In the first half of the year, Sony launched a new Xperia X series machine. It is a pity that there is no machine named Compact in the new series, which makes many oil regretful. Maybe Sony realized this problem. In the second half of the year, in addition to updating its flagship model, Xperia XZ, Sony launched X Compact at the same time. As the latest member of Compact, can it satisfy target consumers?

Appearance and workmanship

The 2.5D glass and the arc transition on the back make the front and rear edges less stiff. The 9.5mm thickness is a little "fat", but it feels very comfortable. It is also very easy to pick up from the flat table. The X Compact does not use the metal or glass elements common in high-end models. The body is made of plastic, which is very light overall. With a small size, the product has a low sense of presence in the pocket. It can be seen that Sony still knows the selling points of the Compact series.

The front stereo speakers have been well preserved, but the good dust-proof and waterproof feature of Compact has been cancelled, and the mobile phone can no longer be brought into the bathroom at will as before. Moreover, from the time of launch, X Compact is also Sony's first mobile phone with USB Type-C interface.

The camera on the back has been greatly changed. The laser module for ranging and the RGBC-IR sensor for color recognition have been added, which is slightly different from the past in shape. Similarly, the X Compact power key is also integrated with fingerprint recognition (the function is still not available in the United States). Due to the size, all physical keys have poor hand feel, which is a little annoying in daily use.

Screen quality

Sony has not upgraded the screen of X Compact. It is still 4.6 inch 720P, which is consistent with Z3 Compact and Z5 Compact. The IPS panel provides a good viewing angle, and up to 587 nits can also meet the normal use under strong light. It is worth mentioning that the default color temperature of the X Compact screen is somewhat cold. Although the white balance can be adjusted in the settings, the color temperature of up to 8000K is really puzzling.

The X Reality engine is enabled by default, which will improve the color and contrast when displaying multimedia files. Detailed functions such as glove mode and double click wake-up are also provided in the settings, just like other Xperia models. The other objective parameters of the X Compact screen are shown in the figure above, and the overall quality is at the upper middle level.

Performance and system

The biggest change of X Compact compared with its predecessor is that the SoC has been replaced by the 6-core Snapdragon 650, instead of the Z-series Compact, which uses the Snapdragon 800 series processors. Now X Compact is no longer a representative of small size and high performance. Just to be fair, as for Sony's lightweight transformation of Android, the actual performance of Snapdragon 650 is satisfactory, and most of the time the performance fully meets the requirements. In terms of memory, they also "generously" gave 3GB (Z5 Compact psychological estimation is collapsed) ， 32G of storage space is also a conscience. The trouble is that Sony's system occupies 12G. If it doesn't support microSD expansion, it may not be enough.

The system part is still very "Sony" - lightweight modification based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. If you don't compare carefully, it feels that Sony just added a few of its own apps. Whether you like the UI or not, Sony has done a good job in terms of system fluency, and there is no significant lag.

In terms of system features, you can mention SwiftKey's input method. It is a sharp tool to cooperate with X Compact's single hand operation, which can be ignored by Chinese users. Other built-in functions such as intelligent backlight control are also very practical. Of course, the linkage with Sony's PS4 is indispensable. Perhaps this is the reason why most people choose Sony Xperia phones.

Photo performance

Sony is one of the few manufacturers that still insist on using high pixels. X Compact is equipped with a 23 million pixel camera, assisted by laser assisted focusing and RGBC-IR sensors, which is known as "Triple Image sensing technology" in publicity. The first time I looked at the parameters, I thought it was quite scary. 1/2.3 "Exmor R image sensor plus 24mm wide-angle G lens and BIONZ image processing engine, it is a CMOS with a unit pixel area of 1.1 microns.

In terms of proof performance, 23 million pixels are used for shooting (the automatic default setting is 8 million pixels), the noise control is not ideal, the details are relatively "fleshy" but not sharp enough, and the image quality of wide-angle lens edge is still sharp. When the light is sufficient, the color of the sample has a strong "Sony feeling", which is actually quite accurate. However, even if the RGBC-IR sensor is equipped, its white balance will occasionally appear cold and tasteless, or even warm directly. Brighter scenes are somewhat tricky, prone to overexposure, and focusing is not as fast as advertised, which is disappointing.

In the weak light environment, the performance of the proof is not amazing, the white balance is colder than the actual environment, similar to the full light, and the noise is also very obvious without magnification. What is commendable is that the LED fill light is very bright.

(Click the picture to view the original sample, and more can be found in View in)

Endurance

In terms of battery life, Sony has promoted "up to 2 days of battery life" from the Z series. In fact, Compact series models can meet this requirement. Of course, I have some expectations for the endurance of X Compact. How much improvement can the reduced configuration Snapdragon 650 and 2700mAh battery bring? The measured data shows that the performance can be close to 10 hours. In terms of charging, the time of nearly 150 minutes can only mean "Sony".

summary

The new X Compact has almost achieved the best configuration in its limited size. The only compromise is that instead of using the previous generation of Snapdragon 800 series processors, it uses the mid to high-end Snapdragon 650. However, considering that Qualcomm cannot control heat well on the 800 series processors, it may have a better experience with 650, Moreover, the performance has been improved to support the requirements of Compact.

As for whether it is worth buying, the price of 499 dollars, if you consider the current Galaxy A3 in the market, has similar screens, batteries, etc., but the processor is not very powerful; The iPhone 6 can also be obtained at this price if it goes beyond the circle of Android; As for a machine of similar size and powerful performance, the predecessor Z5 Compact, which has already reduced its price, may be a better choice.

Translation and arrangement of pictures and texts The infringement is deleted.

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