Xperia xz 1. Review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone: It gets better with time

This year, Sony has pleased fans with a wide range of models, in which you can choose a device for almost any budget. All models have a waterproof case and a recognizable design, which makes it easy to distinguish the manufacturer’s products from competitors. Under the beautiful appearance there is also a powerful filling combined with a good camera. In this article we will review the Sony Xperia XZ1 in order to thoroughly understand the features of the new device, its advantages and disadvantages. The smartphone was equipped with a 5.2-inch FullHD screen, a 19 MP main camera module and a Snapdragon 835 processor.

Technical characteristics of Sony Xperia XZ1:

• display: 5.2”, IPS FullHD 1920 x 1080 px (424 ppi);
• processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (2.45 GHz) + Adreno 540 video accelerator;
• RAM: 4 GB;
• internal memory: 32 GB + micro SDXC flash cards up to 256 GB;
• camera: main – 19 MP, front – 13 MP;
• communication: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS;
• battery: 2700 mAh.
• Dimensions: 148x73 x 7.4 mm;
• Weight: 156 g.

The packaging in which the Sony Xperia XZ1 g8342 black is supplied looks solid and is made of thick cardboard. On its front side we see an image of the device itself, and on the back side there are three available color options and brief characteristics. Along with the Sony Xperia XZ1, the package included a good headset, a 2A charger, a USB Type-C cable, a paper clip and documentation.

A review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone makes it clear that the manufacturer did not abandon the design concepts developed over the years, which led to an almost ideal formula and was loved by fans. The design of the case has remained virtually unchanged, but at the same time the device looks solid and beautiful. When developing it, Sony listened to the wishes of users and designed a case that is close to the title of ideal.

The manufacturer continues to follow the Loop Surface concept, equipping the device with sharp corners without rounding. The XZ1 is very light and thin, making it a pleasure to use. The body is completely made of metal with a matte surface, which gives a pleasant tactile sensation, and besides, it does not slip at all.

The antennas were discreetly placed within the body, and the NFC chip was installed under glass, close to the main camera and flash. The body is mostly constructed of metal, but the top and bottom ends are plastic. They are polycarbonate plates that are not part of the body, touching only the ends and not extending onto the back panel.

The main camera module with flash is installed at the back. Unfortunately, it is built on only one LED and the light is faded.

The front side of the Sony XZ1 phone is covered with Gorilla Glass 5, made using 2.5D technology.

Above it were placed a light and proximity sensor, a speaker, a front camera lens and a notification light. The latter is implemented in the form of a miniature dot that shines red when the smartphone is charging, green when it is charged to maximum, and white when there are missed calls or notifications.

A review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 dual showed that the manufacturer continues to follow its traditions, leaving the space under the display empty. Here you will not see the classic navigation keys and fingerprint scanner (it is built into the power control key). The keys are on-screen, which made it possible to make maximum use of the useful space above and below the display by installing two speakers. The result is a clear, loud and rich sound in which all frequencies can be heard.

Three keys were placed on the right side - power control, volume control and a proprietary one, for quick access to the camera and releasing the shutter. The buttons have a clear response and smooth operation; they do not cause any discomfort when used.

On the left there is a slot for two nanoSIM cards. If the amount of built-in memory is not enough for you, then instead of the second nanoSIM you can install a microSD card. There is another modification of the device that receives support for only a single SIM card.

The top edge is occupied by a 3.5 mm headset jack and a noise-canceling microphone hole.

The central place of the bottom panel is devoted to the USB Type-C port and the main microphone. It is possible to connect external storage devices via OTG.

The Xperia XZ1 is available in black, blue, pink and silver to choose from. According to tradition, which has been established since last year, the internal design of the interface is in full accordance with the shade of the case.

Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone display

The review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone moves to a 5.2-inch screen with FullHD resolution. With this combination we have 424 pixels per inch. The advantages of the screen include the absence of an air gap and high-quality anti-reflective coating, which ensures comfortable working conditions in bright sunlight. The brightness reserve is limited to 540 cd/m2, which is very impressive. It received support for the modern HDR+ standard, which is so far found only on YouTube video hosting. Multitouch now supports 10 simultaneous touches.

The display of the Sony Xperia XZ1 g8342 black stands out for its excellent contrast and natural color reproduction. If you don’t really delve into the essence of technology, you can even confuse it with an AMOLED panel. A review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 showed that by going to the settings menu, you can customize the color temperature of the screen. An advanced mode is provided for fine-tuning. All videos play smoothly and look beautiful, using proprietary X-Reality technology, which was transferred to the smartphone from the manufacturer’s TVs.

Sony Xperia XZ1 performance

The technical characteristics of the Sony Xperia XZ1 are based on the top-end Snapdragon 835 processor, which is so far the latest in the series. It is paired with an Adreno 540 graphics accelerator, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of user memory. This is more than enough, but if you wish, you can always place a microSD card with a capacity of up to 256 GB.

Sony Xperia XZ1 test in Antutu:

The characteristics of the Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone allow you to successfully solve all the tasks, and the interface certainly does not slow down. You can count on good gaming performance even at ultra graphics settings; the hardware will remain relevant for at least several more years. There are also no problems with multitasking - you can open a dozen pages in the browser, applications and games. In Tanks, on the maximum graphics, the fps indicators remain stable at around 60. At the same time, the body practically does not heat up.

Sound Sony Xperia XZ1

A review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 g8342 black makes it clear that sound has become the flagship's strongest point, because not many devices now can boast of stereo sound effects. The volume reserve did not disappoint either, which, combined with surround sound, makes the XZ1 an ideal choice for music lovers.

In the headset we hear no less high-quality sound. To play music, a proprietary application is used with flexible equalizer settings and a large selection of presets for different types of headsets.

A review of the Sony XZ1 XZ1 showed that in terms of autonomy, the smartphone will not be a record holder, but it is very close to it. It has a built-in battery with a capacity of 2700 mAh, which is not much, but you should not lose sight of good system optimization and proprietary power saving modes. This allows you to calmly use the device, knowing that it will survive until the evening charge. When playing video at maximum brightness, the battery lasted as much as 11.5 hours, and when browsing the web - 9.5 hours. The Sony Xperia XZ1 review confirmed decent battery life.

In addition to all of the above, there is fast charging technology, but they forgot to include a network adapter with the appropriate parameters in the package; it must be purchased separately. Supports adaptive charging mode, which extends battery life.

Wireless communications

The Sony XZ1 review once again confirms that we are dealing with a flagship that supports all modern communication standards - Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz, Bluetooth 5th generation, NFC chip. There is also LTE with data transfer speeds of up to 1 Gb/s. GPS spends no more than 10 seconds searching for satellites, after which you can plot a route on the ground.

Sony Xperia XZ1 camera review

A review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 camera showed that the main module uses a 19 megapixel sensor of its own design - Sony IMX400, in which the pixel size reaches 1.22 microns. The optics are built on a Sony G Lens with a focal length of 25 mm. The module has a dedicated buffer memory at its disposal. which allows you to shoot video in slow-mo mode with a frame rate of 960 fps.

