Review: Sony's Lil Mighty XZ2 Compact

It has been about 3 months since I've started using this phone. My apologies for taking longer than expected, but as promised, I'll give my deeper impression on XZ2 Compact. If you haven't read my unboxing and first thoughts, click here.

Let's go in to details on performance-wise:

1. Battery-Life

I've previously mentioned that I had overheating problems for my Xperia X. At first, there were some overheating but overtime it stops. It seems Sony has heard the voices of their customers and managed to solve this issue. Phew, super relieved they did. I knew I shouldn't give up hope on Sony yet.
The battery life could last roughly 1-2 days. If you're using it heavily(WI-FI, streaming, video, recording). please don't think it will last for 24 hr without any charge. Oh! But do note they have this 'Stamina Mode' which acts like a battery saver. If you're running low on battery, you can switch to Stamina Mode which will give you minimum access with lower light resolution and shut apps that are eating away too much energy.

2. Camera

I've always been a fan of Sony's camera and they sure killed it with their 4K video recording. Or maybe it was my first time using a 4K recording, but I was blown away by the quality and how close to real life it looks like!! On top of that, there's no overheating issues while recording!! YASS. First few tries you might experience it, but after awhile, it just goes away. Someone please give a pat on Sony's back.
For photo qualities(all unfiltered), you can judge for yourself:

 Main Camera Indoor(Left) and Outdoor(Right)

Selfie Camera

Main Camera - Night Shot @ 8.40PM

3. Speaker

They have dual speakers - one at each end - on the front side, that's suppose to give the surround-experience. For the compact, they didn't have the unique vibration feature like its big brother, XZ2 has, but I don't think its a need. Its cool, but nah.
The sound is clear with a decent bass(which could be adjusted), and it can get quite loud, depending on what video/sound format you're listening to. Call quality is pretty decent. Nothing too fancy or to brag about.
Overall, its just a not too good and not too bad experience.

4. Experience on Android 8.0 

I've read that Sony was the first few that got their hands on Android Oreo. Well as expected of the latest android update, it's fast and almost lag-less but I can't really tell the difference from the previous version. The only obvious difference will be the theme. They kinda changed the feel of it overall with better animations and organised 'Settings' page.  Why I said 'almost lag-less' was because to be honest, I did experience lag but its really case by case. It's either you're running a very hard-core app with other multiple apps or it may be the phone itself(which I highly doubt so).

5. Waterproof

Look, I'm not going to be like those daredevils who purposely submerge their phones in the toilet bowls because 1) ewwwww and 2) I don't have the habit of bringing my phone to where there are pools of water. I've used it with a few rain drops on my phone and its totally fine(of course) so yeahh...

If you want to test and plunge into the sea, be my guest. I'm not going to risk my self-paid phone. 

Sorry that I can't help much on gaming performance because I don't play games on phone that much. But with the phone running on Android 8.0, it should pose no problem to run high-end games.

Overall Verdict

To summarise, so far so good. I have no complaints on our lil guy here; with perhaps just a few lag sessions once in a while but not enough to bring down the whole performance. The biggest improvement I've seen on Sony's phone will be the overheating issues. I'm really grateful they fixed the problem. Hopefully, the phone can last longer than 2 years because - did I mention? - I hate changing phones.  

If you feel or are curious about other details that I've missed, feel free to leave your comments below and I'll try to reply to my best of knowledge. 

Thanks for dropping by!