Verdict
Even with a top - notch screen at an attractive aspect proportion , the Xperia 10 V forgets what is keeping other budget phones in our hands years after purchase . This is one that feels sluggish out of the boxwood , with its old conjuration of rely on its tv camera not really carrying the weightiness in the face of trigger-happy competition . commutation movie raw sienna might get a kick out of the screen , but that ’s about it .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Once idolise for its high - remainder gadget , Sony has pull up its wandering part back in late years in the face of fierce competition and shrinking grocery store shares .
you could still get its top - tier machine like theXperia 1 V. That has n’t changed . But they ’re a growing ecological niche these days , typically being announced long before their street date and only taken on by its most fond fans .
But itsbudget smartphonesare still kick around . At first look , you ’d fight to tell them apart , with most of the big differences being under the hood where only fancier tend to see . And a couple of years ago , that was good . Smart , even .
Nowadays , however , Sony ’s budget block are starting to struggle to stand out . Again . And the Xperia 10 V is a premier example of the Nipponese electronics goliath potentially overthinking things .
It ’s a gorgeous twist , but rather than feel like a quick , energetic youngster ready to take on the world , pull out it out of the box feels like a metaphor for hoisting a senior citizen out of their favourite chairman to take them for a walk they just do n’t want .
Design
Even as soon as I buy my , what was then , trade name - newGoogle Pixel 2 XL , I remember being enamoured by a ally ’s bantam Sony Xperia smartphone . Jealous , almost . Its fluid and stylish chocolate engine block invention just looked correct . And it felt correct .
Once again , the Sony design squad are on point with the Xperia 10 V. Even if they ’re simply following the principles put by the Xperia brand squad in a nonliteral foregone era , there ’s still an breeze of sophistication and timelessness about it .
The smooth sides , munificently rounded edges , and chocolate bar contour of the marvellous and slender gimmick are unbelievably easy on the oculus .
Though I try out it in its safe and received black , it ’s available in sonant and playful blueish , green , and white option , which could in reality go a prospicient way in enticing those who care a pop of colour to show off some personality .
Though I would n’t hope it to not skid out of my scoop on a bike ride , the mostly plastic build would probably obtain up well to an inadvertent bump , scrape , or slam unlike a glass - backed machine , andIP65/68 debris and water resistanceis basically unheard of at this price item , delivering added pacification of mind .
The fact that it still looks premium without following the trends of field glass and shimmery rear pigment jobs ca n’t be push aside either .
Screen
What likely would n’t hold out a declivity , however , is the cover . That should n’t come as a surprisal . The Xperia 10 V packs a brilliantOLED panelinto its uniquely - tall anatomy , affording it the 21:9 facial expression ratio Sony is still swear on to pitch its gimmick as superior cinephile setups . Martin Scorsese , your crusade against watching Goodfellas in a supermarket car park is over .
Likely using it as a way to deal folks on ascertain its own movies without the shameful bars , it ’s a expectant estimate on paper , but it take to excessive pillarboxing when binging boxsets . satisfy to rapid growth , which is something I do with less serious YouTube videos on devices that gravel nigher to traditional 16:9 widescreen , cut off too much content to be deserving it , leaving raft of screen real estate wasted .
Although the slimmer chassis of the screen get to reaching the other side loose with your thumb in standard portrayal musical mode when scroll the web or societal medium , the expanded nature of it means reaching up for thing like telling requires extra effort as well .
It ’s great for multitasking , which could suit the said agio and professional look of Xperia gadget as a whole , but at the budget price bracket , it feels at odds with how potential client incline to use their devices . for certain , you might be able to squeeze an extra social military post in before let to scroll again , but is it worth the constant inconveniences ? Not in person , no .
Practicality concerns aside , the OLED dialog box in the Xperia 10 Little Phoebe is a joy when fully use . Multitasking has the space it needs to make proper sense , and the inherent color profiling of the technical school means HDR exposure and movies really toss off .
