The Sony Xperia XZ1 Review

We were sent the Sony Xperia XZ1 to review recently and I was really excited to try the new smart phone.  For someone who works from her phone and laptop I know very little about technology and I was quite aware that any modern smart phone would meet my basic phone needs (call, text, facebook and instagram).  I wanted to see what made the Sony different though and most importantly, how good the camera was!

The Sony Xperia XZ1 is slim and sleek with a large display.  I have stuck to the same brand of phone for 6 years before this so I wasn't expecting it to be so easy to set up but everything was really intuitive.  The unlock button is on the right hand side, exactly where my thumb sits and the fingerprint unlock is perfect to keep little people from playing with it.  I could download all my favourite apps and use all the usual functions.

The 13mp front facing camera takes brilliantly clear images.

Sony are one of the leading camera manufacturers in the UK and they have used their amazing Motion Eye™ technology in the camera. Most of the photos I take are of my four small people and they are not ones to sit still and pose nicely.  I have to capture them mid movement, mid speech and mid swing and the Sony Xperia XZ1 has several features to help ensure that I never miss a family moment.  I took these photos on a very ordinary Tuesday, nothing special but special to us all the same and I love that I have some of these little moments captured.

The Autofocus Burst captures a string of images and means you can flick through afterwards to find your favourite ones.  The 19MP camera can capture so many photos in a short space of time and I was really impressed with how clear these were with no motion blur.  You can see in the swings below that both children look incredibly clear and you can't tell that they were actually moving at different speeds .

The Predictive Capture mode on the Sony Xperia XZ1 means you never miss a moment and this has been my favourite feature.  So many times I have tried to capture the children doing something sweet, but by the time I have pressed the button they have moved on.  The predictive capture mode recognises that the subject is in motion and takes up to three extra shots before you press the shutter button.  So often now I have looked in the gallery and realised half the child's head was out of the shot and then realise that predictive capture has meant the perfect picture is there too, thank goodness!

And the third fantastic camera feature on the Sony Xperia XZ1 is the built in slow motion mode on the camera.  I know you can download fancy editing software that will do this for you but I haven't worked out how and it looks very complicated! Not only this, but with your average camera taking nowhere near as many frames per second, it wouldn't even compare in quality.  With this camera, you simply press a large icon on the screen when you want it to start and the phone which can record 960 frames per second, slows the next second of footage down to last for five seconds before resuming the filming again.  I have used this to capture the children playing, someone throwing one in the air and I can imagine there would be some amazing moments to try it, like the finish line of a race.  For normal videos, the steadyshot™ feature has 5 axis stabilisation to compensate for shaking movement and keep videos clear and smooth.

As well as the camera there are loads of brilliant features

Even in low light the camera takes sharp and bright images

- A longer battery life, which easily lasts me a whole day despite the fact I have a minor addiction to a battery draining app.

- Waterproof, so you can take it out in the rain, take photos in the pool and not panic if you accidentally drop it in the bath.

- Android 8.0 Oreo technology (apparently Oreos are not just a tasty biscuit!)

- Durable exterior, something I have noticed as this may be the longest I have ever gone without cracking my screen!

The Sony Xperia handset has an RRP of £599 and a compact version is available too.

This is a paid collaboration with Sony but all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.