Sony Xperia XZ1 hands-on review: First impressions

31 August 2017
There's a new top Sony dog in town and its name is the Xperia XZ1. So, it's official: Sony is persisting with its, let's say, questionable naming convention. To be fair, we do see the consistency in it all, but it is still a rather silly title. Plus, we do have to complain about some aspect of the XZ1, since, frankly, after spending a bit of time with it, our initial impressions are really positive.

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • thw
  • 03 Sep 2017

mir, 03 Sep 2017Seems to be working for the iphone though...apple sells not only phone, but also services. their devices are integrated to each other. and their customer service is perfect. and iphone is the best device for gaming, with the best processor a lot better than snapdragon and exynos.

experia is......
well, it is just an android device like samsung's galaxy. sony has a lot less usable features than galaxy, worse design, very bad customer service in many many many countries, lacks advertizing, lacks Quality Controll (self cracking screen, overheat, distortion, etc) and always has camera issues in every flagships.
experia is just an overpriced phone that cannot do anything right, it always has problems.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • krW
    • 03 Sep 2017

    mir, 03 Sep 2017Seems to be working for the iphone though...Obviously

      • D
      • AnonD-414674
      • Nug
      • 03 Sep 2017

      it's beautiful but 2700mah.. ?? ... and SONY it's high time you got rid of thick bezels for good!

        • m
        • mir
        • sxr
        • 03 Sep 2017

        VoloKin Project, 02 Sep 2017Sony will never learn. Big bezels + small batteryb+ same de... moreSeems to be working for the iphone though...

          • D
          • AnonD-68902
          • 3WL
          • 03 Sep 2017

          Anonymous, 03 Sep 2017And the sad part is people will believe what that person saidWell yeah.. Sony belives in what they are doing! It´s what they are supposed to do and to convince us comsumers to belive in them!
          I like Sony and their design, audio and such. I don´t what them to do what everyone else is doing then it will all become boring. Sure bezel less design is okey if you like it but me personally don´t. The phones, especially the screens becomes very fragile when there is minimal bezels. I rather take a bit bigger bezels if i get stereo speakers and other great componants. It´s a phone after all... I´m not screen fixated..

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • krW
            • 03 Sep 2017

            [deleted post]And the sad part is people will believe what that person said

              Sony will never learn. Big bezels + small batteryb+ same design 3 years in a row = nah.

                • S
                • Sangram
                • rJ8
                • 02 Sep 2017

                Battery is very poor

                  Tann Hauser, 31 Aug 2017I dont like the design language. Cause I dont like antenna ... moreThe Xperia XZ antenna solution is pretty nice and beautiful compare to this one.

                    Anonymous, 02 Sep 2017Do some research on speaker placement and soundstage and im... moreI don't cover my dual front speaker to make it loudness, I only choose a nice place to enjoy it and don't disturb other people, if I really want to "disturb" other people with my phone, I definitely pair it with a Bluetooth speakers. But I want to enjoy myself I rather plug in an earphone to enjoy the purely audio from my phone. Do you did the same thing?

                      Anonymous, 02 Sep 2017really? with weak volume, those speakers are uselessThe dual front speakers is better than mono/stereo side speaker when I watching YouTube and movies, the sound is loud enough for a persons and the audio come out balance and audio quality is very nice! But it is not suitable for listening any audio in a noisy areas but it is also disturbing people with noisy sounds.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • Xue
                        • 02 Sep 2017

                        AnonD-454887, 02 Sep 20172 minute silence for them who will buy this phone ever. So ugly.Well I'm one of them.

                          • S
                          • Siina
                          • Xue
                          • 02 Sep 2017

                          aknsreddy, 02 Sep 2017samsung Lg iphone are 100year ahead of sonySo in the year 1900 Samsung and lg already invent these kind of phone..they might cost rs100 by now I think

                            samsung Lg iphone are 100year ahead of sony

                              • S
                              • SZTadir
                              • X%U
                              • 02 Sep 2017

                              From the videos I've seen, black seems to be the most elegant color.

                              But overall, a disappointing offering from Sony. I like Sony, but it's like they didn't want XZ1 to succeed. Even the most devoted Sony fan would agree that the competition brought much better phones to the show.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • g3Z
                                • 02 Sep 2017

                                Lex79, 02 Sep 2017Would just like to point out that I wasn't trying to sugges... moreThank you. You saved me from writing this. In summary it's a nice feature whose implications need to be seen

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-454887
                                  • rKv
                                  • 02 Sep 2017

                                  2 minute silence for them who will buy this phone ever. So ugly.

                                    • L
                                    • Lex79
                                    • pL%
                                    • 02 Sep 2017

                                    Anonymous, 02 Sep 2017Doesn't change the fact that gimmicks are gimmicks. For thi... moreWould just like to point out that I wasn't trying to suggest the 3D modelling in itself is a gimmick, my dig was at the hypocrisy of Fanboys.

                                    My concern with this feature is that like most previous Xperia camera features (Time-shift, creative effect, AR mask, sticker creator, style portrait etc.) it will quickly cause the camera app to become sluggish and then close down citing heat concerns.

                                    If that is the case, then yes this is rather useless in real world scenarios (as are most of the above listed features). If not, and Sony have found a way to implement this without those issues, then in its current form it is at least a good base platform on which to develop.

                                    The big question is 'If', Sony have made real progress reducing the heat issues over successive product generations (in terms of 4K recording they have done very well), they just can't seem to nip it in the bud. Try using those silly AR effects (which are unashamedly gimmicks) for any length of time and you'll see what I mean.

                                    My concern is that this 3D thing follows suit, I hope I end up being wrong here.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • g3Z
                                      • 02 Sep 2017

                                      Tann Hauser, 02 Sep 2017Zhe point is for him, not you.Doesn't change the fact that gimmicks are gimmicks. For this feature I see a nice implementation in key cloning and stuff with 3d print when it becomes mainstream. What's that it does new? Even computers and phones render games at 3d. Scanning is good but without printing,. What's the meaning of it?

                                        • L
                                        • Lex79
                                        • pL%
                                        • 02 Sep 2017

                                        Tann Hauser, 02 Sep 2017I see only fanboys crawling over each other here, just beca... moreIs that supposed to make some kind of sense?