Sony Xperia XZ1 review: XZibit one

Introduction

Sony was never a company to blindly follow trends, having its own approach to the mobile market. A fact perfectly illustrated by the company's latest flagship duo - the XZ1 and XZ1 Compact, which you only need to look at once to recognize the Xperia pedigree. The 2017 Sony flagships proper combine the best elements across the lineup to try and cut themselves a solid piece of the holiday sales pie.

The XZ1 Compact arguably has the easier task - it caters to those longing for a premium Android mini, who were disappointed by the X Compact and its lower standing. The full-sized XZ1 on the other hand will try and serve a niche with much fiercer competition.

It builds on the XZ Premium Loop surface design and its Motion Eye camera by adding smoother edges and new smoother modes. The 4K screen has gone missing in action, but that had its fair share of doubters at the 5.5" diagonal of the Premium, so it probably won't have seen much love at all here at 5.2". Plus, Sony made it clear the the XZ1 is the direct successor to the Xperia XZ and will bring the Motion Eye goodness even to the markets that didn't get the XZs.

Sony Xperia XZ1 key features

• Body: 148 x 73.4 x 7.4mm, 155 g, Aluminum unibody, Gorilla Glass 5 front, IP65/68 waterproofing
• Screen: 5.2" Triluminos display, 1080p resolution (1,080 x 1,920px), HDR video support
• OS: Android OS v8 Oreo with the Xperia launcher and Sony multimedia apps
• Chipset: Snapdragon 835 chipset: octa-core Kryo 280 CPU (4x2.46GHz +4x1.9GHz); Adreno 540 GPU; 4GB of RAM
• Camera: 19MP, 1/2.3" Sony IMX400 camera, f/2.0 lens, predictive hybrid laser/phase detection/contrast AF, burst AF, IR sensor for white balance, LED flash, dedicated hardware shutter key;
• Video recording: 4K video recording @30fps, 1080p @60fps, 720p @960fps, Steady Shot; Stereo audio recording;
• Selfie: 13MP, 1/3.06" front-facing autofocus camera with 1080p@30fps video
• Storage: 64GB of built-in UFS storage and a microSD card slot
• SIM: Single and dual-SIM models (market dependent)
• Connectivity: Cat. 16 LTE, 4x4 MIMO; Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, MIMO; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou/Galileo, Bluetooth v5.0; NFC, USB-C port with USB 3.1 support, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Audio: Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic; 24-bit/192kHz Hi-Res audio; S-Force Front Surround stereo speakers
• Battery: 2,700mAh non-removable battery, QuickCharge 3.0 support, Qnovo adaptive charging, Battery Care smart charging
• Misc: Fingerprint sensor (market dependent), stereo speakers

Main shortcomings

• No wireless charging
• No OIS
• Fingerprint recognition not available in the US

The Sony Xperia XZ1 is the middle member of the company's premium trifecta and its 5.2-inch diagonal a a bit short of the 5.5-inch "sweet spot" of the current market. With the XZ Premium already available to cover that size, the XZ1 had to either go full phablet or slip between that and the XZ1 Compact. With Sony yet to embrace the bezelfree trend it's probably for the better that it chose the latter approach.

Sony Xperia XZ1 in official photos

We'll now have to see how it all works out in everyday use. Join us on the following pages as we dive deeper into the Xperia XZ1 and explore what it has to offer.

Unboxing

Sony has never been much about flamboyant boxes and fancy presentation and the XZ1 makes no exception. It comes in a simple 2-piece cardboard box and frankly, it's probably the more sensible approach. What good is spending money on packaging that is going to sit in the closet. Most electronics are purchased online these days anyway, so "on shelf appeal" is not really a big concern anymore.

Xperia XZ1 box

Inside the box you get the XZ1 in one of four colors: Moonlit Blue, Venus Pink, Warm Silver or black. Also included are a wall charger and Type-C cable and a pair of Sony's MH750 ear buds.

Our unit arrived with a basic Sony UCH20 charger, rated at 1.5A@5V, which really can't take advantage of the XZ1's Quick Charge 3.0 and USB power delivery support, so we hope retail packages in other markets are coming with better power adapter. Either that or you will have to get one yourselves if you fancy a quick top-up every now and then.

Sony Xperia XZ1 360-degree spin

The biggest XZ1 design changehas to be the metal unibody design. The older three-piece construction has given way to one made from single piece of bent metal alloy, much curvier and rounder around the sides. This refined Loop surface, as Sony calls it, means fewer gaps in the construction - definitely a plus. It probably helped with IP65/68 certification in addition to boosting looks.

The modernized take on the familiar Xperia silhouettemade it harder for all the radio inside to function so a a few tweaks were needed, Most prominently a trio of looping antenna lines sits on the sides of the phone - an unorthodox look that will probably split opinions.

The top and bottom also had to be finished in plastic and thus colored in a slightly different shade than the rest of the body. They are also curved now, Instead of flat as on most of the Xperia lineup lately.

Sony Xperia XZ1 in the hand

Hardware overview

The Xperia XZ1 unibody back not only looks, but also and feels very premium, especially when you pick it up off the table and get that particular cold metal feel. We have to complement Sony on the color choice and execution for the finish. Moonlit Blue and Venus Pink look playful enough to have some youthful appeal, but aren't too flamboyant so serious adults can still use them. Of course, the Warm Silver and traditional Black are likely better suited for the boardroom environment.

Xperia XZ1 back • Xperia XZ1 back • XZs, XZ1, XZ Premium

There is really not much to distract from the design of the back, with all the elements of interestconcentrated on a single plastic strip. This is where the NFC was forced to reside to work around the metal construction. It shares the space with the camera companions - the laser autofocus module and LED flash.

The 19MP camera itself is in the top left corner, protruding quite a bit outside the phone's 7.4mm body. A good shooter with a large sensor like that needs its space.

Xperia XZ1 in all four color variants

On to the sides and the new antenna lines we mentioned earlier. We can't really say we appreciate the lack of symmetry, but other than that, they grew on us quickly. And we appreciate Sony's effort to keep the lines confined to the sides.

Right-hand side

On the rigth side sits the hardware shutter key - a convenience Sony fans have come to love. Also on the right side is a convenient volume rocker, as well as Sony's bigger power button variant - the one with a fingerprint reader inside.

The reader is pretty snappy and reliable and its position on the side really works great for most. However, it takes up space and is Sony's primary excuse for not trimming the side bezels on its phones. We are not sure the trade-off is worth it, though, given that there is plenty of underutilized space below the screen.