In terms of shooting quality, the XZ1 is on par with flagships from Samsung and Apple. It is recommended to shoot with automatic settings, when the camera application itself selects presets depending on the environment and the subject of shooting. As before, you can use a separate button on the body to release the shutter. The camera performed well in all shooting conditions; even in low light conditions you can get decent pictures.

Example photo on Sony Xperia XZ1:

The main feature was the ability to create 3D models, which, upon completion of generation, can be freely edited in a preinstalled editor. You can do whatever you want with scanned objects. If desired, the models can even be printed on a 3D printer. This is a self-learning technology, which means the result will be better every time. Sony continues to actively develop the direction of virtual reality.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 premium review informs you that video can be shot in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. The videos are beyond praise in terms of detail, realistic colors and sound, which is recorded in stereo. The camera is equipped with a proprietary SteadyShot stabilization system, which copes well with the assigned task, but the key feature is slow-mo at 960 fps.

The front camera received a resolution of 13 megapixels. It is perfect for taking selfies and recording your loved one on video in FullHD resolution. Software algorithms are used to improve facial skin, and when shooting in a darkened room, a virtual flash is activated.

Conclusion

A review of the Sony Xperia XZ1 in Russian shows what a real flagship should be like. Its advantages include dust and moisture protection, excellent photographic capabilities, high performance in any use scenario, high-quality and loud stereo speakers, and the current version of the software shell. Among the shortcomings, we can only complain about the frames, which would not hurt to get rid of, and the lack of a network adapter with support for fast charging technology in the kit.

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As part of the annual IFA exhibition, held in early autumn in Berlin, Sony presented three of its new smartphones. Two of them joined the top Xperia XZ line, they became the XZ1 and XZ1 Compact devices, and the last one, Sony Xperia XA1 Plus, expanded the line of the mid-price segment. It is worth noting that the new flagships do not replace the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, which remains the eldest smartphone in the top line, but only expand and complement the Xperia XZ family.

The Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact are similar in most respects except for the dimensions. This review will describe the main of the two new products, the “full-fledged” Xperia XZ1, which differs from the compact version in the presence of an all-metal body, the ability to work in new LTE wireless networks at a speed of 1 Gbit/s, as well as a different front camera module.

Main characteristics of Sony Xperia XZ1 (G8341/G8342)

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (MSM8998), 8 Kryo 280 cores (1.9/2.45 GHz)
• GPU Adreno 540
• Operating system Android 8.0
• Touch display IPS 5.2″, 1920×1080, 423 ppi, HDR
• Random access memory (RAM) 4 GB, internal memory 64 GB
• Nano-SIM support (1 or 2 pcs.)
• MicroSD support up to 256 GB
• GSM/WCDMA/FDD LTE Cat.16 networks
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz) MIMO
• Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• USB 3.1 Type-C, USB OTG
• Main camera 19 MP, autofocus, 4K video
• Front camera 13 MP, f/2.0
• Super slow motion video 720p, 960 fps
• Dust and moisture protection IP65/68
• Proximity, lighting, magnetic field, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, pressure, step counter
• Battery 2700 mAh
• Dimensions 148×73×7.9 mm
• Weight 156 g

Contents of delivery

The packaging of the Sony Xperia XZ1 is a very laconically designed large box made of hard white cardboard with a silver logo on the lid and brief information about the product on the back.

It is worth noting that our copy, issued for testing during the exhibition in Berlin, is intended for the European market, not for the Russian one. This smartphone supports only one SIM card, and its configuration may differ from the Russian version. In our case, in the box you could find a USB Type-C connecting cable and a network adapter with a maximum output current and voltage of 5 V 1.5 A.

Appearance and ease of use

Sony Xperia XZ1 received a design that is quite familiar to Sony, but at the same time the most attractive. The developers took into account many user wishes and brought the body of their next flagship to almost perfection.

Naturally, the device has the notorious sharp corners, without curves in the plan, it meets the proprietary Loop Surface concept, but it is so thin and light that it lies very comfortably in the hand. Now the body is completely metal, made from a single plate of aluminum, with matte surfaces that are pleasant to the touch.

Moreover, the usual grooves cut out from the outside in the metal on the back side cannot be seen; they are elegantly hidden on the sides, and the antenna of the NFC module is now hidden behind the glass covering the camera unit with flash.

Despite the fact that the body is almost entirely metal, its upper and lower ends are covered with plastic plates. This is not part of the body, but rather thin polycarbonate plates; they touch only the ends and do not extend to the back and sides.

On the very back panel there is only a single camera module with a flash. The flash is also single, consists of one LED, and does not shine brightly.

The front panel is completely covered with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 5 with sloping edges. In the upper part above the screen there are usually sensors, a front camera eye, and an LED event indicator. A small, not very bright, but quite noticeable dot shines red when charging, green when the battery is fully charged, and flashes milky white when there are unanswered calls and messages.

Under the screen, as usual for Sony, there are no touch buttons or a fingerprint scanner, which is built into the side power button. But on the front panel there are two speakers that work in pairs, producing a fairly loud and bright sound.

On the side of the buttons, as usual, there are not two, but three, since in addition to the traditional power and volume buttons, Sony always installs a separate hardware camera control key. All buttons have a very pleasant soft stroke and a clear response; using them is a pleasure.

On the other side there is a card slot. The connector is hybrid: a Nano-SIM card is inserted into one of the slots, a memory card or, in the case of a Dual SIM smartphone modification, a second Nano-SIM format SIM card is inserted into the other.

Although our European test sample from the exhibition was “single-SIM”, only “dual-SIM” modifications of the Sony Xperia XZ1 will be officially sold in Russia. But the compact version of the new flagship is available only in a version with support for one SIM card.

At the ends, everything is traditional: the top one is given over to a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an auxiliary microphone hole.

The bottom end contains a USB Type-C connector and a conversational microphone. The connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone is available in four colors: black, silver (“warm silver”), blue (“moon blue”) and pink (“sunset pink”). According to the tradition established since last season, the internal design themes of the software interface always correspond to the color of the external design of the case.

Screen

Sony Xperia XZ1 features an IPS HDR display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. Triluminos, X-Reality for mobile and Dynamic Contrast Enhancer technologies are used. The screen dimensions are approximately 64x115 mm with a diagonal of 5.2 inches. The resolution is 1920×1080, the pixel density is about 423 ppi.

