Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact review
- K
- Kangal
- uCX
- 18 Mar 2018
Bad review.
The only upgrades seem to be the better quality/brightness screen, faster SoC, and slightly louder speakers. That's it!
This phone is thick, has a small battery, a small screen, a large body, and is expensive.
The cameras may have a lot of megapixels and "bells and whistles" but the end-result is your photos come out worse looking than the Pixel2, U11, Pixel, S9, S8.... and even the S7.
On top of that, it has a fragile body and removes the 3.5mm headset port for NO REASON.
And I might add the front being non-symmetrical is a bit of a downer, and those glossy sides make it a slippery accident to happen; meaning you'll need a case to make the phone look uglier, heavier, thicker, and bigger. And forget about Glass Screen Protectors, you drop it, you're gonna pay hundreds of dollars for a simple repair.
This device is clearly worse than Sony's previous phones. Hell, throw a Snapdragon 845 in the Sony Z5 compact and it'll be a better, practical, all-round device. And probably throw in the Synaptics in-screen fingerprint scanner, and update the camera from the software/driver-side (see: Pixel). Call it a day. And if you want to make it better? Actually slim the bezels with the 16:9 aspect ratio, give it a loudspeaker (see: Axon 7), and make the phone completely symmetrical (front, back, sides).
- jrharbort
- qFX
- 18 Mar 2018
Anonymous, 18 Mar 2018zuk z2 has 3500mah in 8.5mm thick. Even xiaomi has few 4k m... moreNot going to deny the thickness isn't well optimized. I'm just pointing out the 88h efficiency with just 2870mAh to play with is nothing short of amazing. As long as the thickness doesn't bother you, anyway. As a guy who once used a Galaxy SIII with a 4400mAh expanded battery pack, I don't think 11mm would bother me.
- ?
- Anonymous
- pWQ
- 18 Mar 2018
"The chubby design is not everyone's cup of tea."
This is so true. Definitely not liking it.
- ?
- Anonymous
- uCj
- 18 Mar 2018
jrharbort, 17 Mar 2018I am an XZ1 user myself, but even I can see why the battery... morezuk z2 has 3500mah in 8.5mm thick. Even xiaomi has few 4k mah battery in their 5" device. footprint is about the same. sony lose here with the extraordinary thickness that made the phone looks like a 2011 smartphone. Basically a brick. Just accept the fact that, most sony smartphone has smaller battery than other counterparts.
- ?
- Anonymous
- LGZ
- 18 Mar 2018
I don't like 18:9, let alone worse battery life and the lack of the headphone jack. The only good thing about this model is that it makes last year's cheaper
- J
- Jon snow
- JEE
- 18 Mar 2018
Smith, 17 Mar 2018It's taller so you cannot reach the corners anymore. I'll g... moreTrue, not compact anymore.
- D
- AnonD-251354
- sxr
- 18 Mar 2018
misa, 17 Mar 2018so this phone is just 1mm thinner than lumia 1020 which had... moreDo some research and and look for the thickness of the camera hump
- ?
- Anonymous
- pQr
- 18 Mar 2018
"Speaking of resolution settings, you might want to go into settings and switch the default 17MP (16:9) one to 19MP (4:3)"
17 MP in 16:9 mode? This means that this is a multi aspect ratio sensor with at least 30.5mm² sensor area, so the total sensor area is about the same as the area of a 1/2" sensor.
- H
- Hayaan Mo Sila
- Kg{
- 18 Mar 2018
AnonD-246723, 17 Mar 2018Even die hard apple fan not buying 4 inch we although the s... moreTo be fair, Apple makes their 4" iPhones inferior to larger models. So much so, Apple is forcing the users to buy the larger models to get something better that can basically be had on the smaller devices in the first place.
- H
- Hayaan Mo Sila
- Kg{
- 18 Mar 2018
misa, 17 Mar 2018so this phone is just 1mm thinner than lumia 1020 which had... moreThis one has larger battery, larger vibration motor, large dual front facing stereo speakers, and also a relatively large camera sensor. It is just a bit larger, and the thinnest part of the Lumia 1020 is the thickest part of this XZ2 Compact, meaning the camera bump on the Lumia 1020 isn't even counted.
