This is how reviews should be done. No flashy, 4 minute nonsense that glances over what everybody knows. This is thorough and detailed, well done. I agree with you on camera completely, it's very disappointing, and also apparently has distortion too (Sony says they'll release a fix soon). They also don't provide Camera API2, which means no RAW capabilities.
Thanks JJ for your speedy reply. Sorry to hear there was no camera fix ... but I think the quality is good enough since I intent to buy a compact camera (probably Sony DSC-RX100 III becaus of the EVF in combination with the tilting screen) for the real quality images. For me a smartphone is first of all a phone (not too big) with the benefits of an internet connexion. What I have researched untill now I think the XZ1c for 290 - 340 Euro (pink has the lowest price but I am not sure I like that special colour in the long run) is a very good choice. Hope you stay in control of your phone obsession. I recognize the effects you described. Best to you.
Excellent review, satisfyingly detailed. I hacked my XZ1C and with that, increased the torch brightness, increased the volume, and changed nearly all apps, and OS to black. Managed to get it brand new from Carphone Warehouse for £300 new. And I'll stay with Oreo over Pie. Faster and better battery life. And I prefer 16:9 screen, no cropping. Again, great review, thanks.
@@jjstechreviews7367 You deserve the good feedback. I have subscribed with the bell icon. Looking forward to your future reviews. Sony really do limit the volume output too low for my liking also, but once rooted, the volume output can be adjusted to have more than enough power even for a decent pair of cans. Coupled with swift black substratum theme, nova launcher, rondo icons, 0.5 X animations/transitions speed. Even though the charger is not full quick charge, I prefer it so my battery lasts longer in its overall lifetime. I wasn't crazy for the ridges at the top and bottom either, until I dropped it. Only a tiny chip to the ridge, but no damage to the screen! They are designed to protect the screen. Anyway I wish you nothing but the best JJ. Keep up the good work.
This is a perfect review. Subjective user experience that doesn't just rattle off a spec list I already know. What I like most is that by exposing the strengths and flaws of the device, you've allowed me to make a better decision for my case scenario. At the end of the day, there is no perfect phone, and while I wish the design had featured smaller bezels, the screen been an OLED, and the camera performance improved dramatically, all three of these things are secondary to my use case. Unfortunately, the XZ2 compact is a huge disappointment as the design is still dated, the headphone jack gone and the camera performance still underwhelming. So, XZ1C it is.
I agree with all your points. I am so mad at the XZ2c since it was the reason I didn't buy the XZ1c last year. Now there's no decision to make and I'll be doing the same as you :\
Frankly I don't know what they were thinking. Sony does this mistake a lot, they bow to pressure from outside forces rather than listen to fans of their existing system. The "OmniBalance" design was good. No, it was great. What it needed was improvement, and refinement, not the replacement we got. Everyone of Sony's fans wanted 3 things above all. 1- Smaller Bezels. With the design we already knew and loved. Not one of Sony's actual long term fans asked for a redesign which eschewed all of Sony's legacy. 2- Better Camera & Display performance. The camera part is obvious. The display has more to do with the tech they used. While Sony have delivered quality LCD panels, there is no denying that for years, Samsung has spoilt its users with OLED, as did LG. Furthermore, Sony's phone prices always warranted at least a 1080p panel on the compact models. 3- A refined software experience. With the exception of a handful of apps, Sony's take on Android has always served up more promise than delivery. I cannot have been the only Sony fan to wish they would just give us Pure Android, and then supply their own apps through the Play Store as companions. While Battery saver is good, it's not good enough to elevate the otherwise poor or pointless performance of the rest of Sony's software suite. There. Those three. Oh and we wanted to you know, keep what already made Sony phones great. In short, Sony should have leaned into its pedigree, in lieu of hacking away part of its very soul in the name of conformity. Sony, if you're reading this. Give us what we (the fans) want, not what you think outsiders will want.
Bought one new for £225 last week. Very happy with it! Also have a Lenovo P2. Great battery and a very decent phone generally, but the XZ1 Compact is just so much more pocketable and absolutely flies.
Adrian T. This is my first compact Sony. I have an iPhone 6s too. I have the black one. You can buy it from Carphone Warehouse and get a one month SIM plan that you cancel after that month. It's currently £235 with a one month O2 SIM.
So I bought the phone completely new about four months ago for a little over £300. And I just feel like sharing some of my own thoughts after using it for a while. The good: -The compact size is so refreshing! There is no comparison after having used a 5.5 inch screen smartphone. I can easily use this phone with one hand, while hardly doing any acrobatics with my hand. Really, 4.6 inches is not that small and big enough for most of the daily tasks, RUclips and Netflix. -The device is very fast, and the performance is great when doing split-screen multitasking. There is nothing this phone can't handle. -The phone feels premium in the hand, the volume button has a nice click. Definitely a flagship feel to me, even though the back is made of plastic, which I much prefer over glass, all metal, or glossy plastic. I really like the blocky design, it's very sleek and elegant. -The fingerprint scanner is very quick and most of the times accurate. I do feel that it correctly reads my fingerprint a lot more since I've put a case on the phone. My finger doesn't directly press the scanner too hard, because of the thickness of the case and that seems to help. -Sony's UI is very smooth and nice. It looks very sleek and classy to me, more sleek than stock android. Especially Sony's Music app is fantastic. I didn't like Google Play Music at all on my previous device. Another thing I appreciate is that I don't have to log into my Google account for the Contacts app for instance. There is some bloatware, which you can't uninstall. But you can switch them off. -The battery is above average. On a day of heavy use it reaches the end of the day. When I don't use it that much I still have a bit of juice left. You'll have to charge it once a day max. -The stereo speakers are good. -I find the display to show nice colours and it is sharp enough. A tip would be to turn off the X-Reality engine. It's turned on from the beginning, and it makes everything look more pixelated and grainy. The bad: -The camera is absolutely awful. It's so grainy, soft and just completely unsharp. The camera of my Moto G4 Plus was way better and that was a budget-midrange phone from the start when it came out. While I don't take pictures a lot, it's still unacceptable. The front-camera isn't good either. I have nothing good to say about the camera's. -The display tends to go a little wonky with colours in direct sunlight. I have auto-brightness off, but it still seems to oversaturate a lot and it looks very weird. Anyone else who has this issue? -The stereo speakers do sound a bit tinny. -The software is a little unstable. I have app crashes quite regulary or it will freeze in an app. Sometimes it will even reboot. A shame, because the SD-835 is still a great chip. All in all, this phone is sufficient and you can't beat the compact size. It really is an absolute dream to have a phone of this size. Even though it defnititely has its downsides, that is outweighed by the size, performance, design, battery life and display. I feel for the people who bought this phone when it first came out though. Because it just is not enough for a flagship in 2017/Q12018. But for for the price that I bought it, I'm really happy with it. Even though it still was a little expensive, there is just this classy and elegant feeling with a Sony phone that I can still sense, even though they have gone downhill a lot when it comes to their mobile division. So generally I definitely agree with JJ's review! If you can move past the horrible camera, this is definitely a phone to consider. I'm also still awaiting the Android 9.0 update, but I don't mind. I want the software to be more stable, so fingers crossed!