You can adjust the display brightness manually or use automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multi-touch touches. The screen is compatible with gloves.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens of both devices (Sony Xperia XZ1, as is easy to determine, is on the right; then they can be distinguished by size):

The Sony screen is noticeably darker (its brightness in the photo is 112 versus 124 for the Nexus 7). The tripling of reflected objects in the Sony Xperia XZ1 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass (also known as the touch sensor) and the surface of the matrix (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, even better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, its maximum value was about 590 cd/m², and the minimum was 7 cd/m². The maximum value is very high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, in bright daylight and even in direct sun the image on the screen should be clearly visible. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the logo on the front panel). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment, with which the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. If you don’t change anything, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 7 cd/m² (a bit dark), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 220 cd/m² (normal), in a very bright environment (corresponds to the lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 590 cd/m² (to the maximum, as needed). In the dark, we moved the adjustment slider a little to the right and for the three conditions indicated above we got: 12, 230 and 590 cd/m², this combination suited us. It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. Only at very low brightness levels does significant backlight modulation appear, but its frequency is high, about 2.3 kHz, so there is no visible screen flicker and can hardly be detected in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect.

This screen uses an IPS type matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without inverting shades and without significant color shifts, even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen. Note that on large plain fields you can see a small, faded and barely visible diagonal structure - this is not particularly disturbing, but it is worth mentioning. The reasons for the appearance of this pattern are unknown to us. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of the Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia XZ1, with the screen brightness initially set to approximately 200 cd/m² (across the white field across the entire screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K .

White field perpendicular to the plane of the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The colors on the Sony Xperia XZ1's screen are oversaturated, skin tones are heavily red-shifted, and the color balance is noticeably different from the standard. Of course, you need to be very careful when assessing the color rendition of a screen from a photograph, but the trend is conveyed correctly.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, and on the Sony Xperia XZ1 the contrast has decreased insignificantly.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens decreased noticeably, but in the case of the Sony Xperia XZ1 the drop in brightness is slightly greater. When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened slightly (like the Nexus 7) and acquires a purple tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good, although not ideal:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 980:1. The black-white-black response time is 23 ms (13 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 36 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, revealed a slight dip in the shadows, and there is a jump in brightness in the highlights. In this case, the indicator of the approximating power function turned out to be 2.17, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2:

We did not detect the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

They are typical for top Sony mobile devices (and not only). Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows for a wide color gamut. Yes, and the red phosphor apparently uses so-called quantum dots. Unfortunately, as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and these are the vast majority) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is average, since the color temperature is noticeably higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of an absolutely black body (ΔE) in a number of shades is above 10 units, which is considered not a very good indicator even for a consumer device (data signed as Without corr. in the graphs below). However, the variation in color temperature and ΔE is not very large - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (Dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This smartphone has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors:

That's what we tried to do: the result is data signed as Corr. in the graphs above. We ended up adjusting the color temperature and reducing the ΔE significantly. At the same time, the maximum brightness decreased to 470 cd/m², which is still tolerable. Additionally, the user can select one of the display modes:

Selected by default Standard mode. If you enable Extreme brightness mode, then this is the result:

The saturation of colors is further increased, and color contrast is also increased, meaning that details in the area of ​​saturated colors are washed out and lost. The color gamut for this mode approaches DCI gamut:

And spectra:

It can be seen that there is very little cross-mixing of components, and due to this and good separation of components, a wide coverage is achieved. Unfortunately, the possible benefit of this is greatly reduced by inappropriately increasing color contrast. That's from the regime Professional there is definitely a benefit. This is what the test image looks like after enabling this mode:

Color saturation has returned to normal, the image looks natural. Additionally, in this case, color balance correction is applied, as indicated above. Color gamut for this mode:

It can be seen that the coverage is close to sRGB. The triangle is a little crooked, that is, the correction is not entirely accurate, but these are minor things. And the corresponding spectrum:

The components are mixed with each other. In addition, in this mode there is no blockage in the shadows or a jump in brightness in the highlights, the gamma curve is closer to the standard one:

Therefore, in order to get the correct colors in the case of commonly encountered images, you need to select the Professional and correct the color balance.

Let's summarize. The brightness adjustment range of this screen is wide, the anti-glare properties are excellent, which allows you to comfortably use the smartphone both on a sunny day and in complete darkness. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Other advantages include a very effective oleophobic coating, the absence of air gaps in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, which does not decrease much when viewed at an angle to the screen plane, and the ability to obtain a color balance and sRGB gamut close to standard. There are probably no significant shortcomings; the quality of the screen is very high.

Camera

The front module has an Exmor RS sensor with a diagonal of 1/3.06″ and a resolution of 13 megapixels, as well as a 22 mm wide-angle lens with f/2.0 aperture without its own flash and autofocus. The maximum light sensitivity of the matrix is ​​ISO 6400, there is the same five-axis SteadyShot stabilization with Intelligent Active Mode, like the main camera. The shooting quality is generally very good: the image is bright, there are no complaints about sharpness and detail. True, by default the selfie camera always applies filters that, in its opinion, will come in handy: the skin, for example, is smoothed, textures disappear - everything we love.

For the main Motion Eye camera in the Sony Xperia XZ1, the same unique IMX400 module with a matrix resolution of 19 MP, 1/2.3″, Exmor RS for mobile devices is used. The 25mm wide-angle G Lens has an f/2.0 aperture.

The module is equipped with its own buffer memory of 128 MB. This allows you to use super slow motion video mode at 960 fps. You cannot simply start shooting in this mode; it can only be temporarily activated for a few seconds in the form of insets into standard shooting with a resolution of 720p.

Predictive hybrid autofocus, 8x digital zoom and a proprietary 5-axis SteadyShot stabilization system with Intelligent Active Mode are in place. As usual, proprietary Bionz image processing technology for mobile devices is used.

The Predictive Capture mode has evolved: now the camera not only reacts to a moving object, but also recognizes a smile using intelligent capture. After pointing at such an object, the camera automatically takes three pictures so that after the shutter is released, the fourth picture is captured. This mode allows you not to miss any events.

The motion-tracking autofocus for continuous shooting (4D focus, series of up to 15 frames), which migrated from Sony cameras, has not gone away. Manual mode, as usual, provides access to shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, white balance and focus options. Also in place is the augmented reality mode “AR-effect” with many interesting scenarios, including downloadable ones.

The camera can shoot video in 4K resolution (3840x2160) at 30 fps, and 60 fps is available in Full HD (1920x1080). It should be noted that in new Sony smartphones the 4K mode is included in the general menu for selecting resolutions (previously, in the same Xperia XZ Premium, it was a separate mode). There is also a choice between H.265 and H.264 codecs for encoding 4K video. The 5-axis SteadyShot stabilization system with Intelligent Active Mode also works when shooting video.

In any of the resolutions, the camera copes with video shooting efficiently: sharpness, color rendition and detail are normal, there is enough brightness, the video is smooth, without jerks or artifacts. There are no complaints about sound recording either: the sensitivity of the microphones is high, the sound is clear and loud, and the noise reduction system adequately copes with wind noise.

• Video No. 1 (37 MB, 3840×2160@30 fps, H.265, AAC)
• Video No. 2 (75 MB, 3840×2160@30 fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 3 (29 MB, 1920×1080@60 fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 4 (63 MB, 1280×720, slo-mo, H.264, AAC)

The camera takes good pictures, but is clearly damp. There are often areas of blur at the edges, sometimes quite large. Sometimes the program does not scan the frame to a wide angle and blurs the details. Overall, we repeat, the camera works well, and firmware updates should correct the mentioned shortcomings, since they do not seem to be stock. In this case, the camera will cope well with documentary shooting.

