Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra review: Geared up

3 June 2017
Sony's love for big screens goes all the way back to 2013 and the 6.4" Xperia Z Ultra, which was followed by a phablet in every generation since. Some four years later we have the Xperia XA1 Ultra at our doorstep, all 6 inches of it.

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Ritzie, 04 Jun 2017Given its price & performance, it's more feasible to bu... moreThat's how I buy phones. I NEVER buy this years new best thing. I wait and buy LAST YEARS new best thing. For one, it's typically 1/2 the price, last build of the product line, all updates usually installed, bugs, that might have appeared with the new model, have been addressed.
For a cheapskate penny pincher like me, better bang for the buck.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • JT5
    • 05 Jun 2017

    Merry, 04 Jun 2017At least battery capacity should be 4000 mah... Even mate 8... moreMate 8 is the Huawei's high end of 2015.
    It needs to be better.

    Mate is better than P series

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • JT5
      • 05 Jun 2017

      AnonD-234961, 04 Jun 2017Let's be honest here: it has a power-hungry chipset, a 6" s... moreP20 power hungry?

      A website of my country performed a battery test of XA1. Many apps like games ( pokémon, asphalt 8, mario) , messengers, email, youtube, chrome...
      SoT was 7 hours.

        AnonD-234961, 04 Jun 2017Let's be honest here: it has a power-hungry chipset, a 6" s... more"Wasted space" ur.. type 1/2.3 rear camera and type 1/2.6 front camera with ois and led flash, all this setup unfortunately will eat up space, so... yeah

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • IWH
          • 04 Jun 2017

          AnonD-633729, 04 Jun 201768hr endurance rating may be ok in 2012 but not in 2017 whe... moreMy point is every people still will charging the phone every day even it is 80h.

          The most important it battery is strongest than all the competitors, the battery lifespan is double up. Qnovo battery charging tech is great and practical feature for this phone too.

          The selfie led and OIS help taking better photo especially when the phone is attached on selfie-rod will more shaking than holding by hand, the OIS help avoid shaking and led help to capture in low light and indoors. And that's is all the great hardware work inside a phone.

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            • ThoughtsByMe
            • HCc
            • 04 Jun 2017

            Interesting 2/3 bad points not relevent to Europe. The one I have certainly has Stereo Speakers and a Fingerprint sensor.

            Should also add - best battery life ive had from a phone in while, 3 weeks into use.

              • G
              • Gixxer
              • teX
              • 04 Jun 2017

              AnonD-633729, 04 Jun 201768hr endurance rating may be ok in 2012 but not in 2017 whe... moreI know who you are commenting garbage on every post, please go back to your crappy phone!

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                • AnonD-429807
                • tht
                • 04 Jun 2017

                AnonD-234961, 04 Jun 2017Let's be honest here: it has a power-hungry chipset, a 6" s... moreAh well, as expected... ;)

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                  • AnonD-234961
                  • ndn
                  • 04 Jun 2017

                  AnonD-429807, 03 Jun 2017It's no surprise that MANY "smart" people here will say tha... moreLet's be honest here: it has a power-hungry chipset, a 6" screen and a 2700 mAh battery, probably the smallest battery of all 6" phablets (makes you wonder what did Sony do with all that wasted interior space). The outcome is predictable. Hopefully no one will get fooled into buying it.


                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • krW
                    • 04 Jun 2017

                    AnonD-429807, 03 Jun 2017It's no surprise that MANY "smart" people here will say tha... moreClearly the point is even pretending it had a betree call time in order to raise the endurance the results would still not be that spectacular.
                    And that just like the z5 premium there was plenty space in such a large phone for a plenty bigger battery. And it's not like it's a cheap phone.

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                      • AnonD-633729
                      • 6p$
                      • 04 Jun 2017

                      Anonymous, 04 Jun 20171 it's a 6 inch phablet with massive space to add more batt... more68hr endurance rating may be ok in 2012 but not in 2017 where most phones get upwards of 80hr.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • 60E
                        • 04 Jun 2017

                        it looks better than the bezelicious xz premium

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                          • Anonymous
                          • 6XU
                          • 04 Jun 2017

                          Don't trust fake reviews. And don't look at benchmarks and other useless things. Go for Sony. Even my 3 years old Z3 works fine.

                            Given its price & performance, it's more feasible to buy last year's flagship phones.
                            Even last year's flagship camera performance and quality is at par with this device (if not greater).

                              This phone costs more than z5. I bought it for 1700 a month ago while xa1u costs 1900.

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                                • Merry
                                • IVD
                                • 04 Jun 2017

                                xXENDER FREAKXx, 04 Jun 2017At least it can endure with such mediocre battery capacity.... moreAt least battery capacity should be 4000 mah... Even mate 8 is more powerful than this phone and alsa mate 8 is much cheaper

                                  AnonD-234961, 03 Jun 2017Does anyone buy a 68h-rating phone nowadays (which means th... moreAt least it can endure with such mediocre battery capacity. Well at least u can use ur phone during the day

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • XNc
                                    • 04 Jun 2017

                                    AnonD-429807, 03 Jun 2017It's no surprise that MANY "smart" people here will say tha... more1 it's a 6 inch phablet with massive space to add more battery. I don't care about bezels anyways but if those guys are making a phone bigger than s8 plus at least add same battery as that
                                    2 people will use it for media consumption that's the whole point of this device. So good battery life is taken for granted not expected. 68h is ok not good...

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                                      • AnonD-429807
                                      • thv
                                      • 03 Jun 2017

                                      AnonD-234961, 03 Jun 2017Does anyone buy a 68h-rating phone nowadays (which means th... moreIt's no surprise that MANY "smart" people here will say that the XA1 Ultra has mediocre battery lifer due to 68h endurance rating despite GSMArena has stated that the low hours of the calling time brought the rating down. I guess we can leave those people who just love to jump recklessly into conclusion without considering other things.

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                                        • AnonD-234961
                                        • ndn
                                        • 03 Jun 2017

                                        Does anyone buy a 68h-rating phone nowadays (which means that it can barely last from morning until evening) ? No thanks !