I’ll admit, when I first heard about the Z1 Compact, I immediately pegged it for a scaled down version of their flagship phone. “Mini” versions of phones seem to be all the rage these days and I thought that Sony were hopping on the bandwagon that at this point may as well have been being driven by Samsung. But at the launch the announcer specifically told us “if you’re making notes, don’t write down mini, write compact”.

At first I thought that this was just marketing doing their bit to make the Z1 stand out, but then they detailed the phone’s specs, and there was nothing mini about them. The Z1 Compact sports a very respectable HD 720p 4.3 inch display (The S4 mini shares the same size, but isn’t close to HD), a 2.2 GHz processor (as opposed to the S4 mini’s 1.7 GHz) and a truly gorgeous 20 megapixel camera that trumps even the S4′s 13 megapixel camera itself.

After realising that the Z1 compact was actually not a mini phone at all, Sony let slip on the price, and bear in mind this is dependent on the rand in March when the phone launches. The Z1 compact will set you back about R9000, sure it’s a lot of money, but it only goes to prove their statement that this phone really is just a smaller Z1, and not a stripped down cash in.

After some hands on time, I can tell you that the phone is as premium as it gets; the metal finish has a great feel to it, the screen is a treat to look at thanks to Sony’s Triluminos display, and the phone has a remarkable up-time. Most android phones take about half a second after pressing the button to wake up, but the Z1 had woken up and was waiting for me before I had even depressed the button.

The Z1 compact is also waterproof, but with Sony products these days that’s not much of a surprise, I think that must have been one of the mandates of the treaty of Versailles or something, but I guess it’s not really a bad feature to have.

The Z1 will be available in March for about R9000 and will come in black and white.