Verdict
The Sony Xperia 1 V is a brilliant telephone that barely pose a foot wrong . It ’s lightning - tight with a great screen , enviable bombardment life and a brilliant camera regalia . You might quibble with the design , which continue an develop taste perception , but it does everything exceptionally . The monetary value , however , stay so out of kelter with the market and Sony ’s minnow - like status in it that you ca n’t imagine it give the Apples , Samsungs and Xiaomis of this macrocosm much cause for concern .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
On paper , Sony should be at the very top of the smartphone tree . Just look at all the pies the company has finger in : top - snick screens on Bravia TV , a brilliant DSLR camera range , the audiophile ’s choice of portable audio and the all - conquer PlayStation play brand .
This should all combine to make the perfect smartphone , and yet preceding results have n’t quite hit the berth . And it does n’t help that Sony hang in with Apple - like pricing , without the all - significant audience of Apple - comparable enthusiasts to lick it up .
That mistake is repeated here : the Sony Xperia 1 V is a cursed all right phone with several quality that outshine the confrontation , especially in the camera and sound section . But with a terms tatter of £ 1,299/$1,399 — £ 100/$300 more than Apple ’s top - of - the - rangeiPhone 14 Pro Max — it ’s a tough sell in anybody ’s account book , especially with a few backwards design choices holding it back .
Another peculiarity with that eyebrow - raising price : for US residents , it symbolize a price cut on theXperia 1 IVwhich make it with an even more ‘ optimistic ’ MSRP of $ 1,599 . say price cutting is not enjoy on this side of the Atlantic , mind : it was £ 1,299 last contemporaries , and remains so for a second year running .
Design and screen
In a domain where , to most people , smartphones remain scantily distinguishable black rectangles , you have to reach it to Sony for doing something dissimilar — or rather , persisting with it .
The Sony Xperia 1 V wo n’t be mistaken for aniPhone , or manyAndroiddevices for that matter . Its tall and thin 21:9 facet proportion is a dead giveaway that you ’re holding something unusual , and the ship’s company has made only little attempts to smooth out away its square , hard angles , with slightly curved corners . It ’s not a design for everyone , but I in person think it looks very smart indeed .
I ’m not as sell on the grippy grain that Sony has put all the way around the phone . I do n’t mind the poke fun lines on the side one second , and they do make it harder to drop . But the texturing on the looking glass rear make up it sense unpleasantly like charge card , instantly lose the premium vibe .
It ’s worth fete Sony ’s continued loyalty to consumer - friendly extra that other company have sacrificed on the Lord’s table of cost - cutting and ever - increasing spareness . expansile microSD card accompaniment ? correspond ( up to 1 TB ) . Dual SIM ? Check . 3.5 millimeter earpiece jack ? Checkeroo .
But Sony does n’t get an entirely barren pass here . Not only is there no charger in the box , there ’s no cable’s length either . There are super good logical and environmental reasons for doing this , but it still feels flash on such an expensive product .
On the theme of expense , there ’s one undercut that — in my legal opinion — Sony could make very well without losing much . Sony has stuck to its gunman with 4 K screens in its very top - remnant phones since 2015’sSony Xperia Z5 Premium , without stopping to wonder why no other big musician have followed suit .
I called that feature “ magic bonce ” when I reviewed the telephone elsewhere then , and I sustain that it ’s still genuine now . The overwhelming majority of people simply ca n’t distinguish the difference between 2 K and 4 K on a screen this size — human oculus are n’t secure enough — and it ’s specially silly when Sony only enable 4 K within sure first - political party apps for bombardment reason ( and the the likes of of Netflix do n’t bother supporting it in the app , given the scarceness of 4 K fluid gimmick ) .
The deplorable thing is that even at its standard extended Full HD resolving power ( 2,560 x 1,096 ) everything seem brilliant . It ’s buttery smooth at120Hzand it’sHDR10certified making video subject really pop .
