Sony Xperia 1 VII review

13 May 2025


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wait, so that's......it? Wow, this year's release really felt a little lackluster, even if there's the wide angle camera upgrade and slightly longer software support (not that I care since I'm not a womper that thinks that not having the "latest and greatest Android version" would mean the end of the world to me). I'm not even gonna mention the "Powered by Walkman" shenanigans, it's the same "DAC" that everyone is using, unless testing shows otherwise

Okay phone, but really, nothing stands out compared to the competition, whatever that made the original 1 "unique" is no longer here

    Anonymous, 13 May 2025Since Xperia VI is reduced to 1080p from 4k The display is... moreYou know what would've been more practical? A 1200-1440p display.

      SuuperBaka, 13 May 2025It feels like a wasted opportunity with the whole "Wal... moreAt least this means the Walkman music app is making a return for all the Android users to use the ported versions of it.

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        • Anonymous
        • EqZ
        • 13 May 2025

        Anonymous, 13 May 2025Since Xperia VI is reduced to 1080p from 4k The display is... morePixelated? Ya, under a microscope

          Anonymous, 13 May 2025Using a Samsung phone with an optical sensor and it works fine.Good for you, I wish your good experience with your Galaxy could ever fix a crappy ultrasonic FPS on my S23 Ultra.

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            • EqZ
            • 13 May 2025

            Ottonis, 13 May 2025First of all: I always liked the concept ot the Sony Xperia... more Well said. Let's hope Sony upgrades the sensor for the zoom cam to a significantly larger sensor next year. I suspect they may have to reduce the range of the zoom cam in order to do that, which is acceptable.

              User935, 13 May 2025Sorry, but I'm not buying it. 😄 My wife had a Xiaomi (... more"Mi 9T Pro, I think, a few generations have passed since then"
              You see, right there, that's the problem. It's the Mi 9 series that she had, not the Xiaomi 15 series. It has zero relevance to the speed and accuracy that a FPS on a modern flagship phone is capable of delivering.

                Nick Tegrataker, 13 May 2025"my garbage S23 with its underdisplay sensor and it mo... moreSorry, but I'm not buying it. 😄 My wife had a Xiaomi (Mi 9T Pro, I think, a few generations have passed since then) and it was the same. Simply a disaster in comparison to Xperia's side-mounted.
                Could be that I find the Samsung even more frustrating because it's my work phone hahaha

                I also find it unlikely that Samsung doesn't use the exact same sensor in the S23 and S23 Ultra, why would they increase their costs there?

                How do you mean pinch the chassis? If you use the option of unlocking without a key-press, the Xperia unlocks when I barely feel that I'm touching it.

                  - A slightly brighter display, which is unfortunately stuck at FHD+ resolution.

                  - A significantly shorter battery runtime than its predecessor, and a very long recharge time - Not a great looking start for Sony, is it..

                  - Clean-sounding, if not the best-sounding speakers.

                  - A headphone jack and microSD card slot, such a rare sight in a flagship phone sold in 2025. I wish the improvement in the audio department was something that would be easily quantifiable, instead of this "We used better materials for audio circuit" claim (Sony has sold some suspicious audio products such as "Premium Sound microSD card" in the past, so we should remain skeptical of this kind of marketing jargon), but again, when none of the competition has either of these features, we need to be thankful that at least one company is willing to keep them on their products.

                  - Fairly standard Snapdragon 8E performance albeit with very aggressive CPU throttling, but the GPU seems to hold up a lot better and is on par with the rest.

                  - I would say its main camera is good but it's a notch below the best performers (Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Find X8 Ultra). Sharpening is still a bit too strong, noticeable haloes are around contrasting edges and the grass looks harsh to my eyes - The sample images are somewhat reminiscent of Find X8 Pro's (*Not* Ultra) photos but saturation and sharpening sliders are dialled up higher - I'm not a huge fan of its look, personally.

                  - The UWA camera absolutely deserves praise - Excellent balancing of exposure and great detail rendition across different lighting scenarios, a very consistent image quality with the main shooter and a low noise level compared to the UWA cameras on other phones. I'm actually surprised that out of all the "camera-centric" phones, only the ones from Sony and Vivo are putting a proper effort into improving the UWA shooting experience. Well done.

                  - A poor implementation of an exotic feature is just a gimmick, and Sony's optical zoom telephoto camera on Xperia continues to prove this theory. Soft details and a total lack of microcontrast poorly masked by oversharpening, ugly bokeh caused by a small aperture lens (Even in the macro mode it's clear how nervous the background blur look), and awful low-light photos aren't something that one should expect from a phone that costs this much. A bad sensor + optics combo cannot be fixed with software, and no, Xperia 1 VI's telephoto camera was still quite terrible after receiving an update that fixed the focusing bug.

