Sony Xperia XZ1 hands-on review: First impressions

Introduction

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.

Of course, we'll have to hold off any sort of performance judgment for the actual review, but for the time being, we can start with Sony's new design. In keeping with tradition, it is still quite distinctive and a rather acquired taste. However, quite a few things have changed.

Sony Xperia XZ1 key features

• Body: 148 x 73.4 x 7.4mm, 155 g, Aluminum unibody, Gorilla Glass 5 front, IP65/68 waterproofing
• Screen: 5.2" Triluminos display, 1080p resolution (1,080 x 1,920px), HDR video support
• OS: Android OS v8 Oreo with the Xperia launcher and Sony multimedia apps
• Chipset: Snapdragon 835 chipset: octa-core Kryo 280 CPU (4x2.46GHz +4x1.9GHz); Adreno 540 GPU; 4GB of RAM
• Camera: 19MP, 1/2.3" Sony IMX400 camera, f/2.0 lens, predictive hybrid laser/phase detection/contrast AF, burst AF, IR sensor for white balance, LED flash, dedicated hardware shutter key;
• Video recording: 4K video recording @30fps, 1080p @60fps, 720p @960fps, Steady Shot; Stereo audio recording;
• Selfie: 13MP, 1/3.06" front-facing autofocus camera with 1080p@30fps video
• Storage: 64GB of built-in UFS storage and a microSD card slot
• SIM: Single and dual-SIM models (market dependent)
• Connectivity: Cat. 16 LTE, 4x4 MIMO; Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, MIMO; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou/Galileo, Bluetooth v5.0; NFC, USB-C port with USB 3.1 support, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Audio: Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic; 24-bit/192kHz Hi-Res audio; S-Force Front Surround stereo speakers
• Battery: 2,700mAh non-removable battery, QuickCharge 3.0 support, Qnovo adaptive charging, Battery Care smart charging
• Misc: Fingerprint sensor (market dependent), stereo speakers

Join us on the following page for our first hands-on impressions.