Review: Sony Xperia Z1

Sony hit the ball out of the park with its Xperia Z in the beginning of the year. A combination of aesthetically pleasing design, great camera and speedy internals meant that you had a very early contender for the year's best mobile. You can't forget about its water-resistant design either, giving users some peace of mind in the event of a quick dive into the pool (provided you closed the rubber seals, of course). So how does Sony improve upon a winning formula then?.....


Slap a "1" on it – all done?
When first unboxing the device, you're left with a mobile that looks very similar to its predecessor. But keep looking and you'll eventually notice a few changes… For instance, the earphone jack is naked, lacking a rubber seal, Sony clearly feeling confident that water won't be a problem. Then there's the camera shutter button on the right-hand side – a welcome return since we last saw it on the Xperia S. Oh yeah, the notification light has also been tweaked, housed in the earpiece now ala HTC's One. Those features aside, the phone is practically identical to the Xperia Z in terms of aesthetics – but flip the device over and you might just notice the 20.7-megapixel camera.

Camera overkill?
Yes, Sony has bumped the camera specifications substantially from the Xperia Z – or it appears that way, at least. The main difference between the two is the aforementioned 20.7-megapixel sensor, with Sony using this for lossless zoom in videos and lower resolution photos. It's proven to be a hit with the Lumia 1020, but the execution can vary wildly with the Z1, which simply has fewer pixels to work with. The phone also seems to switch to digital zoom when you zoom in far enough, paving the way for loads of artifacts in photos and videos. Still, that's not necessarily a bad thing though, as all it means is that you're given an option. But in all fairness, it works as advertised in well-lit environments, so cropping and zooming is more feasible compared to most other handsets. Low-light environments are a failure though, resulting in noise and fuzziness, as well as colour bleeding.

And this seems to be the theme for the Xperia Z1's camera though, echoing the Xperia Z's experience.
Much like the Z, you get sharp, detailed photos in great lighting or outdoors, but switching to harsh or low light is a wash. In low light, the camera is rather fuzzy, while harsh light sees images blow out completely. The Lumia 1020 or iPhone 5S this is not. Still, in ideal conditions, the camera copes well enough to hang with Nokia and Apple's efforts. Sony has added a few features to the mix however, such as a practical Info-Eye scanning mode and an augmented reality suite.

The former lets you scan barcodes, labels, landmarks and more, and again, it's pretty much a hit-and-miss experience. While it successfully scanned a wine bottle at a preview event, I found that it didn't find a listing for the Kaspersky Internet Security barcode on my desk – odd. Additionally, I snapped a photo of Devil's Peak, yet it wasn't found as a landmark, let alone identified. The augmented reality mode is meant to be a fun addition to the camera equation, allowing you to add all sorts of virtual items to a scene, such as a dinosaur, funky hats and more. Again, much like the camera performance in general, you'll want perfect conditions to make use of them.

As for camera features in general though – the handset offering precious few pillar modes compared to other handsets. Sure, there are the excellent scene options, HDR and panorama modes, but there's no slow-motion video, seemingly no filters (although I don't really care for them) and no 60 frames per second recording. There's no GIF maker or Zoe-like feature either. Compared to the S4 Zoom and Lumia 1020, the Z1 lacks advanced camera settings too, only featuring white balance and exposure value adjustments. Those looking for shutter speed tweaks and ISO options will be left wanting.

We also experienced significant issues with the camera app itself, the application crashing frequently and causing the phone to hang. But it's nothing that a firmware update couldn't seemingly solve.
Nonetheless, the camera is capable of shooting some excellent snaps nonetheless, with quality macro-shots, great scene modes cityscape snaps and subject photos. Just lower your expectations at night.


The Xperia Experience
As for the operating system side of things, the phone is equipped with Android 4.2, although the KitKat update should be out in some regions already. From a usability point of view, we prefer the Timescape user interface over the likes of Samsung and LG's skins. It might not be stock Android, but it's simple and pleasant enough – although I have to admit that I do prefer HTC's skin over other third parties.

Sony's flourishes are in full effect anyway, such as the Music and Video Unlimited service (why in SA, I have no idea) and the media viewing substitutes (Album, Movies and Walkman). It all makes for a very smooth experience, although it's not the most stable device, we quickly found out. We mentioned the camera app crashing before, but we also had a full-on device lock-up, forcing us to do a hard reset by holding the volume and power keys (no removable battery, remember?). Still, a software update seemed to right the ship somewhat.

Driving all of this is a top-flight Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip, 2GBs of RAM and a 5-inch 1080p display. And if you intend to play loads of games, you won't be disappointed – the likes of Dead Trigger 2, RipTide and other tech-intense titles all run at a fast framerate, packing loads of detail. But if you want to play PlayStation Mobile games, well, you're out of luck in South Africa.

Grab it or not?
Taken on its own merits, the Xperia Z1 is a well-rounded, well-designed flagship smartphone, possessing a good camera, pleasant lines and a lovely screen.
But the same could be said for the earlier Xperia Z.
The fact that the Z1 is merely a marginal improvement over the Xperia Z means that you won't be missing out on anything major if you opt for the older stablemate.
That's not to say that the Z1 isn't a great handset - it ticks all the boxes for a superphone – it just doesn't stand out from the crowd.