Left-hand side

The opposite bezel only houses a SIM card/microSD card cradle. It is still plagued by a couple of long-standing Sony issues, which we are going to complain about until they eventually get addressed. For one Sony is still sticking with a hybrid design for its dual SIM variants. A dedicated microSD slot would be greatly appreciated. And we don't think Sony's two-part cradle is a good much for the launcher that restarts every time you pull out the SIM - so everytime you use the microSD card the XZ1 restarts.

Top and bottom bezels are now plastic

Materials and curvy profile aside, the top and bottom bezels of the Xperia XZ1 are not really that interesting. One holds a USB 3.0, Type-C port and a microphone. The other is occupied by a 3.5mm audio jack and a secondary microphone, to power stereo audio recording and noise canceling.

XZ1 front side

On to the front then. The entire surface here is Gorilla Glass 5 and also perfectly flat. It's doesn't have a 2.5D curved glass, but at least you can easily find a good glass screen protector to go on top for some extra piece of mind, if that's your thing.

Xperia XZ1 alongside the XZs and XZ Premium

Other elements of itnerest on the front of the Xperia XZ1 include a notification LED, light and proximity sensor combo and the 13 MP selfie snapper. The top and bottom bezels, surrounding the display are rather spacious, but on the plus side, they do house a pair of grilles - both functional and part of Sony's rather impressive S-Force Front Surround setup.

The speakers have been tweaked to deliver a more balanced stereo effect and "50% more sound pressure over the Xperia XZ". We'll get back to those in the loudspeaker section in a few moments.

Display

The Sony Xperia XZ1's 5.2-inch 1080p display sounds identical to the XZs unit on paper, but it's actually a new panel and one that comes with HDR10 support. Just like its XZ Premium sibling, the new XZ1 is compatible with high dynamic range content from both Netflix and Amazon video. If you plan on using your next phone for multimedia consumption from these sources it will make a difference.

The FullHD resolution looks nicely sharp to our eyes and has certain potential battery endurance benefits. Of course,it is ultimately up to you to decide whether the lack of a QHD panel is something to hold against the XZ1 or not.

As far as display technology goes, Sony is also sticking with what it knows - IPS LCD. The panel of choice for the XZ1 also boasts Sony's Triluminos and X-Reality engine technologies. It is reasonably bright at 575 nits, but its blacks have have almost half a nit of backlight bleed at full brightness. That damages contrast quite a lot, but the overall result is still solid.

Display test	100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Nokia 8	0.382	703	1840
Samsung Galaxy S8+ Max auto	0	647	∞
Samsung Galaxy S8 Max auto	0	618	∞
LG V30 (Max Auto)	0.032	616	19250
Sony Xperia XZ (max auto)	0.46	608	1336
Xiaomi Mi 6	0.462	603	1305
Huawei P10	0.416	592	1423
HTC U11 (Max Auto)	0.373	583	1563
Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)	0.48	576	1200
Sony Xperia XZ1	0.409	575	1406
Sony Xperia XZ Premium	0.463	573	1238
Sony Xperia XZs	0.461	564	1223
LG G6 max auto	0.277	564	2036
Motorola Moto Z2 Force (Max Auto)	0	559	∞
Huawei P10 Plus	0.335	547	1633
Sony Xperia XZ	0.37	502	1349
HTC U11	0.308	483	1568
LG G6	0.228	468	2053
Samsung Galaxy S8+	0	442	∞
Samsung Galaxy S8	0	440	∞
OnePlus 5	0	435	∞
Google Pixel XL	0	432	∞
LG V30	0.002	414	207000
Motorola Moto Z2 Force	0	376	∞

Sunlight legibility is great too - in fact we measured a contrast of 3.765 in our standardized test, which is among the best achievements by an LCD panel.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S8
  4.768
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  4.658
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Oppo R11
  4.454
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Nokia 8
  4.239
• OnePlus 3T
  4.232
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Meizu Pro 7 Plus
  4.147
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  3.935
• Lenovo Moto Z
  3.931
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• OnePlus 5
  3.914
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Apple iPhone 6
  3.838
• Sony Xperia XZs
  3.818
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
  3.812
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  3.804
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  3.767
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  3.765
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  3.688
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Huawei Mate 9
  3.68
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
  3.597
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• LG G6
  3.556
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  3.526
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Huawei P10 Plus
  3.456
• HTC U Ultra
  3.453
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Huawei P10
  3.379
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  3.378
• Oppo R9s
  3.352
• Honor 8 Pro
  3.341
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Lenovo P2
  3.316
• Honor 9
  3.289
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Nokia 5
  3.261
• Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
  3.244
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  3.24
• Nokia 6 (Global version)
  3.238
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  3.228
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Oppo F3 Plus
  3.218
• Huawei Mate 9 Pro
  3.206
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• ZTE Nubia Z17
  3.159
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• HTC U11
  3.089
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia XA1
  3.012
• Sony Xperia L1
  2.994
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Huawei P10 Lite
  2.974
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2.95
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  2.92
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  2.893
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
  2.877
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  2.877
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Nokia 3
  2.871
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Lenovo Moto M
  2.813
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• Meizu MX6
  2.751
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  2.714
• Meizu M5
  2.71
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.679
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  2.679
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  2.658
• Doogee Mix
  2.642
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  2.635
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Meizu M5s
  2.58
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  2.563
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
  2.561
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Lenovo K6 Note
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Meizu m3 max
  2.447
• HTC 10 evo
  2.407
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Oppo F3
  2.376
• vivo V5 Plus
  2.371
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Meizu M5 Note
  2.189
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Xiaomi Mi 4S
  2.095
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• vivo V5
  2.059
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2.001
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  1.772
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Sony Xperia L
  1.351
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

In terms of color accuracy, the Xperia XZ1 handles itself pretty well. Under the default color mode we managed a respectable average deltaE of 4.5, with a max deviation of 7.3. Pro mode is your friend, if you want to come as close as possible to the sRGB spectrum. Also, bringing the brightness down to our standard 200 nit level for battery test helped lower the average deltaE to 3.8 and the max to 6.

Custom white balance

If you really want to go all out, Sony also offers custom white balance controls. After some fiddling, we managed an average deltaE of only 2 and a max of 3.7 in Pro mode at 200 nits, using the settings above.

On the other end of the scale, there is Vivid mode. It pushes colors hard, especially blues, in an effort to give the images on it extra punch.

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia XZ1 is pretty decked-out in this department. Some variants come with two Nano-SIM slots, for extra flexibility. Sadly, Sony's solution in this case is a hybrid one, so its either the microSD card or the second line.

Cat.16 LTE is capable of download speeds of up to 1Gbit/s, provided your carrier can step up to the challenge. Wi-Fi also has most goodies on board - dual-band, a/c. The same goes for the fast USB 3.1, Type-C data interface and the shiny new Bluetooth 5.0 radio, with support for aptX HD and LE.

