Sony Xperia 1 II in for review

26 May 2020
Sony's latest and greatest is finally in our office.

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mgred, 28 May 2020There is so much wrong with this phone: Bezels on a flag... moreis this ironic

    Anonymous, 28 May 2020I am so not sold on that. Pixel and iPhone do not excel at ... moreWell, they do. Unless it's in low light, they usually do an excellent job with handing moving people and animals. Pixel users like to complain about how other phones can't manage motion very well, and I've seen some photos of my friend's kids that he took with his Pixel 3, all of which didn't look blurry at all (there were some noises, however). And actually, could you show me some example where Pixel is blurring the leaves and grass in the background in an unnatural way?

      Doom, 28 May 2020So what with or without pixel binning? It is you who don't ... more+ Having able to take fast moving subjects is one thing and being consistent at it is another thing.

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        • Anonymous
        • Dk8
        • 28 May 2020

        mgred, 28 May 2020There is so much wrong with this phone: Bezels on a flag... moreAndroid 11 was not till introduce by Google and you are thinking that Xperia 1ii will come with Android 11 🤣🤣🤣🤣

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          • Anonymous
          • LHe
          • 28 May 2020

          Nick Tagataka, 28 May 2020Some phones (Pixel and iPhone, for example), on the other h... moreI am so not sold on that. Pixel and iPhone do not excel at fast moving objects but that is not to say that they cannot get it right from time to time. Their image stacking gets exposed when looking at the leafs and grass in the background when there is wind, it's all blurred like out of focus. Unfortunately that's not apparent right away if you have nothing to compare it with.

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            • Anonymous
            • LHe
            • 28 May 2020

            Doom, 28 May 2020So what with or without pixel binning? It is you who don't ... moreThat is not the case with binning pixels. Sensor has to be bigger to accommodate more pixels and the effect is totally different when putting out in native resolution and when it bins pixels to half the native resolution. These sensors are used for hardware HDR effect because these pixels can take different exposures at the same time and then post process stacks it. There are samples of non binned original output photos of S20 Ultra and image is super soft around object edges, dynamic range is absolutely horrible because pixels cant get enough light and so on.

              Doom, 28 May 2020So what with or without pixel binning? It is you who don't ... moreJust for you to gain some knowledge

              "I suppose the more relevant question you might ask is 'Does one need 20 fps on a smartphone camera, or 60 fps AF/AE calculations, if it comes at the cost of potentially higher resolution files and better zoom performance?'"

              Also

              "Take two sensors of the same size, one 12MP one 48MP Quad-Bayer. Binning the latter to 12MP does not increase DR or noise performance beyond that of the 12MP sensor. It just helps it equal the DR / noise / resolution performance of it.

              OTOH, if you read out the full 48MP and then resize to 12MP, you get better MTF (detail), with perhaps a very very slight increase in noise due to 4x as many pixel read events (though this is probably unnoticeable after everything's gone through the JPEG pipeline).

                Nick Tagataka, 28 May 2020Some phones (Pixel and iPhone, for example), on the other h... morePlus software to use that hardware in that manual mode. Your mentioned mobiles can't take natural colours like Sony. That's where Sony has been and is strong.

                Point of having large sensor is to get more light and using that light for focusing, small sensor can't do that. Which is why pixel binning is used to reduce that noise in low light. LG do have similar manual controls like xperias but they still have no breathtaking features. Also taking pictures is one thing, carrying the same effort into Video is different. Pixel is not even a competition in this segment.

                It's also worth noting is that taking 20fps is not the great thing that X1 II is doing, taking 20fps "AE/AF" with 60fps "calculations" is what X1 II is doing and only alpha cameras can do that , not any smartphone.

                PS: It is also worth noting that X1 II also does 3x optical zoom (approx x2.9) on all 3 cameras

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                  • Anonymous
                  • LHe
                  • 28 May 2020

                  Anonymous, 28 May 2020It's the same display from the Xperia 1 isn't it? So, te... moreNope. That was the case with LCD display, with OLED it's 4K all the time

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                    • Doom
                    • PII
                    • 28 May 2020

                    Smithravi, 28 May 20201/1.28 with pixel binning right (9 pixels acts as 1 pixel)?... moreSo what with or without pixel binning? It is you who don't understand physics. 1/1.28" produces 12.5MP at the end of the day, which is the same to 12MP for 1/1.7". Larger sensor is always better than smaller sensor when it comes to light gathering capability, assuming tech of the same generation. However you cut the pixel whether it is binning or not does not matter.

