In the world smartphones at that place have been typically two choices to go with: big-screened handsets with acme-terminate specifications, and smaller devices with mid-range internals. Recently companies such as Samsung (with the Milky way Mega) and Nokia (with the Lumia 1320) have shifted to producing big devices with weak specifications, but the complete reverse has been neglected. Just put, there's very fiddling choice for those who desire a highly portable smartphone, but don't want to sacrifice the hardware inside to get it.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact - $570 (unlocked)

  • 4.3", 1280 x 720 LCD display (342 ppi)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC
  • two.fifteen GHz quad-core CPU, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM
  • 16 GB internal storage, microSD carte du jour slot
  • twenty.vii MP camera, i/2.3" sensor, f/two.0 lens, 1080p video
  • IP58 water resistance
  • ii,300 mAh, eight.74 Wh bombardment
  • LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/yard/n/ac, Bluetooth four.0, NFC
  • Android 4.3 'Jelly Bean'
  • 137 grams, ix.5mm thick

Sony has an answer in the grade of the Xperia Z1 Compact. Near everything nigh this smartphone is the same equally its large-screened brother, the Xperia Z1. There'south a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC within, a xx.7-megapixel rear photographic camera, and a fully water resistant aluminium-glass build – but information technology's all in a body barely larger than its 4.3-inch display.

In Sony's eyes, this is a no-compromises, ultra-portable handset for those that don't want to acquit around something with a 5-inch or larger brandish. It slots into a marketplace with barely any competitors, especially if you're looking for something running Android, merely is it worth a packet of your hard-earned cash? Let'southward notice out.

The Xperia Z1 Compact unit used in this review was kindly provided by MobiCity. They have the all-time range of unlocked, off-contract smartphones, and they ship to most countries globally.

Blueprint

The Xperia Z1 Compact borrows from and expands on the manner we commencement saw in the Xperia Z. The construction itself is almost similar to concluding year's Xperia Z1, with a jumpsuit aluminium shell effectually the edges and big glass panels on the front and back. Different colour options are available – including pinkish, yellow and white – although the item unit I received was a fairly standard black.

The Z1 Compact's iteration of the Xperia Z design is the thickest all the same, coming in at 9.5mm. There's no trickery in place to try and hide this thickness; the phone is substantially a slab of material with very little curvature. That's non to say it's a sharp handset, in fact information technology's tapered just plenty to brand information technology a very ergonomic device to hold, especially at its size. At 137 grams information technology's not the lightest telephone going around, but the aluminium frame makes information technology feel strong and durable.

The combination of aluminium and glass gives the Xperia Z1 Compact a fantastic, premium look and feel as has been the example with many of Sony's past designs. The drinking glass panel on the back looks great, but can be a fingerprint magnet, so be prepared to clean information technology often. In that location's also the increased risk of drinking glass fracture from having the textile on both the front and back, although if you're careful with the handset and use the screen protectors included in the box, you should be fine.

Although the device is considerably smaller than the 5-inch Xperia Z1, and much more portable, the Z1 Compact's display coverage isn't astonishing at just 62% thank you to moderate-sized bezels on both sides of the 4.3-inch brandish, and large bezels above and below. In that location are no capacitive hardware buttons on the Compact, with Sony opting for on-screen keys instead. Higher up, you lot'll find the front end facing camera to the far correct, sensors to the far left, and a speaker grill forth the superlative.

1 of my favorite features found in many Android devices, the notification light, is cleverly hidden inside the speaker grill. When you get a notification, this lite will pulse green along the unabridged grill, and when charging it volition glow cerise. The light appears to support other colors also, allowing you to assign colors to specific notification types, although it'southward not capable of displaying the total RGB spectrum.

On the back of the Z1 Compact in that location'south a modest amount of Sony and Xperia branding, plus a handy NFC logo that tells you exactly where y'all need to place NFC sensors/devices for the connectivity to function correctly. At the top of the minimalist panel is the large camera lens adjacent to the LED flash, and a small corporeality of text that describes the photographic camera itself.

Sony continues to produce phones that are dust and h2o resistant, with the Z1 Compact being no exception. The handset comes with IP55 and IP58 ratings, meaning the device is grit protected, resistant to fresh water up to 1.5m deep for thirty minutes, and protected against water jets. This ways y'all tin can spill water on the Z1 Compact, drop it in the bathroom, use information technology in the shower, and even swim with it in a puddle for a short time.

While it's nice knowing that the Xperia Z1 Compact will survive if you accidentally driblet information technology in your friend's puddle, there'due south a few things to annotation. The touchscreen will non function if any water is on the screen, so it's nearly incommunicable to utilize the handset underwater or in a shower with a constant menses of h2o across the display. You can take photos underwater through the defended camera button on the smartphone, just y'all won't exist able to adjust any settings equally y'all practise then.

The choice to water proof the device has had some flow on effects for other aspects of the pattern. The one you lot'll find most annoying is how the microUSB port must exist covered behind a flap to prevent water ingress, pregnant you lot'll demand to uncover the port each time you want to charge the handset. This particular flap is at the top of the left-hand side, above the covered microSD card slot. Farther down you'll notice the micro-SIM slot, as well equally the magnetic charging connector.

