Sony Xperia 1 V review

11 May 2023


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Nick Tegrataker, 16 May 2023"1V is probably the sharpest, most colorful and best p... moreTalking about jpegs and 12mp it indeed looks like, after all they use latest sensor tech and colors are pleasing to the eyes, you could tell that it looks very alive, even without testing.
At low res stills, I couldn't see a competitor for detail+color performance, could be separately.
As for hi res, when including usage of raws, needy users like me definitely look forward to 14bit hi res, which I can process to my liking, having results of basically 4 times the resolution, this is not some 20 percent change with such difference in resolution.
Not everyone needs hi res, maybe they count on that.

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    • Anonymous
    • pWD
    • 16 May 2023

    Jerry101923, 16 May 2023Do you know that the Xperia 10 II has already got it's... moreOkay, cool. So has my OnePlus 8T from 2020 too, got 13 quite a while ago and security patches every few months as per usual. Will those get Android 14 like 8T?

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      • ben
      • 8py
      • 16 May 2023

      Jerry101923, 16 May 2023Do you know that the Xperia 10 II has already got it's... moreTyping his from an Xperia 5 ii.

      No update for 6 months, only Android 12 and nothing past.

      Xpericheck.com. the 1 ii last update was 9 months ago, android 12

      10 ii last update was 11 months ago, android 12.

      No mkii series has gotten android 13.

      2 OS updates and 2 years of security updates. September 2020 to November 2022 for the 5 ii.

      It is pitiful. I love sony phones, but software support on them is abysmal. They are a corporation, we don't need to be boot-licking apologists for their bad decisions.

        Anonymous, 15 May 2023No. Sony is simply lacking behind the competition as far as... moreDo you know that the Xperia 10 II has already got it's 3rd OS update to Android 13? Not to mention the 1 II and 5 II.

        Do some research before blaming anything.

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          • S Yu
          • iX3
          • 16 May 2023

          Nick Tegrataker, 15 May 2023Not to mention this 48MP (I know it's 52MP but I'... moreIt makes no sense...unless this is Sony's public admission that quad bayer is ultimately a failure in terms of resolution, they've (well, everybody) had years to work on it and photosite density was gradually reduced due to increasing format size at the same total resolution, but there's yet to be a single successful implementation of the full res mode in which the file size bloat is remotely justified by the boost in detail. And IIRC there's not much progress at Google with their digital pixel shift either.
          Anyhow, Sony Mobile does regrettably lack honesty these couple years and I can't imagine that this approach is sustainable.

            Anonymous, 14 May 2023We already had QHD screens on android 10 years ago so I fee... moreI don't think there are a lot of apps that can render native 4K resolution. GSMArena even mentioned app compatibility in the review.

              David, 15 May 2023I agree, if the OnePlus 11 for example can run all the time... moreI am not making excuses for them but because the Xperia phones are all OLEDs which run a lot hotter than LTPO etc. Xperia is also known for terrible cooling and making the phones thinner means they will run a lot hotter. Sony is banking that the Snap Gen 2 in this phone is going to run cool enough to not need much throttling. They've probably also improved their cooling a lot, but nothing is still going to beat the Vivo X90 Pro+ level of cooling.

              I do wish Xperia would stop saying that they have a 4K display though. It might be 4K on the width but it sure isn't on the height...

                [deleted post]I like how you deleted your comment where you said you owned this phone, after I said it wasn't even released yet. :)

                As for the guy below me. MP doesn't matter too much in this case. There's no real point taking photos in max MP mode because the camera is so slow in all phones in this mode. My wife mostly uses it to take photos of paintings and other things so you can see the fine detail and grain. However, you lose the chance for any digital zoom, most lose a lot of post-processing and most phones also generally have pretty good pixel-binning so 12MP isn't that bad at all. I just wish more companies were honest about how their sensors work.

                I was really disappointed when they said the Pro-i was a full 1" sensor, but then they cut like 40% of that sensor off... To give them a point back, even though the front sensor was only 12MP it was leagues ahead of other phones thanks to the post-processing.

                  vrvly, 15 May 2023Probably any flagship can shoot raw right now. 1V is probab... more"1V is probably the sharpest, most colorful and best processed 12mp you can find"

                  This is extremely subjective. I, for one, don't believe their auto processing is the best, even though I admit it's still better than a lot of phones out there. It's impossible to tell which phone has more accurate colours without comparing the photos to the corresponding scenes. 13 Ultra also allows you to shoot in a stacked RAW mode, which is extremely useful especially on phone cameras where sensor sizes tend to be fairly severely limited.

