The brand new Sony Xperia 1 V retains all the most effective options of earlier Xperia 1 telephones, like a 4K excessive refresh charge show, expandable storage, cutting-edge cameras with eye-tracking autofocus, a 5,000-mAh battery, a devoted {hardware} shutter button and a headphone jack, all wrapped in Sony’s pretty, mundane utilitarian design. The telephone brims with quite a few high quality of life enhancements for its target market of inventive sorts like photographers, filmmakers, musicians and players who need nuanced management over the content material they make.
The perimeters of the telephone are ribbed, which make it simpler to grip, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor makes issues quick, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 provides sturdiness to the telephone’s display, and the flexibility to rotate the Photograph Professional and Video Professional apps between panorama and portrait simply is smart. The glass on the again of the telephone has an imprinted texture that elevates the appear and feel. Although — regardless of its excessive value — you’d by no means describe this as a fancy telephone.
After which there are the cameras. Oh, the cameras! This previous December, Tim Prepare dinner shared a submit on Twitter about Apple and Sony’s lengthy partnership going again over a decade revolving across the iPhone digital camera. The tweet included a photograph of Tim Prepare dinner in a really Vincent D’Onofrio Regulation and Order-esque lean-in pose iPhones being examined in a Sony digital camera lab. Apple makes use of Sony digital camera sensors within the iPhone and those self same sensors usually make their debut in Xperia telephones. One of many largest upgrades to the Xperia 1 V is a brand new sensor for the primary digital camera. I ought to be aware, that it isn’t assured that the sensors on this telephone will likely be utilized in a future iPhone.
7.9
Sony Xperia 1 V
Like
Delicate design enhancements
Images in blended and medium mild look nice
Utilizing it as an exterior monitor/video recorder
Do not like
The $1,400 value
Evening mode pics are hit and miss
Movies recorded in low or blended lighting do not look nice
I have been utilizing a preproduction Xperia 1 V on mortgage from Sony for a few week. And I am impressed with almost every little thing, particularly the cameras. Sony pushed its cutting-edge {hardware} to a different degree by embracing extra computational pictures like Apple, Google and Samsung.
However there’s a disadvantage that overshadows all these niceties. The Xperia 1 V prices $1,400, which converts roughly to £1,110 or AU$2,070. In case your eyes sting a bit from that quantity, you are not alone. And no, the telephone does not fold in half. In truth, the Xperia 1 V has accomplished one thing unthinkable: It made the $1,200 Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely look like a deal. Sure, the Xperia is the one telephone I am conscious of, except for final yr’s mannequin, with a 4K 120Hz refresh charge show and a telephoto digital camera with lens parts that transfer like an precise digital camera lens. The S23 Extremely and iPhone 14 Professional do not have both. However each Apple and Samsung discovered methods to make images and movies look simply as wonderful, and at occasions extra so, than Sony does with out the extraordinarily excessive value — I imply, a grand or $1,200 continues to be rather a lot.
Watch this: Assessment: We Examined the Cameras on the Sony Xperia 1 V
There may be one explicit use case the place the Xperia 1 V is price contemplating, and that is when you plan to make use of it as an exterior subject monitor and video recorder for a devoted digital camera. You can’t solely livestream from an exterior digital camera by the Xperia however now you’ll be able to report the video feed. The Xperia’s 4K decision show units it aside from different exterior monitor recorders like Atmos, SmallHD or Blackmagic, which are likely to have FHD shows. At $1,400, the Xperia turns into an honest worth in comparison with the price of shopping for a separate telephone just like the $1,000 iPhone 14 Professional and a $400 FHD show.
You’ll be able to order the Sony Xperia 1 V beginning July 28 with preorders beginning at this time at 8 a.m. PT. To make the Xperia extra attractive, Sony has a preorder particular the place you get a pair of $180 Sony LinkBuds at no cost.
The Sony Xperia 1 V’s cameras
{Hardware}-wise three out of the 4 cameras are the identical as final yr’s Sony Xperia 1 IV. On the entrance there is a 12-megapixel selfie digital camera and on the again there’s the identical 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 12-megapixel telephoto digital camera. Whereas not new, that telephoto is among the standout options on the Xperia 1 V. The variable telephoto lens offers the telephone an optical zoom vary of three.5x to five.2x magnification. Examine that to the iPhone 14 Professional, which solely has optical zoom at 3x and something extra is digital zoom. Or take a look at the Galaxy S23 Extremely, which has a 3x optical zoom digital camera and a 10x optical zoom digital camera, however in between 3x and 10x it is all digital zoom. The extra a telephone digitally zooms in, the extra the picture begins to collapse.
In use, the tele makes the Xperia a way more versatile digital camera than the iPhone. And whereas it lacks the 100x digital “area zoom” discovered on the S23 Extremely, it matches Samsung in its utility to seize close-up snaps and movies whereas being far-off out of your topic. The Xperia 1 V, just like the S23 Extremely, is perhaps an prosperous mother or father’s dream telephone. It may simply seize their child’s face shut up in a college play, recital or soccer match.
