Sony Xperia Z5 Compact E5823 2GB/32GB 23MP 4.6-inch 4G LTE Factory Unlocked (BLACK) - International Stock No Warranty

Phone arrived in 2 days. I am a US customer looking to use the unit with ATT. I received it on Tuesday, and end of day Thursday today, the phone is fully setup customized and functional, but for the carrier. I had some lingering items to wrap up on my old phone, and today I'll be getting ATT service connected. My goal was to keep a smaller phone (~4.5") like my previous unit to preserve the 1 handed capability, and convenient pocket fit. I don't want a tablet for a phone, and have struggled to find a good modern model match for my needs. The Z5C looked to be a great match, and so far, it's a perfect fit for me. Package appeared to have been opened, however carefully, and then re-sealed. I suspect the reason it was opened was the addition of a US plug adapter for the EU style plug the unit comes with, as it does not look like a Sony converter. Where the phone uses a pretty standard 5V, 1500mA mUSB charger, of which I have a bunch, this wasn't a big deal. All other packages in the box (headphones, USB cable, extra earbud cushions, documents) were all intact and looked brand new, untouched. Phone itself still had original sticky film and packaging, and was in perfect new condition. Phone turned right on, and was ~60% charged. I was prompted quickly to change the language (second or third screen) as I ran setup from German to English I organized the OS as I prefer my phone laid out and set up and connected to wifi. The phone immediately ran two major system updates in parallel, and then after a restart, ran another. I'm now on Android 5.1.1, and admittedly, I'm not sure what it shipped with before the updates as they happened so fast. I love the square edges, which allow for some grip in a smartphone world where everything is slick and like holding onto a watersock if you don't have a cover on it. The phone looks like a sleek, black slab of sexy tech. Seriously, what a cool looking, striking design. The photos don't do it justice. I did buy a low profile cover for drop protection, and have used it intermittently. Compared to the IPhone 6 or the new Galaxy Edge, this is much easier to hold one handed without worrying about it squirting onto the pavement. That said, it's still a pretty slick and smooth piece of hardware in general, and I'd suggest a cover/protection. The phone is a great unit, and a perfect fit for my needs. I love the frosted glass back, the large screen/body ratio, and the charcoal colored polycarb frame.. I know some people take stars away for not liking the case/finish (non metal), but I find that odd. If you don't like it, why'd you drop $500 on it? It's a first class material, so the rest is just opinion. It actually has a pretty metallic look anyways. No one's going to look at this and say "man, what a cheap looking phone. I promise. Phone does get a bit warm (which I really only experienced during the initial startup/setup), but there's a lot of horsepower in there, and that's to be expected. Nothing that bothered me. The fingerprint tech is awesome, and responds quickly and flawlessly. I have a few different fingers stored so that it's a comfortable unlock both righty and lefty. The hardware is clearly sufficient, as I've had a dozen things going on at once including downloading, a bluetooth beam, installing and updating apps, surfing a few internet tabs and writing a note all at once, and Android ran smooth, slick, quick and didn't break a sweat. Phone a very *solid* feel, very high quality, and certainly a first class phone that can be discussed in the circles of the current high end smartphone competition. Two minor drawbacks that I didn't think were worth removing a star for: 1) No wireless charging. If the unit didn't have the rapid charge capability, this may have been a -1, but it charges so damned fast, and keeps charge so long, I couldn't do it. Still would be cool to drop it on those powermats at starbucks. Oh well. 2) Volume buttons are too low on the thumb side (righty.) These should have been up top. I'm guessing there was a hardware conflict, but either way, it's a nitpick worth mentioning. Setup with personal and work emails was seamless, and calendar, emails and contacts all downloaded via wifi quickly and easily. I'm headed to ATT to finalize my new account and get the carrier service completed. Unless you see a follow up note from me, assume it also went smoothly.

