Sony - Xperia 1 with 128GB Memory Cell Phone (Unlocked)

I have owned Android and Apple devices alike over the years, but have been on an iPhone since the iPhone 6 Plus. I tried coming back with the Note8 a few years ago and hated it. I can honestly say I really enjoy this phone. The form factor, being a bit thinner makes the large device much easier to hold and pocket. The OS is very close to stock Android which I love. That has been my biggest fuss with Android phones (Samsung mostly) is all the crap you get and the awful UI's. Sony has discreetly added things, but nothing overwhelming or intrusive. Screen is amazing and I don't know how much a human eye can see on such a small screen, but colors seem more natural and sharper than my last iPhone. Phone charges pretty fast plugged in, and i don't wireless charge so all good there. If I had to be critical these are the 2 items I would change. First, I wish the button layout where different. With them all on one side it can be hard to get in your pocket without hitting one, or just holding it in general. I'd prefer there be no buttons 1/2 way and down. just shifting the camera button to the top left would have been perfect. Secondly, the battery life isn't stellar. My iPhone 7 plus was by far the best. 2 whole days of heavy use. iPhone 8 Plus about a whole day. Xperia will last about a day of medium use. Heavy use and i can drain it by midday. You aren't going to have a lot of choices on cases and screen protectors either, not a huge deal but keep it in mind. (Sony if you see this i'd be happy to test your case if you send me one and report back :) ) Storage and Expansion are great, and something i wasn't happy with on Apple devices. I hate the infinity screens on Samsung devices, so nice to have a screen that is just a screen. Has small bezels, which again is wonderful, no need for weird notches, wholes, etc. Pictures and video have been superb. Another factor for me was the inclusion of the Sony MX1000 headphones as part of the Pre-Order. These are awesome headphones, and work very well with the Xperia. Lifesavers as a frequent flyer!! In conclusion, I'm very pleased. Minor issues, that don't really bother/affect me, but 100% recommend it over all other Android devices.

This device has exceeded my expectations. First the grip is super. Very thin phone and large screen. I like the Cinema Pro App. I can make some really nice videos (movie-look-a-likes). Camera is easy to use and I love the brights. Supports latest updates and SONY is constantly updating. For speed and camera, go for it.

I absolutely love everything about this phone. It is stunningly beautiful from its built form factor to it's incredible 4k OLED Screen (1644 x 3840 pixels, 21:9 ratio). This very well may be the best screen at this size which boasts the Creative mode Sony Bravia TV technology. The CPU Snapdragon 855 is very fast. You won't hit any slowdowns even in the most intensive tasks. The camera also takes really nice pictures with its three 12MP camera setup. Sony worked with their Alpha team to really go all out on this feature with a fully featured Camera Pro app that lets you get the exact picture you want. The wide 21:9 pictures and 4k video are breathtaking. The phone has virtually no bezel around the screen as well as no notch for the camera, which are all great things. The audio for this phone has Dolby Atmos for movies and music as well as a new feature called dynamic vibration, which you can turn on to vibrate during low frequencies. This is great for movies and simulates bass. The battery life lasts a day and a half of use which is surprisingly good. Also PlayStation fans can pair their Dualshock 4 controllers to play RemotePlay to remotely connect to your PS4. The controller also works phone games (Fortnite and Pubg).

There has been much skepticism and criticism of this phone the moment it was announced, citing an impractical aspect ratio and moderate battery life. However, for my needs it is absolutely perfect. I shoot video at a 21:9 Aspect Ratio, and while I shoot 4K on my Mirrorless Camera, I have imagine the composition on the tiny screen as I have no external monitor. Also, I have to do crop adjustments in post. While nothing can replace a good dedicated video camera, this phone is no pushover for cinematic prowess. Viewing the footage on this magnificent screen is a godsend. While I cannot have my 4K videos cropped, it is also nice that I can transfer photos and videos with the tap of my NFC. The image quality is unmatched by many top tier smartphones. Also, it is incredibly practical for general planning. My spreadsheets can easily fit my screen when splitting with a web browser or Google Maps when planning my next shoot. Sound quality is top notch and the dynamic mode offers a modification to the sound as if the music was around you. Even my low bitrate Spotify songs have a very magical feel to it. I found the aspect ratio not that annoying as others have said. I always use two hands when using phones anyway. However, there definitely are downsides. Obviously the battery life. However, the Battery Care and Sony's battery optimization is so good that I had it last on a day with no charge. Also, it is negated by the fact I always bring a powerbank which can charge it in less than an hour. Also, there is no official software to use the video editing. This would have been perfect also with my transferred videos as I can have a rough cut of my dailies as I commute on mass transit. Overall this phone is absolutely perfect for my needs, but others may not find it as useful if they like to use one handed operation constantly or if they prefer not to bring a powerbank.

