Picking devices from the Android world that are aligned similarly to the Nokia Lumia 1020 is tricky - whereas the 1020 is unashamedly camera-centric, you have to go to the ridiculously sized Galaxy S4 Zoom to find something competitive in the Android world. Well, until now. Possibly. You see Sony has just released the Xperia Z1 Compact, slightly smaller than the 1020 and yet with the same high end 1/2.3" 20MP oversampling sensor as the much larger Xperia Z1 - and, hopefully, more recent image processing algorithms. I'll come to actual camera performance in a separate feature, but for now here's a blow by blow comparison of the two devices.

You may remember that I did a detailed camera comparison between the Lumia 1020 and the larger Xperia Z1 here? My verdict was that the Z1 camera stayed with the 1020 in good light but that it fell badly behind in low light - on the whole I'd be expecting the Z1 Compact to fare in similar manner, since the hardware here is said to be identical - though it's worth noting that the camera firmware here is significantly updated from that in the originally tested Z1.

You may ask why the Z1 Compact is considered more of a camera flagship than the Z1, given that the imaging hardware is the same? Well, the Z1 is also sold on its larger, higher resolution display and bigger battery, whereas the Z1 Compact has compromises in each of those three main attributes yet the camera's the same. Aside from a few people who do, simply, want a smaller Z1, a lot of Z1 Compact buyers will be choosing this over, say, a Galaxy S4 mini, purely on the basis of the 20MP high spec camera. Certainly a much higher proportion of buyers than would be buying the Xperia Z1 for its photography skills.

In use, the Z1 Compact reminds me of miniature camera phone champions of the past like the Nokia N8 and 808 - even the old N86 8MP, which had deliberately cut down specs but provided a platform for a really excellent camera.

It's a few millimetres smaller than the 1020 all round, but both devices feel comparatively modest against the current trend for larger and larger screens. My Galaxy Note II dwarfs both and the likes of the Lumia 1520 and Xperia Z Ultra are in a whole different category of devices.

I suppose, with photography functions high up the list for both smartphones, the critical comparison here is image quality, but you'll have to wait untii my follow-up piece for more detail on this aspect.

In the meantime, as usual, I pick out winning categories in green, for interest sake - though don't take these too seriously. And note that many categories simply don't HAVE a winner, either because the differences are subjective or because the two are roughly equal overall.

I do pronounce an overall winner at the end, but with the Lumia 1020 and Xperia Z1 Compact running two completely different mobile operating systems and existing in two different ecosystems (and, arguably, at two different value points too), there's comparatively little chance that anyone's going to get the two confused or make a purchase based on a 'victory' on the page here. My upcoming imaging comparison may be more persuasive, of course(!)

Adding up the green 'wins' gives a narrow win to the Lumia 1020 of 5 to 4, but I can only reiterate my suggestion above that most people will choose between these two phones based on price, mobile OS preference, or ecosystem. Of course, with both being camera-specialist (the 1020 perhaps more than the Z1 Compact), there's also the factor of raw camera performance, which is something I'll come back to in a dedicated head to head in a few days time.

The Z1 Compact is certainly the most cohesive and impressive Sony Xperia I've seen for a while, though it's ultimately flawed in terms of some of the hardware component choices.

Comments welcome, which of the above devices stands out to you?