Sony Xperia XZ1: No surprises, no luck

With nothing new to offer apart from 3D scans, the Sony Xperia XZ1 can't compete with its rivals

Don’t expect any surprises when you unbox the Sony Xperia XZ1. The design is similar to the phones Sony has been churning out for years. 

While others are going for bigger and sharper displays, the XZ1 is content with a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 1920x1080. 

The “Triluminos” display, also found in Sony TVs, has vivid and sharp colours, and makes watching HD videos a delightful experience. It also works well in sunlight, without having to tweak the brightness much.

Although I prefer hooking up streaming services to a TV, I watched Grimm on Netflix and 2 Broke Girls on Amazon Prime, on the phone, and was pretty pleased with the experience. 

Add to that its optimum audio quality. My first phone was a Sony Ericsson W550i, the Walkman series, and it was a great alternative to the iPod. Since then, I’ve never had a Sony phone disappoint in terms of audio quality. This one has a “SmartAmp” that improves voice clarity and reduce background noise. But, much like other phones, everything sounds better on headphones. 

The phone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB of RAM and runs the latest Android Oreo. Sony phones rarely disappoint in performance and the XZ1 follows suit. I played Middle-earth: Shadow of War and other RAM-heavy games, and didn’t face any lag or stutter. 

The smartphone has a 2,700-mAh battery, which doesn’t really match up to the other flagships in the market.

It won’t last for as long and it does heat up during heavy usage. 

Sony phones usually have a superior camera quality, mainly because most phones use the Sony sensor in their cameras. Moving away from the dual camera fad, the XZ1 features a 19-MP Exmor RS sensor primary and a 13-MP secondary camera. The primary camera features five-axis image stabilisation and records videos at 960 frames per second. Called “Motion Eye” by Sony, the camera is equipped to capture details in rapid motion that misses the naked eye. In the process, it takes four photos in one click — three by the sensor and the fourth that you take. The camera performs well, but infuses a lot of noise in low-light conditions.

The phone also features a 3D Creator app to create 3D scans of objects and people. The app is easy to use but falters in low-light conditions. You can also hook the app up to a 3D printer and print the scans. 

The Sony Xperia XZ1 is a good phone and doesn’t give you many reasons to complain, but at Rs 44,990, apart from the latest Android OS, it doesn’t have anything new to offer, which would make it difficult for Sony to compete with other brands.