Sony Xperia 5 V review

1 September 2023


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  • Glass
  • 8mY
  • 10 Sep 2023

It's a shame about the dynamic range in video (particularly at night or in the selfie mode). Otherwise it would be perfect as a phone that satisfies both casual and pro users. The icing on the cake would be a macro lens.

    Anonymous, 08 Sep 20231. 2x isn't enough given the price 2. Even this 2x &q... moreexcept that it is better than an average 2times lens.

    It can even keep up with Samsungs 3Times on the S23 at night on detail level. Simply because the crop leaves still a larger sensor than your average Telephoto.

    However, I would have preferred seeing the Periscope in here as well.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • nU2
      • 08 Sep 2023

      Vortex, 07 Sep 2023It has main lens with 2x loseless zoom which should substit... more1. 2x isn't enough given the price
      2. Even this 2x "lossless" is worse than an actual 2x telephoto lens.

        • a
        • asvaberg
        • m25
        • 08 Sep 2023

        A-R-T-E, 07 Sep 2023You can use the main sensor for telephoto, which is better Sorry, but it's not. Please compare with zoom images from:
        Xperia 1 V
        Xperia 5 IV
        Xperia 5 III

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • M5C
          • 08 Sep 2023

          PhoneFreak45, 06 Sep 2023Pssssst, apple phones use Sony image sensors. Also I notice... moreNo one is trying to convince you to buy anything else than your beloved (and, according to many others here, flawed) 5 V. However, you state that its sensor is so much better than the others on the market and that it's the only handset with specific enthusiast features. This is untrue. There are a dozen others out there with a headphone jack, removable storage, decent specs (processor, display, build) and a decent-to-great sensor suite.

          I'd be glad to see the general market push Sony toward longer support, better auto mode (because while I _do_ enjoy manual settings, I was never thrilled about getting out-of-focus in-the-moment shots on my 5 II or RAWs that I practically had to airbrush), a better flashlight, in fact... improving all of the components (fingerprint, VRR, selfie, heat management), ensuring the display glitches/permalines will never happen again, maybe a notification LED again (or a non-annoying flash notification if that's what Android 14 has planned), optical telephoto at 70 or 85 mm...

          The sensor needs to be 108MP or 147MP to achieve "lossless" at these ranges, and we both know "lossless" means the actual pixel patch for telephoto is tiny, where an optical element designed for 85mm would spread the incoming light over a larger area; that's why Sony has an entire range of GM lenses instead of One Awesome Lens For All Focal Lengths. Even if the photo quality isn't as good at this range as the main at its focal length, the main cannot (physically, optically) provide the same degree of detail at a distance as a prime telephoto with the same sensor. There's a reason every flagship and smartphone from a camera partner (Leica, Hasselblad, Zeiss, etc.) still has a telephoto.

          This is honestly a great phone with annoying hardware and software quirks (many of which Sony could fix if they weren't busy making 4 new handsets a year). It should probably be priced between 600 and 800 bucks. The "Sony tax" isn't a valid argument for software that can't properly utilize their state-of-the-art sensor. Someone else (Apple) is going to take this sensor and win lots of press awards for their stunning photography capabilities.

          I hate to see it, because I own a ton of Sony products, and the majority are extremely well-designed. The Xperia 5 V put all of its eggs in the "nice main sensor" basket, and (from the comparison photos and some reviewers) it's not the revolution they've promised.

          At least they tried to fix the microphones...

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • m51
            • 07 Sep 2023

            Anonymous, 07 Sep 2023sony's thermal are garbage. you name it 8 gen 2, 865 a... moreWe sure it's not down to the narrow form factor?

              Sony is greatly improving, keep it up.

                Luka, 07 Sep 20231000$ phone without telephoto? Bravo Sony! Marvellous! You can use the main sensor for telephoto, which is better

                  • K
                  • Koichi69
                  • xhn
                  • 07 Sep 2023

                  This camera also supports Dual Pixel AF but not macro photography.

