What I didn't like

Low viewing angles of the TFT screen, which causes severe eye fatigue. Sometimes it gets very hot. There is no connector for a docking station.

What I liked

Appearance, quite a good build. Great sound. Good headphones.

What I didn't like

The screen is glass, after three months of work microcracks appeared, this repair is not included in the warranty, although I did not injure it, the cost of repairing replacement glass is 8 thousand rubles!!! The battery is not as powerful as the manufacturer claims.

What I liked

The phone is good, works fast, the screen is bright, the design is beautiful, there is a lot of internal memory.

What I didn't like

1) Huge! Constant rebooting of the device, if you actively use it and if it’s just lying there, you often see a picture of how the smart device goes into reboot. After updating the software to 4.3, nothing has changed, it behaves the same way.
2) Non-removable battery
3) The screen is susceptible to scratches. I had some change in my pocket and now there is a trace of the coin left.
4) The battery dies instantly, even if it’s just in standby mode.

What I liked

I will not list them, since any advantage is extraordinary, but this device does not have that.

What I didn't like

Loses connection, not the network, everything is fine, the antenna is full, but it is impossible not to receive a call, I was in the service, this is normal for Sony, advice (service in Rostov on Budenovsky) reboot every day, nonsense does not help. Junta.

What I liked

What I didn't like

camera and fragile body

What I liked

speed, design, powerful content in such a small body with a huge display, the battery lasts longer than the Peshka, but the camera is much worse than the Peshka, although it’s 13 pixels, the sound is nothing special, I really liked the idea with the indicator, although it’s not for everyone, The viewing angle may be a little smaller than some phones (although I didn’t notice this) but it is compensated by the high-quality juicy display from Sony.

What I didn't like

Frame. The edges on the front panel are easy to damage even without harduz. Washable chrome finish on XPERIA letters.
- Weak battery. Especially when using GPS or LTE.
- After updating the OS to 4.4.4. The keyboard began to freeze and slow down.
- The camera blurs images, especially when shooting in motion.
- Small viewing angles. Color distortion when tilting the display.
- Long GPS startup

What I liked

FHD display - Display/frame size ratio - Lanyard eyelet - Good camera sensitivity.

What I didn't like

1. Screen film is less scratch resistant than Gorilla Glass. I don’t carry my phone in my pocket with my keys and treat it quite carefully. But in the area where the screen is unlocked, where you move your finger more often, micro-scratches have already appeared, visible in the sun. Before this, I used LG with a gorilla for 2 years - not a single scratch!
2. Vibration is weak. In a belt holster you hardly feel it. But the subtle vibration is more pleasant than other phones when you hold it in your hand.
3. When the battery gets hot, charging stops. When you drive a long way in the evening, you may find yourself running out of battery, despite the fact that you have been “charging” all day. In my car it is located in front of the air conditioner deflector and I have to open it to cool the unit.

What I liked

1. Android 4.2. When purchased, version 4.1 was available, which was immediately updated when connected to the Internet. Go to new version The OS was offered a week after the purchase (I bought it in mid-August), but a computer was required for the transition. 2. Connecting a smartphone to a computer, at least on Windows 7, is very convenient. By default, it is connected as a digital device, upon entering which you can open the device’s memory or micro SD card. At the same time, the smartphone additionally offers to install PC Companion on your computer. The firewood is installed by itself, without user intervention. You can also enable USB modem or simple flash drive mode. 3. Powerful hardware. In all the applications that I had to run, there are no brakes at all. We can say that everything flies. In this case, the device noticeably heats up in the area of ​​the processor, but this does not cause any particular discomfort. 4. Back cover made of Soft-Touch plastic. Pleasant to the touch and does not slip. The hatch for SIM cards and memory cards is also more convenient to open than the entire back cover. By the way, it is not intended to be opened here. In general, such little things as a color LED indicator, holes for a strap in the lower left corner and completely finished software give a pleasant impression of caring for the user. By the way, most of the pre-installed software can be easily removed. 5. Excellent GPS module. Finds satellites very quickly. Even in a room with windows it catches 5-7 satellites, outdoors in sunny weather 13-16. Fixation occurs quickly and easily. Before this there were many GPS devices, but there were no such sensitive ones yet. 6. Battery. Especially in combination with the proprietary Stamina mode. This is not my first Android smartphone, so I can say with confidence that this gadget’s power system is fine. For a day of unsparing use (a couple of hours in the router’s WiFi mode, a few calls, 20 minutes of games, hourly checked email, 2-3 hours of the Agent with ICQ turned on with a small amount of conversations on it, plus some Internet on the smartphone), 50% is still left.