                    Seriously, go study light science and photography before commenting crap here.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • B7n
                      • 28 May 2020

                      It's the same display from the Xperia 1 isn't it?

                      So, technically it's only 4k when watching 4k content? The native resolution is lower.

                        Smithravi, 28 May 20201/1.28 with pixel binning right (9 pixels acts as 1 pixel)?... moreIt's a 50MP Quad Bayer sensor so actually 4-1 binning.

                          Smithravi, 28 May 2020Also don't expect DSLR pictures from mobiles. The sensor is... moreSome phones (Pixel and iPhone, for example), on the other hand, excel at cancelling out ghosting artifacts from multi-frame stacking in auto and can capture moving object really well without turning an image into a noisy mess, and this puts a question mark to the effectiveness of using super-fast SS and high ISO just to reduce the motion blur on a smartphone camera with relatively small sensor size.
                          It's also worth pointing out that other phones have a manual mode as well - so the main advantages that Xperia 1 II has over its competitors, especially a device like LG V60, are 20fps burst JPEG shooting with AF in a Photography Pro app (IIRC not available in stock camera app) plus *possibly* Eye AF, and not much else.

                            Doom, 28 May 2020I don't know what is your optimism on this. The sensor for ... more1/1.28 with pixel binning right (9 pixels acts as 1 pixel)?? It uses more MP on that sensor compared to 12MP on 1/1.7. What part of my explanation did not get into your head that each pixel takes part of the same sensor?

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                              • Love the Community
                              • Fv4
                              • 28 May 2020

                              Love the Community, 28 May 2020Lemme counter that claim Bezels on a flagship in 2020 - ... moreAsymmetric bezels at that - All-screen phones are asymmetric too. The thinnest bottom bezel should be equal to the top and sides like the iPhone.

                              Well too bad, only iPhone does it right. Android phones may have figured it out on how to make the bottom bezel more razor thin than Apple but the symmetry between the bottom, top and sides are thrown out of the window. Top and sides are way to thinner than the bottom so it's asymmetrical.

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                                • Love the Community
                                • Fv4
                                • 28 May 2020

                                mgred, 28 May 2020There is so much wrong with this phone: Bezels on a flag... moreLemme counter that claim

                                Bezels on a flagship in 2020 - Bruh, Bezelless becomes so boring now. Notches and Punch holes are becoming a standard and it's boring because Under Display Cameras aren't a thing. Thin bezels like this one and RoG Phone 2 are a breath of fresh air.

                                Asymmetric bezels at that - All-screen phones are asymmetric too. The thinnest bottom bezel should be equal to the top and sides like the iPhone.

                                Overkill 4K display - It's a innovating staple from Sony. Git Gud other companies

                                Same old boring SONY Xperia design - it's a classic. Again, a breath of fresh air from the round and curved smartphones.

                                Outdated hardware (S865 and Android 10 are like a half year old now) - Dude, wtf? S865 is the standard flagship of this year and Android 10 is the standard OS for now. Android 11 won't be available until August you dolt.

                                Price - Doesn't matter. Although they should've lower a bit to $900 but I'll look forward for the Xperia 1 III and the logic applied is that the Galaxy Fold 2 will be sold cheaper than the 1st model.

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • TXd
                                  • 28 May 2020

                                  mgred, 28 May 2020There is so much wrong with this phone: Bezels on a flag... moreYou forgot the RGB leds, this phone wont give you extra performance boost in anything due to lack or RGB. Just move on.

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                                    • Doom
                                    • PII
                                    • 28 May 2020

                                    Smithravi, 28 May 2020His intention of saying the hardware brought from camera di... moreI don't know what is your optimism on this. The sensor for this is like 2 years old at 1/1.7". Look at today's Huawei phone, 1/1.28".

                                      mgred, 28 May 2020There is so much wrong with this phone: Bezels on a flag... moreRead other comments to get some knowledge before commenting. Thanks.

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                                        • mgred
                                        • 7kk
                                        • 28 May 2020

                                        There is so much wrong with this phone:

                                        Bezels on a flagship in 2020
                                        Asymmetric bezels at that
                                        Overkill 4K display
                                        Same old boring SONY Xperia design
                                        Outdated hardware (S865 and Android 10 are like a half year old now)
                                        4000 mAh battery powering a 4K display
                                        Price

                                        Sony is not even at LG's level, let alone compete with Apple or Samsung, and yet it's pricing its phones higher than those of Apple and Samsung. It blows my mind.

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