                  - ..Hold up, this thing costs 1.6K USD? What on earth are they thinking? Also in their home country, Japan, the 1TB Xiaomi 15 Ultra with the Photography Kit is sold at around the same price as the 256GB Xperia 1 VII. No wonder they are losing market shares even in the domestic market, so are we finally safe to assume that Sony isn't really interested in selling phones anymore?

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                    • 13 May 2025

                    Kuba, 13 May 2025I prefer jack and sd card over any AI useless gimmicks.Another thing I love about the Xperia 1's are its light weight compared to other flagship handphones. And the non-slippery back.

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                      • Chris T.
                      • St{
                      • 13 May 2025

                      Honestly, pretty much one of the s(h)ame, especially at such high price!

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                        • 13 May 2025

                        EugenM, 13 May 2025I can't believe Sony with talks about AI didnt freakin... moreHas to do with the sensor size. 1vi and 1vii sensor size is 1/3.5" which is quite small for 2025. I hope Sony will increase the sensor size of their zoom cams next year, to at least 1/2.0". Then 1ix will be an excellent smartphone. 😊

                          Anonymous, 13 May 2025You know you can register multiple fingerprints so why are ... moreBecause I am human and we don't have any finger that can close to naturally be used to tap on the display in such an angle that the garbage underdisplay sensor recognizes it and unlocks.

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                            • EX SONY Misery
                            • 6wL
                            • 13 May 2025

                            same stupid phone from 2013
                            same shit camera from 2013.
                            same shit processing from 2013. sony is out.
                            same engineers with the same stupid camera execrable. look at vivo, oppo, samsung and others.
                            sony is out. just a garbage of camera with a tons of prices.

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                              • WhatMatters
                              • EqZ
                              • 13 May 2025

                              When Samsung launched S25U, it upgraded the ultra wide came from 12M to 50M, and left main and telephoto cams unchanged. It also downgraded functionality of the S-pen. Your review rating for S25U remained at 4.6 stars, same as S24U.
                              When Sony launched Xperia 1vii today, it also upgraded the ultra wide came from 12M to 50M, and left main and telephoto cams unchanged. Your review even said it's one of the best ultra wide cams.
                              Yet your review rating for 1vii was downgraded from 4.5 stars (1vi) to 4.3 stars.
                              Do I detect a certain bias for Samsung and against Sony?

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                                • Jab
                                • 60H
                                • 13 May 2025

                                30w charging in a flagship. Wow.

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                                  • i8u
                                  • 13 May 2025

                                  The telephoto shots look (much) better compared to last year Xperia VI. Please make a comparison session between the two. It'd have been nice to have a larger battery though.

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                                    • kvgel
                                    • 0xy
                                    • 13 May 2025

                                    Been using xperias (from 5II to I V) for quite some time. As I am a professional photographer, these were the perfect phones for reviewing work, quick workflow and some occasional mobile photography. Bus ever since mk VI, when sony dropped the worderful 4K screen and hit the brakes on photography advancements, I was forced to switch brands. I would really like to come back to sony. The form factor and no nonsense android was great. But for now, xiamoni ultra 14 works for me (although quite ugly). Hope to see a sony with a proper "1 camera and a 4k screen in the near future.. as for now, I am disappointed

                                      First of all: I always liked the concept ot the Sony Xperia line: sleek design, comfortable to hold in your palm, very natural rendering of their cameras, long battery life (mark vi providing one of the highest battery life scores ever recorded), and of course: the SDXC card slot which provides a memory extension possibility that is just obligatory in every videocentric cameraphone used by creators.

                                      That being said, the mark vii seems like a "net-downgrade": 2 steps advanced and 3 steps backwards: better SoC, much better UWA camera module, but worse battery life and probably one of the worst thermal throttling performances ever observed (going down to like 50%).
                                      And they are falling behind the competition in terms of telephoto performance. While a Xiaomi 15 Ultra offers just mind-blowing 3.5x optical tele performance with a large 1/1.4" sensor sitting behind a bright lens, Sony is playing games with the puny 1/3.5" sensor and a optical zoom lens, which - from an engineering point of view - might be a marvel, but from the perspective of photography it just delivers subpar sharpness and too low of photon catching capabilities.

                                      So, all things considered, if the predecessor (mark vi) can be had for like 900 EUR, then it would definitely be the better price-performance-ratio than the new mark vii at around 1400-1500 EUR.
                                      And I am saying this with sadness, because I really wanted Sony to make the Mark VII a winner.

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • iAB
                                        • 13 May 2025

                                        Outdated specs, unimpressive specs in almost any category, a former flagship in the mid-range now. My 7y old XA2 has better dpi 424 vs 396 of this 'flagship'. So this is it? The end of Xperia Era? Xperia joins Vaio? But I will buy it, if priced reasonably as a mid-range, as the last Sony smartphone.

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