Smartphone Sony Xperia XZ1 is not a new device. It is the flagship of the company from 2017. But there are a lot of interesting features in it that you should pay attention to, and which you should not be ashamed to use even in 2018. Our review of Sony Xperia XZ1 just about them and tells.
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Design
In terms of design, Sony Xperia XZ1 ignores all trends and develops alternative chips. The design of the smartphone in the company is called Loop Surface – the looped surface. And it can perhaps be called male. And in gray, the smartphone is ideal for any manager and businessman. The screen is protected by tempered glass, metal behind, IP67 water and dust protection, a hybrid slot for two SIM cards and a memory card. All this makes the XZ1 a very serious and business smartphone. But if you compare it with other modern smartphones, the front part of Sony looks a little archaic.
After all, do not say that, and the design of XZ1 is very different from all that is on the market and does not suffice it only a few current trends. But they say that very soon it will be fixed. But while we have what we have, and in general, Sony should even be praised. They do not try to make their products look like iPhone or Galaxy, they do something their own and give us a choice. Well, let the old screen format here, maybe someone like that.
Even the controls in this smartphone are different. For example, the fingerprint scanner is located in the side button “Inclusions”. The thumb of the right-hand lies in this recess itself, and when the smartphone is in the left hand, it is convenient to unlock it with your index fingers. A true scanner is not always accurate, but the idea is excellent and did not have to sacrifice anything. On the same right side of the scanner is a physical button for controlling the camera. This is a feature of almost all Sony smartphones. You can photograph by pressing the button like in the camera. And the button is two-position. There are people who are used to physical shutter releases and touch keys do not suit them. For example, the Japanese.
Screen
In the Xperia XZ1 5.2-inch display with Full HD resolution. Screen IPS, with support for HDR10. The display is really good. He has a decent supply of brightness and excellent color rendering. In the settings, you can choose a different color gamut – for example, the Mode of Ultimate Brightness and will get almost OLED with very bright colors. Rummaged in the settings of the screen you can find the function of Control of the backlight, which understands that the smartphone is in the hands and does not extinguish the screen. It’s really annoying when you watch a video on Instagram the screen goes off after a while. The backlight control solves this problem. The second feature is “Mode in gloves”. It increases the sensitivity of the screen and allows you to control your smartphone right in gloves. And you can manually select the white balance and watch videos with enhancements Triluminos, Dynamic Contrast Enhancement, and X-Realty.
In other words, the display on the smartphone is good. I would like only a minimal brightness smaller so that in the evening in bed to read the tweets was more comfortable. Overall, the dimensions of the device are quite comfortable, but Sony had more space for the screen. However, the Japanese decided that it is more important to set the dynamics in the framework of the top and bottom.
Sound
The Sony Xperia XZ1 has stereo speakers. They sound pretty mediocre. Much quieter than one speaker in the iPhone X or in the OnePlus 5T. But they are difficult to cover with your hand and with them, it is more convenient to watch the video, even if it is not always audible. Well, music is best to listen to in headphones and then Sony has a full order. The smartphone has a mini-jack, which automatically makes it a music player. And there is support for the proprietary LDAC codec. This means that the Xperia XZ1 is not just a player, but a Hi-Fi player. As with any solid player, there are a lot of settings: own equalizer with proprietary Clear Bass technology, surround sound tuning, ClearAudio + and DSCEE HX technology, and even the ability to level the songs at the volume level. But best of all, of course, LDAC. It allows you to transfer uncompressed music via Bluetooth. It’s true that Sony will need headphones for the potential of this codec, for example, 1000XM2. We are sure that they already have real Soniboevs. But seriously, then paired with these headphones it turns out quite solid musical setup. Learn about headphones Sony WH-1000XM2 is available in our review. Well, about the LDAC codec, you can read in a separate article.
Camera
Another trend that Sony decided to ignore is the dual camera. To be fair, it should be noted that Google has already proved to everyone that it is possible to perform miracles with one camera. By the way, Google Pixel 2 is equipped with the same module from Sony. This Japanese company is generally the largest supplier of cameras for smartphones and the more surprising that they will not make a better camera for themselves. Therefore, for XZ1 Sony saved something special – a 19-megapixel camera Motion Eye with a 25 mm lens and aperture f / 2.0.
There is hybrid autofocus, proprietary SteadyShot image stabilization, tracking focusing and predictive shooting when the camera takes pictures before you press the trigger. In the daytime and with good lighting, the XZ1 shoots perfectly. However, this is not surprising. In poor lighting, the pictures are no longer so wonderful. And this is the case when a 19-megapixel sensor does not guarantee better quality. Google Pixel, HTC U11 or iPhone X in the same conditions show a better result than the XZ1, while they have a lower resolution – only 12 megapixels. A large number of pixels on such a small sensor results in increased noise and loss of detail. But in the day it is almost imperceptible and in general, the camera works well.