If you do look on a caboodle of big - budget motion picture on the go , you ’ll absolutely love the inflate eyeshot you wo n’t get on your TV . And just as it stupefy easily bright enough for brilliant outside showing , it gets dim enough to savour in bed too without losing much of its warmth . It ’s just a shame that it ’s stuck at the mature 60Hz refresh rate when so much of the rival has made the jump to90 – or120Hz .
Camera
For geezerhood now , Sony has attempted to commercialise its phone as great entranceway into the macrocosm of professional digital photography : a way to teach and prompt and eventually upsell to a properDLSR or mirrorless framewith a familiar UI body structure .
It ’s a solid idea for a company whose cameras are typically reverence and advocate across not only the photography space , but the rapidly grow vlogging and streaming securities industry , too .
And , just like the rest , the Xperia 10 V follows in the footsteps of its siblings , front - loading a relatively bare point - and - shoot television camera app that admit a curious button into a much more complicated interface designed to get you hook on manual controller .
In the received Camera app , get a great guesswork is n’t hard . It ’s point - and - shoot as you ’d expect , with all three of the crystalline lens ( a rarefied sight in a budget headphone ) give birth solid result when lined up aright . I take it on a 10 - mile cycle drive through towns and a local park along the channel , snap wide - slant shot of the lake and its feathered friends . At home , I made my usual backyard ornaments my subjects .
Though I was sunnily surprised by the sharpness of each image , colours under artificial lightness indoors follow out a slight cold . Not so severe as to be unfeasible with a mo of editing magic , but charge a shot of a boho din table in a computer memory to send back to my partner over Discord did n’t quite accurately convey what I was seeing in person .
Getting motion shots , however , was a whole other story . Without hopping into manual mode to increase the shutter amphetamine , relying on the basic photographic camera app to tear a cute shot of a subject that wo n’t sit still always felt like an impossible delegacy .
My dachshund slowly trudging through the grass was just slow enough to not whole slur out , but the obtrusive delay between pressing the shutter button and the photo actually save ( before processing ) is frankly dissatisfactory , and in all likelihood another example of how much the sub - par central processing unit in the Xperia 10 V actually book back the experience .
I do n’t doubt that you ’ll be able to get some great shot via the camera app ’s manual controls with enough effort . But when external video on a summer ’s day come out depend noisy , sue , and bumpy , there are doubts that the vast legal age of chance snappers will feel a little glow by Sony ’s usually solid reputation in the photography field .
Performance
Externally , the Sony Xperia V 10 is a pleasure . Internally , it ’s blue . TheSnapdragon 695 5Gchipset powering the whole surgical procedure just ca n’t keep up like some other top - tier phones in its mid - range price bracket can .
When you may get more from theSamsung Galaxy A54 5Gwith a plethora of kinky feature film or show the threshold by theGoogle Pixel 7aand its more well gratifying camera , things are bound to go south cursorily .
As shortly as I got set up , it was directly clean that I would n’t be getting a whole lot out of it . So long as you ’re not into play graphically intensive 3D games like Honkai Star Rail , you wo n’t observe things quite so starkly as I did . But that does n’t make day - to - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. operation silky smooth , either .
Beyond the obvious home screen stuttering that would have made a bland screenland nonmeaningful anyway , there were numerous time the Camera app could n’t even keep up . Images would often take over a moment to trance , gain those blink - and - you-’ll - miss - it moments impossible to grab , and the Camera app would oft crash back to the family CRT screen wholesale – as would other apps .
Between a relatively small 6 GB memory adjustment to a crisp that ’s battered by others in the same price bracket , the Xperia 10 V ca n’t aid but feel sluggish right out of the gate . For the cost , there areinfinitely stronger mid - range gimmick , making the improbable OLED screen and its insanely unspoilt looks the solitary selling period with this one .
Software
When it comes to admit software program and services , there is n’t a massive amount to talk about with the Xperia 10 V.
Like any Xperia , the standout app comes in the form of the photographic camera ’s hidden Pro mode . Though the bog - standard one has a couple more clitoris and image than most to tempt you forth from the path of point - and - shoot photography , the Pro mood always watching in the corner can be rapidly toggle to get much of the same manual control over your shots as you would with a proper DSLR figure .
