phone 17 – sony xperia z1 compact (a)

first photo below shows the face unlock feature (on kitkat, btw) which is also present on my sony xperia miro. this time, they included the blink feature, just to make sure that the face is not a picture of the owner.

just few months within 2016, i bought another phone. another xperia. another phone released on 2014. and since i need a compact phone, i settled for sony xperia z1 compact. z3 compact and z5 compact were already around when i bought this phone – i just preferred the metal frame, and of course the price. it is better than miro in a lot of ways. but there are some adjustments i made moving from the reliable, sony xperia miro.

but before we go into the memory lane, i am going to begin on the battery test, which is the ultimate reason for doing this series of blog.

the 2300mah battery was charged for an hour and 8 minutes last year. on my test this year, it managed to finish charging for almost 40 minutes only, not because of fast charging. the battery is completely off. it is quite bulging. perhaps, it is because of the age. it might also be because of extreme usage. sony xperia miro is still better in battery life, but z1 compact is a flagship of yesteryears, which means it produces more heat when used extensively. i also used it often as portable wifi hotspot before. and since it has more to offer, i used it more – photo shoots, video recording, watching videos, video chat, on data connection almost all the time. it may also be, because of unusual charging – proprietary magnetic charging of sony, but really similar to pogo pins. perhaps the suspected culprit – using while charging. on usage, shown below, it somehow manages to lasts for more than an hour. but there were cases when it shuts down earlier than that. certainly, bad battery.

music play on this phone is similar to sony xperia z3 dual. except that this phone has single bottom-firing loudspeaker, not as immersive as the z3 dual. but they are on par on 3.5mm wired audio and wireless audio.

web browsing on the phone is good, but the experience is better on phones with bigger display. it can still load up pages fast, the way it loads up before. no unnecessary page refresh for 2-3 pages as the 2gb of ram can handle it. as said before, i usually use it as a portable wifi hotspot. the internet connection is better than almost all of my older phones.

gaming is good as well, during its time. i also managed to play some newer games on it – and my favorite subway surfer, ha, can be run without stutters. it does not get noticeably warmer on offline games, unlike the heat it produces whenever the data connection is on.

the cameras were great too – both rear and front camera. the things i enjoy on sony xperia z3 dual are present on this phone. the rear cameras are identical, while the front camera are similar. as a personal phone, i enjoy using it to family gatherings, and both timeshift bursts and timeshift video are the most commonly used especially when younger people are around. i was 23 when i started enjoying those stuff and having the phone as well. the lowlight photos are also decent. both photos and videos are good – i even prefer it than those camera phones with oversharpened and oversaturated results.

watching movies and video clips are not ideal on this phone, though, despite of good color reproduction and good viewing angles (unlike the xperia z, which was a usual complaints back then). the 4.3 inches ips display is quite small to enjoy doing this stuff.

as of 2021, the only issue i am experiencing is the deteriorated battery. for what it offers for the size is what made it one of the best phones i have. i only upgraded this personal phone in 2020 – and that is 4 years of serving me well. to compare it to miro, which was my main phone before it (both a personal phone and a work phone), that one served me for 3 years.

this phone experienced some abuses from me. i was not scared to use it while it is raining, or never worried about it getting wet on my pocket during rainy days (there were times i came home soaking wet). on outdoor family affairs, where hands are dirty, i am free to use it and rinse it afterwards. but, not anymore, as the battery is already bulging and some seals are already off. but, again, despite of that, this is still a good phone in 2021... if only the battery is good.