It has a gorgeous design, with a glass front and back.

It's surrounded by an aluminium band, that makes it feel sturdy to hold.

The metal edge curves attractively to meet the screen.

By covering the ports with rubberised flaps, the Xperia Z1 Compact is able to be completely waterproof to a depth of one metre.

There's a dedicated camera shutter button to take shots when you're underwater.

Thankfully, the 3.5mm headphone jack doesn't need to be covered with a flap to remain waterproof. You won't need to undo a cover every time you want to pop your headphones in.

It's running on the slightly older Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Sony hasn't said when it'll receive the update to 4.4 KitKat.

Sony has made a bunch of tweaks to the interface, including letting you arrange the app icons in alphabetical order, by most used, or by a custom arrangement.

The speaker is on the bottom. It's waterproof, although it will sound muffled when wet.

Isn't it gorgeous?

That little N means it's NFC compatible. Tap it against other NFC devices to pair them without fuss.

A Micro SD card slot sits inside the metal band.

It's much more comfortable to hold -- and easier to slide into your jeans -- than the usual 5-inch top end Android phones.

It has the same sticking-out power button seen on many of Sony's devices.

You can snag the Compact in hot pink and lime green, or you can opt for white or black if you don't want to stand out quite so much.

The aluminium edges of the phone have been tinted to match the bright glass panels.