Sony Xperia Z1 Review

Sony has finally chalked out a strategy and it seems is diligently following it. While we see many manufacturers experiment and come out with a ton of features, Sony has looked at its core strengths and is looking to stick to its strengths while eradicating the weaknesses. The key selling points of the device, like the beautiful and durable design, the excellent photography, and the perfect display are again under strong focus on this device as well.

The Xperia Z1, with a width of 8.5mm may not seem on the slimmer side, however, considering the increase in sensor size as well as a 3,000mAh battery, the size is very reasonable, even on the slimmer side of things. Of course, the increase in sensor size gives a high resolution, giving it an advantage over the market competition. Sony is also bringing out its own brand of sensor and lens design, as well as a BIONZ image processor is also available.

While unboxing the Sony Xperia Z1, you will be surprised and a bit let down to see that Sony has left out headphones from the device package – this was a surprise, as we had thought Sony of all the companies would keep them coming, it is an expensive and exclusive flagship after all. However, other than this, you will get everything inside the retail box that you need to get started with this phone.

• Sony Xperia Z1 handset
• An A/C adapter (will use the USB cable for charging)
• MicroUSB cable connector for A/C adapter for charging

The Xperia Z1 has a 5" 1080p Triluminos display, supported by the X-Reality engine from Sony, the same combo that was introduced first with the Z Ultra and was a resounding success.

The pixel density is raised to 441ppi up from 344ppi that was for Z Ultra, which is much better than the iPhone 5's Retina. There is a remarkable shift in terms of the situation of viewing angles, the source of a lot of the problems in the near past. When viewed from very wide angles, there will be some contrast compression but the screen remains easily legible. This is much proof that the display on this device is virtually competent to any other high range displays out there.

The original contrast of the Xperia Z1 display is pretty neat, even better than the Xperia Z Ultra that has recently come out, and if you want yet more vibrant images, you can use the X-Reality engine, the latest version after the Mobile Bravia Engine. This engine targets improvement in contrast, sharpness and saturation while reducing noise, and we must say, it produces some great results.

The display is much improved under sunlight with a marked reduction in reflectivity than the Sony Z Ultra, and together with a higher brightness it does make a big difference under the sun.

The Xperia line has placed all its bets on the OmniBalance design, and the design for Sony does stand out from the crowd, even making the more affordable devices seem to be of the finest range – for the Z1, however, Sony has even improved on the design structure that was already considered flawless by many. The complete frame is a single piece aluminium taken out from a single piece of aluminum, while still being very light but at the same time a very tough frame. The front and back glass do blend in well with the aluminum frame, and while plastic may have reduced the weight, it is good that Sony didn’t go there as it would have cost the Z1 its high-class feel.

Sony has also tried its best to keep all the ports and slots easily accessible, rather than some recent up and comers which require SIM ejection tool, and memory expansion slot. The slots on the device are protected by plastic with rubber seals for water and dust proofing, designed and placed in a way that it goes very well with the device design. Also, the shutter key, something that some recent Android devices are coming out without, is also present with this device – this is something that many users do prefer, and this is why the presence of this button is specially mentioned.

However, that being said, the phone comes very close to becoming a two-hand device, due to its size, being larger than the Xperia Z which was already big enough also the extra width and the side angles make it sometimes difficult to handle. Being 170g does not help things either. Its pocket presence is also felt every time the leg is bent.

The Xperia Z1 is one of the best designed devices in the market, rocking the OmniBalance design to a classy perfection. The device has durable glass panels on both the front and back, an aluminum frame. Also, with the IP58 certification, it means the phone will have virtually no difficulty facing tough situations, like maybe, being dropped in a glass of water, of facing a lot of dust. We all know someone or the other having gone through some rough incident due to which their devices have died.

Unlike the Xperia Z, this time around Sony is coming out with the best chipset on the market, the Snapdragon 800, for its premier device. Additionally, Sony has worked hard on the screen, another pain area for the Xperia Z. And still another addition to the list is that Xperia Z1 also has expandable storage, even though this feature does complicate the basic waterproofing process.

The recent actions from Sony point toward the fact that Sony is taking the division seriously and it is quickly becoming one of the main revenue generating areas.

Xperia Z1 is a typical Xperia device the front containing the sensors, camera and notification light (hidden inside the camera this time around) on the front. The 2.1MP front facer can go up to 1080p videos. The aluminum frame is two-toned, which adds to the accent. The right side contains the microSIM card slot (with a flap for protection), under which is the aluminum Power key, the volume rocker and rounding it off is the shutter key.

The left side has microSIM and microUSB, both under flaps. Since some users may find constantly opening and closing the microUSB flaps every time they charge their device to be slightly annoying, Sony has provided pogo pins on the same side also, which can be utilized by a docking port as an alternate charging method. The top of the device has the 3.5mm audio jack, which is open, and has been waterproofed also. At the bottom is the speaker, larger in size to the Xperia Z is the speaker grille.

Sony has taken the liberty of using scratch-resistant glass on the device, both the front and back, which seems a very good idea when using glass on the back in the first place, as the scratches would have diminished the look of the device over time. Also, the back of the device features a 20.7 MP camera lens, with a single-LED flash right underneath it.

The Xperia Z1 has Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, enhanced with the custom modifications by Sony. The basic option for multiple home screens is present here too, though the range is between 5 and 7 home screens, not that much in the offering. Adding content is also consistent to Android defaults, using tap and hold or the pinch to zoom option – these can be used in case users want to add widgets or shortcuts on the home screens. The moving of shortcuts / widgets by tap and hold on the shortcut / widget and then moving it around is also consistent. Wallpapers can be static as well as live, and can be previewed before being applied. Themes are also present, with the preview ability.

Sony has provided some custom widgets for services, which make the device look more Sony, like the Walkman player, social services, connectivity toggles etc. The lock screen has multiple panes, and can launch camera directly, as per Jelly Bean standard, while other panes can accommodate things like Email, Gmail, Track info, Digital clock, Calendar, Google Now among others. There are apps that can add items as well. The unlock method is also standard, the Face, Pattern or PIN unlock.

Notification contains Sound, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Brightness by default, though more can be added, and 10 out of a total 16 options can be selected to be displayed at a time. A quick shortcut to the settings menu is also present, which can be disabled also. The App Drawer is managed in a paged manner, with multiple sorting options present. The generic Android task manager is present also, allowing switching between open apps with the ability to terminate them as well. Additionally the “small apps” which were introduced in the Xperia T are present, similar to Mini Apps from Samsung, can pop up tiny applications on home screen, and can be moved around like widgets without requiring being opened up. At a time, only one instance per app can be run, but more than one different smart apps can be open at a time.

A Sony custom made Backup & Reset feature is newly added as well this works for apps, multimedia content, as well as system apps like messages, call logs etc. and restoring is very easy.

The Z1 is the second recent release by Sony running the 2.2 GHz Krait 400 processor based Snapdragon 800 chipset, with 2GB RAM and Adreno 330 graphics. This is second fastest processor in the market, just behind the LG G2, which stands at 2.26 GHz and Note 3, which is 2.3 GHz. However, the graphics outpace every competition available. This combination makes up for one of the fastest devices available.

Google Now is also implemented, with its own set of features available for the user’s ease. This includes whether the user is taking a routine traffic route to display traffic condition, the weather condition, any recent search related updates like sports or movies screening nearby, among other things. It also has voice integration for multiple usage like call launch, message taking, directions, or opening up a website being some of the many features.

The proximity and accelerometer sensors are used, so as soon as the device is raised to the ear, the touchscreen gets disabled. The speaker for the Xperia Z1, just like its predecessor, performs below average, and we are concerned why Sony has not looked into this area, since it is evident a lot of users do use the speakers frequently. Perhaps this is a trade-off for being water resistant, but still some solution to improve the performance can be found we hope. However, Sony has tried to cover this by adding some features which can enhance sound. Of these, the xLOUD enhances the sound, and combined with the ClearPhrase, improves sound quality as well as volume (though volume is diminished as compared to only xLOUD being enabled – a trade-off for getting better quality).