Sony has been in the electronic entertainment business for a very long time. Whether it was professional video cameras (CineAlta/VENICE), Hollywood production monitors (TRIMASTER Monitors), 4K Televisions (BRAVIA), award winning mirror-less cameras (Alpha A7 and RX series), Walkman or PlayStation. For this year, Sony managed to combine the latest tech from their different entertainment divisions and pack it inside the Xperia 1. The results are very impressive! DESIGN The Xperia 1 is one good looking phone, it has its own personality. You will happy with the feel and weight distribution on it. You still have the dedicated camera shutter button. Not a lot of phones have it or any to think about it! The phone is IP65/IP68 rated and that’s not surprising feature since Sony were the first to introduce highest level of water resistant to the market since Sony Xperia Z in 2013. People complain about the phone being too tall, it not that much bigger than a Note 9 for example. Also, it’s a narrower device making it so much easier to handle. SCREEN Today’s market is going in the direction of screens with hideous looking notches in all kind of shapes and sizes! Sony went the other direction and decided to deliver Cinema quality experience in the palm of your hands by embracing 21:9 cinema aspect ratio. The phone is equipped with a marvelous 4K HDR OLED display with a whopping ~643 ppi, that is the best I have seen on a smartphone with amazing color accuracy thanks to Master Monitor color reproduction. The best way to appreciate the quality of this display is to play native 2160p HDR clips on it. I recommend using the YouTube app and go through “4K HDR Movie Clips” channel. Change the color settings to “Creator mode” and max out the brightness, select 2160p resolution in the clip setting and enjoy the stunning quality! Favorite clips that really shines are from Batman v Superman and John Wick. Another new addition is Sony’s own BRAVIA X1 Reality for mobile engine. This feature upscales content to near 4K and remaster SDR content to near HDR to everything you watch. 4K HDR CONTENT Netflix have shows and movies that are shot in 21:9 ratio, for example “Bird Box” but the downside of the Netflix App is it only streams at 720p HDR resolution! Its 2019 and a lot of the phones are equipped with QHD displays, 720p is a joke to be honest! Amazon Prime has 4K shows available so chances of having better quality through a streaming app will be through Amazon Prime app As for YouTube, there are a lot of 4K videos that you can watch, but a lot of videos that claims that its in 4K HDR are not really offered in HDR, so don’t assume if you select 2160p under quality it will be in HDR, it has to say 2160p HDR and your brightness has to be set to max. Full movies through YouTube are still offered in 1080p so nothing useful on movies side. AUDIO The Xperia 1 is capable of wireless Hi-res Audio thanks to Sony’s LDAC codec, which can deliver up to 990kbps over Bluetooth. Dolby Atmos finally made to Sony phones which is great to watch using Netflix and other capable streaming services, different Atmos settings can be selected but I recommend sticking with “Dynamic” mode. DVS or Dynamic Vibration System is a DualShock 4 type rumble that can be used while gaming or watching videos and listening to music. I tend to have it on low mode and use it only on some games but can be switched off if needed. Its kind of a gimmick but nice to have at the same time! DSEE is a feature that been in previous Xperia devices, originally developed by WALKMAN team, this will upscales low bitrate audio files to near Hi-res for better detail and clarity. PERFORMANCE The phone has buttery smooth performance, equipped with Snapdragon 855 and 6GB of RAM. I never had an issue where it lagged or forced me to restart the phone for any reason. Going from app to app is easy and smooth and it’s utilizing the stock Android home launcher, like the Pixel phones. Most of the apps are stock android apps such as (Phone, Contacts, Messages, Calendar, Clock...etc). There are few pre-installed apps that be disabled. Sony packed their own useful apps for media such as (Music, Album) which I think they are one of the best in the market. Also, Game Enhancer and Cinema Pro are their latest apps and they come pre-installed as well. GAMING There are growing list of games that supports 21:9 ratio and they look gorgeous on that OLED screen, thanks to “Game Enhancer” option you can prioritize performance for the game and disable any