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Mini Review – Sony Xperia 1
So after a few days with the phone I thought I would do a fuller review.
Design:
Since this is my first large phone I have to say I’m quite happy with the overall design. The narrow aspect and rounded edges makes holding this phone really easy. Being light weight helps a lot too. I find the placement of the camera lens good and I’m less likely to smear them with my finger as I used to with my XZ.
The right side of the phone is typical Sony for those who’ve had one in the past. Camera button on the bottom, power button and fingerprint scanner middle and volume at the top end.
The fingerprint scanner is way too sensitive. I know I mentioned this before but I’d like to say it’s slightly annoying as it registers false touches in your pocket. I do miss having the power button and scanner in one.
I have pretty large hands but I have to use two hands to use this phone sometimes and I don’t mind really.
The screen is very nice indeed. Though I did have some issues with looking at it outside in bright sunlight. I don’t have it cranked up to 4K but that’s not required for everyday use.
I haven’t tried this out on a full day so cannot say much about the battery at this stage. It seems to be good so far.
Software:
As I haven’t used Android 9 before this I do find the gestures a bit new and different. I’m getting used to them but I can’t say I like them.
Sony’s additions to the software have been a bit annoying, even when I turned them off.
For example, it keeps asking me if I want to turn on side sense, camera burst and dynamic vibration. My assumption is that if I’m turning them off I want them off. So stop asking me!
Other than that this is pretty much stock Android and I’m happy with that.
Camera:
So far I’ve only used the auto settings for the camera and I’ve been taking pictures in tricky situations. In general, I’m quite happy with the depth of field the camera delivers. The pictures may be true to life but I find they turn out a bit dark and I have to do some editing to bring out features more. This is a lighting issue and can be overcome with using the manual mode but goes to show the auto setting is good but not great.
I do wish the tap point for switching between cameras was either larger or somewhere else in the app. I keep missing it. It's currently located on the view screen which when missed changes your focus.
HDR is not available in auto mode either.
The maximum resolution can only be used in 4:3 which I find a bit odd but that’s typical of Sony.
I like the wide angle lens but I find that having to use another app to get rid of the fish-eye affect somewhat annoying. It’s something I’m still trying to do correctly using Snapseed. Any suggestions for apps would be nice.
I haven’t used the telephoto lens much but what I did take I was happy with.
Last bit is the lack of being able to save RAW images. Not entirely sure why Sony hasn’t done this but apparently using Open Camera (planning to try this) will allow RAW image capture.
I’m still getting used to the cameras and hope to take more shots in the future to keep testing things. I plan to get into the manual settings more.
Video:
Not usually something I use that often but since Sony included the Cinema Pro app it would be silly not to have a go.
This is a bit complicated and it takes some time to get used to how this app works. At least for me. It’s got some nice features and I hope to take some more videos which I’ll share once I get my head around things more. It’s a neat app though.
Overall:
I’m happy with the phone overall. I like the size, shape and overall use. I can’t complain too much.
I do hope Sony makes some changes to the camera software in the future but probably won’t happen.
I give the phone a 4.5/5 for the improvements over the XZ but it’s not perfect.