The gallery is the custom Sony gallery, with images sorted date wise, as groups of thumbnails. The thumbnails can also be resized, which was amazing, since many images are resized and rearranged. The My Albums tab displays online albums also, while the Maps and Globe display images with the help of geo-tagging. The video player, Movies, has a great UI, custom made, and had no issues playing 1080p and 720p videos, with the speed never coming up as an issue. Still, the codecs support is absent by default, and users have to install these. Even though it is simple enough through the Google Play to install the codecs, Sony should have pre-installed these codecs for its users. The audio player, labeled Walkman, is the same updated app present on the Xperia Z Ultra, with increased sound improvement abilities. The layout, like the Playing and My Music panels, SensMe ability to set songs by mood, creating playlists, are all present. A new option the ClearAudio+ can identify the best audio settings depending on the song, significantly improving the music listening experience.

The FM radio is available on the device, with the ability to ID the track being played on the radio, as well as the option to post a status on Facebook. The FM this time around is much more stable than with previous devices from Xperia. Many themes also make the user interaction and device display more appealing to users.

The Google Chrome is the default browser for Xperia Z1, refined to a decent level by Google. Tab switch, resize is all standard, though the tabs can be arranged pretty neatly on this device. Also, the browser sync feature of Chrome allows users to be able to sync their browsing session between the device and PC, creating a more catchy experience. Another new feature, the Reduce data usage lets chrome compress the webpage to display minimal data from the URL, while keeping the full functionality of the site.

The Xperia Z1 has Office Suite 7 by default, which makes document view that much simpler. Plain text files, along with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files can be viewed, though for edit capabilities, the Pro version is to be purchased.

The calendar and notes control is pretty standard, though users can create handwritten notes as well. The background, text color etc can be set for notes. There is also the option to integrate with Evernote. Sony also has a Backup and Restore app, which can utilize the memory card, the internal storage or attached USB devices as well to backup or restore. Backups can be made of the apps, respective data of apps as well as any other files, media or otherwise.

The Xperia Z1 has come out with an exclusive Exmor RS sensor, custom built for Sony, beating the Galaxy S4 Zoom. The sensor is larger than those found on most phones too. The camera performs very well in low light, though it has only a single LED as flash. The 27mm Sony G Lens provides for a wide angle, and the BIONZ image processor looks to process the images superfast.

However, the camera interface is a bit old-fashioned, laid out in left and right columns – the right column has a shortcut to gallery, shutter for camcorder and camera, and shooting modes. The column on the left has the flash toggle, front/back cam selection, as well as settings. Settings change for different shooting modes. The main shutter key on-screen is also assisted by the hardware shutter key on the side, which is much appreciated, as many users like the hardware key better than the on-screen one. The unlock and camera launch option of the hardware adds another benefit for times when an immediate snap moment is to be lost.

The Manual mode proved to be a disappointment, with no option to tune contrast, sharpness, saturation etc. Also, the Superior Auto mode was another let down – the resolution for this is limited to only 8MP, and the 16:9 aspect ratio. Dropping the resolution to this low is surprising in any circumstance. The Sony Xperia Z1 shutter has all kinds of options, including smile shutter, face detection, touch capture, geo-tagging and the HDR mode.

Another interesting mode is the Sweep Panorama, which can captures a landscape panorama image. The speed of device movement, for this, has to be not too fast and not too slow. The device provides panorama images in 5MP resolution, which was surprising, and the quality was much lower than expected. The Augmented Reality mode is also present, which can lay over a virtual location on top of the real one – an interesting feature. However, the image quality, again, drops. The Info-eye feature is similar to the Google goggles, recognizing business cards, QR codes, barcodes, text, landmarks, book covers, among other items. This feature provides extremely interesting information for those who want information at a skim about whatever item they are looking at.

Other modes include the Picture Effect (consisting of different effects and filters and snapping in a 3x3 grid). Users can also stream directly from the camera to their Facebook profiles using the Social streaming. The Burst mode is replaced with a new mode – Timeshift. This captures 61 shots in 2 seconds, for best image selection.

The camera does capture images in more detail than the other 13MP cameras out there, with accurate colors and good white balance. Still, there is noise visibility and reduction is strong enough to smudge some of the finer detail, especially in the areas that are darker, as well as camera focus was inconsistent in some images. The HDR images also present a better take on images, but again, noise presence is louder in the dark.

