Sony Xperia X Compact Review – Nice little fattie loses some shine
The Xperia X Compact is small and quite nice. Unfortunately, Sony has chosen not to put a high-end chip in the device; that would have been so nice for those looking for a small device with top performance. The battery life is a plus, because the phone will not be empty within a day. It is also fairly easy to work with the device, partly due to the fast and accurate fingerprint scanner. There are 32GB of storage memory and space for a micro SD card as standard. A bit of a shame is that the screen has a 720p resolution, but the screen adjustment could also have been better. Camera performance is hit and miss, mainly because the autofocus sometimes doesn’t do its job properly. If photos do succeed, they look nice. The glossy case is something to be reckoned with,
Pros
- Compact
- Excellent battery life
- Fast and convenient fingerprint scanner
- Standard 32GB and micro SD slot
- Often beautiful photos
Cons
- Mediocre screen
- Mixed camera performance
- Sensitive to scratches and finger smudges
- Pricey for device with mid-range chip
These are tough times for people who love small smartphones. Women often have a handbag, but men usually have their phone in their pocket. And since baggy trousers have not yet made a comeback in fashion, it is sometimes not easy to find trousers that fit a large phone comfortably. Fortunately, there’s still Sony’s Xperia line, with its Compact variants, and the latest phone in that line is the Xperia X Compact.
The Sony Xperia Z5 Compact was the previous member of this series and it was praised for being a small smartphone with high-end specifications. Many manufacturers give smaller phones less good parts than large variants, which is a pity for those who like small devices, but still want a smooth device that takes beautiful photos, for example. Although the camera specifications are fortunately the same as those of the high-end model, the Sony Xperia XZ, a soc has been chosen that only belongs to the middle class. Whether that leads to a less fluid user experience in practice, you can read in this review.
Casing
The appearance of the Xperia devices remains striking to say the least. Sony does its own thing when it comes to design, which is nice in a world where uniformity sometimes reigns supreme. Although the shape is not extremely different from previous Xperia phones, it lends itself well to a somewhat smaller device. The Xperia Compact fits quite well in the hand due to the rounded sides on the back. Because Sony has chosen to make the corners a bit more square, the phone stings a bit in the hand, depending on how you hold it.
The back of the device is made of glossy plastic, which, according to Sony, should look like high-quality ceramic. Whether you like it is personal, but remember that it is very sensitive to finger smudges. The device also gets scratched a lot faster than a device made of metal or glass, which means that such a shiny back quickly loses its shine. In practice, we already had scratches after putting it on the table a few times. Only one grain of sand needs to be in between and the scratch is a fact.
The X Compact is, as its name implies, not big. With a length of 129 by 65mm, it is a lot smaller than most Android devices in the middle class and the high segment. It is slightly larger than an iPhone 5(s) or SE, but it also has a screen of only 4″, where the X Compact case a 4.6″ screen. Furthermore, it is about the same size as the Xperia Z5 Compact, but a bit thicker than that device and the iPhones. With a somewhat smaller device like this, that matters less to us than with a large one and we have not experienced the somewhat chubby character as a disadvantage. Since we often walk around with large phones, it is nice to have a compact device like this in our pocket again. Not just for variety; a small telephone is also practical.
The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate. It is located on the side of the device and that is quite a nice place in practice. As far as we are concerned, this is more practical than on the back, because you can reach it when the phone is on the table, but in a holder in the car it is sometimes less convenient than if it were on the front. Furthermore, the X Compact has room for a micro SD card and has stereo speakers. We had a little more trouble understanding callers at maximum volume in a noisy car than with other devices, so it would have been nice if it could have been a bit louder.
Screen
The LCD of the Sony Xperia X Compact is, as mentioned, 4.6″ and has a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. The pixel density is 319ppi. That is just enough not to be disturbing, but the individual pixels are visible. A 1080p screen would not have been out of place on the X Compact, especially given the price of the device, although that would be at the expense of the battery.
The brightness cannot be set very high, so you can sometimes suffer from a difficult to read screen when the sun shines heavily. At first glance, the screen looks fine, but we have to be strict and there are clearly better screens on the market in this price range. For example, a trained eye sees that white appears very blue and that is also apparent from our measurements. Other colors are not shown very accurately either. It would also have been nice if the contrast ratio of the screen had been a bit higher, because then colors would ‘jump’ out of the screen a bit more. All in all, as said, it is not a hideous screen and you get used to it quickly, but it is not a high flyer in any way.
Battery
With a battery capacity of 2,700mAh and a modest 720p resolution, the Xperia X Compact has the potential to last a long time. In addition, the Snapdragon 810, which was in the predecessor Z5 Compact, is not cased in this smartphone. That soc was not energy efficient, so the X Compact could come close to the two-year-old Xperia Z3 Compact, which had excellent battery life.
