Sony Xperia 1 VII review

13 May 2025


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  • Sloopie
  • ptU
  • 13 May 2025

Bob the web dev, 13 May 2025It's a shame with Sony, I remember back in the day whe... moreI am 100% sure if they make 10 sony phones 5 with usual screen and 5 with 4 k.

I hand them all 1 by one to you, you can't pick the 5 4k screens because on such a small screen it simply is almost invissible for the human eye.

    Nick Tegrataker, 13 May 2025"Main camera on 1V, 1VI and 1VII is up to par with any... morethe main cam is a crop of the 1/1.35" sensor, an effective size of 1/1.43". Yeah... basically on par with the Oneplus 13 in terms of main cam lmao

      • S
      • Sloopie
      • ptU
      • 13 May 2025

      bokep27.1, 13 May 2025sony seriously needs to learn from competitors how to make ... moreWhy should they copy others.
      Sony is niche, i buy the sony phone because no punch holes almost clean android great camera's (without all fake ai stuff like removing shadow etc)
      Thats why i love sony.

      Sony doesn't care their market share on phones is verry tiny and i hope they keep that up instead of copying because all fanboys request that ip 68 is upgraded but itd never needed.

        • S
        • Sloopie
        • ptU
        • 13 May 2025

        David 040882, 13 May 2025Unfortunately, it seems the only thing Sony is learning fro... moreLooks like you still don't understand sony is a niche and not a competitor against apple or samsung.
        If they cared they would have introduced punchholes a whole battery of AI tools wich 99% of the users never use, but trigger the fanboys.

        The fanboys who complain about ip68🤭 looks like fanboys are all deepsea divers where ip68 is not enough.

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          • Spencer
          • rX{
          • 13 May 2025

          1500 bucks for 5000 mAh batery is beyond the scam !

            • S
            • Sloopie
            • ptU
            • 13 May 2025

            alfamus, 13 May 2025Still ip 68, still mediocore battery, still 24mm camera. Se... moreSo you have problems with ip68 are you a deepsea diver? No then why you would even care if you fall into water the phone will survive i seriously question the iq of people who make a big deal about that.

            Ip68 is more then enough to survive water.

              • S
              • Sloopie
              • ptU
              • 13 May 2025

              Anonymous, 13 May 2025Don't tell me you fall for spec sheets. IPX9 much like... moreExactly this.
              Who puts his phone underwater? No one and if it happens there is the waterproof saving you any upgrades in that are pretty much useless.

              Same as 4k screen it only drains the battery nobody sees the difference if they say they do they lie.
              I prefer no 4k because less battery usage.

                Anonymous, 13 May 2025Don't tell me you fall for spec sheets. IPX9 much like... more"Main camera on 1V, 1VI and 1VII is up to par with any other main camera on any other flagship"
                Eh, I would say it's actually a bit worse than non-Ultra high-end phones from Xiaomi and BBK. While Xperia 1 VII's main camera doesn't fail spectacularly in any scenarios, the likes of X200 Pro and Find X8 Pro seem to produce more compelling results, especially in detail rendition or skin tone preservation. If it were priced more leniently (say, 60% of its current price) this would've been just fine and its great UWA camera would've easily made up for it, but for 1500 euros? A bit tough, don't you think..

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                  • Inedian
                  • L2r
                  • 13 May 2025

                  Very good main cam (competitive with the best), second best UW cam and pathetic zoom camera... with solid telephoto it could be among top five camera phones... maybe next year.

                    Going by Sony Xperia camera upgrades, we should expect the telephoto to finally get an updated module next year then.

                    As the main camera was updated on the 1 V and they've updated the UW this year.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 0p}
                      • 13 May 2025

                      even if the camera is not first in the ranking among all the top of the range, it is still of the highest level.
                      what makes the difference with the top is that here there is the micro sd and the 3.5 jack and for this reason among all the top for me the sony remains the first choice

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                        • pip
                        • y6V
                        • 13 May 2025

                        sony can stop making phones at this point. they are not even trying anymore.

                          SuuperBaka, 13 May 2025It feels like a wasted opportunity with the whole "Wal... morewhat's the point of a higher end DAC? It's all snake oil for the most part. All you need is more power, thus a more powerful AMP.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • uYF
                            • 13 May 2025

                            Nick Tegrataker, 13 May 2025- A slightly brighter display, which is unfortunately stuck... morecomments here contrast completely to the phone's comment section itself lol.
                            People over there glazing Sony HARD

                              EugenM, 13 May 2025The point is, even with that very small sensor size, you ca... morecant that be said of ANY phone camera??? lmfao

                                This obsession with staying thin and having a thin camera bump whilst also targeting enthusiasts is most fascinating to me, an entirely paradoxical goal. They havent upgraded the main cam, their telephoto cam is basically the same size as the Note8's/iPhone 7 Plus's one. 1/3.5" vs 1/3.6". They're insisting on this novel yet gimmickey concept of variable zoom. If the end result is an inferior quality photo to that of a crop, what's the point of this feature exactly?

                                And it's not like Sony's processing is all that great either. Post 1 V, they've downgraded it significantly and now it looks like the photos were taken by a Samsung phone from 2022. So they're neither the ones with the most natural processing, like they had with the 1 V, nor do they have the exceptional processing that Oppo and Vivo have. They're in the middle of nowhere. Compared to a Oneplus 13 this might be a worthy choice but anything more expensive and it just falls flat on its face.

                                And the only good thing about this camera system, the UW cam, is only 16mm. Compared to the 23 mm main cam, this just aint wide enough. You're telling me im supposed to praise Sony for something Oppo did back in 2021 with the Find X3 Pro? Having a main cam as a UW cam isnt something new anymore, I'd say having a main cam as a zoom cam is more novel and a fellow japaense manufacturer, Sharp, did it with the Aquos R9 Pro, 2.8x 1/1.56" zoom cam, alongside a 1 inch sensor. Sony could've done that and it'd have still been a better look than this. The only novel feature is something that was done ages ago and with better optics around it AND the Find X6 Pro had a wider cam.

                                The Find X8 Ultra has faster charging, better battery life, similar albeit side+front facing speakers, vastly superior cameras (except for the UW cam) and a far higher res display. Oppo's doing what Sony's trying to do, but better.

                                Not to mention the CROPPED main cam, advertised as a 1/1.35" cam, that's already smaller than the likes of the Apple, Google and Samsung phones, BUT IT'S CROPPED to 1/1.43", similar to the Oneplus 13.... just hilarious. Your enthusiast phone, sir!!!!!

                                It's also funny that despite all the thermal throttling, the horrendous "optimization", they're still having a tough time with a 1080P DISPLAY that's 6.5".... The S25 Ultra with a larger and higher res display shows respectable numbers.... When Samsung's winning a duel yk something's up. And it's also quite intriguing considering the super high numbers of the 1 VI, how are they getting worse battery life with a more efficient chip? Lmao. Goes to show the last one was a fluke and unless GSMArena does the battery tests 3 times to be sure, the numbers will be quite misleading. Good for getting an idea but these numbers are hardly ever useful it seems.

                                That pricing is a JOKE. Sony should be selling a 1 TB model at that price, not a measly 256 GB one.

                                Credit where credit is due, the provision of a headphone jack, front facing speakers, symmetrical front bezels and the microsd card slot is immense. The speakers sound fantastic, a huge upgrade over the previous one, who'd have guessed that chasing QUALITY over volume would be a good move!?? Still not as great as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra's speakers nor as powerful as the Magic7 Pro's ones but still excellent speakers and definitely a VERY strong point of this phone. The display's brightness is good as well, but that's the BARE MINIMUM a 1080p display should achieve. And I must commend Sony on trying out stuff with the variable zoom, innovative stuff even if ultimately fruitless due to the horrendous quality. The UW cam being so massive is immense as well, the second best UW cam of this year, now that's epic.

                                So yeah... in short, the cameras aint anything special. The battery life is good but horrendous dimming/lowering of refresh rate/clock speed lowering leads to that which will worsen the experience unless you're like my dad who's not gonna notice anything like that. The performance aint anything great cus of the throttling and the display is only 1080p as well. The UW cam is nice but UW cam enjoyers are a niche and Sony phone enjoyers are a niche as well so there's like a VERY small subset into this thing. Just loads of cons which arent properly overturned with the pros, the cons are major issues whereas the pros are small bonuses. What's the point of getting a phone which has bonuses but doesn't have that great of a base?

                                If you've got 40 micro sd cards laying around, are heavily involved in the Sony ecosystem and/or are a UW cam fanatic, only then does this even remotely make sense. Otherwise this is just pathetic for the most part.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • Yet
                                  • 13 May 2025

                                  alfamus, 13 May 2025Still ip 68, still mediocore battery, still 24mm camera. Se... moreDon't tell me you fall for spec sheets. IPX9 much like IP68 means nothing if it's not done right. Many phones that claim IP68 are actually IP68 only for first few months because adhesive turns into hard plastic after being exposed to sun. When that happens your phone is no longer water proof. How would you know that? You wouldn't until you actually have the phone and use it underwater. IPX9 is nonsense, it's no different than IP68 when it comes down to submerging your device underwater. It does not offer greater protection under water. Supposedly it offer better protection against super hot water which means adhesive doesn't turn into sludge.

                                  5000mAh battery is the same thing. What you witness is poor optimization by manufacturers that can't extract efficiency out of battery capacity so they resort to higher capacity ie. hardware bruting.

                                  Main camera on 1V, 1VI and 1VII is up to par with any other main camera on any other flaghsip.

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                                    • Just me
                                    • EUf
                                    • 13 May 2025

                                    Ambroos, 13 May 2025I'm quite happy with the results. My 1 V has met an un... moreMy boss at work, also have Xperia 1 V and his cameras also become dusty. He hasn't cracked or repaired neither the screen nor the back panel.
                                    Could this be some global problem with the mark 5?

                                      S, 13 May 2025Has to do with the sensor size. 1vi and 1vii sensor size is... moreThe point is, even with that very small sensor size, you can make the photos look almost as good as the world best camera phone at any optical zoom if you implement a proper ai photo noise reduction and ai sharpness. I just did some tests myself and it works soo good it makes me angry to see Sony not implementing it in the first place, i can't be bothered to process every single photo i have to fix a problem that shouldnt even exist in the first place.

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                                        • TruthSeeker
                                        • EqZ
                                        • 13 May 2025

                                        Tester, 13 May 2025It is noteworthy that some friends, when Sony had a pixel d... moreTotally agreed. I had both the 1v and 1vi. I didn't notice any difference in screen resolution in use.

                                        Reviewers are often emphasizing things that no one really notices in day2day usage. E.g. QHD vs FHD. It's a 6.5" screen, not a TV. Haha.
                                        Another e.g. blowing up a tiny, tiny part of a pix and commenting that shadow highlights is inferior to that of another handphone. Who cares if shadow is only 1cm? Or finger-pinch zooming and then commenting that the hair separation is a bit off. I bet reviewers don't even do that to the pix that they take and use daily. 😂 Just take pix and enjoy them!

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