Was talking to a guy at the Sony store about the availability of the Z1 compact in NZ. He basically said its in Vodafone's hands at the moment so it's up to them if or when they want to release it . I haven't talked to anyone from Vodafone about this but if it appears to be true then great. I'll most likely be purchasing mine from an importer as I've done in the past.
Just a word of warning to anyone thinking of buying a Z1 Compact: the back panel is cheap easily-scratched plastic, despite being described as "durable tempered glass" on almost every review and the initial Sony white paper. It really does kill any notion of this phone being "premium" as the plastic back really is just that bad. Additionally my unit has the flash bleed issue that seems to be happening to a lot of Z1 Compact owners, which is possibly a symptom of the use of plastic for the back panel. I'm currently going through the RMA process, not because the plastic back makes the phone horrible, but because of the crushing disappointment I felt when I realized the $700 phone I bought had crappy plastic where it should have had glass.
If you can get over the plastic on the back, and don't mind not being able to use the camera in low-light, then it's not a bad phone. The screen really is amazing, much better than the Z1s' I have seen. That said there seems to be two variants of screens from two different manufacturers, and I got lucky and received the better of the two.
Have you had yours for long? Mine got scratched within the first hour I had it out, and needless to say I was being extremely careful. As for the reviews, if you google "sony z1 compact review" (for me) the first 6 reviews still mention it having a glass back, and the seventh was edited after Sony changed their white paper. Sony only admitted to it being plastic one week ago, although "admit" is a kind word to use for a stealthy edit of a white paper. Prior to that Sony reps stated that it was glass: http://www.xperiablog.net/2014/02/08/does-the-xperia-z1-compact-have-a-plastic-back-instead-of-glass/
There are some reviews coming out now that mention the plastic back, however they all seem to toe the Sony marketing line that having a plastic back is probably better anyway, which is in contrast to the earlier reviews which praised the use of premium materials. There is always the possibility that Sony sent out review units with glass backs and changed to plastic for retail units, although it is probably more likely that most reviews were just regurgitating what they read from Sony's white paper spec sheet. That said it would be hard to mistake the back for glass while holding it in your hand, I noticed soon after unboxing, so professional reviews should have picked up on it too.
I am quite picky when it comes to build quality in phones, for instance I'm not a fan of Samsung, however I'd rate the quality of the plastic on the Z1 Compact as poor even when compared to other plastic phones. I do think a lot of people are far less fussy about what material their phone is made of than I am, so this might be a great phone for those people, but it isn't the one for me.
What sites have you been reading? I'm genuinely interested as evidently the sites I've been on don't actually do much of a review. Even the GSMarena review that was linked in the original post had it wrong, although they've done an edit to correct themselves now.
hb313: What sites have you been reading? I'm genuinely interested as evidently the sites I've been on don't actually do much of a review. Even the GSMarena review that was linked in the original post had it wrong, although they've done an edit to correct themselves now.
Lol, I wouldn't touch GSM Arena with a barge pole! The times they're right about anything but the photo, I could count on one hand. Just look at their specs!
Mainly Android Police, The Verge, Ars, Engadget, Gizmodo and anything else that pop up in my twitter feed (android central etc).
The best things to read are the big sites that'll get review units (that are often embargoed) because they tend to set the rumours straight, even if they can't state full specs or post the review until release.
Just had a quick look at the websites you mentioned and only android central actually mentions that the Z1 Compact has a plastic back, and even then in their comparison to the Z1 they say they both have glass front and back, so they might have edited their review.
Ars and android police don't seem to have reviews up at all for the Z1 compact.
Engadget have recently edited so the review no longer mentions it having glass front and back, but they missed editing out the silly line about not having to do a plastic downgrade (for a mini version), which is kind of funny in context. I would definitely say that Engadget is on my do-not-trust list as I recall seeing their review say it had glass, and even now that it has been edited it still omits saying the back is plastic, and has no mention that an edit has taken place.
Like I said earlier, the big sites seem to have been on white paper regurgitate mode for these reviews, which is pretty disappointing, especially given how obvious the mistake is with the phone in your hand.
hb313: Just had a quick look at the websites you mentioned and only android central actually mentions that the Z1 Compact has a plastic back, and even then in their comparison to the Z1 they say they both have glass front and back, so they might have edited their review.
I read it on a few, and knew about so it was probably something from my twitter feed. It was certainly no surprise. These are just some of the ones I read regularly that I pulled off the top of my head. I don't remember where I read every review.
Maybe I need to get on twitter then, because it was definitely a surprise to me. Interesting that you believed someone on twitter rather than the specification sheet on the Sony Mobile Z1 Compact page though, as that was only changed after the phone was released:
hb313: Maybe I need to get on twitter then, because it was definitely a surprise to me. Interesting that you believed someone on twitter rather than the specification sheet on the Sony Mobile Z1 Compact page though, as that was only changed after the phone was released:
It wasn't "someone", it was a tech site, or an author from a tech site... I follow about 200-250 of them, and probably read 20-30 sites at night before I go to bed. And I never read the actual product sites, they're just spin from a marketing department. I have a jaded view of company PR as I have a family member in the PR (lying) business.
For anyone interested, I got an email from Parallel Imported saying they're selling the Xperia Z1 Compact on their 'Hot Deals' page. It's $819 inc. delivery which seems to be the cheapest I've seen it so far, but it sounds like they order it in for you, or maybe they have some in stock at their Mega Store over on the North Shore.
Might have to head over to give it a hands-on test first!
I just had a week in China and Hong Kong. The stores have dummy handsets on display and the prices are around 3500RMB which is around kiwi $690 includes 17% VAT so should be cheaper in HK. I guess once they are released in HK they wil start becoming more widely available on trademe.
I'd recommend people fire up Sony PC companion as the Z1 kitkat update is rolling out now... I know a few Kiwis that have it. edit: probably wont show up OTA.
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