TL;DR PRO/CON list at bottom. I will start off this review by saying that I really wanted to love this phone. It does have some very good qualities about it. But the phone has its faults, which are enough for me to not give this phone a recommendation. I have used the phone for approximately 6 months. By background is that I worked in the cell phone industry selling phones for years, before moving into corporate IT and networking. I have been a amateur phone enthusiast and have easily had over 30 phones in my day. I also take exceptional care of my belongings, electronics getting special care. Seeing as this phone is a bit expensive for the size, it was a bit of a treat for myself as the specs and design looked like everything I wanted. Hardware Screen is a nice size for one handed use. Is very crisp and easy to see inside and outside in bright sunlight. Physical buttons are a tad awkward being so low on the device, but worked well for how I hold a phone. They provide enough click, but are a little hard to "feel out" and press during a call. Volume on the dual speakers is adequate for a small phone and produce decent sound. Sound through earphones is very good. 2 GB of RAM is more than enough to power the 720p screen and the 810 processor never lets up. The fingerprint scanner is top notch. Works very fast and recognizes fingers well. It allows 5 fingers to be registered. I did my wife's thumb, left index, right index, and my right thumb twice for better accuracy on my main digit. Sometimes I would pull the phone out of my pocket and it would already have registered my thumb and unlocked itself. UI, Performance, and Battery Life This phone came with Android Lollipop and is now updated to Marshmallow. The UI runs well. The fast processor and 2 GB of RAM don't let this phone slow down much if at all. Sony's take on Android is a very clean and minimal. Although there is plenty of Sony "bloatware" apps that come preinstalled and cannot be removed. You can "disable" them so they are no longer active and don't appear in the menu, but still live on the device. The Snapdragon 810 does still tend to get hot at random times. An app may be running in the background and you can feel the phone get much warmer. Never hot that you feel in danger, but warm enough to warranty a reboot in my opinion. Once back up the device was cool again. Battery life on the phone is decent, but not close to the expectation that Sony has set with previous devices in the series. It will get you through a day easily with moderate to heavy use, and can easily stretch to two days with light use. Recharge time however is very long. If you plug into a PC to charge expect at least 3 - 4 hours to charge it up. A quick charge adapter is a wise investment if you get this phone. Apps and Gaming I largely got this phone for remote play on the PS4; that feature worked wonderfully with no issues. While the small screen was a little hard to see at times, I never had an issue with pairing the PS4 controller via bluetooth or playing over WiFi. The stock messaging app always gave me trouble with MMS messages, even with the correct settings from AT&T. I constantly got a you have an MMS to download message even though I already read the message. Textra fixed that issue and is a much better messaging app in my opinion. I don't really play any other types of mobile games, but companion apps for Destiny, Metal Gear Solid V, and standard apps like The Weather Channel all ran great on the device. As mentioned before there is A LOT of Sony branded items that are just flat out annoying and not needed. Camera Wonderful camera. Loved to take pictures with this phone. They almost always come out clear and sharp. With the latest updates the camera opens quickly. The phone does a good job of fast auto-focus as promised. The shutter key on the side of the device is great for open the camera quickly and nice to take a picture. Finger placement while holding the phone is a bit awkward as the camera is very close the the top edge of the phone and gets covered easy if you are not careful. I spent most of my time in superior auto mode which produces 8 mp images. Going into manual will give you an overwhelming amount of options and allow full 23 mp pictures. Design Looking at the phone it screams premium. Add waterproofing to the device and that is just piece of mind that some rain or accidental spills will not harm the device. No flap for the charge port is also wonderful as I've seen my share of them get damaged on phone such as the Galaxy S5 which kills the waterproofing of the device. The phone has a heafty weight to it that also feels good. The frosted glass back looks very nice and does not attract fingerprints. The phone is very slippery. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being course grit sand paper and 10 being metal coated in Teflon covered in olive oil, this phone is a 9 easy. The phone literally wants to slide out of your hand whenever you hold it. If nothing else a case is needed to provide some grip to the phone. Having a glass front and back also made me extra cautious and nervous about potential cracks. But I have always taken care of my devices and never cracked a screen. Phone calls Phone calls on the device were clean on my end every time. There were issues for the other caller especially when I used speaker phone. Callers would often complain that they heard themselves or that they could not hear me until I went back to the earpiece. It also appeared that using the speaker phone only used the bottom speaker and not both. Durability This phone is by its very nature fragile. With over 90% of the outer casing being glass, you better believe this baby is delicate. The phone came with a pre-installed screen protector, but it became cruddy very fast. I normally don't use a screen protector and have never had an issue. I somehow managed to put a small scratch on the screen while it was in my pocket with NOTHING else in it one day while hiking. It was no big deal, as I couldn't see it when the screen was on, but I knew it was there and worried me that it got damaged so easily. Now just recently a friend placed my phone near a counter edge, and a got a few messages in a row that made the device vibrate right off the edge. Of course it landed face down on kitchen tile. Screen completely shattered and the touch screen stopped functioning altogether. I am not knocking this phone because of my stupid mistake, not many phones if any would survive a fall like that. Instead it just goes to show that a rugged case is just about required for this device. Which is a huge bummer since the phone looks so good. TL;DR and PROS/CONS List PROS -- Nice screen for a smaller phone -- Beautiful design -- Great camera -- Fast performance -- Sony's UI has a good design -- Waterproof -- Native PS4 remote play Cons -- Sony bloatware that cannot be removed, just disabled -- Slippery -- Fragile -- Poor speaker phone quality for the other caller -- Awkward button placement -- Very slow charge time -- Expensive -- Sony is slow to update UI Conclusion and thoughts The phone is not worth the price. The camera is very nice and waterproofing is a big plus, but a few nice features do not outweigh the fact you are terrified to accidentally drop such an expensive phone. If you don't let anyone else touch this phone, and put it in a really hard-core case, it may last you a good while. If you live in the real world where you may leave you phone on a desk, give it to someone to take a picture of you, or bump into something with the phone in your pocket it may be dropped and will break.

This is a fantastic phone. Sony did an excellent job with the user environment. It's only a little customised from stock Android and isn't always trying to sell you stuff like a Samsung device. The bloatware isn't too bad either and can be disabled. Sony includes a free service to locate, lock, or wipe your lost phone. Also software to copy over your old data. Very useful. Battery life really is good. My first day, it lasted until night which is quite good doing all of the setup and playing around. Under normal usage I have about 40% left at the end of the day--Wow! STAMINA mode seems really usable too for special times when you need extra battery life. The phone is small and very portable. It's not wafer thin, probably because of a larger battery. I don't find the thickness to be too much. Of course, with the smaller size you get a smaller screen. Is it worth the trade-off? Only you can decide. Performance is fast and flawless, which is unparalleled in a small phone. It doesn't seem to get particularly hot. The screen looks beautiful and the pixel density is plenty. I love the fingerprint sensor! Works great and so conveniently located. It's a shame they couldn't include this feature on the US model. I had Android encrypt the device for security, no problems. Volume control buttons seemed oddly placed at first, but they are out of the way and how often do you use them? Not that much. Camera, although it could be improved, is very usable as a compact camera. Dedicated camera button is very nice. Picture quality good, shutter delay fair. Water and dust sealing should be on EVERY phone. Great how it doesn't have fiddly flaps to cover all the ports. Audio quality is excellent and seems better than my old Samsung phone. No US warranty is unfortunate. If it breaks, I plan to pay for any repairs. I can live with the risk as a trade-off for the fingerprint scanner. Earbuds were included; thank you, Sony. Included charger had the international prong setup and included adapter for US outlets. Works fine, I have other chargers that work just as fine. Sometime I'll probably pick up a Quick Charge 2.0 charger. Overall, a super package! I'm so happy with it.

