Gadgetory

neither is what you'd call a budget phone in fact each goes out of its way to specifically avoid being painted with that particular brush but they're both devices that cater to a customer looking for something just shy of full flagship status so for that customer we're comparing them I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is Sony Xperia z1 compact versus Apple iPhone 5c our Xperia z1 compact test unit comes to us from clove electronics folks and we thank them for the loan if you want a z1 compact of your own do what we did visit clove code at UK and unbox your very own Sony and Apple are two companies with very well-established visual identities which makes this an especially interesting comparison because Sony with the z1 compact has continued the glassy glass sandwich construction it's favored for a while while Apple has departed from that approach with the so called unapologetically plastic iPhone 5c they're both shiny though and both are unfortunately quite good at picking up skin oil on the bright side there each offered in a variety of colors which should help cover up the smudges and streaks if you decide not to use a case either way it's hard to escape the conclusion that the z1 compact though a bit heavier and half a millimeter thicker is the better looking better feeling device here and it's waterproof to boot Sony's device is packing a Snapdragon 800 backed up by the usual 2 gigs of RAM while Apple's a6 chip powers the iPhone and it gets by with a single gig of ram for storage each comes with a 16 gig option with the iphone offered in a non expandable 32 gig model and the z1 compact packing a microSD card slot for up to 64 gigs additional space and finally the displays normally this is where Sony takes a beating but the company has solved its side visibility problems with the z1 compact offering a 4.3 inch TFT panel that's vibrant and beautiful from just as many angles as the four inch IPS screen on the iPhone and the Sony screen has a slight edge in pixel density as well we like the added size of Sony's slightly wider screen which offers a less cramped keyboard and a more comfortable experience overall when it comes to software we're looking at a very modern OS in either case and which you prefer will more likely than not come down to one personal taste do you like apples splashing neons and ultra-modern thin fonts or Sony's dark and distinguished jewel-like approach and to ecosystem lock-in yes google has released a ton of native apps for iOS but if you're a heavy user of Gmail Google Drive Google Calendar and particularly Google now an Android phone is still going to be your best option conversely if most your life is on iTunes iCloud on the App Store or you can't live without iMessage or FaceTime the iPhone is the better call it's all a matter of where you're coming from whichever one you opt for you can expect a smooth experience out in the real world both phones offer remarkable fluidity and responsiveness that said Apple has the edge here in reliability while hiccups on the z1 compact are rare things like app crashes and the occasional bug like the zoom problem in Chrome do crop up more often than similar problems on the iPhone a good example is the hardware camera key which sometimes launches the z1 compacts camera and sometimes doesn't this is a problem we saw on the z1 s as well so it's almost certainly a problem with Sony's software and we hope it gets fixed with an update there's no comparable bug on the iPhone but of course that's because the iPhone doesn't have a physical shutter key and that makes shooting pictures with it a little less enjoyable the viewfinder is also much less fun on the iPhone than on the z1 compact with Sony's various shooting modes and the 20 point seven megapixel resolution of the Sony camera is more than double the eight megapixel iSight shooter on the iPhone in terms of the end results well it can be really hard to tell the difference sony's superior auto shooting mode is good and sometimes it brings out more vibrance in shots than the iPhone delivers we were also surprised to see the iPhone photos suffering from a bit of noise where the Sony cam didn't the huge reversal compared to previous tests indoors it was the Apple camera delivering more vibrant colors but both did quite well in drawing out the detail of close range in low-light the iPhones dim result is pretty unimpressive while the z1 compacts superior auto mode really lights up the scene it does so at the expense of more noise in the shot but it certainly makes things clearer and of course the z1 compact is capable of underwater photography while the iPhone can't do that without a case as far as the fundamentals each phone lends some winning points we like talking on the z1 compact more because of the richer louder side tones for the earpiece and we also like the Sony phone better for gaming thanks to the larger screen but we like blasting music or movies more on the iPhone because it's speakerphone blows away the tinny soft one on the Sony device finally we'd rather have the Sony phone with us in a power pinch with four to five hours of screen on time per charge it generally lasts longer in our testing than does the iphone 5c these phones are priced almost identically in their unlocked form which makes our comparison a little easier on the one hand with the iPhone you're getting a rock-solid performer with a sterling track record in the most mature ecosystem of hardware and software it kind of does everything well but it's also stuck in a reheated version of 2012's top-of-the-line hardware on the other hand with the z1 compact you're getting a style-conscious spec beast with the latest and greatest including a better camera bigger screen more versatile hardware and software and better battery life oh and again it's waterproof if you can live with the mediocre speakerphone in the occasional bug we think you'd get more bang for your buck from the Sony product in this particular contest we'd like to thank our friends from clove for providing us with a z1 compact demo unit once again if you want one of your own head on over to clove code at UK the link is down in the description also down in the description a link to our other z1 compact coverage and our full review is coming very soon it will be up this week at pocketnow.com and here on youtube please subscribe so you don't miss it follow us on social media so you don't miss all the other stuff we're talking about most importantly thank you for watching we'll see you very soon