Telephone and communications

The communications capabilities of the integrated Snapdragon X16 modem in the Sony Xperia XZ1 include support for data transfer at speeds up to 1 Gbps on LTE Cat.16 networks. In the urban areas of the Moscow region, the device behaves confidently, does not lose connection in places where reception is uncertain, and quickly restores the connection. Bluetooth 5.0, both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), MIMO 2x2 configuration are also supported. The quality of communication in Wi-Fi networks is not satisfactory. There is NFC with support for Mifare Classic, the smartphone works successfully with the application for travel documents. You can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode. The data transfer speed between a computer and a smartphone via a cable connected in the case of a PC to the USB 3.1 Type-C ports is about 28 MB/s.

As for the specific ranges of supported LTE frequencies, most likely, their list will be exactly the same as that of the Xperia XZ Premium, although the frequencies of the model certified for Russia are not yet listed on the company website. Our test unit, intended for European operator markets, model G8341 (with firmware from G8342), supports the following frequencies:

• FDD LTE: Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/19/20/25/26/28/29/32/66
• TDD LTE: Band 38/39/40/41
• UMTS(WCDMA): Band 1/2/4/5/6/8/19
• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. Methods for sorting and displaying contacts are standard for the Android interface.

In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor is clearly recognizable, there is no extraneous noise, the sound is natural, clear, the volume margin is even excessive. But the vibration alert is not very powerful; you should not rely on it completely, because this way you can miss a call.

Software and multimedia

The Sony Xperia XZ1 uses the latest version of Android OS 8.0 as a software platform, and the Japanese company's smartphones are among the first to launch the latest version of this operating system. The external design of the interface corresponds to the well-recognized corporate style of Sony, but inside it is almost pure Android with all its capabilities and shortcomings.

There is no point in discussing the performance of the interface; everything works at lightning speed, the shell is light and mobile. Apart from the familiar small set of programs from Sony itself, there are no pre-installed applications; all tasks are solved using a set of Google Apps programs. By default, all Sony smartphones have a pre-installed SwiftKey keyboard with Swype support.

One of the most unusual new programs preinstalled is 3D Creator. It allows you to perform a 3D scan of an object in a few minutes using the camera of Sony smartphones, without resorting to special equipment. The developers claim that the technology is self-learning, that is, if the same object is scanned using the program three times, then each subsequent result will be better than the previous one.

It should be noted that this technology can be used on any other Android smartphone, but only thanks to the IMX400 module’s own memory is the best result achieved. The application allows you to create 3D avatars with your own scanned 3D image, as well as modify them, animate them, attach your own images to popular Internet memes, and share all this through social networks. Naturally, the 3D diagrams obtained in this way can be sent for 3D printing.

In practice, the technology really works; during the presentation, we were able to successfully scan one of our colleagues, create a 3D model of him and display him as a dancing avatar on the screen using the mentioned program. All this is done quite easily, you just need to follow the prompts step by step.

Hints, it should be noted, are arranged in a rather unusual way: they cannot be skipped, scrolled through, and you cannot immediately proceed to scanning an object of any shape. You must first follow all the instructions exactly, going through the full training path, after which you can move on to the “freestyle” program.

The new flagship uses new, larger speakers that have not previously been used in any smartphone. As before, there are two of them, but their relative position and balanced placement inside the body is designed to ensure even clearer operation in a stereo pair. Indeed, even despite the membranes to protect against water, the sound of the speakers with S-Force Front Surround technology is perhaps the most powerful among all members of the Xperia family. The sound is even louder than the Xperia XZ Premium.

The sound in the headphones is also of high quality; there are no complaints about this parameter regarding the smartphone. The 3.5mm jack for the five-pin noise-canceling headphone minijack is left in place. To play music, the device uses its own player (formerly a Walkman) with a familiar set of settings. The user is traditionally given the choice between manual adjustment and automatic optimization of all sound parameters using the comprehensive ClearAudio+ function. The smartphone can play tracks in High-Resolution Audio quality; low-quality tracks are pulled out using Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE HX) technology. There is an automatic sound optimization function for headphones. Sony's proprietary LDAC codec for transmitting audio data via Bluetooth with the release of Android OS version 8. The set includes several more sound technologies; you can read more about all this on the Sony website dedicated to the sound technologies used in all of the manufacturer’s modern top-end smartphones.

Performance

The Sony Xperia XZ1 hardware platform is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. The chip configuration includes eight Kryo 280 processor cores in two clusters with a maximum frequency of 1.9 and 2.45 GHz. This SoC is made using the latest 10-nanometer process technology. The Adreno 540 video accelerator with support for the OpenGL ES 3.2 graphics API is responsible for graphics processing. The amount of RAM is 4 GB, built-in flash memory is 64 GB. Of these, 1.5 GB of RAM is free and about 51.4 GB of space for programs and data.

Based on the test results, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 predictably demonstrates very high results, as befits a flagship SoC. However, if we compare the results of the review hero with the same OnePlus 5, running on the same platform, but with more RAM, then all the results, except for browser tests, turn out to be better. However, the Sony Xperia XZ1 is also a very productive smartphone, confidently coping with any tasks in real-life scenarios, and thanks to a powerful video accelerator, it looks great even in the most demanding games.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Sony Xperia XZ1 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 835)	Samsung Galaxy S8+ (Samsung Exynos 8895 Octa)	LG G6 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 821)	Honor 8 Pro (HiSilicon Kirin 960)	Meizu Pro 6 Plus (Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa)
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot ES 3.1 (more is better)	3036	2628	2409	1417	1869
(Onscreen, fps)	39	19	12	18	13
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps)	38	36	24	21	24
GFXBenchmark T-Rex(Onscreen, fps)	60	57	38	46	52
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps)	105	103	61	57	71

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery testing in the GFXBenchmark program:

The entire “back” of the case heats up more or less evenly on the smartphone, but the heating in the lower part is higher - perhaps the SoC chip is located there somewhere. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was only 32 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is very little.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We were unable to check the theoretically possible support for adapters for outputting images to an external device due to the lack of an adapter option that connects to the USB Type-C port, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files to the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Great No Great No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-to-one pixel by pixel, exactly along the edge of the screen and in true Full HD resolution. When selecting a mode Professional in the screen settings, the displayed brightness range corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows, only a couple of shades of gray do not differ in brightness from black, and in the highlights, all gradations of shades are displayed. In the default mode there is a significant blockage in the shadows. Note that this smartphone supports hardware decoding of H.265 files with a color depth of 10 bits per color, while display output is also carried out in 10-bit mode. This, as well as the wide color gamut, allows us to say that the manufacturer’s claims about the “HDR display” are justified.