What I didn't like

Display... viewing angles, contrast

What I liked

High-quality case materials, design, screen size, excellent picture quality

What I didn't like

The battery could have been longer. Screen viewing angles. After reading the reviews on the updates, I’m now wondering whether it’s worth it, although it would be nice to stuff a 64 gig card into it after that. There are still purely Android moments. I haven’t been using it for long, maybe something else will come out in the future.

What I liked

Clear, sharp screen, with good color rendition. Design.

What I didn't like

When zoomed in too close, the photo becomes blurry. The battery lasts a day, although the Internet works almost constantly. Today I almost took it in for repairs due to the fact that the person I was calling couldn’t hear me, I thought the microphone was covered, it turned out that a trash can got into the microphone, I needed a cover because the charging connector was also not closes. The quality of the video is excellent during the day, but it’s too sensitive, you need to shoot with bated breath, otherwise the video will turn out jerky, even though the image stabilizer is turned on. Copied files from the phone’s memory have to be deleted through the device itself, that is, one at a time, it’s kind of steamy, not really from the memory card, selected and deleted.

What I liked

The quality of the photos is super, only if you don’t do a big zoom, built-in flash, the ability to turn on the backlight when shooting video in the dark, a memory card, I have 16 GB. The charging cord can be used as a wire for transferring information from the phone to the computer.

What I didn't like

Battery quality, overheating, a lot of defects.

What I liked

Fast iron

What I didn't like

The battery is dying before our eyes! A very mediocre camera, I would say none at all. Long search GPS and WI FI. When exiting any application, the screen ripples.

What I liked

Ergonomics, screen, factory anti-glare film.

What I didn't like

In recent years I have only used Apple, but I wanted variety and took Sony. I did not expect such a trick from a famous company. This is not a smartphone, but a complete joint. First: while watching it in the store, the battery ran out and it turned off, brought it home, and put it on charge. I didn’t want to turn on for about 40-50 minutes until the battery was charged to a certain extent. If the battery runs out at work or on the road, don’t expect that you’ll be able to call back right away, etc., even if it’s possible to charge it. Second: there was a defect - the vibration did not work at all - neither when touching the screen, nor during calls. Then they tried to figure it out in the store, the sellers admitted that it really didn’t work. Third: it was impossible to charge it or connect it to the radio in the car via USB (Apple works without problems). Fourth: the battery “melts” right before your eyes (again, I compare it with all Apple gadgets).

pros

Minuses

Impression

Is the review helpful?

pros

Minuses

Impression

Is the review helpful?

In order not to waste either your or my time, I will immediately say about the main thing: inside this device and Sony Xperia Z - twins. The same processors, the same set of applications, the same package - only for the ZL there is no docking station. Accordingly, in this material I will focus on the most important differences, and you can read about performance and a number of other parameters in the Sony Xperia Z review.

In the comments I heard many opinions from different people, saying that not everything is so bad and you can live with the Z display. Like, the camera here is better than the iPhone, you just need to shoot in normal conditions, and you can get used to the size, and everything else. It’s an interesting practice, buying a smartphone and then getting used to it - it’s not entirely clear to me. But Sony did the right thing by creating two very different devices, initially I liked the Sony Xperia Z (despite many “buts”), but in everyday use the ZL turned out to be much more convenient. Friends from Sony told me about this phenomenon back in Las Vegas - they say that size still matters. Let's talk in this article about a smartphone that is not a flagship. But it could become Sony’s flagship in terms of sales.

