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
GPU Performance
3D performance of the Xperia 1 is dictated by both the SoC’s GPU and power efficiency, as well as the device’s thermal dissipation design. I found Sony’s design quite weird in this regard as there’s some discrepancy in terms of the resulting thermal performance. For one the SoC is seemingly located on the right next to the cameras which is by far the phone’s hottest hot-spot during heavy operation. I found that however this heat isn’t nearly as well dissipated to the whole body of the phone as other designs, and there’s a big delta between the skin temperature near the SoC and the bottom half of the phone.
In the 3DMark physics test, the CPU throttling situation was actually quite dire as the phone lost more than half of its peak performance during prolonged thermal loads, which is the worst showing of a Snapdragon 855 phone yet, at least in terms of the CPU behaviour.
However when looking at the GPU behaviour, we’re seeing the Xperia 1 not faring nearly as badly, with the phone only trailing the OnePlus 7 Pro which had exemplary throttling behaviour.
The figures continue in a similar pattern for all our other GPU-bound 3D tests, showcasing that the Xperia 1 is surprisingly able to maintain quite high GPU performance even though its thermal dissipation design isn’t the best. It’s an interesting juxtaposition between how the CPU throttles and how the GPU throttles, and it’s obvious the GPU is being given more leeway in terms of the peak temperatures it’s allowed to reach.
Overall, unless your game is quite CPU intensive, the Xperia 1 should offer still quite excellent gaming experience. It’s to be also noted that even though the device does have a 4K screen, games will be rendered at 1440p which is less demanding. Sony doesn’t offer any gaming tools which could further optimise performance or the experience – for example I think the phone would have greatly benefited from a 1080p gaming mode, however the Xperia 1 has to rely on actual games resolution scaling to further improve performance if necessary.
Another gaming aspect of the Xperia 1 that is unique to Sony’s phones is the fact that the phone out of the box supports PS4 remote play, in which your PlayStation 4 is able to stream the game to your phone. You’re also able to pair up with the DualShock 4 game controller - the combination definitely is an interesting. (Note: Yes it’s also possible to do this on non-Sony devices with a modified APK)
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kendytan - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
Oh I see...BTW the expert posted the recommended white balance setting and brightness range to achieve D65, but I found that the display become warmer after I apply this setting, for your reference: https://post76.hk/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid...mobutu - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
nahAp717 - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
You guys forget it's coming with sonys Bluetooth headphones that's worth $350. So it is better value at that price. Also how is it worse than the XS in low light?!? Are they actually looking at the pics?? Every other review has given it the cameras great reviews...just crappy clunky softwareAndrei Frumusanu - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
The headphone was a limited time offer and doesn't exist anymore.s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link
"Every other review has given it the cameras great reviews"No I think all two reviews I read (besides this one) gave it negatives.
NICOXIS - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
Playing catch up won't make it, or they'll have the same fate as HTC or Blackberry. They have to either make a huge jump over the competition or just accept defeit and become a niche brand on some Android corner.artifex - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
If it's on Android P now, for how long do they promise to give updates?Richlet - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link
I agree with 99% of this article, I just don't get the wireless charging grumpifying I keep seeing. Wireless charging seems to me to be one of the most useless "features" any phone can provide. So, to charge it, it has to stay sitting on a bed, pick it up, it stops charging. As opposed to my cord is long enough, I can have the phone in my hands and still keep it charging. *sigh*Cliff34 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
If you don't use it, it ain't useless for others. Wireless charging is great. You don't need to plug in the cable all the time. I use it whenever I can, especially when I'm at work where i need to keep the phone charge.Now I have kids, it is even more useful. Try plugging in a phone while holding a 25 Lb crying toddler and you will see the benefit of wireless charging.
Cliff34 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
One more note, all the flagship phones have wireless charging. For this phone to not have it becomes a disadvantage. Wireless charging doesn't require substantial space or cost. For a phone so expensive, it should include all the bells and whistles.