SONY XPERIA Z1 COMPACT OVERVIEW:

Before Xperia Z3 Compact, Sony dubbed their first mini but yet powerful smartphone. To describe it, most of all premium smartphones have mini versions. As for example, Xperia Z1 has pack with beasty Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset to its core, and they want something smaller yet maintaining the same core power that Xperia Z1 has. This leads to the creation of compact/mini premium phone – the Xperia Z1 Compact were born to justify and put ashamed to those call themselves compact/mini premium phones. Just check out the specs below.

XPERIA Z1 COMPACT DESIGN | XPERIA Z1 COMPACT PERFORMANCES | XPERIA Z1 COMPACT CAMERA DETAILS | XPERIA Z1 COMPACT BENCHMARKS | XPERIA Z1 COMPACT PRICE | SAMPLE HD VIDEO RECODRING VIA XPERIA Z1 COMPACT | MOBILE GAMES VIA XPERIA Z1 COMPACT

SONY XPERIA Z1 COMPACT SPECS: BACK TO TOP
OS: Android Jelly Bean 4.3 (upgradable to 4.4 – KitKat / 5.0 – Lollipop)
DISPLAY: 4.3-inch IPS LCD Triluminos display and X-Reality Engine / 1280×720 pixels / 342ppi / 16M colors / Multi-touch up to 10 fingers / Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass
CPU: 2.2 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800
GPU: Adreno 330
RAM: 2GB
STORAGE MEMORY: 16GB Internal | Expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB (SDXC supported)
NETWORK/SIM: Micro-SIM | Support 2G, 3G & 4G Bands | EDGE, GPRS | LTE Bands
CAMERA: BACK: 20.7 megapixel camera with pulsed LED flash and auto focus, 1/2.3-inch CMOS image sensor, 27mm wide angle and bright F2.0 aperture, BIONZ for mobile image processing engine, HD video recording (1080p) / FRONT: 2-megapixel @ 1080p
VIDEO RECORDING: HDR for both picture/film, HD video recording (1080p)
FM RADIO WITH RDS
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth v4.0, Micro USB 2.0 supports USB High speed 2.0 / USB charging, 3.5mm earphone jack (CTIA), WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, WiFi Hotspot, WiFi Direct, DLNA, NFC, ANT+ wireless technology, MHL support, Native USB tethering, A-GPS and GLONASS support
BATTERY: Non-removable Li-Ion 2300mAh
DURABILITY: IP55/58 Dust and Water Resistance
(click here for full specs)

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Unit Box!

Manual, Information and Warranty

Micro USB cable, Micro USB Data Sync / Charger, USB OTG and the 3.5mm Headset earphone with mic.

SONY XPERIA Z1 COMPACT DESIGN: BACK TO TOP

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has the same form factor from its big brother Xperia Z1. In fact, the exterior looks are all same especially the aluminum frame in the sides with the two-tone color makes this device attractive. The device is equipped with IP55/58 Dust and Water Resistance (the covers must be shut, only in freshwater up to 1.5m for 30 minutes).

The front part has well-protected glass and the back part has a glass-like sturdy plastic. You can’t actually feel the difference between the front and back panel.

FRONT SCREEN:

The 4.3-inch IPS LCD display, renders 1280 x 7204 pixels, accompanied by mid-high pixel-per-inch ratio (~342ppi), and with Triluminos display and X-Reality Engine, keeps the phone at its best for being compact display with excellent performance. In addition, the screen display can do Multi-touch points up to 10 fingers, plus shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass protection. A solid build, compress within small screen, is a deal breaker for this miniature beast. Brightness and contrast looks excellent, minimal hiccups on outdoor light conditions(depends on intensity of outdoor light). From bottom part of the screen, is the on-screen navigation controls (Back, Menu, and Show Taskbars). Display Rating: 9/10

The top side ~ 3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA) connector

Top left side (ambient light sensor), top right side (2MP front camera), Top middle (Microphone/Earpiece)

LED light notifications for messaging, charging, and for other services.

The bottom side (Loudspeaker – below average type, due to waterproof protection level | and the phone strap hole) ~ Audio Rating via External Audio Speaker (Loudspeaker): 7/10

The right side (Volume Keys up and down, Power button On/Off/Sleep/Wake and the camera shot button. The power button is in silver type of button while the volume keys and camera shot button is in some sort of two-tone color plastic.)

The left side (Micro USB slot for data/charging, Micro SD slot, Magnetic Charging Port, and the Micro SIM card slot)

BACK PANEL:

Covered with glass-like sturdy plastic, with 20.7-megapixel camera with LED Flash, NFC transmitter and above of it is the secondary microphone with noise cancellation.

