Sony Xperia XZ1 review: XZibit one

11 September 2017
Sony was never a company to blindly follow trends, having its own approach to the mobile market. A fact perfectly illustrated by the company's latest flagship duo - the XZ1 and XZ1 Compact, which you only need to look at once to recognize the Xperia pedigree. The 2017 Sony flagships proper combine the best elements across the lineup to try and cut themselves a solid piece of the holiday sales pie.

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  • AnonD-521587
  • kcM
  • 10 Nov 2017

what a lazy review. it said nothing about how well it compares to HTC and Nokia in terms of display.

    • N
    • Nymphbeta
    • P%C
    • 08 Nov 2017

    AnonD-392441, 26 Sep 2017On the contrary: Sony uses the approach of "evolution" r... moreThe reason why i always like Sony Phones even though people keep telling me that buying some chinese phone is better bang for the buck.My current Xperia XA is a great phone as i bought it when its on discounted price.The bezel on top and bottom that everyone keeps complaining has been a godsend to me as i actually hold my phone without accidentally touching the screen and the ui is just so clean yet jam pack with funtionality that actually makes sense to have.

      • T
      • Thierry
      • M0B
      • 06 Nov 2017

      Hi,

      Does this phone have a IR sensor to use it as a TV remote control ?

      Thanks

        AnonD-392500, 23 Oct 2017I have sony XZs and one day my friend asked me 'why are you... moreYour fake story isn't so nice, but why you have so many ideas to bashing every Sony phones? Just curious.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • kXE
          • 02 Nov 2017

          AnonD-244675, 30 Oct 2017I don't see Sony through a tunnel. Samsung phone camera... moreYeah... That's nice fanboy

            • D
            • AnonD-244675
            • IbE
            • 30 Oct 2017

            Anonymous, 11 Oct 2017I thought I was gonna like your comment....But then you tur... moreI don't see Sony through a tunnel.

            Samsung phone camera always creates photos with color contrast seemingly blown out of proportion. It looks more candy-like than other phones. There's a difference between nice response to colors and lighting and post-processing the colors to an unnatural value. Plus, there hasn't been a comparison of a phone to a DSLR or even a Red. No one can tell which phone camera is truly color accurate.

            And it's the seemingly slowing down of a Samsung phone that I complain about. Other phones simply does not slow down to jello like a Samsung phone does. Sure, the Exynos 8890/5 can compare to an Apple Ax, but it's seemingly the software that slows it down. Case in point, I don't see a Xperia Z4/Z5 slow down when the body is extremely hot, but an S6 with the same SoC does. On the other hand, after a few months of use my friend's S6 became stuttery. If they gave any other company the chance to use their Exynos SoC I'm sure the Qualcomm monopoly would be broken immediately and Samsung SoC be declared champion.

            As for Samsung always having a technological advantage over Sony, they haven't added a side fingerprint reader yet. And who is to thank for the Always On display? Motorola (a Google company)? Also that technological advance causes Samsung and LG some problems. LCD screens have no problem with burn-in or image ghosting that comes with an LED display. The local Best Buy have Sony, LG, and Samsung phones on display. Given that the G6, XZ Premium, and S8 are on display for 6 months and I've been there August, which one had image ghosting?

            As for bezels, if it's done right I like it. Xiaomi Mi Mix, Sharp Aquos Crystal Series, Essential PH-1, iPhone X, LG G6 and V30 does it right. Slight side borders make the phone much less accident touch-proof. Plus, a full height bezel just looks much better IMO. I'm bound to never buying a Samsung phone because it will actually ruin my performance in a mobile game I play.

              • D
              • AnonD-392500
              • 6p$
              • 23 Oct 2017

              AnonD-392441, 26 Sep 2017On the contrary: Sony uses the approach of "evolution" r... more"We want more of the same because we want something that works, not useless gimmicks."

              Let me list some gimmicks of sony
              1. 4k display of XZP amd Z5P
              No human can differentiate between full hd and 4k
              resolution in 5.5" screen unless viewed with
              microscope.
              2. Sony's front facing stereo speakers
              These front firing stereo speakers are so weak that
              when I watch youtube videos on my XZs, I always
              need to use max volume even in a quiet room(only me). I also missed a lot of calls since I bought this phone because its speaker is very weak. My old nokia n73 is 5x louder and my wife's S8+ is 10x louder than this phone.
              3. Alkalaido back
              It is smooth and pleasant to touch but it's advantage ends here.
              Too many disadvantages- it is too thin so it vibrates when you use phone speaker. May be there is hollow space between this and phone internals. When you charging phone, that metal back vibrates if you touch it. Fingerprint magnet. 10x more than glass back, very messy and can't be cleaned completely with cloth. It also has discolored spots here and there after a week usage. This really piss me off. I have black XZs. I don't know if other colors have this issue.
              4. Super slomo video
              I never use it on my phone.

