Sony Xperia 1 II review
Sony Company is known to make electronics such as; cameras, TVs, game consoles and any other kind of electronics. Sony Company has always been the best in what it does. During June 2020, the company launched its recent product which is the Sony Xperia 1 II.
The Sony Persia’s outstanding features are:
- The design and display are boldly simple
- Battery performance is fantastically average
- The camera quality
- Its software is wonderfully practical
- Its specs
- The value and competition
Design and display: Boldly simple
The device has the following display features:
- 5-inch 4k HDR OLED (3,840 x 1,644)
- 21:9 aspect ratio
- Small bezels (no notch)
- 60Hz refresh rate
- Stereo front-facing speakers
- 166 x 72 x 7.9mm, 181g
- Notification LED
- IP68 water and dust resistance
- Side-mounted fingerprint reader
- Headphone jack
Sony phone designs are always exceptional even to the features. The Sony Xperia 1 II, for example, is simple, bold on its own making and, outstanding. The conspicuous physical feature of this particular phone is that it is a squared device, has a flat display and it has a back and sides. It has curves around the edges that makes the phone from feeling too sharp and boxy.
The flat sides contain additional features like; the standard volume rockers located at the right-hand side and just above this button is the power button. The power button on the other end has a fingerprint reading feature that records the consistent fingerprints.
Another feature that is on the sides of the device is the dedicated shutter button for the camera located just below the fingerprint reader. The shutter button is a two way-step button which means that the first tap is made for clarity and the second one takes the shot. The feature, therefore, advocates for clarity of the picture.
The top side of the phone is the headphone jack which was missing on the previous model. As I mentioned earlier that Sony Companies also make their headphones, then it’s only reasonable to have the headphone jacks on their devices. The phone works with both the wireless and the normal headphones.
On the left side of the device has only the Sim card /micro SD card slot. Sony provides a tray that enables an individual to place their Sim cards without necessarily requiring a SIM tool. Then the bottom houses the USB-C, the back and front are glass while the sides are made of aluminium.
Minimalist and stylish Xperia 1 II design.
Unlike the common phone the Xperia has no camera hole-punch but the tried-and-true bezels for its selfie camera. The bezels opinions are split and quite thin which allows the device to use the front-facing speakers. The speakers make the videos sound quality audible.
With the aspect of the Xperia 1 series of 21.9K HDR OLED display, the Sony rock a 6.5-inch panel on the Xperia 1 II. The screen is also not as large but it has a unique ratio that gives it a particular feel. This screen enables multitasking with the advantage of operating two applications on display at the same time.
The Sony Xperia uses a dense panel with a 3.840*1,644 solution. This makes it possible to distinguish this particular brand from the others. Because it is wildly sharp with icons which almost look like they are floating on the screen. The screen display is a quite presentable evening when in the default mode although it also supports the BT 2020 colouring gamut and 10-bit HDR colour as well.
Performance and battery: fantastically average.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
- X55 5G mobile platform (disabled in the USA)
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB storage
- microSD card expansion
- 4,000mAh battery
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+
- Wireless charging
Sony Xperia 1 II is a sporting form and thus can support a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Sock and X55 modem which is 5GB. A fully charged battery goes for the whole day and this is a long time because it uses 4K display smaller 4,000mAh cell in comparison to 4300mAh velvet battery.
Camera
- Wide: 12MP, 1/2.6-inch sensor, Dual-PD AF, 16mm equivalent
- Main: 12MP, 1/1.7-inch sensor, Dual-PD AF, OIS, 24mm equivalent
- Telephoto: 12MP, 1/3.4-inch sensor, PDAF, OIS, 70mm equivalent
- Selfie: 8MP
- 3D iToF sensor
- Real-time Eye-AF
- Up to 20 fps AF/AE tracking burst mode
- 60 calc/second AF calculation
The Sony Xperia 1 II may not produce the highest quality photographs but is far way advanced in the field of smartphones. The manufacture’s main focus was the use of a different set of metrics. It has three distinctive cameras on the back.
The back contains;
- A wide 12MP camera with a 1/2.6-inch sensor and dual-PD autofocus
- A main 12MP camera with a 1/1.7-inch sensor
- Dual-PD autofocus, and OIS, and a telephoto 12MP camera with a 1/3.4-inch sensor, PD autofocus, and OIS.
Sony’s main goal in developing this camera was to offer “holy trinity” of zoom lenses and the same 20fps burst mode of the Sony Alpha mirrorless camera. The holy trinity in the language of photography refers to a wide-to-medium zoom, a medium-to-telephoto zoom, and a telephoto-to-super zoom. In this case, Sony went with 16-24mm, a 24-70mm, and a 70-200mm lens, which covers wildlife photography.
Like I said before, Sony wanted to mirror the 20fps autofocus-capable burst mode it sports in its A9 series of cameras. Which is impressive, especially bearing in mind the phone will check for focus three times per frame before it decides where the focus will be. Taking a full second of burst images, the phone will take 20 images, with focus calculated 60 times.