A detailed up of the Xperia’s digital camera bump.
However the actual information is Sony’s new 52-megapixel sensor on the primary digital camera. In contrast to the square-ish sensors on nearly all of telephones, this one is wider. If you take images on just about some other telephone, the digital camera makes use of all the sensor and whenever you report movies, the telephone makes use of a 16×9 crop within the center.
What Sony did is to widen the sensor in order that movies use all the sensor’s peak. Images are cropped in from the perimeters all the way down to 48 megapixels and binned in teams to provide 12-megapixel images. The brand new sensor can also be quicker, which permits Sony to make use of extra computational pictures processing.
All of this provides up a brand new devoted evening mode and higher processing for medium, low mild and blended lighting. In my week with the telephone, every little thing besides evening mode has lived as much as Sony’s guarantees. I am particularly impressed how the Xperia makes highlights roll off so naturally in images.
Check out a few of my favourite images from the Xperia beneath.
The Xperia captured the sunshine and colours completely. I imply take a look at these highlights.
Buddies undoubtedly not posing at brunch.
Peebles the cat taking a nap. The dynamic vary in images is sort of good.
A plant in Salesforce Park taken with the three.5x – 5.2x telephoto digital camera.
I grabbed this pic of an enormous RGB honey bear bottle mural with the three.5x – 5.2x telephoto digital camera.
One other telephoto photograph, this time utilizing digital zoom. I dig how the Xperia is ready to make the Salesforce Tower look like it is looming over the road.
How does the Xperia examine to the iPhone 14 Professional? Fairly good, truly. Have a look beneath at images I took inside Peoples Barbershop in San Francisco. Within the Xperia’s photograph, discover the window and the person who’s seated on the left. Within the iPhone’s photograph, the person’s head and neck are in a shadow. Additionally discover that the lettering on the information signal on the appropriate is sharper within the iPhone’s photograph. In truth, on the entire, the iPhone’s photograph appears over-sharpened, in comparison with the one from the Xperia.
Under are images of a canine outdoors a skate store. I took these images at 3.5x on the Xperia and 3x on the iPhone. The feel of the canine’s fur appears nice in each. The Xperia’s photograph has a pure out-of-focus background from its lens, whereas within the iPhone’s photograph, the background can also be in focus. On the entire these are each good photographs, however I favor the one from the Xperia. The canine appears flat within the iPhone pic and pops extra in Sony’s snap.
Now let’s add the Galaxy S23 Extremely to the combination. Under are images of some baked eggs from Luna. The iPhone’s photograph appears over-sharpened, discover the bread. The colours are a bit muted. Additionally there may be daylight coming in from the left aspect, however heat overhead lighting above. The iPhone’s white stability appears extra cool. Samsung’s photograph nails the pink coloration of the romesco sauce and did the most effective job by way of general coloration temperature. The Xperia’s images undoubtedly skew heat, with the colours wanting oversaturated. Additionally, the Xperia selected to concentrate on the kale versus the bread — simply as my physician needs me to do extra usually.
The picture from the Sony Xperia 1 V has punchy distinction and colours.
Let’s go someplace actually darkish — just like the basement bar at Smuggler’s Cove. These images have been taken with the telephone’s evening mode. Of the three, my favourite is the one from the Galaxy S23 Extremely. The Xperia does a superb job of dealing with the shadows and colours, however the bartenders’ actions in the course of the seize resulted in a blurry mess with blown highlights.
The Xperia 1 V is the primary Sony telephone with an evening mode. Sadly, it is moderately hit-or-miss.
Total, I am glad Sony boosted the computational pictures on the Xperia. It is a success in most conditions, however my exams additionally present Samsung’s dominance in relation to evening mode.
By way of movies, the Sony hangs proper together with the iPhone 14 Professional and Galaxy S23 Extremely below vibrant mild. However as issues get darkish, Apple’s video processing prowess retains its movies wanting higher. For samples of movies from every telephone, take a look at my overview video for the Sony Xperia 1 V.
In spite of everything that testing, it is equally necessary to think about the method of capturing images and movies. And that is the place the Xperia comes out forward of the iPhone 14 Professional and Galaxy S23 Extremely. There are individuals who favor to dial within the settings for precisely how their images and video are captured, and the Xperia is aimed toward them. It isn’t designed to be a one-handed point-and-shoot expertise.
The Xperia’s Photograph Professional and Video Professional apps (and Cinema Professional) allow you to alter each final element to get images and movies wanting the best way you need. There are third-party apps for the iPhone and S23 Extremely that may do the identical, however I have never seen something to the extent of what Sony does. Photograph Professional primarily turns the telephone into an equivalent interface as Sony Alpha cameras. There may be additionally a devoted {hardware} shutter button on the appropriate aspect of the telephone, one thing the iPhone 14 Professional and Galaxy S23 Extremely lack.
