Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra UK SIM-Free Smartphone - Black

Now that mobile phones are getting bigger again, after a decade of getting smaller and smaller, why not jump in at the top and with the six inch screen. you can actually read kindle clearly off this model, and that's the only thing I'll be using it for beyond phone/text functions. Otherwise I'd have gone for the smallest handset on the market.Being a SONY product, high quality goes without saying, they don't make cheapo/budget stuff, even if their prices have dropped well below those of the competition on "like for like" models. Compare to Samsung/Apple who offer six inch screen models at two or three times the price. These phones are made from exactly the same internal components. The brand you see on the outside is just that, a lifestyle phone brand -- the stuff inside is all made by the same few silicon tech companies.Sony have de-cluttered the pre-installed apps list; now you only get the basics, and no longer have to worry about the memory being almost full out-of-the-box, as in past times. A new feature is switching off all background data useage with a single switch, rather than having to to it for every app on the phone individually,One minor comment -- to use the FM radio app, you have to "allow" it to access your contacts, photo album and documents...or it won't work. What's that all about?

Great Phone, nice and large which is just what I wanted. It may not be for everyone but if your eyesight is a bit dodgy (like mine) or if you have problems with games due to big hands etc its fantastic. Also good for those who want a brilliant camera and/or a really clear screen. The delivery was good and the instructions for the phone were clear and easy to follow.

This nightmare began last Saturday when I ordered this phone. They had not even picked the phone by the time my express delivery slot had past the 1pm delivery deadline. I should have realised then this was going to be a problem.This has to be the worst mobile phone I have ever had. The first phone kept changing the screen size from normal to full magnification ( in email, messenger , calendar etc) for no reason and would not return to normal size unless you exited the app. The Sony software to transfer your apps etc from your old phone to this new one would not recognise either of the phones. I then on Sony advice uploaded my phone contents to the cloud and it took 30 hours to complete the transfer ( I only have emails, photos and texts & very little music) and it failed at the last minute. Sony then suggested using Google. This worked the best but it still missed some of my apps. They also suggested I just turn off the magnification gesture for good and I refused. What was the point of spending all this money for large parts of it not to work? Later that day I linked the phone to my cars Bluetooth. That also went slowly and unfortunately then refused to link thereafter.I contacted Sony Support 3 days running and they finally suggested that there may be a problem with the phones software and to return it to Amazon. I contacted Amazons Tech Support in case they could think of anything to help but after reviewing the problems, they also considered there was a software problem with the phone. Amazon Tech were great, and replaced the phone immediately.The new phone duly arrived and after starting to set it up the same issues arose again. I phoned Sony Support again and they suggested doing a software repair using their computer programme ' Xperia Companion' .The software refused to recognise the new phone and by this time the Support team had closed for the day, so I tried a Factory reset to see if this resolved the problems but it didn't. I had to contact Amazon again and yes, they were very apologetic and offered another phone, which they themselves suggested might not be a good idea, as it seemed this batch was all faulty, so they refunded my money immediately.Through out this torment, Amazon have been great and full credit to them for sorting things quickly with no fuss.

It's nice camera but the problem now my mobile it's hang up couldn't open anymore not even 2 years yet. Not good good overall..

The media could not be loaded. It's good to see Sony still aiming to offer a great large screen mobile without the large price tag usually attached to big phones.It's available in a range of colours, you'll see the white version in the review video, and comes packing Android 7 at the time of review.It's a large mobile but it's not uncomfortably large, it fits well in the hand and isn't too heavy. It has a headphone jack in the top, volume rocker and power switch on the left along with a dedicated camera button.On the bottom is the speaker and a USB-C charging port, unfortunately the XA1 Ultra doesn't have any fast charging technology so it still take a while to charge up.Sony have an unfortunate habit of loading their mobiles with lots of unnecessary apps and this holds true for the XA1 Ultra, such as the album app which is unlikely to be used over the excellent Google Photos.At the time of review the XA1 Ultra was running Android 7 and it's a nice smooth experience. Apps open quickly, you can zip around the menus, and overall it's a great experience.The large 6" screen looks great, even when out and about on a bright day, with videos and games looking really good. There is the option to use single hand mode which shrinks the screen to a smaller size and snaps it to either the left or right of the screen so you can use it with either hand.It's a pity the speaker is on the bottom rather than being front facing, but it's loud and clear so as long as your hands don't cover there shouldn't be a problem.The XA1 Ultra has a 23 megapixel camera on the back and a whopping 16 megapixel camera on the front making this an excellent choice for Vloggers.The large screen makes it easy to see what's going on while recording and when reviewing footage.I've added some photos taken with the camera as well as a video review I've done for my YouTube channel.