Sony Xperia XZ1 review

Introduction

Sony was never a company to blindly follow trends, having its own approach to the mobile market. It's a fact perfectly illustrated by the company's latest flagship duo - the XZ1 and XZ1 Compact, which you only need to look at once to recognize the Xperia pedigree. The 2017 Sony flagships proper combine the best elements across the lineup to try and cut themselves a solid piece of the holiday sales pie.

The XZ1 Compact arguably has the easier task - it caters to those longing for a premium Android mini, who were disappointed by the X Compact and its lower standing. The full-sized XZ1 on the other hand will try and serve a niche with much fiercer competition.

It builds on the XZ Premium Loop surface design and its Motion Eye camera by adding smoother edges and new smoother modes. The 4K screen has gone missing in action, but that had its fair share of doubters at the 5.5" diagonal of the Premium, so it probably won't have seen much love at all here at 5.2". Plus, Sony made it clear the the XZ1 is the direct successor to the Xperia XZ and will bring the Motion Eye goodness even to the markets that didn't get the XZs.

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)

Main shortcomings

• No wireless charging
• No camera OIS
• Fingerprint recognition not available in the US

The Sony Xperia XZ1 is the middle member of the company's premium trifecta and its 5.2-inch diagonal is a bit short of the 5.5-inch "sweet spot" of the current market. With the XZ Premium already available to cover that size, the XZ1 had to either go full phablet or slip between that and the XZ1 Compact. With Sony yet to embrace the bezelfree trend it's probably for the better that it chose the latter approach.

Sony Xperia XZ1 in official photos

We'll now have to see how it all works out in everyday use. Join us on the following pages as we dive deeper into the Xperia XZ1 and explore what it has to offer.