                    • V
                    • Vortex
                    • DWk
                    • 07 Sep 2023

                    Luka, 07 Sep 20231000$ phone without telephoto? Bravo Sony! Marvellous! It has main lens with 2x loseless zoom which should substitute Telephoto lens

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 61t
                      • 07 Sep 2023

                      sony's thermal are garbage. you name it 8 gen 2, 865 are the most stable chip ever produce for flagship line but when it comes to sony, its always overheating. 5 generations produced still have no improvement.

                        • L
                        • Luka
                        • sw3
                        • 07 Sep 2023

                        1000$ phone without telephoto?
                        Bravo Sony! Marvellous!

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                          • AnonD-1114487
                          • CbG
                          • 07 Sep 2023

                          UltraHD, 03 Sep 2023Yes i know, i used wrong words. I don't have anything ... moreHe was referring to the hole punch as "damage to the display"

                            kevinmcmurtrie, 06 Sep 2023It's partly true, but not because of the card itself. ... moreHolyyy bazingas. Thanks for info mate. I had no idea Google were such A-holes. I've noticed in A11+ the SD card behaves less like a storage media and more like a network storage, this explains why. YouTube music constantly struggles to find downloads, my various music apps scan very slowly after A11, benchmarks are nowhere near what the card supports despite a competent internal reader. I've always wondered why many users of the phone I have chose to stick with Android 11, now I know. People complaining about SD card performance on Sony phones should really be complaining to google, because this is 100% their fault. Perhaps this is a great reason to root again, because wow what a load of crap. The best part about android is it's open source and you can do what you want with it, well not so with apps from the play store because they have total control over that. Too bad it's not easier to modify these settings. If you can link me some ways to bypass FUSE with ADB commands, I would greatly appreciate that. In addition I will do my own research, but on the off chance that you know of a reliable method, I would be very grateful.

                              PhoneFreak45, 06 Sep 2023Huh it's almost like strangers on the internet aren�... moreIt's partly true, but not because of the card itself.

                              Google crippled the shared storage areas. This includes emulated (sdcard) and entire microSD cards. Access is routed through an intentionally slow FUSE proxy application to provide "security." It's actually to force users to buy Google cloud storage.

                              A few Play Store apps have permission to bypass it. F-Droid apps can bypass it, though you might need ADB in Android 13+ to turn it on. For everything else, shared storage is so slow that apps typically lock up dead trying to use it. It's down there in floppy disk territory.

                              There are dozens of bugs logged like this:
                              https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/179412245
                              Google always closes them because money.

                                • S
                                • SBEP
                                • 8p0
                                • 06 Sep 2023

                                PhoneFreak45, 06 Sep 2023Pssssst, apple phones use Sony image sensors. Also I notice... morePlus if you search for a phone that has the latest SD chip + expendable storage + headphone jack, there are only 2 phones the search engine gives you, and they are both sony`s.

                                  Anonymous, 03 Sep 2023Do you get your money back when you realize the Sandisk SD ... moreSure! On Amazon you can return anything if it's fake, broken or for whatever other fault it may have.

                                    Fa14bi, 01 Sep 2023The Xperia 5 V seems like a good phone, I only don't g... moreI hope I'm not the first to say this because it's literally on GSMarenas specs page for this phone, but it also comes in 256GB. The same thing happened with the 1 V, everybody complained that it only comes in 256GB configuration, then it hit the market with both a 256GB and 512GB variant. Do some research before making assumptions, please.

                                      TheSnowWinterR7, 01 Sep 2023Can confirm the same thing with my 128 GB MicroSDXC card in... moreHuh it's almost like strangers on the internet aren't exactly experts 😂

                                        Anonymous, 03 Sep 2023Apple is about to release a similar sensor to the Exmor T, ... morePssssst, apple phones use Sony image sensors. Also I notice that none of your recommendations have the features I've explicitly said I need many times. Why are you trying to convince me my needs are incorrect. That's not how this works. Are you incapable of recognizing that people may have different needs than you and that your ideal function of a product is not someone else's ideal function of a product? This phone is made for manual photography and videography, with useful features like expandable storage and wired audio to boot. Whether it's for you or not, that doesn't change that this phone is designed for a certain demographic, who which, will absolutely love this phone. It doesn't matter whatsoever if it's not for you, because phones are not one size fits all devices. Now stop trying to convince me your needs are the only valid ones, it's ridiculous. Not for you, let's leave it at that.

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