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-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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    • Anonymous
    • IbE
    • 25 Sep 2017

    Anonymous, 22 Sep 2017I used Sony that's when I know about quality. I don't know ... moreNay those are first year throw away brands unlike Sony beaSt quality, performance and durable brand!

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • Ibx
      • 23 Sep 2017

      [deleted post]Sure dude that's why your Sony feeds posting gibberish and I'm Not on your k or c brands feed! Hehehe

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        • Anonymous
        • Xu6
        • 22 Sep 2017

        [deleted post]I used Sony that's when I know about quality. I don't know about all brand but I have try gionee,asus and huawei but all of them together last the same as 1 Sony phone..

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          • Anonymous
          • 9xx
          • 22 Sep 2017

          Anonymous, 21 Sep 2017best way to gain popularity, a la sony: 1. Pay stubborn sa... morei suggest you to try xperia first before posting bad comments. I posted many bad comments too in the past. But after it try xzs, it changed my mind. I Like it. Yeah i admit the design is a little bit dated. But there are no perfect brand in the world, all of them have weakness. Sony's flagship only have one small weakness, which is: design. other than that, it is the best for me.

            Anonymous, 17 Sep 2017If you ever actually read a single page ever from any singl... moreMost of the hater just repeat and repeat the bashing tricks in most of the Sony thread, looks like you are the one of them but with another higher level.

              Anonymous, 21 Sep 2017best way to gain popularity, a la sony: 1. Pay stubborn sa... moreSony design is very squarish, the smartphone is beautiful elegant gorgeous and even with the bezel, yes the bezel with the colors/materials is amazingly refined. The body already change it materials/structure/design from Z2 to Z5 and to XZ and recently new phones, it have much more innovative if you compare the the Z generation with XZ generation such as multiple antenna, adopt the Gorilla Glass 5, world first side fingerprint and so on. Battery adopt the Qnovo is the most important improvement, the dual front facing speaker, the XZ1 and compact' speaker now louder than Z generation, the camera now have more powerful features and image quality is awesome more true to real life, the display even come with 4K HDR, the Xperia UI is lightweight fast and very stable. Xperia UI is not include complicated with funny stupidity actions. Xperia UI is extremely simplified, it can be more attractive just apply the themes , it doesn't like those other complicated UI lag after years/drain battery with Always On...( the Xperia's volume rocker has a nice placed and no need to pull down the notification bar to adjust the volume, specially annoying for a big phone.)

              3D scanner is most innovative technology that you can't find in other brands. Even Samsung wish to join the game, but late.

                Anonymous, 21 Sep 2017LOL. kid's toy. another useless gimmick. their true invent... moreOf course. They are afterall inferior, just copycats with no inovation.
                They indeed are baby toys compared to what Xperia devices offer.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • n41
                  • 21 Sep 2017

                  UltimateZeroSeconds, 19 Sep 2017Just like I said, the trend is play by marketing strategy, ... morebest way to gain popularity, a la sony:
                  1. Pay stubborn salesmen
                  2. Use the same obsolete design every year
                  3. Use the same obsolete ui every year
                  4. Be overpriced
                  5. Give bad service to customers

                  And sony can do it perfectly. finally they gain "bad" popularity.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • n41
                    • 21 Sep 2017

                    Tann Hauser, 20 Sep 2017Now that major competitors just caught up on AR Effect, Son... moreLOL. kid's toy. another useless gimmick.
                    their true invention is the distorted camera, other companies dont have it and wont implement it. LOL

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                      • AnonD-449300
                      • thv
                      • 21 Sep 2017

                      i'm sure fan of sony design, their anti mainstream design, and AOSP flavour, so much usefull app provide not just bloatware obviously i like them all, but one negative side that make me away from it is their price

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                        • Anonymous
                        • IbE
                        • 21 Sep 2017

                        Anonymous, 19 Sep 2017Except here in reality that's the exact lie and claim ios u... moreReality is unless your GSM writer then your a paid marketer that post lots of gibberish on Sony posts,,,

                        so if your not with Sony, goes to your brand!

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                          • Anonymous
                          • krW
                          • 20 Sep 2017

                          Primark, 20 Sep 2017Well I have read a lot infact that is why I am commenting on it.Obviously not. Is there some hate? Sure. Every page has it. Just the sad truths... But there is only a tiny handful of it...like 15-20%. The other 80-85% is just sony fans making it up, taking something factual that is not praising and twisting it, or doing the hating themselves.
                          Pure fact. Sorry you can't handle the truth.

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                            • Primark
                            • X{Y
                            • 20 Sep 2017

                            Anonymous, 17 Sep 2017If you ever actually read a single page ever from any singl... moreWell I have read a lot infact that is why I am commenting on it.

                              Now that major competitors just caught up on AR Effect, Sonys New Gen AR possibilities kick in:

                              https://youtu.be/QrIskwkbEbU

                              Great stuff!
                              Sony, make.believe :-)

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                                • Anonymous
                                • krW
                                • 19 Sep 2017

                                Anonymous, 19 Sep 2017Real World Sony Performance is what counts, which were Sony... moreExcept here in reality that's the exact lie and claim ios users will say about android. Even stock and Sony ui.
                                Meanwhile they perform fine.
                                And Sony has had more than its share of quality issues

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • krW
                                  • 19 Sep 2017

                                  Anonymous, 19 Sep 2017You've smoked too much. I've used Sony - Samsung - HTC - Mo... moreThat's nice roger

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 6XU
                                    • 19 Sep 2017

                                    Anonymous, 17 Sep 2017So you never used eitherYou've smoked too much. I've used Sony - Samsung - HTC - Motorola - Lenovo - Huawei - Xiaomi - Meizu - iPhone - Micromax and many more. Sony is the best with well optimised user interface and durable build.

                                      L0lip0p, 19 Sep 2017I don't think so, they late and arrive at just thr right ti... moreJust like I said, the trend is play by marketing strategy, hire blogger keyword warrior and troll. The innovative has been done without much more of it!

                                        Anonymous, 18 Sep 2017yes. a "little" late is better. like apple, even if i dont ... moreI don't think so, they late and arrive at just thr right time
                                        Sony problem to me is they are releasing thing too ahead of trend, the slim bezel Xperia ZL, the dual glass design, waterproofing and now the slow mo, believe me when slow mo becomes trend, sony's will be forgotten about their achievements much like the other thing

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