First, I want to warn you that I have always loved Sony phones since it was Sony Ericsson. I still remember one of my older phones was a Sony Ericsson K550 that had a 2MP camera but produced pictures with the highest quality. After a disappointment with a Sony Ericsson C901 I decided to switch to Nokia from 2009 until 2013 when I bought a Sony Xperia GO that worked perfectly for 27 months until this November. I decided to buy a Sony Xperia Z5 Compact and after one week I think I can share my experience with all of you. This is a good phone. I know some people would never even consider getting a Sony phone but even they admit Sony is just quality. This phone has an excellent hardware and the way it integrated with the software (Lollipop working perfectly) is what I would call excellence. Connectivity is good since I can connect to 4G (LTE) without any trouble but you need to make sure this phone supports your carrier’s LTE band. Call quality (Let’s remember we still make phone calls with smartphones) is good and I have not had any issues with reception at all. The phone is thick but not as extremely thick as some people have complained. It’s noticeable in your pocket but nothing gross. It’s not heavy or uncomfortable. I have to mention at this point that inserting the SIM card and the memory card is not easy. I swear I’ll never open those slots again. I inserted a 64GB memory card and it’s working flawlessly. The screen delivers beautiful colors and the resolution is excellent. I know some people have complained it could have been better but still is very good. One of the main reasons I love Sony Xperias is because they usually have anti-scratch protection and I witnessed it with my previous Sony Xperia Go as it never got a single scratch in 27 months. The camera has been controversial in some reviews. Look, I know we should believe that smartphones will replace digital cameras but guess what? I don’t think so. The camera takes very good pictures and delivers excellent videos but it’s true it is not perfect. However, the camera is good for most occasions. Sound quality is excellent. I used PowerAMP for my music and this phone has a special feature to improve the overall sound quality with headsets (DSEE HX). It works perfectly and I haven’t had to arrange and tweak the PowerAMP equalizer all over as I did with my previous Sony Xperia GO. Battery life is good but not as other smartphones. If you listen to a lot of music (like me) you’ll need to charge the phone every single day. This is not a problem for me but I know some people might not like it. However, I have to mention that one day I almost didn’t use it and it just discharged from 99% at 7AM to 90% at 7PM so it really depends on usage. Another advantage is that it charges very quickly. The phone is very responsive and I have not experienced any bugs or lags as someone reported before. The camera works pretty well when I click on it taking just one second for the app to open. At this point you must be asking why I’m giving it only 4 stars and I am going to tell you why: heat. Unfortunately, the phone does get warm when you update apps or run another “intensive” process. It’s not all the time so I think Sony has done something maybe not to fix the problem they had before but at least to alleviate it. I want to clarify it gets warm – nothing extreme but still noticeable. This is an excellent phone, really. It’s quality and performance all in one but the heating issue should have been fixed by Sony at this point.

I had high expectations or this phone as a previous z1c and z3c owner. The z1c had the highest build quality in my opinion (the metal casing exuding the appearance of "high-end"). The z5c is a step down from here, although the performance is updated, the phone does not look or feel high-end in your palm. This isn't a huge deal to me as I primarily use this phone for travel; the small size, waterproofing, and low-key appearance are all assets. However unlike the z1c, I don't enjoy using the z5c at home in the states. One big gripe for me has been the fingerprint scanner. The iPhone will read and unlock my prints 90% of the time, the z5c is probably more like 60% for me. I'm sure experiences will vary. In all its a mediocre phone, but given the choices out there, it is by far the best Android in this size. The vanilla-like Android experience Sony installs is appreciated as well-- its the closest you can get out of the box without buying a Nexus imho.

Long story short: this is the phone that finally convinced me to make the jump from Apple's iOS. I had been considering making the jump for some time, but I had yet to find an Android phone that matched the build quality and performance of my iPhone 6S. The z5 Compact finally did convinced me. Pros: + Same size screen as the iPhone 6S, despite being smaller and lighter. + Excellent build quality - the phone feels premium, solid and well made. I don't worry about anything breaking if I drop it once or twice. + Waterproof! + Very little manufacturer bloatware, especially compared to Samsung or LG. Among other things, this means that future Android updates will hit this phone sooner than many other Android devices. + I actually most of the bloatware that's included. Sony's launcher is fast and responsive - I'm actually using it instead of the official Google launcher. + Camera is high quality. + Better battery life than my iPhone 6s + Fingerprint scanner + Plenty of processing power - I haven't yet seen the phone slow down or choke on any app I've thrown at it. Cons: - Cases options for this phone in the U.S. are limited when compared to the dancing plethora of iPhone cases that flood every electronics store, website, gas station and grocery store. - Because this is the international version of the phone, there's no warranty - Because this is the international version of the phone, some apps think I'm in Ireland. I'm sure a simple setting could easily change this, but I haven't yet found it. - Fingerprint scanner doesn't work as well as iPhone 6S (though it's still good). I think this is mainly due to the fact that the scanner is smaller than the iPhone scanner, so it has less to work with. Overall, I've found this phone to be the perfect fit for me. It really hits the sweet spot of combining the power, battery life, screen size and non-bloated OS that I've been looking for.