Didn't think I'd make it past 10 minutes but your review was very comprehensive (and may I say what perfect dictation/enunciation lol) Been debating whether to get this or not but I think you might have persuaded me not to re: disappointing camera. Get your act together Sony!
I had a z5c and now an iPhone SE and I’ve just ordered one of these, am looking forward to it, got a good deal on it albeit still not far off four hundred, I just can’t use bigger phones and this is the best of the small ones it seems
I upgraded to the Xz1c from z3 compact. Display is very big step up in both colors and brightness, sound is improved in both quality and max volume, performance is a huge step up from SD801 to 835.. and 2 gb ram to 4gb.. Internal storage also doubled for me both in size and speed. I installed a 128gb sandisk class 10 U3 sd card as well. Fingerprint is welcome for me, but i do miss double tap to wake/sleep. Camera is much better in low light because i can adjust shutter speed on the new one and not on the z3c.. The super slowmotion is very impressive for me, so are predictive capture and the auto focus burst shot. The superior auto is improved and is very fast to switch scenes compared to the z3c.. so is the focus speed, which in videos is now almost instant. The front camera is also much improved in quality and i really like the wide mode.. I do agree with you on the metal parts on top and bottom, they look like a waste of space..like they are glued on top just to have metal there and just make the phone bigger .. i put them side by side with my z3c and those metal parts are the difference in size between the two...Battery is very good, i got 07:30 hours of screen on time in 2 days from 100% to 17%.. my z3c being a 2014 phone(i bought it in 2016) was down to 04:30 hours of SOT before i upgraded. So overall i am very happy with my new phone. I only see 2 cons: double tap to wake\sleep, which can be fixed with software update.(but it probably wont be fixed) (oh btw now i remember they removed stock screen record since x compact, so now i have to use 1 more app) and the metal parts which cant be fixed by a software update... :D
Thank you for the "real world" review. Does the XZ1 Compact have Sony's Small Apps feature (accessible from the recent apps key) like the Z3 Compact? Some people disliked that customisation as not being pure Android, but I found it useful, especially when I wanted a calculator to pop up over a screen with data in it.
Very good review. I like how you tell your opinion and not just a bunch of specs. It kind of reminds me of an in-depth review of Erica Griffin, I don't know if you have seen any of her video's, but it's a good thing. Four year ago I bought the Z1 Compact and absolutely loved it! Unfortunately I got battery problems and it became unusable. Then I bought a Motorola Moto G4 Plus with a 5.5 inch screen. It is starting to really bug me and I've been craving a compact Xperia for a few months now. In my country the XZ1 Compact is £320 at the moment and I've been thinking about buying it. This is literally the only option, I definitely need waterproof, so the X Compact is a no and I find the Z5 Compact to be fairly outdated. Would you recommend the XZ1 Compact at this pricepoint? Or would you say to wait some more for a drop in price or maybe I should buy another device?
Hi, thanks for watching and for your kind comments. For your needs I think the XZ1 Compact would be the best option. It offers good performance, waterproofing, stereo speakers, a great screen, the form factor you like and above average battery life. The camera is a bit disappointing, but it’s still acceptable in my opinion. Under £300 would be great but at £320 I think it’s tough to beat. All the best, and thanks again.
Really like the form factor and features of this phone. This was on my shortlist for my next phone come upgrade time early next year but after hearing about the age old Sony problem of random restarts which STILL obviously occur to their devices I'm not so keen.
Thanks for a great review. I am torn between this and XZ1. 64gb and HDR support on XZ1 as compared to XZ1c really sways me. But only in XZ1c has wide angle selfie as compared to XZ1. That's handy. What are your thoughts?
Great review, thank you. I bought a Z5 C, and found it to be completely useless in some situations because of overheating. eg. I'm carrying it in my pocket with Maps running. I can feel the heat! Get it out to take a video - get a warning that it will shut off if it gets too hot. Start taking a video and sure enough a few seconds later it has shut off! Very annoying. Did like the compact size though, so will upgrade to the XZ1 C as I've read elsewhere that with the new processor the heating problem has gone.
Hello Brian, thank you for watching and for taking the time to add a comment. I had no overheating problems with the XZ1 Compact, so you should be fine, it has a much more efficient processor etc.
The most beautiful and advanced compact smartphone ever madden I have ever seen. Sony should manufacture The Xperia Xtreme (Compact) visually identical to the Sony Xperia Xz1 compact with the same physical measures but with a greater variety options of colour including the (black colour) of course. The Xperia Xtreme (Compact) would operate with a teen core processor, 100 GB and 256 native GB of RAM! Would you be capable to manufacture it for all of us Sony? But this time, do not forget please to make it available to be sold also in Brazil ok? Bye, stay with God!
Well, for example, it depends whether you consider the regular sized iPhone as ‘compact’. If so, when the Z3C and Z5C were launched they stood out due to stereo speakers and waterproofing.
Thanks for your review & yes your video was useful to me , i know i am 7 months out of date however my new phone choice has boiled down to xz1 compact & nokia 8 , both phones are heavily discounted to £300 . I like the mid- high end appeal of both phones , i am leaning towards xz1 for pocket size but the corners look a bit blocky everything else ok the nokia is a bit bigger but looks easy to live with but no waterproof ? My current phone is an 1st gen samsung j5 (i keep my phones a long time , i also still use nokia3310 15 years old for work ) so any new phone will be big upgrade to me . I am low screen time user & make full use of power save i think xz1 has good power save , so this might be the phone . So once again thanks for your review .
Hi Rob Thanks for watching, and for your kind comments. The size of the XZ1C is perfect, waterproofing is important and front facing speakers. £300 (less £10 Quidco, 12 months PSN and a free footy shirt) is a great price.
Such a shame about the low-capped headphone output, this is a serious deal-breaker for me, I don't know why they do it! Do you happen to know which brands tend to cap it higher?
Having bigger aperture doesn't means better Bigger aperture will lead to more light to enter the sensor which os good in low light situation but in day light the bigger aperture will overexpose thing So thats why sony use f2.0 its in the middle
I recently bought the XZ1C and noticed that the housing resonates strongly in certain frequencies in music and speech. The resonance is so strong that the sound image is distorted and makes the listening experience very unpleasant. I was very surprised about this strong resonance and see it as a serious shortcoming in this Sony. I am considering asking Sony to replace this device with another one in the hope that the new device will not suffer from that resonance. But I also have the fear that the resonance is a shortcoming in the technical design. Does anyone have more experiences with this?
Would you recommend me to buy this phone in September 2019 if I like small phones? It cost about 280 pounds translated into UK dollars. Or should I get an iPhone 8? Thanks.
Hi, and thanks for watching. Although the Sony is slightly smaller, I think I would choose the iPhone 8 for its better camera and software updates. Hope this helps
Very nice review, I currently have the Z5c because I love the sound quality and the speakers are loud enough for me; so I want to ask, in your opinion, Which one has the better sound quality? The XZ1c or Z5c? Also, Is the XZ1c louder than Z5c? Thanks in advance.
Hi, and thanks for watching. In my experience there’s very little difference; the XZ1C is marginally better in speaker output but not enough to warrant an upgrade for that alone. They both lack the low frequency output that give a more rounded sound.
JJ's Tech Reviews I see, I'm thinking about upgrading to XZ1c and the sound is important to me, but my major reason is for the RAM, I think 2Gb it's a little bit low for these days and I've been heard the camera is better in XZ1c; also thanks to you I have more info about the sound. So yeah, I'll think about the upgrade. Thanks for answering and keep the good work.
Thanks Magnus. The XZ1C is a good, but not great, handset (in my opinion). If your Z5C is still ok, it might be worth waiting until the next Compact is released. Hopefully with smaller bezels and better speakers.
So guys I`m looking for compact phone with the best camera quality for sure ta shot some photos and record some short videos. I have for now iPhone 6s, i was thinking about iphone se 64GB + or xz1 Compact, x compact. Any ideas? Looking for help. Cheers for all reply.
Would you buy this XZ1C for 290 pounds if you'd already the Z3 Compact? My Z3 compact has some issues, like the screen keeps popping off, sd card does not stay in place, and very minor issues with the touchscreen(can not pull notifications bar only from the left side and pressing back only works from 2mm up the bezel). All in all, JJ, all I have to say is "GG"! :)) Yes, the torch is weak on the z3C as well, camera below average, but we love sony for being small, waterproof and having a long-lasting battery. I know that the xz2 compact is out, but there are too many things not to like about it. Anyone please answer as I am really confused if I should buy the XZ1C... I can use the z3C very well now(almost), I don;t like xz2 and XZ3 it's on it's way, but for sure the battery will not last so much. Please answer. :D Cheers
Can you do a comparison vs the X Compact? The X Compact costs half as much as the XZ1 Compact and it makes me wonder if the latter is indeed twice as good.
+TheBlooRayChannel That’s a difficult one to answer. The XZ1C wins in every way other than price, if you plan on keeping it a long time I think it’s worth it.
Please, Please do a review on xz1 as well I'm confused between xz1 and xz1c... your reviews help alot. If you can give me a few minutes of your time I'll be much obliged. Thank you :)
Hi Ammar, and thank you for your request. I'm sorry but I haven't tried the XZ1 and so cannot really give an opinion on it. I hope you find some alternative reviews that give you the information that you need.
I did find some alternative reviews, but I feel all of them were biased or sort of paid. Only your reviews are honest. I hope you get hands on xz1 as soon as possible. Thanks. :)
Great... Z5c owner for over 2years, wanting to upgrade. XZ1c doesn't deliver, XZ Premium has serious issues and the XZ2 is way too expensive... Alternatives? Great review btw...
Hi and thanks for watching. I gave up on the Sonys to be honest, after many years of ownership. I actually went to the dark side and bought a cheap but nearly new red iPhone 7 128Gb and it does everything I want really well. The camera is great, stereo speakers are good quality, nice screen, good performance and very one-hand friendly. Only downsides for me are lack of headphone jack and mediocre battery life (but I try not to use my phone as much as I used to anyway nowadays). I hate notches on phones so until that fad passes I’ll happily hold on until a decent compact Android phone is released (hopefully not at a daft price). I’ve gotten used to iOS and actually like many aspects of it so I’m in no hurry to change. My 15 month old ip7 still shows battery health of 95% so I’m all good for a while. My next phone purchase (unless forced) will be for something revolutionary, not evolution. I’m not spec chasing any more, so I’ll happily hold until something amazing is developed.
@@jjstechreviews7367 Thanks for the reply, i'm not a big fan of iphones for that fact alone, they have terrible battery life. I watch a lot of youtube at work and when i'm not watching, i'm listening(audio only). Do you have any experience with the Xperia XZ?
No, sorry, none at all. I tend to have one big phone for media consumption or travelling (with a big battery), and for the last 2 years it's been a Lenovo P2. I then have a small phone for going everywhere with me. For those reasons I never looked into the XZ1.
@@jjstechreviews7367 There's a great offer today on xz2c the price went down from 550EU to 350EU (blackfriday deal) so i'm gonna go for it. Thank you for your time! Have a great night/day!
