Sony Xperia Z1 Compact

Last year, Sony finally reached the end of the alphabet with its Xperia Z. It wasn't just that the company ran out of letters, thoug... thumbnail 1 summary

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Last year, Sony finally reached the end of the alphabet with its Xperia Z. It wasn't just that the company ran out of letters, though: With the Xperia Z, we saw Sony streamline its scattered phone strategy, piping all its attention into a single high-end device. Then, it followed up with the Z1, which brought a massive 20.7-megapixel camera.
Today, we once again have a new phone to talk about, except it's perhaps not the device you might have been expecting. Nope, this isn't a Z2, and no it doesn't bring an even higher-resolution camera. Instead, Sony's joining the small-flagship club, with the Xperia Z1 Compact. Interestingly, unlike some of its rivals, Sony is promising that you won't have to compromise on features for the sake of a more pocket-friendly handset. At £440 SIM-free in the UK, that apparently includes a no-compromise price, too. By the looks of it, though, Sony has worked hard to stick with the same specs as the original -- bar, of course, the screen size. So, is this finally proof that "mini" doesn't have to mean mediocre? We put it to the test to find out.

At first glance the original Z1 and the Compact are nearly identical -- apart from the physical dimensions, of course. Look a little closer, however, and you'll spot a few small differences. For example, the Z1 Compact now has all the connections and ports on the left side, complete with the usual protective flaps. The microSD slot and micro-USB port sit up top, with the (micro) SIM slot hanging out on the bottom edge. (To jog your memory, the Xperia Z1's SIM port is over on the top-right edge.) Other differences: The headphone jack is ever so slightly farther inset on the top edge, and the camera flash now sits beside, not below, the lens. As you can see, we're already scraping around for significant differences. It's also worth noting that the build materials once again include glass and aluminum, so you won't have to suffer any plastic downgrade here (we're looking at you, HTC).
With the Compact, Sony stuck with its so-called OmniBalance design, which means for now, at least, it's passing on the chance to reimagine its phones. Instead, the company has been making subtle tweaks with each new device. And that's OK, too. After all, we've found little fault with the build quality and design on the Z and Z1, so why change it? As you can imagine, then, the Compact feels just as premium as the other Z-series phones, and possibly more so, given how dense it is. It's so dense, in fact, that at 137 grams, it's even heavier than some bigger flagships, like the Nexus 5.
Of course, this well-trodden design path brings many of the same trade-offs. In our Z1 review, we noted that it was something of a fluff-magnet; every time you retrieved it from your pocket, it would bring with it a renewed collection of lint. Unfortunately, that's just as true of the Compact. It's impressive to see how efficiently it extracts the finest fibers from your pocket every time you remove it. If you ever need to take photos of this phone -- say, for a review -- you'll definitely need canned air, a lint-free cloth and an abundance of patience.