If these details are particularly significant for you, these are all areas where the XZ1 clearly has the XZs beat. Of course, there is satellite positioning as well, which should work most everywhere in the world, thanks to A-GPS, GLONASS and BDS support.

Battery life

Now, there's really no point beating about the bush, 2,700 mAh sounds like little juice for a modern flagship. Even the Xperia XZs had a larger battery. However, the Snapdragon 835 is also based on a more efficient 10-nm process, compared the the 14nm Snapdragon 820. There is also the matter of Oreo software optimization.

Apparently these made quite a difference as the Xperia XZ1 managed a surprisingly good 82 hour Endurance rating in our test. This is actually better than both the XZ Premium and XZs, which scored 72 and 73 hours with their 3,230 mAh and 2,900 mAh batteries.

We think we can piece together an explanation as to why that is. We should probably consider the fact that the XZ Premium uses a 4K panel. Even if it does not run at its native resolution most of the time, it is still likely more power-hungry. As for the XZs, it has a similar 5.2-inch, 1080p panel as the XZ1, but it does use a less efficient 14nm Snapdragon 820 chipset.

Android Oreo seems to have helped out the most, particularly through its improved background battery saving features. This is likely how it managed 377 hours on standby, compared to the XZ Premium's 322.

Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xperia XZ Premium for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

One positive aspect of having a small battery is a speedy recharge cycle. The XZ1 supports QuickCharge 3.0, so you can get over 60% charge in 30 minutes if you have a QC3 charger. Qnovo adaptive charging and Battery Care are worth mentioning here as well.

The Qnovo Adaptive Charging tech built inside recent Sony Xperia phones allows the smartphone to monitor the cell's electrochemical processes in real time and adjust charging parameters dynamically to minimize cell damage and extend the battery unit's lifespan.

Qnovo claims the battery should last hundreds of charge cycles more than a conventionally charged battery. This potentially means a year or so of extra longevity as the battery performance deteriorates more slowly and should be able to hold more charge when it gets older.

The there is Battery Care. Say you charge your phone overnight, and you regularly plug it in at midnight and unplug it at 8 in the morning. In time, the phone will recognize the pattern, charge the battery to 90% and then stop charging. And then at, say, 7:30 in the morning it will pick up where it left off and top it all up to 100% at a slower pace, so the battery doesn't stay at full charge for prolonged time periods.This should further extend the battery lifespan.

Battery saving modes

On the software side of things, you get a pair of battery saving modes. One is the regular STAMINA mode, which caps performance and disables a few non-vital background tasks. Then there is Ultra STAMINA mode for when you are far away from a wall socket. It disables Wi-Fi and data entirely and pretty much leaves you with the bare essentials of your phone.

Tasty Oreo with an Xperia twist

One of the highlight features of the new Xperia XZ1, and its Compact sibling for that matter, is the latest available Android 8.0 Oreo OS. Don't really expect a radical change in the UI of the device as most of the changes are under the hood, but they improve the user experience quite significantly too. Long-term Sony fans should feel right at home with what is essentially the same Xperia launcher and overall light level of OS customization.

Sony uses a UI close to stock Android, and focuses most of its efforts in its in-house apps that come preloaded. This means the Xperia ROM is light on the chipset even if it's not as full of features as some of its competitors.

Since not much has changed in the UI itself, we'll try to keep our tour brief. Unlike some of its competitors, Sony is still sticking to the basics when it comes to biometric authentication methods. We already mentioned the signature fingerprint reader, which triggers an animation that slides the lockscreen away from your thumb (as if you pushed it out of the way).

If you have simple Swipe unlock enabled (without any PIN or password) you can tap on the Power button to unlock instead, provided you've woken up the device first.

Lockscreen • Lockscreen and unlock options

The lockscreen itself is nothing special. Be default, you get a clock and date widget and a pair of quick unlock shortcuts. You still get some level of customization, including a few different clock designs and some notification area tweak. Of course, the standard Android unlock methods are present as well.

There is also the Android-native Smart Lock. It gives you conditional security - trusted nearby devices, locations, faces, or voices can allow you to skip the security protocol that you may have set up on the phone.

Smart Lock

The homescreen appears unchanged from previous Xperia generations. This includes the swipe down gesture, which shows a screen of the apps you use most along with recommendations for new apps to install. The search field is highlighted so you can start typing the app's name immediately.

Homescreen • Homescreen • App search and suggestions• Folder view • Homescreen settings

The traditional app drawer is present, and you'll find a number of proprietary apps pre-installed. Sony takes great pride in the A/V prowess of their devices, and the multimedia apps are all custom and feature-rich, but more on them in their dedicated chapter.

The app drawer lets you sort the apps by frequency of use, name, date installed or a custom arrangement. One new detail we noticed is the absence of Sony's traditional app management mode. Now when you long press on an app, the launcher gives you the ability to uninstall it or enter its properties page, as well as a list of in-app shortcuts and quick access features.

App drawer • Sorting options • App contextual menu • App contextual menu • Pinned homescreen shortcuts

If you happen to like something, the pin button brings the corresponding shortcut to the home screen. This is just one of the many Oreo goodies to be found on the XZ1. Most of these are burried quite deep, so stick around as we show you a few more in a bit.

Themes are available (both free and paid) that can customize the look and sound of the Xperia XZ1. Some themes are even interactive, with their wallpapers reacting to your touches. Besides themes, the Xperia launcher also offers wallpapers, grid settings and various transition animation options.

Launcher customization options • Themes

The notification area is plain Android. You can re-arrange the quick toggle tiles and adjust the screen brightness. What's missing is a toggle for Auto brightness (you need to go into the settings for that). It's the way stock Android is set up, but we miss that option there and Sony could have used the Oreo update opportunity to introduce it.

The app switcher is, a similarly vanilla Android affair, with the 3D rolodex look and a End All Apps button. The small apps are gone and are replaced by a Split Screen feature. If a running app supports split screen, you will be able to snap it at the top or bottom of the screen right from the rolodex. It's easy to use the split screen mode, but there is no way of knowing which app supports it - you have to start it first and then try to snap it.

No-nonsense task switcher • Split screen apps • Notification area is vanilla Android

Sony has a proprietary backup solution built-in on its Xperias. It can backup applications, contacts, messages, phone settings. The backup info itself can be stored in the cloud under your Sony online account, or locally on the microSD card or an external USB device.

Backups can be scheduled, including conditions like "Connected to Wi-Fi" and "Charging device", depending on your preferences.

