Sony Xperia Pro-I review

Xperia Pro-I for vlogging

Alongside the Xperia Pro-I, Sony announced the Vlog Monitor - an add-on package that brings a live viewfinder to the back of the phone, thus enabling the use of the rear cameras for recording yourself. We got to use the monitor and another accessory, a previously available Bluetooth grip, and here's how it looks in action.

The Vlog Monitor box includes the monitor itself, a short cable to attach it to the phone and a clip-style phone holder. The phone goes in the clip, while the monitor snaps onto the back of the holder magnetically.

The clip is made of metal and has a remarkably premium feel. It's spring-loaded though, as opposed to having a screw to tighten it, so it might leave you a bit uneasy if you're used to clamping the other way. That said, at no point did we feel it's inadequate.

The clip features a 1/4 inch screw mount on the bottom for attaching it to a tripod and a hot shoe style attachment point up top for clamping an external mic. The back of the clip is shaped so that it keeps the monitor perpendicular, while you can adjust the monitor's placement alongside its long axis.

The monitor is a pretty nice 3.5-inch unit with 1280x720p resolution. Its casing isn't quite as nice-feeling as the phone clip, but it's not cheap either. I/O includes two USB-C ports - one's for connecting to the phone for the video feed (using DisplayPort over USB-C) and drawing power from the phone; the other is for powering the screen from an external source, in which case the phone itself gets pass-through power. There's also a 3.5mm microphone jack, more for completeness sake than actual necessity since the phone has one already.

The controls on the monitor are limited to a power switch and two buttons - Flip is for adjusting the orientation of the video feed to accommodate different mounting scenarios, while the sun button cycles through a handful of brightness levels.

The back of the monitor has another 1/4" screw mount, enabling further mounting configurations. The magnets are otherwise pretty strong, and it actually takes some effort to remove the screen from the phone holder; we wouldn't worry about it detaching mid-vlog.

The included USB-C cable is very upmarket itself, but it's either not just the right length, or it's too thick and stiff, and it feels like it's stressing the ports.

The Shooting Grip with Wireless Remote Commander, as Sony calls the Bluetooth grip/tabletop tripod accessory, has been around for a while and was initially meant to be used with the standalone Sony cameras.

It's a fairly plasticky affair, and despite its textured finish, we wouldn't say the handle provides the best possible grip. There's a two-way adjustable head that lets you change the angle of the phone holder clip in relation to the handle and rotate the holder 360 degrees around its axis with click stops every 90 degrees.

The controls within immediate reach of your thumb include a Photo and a Movie [record] button, between them a zoom rocker. The bottom row has a C1 button (C for 'custom', typically, but not so much here) and a lock toggle to make sure the handle won't be acting out when in your backpack.

Getting everything to work was a bit frustrating at first. We figured that we needed to pair the Bluetooth handle through the phone's Bluetooth settings, and while it did show up there when searching for it, it just wouldn't connect. It turned out that you have to enable it in the settings of the camera apps (works with Video Pro and Photo Pro) and then press the predefined button sequence on the grip (Photo+T) for it to connect. From then on, it was mostly smooth sailing.

The monitor's connection is more straightforward; cables tend to be that way. You plug both ends of the cable in the respective devices, open a camera app (works with Video Pro and Photo Pro) and power on the monitor. You'll then get a pop-up in the camera app, requesting that you approve the connection. It's sort of an annoyance that you need to OK that pop-up every single time, but that's just how it is.

Enable Bluetooth remote control in settings • Approve monitor connection

Once everything is connected, paired, and approved, the external monitor takes over viewfinder duty. At the same time, the phone gets to keep the interface elements of whichever camera app you're using.

Vlog Monitor connected: Photo Pro • Video Pro

It's about here that we start complaining.

When you're using the whole ensemble as intended, you're limited to the controls on the grip. Photo takes a photo, Movie starts and stops video recording, only you need to be in the correct mode in the camera app - so if you're in Photo mode, the Movie button won't do anything, not with a single press, and not with a long press. You need to flip the whole thing around and change the mode from the interface on the phone itself.

Okay then, so you start recording, and when you're done, you want to quickly playback the last clip to make sure it's okay - you can only do that on the phone's screen. The vlog monitor has no touchscreen functionality, and the physical buttons on the grip don't have a provision for switching to playback mode.

The Wide-Tele rocker does work - the T zooms in digitally from whichever camera you're using, while the W end hits that camera's native focal length. The C1 button, meanwhile, cycles through the three camera modules. It can't be customized, though.

The Bluetooth grip/tabletop tripod (GP-VPT2BT) costs around €140/$140 on its own, while the Vlog Monitor (XQZ-IV01) goes for €200/$200. With the phone priced at €1800/$1800, you're looking at over €2000/$2000 for a makeshift vlogging setup. And that's before an external mic (which is admittedly optional).

Then there's the matter of weight. The two accessories weigh 215g and 157g, respectively, and adding the 211g of the phone makes for a total of just under 600g - again, without a mic. While not strictly heavy, carrying it around with your hand stretched out may get tiring after a while. That's without a mic, too.

Overall, it's a nice idea, but it somehow looks more of a solution in search of a problem. If you already have the Xperia Pro-I, you might as well get the extra accessories. But it poses the question of why you would have the Xperia Pro-I otherwise if you weren't after its vlogging capabilities.

A case could be made that there aren't consumer-grade Sony cameras that can record 4K at 120fps (we wouldn't consider the A7s III consumer-grade, at $3499, body-only), and 4K60 isn't very attainable (A7 IV, $2499) either. Not to mention that we doubt anyone would consider vlogging on these due to their weight.

The Xperia Pro-I can do both 4K60 and 4K120, so high-fps or slow-motion vlogging almost sounds like it could justify its purchase. It's not to be overlooked that the 16mm equivalent is also hard to match on a 'real' camera, though the Pro-I's ultrawide is hard to be labeled as a selling point, good as it may be. We do have some proper pros at rationalization at the office, but that's looking like a bit of a stretch even for our standards.