I have the Z3 compact - best phone I have ever owned. Absolutely delighted with it :smile:. The standout feature for me is the battery - it's just excellent - approx. 2.5 days on average use. The camera takes a great shot too and the dedicated camera button is a plus. Mine is running Android 5.1.1 and Sony have confirmed the Z3 will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Can't recommend the Z3 highly enough.

For those who are thinking about Z5 compact here is a link which compares the Z3 to the Z5.

really? £250 when new?

Good deal op. Nice phone..

If you'd like to pick one from a high street shop but it'll cost you 90p more you can get one from Carphone Warehouse for £249.99

Why not get z5c

Can get grade A refurb Z5Cs for this kind of money, though I appreciate lots of people want brand new.

makes sense to get the z5 compact now its came down in price.especially as it has no flaps and has a better camera

compact for midgets!

I have the Z3 compact - best phone I have ever owned. Absolutely delighted with it :smile:. The standout feature for me is the battery - it's just excellent - approx. 2.5 days on average use. The camera takes a great shot too and the dedicated camera button is a plus. Mine is running Android 5.1.1 and Sony have confirmed the Z3 will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Can't recommend the Z3 highly enough.

For those who are thinking about Z5 compact here is a link which compares the Z3 to the Z5.

​very useful link

Be aware that these are prone to 'phantom cracks'. I had one and was really happy with it until the screen cracked in my pocket on the five minute walk to work.

Didn't bump into anything or have anything else in the pocket. Utterly bizarre, but apparently quite common with this phone.

Sorry, no. They are not prone to it and it is not common. A small percentage had a problem which Sony fixed for free. I have dropped mine several times and it hasn't a scratch on it plus unlike pretty much any othere phone you can attach a lanyard to help prevent dropping.

At launch this phone was miles ahead of pretty much anything else and is still amongst the best phones you can buy.

I'm a proper smartphone tart, but had the Z3C 4 phones ago and have to say that it's one of the best all round packages there is. It does nothing badly, and I could easily go 3 days between charges.

I am surprised that it's not sitting at the £200 mark as I think that you can get better value from the Honor 7 or OnePlus X.

The z5 compact is £311.99 at 02 if that's any use to anyone

I bought this for this price when it was initially launched. So now given the Z5 is launched, the price for this old phone should be ~150. **********Not a good deal****************

Very good battery life
Very poor 4K video capture

Had this phone for a while now. Amazing battery life, blisteringly fast, camera is good if you spend a little time with it.

Get a cover straight away as the back can crack. Headphone jack is utter **** and had to be replaced after a few months, battery cover flap also had to be replaced as it would just hang there and flop around. Also the speakers are rubbish, very quiet.

Be aware of those three things as you are very likely to experience them.

I'm using a Z5 right now, great phone, first Sony and won't be my last

Agree with the comments about the build quality. My headphone jack went after about 8 months and had to be returned to Sony. Otherwise, very good phone with superb battery life. If you're prepared for the fact that you may be without your phone for up to a week for repairs, then go for it.

The speakers are not rubbish at all, loud and clear on my phone, sounds like a software fault. I've only just encountered a problem with the charging port cover, the rubber seal will loosen over time but I'm talking a year later of opening/closing the cover. I won't be dropping the phone in the sink so not really a problem.

No phantom screen cracking, had a phone cover from new, dropped a few times and the cover saved the phone each time. Solid as any other gorilla glass screen.

Overall the best phone I've ever bought, super fast, compact size unlike stupid 5" phones, use with one hand, decent camera, quality stereo speakers, fantastic battery, 720p screen, but it's nice and clear with great colours.

Just my 2p
First z3c I had leaked water through the sim card cover. I sent it off to sony. It got damaged in the post (they provide a free postage service) even though it was well packaged. Sony claimed the water leak occurred due to this damage. They only replaced the phone as I had took pictures prior to sending which showed no damage.
Now the second one which I received in August now has a faulty headphone socket. The cover for the charging has also worn (the seal) so no longer shuts properly. Add to the phantom screen cracking (yes there are limited cases of this but not worth the risk imo) I would avoid.