Scheduled backups are neat

Sony has organized a few of its helpful features in a reworked Assist interface. Some of these can be accessed through other points within the settings menu, but having them all in a centralized and nicely styled location is still a nice touch.

Assist features

Triggers are rather neat automation tool that can be either set on a simple timer or made conditional based on location or a per-app basis. It's kind of like a simplified version of Tasker. Options are a bit limited and you should also note that tracking location definitely increases battery consumption.

The Smart cleaner feature will periodically empty the cache of apps you haven't used in a while. You can switch this off, but unlike previous implementations of the feature, an app whitelist seems to be missing here. .

Accessibility features

So is that all Android Oreo offers? Not quite - as we said major advancements come under the hood, in the shape of Background limits optimization for better battery endurance and new API's, like system-wide autofill or camera API optimizations that will take some time and development to get utilized by third-party app developers.

As far as more obvious new features go, there is Android Oreo's new picture in picture mode, which allows you to watch a video in a floating window, while still doing other tasks on your phone. There are some players out there already capable of this, but we are talking about a core Android feature this time around. Currently, the YouTube, Chrome and VLC apps are said to support Oreo picture in picture.

Oreo picture in picture mode

Notification channels are another potentially big change in the Android ecosystem. Again, support is still limited to only a few apps, but certain Google product have already separated their notifications into categories, which Oreo allows you to handle individually. That means you can mute a specific one, without having to silence the entire app.

Chrome notification channels • Gmail notification channels

Synthetic benchmarks

The Sony Xperia XZ1 comes with Snapdragon 835, complete with 4GB of RAM. Being one of the first out the door with an Oreo ROM out of the box does mean bumping into quite a few software optimization issues along the way. And we are not just talking about Sony's own various pieces of code, running on the new OS. Third-party software needs time and to properly adapt to Oreo and its new APIs. That process depends entirely on the app developers out there.

Benchmark apps need to be properly adjusted to adequately handle every new iteration of Google's mobile OS. Major updates, especially. This is why relatively bigger margins of error can be expected in the following test scores.

It is important to note that even at this state, from a real-word user standpoint, the Xperia ROM we tested on our device ran smoothly with no hiccups. The powerful Snapdragon 835 naturally had no trouble chewing through every task we threw its way. That being said, let's kick off with a pure CPU benchmark.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  6754
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  6719
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  6629
• OnePlus 5
  6604
• Nokia 8
  6568
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  6541
• HTC U11
  6393
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  6301
• LG V30 (non-final)
  6151
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  5460
• LG G6
  4175

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  1986
• OnePlus 5
  1932
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  1929
• Nokia 8
  1925
• HTC U11
  1919
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  1915
• LG V30 (non-final)
  1904
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  1840
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  1836
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  1832
• LG G6
  1767

Still the XZ1 holds its own amid a crowd of flagship hardware offers. Judging by the single-core results, there might be room for optimization yet, in order to squeeze out a hundred or so points extra and catch up to the likes of the OnePlus 5 or Mi 6.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 5
  6404
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  6338
• Nokia 8
  6293
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  6293
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  6278
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  6132
• HTC U11
  6125
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  6106
• Huawei P10
  6069
• LG V30 (non-final)
  5869
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  5837
• LG G6
  4209
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  4139
• Sony Xperia XZs
  3979
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3868

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 5
  2031
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  2026
• Nokia 8
  2005
• HTC U11
  1993
• LG V30 (non-final)
  1986
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  1986
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  1943
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  1938
• Huawei P10
  1927
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  1915
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  1913
• LG G6
  1733
• Sony Xperia XZs
  1724
• Sony Xperia XZ
  1578
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  1535

GeekBench 4 does seem to favor the Xperia XZ1 a bit more than the newer version of the benchmark. The compute score it managed to pull is especially impressive. Or put another way - a Snapdragon 835 doing what it is designed to do - provide top-notch performance.

Geekbench 4 Compute

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ1
  8003
• HTC U11
  7992
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  7577
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  6920
• LG G6
  6484

Basemark OS 2.0 seems to be a little less kind to the Xperia XZ1 than GeekBench 4, but its result card does resemble that of GeekBench 4.1 pretty closely. Granted, the XZ1 seems to be near the bottom of the Snapdragon 835 bunch. The again, it appears to give Samsung's Exynos 8895 less of an edge in performance. Even less so for Huawei's Kirin 960.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  3609
• OnePlus 5
  3601
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  3547
• Nokia 8
  3503
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  3319
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  3298
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  3174
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  2986
• HTC U11
  2970
• Huawei P10
  2910
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  2461
• Sony Xperia XZs
  2386
• Sony Xperia XZ
  2151
• LG G6
  2126

AnTuTu also evaluates things like storage and GPU performance and the XZ1 produces a score matching the XZ Premium. Sony phones are actuallynot quite on par with the other 835 chips here, but it appears to be due some sort of an issue with the benchmark app itself than their performance.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• OnePlus 5
  180331
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  178674
• HTC U11
  177343
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  177326
• Nokia 8
  175872
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  174070
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  168133
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  144462
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  144223
• LG G6
  143639
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  141193
• Sony Xperia XZs
  133574
• Huawei P10
  126629
• Sony Xperia XZ
  124266

We now move on to the graphics department with the GFX tests.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  61
• HTC U11
  60
• OnePlus 5
  60
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  57
• Nokia 8
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  50
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  50
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  49
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  49
• Sony Xperia XZs
  42
• LG G6
  41
• Sony Xperia XZ
  37
• Huawei P10
  29

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  56
• OnePlus 5
  56
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  48
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  48
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  47
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  40
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  40
• Sony Xperia XZs
  40
• Sony Xperia XZ
  37
• HTC U11
  35
• Huawei P10
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  34
• Nokia 8
  33
• LG G6
  24

The Adreno 540 is a powerful graphics unit and combined with the 1080p resolution on the XZ1 it produces some impressive scores on the on-screen tests.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  42
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  42
• HTC U11
  41
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  41
• OnePlus 5
  41
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  39
• Nokia 8
  39
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  39
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  39
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  33
• Sony Xperia XZs
  32
• Sony Xperia XZ
  31
• LG G6
  26
• Huawei P10
  22

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  41
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  41
• OnePlus 5
  40
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  40
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  34
• Sony Xperia XZs
  34
• Sony Xperia XZ
  32
• Huawei P10
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  23
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  22
• HTC U11
  19
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  18
• Nokia 8
  18
• LG G6
  12

OpenGL ES tests paint a similar picture - the Xperia XZ1 is well prepared to handle your gaming needs.

