Sony’s most recent flagship, the Xperia 1, now has a smaller, sleeker, more affordable sibling. It’s called the Sony Xperia 5. The Xperia 1 looked different from the competition thanks to a super-long form factor and a 21:9 full widescreen display. That screen was super-high resolution, 4K in fact, but the Xperia 5 display is Full HD instead. That change in display size and resolution is one of the few changes between the old and new phones: in most other respects, including the camera, the Xperia 5 boasts similar specs to the larger flagship.
Sony has done this before: where other manufacturers would churn out compact versions of its flagships with heavily compromised specs in the smaller model, Sony consistently delivered pocketable phones which still included almost all of the features of the bigger phone, so the premium effect remained intact.
In fact, this time, Sony has built on the capabilities of the Sony Xperia 1 and added new features that the 1 doesn’t have – though I’m told that they will be introduced on the Xperia 1 as well in due course.
Here are all the details for the new phone.
Size and design
Like the Xperia 1, the Xperia 5 has a noticeably longer display than almost all rivals. It means the display has a 21:9 ratio display, great for watching a widescreen movie, especially since the Xperia 5 has no notch onscreen. The phone has a 6.1in Full HD display, so while it’s smaller than the Xperia 1with its 6.5in screen, it’s still plenty big enough for video playback.
Audio includes Dolby Atmos for headphones and the phone’s built-in stereo speakers.
The phone looks great, with the same striking design language as the bigger model but still being completely different. It’s slim enough to fit smaller hands well and feels great in the hand.
Cameras
The triple-lens camera from the Xperia 1 has been perfectly transposed onto this phone, with the three sensors sitting, as before, in a vertical line on the back of the phone. This time, though, the cameras sit at the side rather than the middle of the handset.
Other than that, it’s exactly the same, including the Eye Autofocus feature introduced on the Xperia 1, with new features including continuous burst shooting at speeds up to 10 frames per second and faster calculations than before. There’s also photography advice, giving tips such as “You finger’s in front of the lens, you idiot.” Okay, it doesn’t use those words exactly, but that’s what it’s there for, to let you know if someone’s got their eyes shut, for instance.
Features
Gaming was a big part of the Xperia 1 and here there are new features such as the capability to record your gameplay or synthesize your in-game voice using the game enhancer’s voice-changer. Compatibility with Sony PlayStation controllers adds to the gaming experience.
There’s “smart connectivity” which analyzes wi-fi signals to try and anticipate issues, switching automatically to 4G when it detects something iffy in the wi-fi.
The 3,140 mAh battery should be enough to last all day and offers fast charging.
Why Xperia 5?
A word on the naming, for those expecting the Sony Xperia 2, or something. This is a premium phone at a less than flagship price. So, Sony has placed the numbering halfway between the top-end Xperia 1 and the Xperia 10, a decent phone which sits in the upper part of mid-range.
Pre-orders for the phone, which ships with Android 9, being in days and the phone goes on sale in October – October 4 in the U.K., for instance. Pricing is set to be significantly lower than the Xperia 1 for, frankly, almost as capable a phone.
