Sony Xperia XA1 review

Verdict

The Sony Xperia XA1 is a phone that picks its elements to amp up, namely the brightness of the screen and the quality of the main camera sensor.

And at this price, it gives you something to think about, offering something different from the admittedly more aggressively priced Moto G5 family and the more expensive Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017).

You may be turned off by the small battery, lack of fingerprint scanner or the relatively low screen resolution, but as a whole the Sony Xperia XA1 makes sense. And so, crucially, does its price.

Who's this for?

The Xperia XA1 is for people who want a big-brand phone that looks smart, but don’t want to pay for Samsung’s A-series devices. Great as they are, they’re not cheap. They’re not even that competitively priced.

The Xperia XA1 is, as long as you don’t expect the sheer value of the Moto G series or some of Honor/Huawei’s phones.

Should you buy it?

If you are big into your apps or like to play a lot of games, the Xperia XA1 might not be the best choice. Its battery can only handle so much and the screen doesn’t make the most of Android’s best-looking 3D games.

However, it’s a good choice for those who mostly use, for example, WhatsApp and their phone’s camera, and are after a phone that slips into the pocket easily. 

The Sony Xperia XA1 is a strong option for camera phone fans on a budget, but the following three handsets are great alternatives to consider, with strengths of their own.

Moto G5

The best cheaper option, the Moto G5 has a sharper screen than the XA1 and a fingerprint scanner. However, the phone isn’t as stylish and is a lot wider, even though the two phones have the same size screen.

You get more substance for your cash, but less class. The Moto G5 also has a much less pixel-rich main camera that produces less detailed photos, although it also doesn’t suffer from Sony’s uptight image processing either.

• Read our full Moto G5 review

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)

More expensive than the Sony Xperia XA1 but its closest rival, the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is a real contender. It has the fingerprint scanner the Xperia XA1 lacks and its camera is comparable even though it uses a smaller, lower-res sensor.

You notice the 720p screen resolution more in the Samsung, though, because of its PenTile OLED screen. Where you need to pay attention to see the difference in the Xperia XA1, the lower pixel density slaps you around the face in the Galaxy A3, as nice as its display otherwise is.

• Read our full Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) review

Honor 6X

Another top bargain hunter’s choice, the Honor 6X outdoes the Xperia XA1 in a few spec areas. The display is much bigger at 5.5 inches, and sharper too thanks to its 1080p resolution.

It’s also one of the cheapest phones to have dual cameras, even if the results are not close to those of the top dual-camera models. The question here is whether you’ll get on with Honor’s more idiosyncratic interface. And, let’s be realistic, whether you want a phone with Honor written on it. Sad, but true.

• Read our full Honor 6X review

First reviewed: May 2017