JJ's Tech Reviews welcome, mate! And your review is very thorough, too. Question: is the camera really so disappointing? I have a Oneplus 3T right now, and I'm satisfied with it to 99%. The exception is the camera. What do you think, is the camera of the xz1c better than the one of the OP3T?
I would say they are fairly similar in output quality, which is not too bad (unless you view the photos on a large screen or if you want to crop heavily) but definitely not the worst.
I only have limited experience with the SE, but I liked the sharp, natural photos that it produced (although the selfie camera was poor). The XZ1C has the extra bells and whistles (wide angle selfie, 960fps slow motion, AR features etc) but Sony over-process the photos and so the end results often fall short of the competition under close scrutiny. I have to add though, for everyday snapshots, it's fine but I was just a little disappointed. I carry a quality compact camera for my 'serious' photography (a Ricoh GR), and if I don't have that with me I am happy just getting a fairly decent photo from a smartphone. At the moment I am using a 128Gb iPhone 7 (I picked an almost new Red one up for a really good price recently), I like the size, screen-brightness, dual speakers, waterproofing, build-quality, FPS location, mute switch, raise-to-wake, in-store support, rock solid bluetooth and cameras. Battery life is not a problem to me as I'm trying to reduce the time I spend on my devices as it can easily become obsessive, so I haven't submitted any RUclips videos or bought any more phones for a while. At one point I had 7 phones, and I realised I needed to sell all but 2 (Lenovo P2 and iPhone 7). I think that smartphone technology has plateaued in the last couple of years, and so I hope to stick with what I've got until something revolutionary comes along.
im seriously considering the xz1. but the double tap to wake feature is gone right? Anyone know whether the 4G LTE network will work in Canada or China? im buying the phone in China but moving to Canada in the future
Hi, and thanks for watching. Its definitely not future proof (no phone truly is), but it should be good for at least 3-5 years (possibly more). Performance should hold up nicely, and the Sony battery management should help there too. It will run out of security support and may not get many more software updates, but that’s not a real issue to me, and if you can pick one up for a good price then it could be a really good buy.
the camera is okay for me, but honestly there's a few smartphone out there with the same price that had a better camera than xz1c. the only reason i bought this phone because of its compactness, fast software update, and the battery life.
Hi, and thanks for watching. That seems fine. To lose 13% with 71 minutes of screen on time means that 350 minutes is SOT (nearly 6 hours) would use approx 65%
Hi Adrian That’s a good question. Basically, I felt that my obsession with technology (especially smartphones) was becoming a problem. I also wanted to create better quality content but it was taking me too long each time. Finally, the very small amount of payment I received from RUclips didn’t warrant the time spent. I buy my own devices and have no sponsorship, so my brief experiment of becoming a RUclipsr came to an end. I might give it another go in the future, but I’m much happier now I have the phone obsession under control. Sorry for the long-winded answer.
the only thing i did not like about this phone was the camera. very dissapointing. unacceptable really. It would have been the perfect phone for me otherwise.
This is how reviews should be done. No flashy, 4 minute nonsense that glances over what everybody knows. This is thorough and detailed, well done. I agree with you on camera completely, it's very disappointing, and also apparently has distortion too (Sony says they'll release a fix soon). They also don't provide Camera API2, which means no RAW capabilities.
Very kind, thanks.
Did they fix the camera issue?
Same question: did they fix the camera issue?
No camera fixes unfortunately, in fact no software updates for me at all since November 2017
Thanks JJ for your speedy reply. Sorry to hear there was no camera fix ... but I think the quality is good enough since I intent to buy a compact camera (probably Sony DSC-RX100 III becaus of the EVF in combination with the tilting screen) for the real quality images. For me a smartphone is first of all a phone (not too big) with the benefits of an internet connexion. What I have researched untill now I think the XZ1c for 290 - 340 Euro (pink has the lowest price but I am not sure I like that special colour in the long run) is a very good choice. Hope you stay in control of your phone obsession. I recognize the effects you described. Best to you.
The design is awesome much better than bezelless
XA1 Bezells are great. I wish the XA1 was as compact as this one. It would be the perfect design
I wish more reviews were like this filled with practical information to help me decide as a consumer. Thank you very much
Hi, and thanks for watching. That’s very kind of you to say.
Excellent review, satisfyingly detailed. I hacked my XZ1C and with that, increased the torch brightness, increased the volume, and changed nearly all apps, and OS to black. Managed to get it brand new from Carphone Warehouse for £300 new. And I'll stay with Oreo over Pie. Faster and better battery life. And I prefer 16:9 screen, no cropping. Again, great review, thanks.
Hi Beta Bux. Thanks for watching and the positive feedback. Sounds like you’ve got the best out of the XZ1C.
@@jjstechreviews7367 You deserve the good feedback. I have subscribed with the bell icon. Looking forward to your future reviews. Sony really do limit the volume output too low for my liking also, but once rooted, the volume output can be adjusted to have more than enough power even for a decent pair of cans. Coupled with swift black substratum theme, nova launcher, rondo icons, 0.5 X animations/transitions speed. Even though the charger is not full quick charge, I prefer it so my battery lasts longer in its overall lifetime. I wasn't crazy for the ridges at the top and bottom either, until I dropped it. Only a tiny chip to the ridge, but no damage to the screen! They are designed to protect the screen. Anyway I wish you nothing but the best JJ. Keep up the good work.
An honest non biased reviewer. I like this guy.
Thanks, nice of you to say
This is a perfect review. Subjective user experience that doesn't just rattle off a spec list I already know. What I like most is that by exposing the strengths and flaws of the device, you've allowed me to make a better decision for my case scenario. At the end of the day, there is no perfect phone, and while I wish the design had featured smaller bezels, the screen been an OLED, and the camera performance improved dramatically, all three of these things are secondary to my use case. Unfortunately, the XZ2 compact is a huge disappointment as the design is still dated, the headphone jack gone and the camera performance still underwhelming. So, XZ1C it is.
That’s very kind of you to say, thank you. I’m also disappointed with the XZ2 Compact, especially due to it’s larger size.
