A Closer Look at the Sony Xperia XZ1 Phone Supporting USB Power Delivery

The Xperia XZ1 is Sony's first phone enabled with USB Power Delivery 2.0 and packed full of features and connectivity options.

However, the phone does not come with a USB Power Delivery based charger. Rather, the Xperia XZ1 comes with the Sony Quick Charger UCH12W which uses both Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and MediaTek's PumpExpress+ 2.0 technology since Sony phones use one of these technology for battery  charging. The Xperia XZ1 also comes with a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, 3.5mm audio headphones, and documentation.

The Sony Quick Charger UCH12W supports 13.5 watts (5 volts @ 2.7 amps), 16.2 watts (9 volts @ 1.8 amps), and 16.2 watts (12 volts @ 1.35 amps). Using this charger through Qualcomm Quick Charge charging or a USB Power Delivery based charger, up to about 11 watts can be pulled by the Xperia XZ1 to charge at low battery.

The Xperia XZ1 has a typical Xperia design with clean looks and a smooth surface.

There is a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s) USB Type-C port at the bottom of the Xperia XZ1, replacing the USB micro-B connector used in a lot of previous models.

The Xperia XZ1 has a very convenient way to open the SIM and SD card slot with your fingers without having to use an external SIM removal pin, while being water resistant (IP65/68).

Unlike most other phones that have their power button protruding out, the Xperia XZ1 recesses the power button into the side of the phone.  The volume buttons also have a minimal profile for the volume up/down buttons. These design features make the Xperia XZ1 smooth and very comfortable to the touch.

Sony uses its rich heritage in camera and video recording products and further differentiates the Xperia XZ1 by using its BIONZ mobile image-processing engine, 1/ 2.3" Exmor RS for mobile memory-stacked sensor, 25mm Sony G Lens F2.0, and 19MP Motion Eye camera. Sony can support 960 fps super slow motion video compared to 240 fps on the iPhone X and 120 fps on the Google Pixel 2 XL. Note though you can only take 960 fps super slow motion video for very brief moments while you are taking video making it hard to capture the moment in time you want to capture super slow motion.

The 13MP front camera uses a 1 / 3.06"  Exmor RS for mobile image sensor and 22mm wide-angle lens F2.0.

Sony keeps the 3.5mm audio headphone port which has gone away on a lot of other flagship phones.

The Xperia XZ1 offers one of the widest range of connectivity options, supporting Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and both Google Cast and Miracast.  Sony also supports its High Resolution audio promotion with support of LPCM, FLAC, ALAC and DSD formats.

Using the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs to run just a subset of the full USB Power Delivery compliance test suite, we can see that the Xperia XZ1 supports PDO's of 4.5 watts (5 volts @ .9 amps), 10 watts (5 volts @ 2 amps), and 15.3 watts (9 volts @ 1.7 amps) for charging. Note some compliance failures were observed.

DUT Information

Manufacturer	Sony
Model Number	XZ1
Serial Number	Comm

Test Information

Date and Time:

20180224_082436

Controller and Instrument Information

Parameter	Value
GRL USB-PD_C2 Serial No.	035.013.035.032.064.
GRL USB-PD Software Version	1.3.3.8
GRL USB-PD Firmware Version	1.3.3.0.7
Board Calibration	Calibration Success.
App Mode	COMMUNICATION_ENGINE_TESTS
Tx Mask	true
Rx Mask	false
RX mask Power selection	Neutral Power
Device Type	DRP
Cable IR drop Imp(R)	0