It would have been nice to see Sony take it a step further with some form of tutorial on its feature film or a full - blown picture taking course baked right in . Then again , it ’s intuitive enough to mostly work out for yourself . Icons for things like shutter speed are usher as a Pseudemys scripta capturing still or fast - moving subjects , with the look-alike preview on the finder changing in perceived cleverness to illustrate the amount of light the final shot would actually take in .
Everything ’s simplified in a more visceral way , which should go a long elbow room in promote experimentation .
In general use , Sony has elected to utilize a sneaky picayune side window you ’ll vaguely see as a petite crystalline rectangle on the upper portion of the silver screen ’s veracious side .
A threefold tap of the thin buffer kill out a multitasking menu . It ’s a little fiddly compare to some other solution , but between two yellow journalism and a bunch of usual apps , you just hold and drop back your trust one into the fragmented area beneath . Tapping it then found it in a half - view windowpane beneath your current one .
To help oneself facilitate building up a layout of coarse apps you use specifically in landscape rather than portrait view , you could slip over to the 21:9 tab to configure your favourites there , too .
The big disappointment here is retentive - term support , with Sony only delivering one OS upgrade for the Xperia 10 V. Compared to the likes of the Pixel 7a and Galaxy A54 5 G with multi - yr OS upgrade , it ’s shockingly modified .
Battery life
Hooked up to a high - electric power GaN charger , Sony ’s low - end effort did n’t juice up specially cursorily , feeling , again , a little like a keepsake of a bygone time compare to the fast - charging competition out there . A 15 - minute resuscitation sitting realize it gain 17 % , accurately managing to go down on up 34 % aggregate in 30 moment .
Charging from 0 % on the same charger , it gain 50 % in 48 minutes , cap out at 100 % in just a hair’s-breadth under two hour . You ’ll likely need to leave it an hr longer to get the most out of the barrage , but the grounds backs up the specification rag , proving the Xperia 10 5 is n’t really equipped to take in today ’s fast - charge might bricks .
That means your standard adaptor dwell around wo n’t really necessitate upgrading , giving a point to the “ green ” practice of simply using what you already have , but it ’s another cause of Sony ’s handset fight to keep up with the truly commodious features of the phone it ’s endeavor to contend with for the same money .
On the plus side , the assault and battery puts up a comely enough battle .
probably due to the underpowered C.P.U. and sluggish ( by today ’s standards ) blind , you ’ll get satisfactory mileage from this one . Even with a bit of light gaming and YouTube , we managed two twenty-four hours of comfortable use of goods and services . Hook it up overnight on that second eternal sleep and you ’ll have no trouble if you ’re prostrate to forgetting to top - up when you ’re in the exhibitioner or at your desk .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
Between declamatory movies and good multitasking movement , the 21:9 screen can change the way you use your equipment .
Beyond its display gimmick , the Sony Xperia 10 V feels old and well-worn compared to the likes of theSamsung Galaxy A54 5GandGoogle Pixel 7a .
Final Thoughts
Although the 21:9 OLED venire can make motion picture and multitasking a delight to behold , almost everything else about the Xperia 10 V feel a little too old for a brand - new phone .
Compared to thePixel 7a , Samsung Galaxy A54 5 M , or even the lightning - fastPoco F5 , you may get a mickle more for not a lot more , be it more processing major power , quicker charging or better long - terminus software support .
It ’s a beautiful twist , but unless you ’re just trying to stand out and keep things simple , spend a niggling extra on yourmid - rangerwill likely save you the cost of an upgrade in a year ’s sentence .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try every mobile phone we reexamine good . We practice industry - received examination to compare features properly and we habituate the phone as our primary machine over the review geological period . We ’ll always enjoin you what we discover and we never , ever , take over money to review a Cartesian product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
No , there ’s no receiving set charging with the Xperia 10 V.
you’re able to filch up to the Xperia 10 V ’s consecrate DAC via the 3.5 millimeter diddly-squat on the top .
you may plunk up an official 30W charger or a example with a landscape painting kickstand for video right away from Sony .
Test Data
Full Specs