I must confess, that I was a die hard Blackberry Fan, for their reliability and durability. I am also a detractor from Iphones. Thus my travels through the android world have been painful. I don't like to have phones in the size of small tablets. I like small discrete phones with big batteries, and the only phone I found to have those characteristics has been the Sony Xperie Z1 Compact, I loved that thing, I smashed it for 2 years and is still working, it felt down heights of 2meters more times I can recall, and it was a tough piece of equipment, the battery lasted me for a full 2 days.... so yes I became a fan of the Xperia Compact line, but I wanted to upgrade, and decided to buy a Z5 compact less than six months ago... as a xperia compact, I love it, but.... sony has gone with the market trend and has started to create some really weak (compared to the Z1 compact) phones, the first issue is that the external frame is plastic, and weak, then the glue of the screen just plainly gave up... and now in a truly Iphone fashion mode, the back of the phone is completely shattered after just a 30cms fall..... (oh yes this sonys are like fish, slippery as hell!). Aside from the weak body construction, that seems to be carried on with the latest generations, the Xperias ROCK - if they would have remained by the Z1 Compact construction, they would most definitely be the absolute best android phone, no doubt ab out it!

**SEE UPDATE BELOW** I've been using this phone for over 3 weeks now and I so glad I went with the Z5C. HARDWARE It heats up a bit when doing heavy gaming or long video recordings, but not all too concerning...especially considering I don't notice any heat during typical daily operation. I would say the battery is adequate but it wouldn't be considered one of the strengths of this phone. I don't imagine battery life gets any better with other phones unless you go bigger...which, why the hell would you be looking at this phone if you were willing to do that? Go with the Xperia Z5. That said, I haven't experimented too much with "stamina mode" but if you use alternate messaging services / apps (like Google Voice) or music streaming apps, you'll have to add those apps as exceptions to be able to use data when the screen is off...which will diminish the benefit of "stamina mode" and preclude you from using "ultra stamina mode" all together. This is my first Quick Charge 2.0 device and I'm very impressed with how much charge you can get out of having it plugged in a just a while (ie 10 minutes). Wireless charging would've been nice to have but I'll gladly sacrifice that feature to get dual front facing speakers, expandable memory, and water resistance. Speaking of expandable memory. My buddy was playing with a camera-equipped drone his girlfriend got him for Christmas and was bummed he couldn't get the videos off the micro SD card (he didn't have an adapter). Everyone at the party (iPhone users) was blown away at how I was able to get and share the video by putting the micro SD card in my phone and using Google Drive to share it. I don't know why we are letting phone manufacturers sucker us by buying phones without expandable memory. At 720p screen resolution / quality looks great to me. If reading small text is difficult or annoying or you plan on watching HD full-length movies on your phone, get a bigger phone. I have excellent eyesight and find this display great for watching YouTube videos or reading articles. I don't take a lot of photos / videos but I'm pleased with the camera so far. You can find great camera comparisons online. From what I found this camera is great but Samsungs perform better in low-light and close up focusing...but the Z5C is a huge step up from my HTC One M7 when it comes to low light pictures. SOFTWARE I was a big fan of HTC's Sense UI and didn't know how I'd like Sony's UI as this is my first smartphone from them. After downloading an HTC-like free clock / weather widget, I like the UI a lot. Screenshots and screen capture are particularly easy and fun. Still waiting for Android 6.0 Marshmallow update that was promised (see summary below). SUMMARY As far as I know the perfect phone doesn't exist but based on the other flagship phones available right now and my preference for water-resistance, expandable memory, and front facing speakers...I was prepared to give this phone a perfect 5 stars. I'm giving it 4 however because it would appear that Sony is following the lead of others by promising "soon" updates to the latest android version (6.0 Marshmallow) to help sell their new flagship phone but then making those of us who believed them and bought the phone wait around while the update is delayed. If the update comes prior to the new year I'll adjust my review to 5 stars. Almost 3 months for an update seems like enough time to tailor Marshmallow to their UI...if it was a priority. **UPDATE** This is the worst phone I've ever had. On paper it's great but I've never been so frustrated with lagging issue. I'll get a phone call while its in my hand and I'll mis the call because pushing "answer" is non-responsive. Killing apps helps a bit but I find myself restarting the phone a lot. I was hoping the Marshmellow update would help but its now March 8th & still no update. First & last time I buy a Sony phone. Since the Galaxy S7 is water resistant with expandable memory, I think I'll get it if a softwarw update comes soon & fixes my problems.