I agree with all your points. I am so mad at the XZ2c since it was the reason I didn't buy the XZ1c last year. Now there's no decision to make and I'll be doing the same as you :\
Frankly I don't know what they were thinking. Sony does this mistake a lot, they bow to pressure from outside forces rather than listen to fans of their existing system. The "OmniBalance" design was good. No, it was great. What it needed was improvement, and refinement, not the replacement we got. Everyone of Sony's fans wanted 3 things above all.
1- Smaller Bezels. With the design we already knew and loved. Not one of Sony's actual long term fans asked for a redesign which eschewed all of Sony's legacy.
2- Better Camera & Display performance. The camera part is obvious. The display has more to do with the tech they used. While Sony have delivered quality LCD panels, there is no denying that for years, Samsung has spoilt its users with OLED, as did LG. Furthermore, Sony's phone prices always warranted at least a 1080p panel on the compact models.
3- A refined software experience. With the exception of a handful of apps, Sony's take on Android has always served up more promise than delivery. I cannot have been the only Sony fan to wish they would just give us Pure Android, and then supply their own apps through the Play Store as companions. While Battery saver is good, it's not good enough to elevate the otherwise poor or pointless performance of the rest of Sony's software suite.
There. Those three. Oh and we wanted to you know, keep what already made Sony phones great. In short, Sony should have leaned into its pedigree, in lieu of hacking away part of its very soul in the name of conformity.
Sony, if you're reading this. Give us what we (the fans) want, not what you think outsiders will want.
An excellent summary with some very well argued points.
Thanks
Same here. I just bought the xz1 compact for 315€!
Ty for review. Finally someone mentioned call quality,signals calls and phone stuff . Ty for that .
Hi Martin.
You're welcome, and thank you for your comment.
Bought one new for £225 last week. Very happy with it! Also have a Lenovo P2. Great battery and a very decent phone generally, but the XZ1 Compact is just so much more pocketable and absolutely flies.
SH one?
So do you absolutely love it? :D
Adrian T. I bought it brand new. I do absolutely love it 👍🏻
1. Did you ever have a compact Sony before? :D
2. What color do you have?
3. Where can you buy it that cheap? :))
Cheers
Adrian T. This is my first compact Sony. I have an iPhone 6s too. I have the black one. You can buy it from Carphone Warehouse and get a one month SIM plan that you cancel after that month. It's currently £235 with a one month O2 SIM.
Jiminy Billybob well, I'm not in the UK, so that would not be an option. 😂
What can you say about the comparison with iPhone 6s? 😁
So I bought the phone completely new about four months ago for a little over £300. And I just feel like sharing some of my own thoughts after using it for a while.
The good:
-The compact size is so refreshing! There is no comparison after having used a 5.5 inch screen smartphone. I can easily use this phone with one hand, while hardly doing any acrobatics with my hand.
Really, 4.6 inches is not that small and big enough for most of the daily tasks, RUclips and Netflix.
-The device is very fast, and the performance is great when doing split-screen multitasking. There is nothing this phone can't handle.
-The phone feels premium in the hand, the volume button has a nice click. Definitely a flagship feel to me, even though the back is made of plastic, which I much prefer over glass, all metal, or glossy plastic. I really like the blocky design, it's very sleek and elegant.
-The fingerprint scanner is very quick and most of the times accurate. I do feel that it correctly reads my fingerprint a lot more since I've put a case on the phone. My finger doesn't directly press the scanner too hard, because of the thickness of the case and that seems to help.
-Sony's UI is very smooth and nice. It looks very sleek and classy to me, more sleek than stock android. Especially Sony's Music app is fantastic. I didn't like Google Play Music at all on my previous device. Another thing I appreciate is that I don't have to log into my Google account for the Contacts app for instance. There is some bloatware, which you can't uninstall. But you can switch them off.
-The battery is above average. On a day of heavy use it reaches the end of the day. When I don't use it that much I still have a bit of juice left. You'll have to charge it once a day max.
-The stereo speakers are good.
-I find the display to show nice colours and it is sharp enough. A tip would be to turn off the X-Reality engine. It's turned on from the beginning, and it makes everything look more pixelated and grainy.
The bad:
-The camera is absolutely awful. It's so grainy, soft and just completely unsharp. The camera of my Moto G4 Plus was way better and that was a budget-midrange phone from the start when it came out. While I don't take pictures a lot, it's still unacceptable. The front-camera isn't good either. I have nothing good to say about the camera's.
-The display tends to go a little wonky with colours in direct sunlight. I have auto-brightness off, but it still seems to oversaturate a lot and it looks very weird. Anyone else who has this issue?
-The stereo speakers do sound a bit tinny.
-The software is a little unstable. I have app crashes quite regulary or it will freeze in an app. Sometimes it will even reboot. A shame, because the SD-835 is still a great chip.
All in all, this phone is sufficient and you can't beat the compact size. It really is an absolute dream to have a phone of this size. Even though it defnititely has its downsides, that is outweighed by the size, performance, design, battery life and display. I feel for the people who bought this phone when it first came out though. Because it just is not enough for a flagship in 2017/Q12018. But for for the price that I bought it, I'm really happy with it. Even though it still was a little expensive, there is just this classy and elegant feeling with a Sony phone that I can still sense, even though they have gone downhill a lot when it comes to their mobile division.
So generally I definitely agree with JJ's review! If you can move past the horrible camera, this is definitely a phone to consider. I'm also still awaiting the Android 9.0 update, but I don't mind. I want the software to be more stable, so fingers crossed!
Excellent review, thanks for taking the time to provide such useful information.
Didn't think I'd make it past 10 minutes but your review was very comprehensive (and may I say what perfect dictation/enunciation lol) Been debating whether to get this or not but I think you might have persuaded me not to re: disappointing camera. Get your act together Sony!
+MrAliMcB That’s very kind of you to say, and thanks for watching 🙂
Get iPhone SE, great camera, good size....
very under spec compared to sony. and unlike what this reviewer says the camera is actually pretty nice. use manual for low light.
I had a z5c and now an iPhone SE and I’ve just ordered one of these, am looking forward to it, got a good deal on it albeit still not far off four hundred, I just can’t use bigger phones and this is the best of the small ones it seems
That's a good price this soon after launch, let me know what you think when you get it. Thanks for watching
JJ's Tech Reviews will do!
