Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been a Windows Phone user since 2012. I was lured by a few things - the design of the phones themselves, the customizability of the interface, the relatively low price of the handsets, and the superiority of Nokia imaging technology. My favorite of my Windows Phones was the Lumia 1020, possessor of the famed 41-megapixel camera. My most recent phone has been the Lumia 950, which has a 20-mp shooter. But things have been looking down for Microsoft's mobile ambitions of late, and I've been looking for an Android phone that would give me something close. The Sony XA1 wound up being my choice, based on design, value for the dollar, the claimed camera prowess, and dedicated shutter button. So how has the XA1 lived up to my expectations? In short, quite well, allowing for a few imperfections. DESIGN and HARDWARE My oh my, this is a pretty phone. The front is covered by a single sheet of Gorilla Glass. The screen is nearly bezel-less on the sides - not quite the effect of the new Samsung handsets, but quite close. The top and bottom do have quite tall bezels, but the effect is to make the phone tall and svelte-feeling. The back is a poly-carbonate with a metallic texture. The top and bottom edges, as well as the camera, feature a very understated chrome accent. The IPS-LCD, 5" diagonal screen is 720p. This is a sacrifice to keep the price down, but to my mind it ends up not being much of one. The contrast level is reasonable punchy, with dark blacks and bright whites. At normal reading distances, I cannot see any jagged edges, and I have good vision. It is easy to read in most sunny conditions. It's not a premium screen by any stretch, but it looks good. Personally, I'll take increased battery life and decreased CPU load over a higher-res screen. The mono speaker at bottom is mediocre - but the headphone jack will give you the ability to supplement a great pair of headphones (none are included). USB-C is the connection for data and charging, and it is fast, functional and clicky-firm. All in all, if you show this to friends and ask them to guess how much it cost, I think most will overshoot the XA1's price. It looks really luxurious. CAMERA This is my number one priority in a smartphone. Sony has included the 23-megapixel Xmor RS sensor that formerly graced its 2015 flagship phone, the Xperia Z5. The back-side illuminated sensor is sized at 1/2.3”, and receives light through a f/2.0 aperture 24mm lens. These specs are comparable or superior to most flagships on the market in 2017, which is a big deal for such an inexpensive phone. If the sensor performs as well as it is specced, this makes the XA1 a real bargain for someone who prioritizes imaging over other features (which I do). All told, I would say that this sensor does mostly live up to the billing. In good lighting conditions, it wasn't far off in quality from my Lumia 950 (which launched for $549 18 months ago) and regularly equaled my wife's iPhone 7 ($649). Color is excellent, and detail is quite good. Low light performance is fairly good but not class-leading, though it is competitive with most of the mid-range competition. Attached you will see some sample shots I took (check the comments for an imgur link to full-sized snaps). 5x digital "Clear Zoom" is a hyped feature - predictably, it looks like garbage, as it does on any other smart phone. There is also the typical aggressive Sony edge enhancement when shooting in "Superior Auto" mode. This is attenuated somewhat in Manual mode, but not entirely. I wish Sony would ditch the edge enhancement completely, or at least allow RAW shooting. The single LED flash is OK as a last resort, but is not powerful enough to provide fill lighting when shooting subjects illuminated from the rear (as on a sunny day when the subjects are in the shade). At the end of the day, no camera, not the iPhone 7-plus, not the Samsung Galaxy S8, not even my beloved Lumia 1020, can equal the optics of a dedicated mirrorless or DSLR camera. But the XA1 is good to excellent for impromptu snaps, social media sharing, and macro photography, especially shooting in manual mode. PERFORMANCE The Helios P20 CPU provides smooth, stutter-free performance. I suffered no lags on regular tasks like Facebook, Messenger, web browsing, or light game playing (e.g. Threes). App switching and dismissal was buttery smooth. Heat generation is minimal. I was very pleasantly surprised, coming from a series of phones that use the Qualcomm Snapdragon series of CPUs. The 3gb of RAM probably helps, too, especially in crunching the numbers on the large camera sensor. Basically, I'd say this CPU/RAM solution equals or beats any 600-series Snapdragon. Battery life was quite good, probably owing to the lower-res screen and less power-hungry CPU. I just completed a long 14 hour day of heavy use with web browsing, photography, emailing, and text messaging - the battery is just under 50%. A day and a half should be easily reachable with medium use. The phone uses very little juice in standby - probably only 1-2% per hour. SOFTWARE Sony has shipped this phone with a lightly skinned version of Android 7.0 Nougat. While the Sony skin is inoffensive and is quite close to "stock," I ended up going with the Square Home 2 launcher (pictured) to give me a more Windows 10-style feel. The phone handles this launcher like a champ, and I have noticed no increased battery drain. Manufacturer-installed software included a few Sony programs for Music, Photos, TV Schedules and the like, and all can be easily bypassed for other defaults if you don't like them. CONCLUSION The value for the money is pretty high here. You're getting above average for the price range camera performance and 3gb of RAM with otherwise mid-range internals. Android performance is snappier than many mid-range competitors. The build quality looks more expensive than it is. What are you giving up? There is no fingerprint scanner, you're not getting the "brand name" Snapdragon CPU, and the screen is less than 1080p. Since these are not high priorities for me, I find the value proposition here to be quite a good one. So the XA1 has some very nice aspects, a few sacrifices and no glaring issues. As such, I think 4 stars is a good rating. I don't think anyone who ponies up the asking price will feel cheated.