The main 24mm lens is by far the best of the bunch, due to its fairly large 1/1.7-inch sensor. It has great colour and clarity in good light and does fairly well in low-light circumstances as well. Sony is very subtle with its colour processing in the standard camera app, not applying any super aggressive colour shifts. Lower-light circumstances do take a couple of seconds to process, but they generally look great once it’s done processing.
The telephoto lens is similar in its great colour profile, but it’s certainly softer than the main sensor. I believe this is due to the sensor being fairly small at 1/3.4-inches, which causes the phone to use a higher ISO and therefore more noise reduction. That’s not to say it’s bad though – it’s still better than a crop.
The wide lens is great as well, but it’s a bit more washed-out colour-wise than the other lenses. It’s still very sharp though, capturing a good amount of detail, even around the edges, where wide lenses generally get the softest. Either way, the colour profiles are fairly consistent over the range – something that can’t be said of many smartphone camera systems.
The selfie camera on this phone is probably the Achilles’ heel of the system. It is extremely soft even in good light and looks terrible in low light. It also tended to capture lens flares, which look pretty bad when the selfie camera is already very soft. This is an 8MP sensor and extremely small at 1/4-inch, so it’s no surprise that it’s pretty bad.
The selfie camera on this phone is probably the Achilles’ heel of the system. It is extremely soft even in good light and looks terrible in low light. It also tended to capture lens flares, which look pretty bad when the selfie camera is already very soft. This is an 8MP sensor and extremely small at 1/4-inch, so it’s no surprise that it’s pretty bad.
The standard camera app on the Xperia 1 II is okay, but it’s not very native. The button to switch to the selfie camera is on the top, which may be very difficult to reach on a tall display like this. You can still swipe down to switch to the front camera, but it feels like the button should be where the Mode button is, which has settings for things like portrait selfies and colour filters. There is also no HDR in the main app – it can only be found in the Camera Pro app. If anything, the standard app is where HDR should be, since those who don’t care about having full control of their image make particular use of the feature.
The phone also won’t switch to the correct lens when you zoom all the way in on the main app. The only way to switch to the next lens is to tap one of the three lens options at the bottom of the screen. It would make a lot more sense if Sony seamlessly transitioned between the wide, standard, and telephoto lenses as you zoomed.
Software: wonderfully practical
The Sony Xperia 1 II runs Android 10, and it does something that not so many OEMs would do when one uses Google apps as defaults. Immediately when booting up the phone, you’ll see
- Google Phone
- Google Messages
- Chrome
- Google Photos on the dock.
Sony doesn’t try to make many proprietary apps for things Google can already offer, and that makes for a much nicer experience.
Sony’s skin on top of Android is also said to be exceptionally lightweight, and hence it does not add unnecessary weight. The skin is very similar to Pixel UI, and that’s something one may get behind. There’s a Google Search bar at the bottom of the screen and a Google feed when you swipe left.
Sony does have some equable applications that work well with this device, for instance, the PlayStation app which allows the person to attach a Dual Shock controller natively. It is preferable for the PS4 lovers for the Remote Play and may want to play on their phones.
The Sony Xperia 1 II gives a good example of what can happen when a big-company like Sony pulls together all its resources to make a smartphone. Which has a wildly high-resolution 21:9 OLED display, a useful camera system, and even a headphone jack, Sony has finally made a phone that anyone would love to keep in their pocket.
People who are always after the best image quality and straight photographs out of the camera, may not get that here. Sony was attentive on making this phone a mobile A9 camera, with 20fps shooting with autofocus. Due to that, it couldn’t include its biggest and best sensor. Anyone would actually wish for quality compared to the speed but the Company brought out the best at what it deed.
While the camera system might be frustrating to everyone except the most dedicated and professional photographers, the other parts of the phone make up for it. The display is unique and fantastic, the UI is minimal, and it has all the bells and whistles like wireless charging, expandable storage, and a headphone jack. That makes this a wonderful phone for everyone, regardless of how much you care about the camera.
In conclusion, the most outstanding features in the Sony Xperia are,
- Its display with
- 5-inch HDR OLED
- 3,840 x 1,644 resolution (4K)
- 643ppi
- Motion blur reduction (90Hz equivalent)
- 21:9 aspect ratio
- Corning Gorilla Glass 6
- Its camera
- Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 16mm, f/2.2 aperture, Dual PDAF
- Wide: 12MP sensor, 24mm, f/1.7 aperture, Dual PDAF, OIS
- telephoto: 12MP sensor, 70mm, f/2.4 aperture, PDAF, OIS
- Depth sensor: 3D iTOF
- Battery
- 4,000mAh
- 21W USB-PD wired charging
- 15W wireless charging
In addition to the features above, is that the device is available in purple and black, has an 8GB ram, 256GB internal available space, and, a CPU of Adreno 650. These features rank this phone at the top for it does deliver the best services for its customers. Generally, anyone would be willing to spend their money on such a commodities for it offers a variety of strengthens compared to its cons.