Sony Xperia Z3 Compact review: Not your usual suspect

Phonebook

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact phonebook is integrated with the dialer using a tabbed interface - the Contacts, Phone, Favorites and Groups tabs can be side-swiped. The contact list has a dedicated search field plus it offers and a cool alphabetical scroll bar.

Phonebook

You can sync with multiple accounts, including Exchange and Facebook, and you can selectively show or hide contacts from some accounts (as well as filter specific groups in an account), or set the phonebook to display only contacts with phone numbers or only contacts that are online.

Linking contacts is available, and the quick contact feature is here too.

Telephony

Calling on the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is okay. It held onto signal just fine even in tight urban spaces and the sound coming from the speaker was loud enough. The clarity is only average on our side while the other line reported we came in fine enough.

The dialer support smart dialing.

Dialer

Loudspeaker is only average

The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact scored an Average on our loudspeaker test. The quality of the sound generated is good, but is just not that loud, likely due to the waterproofing. Here's how it stacks up to other devices.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact	60.9	66.6	58.7	Below Average
LG G2 mini	65.2	67.7	64.6	Below Average
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact	65.9	62.1	73.5	Average
Samsung Galaxy Alpha	66.6	61.7	75.7	Average
Sony Xperia Z2	66.7	64.6	75.7	Average
Samsung Galaxy S5	66.9	66.6	75.7	Good
HTC One mini 2	69.3	66.6	75.9	Good
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini	73.5	67.7	78.7	Very Good
Motorola Moto G 4G	77.1	76	83.3	Excellent

You can find out more about our testing here.

Messaging and email, text input

Text messages and MMSs use standard threaded layouts. Adding multimedia (photos, videos, sounds, etc.) will convert the message automatically into an MMS.

Messenger

Naturally, the Gmail client and the default Email apps are onboard. Gmail can sync only with (multiple) Google accounts, while the generic Email app can handle POP and IMAP and offers a Combined inbox.

Gmail and Email

As for text input, the Xperia Z3 Compact offers a customizable on-screen full QWERTY keyboard.

You can choose a different layout (keypad, QWERTY, QWERTY with extra symbols), add/remove the coma and period button, the smiley and voice input buttons and also enable things like bilingual word suggestions if you have more than one language enabled. Different keyboard skins are available too.

Keyboard

You can also try the so-called Gesture input if hitting those keys individually doesn't give you the desired typing speed. It's similar to Swype, and even if you've never used a Swype-like input before, you'll quickly get used to it.

Single-hand size keyboard is available too, but only in portrait orientation. If enabled, it squeezes the onscreen keyboard to the left or right side of the screen so it gets more comfortable for single handed text input.

Single-handed keyboard