Design, construction

Compared to its Z-brother, the device does not look so impressive. Yes, the same concept is used here: an aluminum button on the side, interestingly designed ends, but there is no glass at the back. Upon closer examination, it turns out that the ZL is in many ways more interesting than the Z. Ribbed and velvety plastic on the battery cover, a protruding Xperia inscription on the back, a beautiful indicator under the display, no plugs. To insert headphones into a plug or microUSB cable, you don’t need to pry off all these hatches - it’s convenient. There are controversial decisions here; the lid on the back provides access to the slots for a memory card and SIM card, somewhat reminiscent of a trunk. It is attached with some kind of weak rubber band, so do not yank the lid too hard. When it snaps into place, it does not play and does not move from side to side, the entire rear end like a monolith, it is impossible to bend the battery cover. Both Z and ZL are wonderfully assembled, but the ZL also fits very well in the hand. Dimensions are 131.6 x 69.3 x 9.8 mm, weight 151 grams, heavier than the iPhone 4S. It’s a weighty block; I personally like this heaviness. Well, back to the sizes again, after wearing Z for a week, ZL seems very small, thumb Reaches to any corner of a five-inch display. In addition to black, there is also a white option, I like both.

In order to place such a display in such a compact body, engineers had to resort to a number of tricks. For example, the front camera had to be moved down, I already talked about the rear hatch, but its appearance is connected precisely with attempts to make the body smaller. By the way, at the bottom left there is a traditional groove for attaching a strap; Sony can’t do without it.

I won’t talk for a long time about the design of the ZL, it doesn’t look quite traditional for Sony, from the back it generally resembles HTC, but all this is when you look at the pictures. In real life, the device is unique, with a number of special solutions. Let me remind you once again about the pleasant velvety plastic on the back; because of the notches, fingerprints are invisible here, but they remain on the film that protects the display. The camera is enclosed in a round bezel, below is a flash, next to it is a speaker slot, strange, but all this is not perceived as a jumble of different elements. On the right side, above the aluminum button, there is a thin volume rocker, which is convenient. There's also a camera button below, which is nice because you can quickly activate it and take a photo (or record a video).

The indicator light is well made, in the traditional Sony style, a sort of strip - it can light up in different colors depending on what is happening with the device. And you immediately notice that there are practically no frames on the left and right; the device resembles an iPad mini.

The included headset here is the same as with the Sony Xperia Z, based on the EX-300. For Sony, this does not cost anything, and users will certainly appreciate the concern; listening to music is much more interesting with such a headset, and even better, install a third-party player right away.

The SIM card format is microSIM, so iPhone 5 users will need an adapter if they want to change the device. Another (in fact, the main) difference from the Sony Xperia Z is the lack of protection from water; I do not recommend swimming with the ZL. But there are no plugs.

Display

It seemed to me that the display here is better than in the Sony Xperia Z, although in all main parameters they seem to be the same. This is a TFT, 5-inch diagonal, resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels, but here the viewing angles seem to be better, the colors are more saturated, although the black is the same. I don’t know how Sony works with suppliers, but I really want to believe that the company will be able to defeat bad businessmen - after all, there is so much talk about Bravia and so on, and the displays of Samsung, HTC and Apple are a hundred times better. So, if compared with the Z, the screen is a little better, but if compared with its competitors, it does not stand up to criticism. When looking at it point-blank, everything is fine; if you change the angle, the image becomes faded.

The display is covered by glass, there is a factory film on the glass, I don’t recommend peeling it off, the Sony inscription may also come off. Widgets, wallpapers, etc. are the same as those on the Sony Xperia Z.

Nuances

The Sony Xperia ZL, unlike the Z, has an infrared port, has a remote control program, and apparently the port is located somewhere next to the power button. In the settings you can select the device type, brand name, and then the program appears. I tried the system with home appliances, I really liked it, the Samsung TV was recognized instantly, you can turn it on and off, select programs, image source, and so on - everything, just like with a regular remote control. The operating range is the same as that of a regular remote control. Among the types of devices there are even docking stations for Apple equipment, stereo systems - I tried it with a Pioneer music center, everything also works quite correctly. The program is well made, the added devices appear in the general menu with the names you choose and quite clear icons.