Unfortunately, the video test does not show this. The X Compact lasts two hours shorter than the Z3 Compact, although the device still scores better than many competitors with an LCD. In the browsing test, in which the device continuously scrolls through various web pages, the small smartphone does, however, do a lot better than the Z5 Compact. The conclusion we can draw from this is that the Snapdragon 650-soc is, as expected, more energy efficient than the Snapdragon 810, so that it lasts relatively long under load. The PCMack test simulates everyday use, such as opening and editing photos, and the X Compact leaves all others behind. All in all, the X Compact has a long breath and outlasts most competitors. This was also evident in daily use,
The time it takes the Xperia X Compact to charge with the supplied charger is neither particularly short nor extremely long. The phone features Qnovo Adaptive Charging . This means that the cells of the battery are monitored, the charging parameters are adjusted accordingly and the battery must last hundreds of charges longer. Of course we have not been able to test that.
The X Compact also charges smartly if you charge it for a longer period of time, such as when you sleep. The phone learns your charging habits and waits to charge the last ten percent until shortly before it expects you to wake up. If you have a regular life, that’s fine, but when we deviated more than usual from our rhythm over a weekend, the phone was only 90 percent charged when we woke up. You will then receive a notification about this.
Software
In recent years, Sony has increasingly adopted elements of the interface from stock Android. The layout of the home screens and the appearance of the notification bar are the same as stock Android. Differences are still there. Sony uses its own icons and its own apps for things like music and videos. Plus, it adds quite a bit of bloatware. Unfortunately, apps such as What’s New, TrackID and Xperia Lounge cannot be removed. The pre-installed apps that can be uninstalled, such as News from Socialife, Lifelog, Amazon Shopping, AVG Protection, Office Suite, and Kobo Books, are less annoying, but still tiresome. Get rid of all that pre-installed crap, Sony.
Although it is still a reasonably present skin, where the settings also look different, for example, there is little wrong with Sony’s skin apart from the abundant bloatware. The device works smoothly with the software. The animations contribute to the feeling of speed and are not distracting. At the time of writing, Android 6.0.1 is on the device, but the Nougat update will come in November, according to Sony.
Hardware and performance
The Z1 Compact continued a tradition of small Android phones without compromising on hardware. The predecessor of the X Compact, the Z5 Compact, continued that tradition. Unfortunately, Sony has deviated from this with the X Compact and it contains a mid-range soc. It runs on a hexacore Snapdragon 650, which rotates at a maximum of 1.8GHz. This includes 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage memory. That in itself is fine for a high middle class, but there are smartphones with better specifications available in this price range.
In this review we have included the high-end Samsung Galaxy S7 and the WileyFox Spark+, which is well below the price of the X Compact. That’s to better place the performance of the X Compact. As you can see, this soc does not offer top performance, but it does come along with most other devices, which are usually cheaper. Predecessor Z5 Compact performs similarly, so the X Compact is not really an improvement in that area.
The speed of the storage memory may be more important than you think for the sense of speed of a smartphone. For example, if you are downloading apps in the background and playing a video in the meantime, the speed of the memory is a determining factor, but also if you are simply surfing the web. The above sequential tests from Androbench are generally less important than the random tests, but they are decisive when it comes to reading and writing large files, such as video files or lossless audio files.
The results of the X Compact are about what we expect from a device in this price range. It exchanges penny with the Z5 Compact in terms of performance and generally scores fairly well. Randomly writing data is a bit disappointing.
The general sense of speed of the X Compact is fine in practice. You notice at times that it does not have a super fast soc, but the difference with a device of, for example, less than 200 euros is much greater. Sony has done a good job in that regard with the X Compact and in practice we have experienced few hitches. Still, with a mid-range SOC like the Snapdragon 650, you’re more likely to encounter delays in the future than with a high-end SOC.
The Snapdragon 650 chip contains the Adreno 510 GPU, which is logically a mid-range GPU. However, where the CPU of the predecessor Z5 Compact does not differ that much in performance from the CPU in the X Compact, the high-end Adreno 430 from the Snapdragon 810 is clearly faster than this Adreno 510. As far as gaming is concerned, it is therefore better to go for the older and slightly cheaper Z5 Compact go. In practice, you can play great games on the X Compact, but you often see that if you’ve had a smartphone for a while and games become heavier and heavier, it’s less successful.
Camera
Sony has opted for a high-resolution camera sensor, as there’s a 23-megapixel camera in the Xperia X Compact, with an aperture of f/2.0. Where the soc is mid-range, the camera should be high-end. It is the same as the one in the top model Xperia XZ. It has hybrid phase-detection and laser autofocus, an infrared sensor to estimate white balance, object tracking to keep moving objects sharp, face detection and five-axis stabilization. So there is no shortage of functions.
With the hybrid autofocus system, focusing at long and short distances should not be a problem, but unfortunately we ran into some problems. Most of the time focusing went well, but in some circumstances it took many tries to get a sharp shot. Tracking moving objects often works well and is a useful addition in practice.
