Sony Xperia Z1 - The Best Of Sony For The Best Of You

12/16/2013 3:40:02 AM

Following the release of the Xperia Z last year, Sony has continued to impress us with its smartphone lineup. Can it keep a good thing going with the Xperia Z1?

As with its predecessor, the Xperia Z1 feels very premium in hand thanks to the choice of materials (tempered glass plates and aluminum), plus a stunning 5" full HD Triluminos Display. It makes photos, webpages and videos look incredibly crisp thanks to an excellent 441 pixels per inch. That being said the viewing angles on this display does not match those of the S4, whilst the Lumia 925’s screen is far less reflective when used in direct sunlight.

Description: Sony Xperia Z1

Sony Xperia Z1

Like some others in the Xperia lineup, the Z1 is both water- and dust proof (IP55 and IP58), so there is no need for death defying dives to prevent soda spills or trying to catch the Z1 before it falls in the toilet. The only aspects of its design that we do not like, and which we suspect might cost it a few sales, is that it is a bit thicker (8.5 mm vs 7.9 mm) and noticeably heavier (169 g vs 146 g) compared to the previous Xperia Z.

Two biggest draw cards

Beneath its suave exterior resides the fastest mobile processor currently available – Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 800 running at 2.3 GHz. This CPU is backed up by 2 GB RAM so we expected it to be snappy and fluid whilst navigating Android 4.2.2 and multitasking and it is. More impressive though is that the Snapdragon 800 helped the smartphone achieve excellent benchmarking scores across the board (Quadrant Standard; 3DMark; AnTuTu; Smartbench 2012).

Description: The Z1 has the CPU and camera to back up its flagship credentials.

The Z1 has the CPU and camera to back up its flagship credentials.

The other headline feature of the Z1 is its 20.7 megapixel Exmor RS for mobile CMOS image sensor, the biggest one found on any Android smartphone and second only to the 41 MP sensor on the back of Nokia’s Lumia 1020. It is easy to capture great looking photos with this camera, since it defaults to a Superior Auto mode in which all the settings are automatically adjusted for you. In this mode, the camera captures 8 MP photos, but you are able to take 20 megapixel photos and manually adjust settings such as white balance and ISO by switching to Manual mode.

To the point

Description: The Xperia Z1 - the best smartphone, the most stellar pictures.

The Xperia Z1 - the best smartphone, the most stellar pictures.

The Xperia Z1 is another great all-round smartphone from Sony that looks and feels premium in hand. More importantly, it has the CPU and camera to back up its flagship credentials. It goes for a recommended retail price of R9 900, which is expensive seeing that you can get a Samsung Note 3 or S4 for less.

Specifications

General

· 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1,800 / 1,900 - all versions

· 3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1,700 / 1,900 / 2,100 - all versions

· 4G Network: LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1,700 / 1,800 / 1,900 / 2,100 / 2,600 - C6903; LTE 700 / 850 / 900/ 1,700 / 1,900 / 2,100 / 2,600 - C6906; LTE 800 / 850 / 900/ 1,700 / 1,800 / 1,900 / 2,100 / 2,600 - C6943

· Sim: Micro-SIM

· Announced: 2013, September

· Status: Available. Released 2013, September

Body

· Dimensions: 144 x 74 x 8.5 mm (5.67 x 2.91 x 0.33 in)

· Weight: 170 g (6.00 oz); IP58 certified - dust proof and water resistant over 1 meter and 30 minutes

Display

· Type: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

· Size: 1,080 x 1,920 pixels, 5.0 inches (~441 ppi pixel density)

· Multitouch: Yes, up to 10 fingers

· Protection: Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass; Triluminos display; X-Reality Engine

Sound

· Alert types: Vibration; MP3 ringtones

· Loudspeaker: Yes

· 3.5mm jack: Yes

Memory

· Card slot: microSD, up to 64 GB

· Internal: 16 GB, 2 GB RAM

Data

· GPRS: Up to 107 kbps

· EDGE: Up to 296 kbps

· Speed: HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.8 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL

· WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot

· Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0 with A2DP

· NFC: Yes

· USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go

Camera

· Primary: 20.7 MP, autofocus, LED flash, check quality

· Features: 1/2.3'' sensor size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, HDR, panorama

· Video: Yes, 1080p@30fps, video stabilization, HDR, check quality

· Secondary: Yes, 2 MP, 1080p@30fps

Features

· OS: Android OS, v4.2 (Jelly Bean), planned upgrade to v4.4 (KitKat)

· Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800

· CPU: Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400

· GPU: Adreno 330

· Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

· Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email

· Browser: HTML5

· Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS

· GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS

· Java: Yes, via Java MIDP emulator

· Colors: Black, White, Purple;

· ANT+ support; SNS integration

· TV-out (via MHL A/V link)

· Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

· MP4/H.263/H.264 player

· MP3/eAAC+/WAV/Flac player

· Document viewer

· Photo viewer/editor

· Voice memo/dial

· Predictive text input

Battery

· Non-removable Li-Ion 3,000 mAh battery

· Stand-by: Up to 880 h (2G) / Up to 850 h (3G)

· Talk time: Up to 13 h 50 min (2G) / Up to 15 h (3G)

· Music play: Up to 110 h

MISC

· SAR US: 0.75 W/kg (head); 1.15 W/kg (body)

· SAR EU: 0.77 W/kg (head)

Tests

· Display: Contrast ratio: 1,513 (nominal), 2.950 (sunlight)

· Loudspeaker: Voice 65dB / Noise 62dB / Ring 65dB

· Audio quality: Noise -91.8dB / Crosstalk -89.9dB

· Camera: Photo / Video

· Battery life: Endurance rating 53h

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