I upgraded to the Xz1c from z3 compact. Display is very big step up in both colors and brightness, sound is improved in both quality and max volume, performance is a huge step up from SD801 to 835.. and 2 gb ram to 4gb.. Internal storage also doubled for me both in size and speed. I installed a 128gb sandisk class 10 U3 sd card as well. Fingerprint is welcome for me, but i do miss double tap to wake/sleep. Camera is much better in low light because i can adjust shutter speed on the new one and not on the z3c.. The super slowmotion is very impressive for me, so are predictive capture and the auto focus burst shot. The superior auto is improved and is very fast to switch scenes compared to the z3c.. so is the focus speed, which in videos is now almost instant. The front camera is also much improved in quality and i really like the wide mode.. I do agree with you on the metal parts on top and bottom, they look like a waste of space..like they are glued on top just to have metal there and just make the phone bigger .. i put them side by side with my z3c and those metal parts are the difference in size between the two...Battery is very good, i got 07:30 hours of screen on time in 2 days from 100% to 17%.. my z3c being a 2014 phone(i bought it in 2016) was down to 04:30 hours of SOT before i upgraded. So overall i am very happy with my new phone. I only see 2 cons: double tap to wake\sleep, which can be fixed with software update.(but it probably wont be fixed) (oh btw now i remember they removed stock screen record since x compact, so now i have to use 1 more app)
and the metal parts which cant be fixed by a software update... :D
+upload9595 Excellent comparison
JJ's Tech Reviews Thank you!
I just got a used one from CEX for £130 unlocked. Love the Sony Z compacts 3 and 5, and loving this so far. Just really miss that great FM radio.
Finally a review by someone worth listening to!
Very kind, thanks
You are 100% correct on your camera remarks - it is horrible !!! liked the phone but camera is 3 years behind current low end non brand phones
Ordered for 270€ new in a box, I'm disappointed with XZ2c, not Sony anymore...i love this look and fell in my hands
This is the best review, I'm subbing because of this video
Hi Taseen, thanks for watching and for the kind words of encouragement.
Thank you for the "real world" review. Does the XZ1 Compact have Sony's Small Apps feature (accessible from the recent apps key) like the Z3 Compact? Some people disliked that customisation as not being pure Android, but I found it useful, especially when I wanted a calculator to pop up over a screen with data in it.
Hi and thanks for watching. I no longer have the XZ1 compact, but from memory I don’t believe it had the small apps.
Hi JJ, thank you and yes you're correct. I eventually downloaded the XZ1C User Guide from Sony Mobile tech support and small apps are gone.
Very good review. I like how you tell your opinion and not just a bunch of specs. It kind of reminds me of an in-depth review of Erica Griffin, I don't know if you have seen any of her video's, but it's a good thing.
Four year ago I bought the Z1 Compact and absolutely loved it! Unfortunately I got battery problems and it became unusable. Then I bought a Motorola Moto G4 Plus with a 5.5 inch screen. It is starting to really bug me and I've been craving a compact Xperia for a few months now. In my country the XZ1 Compact is £320 at the moment and I've been thinking about buying it. This is literally the only option, I definitely need waterproof, so the X Compact is a no and I find the Z5 Compact to be fairly outdated. Would you recommend the XZ1 Compact at this pricepoint? Or would you say to wait some more for a drop in price or maybe I should buy another device?
Hi, thanks for watching and for your kind comments.
For your needs I think the XZ1 Compact would be the best option.
It offers good performance, waterproofing, stereo speakers, a great screen, the form factor you like and above average battery life.
The camera is a bit disappointing, but it’s still acceptable in my opinion.
Under £300 would be great but at £320 I think it’s tough to beat.
All the best, and thanks again.
JJ's Tech Reviews That's exactly what I thought. Thank you for the reply.
Good review - I'd say the "stand out" comment is the performance.Such a snappy phone!
Thanks Fergus
Really like the form factor and features of this phone. This was on my shortlist for my next phone come upgrade time early next year but after hearing about the age old Sony problem of random restarts which STILL obviously occur to their devices I'm not so keen.
Thanks for a great review. I am torn between this and XZ1. 64gb and HDR support on XZ1 as compared to XZ1c really sways me. But only in XZ1c has wide angle selfie as compared to XZ1. That's handy. What are your thoughts?
Great review, thank you. I bought a Z5 C, and found it to be completely useless in some situations because of overheating. eg. I'm carrying it in my pocket with Maps running. I can feel the heat! Get it out to take a video - get a warning that it will shut off if it gets too hot. Start taking a video and sure enough a few seconds later it has shut off!
Very annoying. Did like the compact size though, so will upgrade to the XZ1 C as I've read elsewhere that with the new processor the heating problem has gone.
Hello Brian, thank you for watching and for taking the time to add a comment. I had no overheating problems with the XZ1 Compact, so you should be fine, it has a much more efficient processor etc.
The most beautiful and advanced compact smartphone ever madden I have ever seen. Sony should manufacture The Xperia Xtreme (Compact) visually identical to the Sony Xperia Xz1 compact with the same physical measures but with a greater variety options of colour including the (black colour) of course. The Xperia Xtreme (Compact) would operate with a teen core processor, 100 GB and 256 native GB of RAM! Would you be capable to manufacture it for all of us Sony? But this time, do not forget please to make it available to be sold also in Brazil ok? Bye, stay with God!
What do you mean when talking about "competition"? I do not see any competition to this phone, it is the only compact phone on the market right now.
Well, for example, it depends whether you consider the regular sized iPhone as ‘compact’.
If so, when the Z3C and Z5C were launched they stood out due to stereo speakers and waterproofing.
Good review. I picked it up for 200 so for that price im more than happy. For 500 i would skip it.
really good review
+Aria Seraj very kind of you to say, thanks
Download NextRadio. It'll restore the the offline radio app. Which won't need data to use. Very cool
Thanks for your review & yes your video was useful to me , i know i am 7 months out of date however my new phone choice has boiled down to xz1 compact & nokia 8 , both phones are heavily discounted to £300 . I like the mid- high end appeal of both phones , i am leaning towards xz1 for pocket size but the corners look a bit blocky everything else ok the nokia is a bit bigger but looks easy to live with but no waterproof ? My current phone is an 1st gen samsung j5 (i keep my phones a long time , i also still use nokia3310 15 years old for work ) so any new phone will be big upgrade to me . I am low screen time user & make full use of power save i think xz1 has good power save , so this might be the phone . So once again thanks for your review .
