Camera:
Xperia XZ1 Compact also features Sony’s latest 19 MegaPixel Motion Eye camera that has the capability to shoot super slow motion video at 960fps.
The rear of phone has a Laser to help with Autofocus and the predictive hybrid autofocus which helps you get ultra-fast focusing even in low light conditions, I found this really useful to as I was able to capture shots of people at the right time, instead of being just a second too late. Burst mode is a great feature as it shoots at 10 fps while always autofocusing on each shot, you can take pictures of someone/something in action and select the best shot. Having a dedicated camera button is a great feature for a camera phone, the camera app launches up really fast so it makes it easier to get the right shot.
Front Camera:
It has a 120 degree wide angle 8 MegaPixel camera for even better selfies, the camera has an option for group or single person selfie on the main camera screen, so you take great selfies.
The screen also flashes just before taking your selfie to brighten up low light selfies.
The high five feature is really handy so you don’t need to touch the phone screen, the camera recognizes that your doing a high five and automatically takes a selfie without you having to press the capture button.
Create 3D scans using the 3D creator tool which gives you the option to scan four modes: Head, Face, Food and Freeform Then you share these scans on Social Media, create 3D stickers or as avatars and even print them on 3D printers.
For Music.
The Xperia XZ1 Compact has Hi-Res audio support, improved Stereo speakers from the Xperia Z5 compact with 50% more sound pressure , Enhanced Bluetooth Streaming with Bluetooth 5.0.
Digital Noise Cancelling with up to 98% exterior noise reduction, I used my MDR-NC31E headphones and its great for cancelling background noise and with the Hi-Res audio the sound was excellent.
The sound during calls and playing music from the front speakers is improved over the speakers on the Xperia Z5 Compact.
Other Features:
Updated Xperia Home launcher with app shortcuts that allows you to bring a context menu of app shortcuts when you long pressing on a compatible app,
So the Google Drive app can show options for uploading, scanning or searching your files without having to go into the app.
Micro-sd support, so no need to worry about storage issues. USB Type-C with increased data speed transfer and also its reversible so no fiddling with the cable to connect it.
Another nifty feature is that you can charge other devices from the phone too.
Playstation 4 Remote Play compatible so you can connect to your PS4 in your home.
Smart Cleaner is a handy Xperia app that cleans up unused apps.
There are only a few differences between the Xperia XZ1 Compact and its bigger brother the Xperia XZ1 besides the HDR screen and higher internal battery and memory.