- ?
- Anonymous
- v3B
- 17 Mar 2018
Hmm... still don't get why they can't just make an identical mini version of the XZ2? Changing the build materials from glass to plastic was never a good idea..
Also, still wish the fingerprint sensor was on the side, or at least higher at the back, so much more ergonomic
- B
- BGChicago
- YH}
- 17 Mar 2018
Vic, 17 Mar 2018Check this phone on phone size comparison to see how terrib... moreI think you have a point about the firger print sensor. On my S7, every couple of months I have to redo my fingers because it stops recognizing them. I have 5 years old ThinkPad and never had to this even once (slide type). I wonder how the fingerprint sensor will be on these Sony's
- A
- Aspros
- gIW
- 17 Mar 2018
Plastic would be good if the battery was replaceable, or at least if the weight was kept Bellow 150gr. Since it is not, plastic is not either!
The design is not only ugly, but overused as well. It looks the same like every other cheap Chinese copy out there. Sony used to be special with their fingertip scanner. Now with this trivial small circle, placed exactly like all the Chinese army of the same design, place was a criminal mistake, sepuku worthy imo. Too Plastic, too humpy, too trivial, too heavy, with 2015 bezels, what a let down...
Horrible camera performance in low light condition was expected, but the sad part is that the extra length didn't help the battery reaching the 3000mah again...
And to complete the uninspired design Sony, the only company that used to be too proud to blindly copy others, they just dropped the music jack!!!
Since they were in copy mode, they should copy small bezels, bright lenses, bigger battery capacities, premium glass design etc, but no, they had to only take the worst for all the worst reasons...
I used to feel frustrated by Sony's fall, but not anymore, the Z5 compact likely seems to remain my last...
- c
- coolsauce
- LHg
- 17 Mar 2018
Vic, 17 Mar 2018Check this phone on phone size comparison to see how terrib... morePlastic is actually good. Problem is in aluminum frame which requires ugly plastic antenna line. XZ1 is all plastic composite which feels cold almost metal like.
- V
- Vic
- 35k
- 17 Mar 2018
Check this phone on phone size comparison to see how terribly ugly (due to thickness) XZ2 Compact looks against any other moder phone. I can confidently say that this is the ugliest phone Sony introduced in years. Not to mention cheap materials (painted plastic), no 3.5 mm jack, very inconvenient placement of fingerprint sensor in the center of device and well, I can only repeat what I have already said about XZ2 - Sony really needs to cancel both of these devices not to lose fans and reputation.
P.S. Battery life is noticeable worse compared to XZ1 Compact.
- D
- AnonD-327936
- pLW
- 17 Mar 2018
It actually looks a lot better than the full size version- the matte back is nicer to look at than the bizarre reflective XZ2. Still, I can't be bothered with any phone that lacks a 3.5mm audio port and I'm surprised Sony did this.
- D
- AnonD-246723
- KSE
- 17 Mar 2018
apertotes, 17 Mar 2018I understand there is a trend towards bigger screens, but 5... moreEven die hard apple fan not buying 4 inch we although the spec is same . I guess only you want 4 inch .
- D
- AnonD-246723
- KSE
- 17 Mar 2018
misa, 17 Mar 2018so this phone is just 1mm thinner than lumia 1020 which had... moreYou mean that 2000mah battery lumia?
- e
- eelpout
- kwP
- 17 Mar 2018
Anonymous, 17 Mar 2018this is year 2018 yet Sony dare to sell a phone with such t... moreheh, people seem to think they made it fatter only to personally tick them off. ;)
Sony did it because they thought it was more ergonomic. some reviews I've read actually like what they did. and it has a rather sharp taper to it too for a thin edge (though I think the XZ2 does this better). but I haven't carried a phone around that chunky since the Lumia 810 (which I'm now pocketing just to see if I could go back to it. it's actually close in size to the Compact, just a bit shorter). I'll wait to pass judgement until I handle this and the larger XZ2.