                • D
                • AnonD-392500
                • 6p$
                • 23 Oct 2017

                Anonymous, 11 Oct 2017I thought I was gonna like your comment....But then you tur... more"all they had to do along the way was gradually improve functionality (camera performance, display, battery life, etc) and they've done exactly that"
                -No significamt improvement in camera(xperia z camera sucks and xz1 camera still sucks) or in display(z has 1080p lcd and xz1 also has 1080p lcd)

                "their UI has been among the absolute best out there from the start."
                Really? It is just plain android. Sony did no effort in that and every company can do that.

                "It's extremely lean, has nowhere near as much bloatware as competitors"
                It has 2-3x more bloatware than s8.

                "Look at what other brands are doing - they keep trying to innovate their products, ad all they do in the process is make them worse less functional."
                Innovation is hit or miss to be honest. But, at least they tried to innovate. What about sony's super slow mo video? It is a miss. I never used this feature in my XZs.
                Samsung's edge displays has exellent palm rejection. You don't know that because you don't have s7 edge.

                  • D
                  • AnonD-392500
                  • 6p$
                  • 23 Oct 2017

                  AnonD-392500, 23 Oct 20171. Phone designs need to be changed in order to make the de... moreI have sony XZs and one day my friend asked me 'why are you using your old xperia Z?'. Its a shame because sony fail to change design for 8 generations. Are you kidding me sony? 9 generations if XZ1 is accounted.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-392500
                    • 6p$
                    • 23 Oct 2017

                    AnonD-392441, 26 Sep 2017On the contrary: Sony uses the approach of "evolution" r... more1. Phone designs need to be changed in order to make the design up to date and attract more customers. Original Galaxy S has perfect design amd usabily but samsung changed it. Now, samsung sells 10-20x more phones than sony. Another exampl

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • krW
                      • 11 Oct 2017

                      AnonD-244675, 04 Oct 2017I agree with you on the "gibberish fanboy" part. I'm a huge... moreI thought I was gonna like your comment....But then you turned out to be one of those fanboys.
                      The Exynos is a slightly overall better SoC for one. And The Note8 is also very snappy and well optimized. And this is the same regurgitated arguments since the dawn of time with iOS users that hate on Android. Even stock or Sony. Your couple milo seconds gain doesn't really mean much in the real world. And that's when you even have it.
                      Nor is the 960 really "better" than the S835.
                      Im sorry but Samsung "a KOREAN" brand has technically always had a technological lead over sony and others overall. Yet none of you fanboys can accept that. It has nothing to do with who likes who or their name. It has to do with their power, money, factories, and actually putting all that tech in their phone. Where Sony holds themselves back foolishly and causes themselves to struggle for it.
                      And I can't believe you didn't realize how foolish that was to say about the cameras.
                      First off you just used optimizing as an insult.....???? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK???
                      Second off you claimed that the only thing they do is make colors blown out?????
                      You at this point are beyond one of those typical sony gibberish fanboys that dont see anything but sony in tunnel vision.
                      The issue is that others can normally get sharper and less noisy images with better results and dynamic range or other aspects out of the sensors than Sony can.
                      And it's taken years for Sony to finally step up and optimize their camera software some.
                      But even though they have they still are behind because they refuse to advance in areas like focus tech, brighter apertures, or adding OIS into the mix with their EIS.
                      But no....Others just blow out colors and want something to hate on...

                      And I do talk factually about how bad iphone bezels are just as much as some of sonys.
                      At this point in the game sony's bezels are too big. They need trimming. Especially some more than others. Like XZP. Ridiculous sized bezels. And it's not just because of the amount. Again with some devices like XZP. It's the fact of not only how big they are but how little to nothing they offer. Just huge bezels with no purpose or utilization. If they would house larger batteries, much improved speakers, larger camera sensors, other sensors or what not it would be one thing. But they don't.
                      And XZ1 bezels for having stereo speakers are ok. More so for last year.
                      Even comparing the XZP to Z3 just shows you why some people talk about bezels.

                        One more thing to mention.

                        The distortion issues !

                          This is just more fun than any standard AR:
                          https://youtu.be/hG_dc2w5AwE

                            • D
                            • AnonD-244675
                            • IbE
                            • 04 Oct 2017

                            [deleted post]I agree with you on the "gibberish fanboy" part. I'm a huge fan of Sony phones and one thing that absolutely ruins brands are these unruly fanboys with no grammar.

                            Korean and Chinese brands aren't better than Sony. In fact, many of these brands lie in benchmarks. The only chipset better than the well optimized SD835 in Nokia 8 and Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is the latest Hisilicon Kirin 960, so Huawei is the only brand worth praising here. Also, most of these brands optimize Sony's sensors to oblivion so all the fanboys think overblown picture colors are accurate. As for bezels, fans who hate on the bezels is severely hypocritical. Let's see you guys hate on iPhone bezels.

