So i've had the XZ for a couple of days now and had some extensive usage from it as I've basically made it my 'main phone' with the iPhone 7 Plus taking a bit of a back seat.
The XZ is definitely a keeper.
First time I've used a Sony device and I am so impressed with everything about it.
The camera is one of the main reasons I went for it, and it doesn't disappoint. The only thing I do find as previously mentioned, is that the interface is slightly confusing and a bit messy with options tucked away in sub menus. Makes for a difficult experience unless you shoot in Superior Auto mode.
The actual camera samples I've taken are pretty impressive. Colours are very accurate, probably some of the most accurate I've seen save for the Lumia 950's and Pixel.
But very close.
The one issue I have faced is the wide angle lens does cause some distortion on some photos at the very left and right of the image. Something I can live with as it isn't as noticeable on the device, more when I upload onto the MacBook.
I still love the design of this thing. It's a bit love hate. Some people like it and think it looks really sleek, others think it's a boxy mess. I can see the argument for both, but I just love the look of it, and the feel in hand too. Premium feeling and nice to look at. Big thumbs up.
Battery life has been pretty good for me. Surprisingly good actually for a smaller phone that's not overly thick.
Easily lasts the day which is all you can hope for really.
I think the Sony skin is nice. Some little niggles at the minute that I need to work out how to smooth out are things like deleting photos. They can't be deleted from the Google photos app. Instead they have to be deleted from the Sony Gallery app instead. Don't get me wrong, when selecting to delete from Photos it does offer to take me to the Gallery app to do it, but why is this there? Doesn't make sense. Will have to fiddle round in settings to find a way round it!
The rest of it is great. Double tap to wake AND double tap to turn screen off! Only when you tap to a blank area of the screen - well this is a revelation! I've never known an Android phone do this, but then at the same time I'm not as experienced with Android as some others on here are. Either way it's a massive plus.
Another really good touch is the ability to make the app icons small or big in the app drawer. YES SONY!
This makes such a huge difference. Made mine smaller and now it fits with the screen size and looks really nice.
Also, the option to move the app drawer button to anywhere. Again, not sure if this is just Sony, but I've never known another device out of the box that allows for this.
Major props.
Still love how easy it is to change wallpapers, add widgets and themes with this phone. Not tried themes yet, but there's a free winter one with my name on it for when we hit December.
Screen is lovely. Would never know this wasn't QHD or whatever these mobile 'professionals' are harping that it should have. 1080p works really nicely here and the colours are spot on out of the box. This was my biggest complaint with the Pixel, with colours being way too oversaturated or too mushy with SRGB mode.
XZ lets you choose exactly what type of screen you're after, and it makes for a much more pleasant user experience for me.
A girl I work with at CarPhone almost has the same phone obsessions as me (changing regularly) and when I told her I had got this she was like "Why?!".
We worked a shift together yesterday and she had a little play with the XZ and was amazed at the front facing camera (she's a selfie lover!) and the feel of it in hand. Later on I saw her checking trade in prices for her iPhone 7 and asked what she was doing. I then put a contract / trade in through for her at closing for her new Xperia XZ in Forest Blue.
She's made up with it.
Power of Sony haha.
She posted on Facebook last night about her new purchase and so many people who had also bought it were commenting saying how much they love theirs. I'd never properly given Sony a look before as their devices always seemed sub par. Whilst there are arguments that this could also be lacking in some aspects compared to the bigger sellers, it really is a lovely device that does everything well. Nothing has disappointed me yet and doesn't seem like it will. It's just a shame that more people won't go near them as often I find people say how much they don't like Sony as they've bought one of their cheaper, low end phones (of which there are many) and it's put them off another one. If only they knew their flagships were in a different league. For general Joe public though it's understandable. Sony could do with addressing that.
Anyway I've ranted.
Colour me impressed.
Here's some photos of the device I've taken as I feel it warrants a photo shoot. It's just so damn sexy!
