Here you go!! Review of Kewers for Sony Xperia Z1 Compact :victory: Hope will give some helpful information needed for this Case.
website: kewers
use google translate to purchase.
instruction HERE
Price : Taiwan Dollar $1480, £29.50, USD48.50, international shipping additional Taiwan Dollar $700, £14, USD 23.
Packaging/ Delivery/ Contact
- Item arrive EMS tracked within 4 days international post.
- Packaging was good and item well pack with bubble wrap.
- Item “Marked as Gift” + Value lowered. (I requested this due to custom/import purposes).
- Seller very responsive on answering questions (Via FB) and provide update. (Order and shipping update) However, all are in Chinese therefore google translate needed for someone not Chinese speaking.
Quality/ Material
- Material quality is good, premium feel with no sharp edges around corner. Only sharp edge I could find is the buttons (Camera shutter, volume and power) and the headphone port but it won’t cut your finger and just to let you know when you need to find it.
- Unboxing experience is good and fitting the frame was easy (Instructions provided in box)
- Power, Volume & Shutter button was covered with aluminium button which installed within the case. Button works nicely and there were almost not notice compare to the original button.
- Sound quality is good as the case divert the sound towards the front of the screen (That is one of the reason I bought it). No loss of sound even in the pocket.
- Feel a total size increase when first change to this case but with the premium feel & look of it, I think it is acceptable. Weight has not much change 17g.
- 4 spare screw + 2 attached to case, Manual, Cleaning cloth, Screwdriver (key), Frame itself.
Fitting
- Phone fitted nicely with provided soft rubber padding inside the frame to avoid any scratches against the phone.
- Not tested on DK31/ DK32 dock as I don’t have one. But seeing the frame has a bit of contour along the magnetic charging area + Pictures on their website. It looks will fit DK31 and DK32.
- Once fitted it has a small depth (Probably 0.2-0.5mm) between the screen & back surface. (Which is good to provide some gap for the screen + back to avoid get scratch when placing phone on flat surface.
- If I have to be very picky, I’ve notice there is a very small gap between phone and case (screen corner – between screen and case) which will gather some dust over time. (Not a big issue where most of the case gather dust inside anyway). Same apply with the speaker cutout which overtime will gather some dust inside.
- Headphone port looks a bit deep but tested with “L Shape” jack it fitted nicely and have space to more around. (I only tested mine “L shape” hardphone jack as I do not have lots of “L Shape” around.
Signals Effect Test
a) My WIFI speed is scrap (3 mbps) so don’t complaint it.
b) Each test was done within 30mins, same position & test location.
c) I am not a mobile/material engineer and I am just making a comparison with/ without case.
- Radio & Speedtest (WIFI/4G) (LINK) and (LINK)
As you see the radio and signals comparison, degradation about +/- 3dBm and about 5% signal change overall. I do not see any major difference on signals drops so far but will have to review again probably after 1-2 week of use. Wifi same slight degradation of signals but it does not effect overall experiences on using wifi. 4G testing on Speedtest is a bit strange as the reading is not always within the range and sometimes it can be high and sometimes it can be low. From what I got for Speedtest 4G speed it looks like degradation about +/- 10mb download and +/- 5mb upload. It might depend on cell tower/ location/ weather. This will need to report back after few weeks of use too.
- GPS (LINK)
GPS degradation of accuracy as you could see from the top right corner. Test been carried out in 2 mins waiting / cool down time for GPS to lock.
Cutout
- SD – NO
- Micro USB – YES
- Headphone - YES
- Magnetic Charger – YES
- Phone strips - YES
Conclusion:
Liking this case and was waiting for something like this for long time, I would rate it 8/10 overall. However, improvement can be made on (If I have to be very picky) is to reduce the thickness little + better Signals/WIFI/3G improvements. I know there are already similar aluminium bumper case which has minimum / nearly “Zero” signal degradation. Overall, quite impressive with the new design (compare to the Z1 version), they have manage to refine better shape, curvature and grip. I do not own the Z1 version but I've seen the picture there are more rounded at the bottom. Seller website can implement “English” language translation for potential international buyer as while checking using Google Translate there are some grammar mistake.
website: kewers
use google translate to purchase.
instruction HERE
Price : Taiwan Dollar $1480, £29.50, USD48.50, international shipping additional Taiwan Dollar $700, £14, USD 23.
