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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  • D
  • AnonD-714661
  • 7tW
  • 10 Nov 2017

Guys i need to buy to this phone. I was using sony xperia Z for four and half years still it is very good phone and good performance for me. Please guys tell me about this phone i really want to buy this so please how was this performance,camera,battery and everything. Please guys tell me i am waiting for your opinions. I love sony mobile and i am waiting for the latest one. So please update me guys and i am waiting for your response

    • D
    • 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!

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