Having glass covered phone surely slippery but fortunately, to the size of Xperia Z1 Compact, it won’t be an issue. Plus, you might find the glass back panel is more attractive than aluminum or metal back panel.

(Xperia Z1 Compact ~ at 9.5mm is thicker than Xperia Z Ultra ~ at 6.5mm)

Overall, having a solid premium phone built into compact size is a wonderful piece made by Japanese tech ~ Sony. No wonder it can be the best compact/mini smartphone out in the market. Structure Built Rating: 9/10

XPERIA Z1 COMPACT ~ CAMERA IN DETAILS: BACK TO TOP

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is equipped with 20MP rear camera capable of producing 5248 x 3936 pixel in still photos. Just like his big brother Z1, the Z1 Compact camera uses same Exmor RS mobile image sensor which brings good quality of photos. The camera is equipped with bright F/2.0 aperture and BSI (backside illuminated) sensor, that adds more life, good quality even in low light conditions. The camera is also equipped with latest tech Sony G Lens – 27mm wide angle and Sony BIONZ for mobile image processing engine.

The camera settings in the interface as all set, such as: scene selection, WB Auto, flash mode, camera toggle (back/front), addition options, shortcut to gallery, virtual camera shutter, camera photo/video toggle, and mode selection.

In the Album/Gallery, the photos are snappier, faster and smooth in rendering, it may be the effect of hardware and software of the phone. It works great and has impressive output between the images.

Other features HDR mode, Face detection, smile shutter, geotagging, touch capture and alike are in this phone. Physical/Dedicated camera button is present however, you might find it uncomfortable to use. But no worries, you can actually so this hardware camera button to unlock your phone, or take a photo / capture video in just a snap. This feature is very useful, in case of an immediate capture of photo or video recording.

In Manual Mode, you can control all the options you need, from exposure/white balance slide, ISO and other focus modes. Tune contrast, sharpness, color and other stuff you can find in Manual Mode. To access the scene selection, you need to lower the resolution to 8MP, a bottleneck I guess from a 20MP camera lens of Sony.

In Superior Mode, it limits to 8MP resolution sample photo, you can’t adjust further than that (another one eyebrow raised). But one good thing about Superior Mode is the Automatic setting which is entirely depends on the scene that you want to capture. So this means there is a Manual Mode and Auto mode (Superior Mode), for your convenience.

SAMPLE PHOTO VIA 20MP RESOLUTION (MANUAL MODE)

SAMPLE PHOTO VIA 8MP RESOLUTION (SUPERIOR MODE)

If you compared the 8MP to 20MP, the 8MP shows more details than 20MP. I’ll be frank to say this, but I would like to take photos on 8MP which opens more options than 20MP. Just check out the sample photos below to see what I mean.

MORE SAMPLE PHOTOS VIA 20MP RESOLUTION:

LOW LIGHT AND HDR SAMPLE PHOTOS VIA 8MP (SUPERIOR MODE):

NO LOW LIGHT SETTINGS, WITH HDR MODE

NO LOW LIGHT SETTINGS, WITHOUT HDR MODE

SUPERIOR MODE – WITH LOW LIGHT, WITHOUT HDR MODE

XPERIA Z1 COMPACT SAMPLE PHOTOS:

SAMPLE PHOTO VIA FRONT CAMERA 2MP RESOLUTION

SAMPLE PHOTO VIA PICTURE EFFECTS ~

Choose from its various picture effects such as: brightness-contrast, hue-saturation, mirror, old film, motion effects, mosaic, motion trail, nostalgic, miniature, vivid, tint, fisheye, color sketch, pencil sketch, comic, partial color, harris shutter, kaleidoscope.

PANORAMA

Xperia Z1 Compact panoramas shoots up to 5MP resolution, in my opnion, it lacks some skills for such an excellent camera.

CLOSE UP PHOTO VIA 20MP OF Z1 COMPACT

I’m quite impress in the capture photos, the details were fantastic!

VIA 8MP RESOLUTION

VIA 20MP RESOLUTION

In both sample photos, I appreciate the 20MP resolution in capturing 5248 x 3936 pixels with 4:3 ratio. Just imagine, 20MP is like 40-inch TV screen and 8MP as 24-inch TV screen, 20MP can produce larger picture than the 8MP. However, I would give my vote to 8MP because it can produce more excellent details with less noise and can even hoard for more options. With regards to hardware and software to Sony’s camera, I don’t know how they will answer to this.