On the right side is the rounded, aluminium power button in the perfect position for regular operation, above the solid-feeling volume rocker. Towards the lesser of the edge is the two-stage photographic camera button: a handy add-on on a device with a fantastic camera. Along the device'south top border you lot'll detect the 3.5mm sound jack, while the handset's chief speaker occupies the entirety of the bottom border.

The Xperia Z1 Compact'southward design certainly fits its premium hardware and price point. Information technology's not the nicest or most well-polished smartphone pattern I've seen, but it'due south visually pleasing, ergonomic and as portable every bit y'all'd want from a telephone intended to be meaty.

Display

Packed into the Xperia Z1 Compact'south frame is a 4.3-inch "Triluminous" TFT LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, powered past a picture show engine Sony calls "X-Reality". I'm not quite sure what blazon of LCD panel we're dealing with, merely it appears to be using technology closer to IPS than TN. The 720p resolution is a downgrade from the 1080p panel on the Xperia Z1, but information technology still features a density of 342 pixels per inch (PPI).

This particular four.3-inch LCD display is in some ways an improvement on the eIPS panel used in the Xperia Z1, merely information technology doesn't accomplish the same level of quality as we've seen from other flagship handsets. When viewing items on the display that aren't enhanced by the X-Reality engine, which I'll talk about presently, contrast and color gamut are somewhat defective, and occasionally visuals appear washed out to an extent.

Straight out of the box, it'south unlikely y'all'll notice these problems, because about of the time the brandish looks pretty good. However if you lot identify the Z1 Compact side by side to a Nexus 5, you'll notice the display on the Z1 Compact is one notch backside, which is pretty typical for a Sony device. Looking at test patterns reveals a small corporeality of gradient banding and poor contrast: vi of the final black values are indistinguishable, due to backlight drain and pass-through.

The Ten-Reality engine is an interesting addition to the Xperia Z1 Meaty'due south software stack, and it appears unchanged to previous iterations in flagship Sony devices. Essentially, the X-Reality engine marginally boosts saturation, increases sharpness and reduces grain when viewing images and videos. On the Z1 Compact, this effect is less pronounced than on previous Sony smartphones, only information technology does better the fashion certain types of media look on the display.

Withal I'yard still disquisitional of the X-Reality engine for a number of reasons. Aye, it does improve the quality of photos and videos, but simply in the stock applications included with the smartphone. If you want to watch a video through MX Player (a third-party app available in the Play Store) rather than the Movies app, the enhancements aren't practical. If you lot're only browsing around the operating organization, the enhancements aren't applied.

For the X-Reality engine to be constructive, it actually should grade function of the display controller and its firmware. The Z1 Compact's display is good, but non great, so information technology could really use the enhancements in all situations and across all applications. You lot tin can disable the X-Reality engine in the handset'southward display settings, simply I never found a reason to do so, because information technology only makes media await amend.

The Xperia Z1 Compact has a white balance setting, which is a characteristic I haven't seen on a smartphone before, let lonely one from Sony. The setting gives you lot three sliders for each RGB element, allowing you to fine melody the white balance exactly how you lot'd like it. Out of the box, the Z1 Meaty'southward brandish is on the warm side of the spectrum; I prefer a display to target 6500K, and so I increased the blueish level to make the display appear whiter.

In terms of brightness, the Xperia Z1 Meaty performs quite well. The top level of brightness is very adequate when combined with the screen's filtering and polarizing layers, for reading the display outdoors and in strong lighting. Automatic effulgence is responsive and accurate, plus you can fine tune the brightness level without disabling the automated accommodate.

Density-wise we are looking at a panel with a resolution of 1280 10 720, or 342 pixels-per-inch at iv.3-inches. We're not looking at the 440+ PPI of 5-inch, 1080p displays, but it's very hard to distinguish private pixels at a typical viewing distance, and everything on the smartphone looks clear and crisp. Of class you won't be able to lookout 1080p content natively, and text doesn't look equally paper-like every bit I've seen on high-end 1080p panels, only information technology's more than satisfactory for a device of this size and class.

The major area of comeback over the Xperia Z1's five-inch brandish are the viewing angles. Where the Z1's display color shifts and washes out every bit soon as yous tilt it to an off-normal angle, the Z1 Compact keeps readable. The Z1 Meaty's viewing angles aren't the best I've seen, as in that location's a off-white amount of brightness deviation, just the display is all the same readable when on a desk, for instance.

The Xperia Z1 Meaty's touchscreen also includes a loftier sensitivity setting called Glove Mode, allowing you lot to use the display with gloves on. Since this feature appeared in the Nokia Lumia 920, many other manufacturers accept packed it into their handsets. On the Z1 Compact, high impact sensitivity works well: I was able to use the touchscreen with several layers of fabric over my fingers, and when the telephone thinks its ability to sense your fingers is decreased, it shows you the general area of your press with a circle.

I wouldn't keep Glove Mode turned on all the fourth dimension though, every bit it volition eat a greater amount of power, and thus reduce your battery life. Only enable it as necessary.