Battery life

The non-removable battery installed in the Sony Xperia XZ1 has a small capacity of only 2700 mAh. None of the modern flagships have such a small battery. It was all the more surprising to see that the new product demonstrates very impressive results in autonomy tests. In some places it, of course, sags in comparison with competitors with large batteries, but in game mode, for example, it has no equal. In principle, this is understandable: judging by the performance tests, Sony developers slightly stifled the powerful processor, hence the lower numbers in the benchmarks, low heating, and long battery life.

Naturally, in real use scenarios the gap between most smartphones is leveled; this device also cannot survive more than one eventful day and needs daily charging, like the rest. The already familiar Qnovo Adaptive Charging technology is responsible for a more gentle treatment of the battery when charging.

Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features. All Sony smartphones always have the opportunity to save energy thanks to proprietary Stamina and Ultra Stamina energy-saving modes.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted 17 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) with The device operates for almost 11 hours at the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, this is a good result. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work for up to 8 hours, but everything will depend on the specific game.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 supports Quick Charge 3.0, but the test sample included a standard AC adapter with a maximum output current of 1.5 A at a voltage of 5 V. It charges the smartphone within 2.5 hours at a current of 1.4 A.

Bottom line

In Russia, the official start of sales of the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact is scheduled for October 11. Pre-order the Xperia XZ1 smartphone at a price of 49,990 rubles and the XZ1 Compact
at a price of 39,990 rubles is possible from September 27 to October 3 inclusive
the Sony Store Online branded online store and the Sony branded stores network
Centre. Each Xperia XZ1 smartphone ordered in this way will receive Sony MDR-1000X active noise-canceling headphones as a gift.

Not cheap, of course, but this was to be expected: Sony always rates its products as highly as possible. In principle, the Xperia XZ1 is a full-fledged flagship, no worse than its brother Xperia XZ Premium, if compared in technical terms, but it does not look as impressive and the screen is smaller. Quite good cameras, which may still be improved with updates, good sound, an excellent screen, extensive communication capabilities, a very nice matte and thin all-metal body - in short, the Xperia XZ1 has everything you need for a flagship. And yet it seems that the smartphone is a little overpriced; it is unlikely that there will be a queue for a device at this price. Well, at least as a demonstration of its capabilities, the Xperia XZ1 looks very decent, and the price may be adjusted over time.

With the advent of new flagship smartphones, the old ones significantly lose in value and sometimes it is better to buy the flagship of the previous generation rather than a new product from the middle price segment. And while the Sony Xperia XZ2 is starting to appear on the shelves, we got the Xperia XZ1 for testing; pitting them against each other, of course, is stupid, the new product will be an unprecedented winner. At the same time, the average price tag for the Sony Xperia XZ1 is becoming more pleasant and let's look at this smartphone in current realities.

Characteristics

Model	Xperia XZ1
Year of issue	2017
Dimensions (WxHxD, mm)	73x148x7.4 mm
Weight (g)	156
Display	IPS 5.2” 1920x1080
operating system	Android 8.0
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Graphics accelerator	Adreno 540
RAM	4 GB
Built-in memory	64 GB
Supported networks	GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900), LTE (700, 800, 850, 900, 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2600), UMTS (850, 900, 1900, 2100)
Bluetooth	5.0
WiFi	802.11a,b,g,n,ac
More detailed characteristics:	https://www.sonymobile.com/ru/products/phones/xperia-xz1/

Design, assembly and ease of use

Sony had some kind of tactic from the very beginning and they are sticking to it. No joke, of course, but probably it is in Sony smartphones that you can trace the unity of the corporate design, which evolves a little from generation to generation and, looking at the Sony Xperia XZ1, it immediately becomes clear which smartphone manufacturer it is. On the Russian market, this smartphone is available in four colors: blue, black, silver and pink; by the way, it is pink that we are testing.
The entire back side is covered with protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 5 with slightly rounded edges that smoothly blend into the body. Like all smartphones with a light front panel, the Sony Xperia XZ1 is clearly visible above the display: the logo, the speaker grille, the front camera lens, light and proximity sensors, and the notification LED. Below the display is only the grille of the second speaker. Against the backdrop of the “frameless generation”, you understand that the display in this smartphone could have been done much more.
On the back of the smartphone there is an engraved Sony logo and you won’t have to worry about it coming off, but in addition to the logo there is a slightly protruding camera lens, a single-color LED flash, and infrared focus.
Moving on to the side edges, I would like to note that they are pleasantly rounded and the case moves as smoothly as possible from the front panel to the front. On the right side there is a volume rocker, a lock key combined with a fingerprint scanner, and a camera key. By the way, the camera key is a nice bonus that is so lacking in many modern smartphones; I personally find it convenient to use.
On the right side there is a combined slot for installing either two Nano-Sims, or one Nano-Sim and a MicroSD memory card.
On top of the smartphone there is a 3.5 mm Mini-Jack and a noise-canceling microphone, and on the bottom there is USB Type C and a microphone.

In general, speaking about ergonomics, it should be noted that this is a surprisingly comfortable smartphone. It fits perfectly in the hand, does not try to slip out, and even the seemingly quite sharp corners do not dig into the hand and do not cause discomfort. As for the assembly, there are no complaints at all and there cannot be any, the Sony Xperia XZ1 is protected from water and dust according to the IP68 standard and was designed competently, it feels as monolithic as possible, there is not the slightest hint of a creaking body or swaying of parts.

Display

The strong point of the Sony Xperia XZ1 is the display, and no, it’s not too big – only 5.2″, but it’s very high quality. This is an excellent IPS matrix with FullHD resolution and support for HDR technology and 138% coverage of the sRGB color gamut. The color rendition of the display is as natural as possible, the colors are moderately saturated, and the viewing angles are maximum, all in the best traditions of high-quality IPS matrices. As for brightness, there are also absolutely no complaints, the brightness range is very wide, and adaptive adjustment works more than correctly.

In the display settings, you can also customize the color temperature, white balance, and also activate dynamic video enhancement.

Camera

The main camera module is 19 megapixel, matrix size 1/2.3, aperture f/2.0. And we will begin our acquaintance with the camera from afar with the application from Sony - it is quite simple and not overloaded with a huge number of effects, and some are even missing, for example, portrait photography. Manual shooting, automatic shooting, video recording mode and additional modes, artistic shooting, panorama and AR effects are available.

The main advantage of the camera is the ability to shoot video in a resolution of 720p 960 fps, but there is one “but”: it is clear that the buffer is not infinite, and the data flow during such shooting is simply colossal, so it is possible to shoot only a small fragment lasting almost 0.2 seconds. But, even despite such a short period, this is an interesting option that will make you look at many things differently. Video examples are below. As for standard shooting, it is possible to shoot up to 4K 30 fps.

Let’s move on to the photo and immediately note that there is no second camera module here, which means you shouldn’t expect additional “goodies” such as optical zoom or an extra wide angle, but in general the device copes well with photos, one might even say excellent, but what does it do? It really loses to other flagships in that it is in night photography and the photos turn out to be quite noisy. Examples of photos below.




