The Sony Xperia 1 Review: A 21:9 Take of the World
by Andrei Frumusanu on July 26, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Sony
- Smartphones
- Xperia 1
Battery Life - Meagre Results
Battery life results of the Xperia 1 is among one of the biggest questions for the device. With a 3330mAh battery capacity, the battery is a tad lower than what we’d find in other devices of the same device footprint this year. Sony managed to keep the size and weight of the phone in check, but it’s still quite on the lower end of capacities we’re finding on the market.
There’s also the big question of as to how then 4K resolution screen will behave. As mentioned on the previous page, the display implementation for the 4K might not be done in the most power efficient way, and the phone did showcase idle full screen black base power consumption of 538mW which is quite high compared to the ~400ish mW we saw from Samsung and OnePlus. As such, I’m heading into the battery results with a bit of pessimism as to how the Xperia 1 will end up.
Unfortunately my fears were validated and in our web browsing test the new Xperia 1 performed well short of its competition. The double-whammy of a smaller battery and more efficient screen isn’t a great combination and the device longevity visible suffers from this.
If one would simply scale up the result and normalise it for a 4000mAh battery, the phone would still largely lag behind at around 10.3h, but at least it’d be in line with other phones such as the OnePlus 7 Pro.
In PCMark the phone is also lagging behind by a tad, although the display’s inefficiencies here are less amplified as on the web browsing test.
Overall, the Xperia 1’s battery life isn’t too fantastic. It falls in line with the LG V40 which also suffered from an inefficient display, and I made the remark on that device that it was a deal-breaker, so I have to be fair and also say that it’s also a massive negative for the Xperia 1.
The display’s 4K resolution and less efficient DDIC is just a big trade-off to make, but to also have a competitively smaller battery really represents a double-negative for the phone which is very unfortunately given its price-range.
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doungmli - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
I do not think that the creator mode of x1 is supposed to respect a norm but to create a new one trying to reflect the content of the creator if the translation has been done. There was an interview about it here: https://www.phileweb.com/interview/article/201907/...vortexmak - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
I opened this article with cautious optimism. Sony trying to make a comeback, maybe they learned from their past mistakesScrolled down: No 3.5mm jack, no microSD. Never learn Sony , enjoy your fall into oblivion
No headphone jack , no microSD = no consideration.
qwertymac93 - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
The phone does have a microSD slot.khanikun - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link
I wouldn't say Sony is trying to make a comeback, they never left. It's just them combining divisions. They've been making smartphones every year.Also all their flagships have microSD slots and this one doesn't change that fact. 3.5mm jack was taken out the last generation. I wish they wouldn't have though.
Sp12er - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
Nice concise, but detailed and easy to understand review, it sums up what's the strength an weakness of the device with clear proof given, I start to like this one, IMO you did it better than Gsmarena does.So it's all software eh? Sony seems to hav tee hardware nailed on so many levels, but the software feels like it's trying to catch up, no computational imaging, weird calibration, overexcited marketing.
All overall makes it an underperforming device for the price.
But, it makes me excited for their future. I hope they'd continue add soldier on with their software, getting it closer to the standard with more time.
1_rick - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
"the screen is 6.5” in diameter"A round cell phone--that's pretty innovative! Not sure if it's a good idea, though.
qlum - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
I think we should really stop using screen diagonal for size as it really only works if aspect ratio is fixed. screen surface area would be a much better measurement.Lord of the Bored - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
Yes, but how would marketing departments make screens sound bigger than they are?kendytan - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
https://youtu.be/sJk7XeX1uJ8Please watch YouTube video on the link above 10:09 mark. Hong Kong expert tested Xperia 1 and get average 0.53 value using CalMan. Suggested white balance to achieve D65 by expert: Red 72, Green 68, Blue 0
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
He's measuring the saturation against a higher gamma target and that's why gets gets a lower dE. Furthermore he's in the standard mode.Lastly, his result are very likely wrong depending on how he measured them. The issue with the calibration is the luminance factor which is affected by APL. I measured the greyscale and saturations at APL50 window 50 to minimize the impact, and the GMB tests are done on a single static image pattern which is 100% accurate.