notifications during your gameplay. PlayStation 4 remote Play is exclusive to Xperia 1 for this year as of now and works great when paired a DualShock 4 controller. Have some towers that you wanna grind through in MK11 but you are at work? No problem you can still access your PS4 remotely and have your AI grind through matches while you away from home as long you have stable Wi-Fi Connection. CAMERA (Pictures) The phone is equipped with three 12MP cameras on the rear (Wide, Telephoto, Extra Wide) and one 8MP camera on the front. I haven’t use the camera extensively since I got it but I find out that the manual mode is where it really shines! HDR works great with the right settings. The biggest addition to this year camera upgrade besides having 2 additional rear cameras is the Sony Alpha tech Eye AF (Eye Auto Focus). This feature works instantly on its own were the camera automatically focuses on the person’s eye by just pointing at him/her, this help the person in the photo to be always in focus even if he/she move around or move their heads! Very useful! Unfortunately, I found this to only work on the Wide and Telephoto lenses not the Extra Wide. Having a dedicated camera shutter button is big bonus! You can use the camera button to start the camera from sleep mode and snap your photo. Holding the camera key can also be used to take burst photos (up to 10fps). Another useful function for the button is taking selfie shots using the rear camera, holding the phone vertically or horizontally you always have an easy access to the camera button to snap a photo without guessing were is your on-screen camera button…very useful! CAMERA (Video) The Xperia 1 camera is capable of shooting 4K HDR@30fps (60fps is not available atm) and 1080p HDR @30/60fps and 720p/1080p @960fps. The video stabilization seems to be not the best in the market when shooting in 4K, a software update might be needed to address 4K stabilization issues. However, it works great when shooting in Full HD. The real attraction when comes to video recording is the Cinema Pro app powered by CineAlta camera tech. You can create short professional looking films in 21:9 format and have a handful of manual controls over the video such as LOOK colour system, lense, ISO, Manual Focus, resolution and FPS. One big downside of this app is it excludes using image stabilization. Not sure what’s the reason behind this, but if anyone is interested in shooting a project on this phone I highly recommend using a Gimble type stabilizer to it. BATTERY The Xperia 1 battery has been great so far! Even though its equipped with 3300mHA battery, it still lasts me for the entire days and still have about 30-40% charge from normal usage, thanks to Sony's adaptive charge and smart stamina. The phone is capable of Power Delivery charging and it comes with one in the box (18W) where I can get 40% from a 30 mins charge. The phone is not capable of wireless charging, a feature I never really cared about or used. The PD charging speed triumphs any wireless charger! MULTI-TASKING To take advantage of the 21:9 6.5” display, Sony added a multi-task shortcut that can be accessed by taping on the “multi-window” icon or by accessing “Side Sense” gesture menu by double tapping the edge of the screen. Viewing 2 apps on the screen is convenient, for example I can watch YouTube on the top portion while browsing chrome or typing a message at the bottom as you can see more of everything. Side Sense is a hit or mess, and it can be heavily customized or disabled if needed, but I find it useful for quick access while using one hand. CONCLUSION The Xperia 1 is an amazing entertainment device, the 21:9 4K HDR OLED is one of a kind! The phone is packed with Sony’s in-house brand tech such as ALPHA (BIONZ X, Eye AF, CineAlta), BRAVIA (X-Reality, Master Monitor), WALKMAN (DSEE, LDAC) and PLAYSTATION (PS4 Remote Play). Wish there are more native 4K content, but the X1 Reality upscaling feature will do for now. Camera’s Eye AF is a welcome feature and having 2 more lenses is neat option for more flexibility. The Cinema Pro app is a great tool for users that wants to create professional looking films on the go using their smartphone. Remote Play is feature that needs to be advertised more because it works great! Overall I am very happy with the phone and highly recommend it over the competition if you want the best on the go entertainment experience with flagship level performance! Sony has unleashed a killer phone that is worth looking into!

