Flashback: Sony Xperia Z1 Compact was the first to rebel against the phablet craze

20 September 2020
Or at least the first phone not to lose its flagship status by going small - unlike the Galaxy S4 mini, HTC One mini and countless others.

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This phone was my second smartphone and had purchased in 2014. Died this February. I'm still missing. It was amazing phone. Yes there were some problems, but It beats most of the competitors

    • S
    • Smallworld
    • 3g5
    • 26 Jun 2021

    I miss this era. I was a teenager, everything was so exciting. New innovations every year, all phones had different designs, there were fanboys wars everyday.
    No the industry is dominated by apple, Samsung and the Chinese. Every phone has the same boring design, very year we have incremental updates and no new real innovation. That's why I've become disinterested and only visit GSMArena every couple months.

      • B
      • Bhagwat
      • 7k6
      • 14 Jun 2021

      Sony xperia z was the king altimeter...

        • n
        • netpoochi
        • tet
        • 26 Sep 2020

        then what about Z5 Compact

          If we are asking for come backs then lets get a modem HTC Touch Pro2. Now that was a phone. Streamline that and lets be happy

            I do miss the days when smartphones had 5-5.2 inch screens and I could easily use them with one hand. My current 6.1 inch screen phone is just too big already and still its small comparing to newer flagships. They are really becoming ridiculosly huge!

              • D
              • AnonD-731363
              • SH3
              • 23 Sep 2020

              Unlike the current sony lineup which looks more like overpriced TV remote controller this was seriosly a tiny rambo with its specs and size.
              Sony nowdays is a garbage compared to Sony of the past at least their phones.

                • H
                • Harris Kim
                • ibX
                • 22 Sep 2020

                Still use it as a back up phone, changed the screen due to an unfortunate drop to the tarmac and battery.

                  justjey, 20 Sep 2020Indeed when Sony launched the compact series, lots of peopl... more100% agree with the specs.. Though a Pixel 4 quality single camera would be enough, and an ultrawide selfie camera.

                    • c
                    • cerealguy
                    • nin
                    • 22 Sep 2020

                    This was the best phone I have ever owned. It did it's job perfectly for 4 years to me. I had to replace it because the SIM slot broke, and lost the sim connectivity and disconnected from the GSM network a few times a day. Still my fav phone of all time. Top specs in a nice small body. Sony should revive it with a SD765/6GB FullHD LED screen with today's body/screen ratio, a nice single camera, ultrawide selfie camera (like my XA2), IP68 certified, also NFC is a must for me. I'd buy it even if it would be like 700 euro, twice I consider a reasonable amount to pay for a phone.

                      • E
                      • Essen
                      • 2F6
                      • 22 Sep 2020

                      In my opinion, the original, first generation Moto G and Moto X were the cleanest, and most ergonomic of phone designs, which peaked with the Xperia XZ1 Compact. That's a phone with usable specs even today. And it's simple, clean lines, that classy back with a barely-there camera module was a design delight.

                      It's a complete anti-thesis to current phones which all about being shiny, glassy, have unwieldy ergonomics and ugly camera modules that don't even sit flush with the rest of the back. It's nice of Sony to not fall for the notch brigade and the screen corners continue to be at 90 degrees. But I am surprised they fell for the camera cutout jutting out of the back and I am not sure if 21:9 is the way to go for phones. Compact or otherwise.

                        • M
                        • MrPunSocks
                        • jCM
                        • 22 Sep 2020

                        Why does everyone forget the Xperia ZR!? That was their first compact. They just didn't call it a compact. Launched alongside the Xperia Z.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • m2J
                          • 21 Sep 2020

                          YouKnowIt, 21 Sep 2020There is a good reason small screen smart phones are not a ... moreproblem is that there is no choice. It was either all phones had small screen or as of now all phones have big screens. there is no choice for the people who want compact phone with 5-5.5 inch screen that is like 90% of screen to body ratio. If there is a choice then people who want a tablet phone they can have it and the people who want compact phone they can have it. As of now there is no diversity in the phone market as everything is 6.4-7 inch screens. All these 5.7 inch screen phones didnt sell good cause they were the lowest end possible but still with big bezels that didnt make them exactly compact phones.

                            YouKnowIt, 21 Sep 2020There is a good reason small screen smart phones are not a ... moreWell, not everyone wanted a huge sized phone and annoyed by the fact that their phone screen is small. That is probably the reason why iphones and google pixels are still having sub 6 inch display.

                            I did personally use a big phone. True, I really love the big display when watching videos or viewing webpage. But they are big to handle using one hand and often times quite heavy. Not to mention a lot of time that my phone is slipping out of the pocket due to the size of it and it really feels you are carrying something heavy when jogging/running.

                            I think for my next phone I can sacrifice that big screen for smaller and lighter phone. Just for the comfortability.

                              These devices still flawlessly! Sony is unbeatable about quality and performance by time!

                                • L
                                • Levy
                                • q{r
                                • 21 Sep 2020

                                YouKnowIt, 21 Sep 2020There is a good reason small screen smart phones are not a ... moreNah.

                                  • S
                                  • Sawsan
                                  • q{r
                                  • 21 Sep 2020

                                  I remember my dear friend, Fawzy Moughabghab, appearing one day touting one of those and it was a revelation.

                                    There is a good reason small screen smart phones are not a thing with the big brands... they are just not a reason to buy a smartphone. Nearly everything a smartphone does is better with a big screen. So 90% of the time people will be annoyed the screen is small if people bought one. People wanting a small phone should frankly have a second "feature phone" for the days they would rather have a small phone on them... and 90% of the week they would have their sim in the big phone they actually enjoy using the smartphones functions on.

                                      • S
                                      • Showbox
                                      • SvB
                                      • 21 Sep 2020

                                      I am reading this article with my 6 years old Z3 compact. And still not sure if 5ii suits me.

                                        I still have one in white. I sometime use it as an MP3 player & FM radio.

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