Sony Xperia X Compact: Week 1
Last week, I discovered the Sony Xperia X Compact after a Japanese designer showed me one at Google I/O. This Android phone drew my attention because of the similar size to my current iPhone SE.
After a little research, I bought one off Amazon at $350 (for comparison, the iPhone SE is $400). Here are my thoughts:
The device is made of a solid glossy plastic like the iPhone 5C. Under ambient light, the screen and bezel of the phone is barely distinguishable, resulting one single black monolith look (with a black background). The blacks on the screen are wonderfully black.
The size of the device is a little taller (5mm) and wider (7mm) than the iPhone SE. Even though visually there is a difference, in the hand it feels about the same size.
The software is very close to vanilla Android. It ships with Android N with the April security patches. It can be flashed to a more recent Sony firmware update with May security patches. Note that in the picture, it is using the Nova Launcher rather than the default Xperia Launcher.
I absolutely love the placement of the fingerprint sensor. It’s hidden inside the tiny power button on the right edge of the screen. It is the natural position your fingers end up in as soon as you pick up the phone with either hand. In my opinion, this placement is better than both the iPhone and Pixel.
The fingerprint sensor is really fast, on par with the sensor on the latest iPhone. The US version has the fingerprint sensor disabled in the firmware, so you need to flash it to a non-US firmware for it to come to life.
There are a few flaws though.
The vibration motor feels “loose”. It feels like an electric motor that spins up and down. The iPhone and Pixel vibration is much more solid. When typing fast with vibrate on touch, the Xperia X Compact feels like a race car revving a tiny engine.
The marketing page refers to the case material as “appear[ing] to be made of finely crafted ceramic,” but really it appears to be shiny plastic. Whatever it is, it attracts a lot of dust and soon will have many scratches on the back.
The volume control keys are placed in an awkward position near the bottom right edge of the phone making it hard to get to when held with the right hand.
After a week, I still really like this device for the size, design and build quality. Though spec-wise, it is not a high-end phone, I have not noticed it being slow. I’ve been looking for a modern Android that is as small and well built as the iPhone SE. The Sony Xperia X Compact comes pretty close as strong alternative to my beloved iPhone SE.
