Sony Z1 C6903 Unlocked International Vesion LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 -Black No Warranty..
Special Price Sony Z1 C6903 Unlocked International Vesion LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 -Black No Warranty By SonyMost helpful customer reviews
94 of 101 people found the following review helpful.
Amazing piece of hardware
By Kev
I didn't buy my phone here, but I felt the need to leave a review about this device.
Sony has finally delivered a top tier phone. The look and feel are absolutely premium. I get the feeling that I am using a solid piece of hardware, unlike that glossy plastic feel and look you get in products from Samsung SGS line and the new iPhone 5C. The stock rom (Android 4.2.2) is the 1st stock I actually really enjoy using and don't feel the need to switch over to a custom rom. I really don't understand why this phone is not getting 5/5. Sony has put in a lot of effort into the design. With the ever so slightly edges at the corners. A real nice touch with the glass backing. They even went as far as putting in two holes in the bottom right corner to be used for a camera wrist strap. Such as one like this Nikon 25770 AN-CP19 Black Strap. There is a nice discreet LED notification light at the top middle of the phone. A small but well liked feature. It flashes white when you have a notification, flashes red when on low battery and stays orange when charging.
The screen is so nice. Out of the 5x3 inches of the phone the screen is 4.5x.2.5 inches. It looks right and when using it you really feel there is a really nice amount of screen real estate available to you. I am also glad they did not include and physical home button on the screen.
I haven't even got to the best part. The phone is waterproof and dustproof receiving certificate of military resistance IP58. How great is that? The phone has 16 GB of internal storage. Most people will never go over 10GB of data their phone. I don't understand why people try to point out it has low internal storage space in comparison to the Note 3 which has 32GB or 64GB and can take external microSD. Great for the Note 3! But, who really needs that much internal data on a phone? Try going on the cloud. If you need the extra space the phone can take up to 64GB microSD for the people who need to horde data. If you need to go that route I suggest getting a Class 10 64GB such as this SanDisk SDSDQUA-064G-U46A Ultra 64 GB microSDXC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card 30MB/s with Adapter
The phones response time is so quick and smooth. I'm not going to give you the specifics on the internals but there is some seriously good hardware in the phone. I ran AnTuTu Benchmark and got a rating of 34789. If you do not know what that means, the Z1 is amazing. To give you a comparison the Note 3 got a 33814, HTC One 25651 SGS S4 25161 Nexus 7 20438. As you can see the Z1 is beating the rest in the benchmark scores which basically means it has the superior internal components.
My only bad thing I have to say, is i'm afraid this lovely glass finish is going to get scratched so I had to get a very nice case for it and a screen protector. VSTN®Sony Xperia Z1 Honami L39H ultra-thin PC Case Cover (For Sony Xperia Z1 Honami L39H, Black)
If you are going to install the screen protector yourself I highly suggest getting some anti-static spray and apply it before installing the screen protector. Getting a spec or 2 of dust under the screen protector looks ugly. If you are going to be spending all this money on a phone, go the extra mile and buy the spray. ACL Staticide 530 General Purpose Topical Anti-Stat, 4 oz Trigger Sprayer Bottle
This phone is the international edition so it recieves many different GSM radio frequencies and can be used with just about any GSM mobile network across the world. Just don't forget if you want to use your Mobile network data you have to put in the providers Access Point Name (APN). This can be found in Settings > More > Mobile networks > Access Point Names.
You will also need to set up your MMS network if you want to receive or send mms (picture messages). Go to Settings > More... > Internet Settings. Hit Accept then Select your Service Provider. It will install Internet & MMS settings.
The phone takes only microsim and is fully LTE capable, which I have no problem using on Tmobile's USA network. If you have a normal sim card and can't get a microsim immediatly, you can make your sim into a microsim with this. QQ-Tech Nano Sim Card Cutter Mini /Standard & Micro to Nano Sim for iPhone 5 iPhone 4, 4S and other Phones + Metal Tray + 2 Sim Adapters + Sand Paper, All in One Pack (In Stock Ready to Ship) Though, I highly suggest to get your providers official microsim if possible.
