Sony Xperia 1 VI review

15 May 2024


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  • Chuck007
  • bxb
  • 16 May 2024

Now I haven’t bought an Xperia in a long time, but can anyone confirm whether there were notable camera quality improvements with software updates say these couple of years?

I know Samsung certainly did with the S24.

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    • Anonymous
    • 0p}
    • 16 May 2024

    Nick Tegrataker, 16 May 2024In 2023 Xiaomi was coming up from behind Sony in terms of t... moreXiaomi is not rising.
    It is sony that has less sales now, thanks to 5v and 10v.
    Sony was back to #2 by mid 2023. Now #6 ...

    Xiaomi is only relevant in places where income are low.
    Will never be popular in Japan, UK, Germany, Scandinavia , Netherlands, Belgium, Monaco, Austria, Switzerland ..

      WhimsicalPacifist, 16 May 2024Not missing out on a lot hardware wise. The eye detection ... moreThank you. I appreciate your quick response. I have a 5iii. I prefer a larger screen when using a phone, a smaller phone when walking. I think that most of us do and those foldable phones are not without their own problems and bulkier in pockets than the Xperia 5. I bought the 5 III because it cost less than the 1, not due to its size. It's still fine but the battery doesn't last long even with minimal use. Standby is still fine but I have to charge it frequently when I use it. I don't have it set at a fast refresh rate and often turn off the 5G. I do become frustrated with the camera at times but it's not really bad at all. I love music and appreciate good sound quality. I have decent headphones and my LG with the quad DAC does sound better than the Sony and I was curious about the "improved audio circuitry" that was mentioned for the VI. I don't have Bluetooth speakers yet that would be compatible with the lossless snapdragon chip but that also interests me. Due to the battery drain, I bought a 5IV marked down by Sony, not renewed, the V wasn't available in the U.S. I have until Saturday to return it so I was hoping that a U.S. release of the VI would be confirmed. I do miss a larger, wider screen. The audio and the screen size are what I'm most interested in, along with the SD slot and headphone jack. I enjoy photography and don't expect any phone to be comparable to real camera.

        Some Anonymous Prson, 16 May 2024Is it certain that there will be no more Sony phones in the... moreNot missing out on a lot hardware wise. The eye detection on the 1 V is still very good and the 8G2 is a good chip. The 1 VI gets better battery life, slightly improved camera zoom and improved AI autofocus.

          Nick Tegrataker, 16 May 2024- So starting from the good part - Our battery life king is... moreIs the audio quality through the headphone jack significantly improved? I'm curious about that.

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            • Anonymous
            • YgM
            • 16 May 2024

            "For instance, people using the phone with a left hand or those who often unlock the device when placed flat on a desk won't like the available solution."

            You didn't set it to unlock with your left hand index or middle finger? Infinitely easier and safer to unlock one-handed than a phone with the fingerprint reader in the center.

              I miss the aspect ratio of the LG V20. I'm really in the minority.

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                • Anonymous
                • 0p}
                • 16 May 2024

                How to fix it next year

                6.7" 21:9 1700p
                8g4 , 12GB ddr6 , 256/512GB ufs4.0 ( or 4.1 if already out)
                5400mAh
                Gorilla Armor front and rear
                Usb 4.0
                1/1.2" 26mm f1.8 exmor T + 1/2.9" 70-200mm f2.0 - f3.2 exmor T
                Selfie 1/2.9" 22mm f2.0 exmor T
                Gold and Mirror , like Z5 Premium.

                $1600/€1700 would be fair. Some markets used to pay more than this for 128GB iphone pro non-max ....

                  Anonymous, 16 May 2024https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5034399676240015 By the way, ... moreIs it certain that there will be no more Sony phones in the U.S.? That's a bit depressing. The micro SD, headphone jack and older style design are what I'm looking for. Our choices here are extremely limited. They marked down the price on the 5iv. I assumed that was because new models were being released here. I was looking forward to improved wired audio, if it really is, I was hoping that it would be at least almost as good as my old LG, and a better camera but other than the screen ratio, I prefer a wider screen, am I really missing out on a lot by just getting the older models still available in the U S.? The VI isn't exactly cheap, either.

                    Anonymous, 16 May 2024Well done. Now people cannot watch any content without bl... moreThere are plenty of us who watch things that aren't widescreen, particularly those of us who like older films and shows

                      Anonymous, 16 May 2024Dear, market above $700 in Japan is basically iphone and xp... moreIn 2023 Xiaomi was coming up from behind Sony in terms of the number of shipped units in Japan, so Sony somehow "not caring" about Xiaomi is a laughable statement at best, disingenuous at worst.

                      https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20240515-2946430/

                      Use Google Translate on the article text and charts - you may find it pretty interesting, including the part where any one of Google, Sharp and Samsung have shipped more units than Sony and Xiaomi combined.

                      This is the first year that Xiaomi released their highest-end flagship in Japan, so let's see how the high-end segment of the market will shift its shape as the competition gets tougher in coming years. I'm guessing they will grow like Huawei which had been doing very well in the Japanese market before the ban kicked in.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • 0p}
                        • 16 May 2024

                        Nick Tegrataker, 16 May 2024- So starting from the good part - Our battery life king is... moreDear, market above $700 in Japan is basically iphone and xperia every year.
                        Only this time galaxy S is doing better.

                        They dont care about chinese phones. And people that cant afford flagships buy pixel 7a, galaxy A1x series or any from sharp.
                        Not even crapmi note has chance there, since most can afford iphones, the phone all crapmi note users dream of.

