It is the consistent practice of many mobile phone manufacturers to launch mini models for flagship models, which can reduce costs and cover more consumer groups. Unfortunately, not only the size of the mini version is reduced, but also the configuration is shrunk, which makes many small engine oils very troublesome. If you need a small flagship, Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is your only choice.

Xperia Z1 Compact can be said to be the only small flagship configuration on the market. Compared with Xperia Z1 hardware configuration, Xperia Z1 Compact is undoubtedly the flagship level, in addition to shrinking screen size and resolution. Personally, I think Xperia Z1 Compact can compete with the iPhone 5c in all aspects, and certainly not the so-called iPhone killer.

Appearance design:

The Chinese name of Xperia Z1 Compact is Xperia Z1 Dazzling Edition. It can be seen from the name that it is a continuation of Xperia Z1. Xperia Z1 Compact still uses Sony's highly praised OmniBalance fully balanced design style, which is quite Japanese in general. Different from Xperia Z1, in addition to black and white, Xperia Z1 Compact also adds two more lively and youthful colors, pink and yellow, which are more pleasing to young people.

Although the appearance of Xperia Z1 Compact is still double-sided glass, it is not. Xperia Z1 Compact has toughened glass on the front and polished polycarbonate on the back. As for the questioned explosion-proof membrane, the front side of Xperia Z1 Compact is still used, but the back side is cancelled, which makes friction and scratch more likely than Xperia Z1.

Xperia Z1 Compact can be said to be 99% the same in terms of name and appearance design, and the detail design can also be said to be the same. (This is not nonsense?) Next to the SONY logo on the top are the front camera and sensor, and the indicator light is hidden in the earpiece.

All card slots of Xperia Z1 Compact are designed on the left. From left to right, there are mirco USB interface, storage card slot, contact charging interface and SIM card slot. The waterproof cover and frame color of Xperia Z1 Compact are more uniform, and there will be no color difference problem on Xperia Z1. And the line symmetry precision is better. The oil of obsessive-compulsive disorder and Virgo should not be rushed.

On the right are all the physical keys, including the iconic power key, volume key and physical shutter key. Compared with Xperia Z1, the physical keys of Xperia Z1 Compact are smaller and harder to handle. The physical shutter key of Xperia Z1 Compact is still two-stage, but it is only the size of a grain of rice, which is difficult to locate during blind operation. Xperia Z1 Compact still has its signature lanyard hole.

The Xperia Z1 Compact speaker is still at the bottom. Although the long strip design seems to have a large cavity, only one third of the sound is emitted on the left. The Xperia Z1 Compact external sound is slightly larger than that of Xperia Z1, which should further avoid the possibility of missed calls due to too low sound.

The edge of Xperia Z1 Compact is very round, and it will not feel like a top palm when held by one hand. Although Xperia Z1 Conpact and Xperia Z1 are also designed for metal frames, the middle frame of Xperia Z1 Compact is more uniform and beautiful than the purple Xperia Z1 middle frame, which uses two colors.

Xperia Z1 Compact uses a 4.3 inch screen with a three circumference of 127.64.9 * 9.5mm, which is very suitable for single hand operation. （ Is this really bullshit? ）Compared with the iPhone 5c with a 4-inch screen, Xperia Z1 Compact has a slightly larger circumference. Personally, I feel that Xperia Z1 Compact is slightly fuller in the grip, but the feeling is not obvious.

The screen displays:

Xperia Z1 Compact uses a 720P IPS screen, which has changed the much criticized problem of glossiness and visual angle of Xperia Z1 before. The above figure shows Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1 Compact and iPhone 5c from left to right. Both Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 Compact enable the X-Reality for mobile option. From a positive perspective, all three screens perform well. Two of the Sony models are more intense in red, while the iPhone 5c is more fresh.

In terms of visual angle, the left Xperia Z1 has begun to appear white, while the right two models still maintain a good look and feel.

