GearPop Blog

This is my concise review of the Sony Xperia Z1, in pros and cons form.

Pros:

• Sharp display, with accurate colours; touch screen responsiveness is very good
• Excellent build quality: device is made from aluminium and glass (front and back) and feels robust and premium as a result
• Sony’s skin over Android doesn’t slow down Android
• Sony includes lots of free things with this phone (six movies, including Elysium, a free eBook, a free 60 day trial of Sony’s Music Unlimited service and 10 games from PlayStation Mobile)
• I think Sony’s skin actually adds some functional improvements to Android, e.g.
• Available in three colours (black, white, purple) so it will suit a wide range of people
• Expandable storage, via the use of a Micro-SD card
• Good call quality: callers could hear me clearly and I could here them clearly (even in areas with poor signal, where other phones, i.e. Galaxy Note 3) performed much worse
• Good reception, even in poor signal areas
• Waterproof: IP58 certified so can be used in up to 1.5m deep (fresh) water for half an hour and will not be damaged if dropped in a puddle, etc.

Cons:

• Quite heavy, compared to other phones (particularly those made out of plastic, e.g. Samsung Galaxy S4)
• Very, very poor viewing angles (10 degrees of axis and the screen already starts looking washed out)
• Glass on the back and the front makes the device more delicate (I feel it will get damaged more easily if dropped)
• Average battery life (you can get a day out of it just with medium usage)
• Average speaker
• Does it really need to be waterproof? How much better could this phone be if Sony didn’t spend so much time making sure it was waterproof?
• Slow Android updates (still on Android 4.3 – current version is 4.4)
• Device isn’t seen as top-of-the-line for very long: Sony plans to update it at CES 2014 (just over three months since its release!)
• Quite expensive, considering its low storage capacity

Overall, can I recommend this phone? As a phone, yes, but as a smartphone (its primary purpose for existing), no.

About the Author Alec R

New to tech blogging, I have been interested in tech for as long as I can remember and I love to share my experiences of tech with people. Follow me on Twitter: @Techicist.

• 
•