Sony Xperia Z1 Compact - true Android flagship in a non-humongous body

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#990278 19-Feb-2014 11:15

NzBeagle:
NZtechfreak: (Finally) Got mine yesterday, seriously impressed with this phone.

True to form, great composition for the photo. Look forward to your experience with the phone. Anything you were hoping for that isn't present or perfect. Things you like that you weren't expecting.

Ha, thank you. What you don't see looking at that photo is the half dozen shots I took until I was fairly happy with the composition (which of course was the one where I thought the least about the composition), and then the time spent dealing with highlight clipping in Lightroom because I didn't get the exposure spot on :)

The Z1 Compact is very mature software wise, benefiting from being essentially identical to the Z1 which has been out for months and had several updates to address issues at release and so forth.

I was really happy to see that Sony are including a USB OTG adapter in the box, I presume because their phones now have inbuilt wireless compatibility with Sixaxis controllers after an initial pairing process that requires a USB OTG cable.

Really like that Sony is still making mass memory connection available to the external SD card. Also like user-selectable control over screen white balance.

All in all Sony have just done everything really well here. The only things I miss are MHL 2.0, and Kit Kat and some of Sony's custom settings like those specifically for connection to external DACs (as per the photo above, external DACs already work, they are adding some more verbose controls over that connection in the Kit Kat update though).

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

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#990283 19-Feb-2014 11:21

Dionasaurus:
NZtechfreak: (Finally) Got mine yesterday, seriously impressed with this phone.

Nice photo! Did you order it through Clove? And did you have to pay customs etc on top of the standard price? And did it come with a New Zealand charger plug adapter, or just a UK plug?

Sorry for all the questions - really considering this one for my next phone and it's looking like it won't be released locally so will probably go to same route as you!

I didn't order from Clove, I ordered from an Austrian seller on Ebay as they had it a bit ahead of everyone else. Would thoroughly recommend Clove though. It'll come with a UK adapter from Clove, but that isn't too much an issue, a simple plug adapter is all that is needed. Regarding customs - if you order with delivery by Fedex/DHL you will pay customs every time, if you order Royal Mail you may not have to pay customs. There isn't any way to determine whether you'll pay customs if it comes via Royal Mail, seems about 50/50. Be aware you will face delays if it does attract customs in that scenario, probably in the order of a week.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

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#990370 19-Feb-2014 12:39

Thanks very much for that! I think I'll wait a little longer to see if any local parallel importers get the phone in so I can test it hands-on, otherwise I'll go for Clove.

nakedmolerat

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#990448 19-Feb-2014 13:23

NZtechfreak: (Finally) Got mine yesterday, seriously impressed with this phone.

I thought this was for your partner?

NZtechfreak

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#990484 19-Feb-2014 14:17

nakedmolerat:
NZtechfreak: (Finally) Got mine yesterday, seriously impressed with this phone.

I thought this was for your partner?

Ahem, well, yes... [BUSTED]

It is hers, she allowed me a couple of days grace to play around with it though :)

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

kiwifidget

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#990501 19-Feb-2014 14:40

So, you get these phones from overseas, and they work here?
My sister is coming over from the UK next month, if she buys one in a normal phone shop, and brings it with her, it will work here too, on Vodafone?

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#990505 19-Feb-2014 14:52

kiwifidget: So, you get these phones from overseas, and they work here?
My sister is coming over from the UK next month, if she buys one in a normal phone shop, and brings it with her, it will work here too, on Vodafone?

It depends on the market the phone is built for. The UK devices are the same as the ones sold here, just with localised software that doesn't usually present any problems. As long as the device has the right bands - for Vodafone, that's 900/1800 for 2G, 900/2100 for 3G, & 1800/2600 for 4G - you're good to go.

The devices built for the US, Japan, China, & Korea are generally the least compatible with 3G & 4G in NZ, and in some cases won't work here at all.

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#990594 19-Feb-2014 16:31

NikT:
kiwifidget: So, you get these phones from overseas, and they work here?
My sister is coming over from the UK next month, if she buys one in a normal phone shop, and brings it with her, it will work here too, on Vodafone?