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Nokia 8
  32
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  25
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  25
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• HTC U11
  24
• OnePlus 5
  24
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  23
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  20
• Sony Xperia XZ
  20
• Sony Xperia XZs
  20
• LG G6
  16
• Huawei P10
  14

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  25
• OnePlus 5
  24
• Sony Xperia XZs
  21
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  20
• Sony Xperia XZ
  19
• Huawei P10
  16
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  13
• HTC U11
  13
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  12
• Nokia 8
  12
• LG G6
  8.5

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  1111
• Motorola Moto Z2 Force
  867
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  861
• Nokia 8
  855
• Sony Xperia XZ1
  853
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  842
• HTC U11
  836
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  817
• OnePlus 5
  796
• Huawei P10
  716
• Google Pixel (5.0)
  626
• Sony Xperia XZs
  623
• Sony Xperia XZ
  577
• LG G6
  541

The Xperia XZ1 really does live up to flagship standards. This might come off the wrong way, but the thing is, we anticipated a lot more "growing pains" associated with the Android 8 integration. Sony's mobile division deserves plenty of praise for getting things right on the first try. Some of the benchmark scores might be a bit behind the Snpadragon 835 competition but margins are small and the real-life performance is as snappy as we've come to expect.

Phone

The Xperia XZ1 has its call log separated from the contacts, but there are shortcuts from one to the other in the upper right corner. It can be filtered by missed, incoming and outgoing calls. Smart dial is supported too.

Dialer with smart dial • Call log • Phonebook • Favorites

Messaging

Messaging is equally straightforward. Sony's default app organizes communication into chats. It also has a nice collection of stickers and supports all sorts of attachments. These will force you to convert to MMS though.

Messaging

Since Sony shops the XZ1 with a Google app package pre-installed, Gmail is probably the most obvious choice for email. Then again, Sony also has its own app. It has some pretty nice extra features to offer, like integration with Sony's calendar for event management and reminders plus weather info.

Two email apps

If you plan on jumping into Sony's own ecosystem, you could give it a try.

Text input

SwiftKey has been Sony's bundled keyboard of choice for some time now. It is a truly powerful solution. You can customize pretty much every aspect of your typing experience, including custom layouts, themes, size adjustment, dictionaries and more.

SwiftKey

Loudspeaker

We would take a stereo setup over a mono one any day of the week. However, there are certain drawbacks that come with most dual-speaker phones these days, primarily in the loudness department. Just like most of its siblings, the Xperia XZ1 just doesn't have enough volume to impress.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Sony Xperia XZ	61.6	65.5	67.6	Below Average
Sony Xperia XZ1 (S-Force Front Surround)	63.8	68.0	67.4	Below Average
Sony Xperia XZ Premium	62.9	65.2	71.6	Below Average
Sony Xperia XZ1 (ClearAudio+)	64.5	67.6	67.7	Below Average
Sony Xperia XZs	62.4	65.5	73.3	Average
Sony Xperia XZ1	65.4	68.0	69.1	Average
Samsung Galaxy S8	66.2	70.5	72.5	Good
Samsung Galaxy S8+	68.5	69.4	71.6	Good
LG G6	66.8	68.8	74.5	Good
Huawei P10 Plus	64.8	69.8	82.5	Good
Xiaomi Mi 6	66.1	69.0	84.1	Very Good
OnePlus 5	69.2	72.9	77.5	Very Good
HTC U11 (Theater)	69.2	72.7	78.4	Very Good
HTC U11 (Music)	68.7	73.0	79.1	Very Good
Huawei P10	67.7	70.0	83.6	Very Good
LG V30	66.9	72.3	84.5	Very Good
Lenovo Moto Z2 Force	68.2	70.2	86.1	Very Good
Google Pixel XL	73.4	72.1	84.1	Excellent
Nokia 8	88.0	77.1	81.4	Excellent

In its default mode, the XZ1 barely pushes an "Average" mark. Fiddling around with ClearAudio+ or the S-Force Front Surround toggles nets you a decrease in volume either way. (You can't have both turned on at the same time). ClearAudio+ does seem to improve sound a bit, but S-Force Front Surround is just weird. We guess, it's an acquired taste and we do hear some of Sony's efforts to give some more sense of depth to the sound come trough, but it just sounds off. Especially for voices.

Another thing to appreciate here is that unlike many of its competitors, Sony opted for two symmetrical in its setup, making for a much better stereo experience than blasting the earpiece on high.

Other apps

Besides email, Sony has some other app basics covered with its own solutions as well. The News app is a news aggregator, pulling stories from sources on topics of your choice. It can also issue two daily bulletins for you at a time you specify, so you don't miss out on current events. There is also a simple weather app, complete with nice animations.

News • Weather

Xperia lounge is Sony's own entertainment app, feeding you exclusive content and competitions related to music, movies and games. What's new is a similar concept, but it act like more of a guide into Android applications, themes, games and more. It is a curated catalog of links to various other platforms, like the Google Play store, audible, amazon and others.

Xperia Lounge

Sony's health-tracking app Lifelog doesn't come pre-installed, though all it takes to download it is a trip to the Play Store. However, there is no shortage of third-party apps that do come pre-loaded on the XZ1. AVG Protection Pro is a particularly annoying one, since its usefulness is questionable to begin with and it is also a trial.

Amazon apps • AVR Protection Pro

Then there are the Amazon Shopping and Kindle apps. It is a fair bet that these would come in handy to at least some of the XZ1 users, but it is still a bit annoying to find them pre-loaded. If nothing else, we suggest you replace the Amazon app, with the Underground one that has the application store intact.

Sony did finally include a simple file manager in its ROM, which gets the job done. There is a basic calculator as well. The default Google app package should have you covered for most everything else.

File manager • File manager • Calculator • Google app package

Sony's Album is still amazing

The Album app that handles image viewing on the Xperia XZ1 is among the most comprehensive and feature-rich gallery apps we've seen, and it's fast and easy to use.

At the very top of the list is a slideshow, showing off your photos. Lower down, the first photo of each month is shown at twice the size of other images.

Photos are organized by month, and you can use pinch-zoom to change the size of thumbnails (then they smoothly animate into the grid).

Album app

You can also browse photos on a map (you can manually add geotag info too) or by folder. This includes network storage so that you can view photos from a DLNA server (your home computer, for one). Then there's integration with online albums - Facebook, Flickr, and Google Photos (someone should tell Sony engineers this is no longer called Picasa).

As far as photo editing goes, we are actually missing a few Sony apps on the XZ1 - Sketch and Sticker creator. Perhaps Sony didn't have the time to port them over the Oreo, perhaps it is a market segmentation, early unit or regional thing. Regardless, we hope the pair of apps land on the XZ1 at some moint.

