The most powerful mini ever - Xperia Z1 Compact

[expositox]

You can choose not to update to 4.4 and stay at 4.3.

My observations showb that 4.3 have better battery life, 4.4 have better network refresh frequency but drain more battery during standby time.

My set came with 4.4.2 out of the box, so I have no experience whatsoever with 4.3, but battery life is still great for me. Can easily get 6h of screen on time with medium-heavy web browsing, and music streaming (Spotify) on WiFi. In addition, my proximity sensor is constantly on and the battery drain is quite significant (7+6=13%) but I still can get crazy battery life. My longest has been 8hours of SoT as it kicks into low-battery mode past 10%.

Spoiler

 

[cquey]

Seriously hoping starhub/m1 do camera removal....

 

[androidbot]

I feel it's all about your expectations and one being comfortable with the firmware that you choose be it 4.3 or 4.4 and no winner or looser here. Be contented as the Z1C is a good phone it just needs a little work on the firmware build to move it to even greater heights.

Personally for me, I've tried both versions (back and forth) and prefer 4.3 over 4.4 because of the better battery mileage that I gained and that expectation was above anything else for me.

I wouldn't say that 4.3 is totally free of bugs. Icons sometimes freeze (this phenomenon happens maybe once in 2 days) but its easily rectified by swiping on the screen in either direction. 4.3 UI looks dated so I installed a nice launcher from Google Market. Bottom line, every build will come with its own set of quirks, pros and cons - there is no escape. Just keep your expectations in check and enjoy your phone.

EDIT: Icon freeze was due to 3rd party launcher. After launcher update, no more icon freeze. 4.3 is now very stable for me.

Moving forward, these are the latest screenshots. (No wifi was used during the whole duration. Purely on LTE mode. Usually Wifi gives better battery performance.)

 

[bryant_16]

How's the reviews of those owning this phone?

Good for daily use? Is it as snappy as nexus 5? I'm using nexus 5 but would want a more smaller phone.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rssd21]

How's the reviews of those owning this phone?

Good for daily use? Is it as snappy as nexus 5? I'm using nexus 5 but would want a more smaller phone.

Thanks in advance.

Snappy? It is very smooth, you can check out any phones using S800 chip and it should be a seamless experience.

Battery life is very good, LTE use last a whole day with about 4 hours of screen-on time on Kit Kat.
If you are using 4.3, it should have better results.

 

[bryant_16]

I see. Thanks for the feedback. How about like random restarts all these? Will that happen in z1 compact?

Hopefully the experience will be like nexus 5, whereby everything just seems so snappy in terms of responsiveness.

 

[rssd21]

I see. Thanks for the feedback. How about like random restarts all these? Will that happen in z1 compact?

Hopefully the experience will be like nexus 5, whereby everything just seems so snappy in terms of responsiveness.

So far I did not find any restarts or major bugs after updates to 4.4.

The only minor problem is music volume getting softer after a call, which can be resolved by the power button.

 

[bryant_16]

resolved by a power button? What do you mean? Press the power button and then press power button again to get the music volume to its original volume?

 

[rssd21]

resolved by a power button? What do you mean? Press the power button and then press power button again to get the music volume to its original volume?

Sometimes the volume will return to normal within a few seconds after the call ended.
If it does not, press the power button to turn it to sleep mode and it will turn back to normal.

Anyway, it is only a minor bug.

 

[bryant_16]

I see.. Any other bugs in 4.4?

 

[xusykl]

where to find the dk32 dock?
been to three sony stores all dun have.

 

[rssd21]

where to find the dk32 dock?
been to three sony stores all dun have.

How about flagship store at 313?

I see.. Any other bugs in 4.4?

Battery drain faster than 4.3, which happens to nexus and pretty much other brands of phones running on 4.4.2.

Google intends to fix it with 4.4.3 but it will take even longer for Sony and other OEM to update the 4.4.3.

 

[rian_sir]

decided to own this mini smartphone - after knowing that this is the only mini that almost keep all the features had by its original size

good experience so far - handy, convenience and beautiful display. battery is relatively good - having been using Samsung galaxy 4 before, it is much more efficient in battery usage

interfaces with apps and navigation is seamless

love this phone

will continue reading thread on this topic

Rian-

 

[bryant_16]

That's good that you guys like this phone. I'm still contemplating to change to this phone from iPhone 5s. Hopefully this is a right move.

 

[alienjeffman]

Sheesh, I really regret switching to KitKat... the battery perfomance was so much better with JellyBean. Although some say that camera is improved but didn't really take so many photos with JellyBean to be able to tell the difference.

Tried using the headset that came with the Xperia S, the sound was blecch.. which was OK on the Xperia S itself. But then I tried using a pair of Audio Technica earphone and it was wow! It didn't sound so good on the Xperia S.

 

[bryant_16]

Yeah man.. Seems like battery performance on jelly bean is so much better than kitkat though kitkat supposed to hp in the battery performance.

Looks like google got to get it fixed in the next coming iteration.

 

[rssd21]

Yes, I strongly do not recommend 4.4 update as of this moment. Drains more battery than 4.3.

 

[DigDub]

the picture quality taken by 4.4 is better though.

 

[rssd21]

the picture quality taken by 4.4 is better though.

I seldom use the camera, so does not matter for me.

 

[androidbot]

Sony Japan has just announced the Xperia A2 for NTT DoCoMo (specs almost identical to Z1C). It comes with more colours and a plastic back in matt. Take a look at the pics, video and article below ..


Sony Japan unveils the Xperia A2 for NTT DoCoMo | Xperia Blog