That unusual aspect ratio is also effective for video content . When Sony first announce it was switching to the unusual shape with the original Xperia 1 , it did so by pointing out that 69 % of Netflix depicted object is shot in 21:9 substance that cinephiles can relish more content without distracting inglorious saloon .
Cameras
Where Sony really pushes the boat out is on the Xperia 1 V ’s television camera , all linked to a ready to hand forcible shutter release on the correct - hand side of the phone .
On the back , two out of three are the same as the Xperia 1 IV ’s with 12 - megapixel ultrawide and telephotograph lenses . This time , however , they ’re accompanied by a 52 - megapixel main detector with improved processing chops .
This all adds up to a superb camera frame-up , and one that can go toe - to - toe with its flagship rivals . Indeed , on long - range shots , Sony has the edge , with that variable telephotograph lens capable of a 3.5x to 5.2x ocular magnification .
That ’s a considerable improvement on the 3x chain of theiPhone 14 Pro , and a snatch more pliant than theSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultrawhich has a 3x and 10x optical rapid climb , but uses digital for the space in between .
In salutary , day conditions , the Xperia 1 V takes truly excellent photograph , and is a match for the iPhone 14 Pro as you could see in the compare shots included .
Overall though , it ’s a slight advantage to Apple , as demonstrated by the example below . Both phones struggle with the rushing water , but the iPhone 14 Pro has a good go at it — and the picture is less washed out too .
But if you need to get close while keeping your physical distance , Sony has the edge with its 5.2x zoom allowing me to get a better look at these nesting Gallinula chloropus ( I ’m not a bird guy cable – I may be wrong on this ! ) .
Of course , even budget phones can make a adept fist of thing in perfect circumstance , and thing often get a bit hairy in low light .
And unfortunately , at this level , the Xperia 1 V ca n’t match the iPhone 14 Pro ’s mental image quality , with a touch more stochasticity on the bulbs and leaf .
This was made all the more obvious when Brando , one of my cats , cut off the shoot by jumping up on my lap . gratefully , it turned out he was the perfect model , staying still while I make shots from both cameras which again confirms the iPhone 14 Pro ’s mastery for item in crushed light .
But Sony does have one boastful reward over its rivals in the tv camera section : the software program itself . By default option , you capture content via the Photo Pro , Video Pro and Cinema Pro apps , and these are an absolute dream for those that wish to tinker with the configurations , letting you adjust matter like clean equipoise , ISO and photograph recompense to your mettle ’s content .
Yes , there are third - party apps that do similar for the iPhone and other Android devices , but to have one that ’s made hand - in - glove with the Xperia hardware makes it a cut above — even if it is a bit overwhelming to those who just care to designate and shoot .
Video Pro is likewise fully boast , and it help that the inwardness hardware is very capable of fascinate video . you’re able to read 4 M up to 120fps , and while it struggles a flake in low brightness , it still takes very skillful television indeed .
Performance
As well as this quality camera tech , nobody could accuse Sony of scrimp on the components that make Android tick . TheQualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2processor is plunk for by a generous 12 GB RAM and 256 GB of internal storage ( which , again , can be topped up with a 1 TB microSD card if you fancy ) .
This , as you might imagine , makes it fly in day - to - sidereal day use of goods and services . Though you ’ll have to use that imagination for some of the benchmarks for the clock time being , as our prevue building block refused to feed the GPU ones .
Geekbench 6 shape , though , and we got a single - magnetic core scotch of 1,982 and a multi - core one of 5,202 . That ’s actually a nose ahead of the Geekbench 6 scads for theSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultra , though in practice you would n’t mark a difference in unconstipated use .
It ’s deserving taking some time out to look at audio here , which is an often - overlooked area where Sony really surpass . Not only is there a dedicated 3.5 millimetre headphone jack , mean you ’re not relying on laggy Bluetooth for your audio recording , but the Xperia 1 V has musical accompaniment for howdy - solving audio and High - Resolution Audio Wireless ( LDAC ) right out of the loge .