Photo editor

In the meantime, the default Photo Editor app is pretty powerful in itself. Filters, frames, basic corrections, levels - all accounted for.

Movie Creator is similar to the Google Photos Assistant. It automatically creates short videos from the photos and videos you've shot. You can do it manually too: pick photos and videos, change their order, and add color effects and music (you get a small audio collection to start off with, but you can use custom files too). Then tap the Share button and send out your animated slideshow.

The Movie Creator can automatically or manually make shareable slideshows

Music app

The Music app is Sony's custom player that comes pre-installed on the Xperia XZ1 and it feels like part of the same software package. The contextual side menu offers many of the same browsing options - by folder, network folder, and online services like Spotify (it's just a link to the Spotify app though). You can share music from the phone to compatible players.

Music app

The app can find the track's video on YouTube, look up info about the artist on Wikipedia, and search for lyrics on Google. IT can also find and download album art automatically - all awesome stuff.

The Music app offers a variety of audio settings - ClearAudio+ determines the best audio quality settings depending on the track you're listening to. Then there's DSEE HX, which uses an almost wizardly algorithm that is supposed to restore or rather extrapolate compressed music files, like MP3s into high-res audio. According to Sony, the result is near Hi-Res Audio Quality, but it only works with wired headphones. It also helps with streaming audio but not Spotify.

Xperia XZ1 equalizer settings

Dynamic normalizer evens out the volume differences across tracks, which is great if you've mixed multiple albums from multiple sources. While in this menu, don't forget to dive a step further into Sound effects. This is actually where virtual surround toggle for both the speakers and headphones are hidden. Both are also turned off by default. Of course, there is an equalizer as well.

There's no FM radio on the Xperia XZ1, which seems to be the case with most flagships these days. Also, Sony's proprietary song recognition app Track ID doesn't come pre-installed. It's still available to download from the Play Store, of course.

Video

The aptly named Video app might have lost its TV guide functionality fairly recently, but it still has a few tricks up its sleeve. Extensive subtitle customization support is one such goodie. Then there is also the ability to connect to compatible storage devices and read or even stream media in other directions.

Video player

That is likely the reason why background video playback is an option, but sadly, there is still no pop-out interface. It would be great if Sony could implement the Android Oreo picture in picture API at some point.

Audio output is unchanged

The Sony Xperia XZ1 audio is virtually identical to that of the XZ Premium and XZs before it. The smartphone delivered excellently clean output when used with an active external amplifier, getting top marks across the board. Its output loudness was only average though - most of the other flagships out there do better.

Clarity degradation caused by headphones is about average - a moderate hike in stereo crosstalk and a little intermodulation distortion. However add the drop in loudness to below average levels and you end up with a performance that's not quite up there with the competition even if it's not too bad on its own.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Sony Xperia XZ1	+0.01, -0.03	-93.3	93.2	0.0028	0.0083	-90.2
Sony Xperia XZ1 (headphones)	+0.23, -0.23	-92.7	92.7	0.0077	0.216	-55.6
Sony Xperia XZs	+0.01, -0.02	-93.5	93.3	0.0042	0.0092	-92.7
Sony Xperia XZs (headphones)	+0.12, -0.32	-92.6	93.2	0.0072	0.219	-67.0
Nokia 8	+0.01, -0.03	-94.2	90.5	0.060	0.087	-88.5
Nokia 8 (headphones)	+0.06, -0.18	-93.8	90.3	0.166	0.282	-63.5
OnePlus 5	+0.03, -0.01	-94.1	94.1	0.0010	0.0070	-94.2
OnePlus 5 (headphones)	+0.15, -0.08	-94.0	94.0	0.0033	0.139	-59.9
HTC U11	+0.05, -0.11	-94.1	94.1	0.0017	0.0067	-94.5
HTC U11 (headphones)	+0.05, -0.02	-93.7	93.8	0.0018	0.105	-53.7
Samsung Galaxy S8	+0.04, -0.00	-92.5	92.5	0.0016	0.0072	-92.8
Samsung Galaxy S8 (headphones)	+0.03, -0.03	-92.3	92.3	0.0056	0.060	-77.2
LG G6	+0.01, -0.02	-93.3	93.3	0.0059	0.0095	-94.4
LG G6 (headphones)	+0.01, -0.02	-93.4	93.4	0.0067	0.020	-56.3
Huawei P10	+0.01, -0.04	-93.0	94.8	0.0019	0.0080	-93.5
Huawei P10 (headphones)	+0.25, -0.02	-92.7	93.0	0.192	0.175	-59.5
Apple iPhone 7	+0.06, -0.10	-92.4	92.3	0.0015	0.0093	-80.9
Apple iPhone 7 (headphones)	+0.03, -0.11	-92.3	92.3	0.0011	0.012	-77.0

Sony Xperia XZ1 frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.

19MP Motion Eye camera

Sony invested a lot of effort in its current flagship mobile camera solution and is not ready to give up on it yet. The XZ1 borrows the excellent 19MP, IMX400 ExmorRS, a.k.a. Motion Eye camera from the XZ Premium and the XZs.

Of course, Sony did sprinkle a few new software goodies on top. What it didn't do, for better or worse, is go down the trendy dual-camera route. There's no OIS either, the camera relying solely on EIS to keep things steady.

Instead of the usual 2-layer design, the new camera features a RAM chip sandwiched right in between the sensor and control circuitry layers. It serves as ultra fast buffer where the camera can temporary offload what the sensor captures without the need to wait for the storage to catch up.

This lets the sensor reads out the full 19MP resolution 5x faster, which prevents the nasty rolling shutter in photos of fast moving objects. It also enables the headline feature - 960fps slow-motion video! Most phones manage 240fps at best, but the Motion Eye allows you to go four times slower.

Sony went with a slightly lower resolution for the IMX400 (previous models were at 23MP), but kept the same physical dimensions of the sensor, so this has resulted into the pixels being 19% bigger. The aperture is one thing that hasn't changed for quite some time - it's still f/2.0, not the brightest out there, but decent given the ample 1/2.3" sensor.

Camera UI

There have been some changes to the camera interface since the last time we saw it. Sony's 4K video mode is no more a separate mode and the option has finally been moved to its rightful position in the resolution dropdown in settings.

Camera UI • There is no longer a 4K mode

Speaking of resolution settings, you might want to go into settings and switch the default 17MP (16:9) one to 19MP (4:3), so you can use the get the highest possible resolution.

XZ1 Camera settings

That being said, we still recommend using Superior Auto mode for most occasions as it has come a long way. Beyond adjusting exposure and toggling the flash and HDR, it can also do more advanced things, like detecting when the phone is mounted on a tripod and allow for lower ISO/longer shutter speeds to reduce noise.