Product Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
UUT_Device_Type
Vendor_Name	Sony Mobile Communications
Product_Name
Version_Info
TID	0x0
Type_C	NONE
SOP_Capable	NONE
SOP_P_Capable	NONE
SOP_PP_Capable	NONE
SOP_P_Debug_Capable	NONE
SOP_PP_Debug_Capable	NONE
Manufacturer_Info_Supported_Port
Manufacturer_Info_VID_Port
Manufacturer_Info_PID_Port
USB_Comms_Capable	YES
DR_Swap_To_DFP_Supported	YES
DR_Swap_To_UFP_Supported	YES
Externally_Powered	NO
VCONN_Swap_To_On_Supported	NONE
VCONN_Swap_To_Off_Supported	NONE
Responds_To_Discov	NONE
Attempts_Discov	NONE
Chunking_Implemented_SOP	NO
Unchunked_Extended_Messages_Supported	NO
Accepts_PR_Swap_As_Src	YES
Accepts_PR_Swap_As_Snk	YES
Requests_PR_Swap_As_Src	NONE
Requests_PR_Swap_As_Snk	NONE
XID
Structured_VDM_Version	V1.0
Data_Capable_as_USB_Host	YES
Data_Capable_as_USB_Device	YES
Product_Type_UFP_SOP
Product_Type_DFP_SOP	Peripheral
Modal_Operation_Supported	NO
Security_Msgs_Supported_SOP	NO
USB_VID	0xFCE
PID	0x1F3
bcdDevice	0x0
SVIDs Min	0
SVIDs Max	0
SVID Fixed	NONE

Power Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
PD_Power_as_Sink
No_USB_Suspend_May_Be_Set	YES
GiveBack_May_Be_Set	NO
Higher_Capability_Set	NO
Num_Snk_PDOs
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
OP Current #1	0xC8(2A)
Supply Type #2	Fixed
Voltage #2	0xB4(9V)
OP Current #2	0xAA(1.7A)
Supply Type #3	-
Min Voltage #3	-
Max Voltage #3	-
Supply Type #4	-
Min Voltage #4	-
Max Voltage #4	-
PD_Power_as_Source
Rp Value
USB Suspend may be cleared	YES
Send Ping	NONE
No of Source PDOs
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Peak Current #1	0x0(A)
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
Max Current #1	0x5A(.9A)
Supply Type #2	-
Min Voltage #2	-
Max Voltage #2	-
Supply Type #3	-
Min Voltage #3	-
Max Voltage #3	-
Supply Type #4	-
Min Voltage #4	-
Max Voltage #4	-
Supply Type #5	-
Min Voltage #5	-
Max Voltage #5	-
PD_Power_as_Sink
No_USB_Suspend_May_Be_Set	YES
GiveBack_May_Be_Set	NO
Higher_Capability_Set	NO
Num_Snk_PDOs
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
OP Current #1	0xC8(2A)
Supply Type #2	Fixed
Voltage #2	0xB4(9V)
OP Current #2	0xAA(1.7A)
Supply Type #3	-
Min Voltage #3	-
Max Voltage #3	-
Supply Type #4	-
Min Voltage #4	-
Max Voltage #4	-

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	TDA.2.1.1.1	BMC-PHY-TX-EYE	PASS
2	TDA.2.1.1.2	BMC-PHY-TX-BIT	PASS
3	TDA.2.1.2.2	BMC-PHY-RX-INT-REJ	PASS
4	TDA.2.1.2.1	BMC-PHY-RX-BUSIDL	FAIL
5	TDA.2.1.3.1	BMC-PHY-TERM	PASS
7	TDA.2.2.1	BMC-PROT-SEQ-GETCAPS	PASS
10	TDA.2.2.5	BMC-PROT-DISCOV	PASS
12	TDA.2.2.7	BMC-PROT-BIST-NOT-5V-SRC	PASS
14	TDA.2.3.1.1	POW-SRC-LOAD-P-PC	FAIL
15	TDA.2.3.1.2	POW-SRC-LOAD-CP-ACC	FAIL
18	TDA.2.3.3.2	POW-SNK-TRANS-PC	FAIL
19	TDB.2.2.9	BMC-PROT-GSC-REC	PASS

BMC Eye Diagram

Here we used the GRL-USB-PD C2 Compliance Test Solution App to output a load trace diagram to see that the Xperia XZ1 supports different voltage and current levels for charging.

For the number of premium features supported and quality design, the Xperia XZ1 is a bargain compared to a lot of other flagship phones out there.