[Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact Guides, News, & Discussion] armchairbear:
From Z3c to Samsung GS7 to XZ1 compact

The XZ1 Compact addresses all the issues I had with the Z3c, which I already loved.

The front facing speakers are actually loud enough, and the sound quality is better.

The camera is better and faster.

No more plastic flap covering the usb charging port.

I've never owned a Samsung phone, so I got the GS7, since it got good reviews and I wanted to try Oculus Gear VR

It was a good phone, but it had too much bloatware.

It was annoying how Samsung was trying to have their mobile phone eco system to replace all the google services. So a lot of basic apps were doubled up.

I'll give it to Samsung, they make a great camera. I'd say it's faster and has better image quality than the XZ1 compact.

But, in the end, using a Samsung phone feels kinda soulless. It's just a regular phone with a good camera.

I was really impressed when SONY introduced the XZ Premium. It was such a beautiful phone. I was really tempted to buy the Luminous Chrome version, but I just couldn't get myself to spend so much money on a phone. At the time, I really wished that they would make another compact version similar to the Premium. And it was a really nice surprise when they announced the XZ1 line.

I was really happy that they are again putting flagship internals in a compact phone. I have small hands and the XZ1 is the perfect size, and I can do everything one-handed.

I got the White Silver. I'm not sure why they called it that, it doesn't have any white on it at all. To me it's looks more like a shiny gray than silver. I like it, but I wish they used a better paint. The silver paint they used on the GS7 looked much better, it looked more metallic. At first, it bothered me that the front facing camera was so big compared to phone. It sticks out like a sore thumb. But after, a while, I got used to it, and I think it gives the phone personality. I like that the grayish silver gives the phone an industrial look. I don't care if a phone has a big bezel or not, as long as it looks good, and the XZ1 compact definitely looks good with the bezels.

Software-wise, it's great that SONY only makes slight modifications to stock Android. And there's not too much bloatware. I got the international version, so I could use the fingerprint sensor. Although, I was disappointed that the pull down settings were fairly limited. There wasn't a Ringer volume setting option.

Battery life is pretty good. I don't get battery anxiety like I did with the GS7. I wish it had wireless charging. The Stamina setting is weird, it only adds 15 minutes of runtime. With the Z3c, Stamina mode made sense and was usable. With moderate use, I can probably get two days runtime, and with heavy use, I can still get one full day out of it, which is impressive.

The screen looks good. Definitely better than the Z3c. Although not as good as the GS7's AMOLED, but it's close. The auto-brightness is wonky and doesn't transition smoothly, but I don't mind setting the brightness manually.

So far, my favorite feature of the phone is its audio quality. Listening to music on this phone is a joy. Either speakers, wired headphones, or bluetooth headphones, they all sound great. It sounds even better than my PC. Nowadays, I would much rather listen to music thru my phone whenever I can. And it's great that it still has a headphone jack. I can understand the change, but I just don't think we're quite ready for it yet.

Speaking of bluetooth, the new Bluetooth 5.0 standard works pretty well. I can literally walk at least 3 times further away (compared to 4.0) from my phone with my bluetooth headphones on without losing connection.

Sorry for the long post.