As for performance, memory and other things, everything is exactly the same as with the Sony Xperia ZL: the same set of programs, the same wallpapers, the operating speed is similar, although for a device with such a processor it is not entirely clear what to load it with. Unless you install various benchmarks and run them around the clock - I want to believe that Sony owners don’t do such nonsense. I would like to remind you that all official descriptions say that the device supports microSD memory cards up to 32 GB, this is not true - apparently, the people from Sony did not have a 64 GB card. I tried it, everything works. Once again I’ll give here a link to the Z review; you should go there for details.

The operating time is the same as that of the Z; when using Chrome, the battery “melts” before your eyes, so it’s better to choose a different browser. If you use ZL only for conversations and SMS, turn on the Stamina mode, you can get two or even three days of work - just don’t forget to turn down the brightness, turn off all automatic synchronization, positioning systems, and so on. Full charging time from USB is about three hours, so it is better to use the included power supply. In normal mode, my device lasted until the evening, but I didn’t deny myself anything and didn’t turn on Stamina.

The speaker here is louder than that of the Z, this applies to both normal and conversational calls. It is also more comfortable to talk, the interlocutors did not complain about the quality of speech transmission, the volume reserve seemed to me greater than that of the Z.

The camera here is the same as the Z, I can safely say that the iPhone 5 takes better pictures and this does not depend on any conditions, settings, or weather. Of all the effects that the ZL has, I most often used only the burst mode; oddly enough, the photos are generally of better quality than in normal mode. I’ll give you a few pictures and videos from the ZL here, you can judge for yourself.

conclusions

The device has a very piercing vibration, I have not seen such a sharp motor for a long time, it looks like a drill. It is especially annoying when it works when you press the keyboard, but you can disable this yourself in the settings. But when the silent mode is turned on, you simply won’t be able to receive a call; the ZL literally jumps out of your pocket.

Here would be a screen like HTC One, I liked it more than SGS4, it’s somehow soft and velvety, it doesn’t hurt the eyes. A team of programmers could work here, fix all sorts of small bugs, polish things up, make some things as simple and convenient as branded software for controlling home appliances. This is where the camera needs to be polished. Engineers need to work on the speaker so it's not so shrill. And use a different motor so that the vibration matches the weight and design of the device. This would include thick instructions so that people know how to use a smartphone with Android, and a sticker on the packaging about LTE. And in general, manufacturers build a hell of a lot of different things into smartphones, but don’t bother to convey to consumers possible use cases - there are a lot of functions, many are not used simply because people are not aware.

There are a lot of things that could be improved here in order to get candy at the end. Although the ZL turned out to be more interesting in the main than the Z - yes, the latter has a better design, it does not sink in water. But for everyday use, the ZL is much more convenient, it fits perfectly in the hand, and the ribbed plastic on the back is certainly more pleasant than the slippery glass under the film. If you want to choose one of these two smartphones, then don’t be lazy, hold both of them, weigh them - in the photo Z is more beautiful, in life ZL is preferable. Moreover, there are no plugs.

The smartphone costs approximately 27,500 rubles; with the release of SGS4, Sony will have to reconsider the pricing of its flagships - although this is unlikely to save the Z and ZL from the marketing pressure. Rest assured, Samsung will spend such an advertising budget on the “four” that at every corner and from every crevice they will advise you to buy it. This is neither good nor bad, it’s just a given, whoever has the bigger budget has the truth. Since the announcement of the Z and ZL, I never tire of repeating that the devices themselves turned out to be quite good - moreover, the stars aligned very well for Sony. There were three months to prepare the market, launch, but now we need to quickly sell, sell, sell, before the terrible SGS4 came. Gotta sell and work hard the following models, we must look for the next gap - a few months of life, then months of silence.

It takes a genius to change this situation. A genius capable of sending bad suppliers with bad screens to one place, a genius capable of dispelling all smoke screens in the form of complicated settings, a genius who does not forgive even the slightest mistakes in software. Let's hope that Sony will find one and Z together with ZL will become the last step on the path to something truly outstanding, incomparable, unparalleled. It's time. We're all tired of waiting.

