Gadgetory

there's absolutely no doubt that the Xperia z1 is a flagship it screams premium from the instant you lay your eyes and hands on it it is as snappy as an Android phone can get today it is water and dust proof and according to Sony effects quote the world's leading camera in a smartphone when you manage to pack all of that in a glass and aluminum build at least on paper you got a perfect recipe for an irresistible phone how much difference is there between word on paper and reality we're checking all of that out right now this is our full review of the Sony Xperia z1 before we proceed we want to thank our friends that closed the code at UK for supplying us with this retail review unit which landed at our doorstep on September 20th giving us enough time to spend more than a week with the phone exclusively as our daily driver we got the chance to know all of its pros cons quirks and hidden aces up its sleeve we've not only got the pleasure of using the Xperia z1 but we also compared it to other Android and Windows Phone devices flagships and popular phones or not like the galaxy s4 HTC One and Lumia 925 we've also learned a lot like for instance that the Xperia z1 is a device which gets as close as a phone can get to the premium and exceptional in hand feel of the HTC One simply put the z1 is a jewel Sony used a single piece aluminum frame to build the Xperia z1 and the entire front and back are taken up by a single sheet each of tempered glass the phone feels sturdy well-built and gives you confidence that it would definitely put up a decent fight against scratches granted you don't abuse it with a knife screwdriver or scalpel the free flaps for sim micro SD and micro USB port is the price you have to pay for the water and dust proof construction but Sony managed to micro coat the headphone jack one flap less on the Xperia z1 and since we mentioned waterproofing its IP ratings allow submersions of one and a half meters of fresh water up to 30 minutes the dedicated camera key which we believe should be standard on any and every phone enables you to snap underwater pictures even if the screen is not usable there are no buttons on the front which is in its entirety made out of glass from right to left on the top of the device you'll find a 2 megapixel front face notification light Sony branding as well as the usual proximity and ambient light sensors the mitho love that there's a 5 inch full HD screen with Sony's own triluminos technology as well as x-reality engine for those who don't want to do the math this resolution and size results in a PPI rating of 441 Android buttons are missing as there are no physical nor capacitive things to push and touch on the device's front instead Sony opted for unscreened buttons for multitasking home and back but the other single sheet of glass can be found on the back that's where you were 20 point 7 megapixel camera with the G lens lives underneath which you'll find a single LED flash and I've seen logo showing the exact contact point as well as the Sony Xperia branding should you forget what phone it is that you're holding or in case you want or Sony wants to show it off the bottom holds the speaker grille a microphone as well as a lanyard hole while the left side is where you'll find the microUSB port and the micro SD card slot both covered with the flats meant to keep water and dust out of the z1 there's also a magnetic dock connector should you prefer an accessory with a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack at the top is thankfully missing a flat which is not the case for the SIM card slot on the right further down there's your power button volume rockers as well as the dedicated two-stage camera button to focus and release the shutter it also just so happens that it finally wakes the phone up from sleep unlike other devices equipped with a similar hardware solution from other manufacturers under the glass as we mentioned there is a 5 inch full HD display a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocking at two point two gigahertz two gigs of RAM 16 gigs of internal storage expandable via microSD in 20.7 megapixel main camera on the back with a two megapixel webcam on the front three thousand milliamp hour battery Android 4.2.2 jelly bean on top of everything other specs include Wi-Fi Bluetooth NFC as well as a 3G and LTE capable radio Android 4.2.2 with Sony's own UI is what operates on the Xperia z1 thanks to Google's tweaks to the OS over time as well as the powerhouse specs under the hood of the z1 the phone is as snappy as a flagship Android phone can get in the second half of 2013 those familiar with the Xperia Z or other phones from Sony's lineup will feel at home using the z1 those new to the phone will have no problem getting used to the custom user interface Sony decided to keep its on-screen button usage instead of going with a physical or beneath the screen capacitive solution of course Google now is in but the notification shade has been changed completely despite the users ability to modify the shortcuts and toggles present it is nowhere near stock home screens and widgets are fluid as you can always use one of the built-in device themes to further customize your device they'll change wallpaper as well as the accent color throughout the entire system a selection of small applications windows apps running on top of everything can be used to multitask if that's your cup of tea then there are the bungled so many applications like Track ID for audio and TV PlayStation mobile music and video unlimited offerings which enrich your experience and instantly welcome you to the Sony ecosystem however some of these might not be available in your region the album application has a neat way of displaying more or less image thumbnails and the camera app allows the user to make a couple of tweaks interestingly in the auto mode superior Auto manual timeshift burst picture effect sweet panoramas AR effect social live and Mpho eye are the available options superior auto will produce eight megapixel images and the software does a great job at identifying the scene you are currently shooting in adjusting the settings accordingly the manual mode is pork of course you can select the scenes yourselves but that's only available in 8 megapixel output mode once you try to capture stills in the maximum 20 megapixel mode you are limited to only being able to set exposure and white balance which kind of kills the manual mode for us timeshift burst is Sony's main camera feature or at least that's what friendly refs emphasize most on at the introduction in Berlin at Aoife it allows capturing 61 frames in two seconds starting before pressing the shutter button you represented with the frames and can select the best after scrolling through them of course you can also keep all of them and then there are the other modes like social live with which you can broadcast video to your friends on Facebook a Google Goggles like info I mode special panorama shooting mode though you have to be quick at moving the film rather steadily and then augmented reality mode to overlay funny objects on your stills there's also a picture effect mode that applies special effects in real time though the selection is not exhaustive weather is the sensor or the software which produces a great amount of noises beyond us we sure hope Sony can further improve the camera with future updates because shooting in conditions other than perfect immediately generates a lot of noise that noise is not only present in 20 megapixel shots but also in the 8 megapixel output range as well low-light sensitivity is good though results will vary there usually a hit or miss and when you manage to snap a frame the output will be lacking detail however it will not black noise we are more satisfied with the video capturing capabilities of the phone than with its picture taking ones we'll play the sample for you so that you see exactly what we're talking about we everyone this is tony from pocket now and we are in the same place but it's a different side of the park we are checking out the sony xperia z1 and putting it against the Nokia Lumia 925 we are recording HD video which is full HD the Xperia z1 just like the bit for a second there with hope is just on the screen and not in the final video we're gonna go against the Sun here keep on walking by let's see how these to cope with changing lighting conditions and let's try to move in for a close-up on the leaves here on the ground stand there a bit just to see if they both manage to cope there and back again and there's some movement action and get back to where we started from thank you very much for watching see you in the next video we've used the xperia z1 over the course of 10 days we did not run into major problems with the phone or its software and using it exclusively as our daily driver we didn't manage to bog it down however we did see some occasional stutters and lags something which Sony could easily fix with further software tuning and optimization after all we are looking at a very powerful phone specs wise with our regular usage we got more than a day's worth of battery life out of the 3000 milliamp hour back which is powering the phone we're talking about phone calls text messages social media Facebook Twitter Google+ taking pictures browsing the web instant messaging Google Maps YouTube videos Spotify music and even workout tracking he will definitely get at least one day's worth of action of the z1 given you don't abuse the camera which you'll probably well do in the first couple of days of usage anyways sony proudly claims the z1 has the world's leading camera in a smart phone our findings are different we are not saying that it's a bad shooter we are just saying that you need to test it out for yourselves and don't take anyone's word for it this is of course valid for every manufacturer it is now time to draw our conclusion we definitely recommend this phone it is a very powerful device and Sony's best phone yet needless to say that the z1 is part of the elite group of top Android phones alongside the Samsung Galaxy s4 HTC One LG g2 and the others note baldie is exceptional waterproofing em-dash proofing are welcome additions for those looking for such features and the overall feeling you get Mali hold or use the devices that you're operating a premium product the weakest point in our opinion is the camera and we hope Sony can improve it in the future the display is much improved over the previous Sony models and offers good results when viewed straight on however the viewing angles are still not good site visibility is poor and color is washout because of all the aforementioned we are reading the Xperia z1 a nine point one out of 10 folks as always subscribe to pocket now on social media to be among the first ones to find out when a video or text piece is published of course you can also follow me on the Facebook as well as on Twitter I'm an ant nd not if you'd like this vid you please give us a thumbs up leave a comment down below with your own thoughts on the Xperia z1 thank you very much for watching till next time stay safe