[Review] Sony Xperia X Compact – X marks the spot

By Hitech Century | February 2, 2017 |

Performance and Camera
Working on the design premise of packing as much bang as it can into as small a form factor as possible, Sony has crammed in an efficient Snapdragon 650 1.4Ghz hexacore processor paired with Adreno 510 graphics to run things along with 3GB RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

Running on the phone is Android Marshmallow 6.0 overlaid with Sony’s own user interface. There’s a bit of software bloat but it’s not excessive by any means. Old hats to Sony’s Xperia phones will take like a duck to water here with a host of brand-centric apps like the Xperia Lounge and the PlayStation shortcut.

The aforementioned 4.6-inch 720P display on the X Compact comes with Sony’s own imaging tech culled from their tellies, in particular their Triluminos and X-Reality imaging tech for crisper, brighter colours and details onscreen. There’s only so much to work with on a HD display but Sony has managed to make the most of it and text is sharp with movies and images offering well saturated hues and detail. The front-facing speakers proved pleasantly loud without distortion at maximum volume and it was able to handle the usual Youtube videos and the aforementioned games without too much fuss. Throw in the fact that the phone is able to handle Hi-Res audio files and you have quite a competent package indeed.

In terms of benchmarks, the phone managed a respectable 1371 single core score and a multi core score of 3,338 in Geekbench. When subjected to 3D Mark’s Sling Shot test, it yielded a modest score of 875. Under the Work 2.0 test, it managed a score of 4,614. In Epic Citadel, it managed to get an average 59.3FPS under high quality settings and HD resolution. This proves to be pretty solid performance for the hexacore processor and it runs cool even under heavy workloads though there are others in Sony’s line-up that have more pixel crunching grunt under the hood like the larger Xperia XZ that packs a Snapdragon 820 chip.

The phone pulls its own weight and managed to run everything asked of it without keeling over. Action games like Asphalt 8 and pseudo MOBA games like Clash Royale ran in a smooth fashion and it handled multiple open browsers, videos and the like without untoward complications. Texting and short e-mails was likewise a pleasant experience. Using this to crunch paperwork on the go may not offer the best experience seeing the size of the display but it’s enough to punch out a quick reply; odds are you’re not going to be writing a Pulitzer prize winning novel on this.

The X Compact’s biggest draw, barring its compact dimensions is its rear camera. It packs the same array as the larger XZ compact: a 22.8-MP IMX300 sensor along with optical image stabilisation, laser assisted autofocus, their predictive autofocus tech and an F/2.0 aperture. The only thing missing here is that it can’t take 4K video, something the Xperia XZ is capable of though the X Compact is still a dab hand at capturing 1080P video.

Getting about the camera menus is relatively intuitive and the addition of the physical shutter button on the side makes it very easy to deploy if you need to use it in a hurry. When shot across a gamut of subjects, the Xperia X Compact proved to be a very capable snapper with good colours and detail along with relatively swift autofocus even under low light conditions. Those with a whimsical bent will appreciate their augmented reality mode that lets you plop in all manner of weird things like a prancing dinosaur, underwater seascapes and the like. Videos captured were darned good though it’s a shame that 4K video isn’t supported on the phone. As far as the rear camera goes, this is one of the best performers for its size.