Sony announced the Sony Xperia 1 V exactly one year to the day after the Xperia 1 IV, updating its high-end camera-centric smartphone with new lens technology.
The Xperia 1 V (that’s “one point five”) has a new image sensor compared to the previous generation which Sony calls its Exmor T for Mobile.
The company, which also produces a range of popular cameras, said this sensor has improved low-light photography – but it’s not the 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor used in recent camera systems on the Oppo. Find X6 Pro and the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.
It’s a bit strange that Sony decided not to use its excellent sensor in its latest flagship phone.
Despite that, there’s a ton of cool tech in the Sony Xperia 1V, which seems like a pro photographer’s dream device.
Sony also announced a mid-range phone, the Xperia 10 IV. Here’s everything you need to know.
When will the Sony Xperia 1 V be released?
We only know the UK release date at the time of writing, which is June 29, 2023. We will add worldwide availability to this article soon.
How much will the Sony Xperia 1 V cost?
Sony claims the Xperia 1V will cost “around £1,299” in an official statement, which is oddly vague for a product that will go on sale soon.
Regardless of the actual figure, it’s still an expensive phone. The Sony Xperia 1 IV costs $1,599 / £1,299 at launch, so we imagine a US price will be similar – again, we’ll update this page when we know the full global price.
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What are the specifications and features of the Sony Xperia 1 V?
The main new feature of the Sony Xperia 1 V and the main different specification compared to the Xperia 1 IV is its new Exmor T for Mobile image sensor for the main lens of its camera system.
Sony used a 52Mp sensor using a 48Mp section. The shots are then reduced in pixels from 48Mp to 12Mp for the final image, a technique used by many phones in automatic mode, including the iPhone 14 Pro.
This megapixel count and sensor size is an upgrade from the Xperia 1 IV’s main 12Mp sensor.
“Thanks to the combination of low-light performance, which is approximately double that of the previous model, and the high-speed multi-frame overlay technology of the Xperia 1 V, it is possible to take a noise-resistant photo with a wider dynamic range equivalent to a full-frame camera,” Sony said in a press release.
True to its imaging roots, Sony also insists on referring to the camera by its focal length. So the 52MP prime lens is 24mm, the 12MP ultrawide is 16mm, and the 12MP optical telephoto is 85-125mm and physically shifts like the Xperia 1 IV.
I’m somewhat reminiscent of the 1 IV because a lot is the same – Sony said at a press conference that the display is exactly the same on the 1 V as it was on the previous model, meaning it’s not no longer an LTPO filter. That means it can’t bring the refresh rate down to 1Hz like some of the best phones out there, but can only be set to 60Hz or 120Hz.
There is, however, a nice chipset upgrade with Qualcomm’s superlative Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The chip has proven to be much more power efficient in phones such as the OnePlus 11 and Galaxy S23 Ultra, and we’re eager to see if that fixes the problem. overheating issues that affected the Xperia 1 IV and Xperia 5 IV that used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 too hot.
You also get a big 5000mAh battery, but it only charges at 30W, which I won’t call fast charging. 15W wireless charging is here too.
The design of the phone looks similar from the front, but the back looks welcome even with subtle changes. The back is now covered with tiny dimples for a grip that doesn’t look like glass, but is. I already liked the matte finish of recent Xperia phones, but this could be even better.
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Not only will it surely avoid fingerprints, but in black it also snuggles up against the aesthetics of Sony’s Alpha cameras. Given the manual and professional leanings of the Xperia 1 range, it’s no surprise: Sony places great importance on the fact that the camera app now displays its user interface in portrait orientation. This is something every other phone on the market does! But maybe that’s unusual for professional photographers.
There are some niche tricks but very useful if you have an Alpha camera and get the Xperia 1 V. You can use the phone as a monitor and record directly to its 256GB storage but using the Alpha camera to capture the scene. Clever.
Throw in front-facing stereo speakers, a real rarity these days, plus some really good photo, video and music recording apps and this might just be the phone for you. The pro video app has a new focus on vlogging with new features for live streaming and interacting with viewers and subscribers in real time.
Sony hasn’t confirmed how long software support for the Xperia 1 V will last, but its latest $1,599/£1,299 phone, the Xperia 1 IV, was only promised for two years. That’s behind Google’s three with five years of security updates, and Samsung and OnePlus’ four with five years of security. That’s not good enough from Sony, and I hope it has improved support for the new phone.
Here are the full specs of the phone:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- 6.5-inch 120Hz 4K HDR OLED display
- 240Hz touch sampling rate
- Gorilla Glass 2
- 12 GB RAM
- 256 GB of storage
- IP65/68
- 30W load
- 15W wireless charging
- 5000mAh battery
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Hi-Res Audio
- Black, silver, green
What about the Sony Xperia 10V?
Sony also today announced the Xperia 10 V, the sequel to, you guessed it, the Xperia 10 IV, which as of May 2023 sits at the top of our best battery life chart. This thing just wouldn’t die.
The new Xperia 10V looks great from the spec sheet. There you have it, with Sony curiously omitting the MP count for the triple cameras:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
- 6.1 inch OLED screen
- Gorilla Glass Diet
- 6 GB of RAM
- 128 GB of storage (microSD up to 1 TB)
- IP65/68
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Hi-Res Audio
- Black, white, green, lavender
It’s great to see hi-res audio support on a phone like this, especially as Sony sells it in the UK for £399.
It should be on sale in mid-June. Worldwide availability and pricing has yet to be announced.
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