Video 960 frames per second
The video can be recorded in 4K at 30 frames per second or in Full HD at 60 frames per second. In the settings, you can select the format for saving the video – in H264 or H265. The latter is twice as effective compresses the video, and so the videos take up less memory space. But there is a camera Xperia XZ1 and unique chips. Thanks to the separate memory in the XZ1, you can shoot super slow motion video at a frame rate of 960 fps. This is 30 times slower than normal video. True resolution of such videos is only 1280 by 720 pixels and for their shooting, you need very good light, and you can record only a fragment in 0.2 seconds. After processing, these 0.2 seconds turn into 6 seconds of slow motion video. The main difficulty here is to accurately capture the time during the shooting.
Even with the help of the camera, you can do 3D portraits or 3D shooting of food. Not the most useful feature and it does not have a mass application, but some time to play with it will be interesting. Obtained 3D models can be printed on a 3D printer. The front camera here is 13 megapixel with a 22 mm lens and aperture f / 2.0. Removes completely sane, especially if you turn off the effect of soft skin settings. The only complaint to the front is that it mirrors the image.
Performance
Represented Sony Xperia XZ1 in September on IFA 2017. It’s not so long ago, so the hardware of the smartphone is still more than modern: Snapdragon 835 processor, Adreno 540 graphics, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB permanent. The smartphone also has a USB 3.1 port in a Type-C format for charging and synchronization and a battery for 2700 mAh. Gaming this smartphone does not turn the language name just because it has a small screen, there is not 120Hz, well, it looks not so pretentious. At the same time on Xperia XZ1 you can play any games, and leave synthetic tests for paranoiacs. The main thing to find these most notorious heavy games, which in Google Play is not so much. In general, to make this smartphone is difficult to think about.
There is also an interface that works well for you. By the way, Xperia XZ1 works on Android Oreo. A launcher is not much different from pure Android, with a minimum number of own add-ons. Of the interesting branded applications, you can note the program for remote connection to the PlayStation. It’s possible to play your favorite PS4 games right on your phone, and even DualShock over Bluetooth can be connected.
As for the time of work, then with a volume of 2700 mAh miracles should not wait. With moderate use, the smartphone easily survives until evening. But active users will have to carry an external battery. Although you already wear it all.
Specifications of Sony Xperia XZ1
Also known as Sony Xperia XZ1 Dual F8342 with dual-SIM card slots
| NETWORK | Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE |
|---|---|---|
| 2G bands | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2 (dual-SIM model only) | |
| 3G bands | HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 – F8341, F8342 | |
| HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 – G8341, G8342, G8342 | ||
| 4G bands | LTE | |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (4CA) Cat16 1024/150 Mbps | |
| GPRS | Yes | |
| EDGE | Yes |
| LAUNCH | Announced | 2017, August |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2017, September |
| BODY | Dimensions | 148 x 73.4 x 7.4 mm (5.83 x 2.89 x 0.29 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 155 g (5.47 oz) | |
| Build | Front glass, aluminum body | |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | |
| – IP68 certified – dust/water proof (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) |
| DISPLAY | Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 5.2 inches, 74.5 cm2 (~68.6% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1080 x 1920 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~424 ppi density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes, up to 10 fingers | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | |
| – HDR10 compliant – Triluminos display – X-Reality Engine |
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 8.0 (Oreo) |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 | |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×2.45 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo) | |
| GPU | Adreno 540 |
| MEMORY | Card slot | microSD, up to 400 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) – dual SIM model only |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 64 GB, 4 GB RAM |
| CAMERA | Primary | 19 MP (f/2.0, 25mm, 1/2.3″, 1.22µm), gyro EIS, predictive phase detection and laser autofocus, LED flash |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR | |
| Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@960fps | |
| Secondary | 13 MP (f/2.0, 22mm, 1/3″), gyro EIS, 1080p |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes | |
| – 24-bit/192kHz audio – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic |
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| Radio | No | |
| USB | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector; USB Host |
| FEATURES | Sensors | Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass, color spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email | |
| Browser | HTML5 | |
| – Fast battery charging (Quick Charge 3.0) – Xvid/MP4/H.265 player – MP3/eAAC+/WAV/Flac player – Document viewer – Photo/video editor |
| BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Ion 2700 mAh battery |
|---|
| MISC | Colors | Black, Warm Silver, Venus Pink, Moonlit Blue |
|---|---|---|
| Price | About 460 EUR |
| TESTS | Performance | Basemark OS II: 3484 / Basemark OS II 2.0: 2986 Basemark X: 38583 |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Contrast ratio: 1406 (nominal), 3.765 (sunlight) | |
| Camera | Photo / Video | |
| Loudspeaker | Voice 65dB / Noise 68dB / Ring 69dB | |
| Audio quality | Noise -93.3dB / Crosstalk -90.2dB | |
| Battery life |
Endurance rating 82h
|
conclusions
Sony Xperia XZ1 certainly has disadvantages: not the best working time, the screen with thick frames, the average picture quality in the evening. But we liked the general feeling of XZ1. It is perfectly in the hand, can connect to the PlayStation and shoot video in 960 fps, it has a unique design and excellent audio transmission capabilities. The smartphone is good and there are no serious misses. The question is only in competition with Chinese smartphones and flagships from Samsung, Apple, and other companies. But Sony has a special version of this smartphone – Xperia XZ1 Compact. And he really has few competitors. But that is another story.