There is very rarely a need to go to Manual mode to lower the shutter speed for nice slow-shutter images, the camera does this by itself when stabilized properly. Still, Manual mode is the only way to get to manual HDR controls, or disable the soft mode that toggles every time the XZ1 detects you are trying to make a portrait in Auto.

Manual mode

A handy and potentially shot-saving feature is called Predictive Capture. When the camera detects fast paced movement, it records a few of the moments before you press the shutter. So, if you were late clicking the shutter button, you would be able to use one of those pre-cached shots instead. In the XZ1 it also helps you catch missed smiles.

Our real life experience with the feature was mixed - it didn't kick in a few the times it should have. Still it doesn't cost anything in terms of user experience so even if it only works occasionally it's still useful.

Predictive Capture is nice to have

While on the topic of automated features with spotty reliability, autofocus burst is another novelty that is making its debut on the XZ1. It enables the camera to refocus between shots when doing a burst shot. It's not something you are going to need very often, but can come in handy for snapping shots of your fast running kids or, you know, your electric scooter-riding colleagues.

Image quality

The Xperia XZ1 is on par with its XZ Premium sibling in terms of camera quality. That meant detail level is decent and corner softness is not very pronounced, unlike the XZs - the third Motion Eye camera phone.

In good lighting conditions, the XZ1 captures plenty of detail - it is a match for the 23MP cameras used before. The processing, including the colors, has not changed much since the Xperia XZ and XZs, but there is a bit more detail and less noise here.

Xperia XZ1 daytime samples

Sony has worked on improving the Automatic White Balance and the colors are more accurate than their previous snappers. Indeed, the images turned out with accurate colors, great contrast and wide dynamic range.

Noise suppression artifacts are still abundant, though, even if the lighting was great. If you downscale those images to 12MP or less, that becomes less noticeable.

Superior Auto is typically very good at recognizing the scenes and adjusting parameters. If it detects the need for HDR, it will shoot in Backlit mode automatically.

HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On • HDR Off • HDR On

There is manual HDR mode available in, well, Manual mode, but its switch is hidden in the advanced settings. Intelligent Auto is doing a good job, though, so you will rarely need to switch to Manual only to shoot HDR.

The panoramic shots the XZ1 produces have a height of up to 1,000 pixels. Width is absolutely up to you, since you can stop the capturing process at any time. You do get plenty of detail and practically no stitching artifacts, unless you try to shoot moving objects.

Xperia XZ1 panorama sample

When the sun goes down, things get a little bit too blurry for our taste. On the one hand, there is the lack of OIS. But even if you make it a habit to go out with a tripod, the XZ1 still looses a lot of detail in the dark, due to heavy-handed noise reduction, which ironically isn't doing all that good of a job of masking the noise itself. It's not a terrible performance by any means, but it's just lagging behind the flagship competition.

Xperia XZ1 low-light samples

More XZ1 low-light samples

Naturally, we shot our standard posters with the Xperia XZ1 as well. You can use our photo compare tool to see how it stacks up against competitors.

Sony Xperia XZ1 in our photo compare tool

Before we more on to video, we also took a few selfies for you to check out. Detail is plenty, as one can expect from a 13MP sensor (1/3.06") with a f/2.0 lens. Dynamic range is great. Definitely more than enough for Instagram use, that's for sure.

XZ1 selfie samples

It is also worth noting that there is autofocus on the selfie snapper as well. Bear in mind that in Intelligent Auto the camera seems to have some sort of beautification enhancement constantly on so if you don't fancy the effect it has on your face, you might have to switch to Manual mode to disable it.

More XZ1 selfie samples

Video recording

Just like with stills, the XZ1 borrows its video recording capabilities and prowess almost directly from the XZ Premium. Shooting modes include 4K with SteadyShot video stabilization and all the standards you would expect - 1080p/30fps and high-speed 1080p/60fps options. There is also a 120fps recording in 720p, and finally, there is the headline 960fps slow motion video recording - that's recorded again in 720p.

Camera UI

Historically, flagship Xperias have had no optical image stabilization, and neither does the XZ1. What it does have, however, is 5-axis image stabilization. Well, technically, axis might not be correct here, but the point is that Sony's system can compensate for translation along two axes and rotation around all three.

Shooting in 1080p/30fps mode gives you a choice between Standard and Intelligent Active options. It's this last mode that gets the headline 5-axis stabilization. Bumping resolution or frame rate higher than that (1080p @ 60fps or 4K) only gets you the SteadyShot Standard variety - 3-axis, but still does a great job.

4K clips have plenty of detail, great contrast, and accurate colors. There is no corner softness either. Processing is rather laid-back, in the sense that not much sharpening is applied. The final result is not necessarily to everybody's taste. Still, footage looks pretty natural and with a good dynamic range.

When shooting in 4K, the XZ1 also gives you a choice between H.264 or H.265 containers. The latter have a smaller storage footprint - a 3 minute 4K video is 1.24GB in H.264 but only 790MB in H.265. Pixel-peeping does reveal small potential differences in quality between the two, but really insignificant. It is definitely worth opting for the newer and more efficient standard, especially now that YouTube supports it.

1080p videos come with very good quality and smooth framerate no matter if you opt for 30 or 60fps.

The most fun feature of this camera surely has to be the 960fps slow motion video recording. The videos are recorded at 720p resolution and run at normal speed until you press the on-screen button that slows down time for a split second. The camera's buffer is enough for only a blink of an eye (0.18s), but a lot can happen in that tiny window when time slows to a crawl, and you catch the right moment.

Just like on the XZ Premium, the process to get to the 960fps video mode is rather complicated. You have to switch to video recording, then hit the slow motion button, then start recording the video and then hit the slow motion button again at the moment you want. This does at least limit any potential delusion you might harbor for using the mode at a whim to capture a moment.

Even if you go through the sequence, nailing the right moment is still quite hard as the camera doesn't start recording when you hit the button. Instead, it offloads what's already in its buffer, so it shows you the recording of the events that have already happened when you press the button. Once you get the hang of this, it becomes much easier, but getting the timing just right is still a hit-or-miss affair.

As far as HD resolution goes, quality of the slow-motion videos is pretty decent. Just remember that for such high-speed shooting, you need plenty of light. We can't stress this enough. If lighting is anything but perfect you will end up with very noisy footage.

You can download short untouched samples if you like - 4K (10s, 42MB), 1080p at 30fps (10s, 22MB), and 1080p at 60fps (10s, 38MB).

Below you have the XZ1 in out video compare tool as well. Since the phone managed to do well at both 4K and 1080p, we decided to throw both sets of samples here for your comparing needs.

Sony Xperia XZ1 in our video compare tool: 2160p

Sony Xperia XZ1 in our video compare tool: 1080p

Last, but not least, we will also mention another new Sony feature, making its debut on the Xperia XZ1. It is not exactly a camera mode, but rather a separate application in itself, but we it belongs in the camera section, since its advanced feature set is likely dependent of the Motion Eye camera and potentially a few other bits of hardware as well. It is called the 3D Creator and ts purpose is the three-dimensional capture of objects for later use in things like digital avatars or even 3D prints. In its current state, it supports preset modes for a scanning a face, head, food, as well as a freeform mode.

3D Creator app

The process is rather fiddly, taking a long time and some awkward panning and hovering around the subject, but the results show potential - especially considering that it's all done without the use of specialized sensors or even a second camera. The calculation is done on the phone itself too, so you don't even need an internet connection. We are definitely looking forward to see where Sony takes this one.

Wrapping it up

Sony Xperia XZ1 comes just five months after the Xperia XZs premiere so Sony didn't exactly have time for major overhaul. What it did have was the Xperia XZ Premium and its exclusive features to bring down the ranks and a brand new Android version from Google.

And using that Sony has successfully made a worthy upgrade over the Xperia XZ and XZs. Maybe not a mandatory one, but one that will give you just enough so you don't regret your purchase.

The top of the line Snapdragon 835 chipset is both more powerful and energy-efficient than the 820. The 5.2" screen got a nice HDR upgrade, which is a nice boost even if it's application is limited to Netflix and Amazon at this point.

The polished design is probably the most prominent update. The Xperia XZ1 employs a single piece of metal bent over the internals and featuring an innovative take on the antenna lines. While it does look like the Xperias to come before it, the XZ1 feels more premium once you lay your hands over it. The new finish, color options, shaped and overall design made it one of the classiest smartphones to date. Sadly, it lacks the high-tech vibe of those Infinity and FullView displays, but that's easier to live with on a 5.2" phone.

Sony has also made some improvements in the camera - the 4K video capturing is now native in the camera app instead of being invoked as a separate shooting mode. The smile recognition and the autofocus for burst are some nice touches, too, though we would have appreciated improvement in the image quality, low-light samples in particular. It's a real shame given the huge sensors that all the Xperias employ lately.

Sony Xperia XZ1 key test findings

• The refreshed Xperia design is recognizable, but also looks quite modernized. The metal unibody back feels very premium, but does necessitate some creative antenna solutions and a plastic top and bottom side. All color options look very nice.
• The 5.2-inch LCD is quite impressive even if it's blacks could have been deeper. HDR10 support is a nice little treat, with content available from both Netflix and Amazon. The XZ1 supports advanced color correction, which you can use to calibrate the panel pretty accurately.
• Battery life is surprisingly better than on siblings like the XZs and XZ Premium. Despite working with a lower capacity battery, the XZ1 leverages its efficient 10nm chipset and new Android Oreo software optimizations.
• Sony has ported its standard Vanilla-like Android experience surprisingly well over to Android 8 on the first try. On the surface, it is the familiar Xperia deal - Stamina-branded battery-saving modes, and Sony's own multimedia apps. There are a few new Oreo features baked in, like notification channels and picture in picture video support.
• The XZ1 lives up to flagship expectations and manages to utilize the Snapdragon 835 and 4GB RAM combo pretty well. It does tend to score a few points short of Snapdragon 835 competitors, but real-life performance is still great.
• Just like most other recent Sony stereo setups, the one in the XZ1 isn't particularly loud. Still, it is a lot better for multimedia consumption than a mono alternative and the balanced speakers sound particularly nice.
• Audio quality through the analog jack is only average in terms of both loudness and clarity.
• The primary camera produces detailed photos, has improved corner sharpness, and very good colors, contrast, and dynamic range. Predictive capture recognizes smiles now, although it's only kicking in half the time. The new autofocus burst is nice, but low-light performance is rather disappointing for a flagship.
• 4K video look good, 1080p likewise. The 960fps slow-mo HD video recording holds a lot of potential, but capturing the right moment takes a lot of precision and practice, since you only have about 0.2 seconds to work with.
• The XZ1 borrows its great 13MP, f/2.0 autofocus selfie shooter from the XZ Premium as well. It produces shots with plenty of detail and good dynamic range. Just keep the subjects well-lit and be mindful of the always-on skin smoothing (unless you opt for manual mode).

Noteworthy alternatives

There is a phone as big as the Sony Xperia XZ1 and that's the Samsung's Galaxy S8. It fits a bigger and higher-res 5.8" AMOLED screen in the same shell, opts for a more futuristic design, and a better camera with more accurate autofocus. The S8 is now cheaper than the XZ1, but the market will most surely correct than in the first month.

Samsung Galaxy S8

LG also managed to fir a bigger and higher-res 5.7" screen within the same footprint as the Xperia XZ1. It wows with thin bezels and dual-camera quality, but isn't quite a match in chipset and looks. The G6 less than the XZ1 though, which makes is a viable offer right now as the Snapdragon 820 is still delivering a flagship-worthy performance.

LG G6

The Nokia 8 bets on more understated looks, but hops on the dual-camera bandwagon and offers native monochrome shots and bokeh effects. The selfie images are one of the best you can get from a smartphone, too. The vanilla Android is a treat for the purists, while the price is a match for the Xperia's.

Nokia 8

The OnePlus 5 will give you AMOLED screen and a dual-camera on the cheap, while keeping the flagship Snapdragon 835 powerhouse and classy metal body. The Oxygen OS is still lightweight, though availability for this one is limited.

OnePlus 5

Xiaomi Mi 6, where available, also focuses on the pocket-friendliness and comes with a 5.15" 1080p screen, current Snapdragon 835 chip and a dual-camera with 4-axis OIS and telephoto lens. The Mi 6 is noticeable cheaper, though its scarce availability is somewhat a turnoff.

Xiaomi Mi 6

Final verdict

Sony Xperia XZ1 ticks quite a few right boxes even if its upgrades are mostly incremental. The improved design, HDR screen, and performance make the XZ1 competitive if not quite class-leading. Sony fans will probably appreciate having the best form XZs and XZ Premium in one device and those looking to try Oreo have another option besides Nexus and Pixel phones now.

Beyond that the Xperia XZ1 will have a much harder time competing, as there's seemingly better value to be had elsewhere. Then again that might be where Sony's BRAVIA and PlayStation devices really help. Those three lineups work splendidly together and having one of these, boosts the usefulness of the others. So even if the XZ1 is unlikely to top any sales chart it may move just enough units to be a profitable project for Sony.

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