The camera sometimes chooses a somewhat slow shutter speed, which quickly results in blurred photos, given the lack of optical image stabilization. If you know how to hold the camera steady, the photos the X Compact takes are generally good. In good lighting conditions, the device usually takes nice photos, but the performance is certainly not bad even in moderate light. In addition, the white balance is estimated well, probably thanks to the special infrared sensor. If a photo succeeds, it is usually really beautiful.
Unfortunately, the camera is plagued by inconstancy, making shooting with the Xperia X Compact a matter of hit or miss. Below are a number of photos, where you can see the volatility, among other things. At the bottom of the pages are more photos taken with the Xperia X Compact.
Sony’s camera software is nice, has many options and is clear. There is, among other things, a manual mode in which you can indicate what kind of scene you are going to shoot and you can set the exposure, white balance, shutter speed and focus. Unfortunately, there is no option to shoot in RAW. You can also print with the physical shutter button on the side of the smartphone, which you can press halfway to focus automatically.
The camera app also starts very quickly if, for example, you hold down the physical shutter button for a long time, and printing is also fairly smooth. A small drawback to the camera software arises when you want to view photos taken. It then takes quite a long time before the preview of a photo is replaced by the photo with actual sharpness. As a result, you may sometimes think that a photo has not become sharp, when it turns out that it actually is.
As far as video is concerned, it is a pity that there is no possibility for 4k video recordings. You can, however, record 1080p videos at sixty frames per second. The stabilization of the videos can only be called reasonable. Tapping an object to activate object tracking and then record a video is useful. As a result, the camera actually focuses on what you want to have sharp during the video.
Specifications
| Product | Sony Xperia X Compact |
| Lowest price | € 427,- Compare prices |
| Number of providers | 19 shops |
| First price listing | Saturday September 3, 2016 |
| User reviews | Rating: 4(1 review) |
| Mobile operating system | Google Android 6.0 |
| Screen diagonal | 4.6″ |
| Resolution | 1280×720 |
| Relative screen size | 69.6% |
| Input method | Touch screen |
| Screen type | lcd |
| CPU/soc | Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 |
| Number of cores | 6 core |
| Processor speed | 1.8GHz |
| Memory size | 3GB |
| Storage capacity | 32GB |
| Memory card (mobile) | Micro sd, micro sdhc, micro sdxc |
| Number of sims | Single |
| SIM card slot 1 | Nanosim |
| Camera resolution | 23Mp |
| Camera resolution (front) | 5Mp |
| GSM flash type | 2 LEDs |
| Supported video resolutions | 1920×1080 |
| Stabilization | Only digital stabilization |
| Mobile networks | 2g – edge, 2g – gprs, 3g – hsdpa, 3g – hspa, 3g – hspa+, 3g – hsupa, 3g – umts, 4g – lte |
| Frequency range (mobile) | 800MHz, 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz , 1900MHz , 2100MHz, 2600MHz |
| Connection (wlan) | 802.11a, 802.11ac, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n |
| 5GHz support | Yes |
| Bluetooth present | Yes |
| Bluetooth version | Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Other wireless connections | Near field communication (nfc) |
| GSM connector | 3.5mm, USB 3.0 (Type-C) |
| Messages | Email, MMS, SMS |
| Playback options | audio, video |
| gps | Yes |
| Battery capacity (mAh) | 2,700mAh |
| Included mobile phone accessories | Data cable, headset wired, charger |
| Height / depth | 9.5mm |
| Width | 65mm |
| Length | 129mm |
| Weight (grams) | 135g |
| Colors | Black |
| Manufacturer specs | Product information from the manufacturer |
Conclusion
We have enjoyed working with the Sony Xperia X Compact. This is partly due to its small size and fast, good fingerprint scanner. In general, this device is quite smooth and there is no immediate reason to leave it if you like small phones. Still, it is a pity that Sony has chosen not to put a high-end soc in the device, as it did earlier with the Compact series. With that, the series loses some shine.
Fortunately, the price is about a hundred euros lower than that of the Xperia Z5 Compact when it was released, but this predecessor is as expensive as the X Compact at the time of writing. The Z5 Compact has a somewhat less efficient soc and therefore a less good battery life, but the gpu in that soc is faster. The X Compact has the edge in terms of camera performance, with its hybrid autofocus system and infrared sensor, although the results are mixed. Unlike the Z5 Compact, the X Compact is not water and dust proof, which is a pity. Anyway, more choice in the segment of phones with screens smaller than 5″ is always welcome. When choosing between the two Sony Xperia Compact devices, it’s just what you find more important.
Apart from the size, there is not much special about the Xperia X Compact. Sony focuses very much on the camera with this device and there is certainly no shortage of camera functions. That’s why it’s a pity that the photos, although often beautiful, sometimes clearly fail. If Sony really gets the camera right, devices like the X Compact will become a lot more attractive. The screen is also not great and the choice for the plastic glossy back is inconvenient. Because of things like that, the X Compact is really only recommended if you absolutely want a screen smaller than 5″ and Android as the operating system, in the absence of alternatives. The X Compact is really not a bad phone, but it could simply have been much nicer to be.