From a slightly exaggerated perspective, the whitening of Xperia Z1 has seriously affected the appearance. The Xperia Z1 Compact screen completely makes up for the shortcomings of the previous Xperia Z1 in terms of visual angle and color performance, so the screen party should not worry.

System UI:

So far, most Sony Xperia flagship models have upgraded the Xperia UI based on Android 4.4.2. The new Xperia UI has many new functions, and the interface design is more gorgeous and full of Japanese flavor. The unlocking interface is changed from the original shutter to a star point. At the same time, there is a diffuse effect after unlocking. The whole unlocking process is very gorgeous.

The drop-down menu uses Tab to switch between notification and shortcut settings. At the same time, you can select corresponding shortcut settings and adjust the order. At the same time, you can also add the action of long press to jump into details.

The desktop design still realizes the corresponding functions through long press, double finger search and other actions. At the same time, the bottom bar background of the new Xperia UI is transparent and more beautiful.

The program drawer and menu have not changed much, and the switch button has been redrawn to make it more intuitive.

Walkman integrates more own resources with film applications, such as Music Umlimited and Video Umlimited, to further improve the overall use experience. At the same time, walkman and movies also have functions such as downloading media information and subtitles, which are more practical. The player is used for video playback, and you can also zoom in to view the video.

The new Xperia UI also redraws the icon of the status bar, which is more concise and easy to understand. Personally, I highly recommend the newly added theme called Air, whose dynamic wallpaper will change with the movement of the desktop. At present, Sony Xperia machines have built-in white balance adjustment function. I personally recommend the parameter of 0/57/150, so the picture will be much cleaner.

There are still my favorite STAMINA mode and location based WLAN, among which STAMINA mode makes standby very powerful. The location-based WLAN is more convenient for automatic connection between home and work place.

The new calendar and alarm clock reminders are easier to use and simpler, and the new Xperia UI is generally more concise and cleaner, without losing its elegance. This evaluation uses the international version of ROM, which is different from the domestic version in some functions and interfaces. The domestic version has replaced Google services in localization, which is more suitable for domestic use and national conditions. （ I will talk nonsense when I get the international version? ）

Performance and endurance:

Although the size of Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is much smaller than that of Xperia Z1, the main configuration is still Snapdragon 800 and 2G RAM, and the resolution is reduced from 1080P to 720P, which makes the hardware load lower and the game performance better. The above table also compares LG G Flex and iPhone 5c with the same resolution. From the theoretical score data, Xperia Z1 Compact does not need to worry about its performance.

In the actual game experience, Xperia Z1 Compact performs very well. The resolution of Xperia Z1 Compact is reduced from 1080P to 720P, which reduces the hardware load of Xperia Z1 Compact during the game. In the actual test with Wild Racing 8, the Xperia Z1 Compact is almost maintained at 30fps, and the game experience is quite good. At the same time, compared with Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1 Compact has certain advantages in loading speed.

Video soft decoding is an important test item to measure the general performance of CPU. This test item tests the multithreading performance of CPU. Unlike video hard decoding, it is a method to test the general computing power of CPU, and multi-core processors will be used. The test uses BSPlayer version 1.14.167, the video format is 1080P ref16 FPS60, and the average frame number of Xperia Z1 Compact is 43.

Use the playback software to decode the video of various formats and resolutions in the above figure. Except for the white screen and sound in the flv format, Xperia Z1 Compact supports most mainstream video formats well. Video parties need not worry.

In some cases that are not sensitive to resolution, such as decompressing files, Xperia Z1 Compact does not show performance advantages. It takes almost the same time to install the same version of the Wild Racing 8 GPK file as Xperia Z1.

I thought that if the size becomes smaller and the hardware configuration remains unchanged, the temperature of Xperia Z1 Compact will be higher, but I didn't expect that its performance would be satisfactory. After 15 minutes of wild drag racing 8, the maximum temperature of Xperia Z1 Compact is about 39 ° C, which is much better than the 43 ° C of many "big" screen Snapdragon 800 machines such as Xperia Z1.