For people moaning about the charging flaps, you can get magnetic charging adapters for pennies which means you can charge the phone without having to open the flap

Bought my Z3 (non-compact) upon release in September 2014, The charger flap had worn and was pretty much useless by about July last year. The phone got smashed unfortunately at that point and the whole case was replaced in August (including new flaps). The flap over the charger is pretty much useless again now. Software issues included 1. Screen randomly wouldn't sleep causing battery drain 2. When you made a call the screen switched off and was hard to switch back on, making call menu systems a nightmare 3. Every time there was a system update, some other problems surfaced like excessive battery drain which meant a hard reset was necessary with the hassle of re-configuring all your apps (I have three banking apps and they alone are generally a pain to set up again). 4. The phone dialer also played up meaning it was randomly re-dialing people - not good.

On the upside, the battery was quite good when the phone wasn't playing up.

I was hoping that a Marshmallow update might fix the software problems, but I got so fed up of waiting for it (Sony are undoubtably slower than most), I cut my losses, sold it to Game and got the recent Vodafone G4 deal - I now couldn't be happier.

In short, I just couldn't recommend this phone. At least get something flapless.

I have the z3C no problems whatsoever. I use the magnetic charging dock, and the flaps are in perfect condition.
I've recently upgraded the software to Marsmallow using Sony official concept software and the battery has improved even further.

I prefer the gloss finish on the Z3C and the magnetic charging over the Z5C but would still like to upgrade for faster processor and slightly better camera.

although Sony haven't rolled out Marshmallow much - it's still pretty new - they have been one of the better ones for updates on their higher end phones. For example, I got Lollipop 5.1.x on my Z Ultra, a phone launched in 2013! My wife's Samsung Gal S4, launched at the same time, only got a single buggy release of Lollipop 5.0.1.

I was considering this and the LG G2 - just wanted something with better battery life than my old Nexus 4. After reading about the screen cracking, dodgy flaps and headphone sockets on the Z3C, I went for the LG G2. This is not without its problems - GPS antenna is a pain, had to pop the back off and "lift" the contacts on the case to fix it and there's no expandability, but other than that, it lasts ages on a charge - an area where both these phones do well.

You can have all the ram, storage, the best chipset and graphics capability, but it's all for nothing when the battery dies on you, which is why this is now one of my top considerations in a mobile!

:wink:

Had mine since April last year - great phone but definitely a few problems like others are saying:

- flap cover for charging port is gone. fortunately a replacement is only about £6 and pops right in
- camera button stopped working properly (wouldn't do two clicks) so lost this as a feature.
- battery life is great on kitkat, dropped drastically on lollipop. reverted to kitkat and staying there.

That all said - don't think anyone else can match the sony compacts yet. Some of us just don't like these 5.5"+ gigantic phones that seem to have become the norm. What's wrong with a phone you can use with one hand?

Aren't these £170 on PAYG Virgin? I'm sure that's what I paid for mine and you can unlock them yourself without much effort.

just sold mine for 200 paid 240 for it a year ago from o2 shop with a free chromecast.great phones and hold value well

​https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00K2QA9VW/ref=aw_cr_item?si=275-3072263-3669347

same exact problems I encountered.

​had to send it back to Sony, took about 10 days turnaround. bought some Bluetooth earphones as I'm afraid to use the new repaired port for fear of breaking it.

Don't buy, I bought mine and there were so many flaws so I had to sell. Sony is an incredibly unreliable company in the mobile industry; just spend your money on something like an iPhone instead.

Order Details
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Placed on September 22, 2014
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact UK SIM-Free Smartphone - White
Sold by Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
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Item Subtotal: £242.61
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Got this from amazon -£25 makes it 266 on SEPT 2014

Sorry no. Click the link - it's plenty common. And Sony won't fix them for free...

As I said, it's a good phone, nice to use, but very poorly built.

Will this support a 128GB Micro SD card? :smiley:

Issues happens with hardware for all companies, just a matter of how frequently and how well they solve or compensate you. I sent my ipad back 3 times because of dust under the screen from manufacturing. Each time I was given a brand new sealed one as a replacement from John Lewis but the problem was still persistent. Was the last straw when I opened the 4th one in store in front of the employee and to my dismay a faulty one again. Oxford circus John Lewis btw. Surface pro was a far better replacement anyhow. Can't deny I've come across a lot of people with cracked Sony screens, such a shame as it's usability is brilliant, fast, high endurance, premium feel etc.