                        If Apple had something simple like Motorola G14/24, then their share in India for example would be 100%.

                        People in China choose to pay way more on crap p70 series instead of much cheaper xiaomi mi or vivo x, imagine outside China

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                          • Anonymous
                          • 0p}
                          • 16 May 2024

                          https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5034399676240015

                          By the way, there is 16/512 for Japan.
                          Red is for Japan, HK and Taiwan.

                          No 1vi in China/USA

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                            • Anonymous
                            • S31
                            • 16 May 2024

                            Pumpino, 15 May 2024Awesome photos, speakers and battery life, with four years ... moreWait for Black Friday

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                              • Anonymous
                              • 0p}
                              • 16 May 2024

                              Post on weibo by Zack Zhang shows it has delta rbg of 0.58

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                                • Nick
                                • SiK
                                • 16 May 2024

                                Perhaps the only flagship phone with an expandable micro SD card slot. Go gratulations to Sony!!

                                  - So starting from the good part - Our battery life king is back. Over 17 hours of battery runtime is very good even when taking the low resolution into account (Zenfone 11 Ultra only lasted 16.5h in the same test), and we're seeing good old Xperia that lasts 2 days of normal usage without any issue.

                                  - The display brightness is a lot higher and no longer the main drawback of the Xperia series. Now it's truly disappointing that GSMArena no longer conducts the display colour measurement or the studio image comparison on review units - We're here for the technical dives that no one else is doing, yet they are stripping these good bits of their reviews away to make them easier to read. It's kind of like how Anandtech completely fell apart after Andrew F. left the scene, and it's really sad to see GSMArena following the same path.

                                  - Performance is where we see why the battery life on this phone may be *this* good - It's slower than its 8g3 peers by a significant margin, and the CPU throttles harder AND much quicker than its rivals. GPU stability isn't amazing either as it's comparable to already-pretty-bad S24 Ultra, except S24U's GPU stress test graph looks a lot more stable with less performance spikes and at least it fares a lot better than Xperia in the CPU test. I must say, this is a pretty bad showing from Sony.

                                  - I'm feeling mostly positive about the new camera system. First of all the app itself looks significantly more modern and user-friendly, the night mode is a lot quicker without having the image quality getting impacted, and the colour & detail rendition from the main camera is just as good as Mark V's.

                                  - Photos coming out of its telephoto camera looks decent during the day (less sharpening than Mark V, yay) but we see why Sony applies the most aggressive processing at 3.5-7x - The contrast of this lens is very low, as showcased by its very hazy 4K video screenshot. Now we know why they kept the 12MP resolution on this camera rather than going 48 or 50MP. Its low-light photos are undeniably lacklustre though, as they get quickly run over by noise and seem to suffer from AF failure too.

                                  - The 2x crop zoom seems unchanged from Xperia 5 V, so it's OK but not the best, but the 48MP mode looks surprisingly wonderful. In fact it's more detailed and artifact-y than the 2x shot when you compare them side by side. I'm guessing the camera is running more complex demosaicing algorithms to extract more details out of its Quad Bayer CFA in a dedicated 48MP mode, which is something iPhone 15 Pro also does, funnily enough.

                                  - Decent outputs from the telemacro mode but I don't understand the point of the 360mm digital zoom option. The sensor is still 12MP and not 50 or 200MP, so you won't get any more details out of it anyway.

                                  - Portrait mode still doesn't use HDR stacking so the skin gets burnt easily (Come on, this is 2024), and the depth estimation is mediocre. Not a feature I would like to use extensively on this phone.

                                  - It's sad to see this review not including any info regarding how S-Cinetone changes the appearance of the scene in a video mode - It's my go-to picture profile on my a7IV and handles complex lighting far better than any of the Creative Look modes thanks to much gentler tone curve and slightly undersaturated colours, and the best part is that it looks very nice right out of the box even if you don't colour-grade it. Lower the black gamma level and it would look great for photos too, although I'm not sure Xperia's simplified camera app allows you to use it when shooting photos.

                                  - Sony is facing unusual competition in its home country, Japan, as Xiaomi emerges strongly with the 14 Ultra which is 20000 yen (130 USD equivalent) cheaper than this Xperia at the same 16GB + 512GB configuration, and if you pre-order it it comes with a free photography kit too. Hopefully GSMArena will write an article about a camera comparison between Xperia 1 VI and the highest-end phones from Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and probably Huawei just for fun. It would be an epic showdown for sure.

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 0p}
                                    • 16 May 2024

                                    Well done. Now people cannot watch any content without black bars.
                                    Copying negative point of other gonna just make sony lose money.

                                    Curious to know the next negative reserved for mark 7. Tool to open sim tray? Speaker beside usb port? UI that looks like iOS? Hole on screen to ruin watching videos experience?

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • S15
                                      • 16 May 2024

                                      It's sad that Sony is downshift display aspect ratio from superb 21:9 to 19.5:9 like others do and lost it's uniqness and perfection also with downsize 4k resolution to fhd...Bad decision,really...

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 6kH
                                        • 16 May 2024

                                        So they downgrade from unique 4k to stupid 1080p that you can have in entry level smartphones because they increased os updated from two to 3.
                                        Even apple can't do sh*t like them.
                                        They are limited full power potential of chip to make more battery and still suistained performance is awfull.
                                        Gsmarena team why downgrading from 4k to 1080p is not in Cons?
                                        Which device at this price has 1080p?
                                        4.5 score is high it's like fans of son written this review

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