Hi Rob
Thanks for watching, and for your kind comments.
The size of the XZ1C is perfect, waterproofing is important and front facing speakers.
£300 (less £10 Quidco, 12 months PSN and a free footy shirt) is a great price.
Thanks for your reply , i am now going to check out some more of your videos ,cheers .
Cheers Rob
You can focus in the video
Change the focus to object tracking
Thanks for the suggestion
Thank you for this informative review
+Kevin Backalive you're welcome, I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching
Such a shame about the low-capped headphone output, this is a serious deal-breaker for me, I don't know why they do it!
Do you happen to know which brands tend to cap it higher?
Hi and thanks for watching.
Speaking from experience I have found the iPhone 7 and LG V20 to have decent headphone output.
Having bigger aperture doesn't means better
Bigger aperture will lead to more light to enter the sensor which os good in low light situation but in day light the bigger aperture will overexpose thing
So thats why sony use f2.0 its in the middle
I recently bought the XZ1C and noticed that the housing resonates strongly in certain frequencies in music and speech. The resonance is so strong that the sound image is distorted and makes the listening experience very unpleasant.
I was very surprised about this strong resonance and see it as a serious shortcoming in this Sony.
I am considering asking Sony to replace this device with another one in the hope that the new device will not suffer from that resonance.
But I also have the fear that the resonance is a shortcoming in the technical design.
Does anyone have more experiences with this?
Loving your Brits accent and of course the review.
+Orly Bagona Thank you very much, it’s kind of you to say.
Would you recommend me to buy this phone in September 2019 if I like small phones? It cost about 280 pounds translated into UK dollars. Or should I get an iPhone 8? Thanks.
Hi, and thanks for watching. Although the Sony is slightly smaller, I think I would choose the iPhone 8 for its better camera and software updates.
Hope this helps
A well done and even handed review.. “Bergundy” though.. =)
+Rick G Thanks Rick
Very nice review, I currently have the Z5c because I love the sound quality and the speakers are loud enough for me; so I want to ask, in your opinion, Which one has the better sound quality? The XZ1c or Z5c? Also, Is the XZ1c louder than Z5c? Thanks in advance.
Hi, and thanks for watching. In my experience there’s very little difference; the XZ1C is marginally better in speaker output but not enough to warrant an upgrade for that alone.
They both lack the low frequency output that give a more rounded sound.
JJ's Tech Reviews I see, I'm thinking about upgrading to XZ1c and the sound is important to me, but my major reason is for the RAM, I think 2Gb it's a little bit low for these days and I've been heard the camera is better in XZ1c; also thanks to you I have more info about the sound. So yeah, I'll think about the upgrade. Thanks for answering and keep the good work.
Thanks Magnus.
The XZ1C is a good, but not great, handset (in my opinion). If your Z5C is still ok, it might be worth waiting until the next Compact is released. Hopefully with smaller bezels and better speakers.
JJ's Tech Reviews Yeah, my Z5c works just fine, so I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the advice!
So guys I`m looking for compact phone with the best camera quality for sure ta shot some photos and record some short videos. I have for now iPhone 6s, i was thinking about iphone se 64GB + or xz1 Compact, x compact. Any ideas? Looking for help. Cheers for all reply.
Aryuu Kou xz1 compact
how loud is the speaker for music?
+Adrian W1888 Hi. It’s ok, but won’t blow your hair back. Not a lot of bass, but better than many.
i think a good pair of Sony Xperia HeadPhones/EarPhones will be the great deal of immersive music
Hey man I need your help:)
Lenovo P2, Honor6x or redmi Note 4 or mi A1?
+Dolan_ Hi, I prefer the P2 to the Honor 6x, personally. I have not used the other 2 you mentioned so cannot compare.
Would you buy this XZ1C for 290 pounds if you'd already the Z3 Compact?
My Z3 compact has some issues, like the screen keeps popping off, sd card does not stay in place, and very minor issues with the touchscreen(can not pull notifications bar only from the left side and pressing back only works from 2mm up the bezel).
All in all, JJ, all I have to say is "GG"! :))
Yes, the torch is weak on the z3C as well, camera below average, but we love sony for being small, waterproof and having a long-lasting battery.
I know that the xz2 compact is out, but there are too many things not to like about it.
Anyone please answer as I am really confused if I should buy the XZ1C... I can use the z3C very well now(almost), I don;t like xz2 and XZ3 it's on it's way, but for sure the battery will not last so much.
Please answer. :D
Cheers
Can you do a comparison vs the X Compact? The X Compact costs half as much as the XZ1 Compact and it makes me wonder if the latter is indeed twice as good.
+TheBlooRayChannel That’s a difficult one to answer. The XZ1C wins in every way other than price, if you plan on keeping it a long time I think it’s worth it.
Would you say 179£ is a good deal for this?
Hi. I would say £179 for a new and warrantied XZ1 Compact is a very good price and well worth buying if the handset meets your requirements.
Please, Please do a review on xz1 as well
I'm confused between xz1 and xz1c... your reviews help alot. If you can give me a few minutes of your time I'll be much obliged. Thank you :)
Hi Ammar, and thank you for your request. I'm sorry but I haven't tried the XZ1 and so cannot really give an opinion on it. I hope you find some alternative reviews that give you the information that you need.
I did find some alternative reviews, but I feel all of them were biased or sort of paid. Only your reviews are honest. I hope you get hands on xz1 as soon as possible. Thanks. :)
That's really kind of you to say, thanks. All the best 🙂
Great... Z5c owner for over 2years, wanting to upgrade. XZ1c doesn't deliver, XZ Premium has serious issues and the XZ2 is way too expensive... Alternatives? Great review btw...
Hi and thanks for watching.
I gave up on the Sonys to be honest, after many years of ownership. I actually went to the dark side and bought a cheap but nearly new red iPhone 7 128Gb and it does everything I want really well. The camera is great, stereo speakers are good quality, nice screen, good performance and very one-hand friendly.