It also has support forDolby Soundand360 Reality Audio , and there are plenty of options to bet with to make your medicine and moving-picture show sound just right ( include one that makes the handset pulse to certain frequencies for slightly unusual immersion in video ) .
The existent built - in speakers sound pretty marvellous too — obviously there ’s only so much you may do on a machine this little , but it ’s a cut above the vast absolute majority of smartphones out there .
It ’s a shame , because Sony ’s own apps are n’t bad at all . Cinema Pro and Camera Pro really do make the most of that excellent tv camera array identify previously , with plenty of tweaks that can only be execute with third - party apps on other devices . Ditto Music Pro which let artists to memorialize and edit runway to “ up - convert raceway you record on Xperia to Sony Music pro studio apartment quality . ”
But it would be easy to ignore them as just more bloatware , give the comportment of less welcome software package on your brand - novel handset .
Sony has n’t give any guarantees as to how long the Xperia 1 quint will be supported for , but if past flagship are anything to go by , you’re able to expect two Android variation updates plus an redundant year of security patches . That ’s some distance behind the the likes of of Samsung and Google , which both pledge five years of security updates .
Battery life
The Xperia 1V ’s 5,000mAh battery is somewhat phenomenal — at least , out of the box .
How ‘ phenomenal ’ ? Well , one of TrustedReview ’s charging trial is to see how long a battery takes to fill from empty , and after two daytime of on purpose not charging it so that I could in reality do my work , it was still sitting jolly on 57 % .
I ’d been using the handset as my independent phone over this time , take photos , station messages , and browsing the WWW . I had n’t played any games or catch any display , but it ’s still a testament to how long it can last if you ’re a faint user .
In the end , it take me another Nox of no charging , and over five hours of sharply shining Netflix at full brightness with the flashlight on to drain it . Wow .
With adaptive brightness on , it hold up far longer . An minute of HDR depicted object on Netflix saw a 5 % fall , while 30 minutes of light gaming cause a 3 % free fall .
There ’s no courser or cable in the box , as mentioned before , but plugging it into mySteam Deck’s60W battery charger on empty realize it hit 50 % in 38 minutes and 20 seconds , and reach 100 % in one hour , 43 minutes and 50 second gear . A 15 - min burst give it 21 % .
I should summate that through all of this , it did get very raging , but the UK was experiencing a heating system wave that daylight , so your milage may alter .
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Should you buy it?
From photographic camera to sound , Sony has n’t cut any recess at all . Even where it arguably should have ( 4 K remains unneeded on a screen this sizing ) .
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All this comes at a price , and it ’s just too high for most the great unwashed . When you ’re outpricing Apple with a fraction of its market contribution , something has go very wrong .
Final Thoughts
If money sincerely is no object , then you’re able to grease one’s palms the Sony Xperia 1 pentad with confidence . By nonsubjective metric , it ’s an excellent French telephone with zippy performance , a superb sieve , an excellent television camera array and jaw - sink toughness . The design may not be to everyone ’s tastes , and the bloatware sense cheap , but these are minor drawbacks .
No , the biggy is the terms . At £ 1,299 it ’s only too expensive . It cost more than both the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max — neither of which are on the nose scoop change . To put it another means , it ’s a whole £ 450 more than the excellentGoogle Pixel 7 Pro .
If you’re able to stomach that , then the Sony Xperia 1 V is an outstanding smartphone that refuses to compromise . The sad truth , though ? I kind of wish it would a bit , for the sake of consumer wallets and Sony ’s future in the smartphone marketplace .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly . We use industry - received test to compare feature properly and we use the phone as our primary machine over the review article menstruation . We ’ll always tell you what we find out and we never , ever , take on money to review a mathematical product .
bump out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
amazingly , given the toll of the smartphone , it does n’t get along with a charging brick or even a USB - C cable in the box .
Test Data
Full Specs
