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I really wanted to like Sony's Xperia XZ1 Compact
No one really makes decent small phones anymore. Apple hasn't updated the iPhone SE in almost two years, and the "mini" flagship phase fizzled out long before that. Tracking down a sub-5-inch Android phone you'd actually consider buying could be the plot of the next Indiana Jones movie. I guess it'd be a short flick, though, because you only have to look as far as Sony and its "Compact" smartphones, which the company keeps making despite the wider industry's having moved on. Perhaps I'm a champion of choice or just feel nostalgia for a time when phones were smaller and life was simpler, but I wanted to like the Xperia XZ1 Compact, released last fall. I really did.
Sony Xperia XZ1 hands-on: Pricey camera tricks
I blew my mind earlier this year when I watched my extremely slowed-down footage of a bird in mid-flight. I was testing the Sony Xperia XZ Premium's camera, which can record video at up to 960 fps -- four times as slow as the iPhone's 240 fps. I was mesmerized by the videos, but they still didn't justify the whopping $800 that Sony is charging for that handset. So when I heard that the company was bringing the same camera features to the more affordable Xperia XZ1, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, when Sony revealed the XZ1's price to be $700, most of that enthusiasm evaporated.