The front camera has a 13 megapixel module and we can say that it was a real success, the photos taken are detailed.

Performance

Naturally, the 2017 flagship is built on an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, Adreno 540 is responsible for graphics, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of fast internal UFS memory. What to expect, the Sony Xperia XZ1 is fast, certainly not at the level of the Pixel 2, but it doesn’t make you nervous, everything opens, flips and switches quickly. Naturally, the benchmarks show high results, and yes, now the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 can do more, but for everyday use, to be honest, you won’t notice much of a difference by eye.

Gaming performance is at a high level, the new PUBG Mobile works perfectly, World of Tanks: Blitz also runs at maximum speed without any hint of freezing.

Software

The Sony Xperia XZ1 runs out of the box on the latest Android Nougat 8.0 with Sony's proprietary shell. Although Sony’s proprietary shell has not gone particularly far from “bare” Android, this is for the better, the system does not look overloaded, everything is simple and as familiar as possible, and most importantly, it works quickly, as it should.

Autonomy

The Sonya battery is not the most capacious - only 2700 mAh, it is enough for a day of use with 4 hours of screen operation, but the mode is gentle - calls, playing streaming music, social networks, managers, a little browser and email. Do you want to play? Take a power bank with you. There are also two energy saving modes, Stamina and Ultra Stamina. In the second mode, only basic smartphone applications are available, but in it it can live on a single charge for a very, very long time. Well, if you need to recharge, this process will go quickly thanks to support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, but you will need a specialized charger.

Sound

Not all smartphones have stereo speakers and you immediately notice their presence, but in the Sony Xperia XZ1 they also sound good; at maximum volume in complex compositions they can, of course, “break out” a little, but by lowering the volume a little you can get excellent sound, even with acceptable low frequencies, which is nice. The main speaker, of course, accurately conveys the voice and has a sufficient volume reserve.

Of course, I cannot call this smartphone ideal in terms of sound reproduction in headphones. It has a number of “improvers”, but this cannot be compared with a truly high-quality, well-developed audio path. The sound is quite at the level of other smartphones on the Snapdragon 835, maybe only a little ahead due to the above-mentioned “improvers”, but they are here for every taste.

Wireless interfaces

This device supports all LTE frequencies available in Russia, and also supports LTE Cat. 16, the data transfer rate of which can be 1 Gbit/s, although we have not seen this yet. Wi-Fi 802.11 a,b,g,n,ac and both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands are supported. The next wireless interface that interests us is NFC, because NFC is successfully used in almost all Sony devices for fast synchronization. It is also worth noting the excellent work with Google Pay without any glitches. As for Bluetooth, a version 5.0 module is used with the ability to connect wireless headsets using the artX codec, which transmits high-quality sound wirelessly.

Fingerprint scanner

The fingerprint scanner, as we have already learned, is located in the lock key. You quickly get used to this solution, and the unlocking speed is in no way inferior to the most advanced solutions, although it is worth noting that in the new flagships Xperia XZ2/XZ2 Compact the scanner has moved to the back side. Up to five fingers can be registered.

conclusions

Technologies are developing rapidly and those things that were at the forefront of technological excellence, tomorrow may no longer be the most productive, energy efficient and may not have many of the advantages of new models, but, as always, you have to pay for the “very best”. With the release of the Sony Xperia XZ2, which is undoubtedly better, prices in Russian retail have dropped noticeably for the Xperia XZ1 and it can be found for 27-30 thousand rubles. which translates it into mid-price smartphones. But do not forget that the Sony Xperia XZ1 is still a flagship device and it is far from outdated; its advantages include high-quality assembly and protection from water and dust, an excellent display, a camera with the ability to record 960 fps video and high performance , both in everyday tasks and in games.

Speaking of shortcomings, we can recall not the best battery life and a slightly “outdated” design compared to other devices, but this is a matter of taste.

Sony is proud to have Kando at the core of its product design. These products should not only serve a practical purpose, but also inspire. Can the Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone evoke similar feelings? Let's find out.

Sony's smartphones have remained largely stagnant over the past few years, but that's not a bad thing. Xperia devices have their own distinctive features and are recognizable. Developers adhere to one style, without trying to copy competing products.

The metal Xperia XZ1 feels solid in the palm of your hand. Its distinct rectangular shape gives the device a classic appearance. The case is sealed to protect it from water, allowing you not to be afraid of getting caught in the rain with your smartphone. It is unlikely that this device will impress people who did not live in the era of pagers. Rather, it will be appropriate in the pocket of business suits.

The smartphone can survive at least one drop onto the sidewalk from the height of a trouser pocket. Tested in practice.

While the Xperia XZ1 should be accepted for what it is, there's no denying its old-fashioned quality. Nowadays there are changes in the smartphone market; frameless smartphones with elongated screens are spreading. Such devices are produced by Samsung, Apple and other manufacturers.

One of the obvious problems with the Xperia XZ1 is that the fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button on the right side of the body is missing on US models. The developers don't say why, but the lack of a scanner on a $650 smartphone is unforgivable in any case. There is no replacement for it.

However, the sample in question has a fingerprint scanner. It serves its purpose, but its execution could have been better. The device does not allow you to quickly look at notifications on the lock screen; pressing the button automatically opens the home screen. There is no double-tap on the screen to wake up the smartphone, which was the case on previous Xperia devices.

Screen

On the front of the smartphone there is a 5.2-inch IPS LCD panel with a classic 16:9 aspect ratio. There is nothing bad to say about its quality. 1080p resolution is plenty, colors look accurate and rich, and outdoor visibility isn't an issue.

Again, smartphones like the Galaxy S8 and LG G6 use up the body surface more efficiently. Due to longer screens, they have a larger area, so more content fits on them for the same smartphone sizes.

Measurements showed that colors on the Xperia XZ1 received a slight increase in saturation. This should be fine for most users, but if color accuracy is important to you, you can set the display mode to Professional in your smartphone's settings.

One of the advantages of the Sony Xperia XZ1 is its support for video from . This should please users more in Western countries where Netflix and Amazon Prime Video services operate. HDR video from YouTube is not supported here.

Another great feature of the screen is the glove mode. What's missing here is a blue light filter for working in the dark and reducing eye strain.

Software and interface

Sony can be praised for being the first to release a smartphone running Android 8.0 Oreo. Xperia XZ1 runs on the most modern, secure version of Android. Unfortunately, the benefits of this are not yet very obvious. The Android 8 system was not a significant improvement from the point of view of ordinary users. However, internal improvements, including work with power-hungry applications, never hurt.

On top of Android, a custom Sony interface is used, which also remains unchanged for many years, like the appearance of smartphones. What's good about this interface is that it's fast. The interface is quite simple, so it won’t take long to get used to it. The default live wallpaper reacts to user interaction with the system and battery level. Graphical interface themes are supported, and there is a Sony application called “What's New”, which every day tells about the paid applications available for free.

Some aspects of the software could have been done better. There is no pre-installed Notes app. Instead, there is a Sketch program for finger painting, the need for which is questionable. The News stock app, although functional, provides sponsored content in the form of apps and games. Swiping down on the home screen opens the search bar in apps, although there's already a Google widget for that. It would be much more practical for this gesture to open the notification panel.

Thus, the Sony shell is not perfect, but it is fast and unobtrusive.

Processor, memory and performance

The Xperia XZ1 has no shortage of processing power. As you might guess, the flagship smartphone runs on a Snapdragon 835 processor, easily coping with the most demanding games. Having a 1080p screen instead of a higher resolution helps keep frame rates high. Switching between applications is fast, and multitasking with two applications at the same time is smooth. There is no need to complain about the performance level here.

The volume of built-in flash memory is 64 GB. The operating system eats up a significant portion of this value, leaving the user with about 54 GB. This is also a good number, which can be increased using a microSD memory card.

Internet and communications

The default browser is Google Chrome. It works quickly, has extensive functionality and allows you to synchronize data between different devices. All modern communication standards are supported, there is a version with two SIM cards.

Cameras

The main camera here is the same as in the Xperia XZs and Xperia XZ Premium. It has a resolution of 19 megapixels. The strength of this camera is the memory chip built into the sensor, which allows you to record a large amount of information in a short time. This makes it possible to shoot slow motion at 960 fps. The lack of optical image stabilization is a weak point, but video has electronic stabilization.

There is a physical shutter button on the smartphone body, like on conventional cameras; pressing halfway locks focus and exposure. Pressing all the way takes a photo. The same button allows you to launch the Camera application from anywhere in the interface.

Camera app

The application has a familiar interface. The default shooting mode automatically analyzes the scene and changes camera settings, although manual mode allows you to do this yourself. Clicking on an object in the frame activates the object tracking function, which traditionally does not work well. Sometimes everything works as it should, sometimes the focus area wanders or changes size.

One of the interesting features of the application is the predictive capture function. The camera takes photos at maximum resolution before pressing the shutter button. If the photo turns out bad, if someone blinks, if a moving object is blurred, the camera will automatically select three other images from the same frame.

Another trick of the camera is the ability to change focus while quickly taking a photo. Thanks to this, an experienced photographer will be able to obtain images in a fraction of seconds with maximum sharpness.

Photo quality

Recently, the Phonearena portal compared the Xperia XZ1 camera with the cameras of the Plus, Galaxy Note 8 and LG G6. In good lighting, the Sony camera can produce excellent photos with high detail, accurate exposure and correct color reproduction. In low light it lags significantly behind its competitors, which could be to blame for the lack of optical image stabilization. Optical stabilization improves shooting by setting longer exposure times, absorbing more light. However, even so, photos of the Xperia XZ1 in low light can be called acceptable. They're just not up to the highest standards of smartphones, and details aren't sharp enough because the camera shoots at higher ISOs.

Photos from the front camera come out clear and highly detailed, and the lenses are wide enough to fit a lot of people into the frame. In certain situations, the skin color turns out to be unnatural, but for the most part the photos come out adequate. If there is not enough light, the screen works like a flash.

Video quality

Like other smartphones in this price category, the Sony Xperia XZ1 is capable of shooting 4K video at up to 30 fps. The detail here is more than sufficient, even in low light the video turns out good. In this case, you can periodically notice shaking due to software stabilization. Sony offers stabilization called Intelligent Active, which produces smooth, cinematic video, but vibration is noticeable if your hand isn't steady enough.

The front camera shoots at a maximum resolution of 1080p, but supports the aforementioned stabilization.

The sound quality when shooting video can be praised. The volume level is high, there are high and low frequencies. The sound remains clear even in noisy environments like concerts and parties, without any distortion or clicking.

A unique feature of the camera is slow motion shooting at 960 fps. This video looks impressive, but it can be difficult to catch the subject since you can't record the entire video and slow down the desired part. During shooting, the slow motion button is pressed, after which 1/5 of a second turns into approximately 6 seconds. You need to try very hard to turn slow motion on and off in time and get the desired result.

3D Creator

Multimedia

As mentioned above, HDR video is supported. It comes from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and provides richer colors and improved contrast.

To view images, Sony's own gallery is used with various functionality, including sharing and editing, and there is integration with cloud storage. The video viewing app allows you to trim videos, extract frames as images, and change playback speed.

Sony has kept the headphone jack, so wireless headphones are here to stay. Hi-Res playback is supported, and when using wireless headphones, AptX and LDAC codecs are supported to ensure more accurate audio transmission via Bluetooth.

You can listen to music through the front stereo speakers, but the sound quality leaves much to be desired. It can be called normal: the volume is sufficient, but there are not enough high and low frequencies.

Call quality

This isn't the most exciting part of reviewing any smartphone, since all of them can handle phone calls without issue. The same can be said about the Xperia XZ1, where the auricle produces sufficient volume. Interlocutors also have no complaints about the sound quality.

Autonomous operation

It uses a 2700 mAh battery, which is a bit of a concern at first. Most of Sony's competitors have equipped their flagships with at least 3,000 mAh batteries. In fact, the battery life of the Xperia XZ1 is normal. Under an average load, the smartphone will not last two days, but it will be able to work a full day without any problems. The test results showed a lag behind the main competitors, but the operating time can be called acceptable.

As with previous Xperia devices, you can activate Stamina mode to extend battery life. In this mode, performance is reduced, thereby saving energy. This is useful when the charge level is low and there is no outlet nearby.

There is no wireless charging on the Xperia XZ1, but there is fast charging if you use a compatible charger. What's included in the package is not like that, which explains the poor charging speed in tests. An adapter with support for Quick Charge 3.0 charged the smartphone from 25% to 70% in about 30 minutes, which is quite fast.

Continuing with the theme of recharging, you can find a switch called Battery Care in the battery settings menu. Behind this name lies Qnovo's Adaptive Charging technology, which has allowed Sony to improve battery life. When the battery is fully charged over a long period of time, degradation occurs faster; the Xperia XZ1 pauses the charging process at 90%, after which it charges to maximum by the morning. If desired, this feature can be disabled.

Conclusion

After thoroughly researching Sony, it's time to take price into consideration. Currently in Russia it is 50,000 rubles, that is, lower than popular smartphones like the iPhone 8 and Galaxy S8, but more expensive than the LG G6 and OnePlus 5. Is a smartphone worth that kind of money? The answer depends on your point of view.

Sony deserves respect for maintaining its principles and its own approach to smartphone production. It doesn't try to imitate its competitors, doesn't borrow design ideas, doesn't clone popular functionality, which to some extent is a positive quality. However, if you are a smartphone manufacturer and want to survive in a tough market, you need to take the latest innovations into account. These include dual cameras, long screens without frames at the edges. At the end of 2017, the Xperia XZ1 initially looks outdated.

This is not to say that this is a bad smartphone. On the contrary, it has many advantages, such as high performance, water resistance, good build quality, and a “predictive capture” camera feature. If it were not for the poor quality of the fingerprint scanner, one could call the implementation of the smartphone excellent.

Passers-by won't turn heads when you take this smartphone out of your pocket, but if you want a device with a traditional design, if beautiful and flimsy screens aren't your thing, it's worth giving Sony's latest flagship a chance.

pros

• Classic, solid design with water and dust protection
• Fast and responsive user interface
• Screen with HDR support and good outdoor visibility
• Predictive capture camera feature
• The first smartphone on Android 8.0 Oreo
• Can record slow motion at 960fps

Minuses

• Stereo speaker quality
• Low-light photo quality

Sony Mobile presented at the IFA exhibition in Berlin a new line of Xperia smartphones for the 2017 model year, which included the flagship XZ1 and XZ1 Compact, as well as the XA1 Plus.

We were able to get acquainted with all the new products a few days before the exhibition at the Moscow office of Sony Mobile. It is important to note that the XZ1 and XZ1 Compact are representatives of the flagship Xperia line and are technologically inferior only to the XZ Premium. Moreover, in fact, the only difference is in the size and resolution of the display: the XZ1 has a 5.2-inch Full HD screen, while the “compact” has a diagonal of 4.6 inches with HD resolution. Otherwise, if we talk about technology, the smartphones are almost identical.

The XA1 Plus stands out against the general background of the presented new products - a smartphone that represents the middle class of Xperia devices, which are distinguished by their frameless design. The XA1 Plus in this line will occupy a position between the XA1 with a five-inch display and the XA1 Ultra with a 6-inch display. The XA1 Plus has a 5.5-inch screen, but most importantly, while maintaining the frameless design, Sony was able to install a fingerprint scanner on the side.

We managed to get acquainted with each of the devices separately, so we will devote separate material to each.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 will take the place of the Xperia XZs, a smartphone that was announced at the same time as the XZ Premium and featured the same Motion Eye camera unit. Actually, the Xperia XZs acted as a kind of intermediate flagship smartphone, one might even say temporary. But he will have to move aside on the shelves, because the XZ1 is much more interesting.

The smartphone is made in an all-metal case in the already familiar Unified design concept. There are a lot of straight lines, but also a lot of ovals. For example, the shape of the ends of the smartphone follows the rounded USB Type C connector, the same shape is the block in the center of the back side, which combines an NFC tag, flash, laser autofocus and an RGBC-IR sensor, which has been present in Sony smartphones since the announcement of the Xperia XZ. The same shape is used in the buttons, SIM card slot and antenna “compartments”, barely visible on the black smartphone, of which there are three in the smartphone. These antennas provide LTE Cat16, a data transmission protocol that is capable of speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second. And this is not science fiction, but reality: smartphones can reach such speeds in Moscow within the Garden Ring. The mobile operator Megafon demonstrated this possibility in June using the Sony Xperia XZ Premium. At that time, it was the only smartphone with LTE Cat16. With the announcement of the XZ1, there are now two such smartphones.

Under the hood, the Xperia XZ1 has the most powerful and high-tech (so far) Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with a clock frequency of 2.3 GHz, 4 GB of RAM and a 64 GB drive (UFS memory type). The latter can be expanded: a version with a hybrid slot will be supplied to Russia, so you will have to make a choice - a second SIM card or more memory.

The smartphone has a 5.2-inch display with Full HD resolution and support for HDR technology. Interestingly, the smartphone supports HDR content from Netflix and Amazon Prime. The screen is very bright and contrasty, and has wide viewing angles. At first glance, it is simply impossible to find fault with him, however, as at the second. Note the presence of an oleophobic coating. This is easy to check, just drop water on your smartphone, if a large drop forms and rolls across the screen, the oleophobic coating is in place. By the way, flagship Sony Xperia smartphones, traditionally, are not afraid of dust and moisture and are protected according to the IP68 protocol, which means they can be immersed in fresh water to a depth of one and a half meters and remain there for half an hour.

It is worth mentioning the sound. The smartphone has very loud S-Force Front Surround stereo speakers, and the 3.5 mm jack supports a 5-pin jack. Thus, with special headphones, the Xperia XZ1 supports not only Hi-Res Audio (including wireless codecs - LDAC and aptXHD), but also high-quality noise reduction.

The battery deserves a few more words. It is non-removable, and its capacity, according to Sony tradition, is small: 2700 mAh. True, it could not do without the proprietary STAMINA technology, as well as Qnovo adaptive charging. Company specialists claim that the Sony Xperia XZ1 can easily withstand a day of fairly active use. Note that it supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology, although in order to use it you will have to buy a special network adapter.

Finally, we got to the most interesting part - the camera. And here, in principle, there is nothing new. The Sony Xperia XZ1 smartphone again uses the Motion Eye camera unit. This is a Sony Exmor RS sensor (IMX400), the physical size of which is 1/2.3” and the resolution is 19 megapixels. The aperture of the G Lens is F2.0, and the equivalent focal length of the main camera, slightly protruding from the body, is 25 mm. The camera uses electronic SteadyShot stabilization, an RGBC-IR sensor, which is responsible for the correct white balance, laser autofocus and LED flash.

Of course, the most interesting part of this sensor is the stack memory, which allows you to record videos in super slow motion (960 frames per second). True, only 0.184 seconds are recorded, which are converted into 5.9 seconds of real time.

This camera block is familiar to us firsthand, because we did it, and the Motion Eye in the Xperia XZ1 is identical. True, Sony developers have endowed the camera with a couple of new functions. Firstly, predictive shooting: now the device reacts not only to sudden movement, but also to a smile, capturing four pictures at once. In this way, you can capture the sincere emotion of an adult or child, a moment of true happiness.

Secondly, the camera in the Xperia XZ1 received autofocus tracking, an analogue of the 4D focus function from Sony mirrorless cameras. Thus, Xperia XZ1 became the first smartphone with such a function for continuous shooting. This function is simply included in the menu, then you need to tap on the subject of shooting and then the camera will keep this object in focus when photographing.

The front camera has a 13 megapixel sensor.

But the most important new feature of the Sony Xperia XZ1 and the absolute WOW feature of the smartphone is 3D modeling. Using a new smartphone and a special pre-installed application, you can quickly and easily scan your face, head, food or any object. The application is trainable, models are created in a minute and a half. Subsequently, they can be posted on social networks, printed on a 3D printer, or inserted into fresh memes. But the most interesting and at the same time strange thing: you can set your 3D model as a Live Wallpaper of the system (by the way, it already has Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box). The head will turn using the built-in gyroscope, as well as when turning pages.

Your humble servant tried the new “trick” on himself and was extremely pleased with the quality of the shooting and the model. The smartphone does this quickly and with very high quality: moles, individual beard hairs and freckles, even the sparkle in the eyes are visible. 3D models can be slightly processed directly on the smartphone: contrast, brightness, skin tone, and so on. There are not many tools yet, but the potential of the device in this direction is amazing. Perhaps such models can later be used in mobile games as avatars. But time will tell...