Packaging/ Delivery/ Contact
- Item arrive EMS tracked within 4 days international post.
- Packaging was good and item well pack with bubble wrap.
- Item “Marked as Gift” + Value lowered. (I requested this due to custom/import purposes).
- Seller very responsive on answering questions (Via FB) and provide update. (Order and shipping update) However, all are in Chinese therefore google translate needed for someone not Chinese speaking.
Quality/ Material
- Material quality is good, premium feel with no sharp edges around corner. Only sharp edge I could find is the buttons (Camera shutter, volume and power) and the headphone port but it won’t cut your finger and just to let you know when you need to find it.
- Unboxing experience is good and fitting the frame was easy (Instructions provided in box)
- Power, Volume & Shutter button was covered with aluminium button which installed within the case. Button works nicely and there were almost not notice compare to the original button.
- Sound quality is good as the case divert the sound towards the front of the screen (That is one of the reason I bought it). No loss of sound even in the pocket.
- Feel a total size increase when first change to this case but with the premium feel & look of it, I think it is acceptable. Weight has not much change 17g.
- 4 spare screw + 2 attached to case, Manual, Cleaning cloth, Screwdriver (key), Frame itself.
Fitting
- Phone fitted nicely with provided soft rubber padding inside the frame to avoid any scratches against the phone.
- Not tested on DK31/ DK32 dock as I don’t have one. But seeing the frame has a bit of contour along the magnetic charging area + Pictures on their website. It looks will fit DK31 and DK32.
- Once fitted it has a small depth (Probably 0.2-0.5mm) between the screen & back surface. (Which is good to provide some gap for the screen + back to avoid get scratch when placing phone on flat surface.
- If I have to be very picky, I’ve notice there is a very small gap between phone and case (screen corner – between screen and case) which will gather some dust over time. (Not a big issue where most of the case gather dust inside anyway). Same apply with the speaker cutout which overtime will gather some dust inside.
- Headphone port looks a bit deep but tested with “L Shape” jack it fitted nicely and have space to more around. (I only tested mine “L shape” hardphone jack as I do not have lots of “L Shape” around.
Signals Effect Test
a) My WIFI speed is scrap (3 mbps) so don’t complaint it.
b) Each test was done within 30mins, same position & test location.
c) I am not a mobile/material engineer and I am just making a comparison with/ without case.
- Radio & Speedtest (WIFI/4G) (LINK) and (LINK)
As you see the radio and signals comparison, degradation about +/- 3dBm and about 5% signal change overall. I do not see any major difference on signals drops so far but will have to review again probably after 1-2 week of use. Wifi same slight degradation of signals but it does not effect overall experiences on using wifi. 4G testing on Speedtest is a bit strange as the reading is not always within the range and sometimes it can be high and sometimes it can be low. From what I got for Speedtest 4G speed it looks like degradation about +/- 10mb download and +/- 5mb upload. It might depend on cell tower/ location/ weather. This will need to report back after few weeks of use too.
- GPS (LINK)
GPS degradation of accuracy as you could see from the top right corner. Test been carried out in 2 mins waiting / cool down time for GPS to lock.
Cutout
- SD – NO
- Micro USB – YES
- Headphone - YES
- Magnetic Charger – YES
- Phone strips - YES
Conclusion:
Liking this case and was waiting for something like this for long time, I would rate it 8/10 overall. However, improvement can be made on (If I have to be very picky) is to reduce the thickness little + better Signals/WIFI/3G improvements. I know there are already similar aluminium bumper case which has minimum / nearly “Zero” signal degradation. Overall, quite impressive with the new design (compare to the Z1 version), they have manage to refine better shape, curvature and grip. I do not own the Z1 version but I've seen the picture there are more rounded at the bottom. Seller website can implement “English” language translation for potential international buyer as while checking using Google Translate there are some grammar mistake.
Last edited: