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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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.