Maybe probably the most telling moments throughout testing got here when my colleague, CNET Principal Video Producer John Kim, and I have been filming the overview video. Once we have been strolling round Salesforce Park, and I noticed a child chicken on the bottom. I opened the Photograph Professional app and the digital camera’s eye autofocus immediately locked onto the tiny chicken’s eyes and tracked it. I did not even need to faucet on the display.
And here is the chicken. I used to be most likely about 5 ft away; Eye AF did all of the work protecting the little man in focus.
The Sony Xperia 1 V’s battery and efficiency
On the coronary heart of the Xperia is 12GB of RAM and the aforementioned Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. These specs make the Xperia 1 V peppy and quick. The telephone dealt with heavy days of taking pictures images and movies in addition to extra mundane issues like scrolling social media and taking part in video video games with ease. Loads of that’s due to the processor. We had the identical expertise this yr utilizing different 8 Gen 2 chip telephones just like the Galaxy S23 Extremely and the Asus ROG Cellphone 7 Final. In benchmark exams, the Xperia hangs proper up there alongside Samsung, Asus and Vivo.
3DMark Wildlife Excessive
Sony Xperia 1 V 3,683Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely 3,802Vivo X90 Professional 3,700Asus ROG Cellphone 7 Final 3,748
GeekBench V.5.0 Single-core
Sony Xperia 1 V 1,469Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely 1,541Vivo X90 Professional 1,384Asus ROG Cellphone 7 Final 1,454
Geekbench V.5.0 Multicore
Sony Xperia 1 V 4,971Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely 4,954Vivo X90 Professional 4,303Asus ROG Cellphone 7 Final 5,080
By way of battery, I simply obtained by a day on a single cost however that 4K show, particularly when it is at 120Hz, eats quite a lot of it up. I query the selection of together with a 4K show. It’s actually pretty having all that decision and excessive body charge, but when Sony dropped all the way down to a QHD it might assist with battery life and sure decrease the general price of the telephone. I do not assume most individuals would be capable to inform the distinction. However once more, the Xperia is aimed toward individuals who most likely would discover, particularly when you plan to make use of the telephone as an exterior monitor recorder.
In CNET’s streaming video take a look at, the place we set the show’s brightness to 50% and stream a video over Wi-Fi for a number of hours, the Xperia and its 4K 120Hz show dropped from 100% to 88% after an hour and all the way down to 75% after two hours. For perspective, when the OnePlus 11 went by the identical take a look at with its QHD 120Hz display, it dropped from a full battery to 92% after an hour and 85% after two.
By way of charging, the Xperia helps 30W quick charging. Sony does not embody the charger or perhaps a USB-C cable within the field. However after half-hour of charging with a 30W energy brick, the battery went from 25% to 73%. The telephone additionally helps wi-fi charging, and through a 30-minute take a look at the battery went from 58% to 85%.
The Sony Xperia 1 V closing ideas
The again glass on the Sony Xperia 1 V is textured, which helps with grip and makes it look a bit extra stylish.
I’m an enormous fan of what Sony is doing with its Xperia line of telephones. The Xperia 1 V represents years of innovation and enhancements, all targeted at its target market of artists and inventive sorts. And if I choose the telephone by that perspective, the Xperia will get a lot proper.
Nonetheless, my favourite Xperia telephones are usually the marginally decrease price 5 collection. Word that final yr’s Xperia 5 IV nonetheless prices $1,000. The 5 collection tends to inherit many of the wonderful specs and options from the 1 collection however comes with out a $1,400 price ticket.
Personally, once I was a theater director and brief filmmaker, I might have cherished the Xperia 1 V. However I might have by no means been in a position to afford one. As a substitute I might probably go for a devoted digital camera like Sony’s Alpha line of APS-C cameras.
How we take a look at telephones
Each telephone examined by CNET’s opinions staff was truly utilized in the actual world. We take a look at a telephone’s options, play video games and take images. We look at the show to see if it is vibrant, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and construct to see how it’s to carry and whether or not it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s efficiency to the extremes utilizing each standardized benchmark instruments like GeekBench and 3DMark, together with our personal anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution movies and taking part in graphically intense video games at excessive refresh charges.
All of the cameras are examined in quite a lot of circumstances from vibrant daylight to darkish indoor scenes. We check out particular options like evening mode and portrait mode and examine our findings in opposition to equally priced competing telephones. We additionally take a look at the battery life by utilizing it each day in addition to operating a collection of battery drain exams.
We consider further options like assist for 5G, satellite tv for pc connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus assist, quick charging speeds, foldable shows amongst others that may be helpful. And we after all stability all of this in opposition to the value to provide the verdict on whether or not that telephone, no matter value it’s, truly represents good worth.