Only downsides for me are lack of headphone jack and mediocre battery life (but I try not to use my phone as much as I used to anyway nowadays).
I hate notches on phones so until that fad passes I’ll happily hold on until a decent compact Android phone is released (hopefully not at a daft price).
I’ve gotten used to iOS and actually like many aspects of it so I’m in no hurry to change. My 15 month old ip7 still shows battery health of 95% so I’m all good for a while.
My next phone purchase (unless forced) will be for something revolutionary, not evolution. I’m not spec chasing any more, so I’ll happily hold until something amazing is developed.
@@jjstechreviews7367 Thanks for the reply, i'm not a big fan of iphones for that fact alone, they have terrible battery life. I watch a lot of youtube at work and when i'm not watching, i'm listening(audio only). Do you have any experience with the Xperia XZ?
@@jjstechreviews7367 I meant to say XZ1
No, sorry, none at all. I tend to have one big phone for media consumption or travelling (with a big battery), and for the last 2 years it's been a Lenovo P2. I then have a small phone for going everywhere with me. For those reasons I never looked into the XZ1.
@@jjstechreviews7367 There's a great offer today on xz2c the price went down from 550EU to 350EU (blackfriday deal) so i'm gonna go for it. Thank you for your time! Have a great night/day!
I like your perfect British accent! Greetings from Russia!
That's very kind of you to say, thanks for watching :-)
JJ's Tech Reviews welcome, mate! And your review is very thorough, too. Question: is the camera really so disappointing? I have a Oneplus 3T right now, and I'm satisfied with it to 99%. The exception is the camera. What do you think, is the camera of the xz1c better than the one of the OP3T?
I would say they are fairly similar in output quality, which is not too bad (unless you view the photos on a large screen or if you want to crop heavily) but definitely not the worst.
JJ's Tech Reviews ok. I have an iPhone SE as my second phone, too. Can you say anything about SE vs. XZ1C, camerawise?
I only have limited experience with the SE, but I liked the sharp, natural photos that it produced (although the selfie camera was poor). The XZ1C has the extra bells and whistles (wide angle selfie, 960fps slow motion, AR features etc) but Sony over-process the photos and so the end results often fall short of the competition under close scrutiny.
I have to add though, for everyday snapshots, it's fine but I was just a little disappointed.
I carry a quality compact camera for my 'serious' photography (a Ricoh GR), and if I don't have that with me I am happy just getting a fairly decent photo from a smartphone.
At the moment I am using a 128Gb iPhone 7 (I picked an almost new Red one up for a really good price recently), I like the size, screen-brightness, dual speakers, waterproofing, build-quality, FPS location, mute switch, raise-to-wake, in-store support, rock solid bluetooth and cameras. Battery life is not a problem to me as I'm trying to reduce the time I spend on my devices as it can easily become obsessive, so I haven't submitted any RUclips videos or bought any more phones for a while.
At one point I had 7 phones, and I realised I needed to sell all but 2 (Lenovo P2 and iPhone 7).
I think that smartphone technology has plateaued in the last couple of years, and so I hope to stick with what I've got until something revolutionary comes along.
im seriously considering the xz1. but the double tap to wake feature is gone right? Anyone know whether the 4G LTE network will work in Canada or China? im buying the phone in China but moving to Canada in the future
This is a proper British review.
+TheBlooRayChannel ha ha, is that a good thing or bad thing?
its the software thats holding sony back not the hardware.
what are your thoughts on the regular xz1?
Hi. I haven't tested it so I don't have any hands on experience, I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.
Make some more video about xz1 compact.
What about the lack of memory? Are 32gb enough for apps??
+Filippo Giadrossi 32Gb is just about enough for me, I would’ve preferred more of course
Not enough - only installed basic few apps
and I am down to 50% memory full
im planning to buy this phone this month, but im wondering is it future proof?
Hi, and thanks for watching.
Its definitely not future proof (no phone truly is), but it should be good for at least 3-5 years (possibly more).
Performance should hold up nicely, and the Sony battery management should help there too. It will run out of security support and may not get many more software updates, but that’s not a real issue to me, and if you can pick one up for a good price then it could be a really good buy.
Thanks for the reply man, actually i just bought the phone today and i'm already having a blast with it. Great Review bro keep it up :)
Cheers dude :-)
the camera is okay for me, but honestly there's a few smartphone out there with the same price that had a better camera than xz1c. the only reason i bought this phone because of its compactness, fast software update, and the battery life.
Uoc'gi'toico'1con...nguyenhop...?!
Hi, from 90% down to 77% battery, my SOT is 1hr and 11min, is that normal? TIA
Hi, and thanks for watching. That seems fine. To lose 13% with 71 minutes of screen on time means that 350 minutes is SOT (nearly 6 hours) would use approx 65%
This costs $700+ in my country
Does it have the double tap to wake feature?
Not at present
Why have you stopped posting videos?
Hi Adrian
That’s a good question. Basically, I felt that my obsession with technology (especially smartphones) was becoming a problem.
I also wanted to create better quality content but it was taking me too long each time.
Finally, the very small amount of payment I received from RUclips didn’t warrant the time spent.
I buy my own devices and have no sponsorship, so my brief experiment of becoming a RUclipsr came to an end.
I might give it another go in the future, but I’m much happier now I have the phone obsession under control.
Sorry for the long-winded answer.
JJ's Tech Reviews your reviews were good. I purchased Lenovo p2 after watching your videos. Hope you start posting videos again. All the best.
That’s very kind of you to say, thanks
Xz2 compact user anyone? And opinion of xz2c compared to xz1c?
Looks Good JJ :-)
+Russ B Thanks Russ
Doesn't have 2tap to wake up?
Nope
@@ar87ace yes.. I love Xz1compact in android pie version
Sony xperia xz1 bast camera phone
the only thing i did not like about this phone was the camera. very dissapointing. unacceptable really. It would have been the perfect phone for me otherwise.
Toi huadung'.nhungla'mau?đienthoaiđepnhàt'chothoi'đai...tung'chitiet'...!
Every company make disappointed smartphone
Yea.. This is way, way overpriced....
229 euros was okay for me.