For video recording, the Z1 can go to 1080p video footage at 30fps only, though we would have thought it could go upto 60 fps or even to 4K with a heavy duty processor like the Snapdragon 800. The UI for camcorder is almost the same as that of the camera. We found ourselves liking the Digital Video Stabilization option (which uses the SteadyShot stabilization system), though it did reduce the field of view of the camera. There are options to set timers, exposure, focus modes among others. Images can be taken while recording, but the image is 1080p only, so it is better not to use it.

The Xperia Z1 performs very nicely regarding the details, with good quality video, smooth action and quick focus. The camera view is also decently wide, and no issues were raised where backing up from the target was required. However, the quality can be deemed good, even very good at times, but not perfect.

The Sony Xperia Z1 has complete 2G and 3G connectivity, and support for a majority of the LTE bands. HSPA speeds of up to 42 Mbps for downloads and 5.76 Mbps for uploads can be achieved.

Local connectivity is provided in the form of Wi-Fi dual-band, DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct, so that content sharing is easy. Additionally we have Bluetooth 4.0 with the A2DPas well as NFC. Screen sharing and other DLNA functions can be utilized using the Smart Connect app.

MicroUSB is used for charging and PC connectivity purposes, and there is a USB On-the-go support present as well which can let you attach external flash drives to the smartphone. The microUSB port, MHL-enabled also has support for HDMI connections to be made to an external monitor.

A minor nuisance is caused due to the microUSB port and the docking pins being on the same side as well as in close vicinity to each other meaning that if both options are to be used simultaneously, there is a hassle to find a relaxed position.

Sony also provides its TV SideView app, which users can get from the Play Store for free. It serves as a remote control for BRAVIA TVs and Sony DVD/Blu-ray players which are DLNA-capable. Its versions range from simple channels switching up to more advanced options like mouse input and disc history view. This however, only works over the Wi-Fi connection.

The Sony Z1 has come out with a decent 3,000mAh battery, and a Snapdragon 800 chipest, and one would have thought that battery utilization would have been done very well. However, while the talk time is outstanding at almost 27 hours, the device performs only decently, racking up close to 6 hours of web browsing and video playback was also almost the same.

As is visible from the above review, the Xperia Z1 does live up to many of its expectations and more. Below are some of the very few shortcomings that the device does possess:

• The device is large, even for a phone of its size
• Video playback decoders have to be installed separately
• Sound quality is not that great
• Battery is non-exchangeable

With the Xperia Z1, Sony has put forward another step in the direction of proving itself one of the premier manufacturers in the industry, taking its devices to another level. With the focus that Sony has put into its recent releases like the Z Ultra and now the Z1, one can safely say Sony are completely focused into making this arena theirs.

The design of the devices from Sony has consistently been focused around the OmniBalance theme, and consistent improvements and tweaks mean that Sony has matured its control over the design and class. The device has also taken up the combo of glass and aluminum, which although provide an exclusive touch and feel to the device, also add to its bulk. This addition to the bulk is the result of a number of other factors too, which include the water proofing, increase in battery as well as the camera, which is a 20.7MP snapper, with a wide F2.0 aperture and a 27mm wide-angled lens.

However, the camera is not as glitch free as we would have liked, hence we are not overly impressed with it. Also, the limitation of 8MP in the Intelligent Auto mode also had us a bit confused – the difference in the megapixels is too large for our liking.

With the numerous issues and huge drawback that the Xperia Z had over the competition at that time, with viewing angles related issues, and colors not being vibrant enough, among other issues, Sony had a huge task at hand in terms of coming up to par with the display currently in market, and more so if it had to exceed its competition Sony has worked hard on this end, and with the 5” HD Triluminos display as well as the X-Reality Engine, this is one of the best ever displays by Sony, as well as one of the best ever that we have seen.

Clearly, the performance of Sony is one of its greater strengths, with the Snapdragon 800 never showing signs of even slowing down. Hopefully with this chipset the Android experience will be smooth as silk.

Sony Xperia Z1 is a classy device with one of the best feature set found in one device. This is clearly something that Sony lovers were anxiously waiting for, and the way Sony have come out with recent releases like the Xperia Z Ultra and now the Z1, it shows Sony want to make this domain their own. However, making it to the top and staying there requires constant and consistent hard work, something that Sony is showing – and we feel Sony is just getting started.