If you are into rooting and installing custom roms, the phone is easy to root and to unlock the boot loader.
The camera is 20.7MP. It takes good pictures during day time and has good flash for indoors, but the focus seems to "stutter". Nothing that can't be fixed, they just need to release a better software update to it. It is just an annoyance at most. The pictures I have taken so far have been really good. I haven't used it to take night time pictures yet, so I can't comment on that. There is a nice little added feature of a physical camera button on the bottom right. It makes it feel again as if you where taken pictures with a camera. It is a welcomed feature.
If you are worried about breaking the small watertight flaps for the phone when charging it, you can get the Sony charging station for it. Sony DK31 Cradle or Patuoxun Magnetic Charger Charging Dock Station Cradle For Sony Xperia Z1 L39h /Xperia Z Ultra XL39h Black
Overall this phone is an A+.
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent phone that now replaces my iPhone
By MajesticRa
I think it is best or one of the top phones on market right now. I was fascinated by Xperia Z which my best friend obtained this summer. So I bought this Z1 and absolutely happy with it (had iPhone before).
1. 4G.
I have T-mobile and 4g works with it. The phone has pretty good connection most of the time network is accessible.
2. Sturdy.
The phone was severely fallen to concrete floor for 2 times. No cracks or any scratches on the glass sides. Small scratches on a flank side but no dents or deformations. I'm happy it is so sturdy (or I'm so lucky)))
2. Camera.
It takes good looking pictures even in tough exposition conditions like sunsets, background illumination etc. Can't say it is much better than iPhone 5 camera but I find it generally better. Night pictures have high iso noise. Focus has been improved after the last update.
3. USB.
I really enjoy the fact that if I plug the phone to pc by common micro-usb cable it may be detected as a simple storage. No stupid iTunes (You can install sony app from the phone if so you WANT. But you don't have to. At all).
4. Sync, Charge and Watertight flaps.
I sync the phone by wireless and use dock station Sony DK31 Cradle to charge it. So I don't open watertight flaps at all.
5. Water.
I haven't taken any photos under water yet but I did call the phone in spa bath and got the phone under rain. Also once it was in sand. No problems. Since that I like the idea that I can receive a call if I'm interrupted in a shower))
6. Software.
I've found much of the Sony software useless. Can't say it is bad nor good I just get used to other apps. Android has a giant apps market with a lot of alternatives.
7. Hardware.
The hardware is pretty fast. I haven't found any slow running or laggy application or game yet.
8. Battery.
As all slim smartphones with high-end hardware you have to put the phone on charger often. It takes 1 day or less to discharge in normal mode. 2.5 - 3 days in stamina mode. 1.5 - 2 days in normal mode with battery saving soft installed. I'm sure it will worsen when the battery exhausted in 1-2 years.
9. Screen.
Pretty sharp. I've found it good but not exceptional. I mean it is good, bright and sharp for reading, surfing, gaming. But pictures on my old iPhone are looking the same good as on calibrated LCD. Pictures on Z1 looks worse than on PC. I know the description is very subjective, but that is what I can say. Video works fine.
10. As a player.
I REALLY like that I can download any player from market and listen possibly ANY file format. WITHOUT iTunes. After 3 years of using iDevices I couldn't get used to it. I mean, managing my library by folders, putting music to phone by simple copying what I need and WHERE I need is much much more convenient for me than using iTunes.
11. Sound quality.
I compared Z1 output with V90-HPA headphone preamp using Sure 535 earphones. Surprisingly the difference is not so big at all. Z1 sounds brighter while V90 sounds softer and deeper. But there is NO such a gap like between laptop internal sound card and V90. I would be really impressed if the phone sounded better. But... I'm still impressed with the comparison.
FINALLY...
I'm happy I have it. I would recommend it among all the other devices of the same class that are currently on the market.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful.
You can even use it as a phone
By Frans Hoynck van Papendrecht
I do a lot of photography for my work, using a Canon dslr and two Nikon compacts. For two weeks now I also use my new Xperia Z1, that turns out to be good enough for a lot of shooting and that is very easy to carry arround.
It is the first camera I ever had that you can even use as a phone :-)
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