                            Korean and Chinese brands aren't better than Sony. It's just that people are looking for things to hate on.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • kjI
                              • 30 Sep 2017

                              Anonymous, 28 Sep 2017they will modify their design next year. finally those beze... moreImo there is no problem with the bezels, sure they can be slimmer to fit some peoples tastes. But like others have said, I like having bezels so I place my fingers on the front of the phone. I highly doubt sony would go bankrupt, and I agree about being fanatics of certain phones. Especially when a new phone drops like every 5-6 months. Sony fits my taste in the phone I'd want.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • Xu6
                                • 30 Sep 2017

                                Anonymous, 16 Sep 2017dear mr heatpipe. this phone is too ugly. too thick, too sq... moreWhat your opinion on ip8

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 9xx
                                  • 28 Sep 2017

                                  AnonD-392441, 26 Sep 2017On the contrary: Sony uses the approach of "evolution" r... morethey will modify their design next year. finally those bezel will be made slimmer. so your "fanboyish" opinion is actually wrong.
                                  All companies needs customers. So do sony. Now most customers want less bezel. So sony must follow this trend, otherwise they will lose more customers and finally bankrupt.
                                  Im a sony user too. But i never be a fanatic of a certain brand. I use xperia because it suits my need, not because i'm a fanboy.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • NHr
                                    • 27 Sep 2017

                                    This XZ1 is the weirdest phone...it doesn't really know what it wants to be...not great in any regard....like middle ground sort of

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • Rbq
                                      • 26 Sep 2017

                                      AnonD-392441, 26 Sep 2017On the contrary: Sony uses the approach of "evolution" r... moreI likes your approach on Sony cells and the market, which your points makes sense!

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-392441
                                        • 9Lm
                                        • 26 Sep 2017

                                        Anonymous, 21 Sep 2017best way to gain popularity, a la sony: 1. Pay stubborn sa... moreOn the contrary:

                                        Sony uses the approach of "evolution" rather than "revolution" with their designs. Rather then making dramatic changes every year in an attempt to reinvent the wheel, they understand that the wheel already works - and so they instead focus their attention on refining it and improving on it.

                                        Sony's design has been among the best on the market (in terms of both build quality and usability) since it first appeared on the original Xperia Z - it never needed changing because it was already functionally perfect, so all they had to do along the way was gradually improve functionality (camera performance, display, battery life, etc) and they've done exactly that.

                                        Likewise, their UI has been among the absolute best out there from the start. It's extremely lean, has nowhere near as much bloatware as competitors, is light on memory usage, and is extremely stable. Over time they have just continued to refine it in order to make it even more smooth, fast, and usable - but at the end of the day it's always been one of the simplest and the best, and the current iteration is as good as it's ever been.

                                        Look at what other brands are doing - they keep trying to innovate their products, ad all they do in the process is make them worse less functional. Some examples:

                                        * HTC tried something new with the U11 speakers by putting two different ones on heir phone - a higher frequency speaker at the top (firing forward) and a lower frequency one on the bottom (firing down). The output is loud, but it sounds extremely odd - their sound (which was always class leading on the M7, M8, M9) is now something that may turn people off the phone

                                        * LG were taking the Sony approach by using iterative designs with their G2, G3, G4. Each model was basically just an improved version of the one from the previous year. Then they tried to get fancy with the G5 by reinventing the wheel with their innovating modular design - and everybody hated it. Nobody bought the G5 because it just didn't make any sense, and the whole modularity system (while nice in theory) just never worked properly in it's implementation

                                        * Samsung were doing the integrative thing as well with their Galaxy line - they were the same pretty much every year, just with small updates. The one big criticism they always used to get is the cheap plastic feel - and so Samsung decided to go premium and went with a metal and glass design starting with the S6. This was a nice idea, IMO, but many loyal Samsung buyers cited the removable battery and expandable memory as two of the biggest reasons why the Galaxy was so appealing to them - and both features were lost with the S6 and S6 Edge. There was an uproar from existing Galaxy fans, and so Samsung put the SD card slot back in for the S7.

                                        * Another one that Samsung did while trying to be cool and innovative was the Edge display. A funky idea in theory, the Edge design is actually one of the worst things I have ever experienced on a smartphone from an end user perspective. I've owned the S7 Edge, and it is practically impossible to use without a case due to the edges of the screen being too damn close to where your hands hold the edges of the phone - so the phone constantly would respond to accidental touches. This wasn't so much of an issue with the S6/S7 because you always had the regular versions to go with for those who weren't sold on the pointless gimmick that is the Edge...but now they have completely lost any such users by axing the regular Galaxy design and using the stupid curved edges exclusively with the S8 line. It's for this reason that I cannot buy an S8 for my next phone - I need something that I can use practically, not a useless piece of art that doesn't function.

                                        Now...Sony understands all of the above. They understand that the reason people are buying Sony phones is because they like the practical design and the efficient UI. They understand that the best way to retain those customers it to maintain a similar type of design and a similar UI, and to just continue to make small refinements and improvements along the way. And it's worked, because in the last few years I've had one Samsung, two LG's, one HTC and four Sony's. I keep trying new and innovative designs hoping to find that great new thing, and then keep going right back to the tried and tested Sony when those new products continuously fail in one area or another.

                                        So you can say all you want about "same obsolete design" and "same obsolete UI" - to Sony customers these are attractions, not distractions. We want more of the same because we want something that works, not useless gimmicks. If you prefer form over function and useless gimmicks over practical functionality, then by all means go and buy other brands - nobody is stopping you, that's your right as a consumer. We will keep buying the Sony phones because they give us what we need/want from a phone - and that is OUR right as a consumer.

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