Let me start by saying I love this phone. The screen is beautiful, the battery life is great and the cameras are full of features. My one big gripe is the EXTREMELY inconsistent fingerprint scanner. I've had several phones with much better scanners, at lower prices even, and they've all been relatively straightforward. The problem with the Xperia 1 is the location and size of the fingerprint scanner. It's located on the right side of the phone making it a little harder for me to reach (I primarily hold my phone in my left hand), luckily the phone isn't too wide so it's not too big of a deal. The real problem is that the size of the fingerprint scanner is so small, due to the fact that it is on the side of the device, that it can have inconsistencies if even a small amount of liquid were to be on it. My hands can get moist sometimes and even that will trick the scanner into thinking I'm not me. I find myself typing in my pin more often than using my finger to unlcok my phone now because of it. The experience of actually using this phone is amazing, it's just the fact that trying to get to that state is so severly hindered by what a budget phone can accomplish that it makes me irritated. I would still recommend this phone to anyone who watches a lot of content though. Sure it's missing a couple things like wireless charging and a headphone jack, among others, but it's still a great phone.

Though it's a huge phone, it's easy to get used to it. Its design makes it feel as if it's not in your (front) pocket. I love the dynamic vibration, making it feel live, rich in bass as if it has a built-in subwoofer. This phone replaced my XZ2 and that phone had 2 front speakers. I was skeptical about the one speaker front, 2nd speaker at the bottom, thinking it wouldn't seem surround sound like my XZ2. BUT IT DOES! The screen quality is superb! Compared it side by side with the iPhone 11 pro? Whatever that is. And the colors are more vibrant and look more realistic. Colors are extremely crisp and on point. I am not disappointed at all. Sony delivered way beyond. I am truly satisfied, completely blown away, and I highly recommend it!

This phone has the sharpest, most detail, and best color representation of any screen on any mobile device. It is the best display I've ever seen on a mobile device hands down. It's not even close. I had the Xperia XZ premium 4k screen, the S10+, and even got a chance to check out the P30. This phone beats them all. Regarding performance. It has less RAM than the S10+ and the Note range devices but has the same processor and GPU as all the new devices amdnitbis lightening fast. I was supposed at how fast the phone is. Sony really stripped down their OS so that you get a pretty stock Android experience which also results in less overhead to manage. It is much more responsive then my S10+. The camera is very, very good. There have been a lot of reviews knocking the camera but it has taken great picture after great picture for me. I'm fact I just got back from a trip to Europe and took photos with both my Xperia 1 and S10+ and the Xperia pictures look better. One knock is that you dont have a super zoom lens Iike onna couple new flaxships, but that's not a deal breaker for me. The bigger issue with the camera is that it is kinda slow. That's probably due to all the processing it's doing but it feels a little laggy at times. I have not used the pro mode yet and that is where the camera really shines. But as a point and shoot in auto mode it takes great pictures, Another frustration is the lack of 21X9, or lack of my ability to find that content. I have found 21X9 4K content and 21X9 HDR content but finding 21X9 4K HDR content has been more challenging. When you do find it though the picture is unreal and unmached. There are also a handful of apps that don't support 21X9 yet that I've had to make adjustments for. Like Instagram. All the top and bottom portions of my stories were being cut off after posting then. The app let me create the content ony 21x9 phone but it did not convert it for display and publishing so when people viewed it on their 16x9 phones they lost content at the top and bottom. This was frustrating at first, but I just learned to shrink it a little on my Sony so that it would fit in the 16x9 displays. Gaming is amazing on the phone. Game enhamcer is brilliant and that display just comes to life. Only issue that frustrated me is that Sony Remote play with the PS4, which is an exclusive feature with Sony devices, doesn't remder in 21X9. That was very dissapointing. Here are a lot of things that I don't like. It gets hot when recording 4K HDR video and if it gets to hot it will tell you and stop recording all together. No Headphone jack. Seriously... No wireless charging. Not a big deal, but still come on. Battery life could be better but it's not horriable. Then again I always think battery life could be better on every device. Sony battery care does a great job at prolonging the battery life so capacity should not decrease as much as other phones over time. I also wish they had more internal storage options. It has a SD card slot and the cards are getting faster but having to continuously manage content stoarge location is frustrating. Overall, this is the best phone I've ever used. No phone is Perfect this one included, but it is the best phone I've ever used hands down, no contest.