                    Jonnyboy , 15 May 2023 I also want to highlight two more things towards the camer... moreI don't know any flagship phone that does NOT allow you to shoot in RAW nowadays.

                      [deleted post]In case you don't know, everyone can see who's upvoting/downvoting other people's comments. Stop trolling and touch some grass, mate.

                        Anonymous, 15 May 2023A7s3 is 48 advertised as 12. GH6 is 100MP , advertised as... more"A7s3 is 48 advertised as 12"
                        Thank you very much for proving my point. The argument I'm trying to make is that Sony is confusing the consumer by mixing in the number for the full resolution (52MP, 48MP) here and there within the spec sheet and potentially misleading them into thinking that they have somehow access to that full-resolution mode. They should be advertising it as having a 12MP, but they are intentionally making it ambiguous.

                        "It is all about the priorities each brand has"
                        No, no, nope. It's about choices and being honest with the way they advertise the specs of their products. If you mention 48MP in your spec sheet as an "effective" or "active" resolution of the sensor, then just allow its users to access that resolution in one way or another, whether in "high-res" mode, 8K recording or 2x crop zoom. If you don't want to allow that then simply advertise it as a 12MP. Simple as that.

                        Pixel 7 at least switches to the high-resolution mode during 2x zoom so that photos don't turn out to be upscaled-looking garbage, while Xperia's 2x zoom still looks fairly terrible in comparison.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • sXb
                          • 16 May 2023

                          Anonymous, 15 May 2023I am not convinced that back is glass. If you scratch it, i... moreTotally conclusive

                            Amazing phone, I really wish they would make it a little bigger and wider. It'd be sweet if they made a 6.9 version that was a little wider. Also give it to shutter buttons that could also double as gaming buttons. I would give my left testicle for that phone

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                              • David
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                              • 15 May 2023

                              Anonymous, 14 May 2023We already had QHD screens on android 10 years ago so I fee... moreI agree, if the OnePlus 11 for example can run all the time in 3K why does the Xperia have to run in 2.5K rather than 4K. I understand it was difficult years ago when Sony did the first 4K phone but now it should be fine.

                                Jonnyboy , 15 May 2023 I also want to highlight two more things towards the camer... moreS23 Ultra can shoot raw, normal raw 12 bit and 16 bit computational raw. And the lens of S23 Ultra is made of glass they advertised it when they released S22 Ultra.

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                                  • SABA
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                                  • 15 May 2023

                                  Anonymous, 15 May 2023Oversharpening ? Get Samsung instead ? Samsung is the kin... moreThey both +\- the same of oversharp
                                  Sony advertises their photos as natural. But in fact, this is far from being the case.
                                  Except Sony, Samsung gives you more choice, it has great zoom sistem. And S23 Ultra cost in 200$ less than X1 V

                                    In other news. I'll be happy to buy another Xperia phone when they at least come with fast charging. I do understand though the phone not coming with a charger because the charging speed is so slow and just about any Power Delivery charger will work and charge the phone at the same speed.

                                    I'm happy that they still have the 3.5mm jack and MicroSD but unfortunately the camera still needs to come as far as Vivo and Oppo at the very least. There is too much astigmatism on the Sony phone which is extremely weird because it does have T* coating.

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                                      • Greg18
                                      • AZY
                                      • 15 May 2023

                                      Jonnyboy , 15 May 2023 I also want to highlight two more things towards the camer... moreActually, you're wrong. S23 Ultra can take RAW photos both in Pro mode and Expert Raw mode.

                                        Jonnyboy , 15 May 2023 I also want to highlight two more things towards the camer... moreProbably any flagship can shoot raw right now. 1V is probably the sharpest, most colorful and best processed 12mp you can find.
                                        In comparison 50mp jpegs from xiaomi 13 ultra look too unnatural with their worm like processing, not sure how it is with raws though, but colors are definitely behind xperia - being yellowish-pinkish.
                                        As for S23ultra, colors are good enough, not yellow but cold(even if not like in xperia), but 50mp not to mention 200mp got more detail. But it's just main camera, I did not compare the other ones.
                                        there is also the reach thing, how wide uw is, resolved detail and low light in other cameras, which depends a lot also on sensor size. In that sense has xiaomi 13 ultra the best hw, big hi res sensors with bright apertures.
                                        Depends on use case, mi13u needs a lot of play in editing sw, with xperia its easy.