Hey Sony fans, until the end of March 2018, there has been an on-going promotion called Sony Fest by DirectD where you stand a chance to win a lucky draw prize worth more than RM15,000. What prize could cost so much? Well, the grand prize winner will win a pair of ticket holiday trip to Krabi, Thailand for three-days-two-nights, followed by the first runner-ups (four in total) to bring home a free Xperia Xperia XZ1, Xperia XZS, Xperia XA1 Ultra and Xperia XA1 each, and for the second runner-ups (ten in total) to receive two free tickets to OneRepublic concert in Malaysia each!

Sony Mobile has been doing pretty well this year, starting from the Xperia X, then the XZ, the improved XA1, and the fun super slow-mo flagship XZs. This time around, we have the Xperia XA1 Plus in our hands. Priced at RM1499, this phablet could potentially be one of the more value-added smartphones to get in the Malaysian market. Or is it? Let's find out below.

A few months ago, we reviewed the Sony Xperia XA1 and thought it made a good come back for the mid-range lineup. But if the device is too small for your taste, Sony Mobile has answered your prayers and made a bigger version called the Xperia XA1 Plus. It has the same MediaTek Helio P20 processor, but everything else is just bigger like the 5.5-inch display, 3430mAh battery and a 4GB + 32GB memory capacity. Check out our video below how the RM1499 device looks like. 

Today, the recently announced Sony Xperia XA1 Plus and Xperia XZ1 have made their appearance in Malaysia for a price tag of RM1499 and RM2999 respectively, and the XZ1 will arrive at the end of September while the XA1 Plus will only come in October. The Xperia XZ1 is the world's first smartphone that has the special 3D Creator app, which allows the user to have a whole new communication experience of 3D scans and share with their friends and family. 

Sony officially announced 3 smartphones at IFA 2017 with the Sony Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact priced at $699 (~RM2985) and $599(~RM2558). While the design is the same rounded sides as before the tech specs have been updated with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, 4GB RAM, 32GB/64GB storage, 19MP MotionEye camera for 960fps slomo video, a 2700 mAh battery and Android 8.0. Also on display was the Mediatek Helio P20 powered Xperia XA1 Plus with a 5.5-inch FHD display and 23MP rear camera for $379.99 (~RM1622).