In terms of endurance, Xperia Z1 Compact consumes 6% of the power after running the wild drag 8 for 15 minutes, which is slightly better than that of Xperia Z1. However, Xperia Z1 Compact has been reduced from 3000mAh to 2300mAh. If you want to enjoy yourself, you still need to prepare a backup power supply.

In terms of daily endurance, when the STAMINA mode is turned on, the standby endurance of Xperia Z1 Compact is quite powerful. According to my personal use, from going out at 8am to going home at 8pm, as a communication function and basic Internet application, it can be recharged every two days. Of course, if you have more standby, the STAMINA mode will play better.

Shooting effect:

At present, most flagship models of Sony Xperia have upgraded the system, and the shooting interface is not very different from the previous ones. There are still various settable options on the top and function keys on the bottom.

Among them, the ISO can be as high as 3200, and even as high as 6400, which is very useful in some extreme cases. The resolution option is 15 million pixels, but the best one is still 8 million pixels at 16:9.

More functions can be expanded through the installation program.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, like Xperia Z1, uses Sony's own G lens and 20.7 million pixel, 1/2.3 inch sensor. We have already experienced this configuration on Xperia Z1. The system was upgraded and optimized to make the image quality experience much better than the original Xperia Z1. This time, XPeria Z1 Compact was directly used to shoot and compare with the iPhone 5c. It should be noted that Xperia Z1 Compact uses 8 million automatic gears and other automatic white balance gears.

The above picture is taken at the same time and place under the condition of straight light, with Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and iPhone 5c on the left and right respectively. Xperia Z1 Compact is more pure on the screen than iPhone 5c and has a higher degree of restoration than iPhone 5c.

When shooting against the light under the same conditions, Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is cleaner and more transparent than the iPhone 5c, while the iPhone 5c shows an undesirable yellowing feeling.

In the indoor low light environment, the iPhone 5c is much better than Xperia Z1 Compact, and its overall brightness is much better. During the test, the quality of the iPhone 5c samples under indoor weak light is almost better than that of Xperia Z1 Compact. Considering that Xperia Z1 Compact uses a larger sensor size and a larger aperture, this situation is really urgent.

When photographed at night, Xperia Z1 Compact shows its advantages in hardware, crushing the iPhone 5c. The Xperia Z1 Compact proof is brighter than the iPhone 5c, and retains more details. At night, Xperia Z1 Compactr has a much higher focusing success rate than the iPhone 5c.

In short, Xperia Z1 Compact has greater advantages in night shooting thanks to its larger aperture and larger sensor size. With the upgrade and optimization of the system, compared with the initial performance of Xperia Z1, night shooting has had a good advantage experience.

However, in terms of detail experience, Xperia Z1 Compact is slightly inferior to the iPhone 5c. For example, the shooting effect of the iPhone 5c at night is consistent with the shooting sample, while Xperia Z1 Compact will show a lot of red noise, and the shooting mood is greatly affected.

The Xperia Z1 Compact front camera takes samples and enables the soft skin effect function.

More samples:

Sample download: (Including iPhone 5c contrast sample)

Summary:

With the trend of large screens, the flagship brands of all major brands are almost more than five inches away, leaving small screen enthusiasts with all kinds of mini versions with reduced size and configuration, and Xperia Z1 Compact fills this market gap well. In addition to the screen size, Xperia Z1 Compact is a proper flagship configuration in terms of hardware configuration and shooting capability. Of course, the price is slightly cheaper than the flagship price.

When it comes to small size, plus colorful colors, we can easily compare Xperia Z1 Compact with iPhone 5c. After more than two weeks of dual use, I personally feel that these two models are the best choice in small size. Of course, Xperia Z1 Compact's metal materials and more pop colors are more eye-catching than the iPhone 5c.

If you are looking for a phone that is small in size, high in configuration, and good at taking photos, perhaps there is only such a phone as Xperia Z1 Compact in the Android camp now.