Z1 COMPACT VIA 8MP (NON-HDR)

Z1 COMPACT VIA 8MP (HDR)

I prefer the HDR on, because it can produce good quality of photos despite of its drawback. While on HDR mode, it takes more time to capture and you must firmly hold the phone in order to take a good picture. Another to point out, you can’t go further than 8MP resolution while on HDR mode (and now, two eyebrows raised ~ I guess). Photo/Image Capture Rating: 8/10

VIDEO IN DETAILS: BACK TO TOP

The Xperia Z1 Compact is capable to do video capture at max of FULL HD (1920×1080 resolution, 16:9 ratio) or @1080p video resolution in its rear camera. The Z1 Compact camcorder features such as SteadyShot which is digital image stabilization or also called as electronic image stabilization, that reduces the distracting vibrations from videos/images and improves its quality. But using this feature can reduce the FOV (field of view). You can also video shoot in manual mode or superior mode. In Manual Mode you can video shoot with HDR mode or without it, choose from scene selection and other settings.

Xperia Z1 Compact (without HDR) SAMPLE VIDEO SHOOT via Youtube

Xperia Z1 Compact (with HDR) SAMPLE VIDEO SHOOT via Youtube
 

Xperia Z1 Compact proves that in a small package, it can do more than just its compact size. It does take good quality of videos in low light conditions and can also capture still shots while at recording video. But it can only produce an image in 1080p resolution / approx. 1MP or 2MP resolution. Video Recording/Capture Rating: 8/10

SONY XPERIA Z1 COMPACT PERFORMANCES/OTHERS: BACK TO TOP

Screenshots of Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
(See what’s inside of it – click it to enlarge)

SONY XPERIA Z1 COMPACT BENCHMARKS IN DETAILS: BACK TO TOP

As expected in turns out to be in the high-end mobile device.

Antutu Score: 41762

3DMark Score: 18766

Vellamo Chrome Browser Score: 2689

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is equipped with 2.2 GHz Quad-core / Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 chipset, 2GB of RAM and Adreno 330 of GPU, an impressive premium smartphone in a compact size. Bundled with 16GB of internal storage (approx. 12GB on usable storage, 4GB for the OS/firmware), and can be expanded via microSD card slot up to 64GB (SDXC supported).

SONY XPERIA Z1 COMPACT SAMPLE MOBILE GAMES: BACK TO TOP

CLASH OF CLANS

REAL RACING 3

These are sample mobile games that you can play on Xperia Z1 Compact. I can play high-end games without any issue, smooth and flawless experience. It’s really impressive with this compact size, has an inner beast to unleash your gaming experience.

ASPHALT 8 AIRBORNE :

KRITIKA :

REAL RACING 3 :

SHADOW FIGHT 2 :

On the Wi-Fi integrity, works great and nothing to complain on it, expect the phone will last within a day between light-moderate usage and 8 hours to moderate-heavy usage. In terms of web browsing experience, screen size somehow smaller if you ever compared it to 5-incher or 7-incher mobile tablets/smartphones. The good thing you ever experience is the smooth loading/navigation to websites and fast transition between tabs via web browser.

You can also use the zoom in/out functionality of the web browser to get thru the website area.

You can also use miniature apps such as small web browser, timer, notes, calculator, capture screen and a recorder tool. Other connectivity works well with no issues such as Bluetooth, NFC, A-GPS/GLONASS, 4G LTE and alike.

Disclosure: Steppenwolf – Born to be Wild, Mr. Peabody & Sherman have a respective copyright. We used it for demonstration purpose only.

Video playback works fine and in great detail, and by using the Movies app, video playback can last up to 10-12 hours. Music/Audio quality works even better, with xLoud experience – an audio filter tech by Sony, which makes the audio clearer and with clear bass sound. Music playback can last up to 80-90 hours (depends on volume degree/usages).

In terms of Battery, Xperia Z1 Compact is equipped with Non-Removable Li-Ion 2300mAh, which is good for 2 days of max usages (light user) to 1 day (moderate to heavy user). Overall performances: 9/10

Wondering Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Price? BACK TO TOP
PHP 23,990.00 SRP at Official Sony Philippines Website
PHP 21,690 at cmkcellphones.com (as of Dec. 2014)
PHP 17,480 at kimstore.com (as of NDec. 2014)
PHP 17,390 at widgetcity.com.ph (as of Dec. 2014)

TO SUM UP:REAL TALK:

A total killer phone within compact size, beasty specs, premium cut design, durable. There is no reason you can’t have this phone. A must buy compact phone with premium qualities. Overall rate: 8.5/10 (High-end Smartphone)

Disclosure: Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, Android, Apps Info / Logo / Images / Pictures / Movies have a respective copyright. We used it for demonstration purpose only.

If something in your mind to comment or suggest, please let us know. In our efforts to provide detailed information, there is possibility of inaccurate contents. If you see any mistake or incomplete in our information, please don’t hesitate to tell us. We will fix it immediately as soon as possible.

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Related Links / Articles / Entries / References / Sources:
Sony Mobile Phones – Official Site