It depends on the market the phone is built for. The UK devices are the same as the ones sold here, just with localised software that doesn't usually present any problems. As long as the device has the right bands - for Vodafone, that's 900/1800 for 2G, 900/2100 for 3G, & 1800/2600 for 4G - you're good to go.

The devices built for the US, Japan, China, & Korea are generally the least compatible with 3G & 4G in NZ, and in some cases won't work here at all.

So, looking at the Clove site I can see 900/1800 for 2G, and 900/2100 for 3G, but for 4G it says frequencies 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20... how do those numbers equate to 1800/2600 for 4G?

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#990598 19-Feb-2014 16:33

NZtechfreak:
nakedmolerat:
NZtechfreak: (Finally) Got mine yesterday, seriously impressed with this phone.

I thought this was for your partner?

Ahem, well, yes... [BUSTED]

It is hers, she allowed me a couple of days grace to play around with it though :)

I so want to see this, but I leave for Hawaii on Monday night :)

NZtechfreak

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#990612 19-Feb-2014 16:48

networkn:
NZtechfreak:
nakedmolerat:
NZtechfreak: (Finally) Got mine yesterday, seriously impressed with this phone.

I thought this was for your partner?

Ahem, well, yes... [BUSTED]

It is hers, she allowed me a couple of days grace to play around with it though :)

I so want to see this, but I leave for Hawaii on Monday night :)

We'll catch up at some stage I'm sure, may bring it to the headphones meet in May as part of my portable rigs display.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

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#990614 19-Feb-2014 16:54

kiwifidget:
NikT:
kiwifidget: So, you get these phones from overseas, and they work here?
My sister is coming over from the UK next month, if she buys one in a normal phone shop, and brings it with her, it will work here too, on Vodafone?

It depends on the market the phone is built for. The UK devices are the same as the ones sold here, just with localised software that doesn't usually present any problems. As long as the device has the right bands - for Vodafone, that's 900/1800 for 2G, 900/2100 for 3G, & 1800/2600 for 4G - you're good to go.

The devices built for the US, Japan, China, & Korea are generally the least compatible with 3G & 4G in NZ, and in some cases won't work here at all.

So, looking at the Clove site I can see 900/1800 for 2G, and 900/2100 for 3G, but for 4G it says frequencies 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20... how do those numbers equate to 1800/2600 for 4G?

Is there anything Google doesn't know??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

So, 3=1800, and 7=2600.

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NikT

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#990628 19-Feb-2014 17:13

kiwifidget:

So, looking at the Clove site I can see 900/1800 for 2G, and 900/2100 for 3G, but for 4G it says frequencies 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20... how do those numbers equate to 1800/2600 for 4G?

Bingo - bands 3 & 8 are the ones to look out for. Band 3/1800 is the important one, band 8 is a nice-to-have.

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#990641 19-Feb-2014 17:29

NikT:
kiwifidget:

So, looking at the Clove site I can see 900/1800 for 2G, and 900/2100 for 3G, but for 4G it says frequencies 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20... how do those numbers equate to 1800/2600 for 4G?

Bingo - bands 3 & 8 are the ones to look out for. Band 3/1800 is the important one, band 8 is a nice-to-have.

What is special about band 8?

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NikT

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#990642 19-Feb-2014 17:31

kiwifidget:
NikT:
kiwifidget:

So, looking at the Clove site I can see 900/1800 for 2G, and 900/2100 for 3G, but for 4G it says frequencies 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20... how do those numbers equate to 1800/2600 for 4G?

Bingo - bands 3 & 8 are the ones to look out for. Band 3/1800 is the important one, band 8 is a nice-to-have.

What is special about band 8?

Used for additional capacity in urban areas AFAIK.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

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#990648 19-Feb-2014 17:37

NikT:
kiwifidget:
NikT:
kiwifidget:

So, looking at the Clove site I can see 900/1800 for 2G, and 900/2100 for 3G, but for 4G it says frequencies 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20... how do those numbers equate to 1800/2600 for 4G?

Bingo - bands 3 & 8 are the ones to look out for. Band 3/1800 is the important one, band 8 is a nice-to-have.

What is special about band 8?

Used for additional capacity in urban areas AFAIK.

Thanks for the info, I live in Pukekohe so probably doesn't qualify as urban!

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