P.S. Try typing ZL in Russian, the result is interesting.

Sergey Kuzmin ()

Xperia ZL could now become a new impetus for the Japanese corporation. The gadget is very similar to the Xperia Z: it has the same design and finish, but does not have IP57 certification.

Main disadvantages:

• non-removable battery;
• weak camera;
• slightly thicker than Xperia Z;
• Questionable rear panel build quality and aesthetics.

The difference between the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL essentially comes down to different sizes, finishes and ruggedness. The plastic case here doesn't look as good as glass, but it has its advantages. Water resistance is, of course, a significant plus, but not everyone needs it.

Sony Xperia ZL comes in an identical box Xperia smartphone Z. Note that the kit includes an A/C adapter, a microUSB cable and a headset with an additional pair of headphones.

The gadget is a 5-inch smartphone with the smallest footprint. Its dimensions are 131.6x69.3x9.8 mm. The closest competitors have a height of: Xperia Z – 139 mm, Samsung Galaxy S4 – 136.6 mm and HTC One – 137.4 mm.

However, the Xperia ZL is the thickest of all the smartphones listed at 9.8mm. But these features do not cause inconvenience. The device is comfortable to use.

One of the significant disadvantages is the low class of finish and lack of elegant design. But this, of course, is not a cause for concern, since the plastic looks very good.

The smartphone is one of the most compact gadgets with a 5-inch Full HD screen. Compared to the Xperia Z, the new phone has significantly smaller top and bottom panels on the front side. Perhaps this is the reason for the location front camera in the lower right corner. This is, of course, unusual, but such a solution has already been seen previously in the Nokia N9. The bezels around the sides of the display have also been reduced to a minimum.

Hardware buttons are displayed on the screen.

Above the screen you can see the speaker and the company logo. Sony smartphones usually come from the factory with scratch-resistant glass to protect the screen, and the Xperia ZL is no exception.

The back panel is made of plastic, the patterned texture of which makes the phone easier to use, as it fits securely in the hand. But at the same time, we note. That it looks quite sticky. On the back side there is a 13-megapixel camera lens, which protrudes slightly above the surface. Next to it is a speaker grille and an LED flash.

A noise-reducing microphone with the Xperia logo was placed above the lens.

The panel looks like it is removable, but it is not. In order to access the microSIM and microSD card slots, you need to open the flap at the very bottom of the smartphone. This is not only physically inconvenient, but also aesthetically does not look very good.

The build quality of the device is good.

There is a microUSB port on the left side of the phone, which does not have a plug, unlike the Xperia Z.

On the right, you'll find a dual volume rocker at the top, a power/lock button, and a two-stage camera control button.

It is always convenient to have a dedicated camera shutter button on your smartphone.

At the top of the Sony Xperia ZL there is only a 3.5mm headphone jack.

In the lower left corner there is a special eyelet for a lace.

In general, the Sony Xperia ZL is quite comfortable to use: the controls are conveniently located and have a very good response.

Performance and Software

The smartphone uses a Snapdragon APQ8064 S4 Pro chipset with 4 Krait cores clocked at 1.5 GHz, Adreno 320 graphics accelerator and 2 GB random access memory. As we expected, the gadget scores the same benchmarks as the Xperia Z.

Even despite the more powerful chipsets (for example, Snapdragon 600) on which they are based Galaxy smartphones S4 and Optimus G Pro, our phone still has enough performance to handle even the heaviest applications without any problems.

Sony Xperia ZL came fourth in Benchmark Pi, Linpack and AnTutu tests, and took fifth place in Quadrant.

Interestingly, our smartphone scored lower than the Xperia Z in GeekBench 2.

When testing the gadget in GLBenchmark with a fixed resolution, the Xperia ZL did not disappoint, ending up in the same place with the Xperia Z.

In the important Epic Citadel test, the gadget showed excellent results, comparable to other flagship devices.

Sony Xperia ZL is used as a browser Google Chrome, which became much faster after the latest update and achieved a result of 1290 ms in the Sun Spider test, being faster than the Xperia Z, Optimus G and Nexus 4.

The smartphone took 4th place in BrowserMark 2 and Vellamo.

As a result, the Sony Xperia ZL showed good performance.

The gadget works under control operating system Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Built-in memory – 16 GB. There is support for Wi-Fi, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, FM radio, Bluetooth 4.0, 3G and LTE networks.

Screen

Surprisingly, we found that the Sony Xperia ZL has more best screen than the Xperia Z. Given that they are both identical according to the specifications (5-inch display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a density of 441 ppi), they are manufactured by the same manufacturer, but we assumed that this is due to a single deviation, and not with the fact that Sony has developed a separate screen for the Xperia ZL.

The TFT display is powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 technology, which increases contrast and sharpness, reduces noise and saturates colors to make them more pleasing to the eye.

The contrast is really good. However, the screen in this indicator is inferior to HTC One, LG Optimus G Pro, HTC Butterfly, not to mention the Super AMOLED display on Samsung Galaxy S4.

The gadget does not have very large viewing angles.

Readability in sunlight is quite good.

Camera

Sony Xperia ZL is equipped with a 13-megapixel camera that can take pictures with a resolution of 4128x3096 pixels. However, if you use the default enhanced auto mode, you will only get a resolution of 3920x2940 pixels (that is, a 12-megapixel photo).

The difference between the advanced auto mode and the normal one is that the gadget itself tries to determine what kind of scene it is shooting and will set all image parameters accordingly. This includes saturation, contrast, and exposure metering mode. In normal mode, only the exposure is automatically set, and you can experiment with other settings.

The improved automatic mode tells you how the gadget will adjust the camera and you can easily intervene if you think that the picture will not be of very high quality. But our experience shows that the settings were good almost all the time. So, if you are not a photography enthusiast, then it is better to stick with the enhanced automatic mode.

The Xperia ZL smartphone offers all kinds of features including facial recognition, Smile Shutter, geo-tagging, touch capture and mode.

The improved Auto mode produces photos with pleasing, if slightly oversaturated, colors. Fine details are clearly visible, noise levels are average, and dynamic range and contrast are excellent.

Overall, the results are good, although we wouldn't say there's a noticeable advantage over good 8-megapixel cameras.

If you switch to Normal mode, you'll get images that look more natural without being oversaturated. This will give you more headroom if you plan to process photos later.

We also took panoramic photos. It turned out to be a very good panorama.

The Sony Xperia ZL is capable of shooting Full HD video at 30 frames per second. The gadget also offers HDR for video shooting.

We were disappointed that the Xperia ZL can capture photos while recording video, but only at 1MP resolution. This, however, is not very significant.

In the video you can see very good detail. The bitrate fluctuates around 17 Mbps.

Below is an example of a recording.

The benefit of HDR footage isn't always as clear as we'd hoped, but it still adds some detail in the highlights.

An example of shooting with HDR.

Battery

The smartphone comes with a non-removable battery with a capacity of 2370 mAh, which is 40 mAh more than the Xperia Z. It is a little surprising that official information The battery lasts only 13 hours battery life talk time over 3G networks and up to 500 hours of standby time (versus 14 hours and 530 hours for Xperia Z, respectively). It is possible that different displays may explain the situation. But our dedicated battery test also showed the Xperia ZL to be less durable.

So, the Sony Xperia ZL showed a result of 44 hours of battery life (the gadget is used for 2 hours for calls, an hour for watching videos and an hour for web surfing per day), which is 4 hours shorter than that of the Xperia Z. But this is still decent result.

When tested separately, the following data was obtained: the battery lasts for 15 hours 22 minutes of calls via 3G networks, 6 hours 4 minutes of web surfing and 5 hours 28 minutes of video viewing.

You also need to take into account that the smartphone has a special endurance mode developed by the company and allows you to get much better battery life results.

Price

Sony Xperia ZL price at Russian market– 27,490 rubles.

Sony Xperia ZL video review: