Sony Xperia 10 VI review

16 May 2024


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  • K
  • KMnO4
  • iL9
  • 06 Jan 2025

It is useless to reason by standard arguments, this smartphone is not something classic, those who turn to it do so to find something that does not give you a pain in your hand and for this reason they are also willing to have more subdued performance.

    • L
    • Liablecat
    • MqE
    • 31 Dec 2024

    I've seen that this phone has got a lot of hate from android geeks. This phone is priced a bit too high. Real value of this phone would be about 200-300 euros, but since it's Sony, they've priced this a bit too high. About everything on this phone is great except for the display, which has slight color shift, when you're close to looking at it at 180 degrees, which really shouldn't be happening at any point. It's a 2024 phone, not a mid 2000 Thinkpad. Fortunately, this color shift won't be ever noticeable in everyday use, but once you see it you can't really unsee it. The Snapdragon chip, while it's not the best it does everything flawlessly. Benchmarks are not everything and I've seen phones score unbelievable results on benchmarks, but at the same time incredibly suck doing basic tasks and overheating on every chance they get (Samsung). This phone does everything a human possibly needs fine. With gaming it was fine for almost about everything on the highest settings. With higher demand games it was smooth on high presets, but begin to stutter if you tried pushing it further, which is fine for a midranger. Battery life is excellent and so are the speakers. Cameras though aren't bad at all, but software behind really sucks. With Gcam 9.2 I was able to get impressive shots, that were pretty much in the zone of the midrange competition. Overall it's a great phone. The slight color shift towards edges is the only downside I really have for this phone. Everything else works fine and it's a great midranger with audiophile benefits and uniqueness. This phone is priced a bit too high though. If this would be priced at 250, delivered a better screen (perhaps amoled) and fix the camera software, this phone would sell damn well, but I guess Sony made thing this way, so they could offer clean UI, which is nowadays really hard to get. You need to take in credit, that this midrangers often come with bloatware and horrible UI, which is a thing to take in credit. My previous phone was Pocophone F1 and while I enjoyed being able to experience flagship SoC when gaming, I hated every second, minute and hour dealing with MIUI, because it sucks. This phone's clean UI on the other hand is tropical peace compared with MIUI, Samsung's One UI and so on. It's these little things that make Sony stand out and in the end of the day you forget this 60hz and color shift bullshit, since you don't notice any of that and with Gcam 9.2 installed you will have a great time with this phone.

      As usual, all Xperia 10 phones have mediocre camera lens. But I'm brand loyal & have been using SONY phones since they were still "SONY ERICSSON".
      IMO, the main reason why SONY phones now are still the best in reliability is because it's still manufactured in Japan (Belgium for EU & UK for UK & parts of that region). Although with Chinese SONY parts, the parts are still stringent in quality.
      All my SONY phones have never failed.

      I've been using my Mark II for about 5 years, dropped the phone over a hundred times (with a casing) & never used a screen protector... & It is still working as per normal. Eventually, the battery life has began to falter, hence, me buying the Mark VI.

      You are simply paying a higher price for the quality of SONY phones.
      If you think China brand phones are also reliable, you may buy them of course, by all means. But don't complain when their phones fail.
      Even Samsung phones have lost their mark of reliability after they switched to manufacturing their phones in China.
      Samsung used to be reliable when they were still manufacturing their phones in Korea.

      SONY phones also have a lovely UI & I adore the 21:9 screen, one-handed usage & a uniqueness which other phones just do not possess.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • nSW
        • 09 Aug 2024

        notebookcheck review much more detailed.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 0Uc
          • 06 Aug 2024

          Anonymous, 27 Jul 2024People getting upset about the 60hz is hilarious! It still ... moreIt's 2024...

            • N
            • Neuronoff
            • kHg
            • 06 Aug 2024

            - I'm totally happy with phone
            - Today is third day I do not charge it, using only 4G
            Web browsing and social mostly
            - Camera can be upgraded with MGC build Google camera app, shots are amazing because phone has Camera 2 API level Full so you can use all the settings
            - System works fast and no lags at all

              • i
              • iniakick
              • 0FE
              • 27 Jul 2024

              The phone is pretty basic. Stuck on default apps like the Camera app with "bokeh" presets. It lacks a photo application and uses Google's - Photos app. The photos themselves are of rather low quality and follow the deceptive marketing strategy of being labeled as 48mp.
              Complex applications totally crash and restart the phone - DJI Fly, Revolut, Discord. A lot of the default apps aren't even available in the Play Store for this model because it just won't run.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • HX1
                • 27 Jul 2024

                People getting upset about the 60hz is hilarious! It still works and looks fine! Plus it saves battery life. Get over it, man

                  60hz display and nearly 2 hours charging speed in 2024 is criminal.

                  What is Sony even thinking??

                    • W
                    • WesBrown6
                    • 7Z{
                    • 12 Jul 2024

                    Only phone on the market with a decent design (without the camera in the screen) and at a "reasonable" price. 10V unfortunately seemed like a downgrade in performance from my previous 10III. Better materials though with plastic instead of glass, which is the reason I made the switch (as the glass started to break at the back)

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 0U2
                      • 02 Jul 2024

                      Fairly expensive. Pixel 7a is around same price now, but has worse battery life. Everything else is better.

                        • I
                        • IQ200
                        • LiQ
                        • 02 Jul 2024

                        MindTheGap, 18 May 2024When it comes to Android vendor, everyone complains when th... moreWell.. i disagree.

                        If you red carefully what's going on on other comment threads you could notice your self. So let me say one thing.... iPhone 15 (15+) is the most expensive phone with 60Hz display, but who will you hear moan about this?

                        Only geeks. Only Android geeks. I for example have an LTPO display and i still choose "standard" over "fluid" because the difference in screen view is not so visible as battery life on daily basis. So even i have an option for 120Hz i still prefer 60Hz.

                        All people are different and you can't judge over some comments what's real and what's not. Try for your self. I have a twin brother, but he likes different things that i do. That's the whole point of sharing opinions, so people know their opinion is not the holy grale of truth, it's just one way to look at.

                        Of course as on any web site, people are overreacting and show how biased they are with their fanatic hate or love for certain brands. That's all normal. Our mission here is not to make some people believe in what we personally believe, itcs just to share an opinion. Nothing more and nothing less.

                        Of course there will always be unfulfilled and unhappy people trying to share negativity, but if you can just ignore them.

                        Have a nice day everyone!

                        What do you think, are geeks the main clients who would consider buying a basic iPhone 15 (or 15+) in the first place?

                        I think not. No matter what OS they prefer more, they will likely go for "Pro" or "Ultra" moniker.

                        So, what's my point.

                        For majority of people buying the iPhone 15 it doesn't matter if its display can do 60 or 120Hz because they are not geeks watching and comparing every single thing. They are ordinary users who most probably already have an older iPhone and now they consider to buy a new one. We had 60Hz screens for over a decade and we still didn't go blind. It's nice to have it but it's not necessary, especially not for those with iPhone 7, 8, X, Xs, 11, 12.. etc.

                        This phone.. Xperia.. can't get into the same sentence with Apple and their models. This Xperia is offering very little for its price or in another words, only the most hard core Sony fans will like it as any phone that came out from Sony Xperia.

                        I have Xperia 1 V and i could say some bad things about this phone that i payed really a lot. And this one the 10 VI even for triple less is just not worth it.

                        I actually like this "so called retro" design, it's much more practical then DEAD PIXELS a.k.a punch hole, but it's just not a good value overall and screen refresh rate is just an icing on the cake.

                          • S
                          • Syat
                          • RxE
                          • 27 Jun 2024

                          Jdsulin, 19 Jun 2024Exactly, in review they are comparing this phone with much ... moreWhat about Samsung galaxy A55 5g?

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • nmM
                            • 24 Jun 2024

                            Anonymous, 16 Jun 2024How os charger support? Heard Samsung "Fast Charging&q... moreMy friend has 1 V, atleast with samsung "fast chargers" doesn't work correctly, likely same with 10 V too.

                            Best would be use original 30W Sony charger, but yeah 50 EUR is joke.

                              Jdsulin, 19 Jun 2024Exactly, in review they are comparing this phone with much ... moreI think this phone is overpriced (no doubts about it), but I just don't see any viable alternative to it.

                                • J
                                • Jdsulin
                                • nx1
                                • 19 Jun 2024

                                blacknail, 10 Jun 2024That's an excellent, relevant question. For me persona... moreExactly, in review they are comparing this phone with much bigger beasts, which is unfair. If this phone is really that bad, point me to something better about the same size and price please.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • Sux
                                  • 16 Jun 2024

                                  How os charger support? Heard Samsung "Fast Charging" chargers act strange with Xperia phones.

                                    IQ200, 05 Jun 2024What is a compact size phone? If we asked that questi... moreThat's an excellent, relevant question. For me personally it would be something like the old iPhone SE, but regarding what the market has to offer now, even a bigger phone is a rare find. If we use the Phone Finder here and select phones from 2024 with a maximum 150mm height, we get 1 valid result: the Samsung Galaxy S24, which of course is a great phone but much more expensive, without card slot and headphone jack, and worst battery scores. Of course that given the price, the performance is on another level compared to the 10VI.

                                    If we increase the maximum height to 155mm and keep with 2024 models, you get also the 10 VI, the Google Pixel 8a (same S24's pros and cons) and the Sharp Aquos sense8 (seems a great phone, specs comparable to 10 VI, you even get 256GB ROM for less money, but no stereo speakers, only starts with Android 13 and most important it seems impossible to buy outside of Japan). If we go back to 2023, maximum height of 150mm you also get iPhone 15, the S23 and Zenfone 10. None of these has e g. a card slot and are considerably more expensive. Staying in 2023 and increasing maximum height to 155mm, you also get the Pixel 7a/8, Xiaomi 14 (still much more expensive & missing the 3.5mm jack / card slot combo) and Sony 10 V / 5V. The 5V seems an excellent choice, but it is also much more expensive. So yeah, currently the 10 VI seems almost the only midranger that is minimally compact, light and has a card slot, a headphone jack and the like, and doesn't break the bank (that much).

                                      blacknail, 29 May 2024Can you share in which country you live? Thanks!Uganda

                                        I forgot to mention that I also bought the 10 VI because like someone posted below, our purchase choices represent symbolic votes, and although this phone is not perfect, is indeed a glimpse of hope in the niche segment it is aimed for.

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