Sony Xperia 1

5owners with an opinion

80%of verdicts positive

0/0positive/negative since 2024

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for ease of use and performance; criticized for display and support.

Where people moved

Came here from

Samsung Galaxy S2

What people wrote

Likes it

The "rootability" thing can be due to the own efforts from OEMs to lock their bootloaders and stuff, and electronic payments not being possible with a rooted phone - which is a major issue for places where people no longer use cash. And maybe the SD cards thing is because people just don't care anymore about running out of storage (they'd delete their stuff or store it on a cloud service somehow). One of the reasons I wanted a Sony Xperia 1ii (and could get ahold of one of them) was it, but since I do not listen to music from my phone anymore I replaced the SD card with a second SIM card. Whereas the "rootability" thing is actually great in my case, since Sony just gave two years of major Android releases to it - I can use Android 13 thanks to LineageOS and its battery life is even better than with the stock firmware. And with my previous phone, a Sony Xperia Z1, I could make it to go with me for +7 years. But yep, I do wish Android OEMs offered more major releases to their phones.

Likes it

I basically ran my Galaxy S9 into the ground before replacing it last January. I replaced it with a Xperia 1 III because I didn't see the point of paying a extra $500 to get the IV. The new phone runs noticeably smoother than the old phone, but not by a game changing amount, nor by the amount one would have come to expect from about a 5 year leap forward in technology.

Likes it

I also loved my S10e. Unfortunately the mainboard on it died few few months ago. I bought Sony Xperia 1 V to replace it. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroSD card slot. The build quality is excellent but I'm a bit worried what the software support will look like in a few years.

Doesn’t like it

Yeah, the iPhone doesn't have the best camera by any means. But having received some RAW photos from one, I feel like they at least don't look super shitty before you push them. Now, they do not compare to RAWs from my actual cameras (whether the R5 or 5Diii). But they at least might be worth looking at. The iPhone does shoot RAW, by the way: 12-bit DNG, but apparently perhaps only on the Pro models. Also, the 48MP camera of the iPhone 14 Pro (this is the model whose RAWs I viewed, but I don't own one) can produce 48MP DNGs. In good light they can look decent enough for what they are. The Pixel 6 Pro just takes smeary photos. Their NR and compression makes them look blocky like screencaps from a video. I also have used the Sony Xperia 1ii (used to own this phone for a while). This was supposedly a phone with a focus on the camera. In my experience, it looked pretty bad. The fake bokeh will get better, I'm sure, but it can never beat the real deal. Real shallow DOF already exists; sure, faking it will get closer, and that's probably enough for the average Joe, but it's not like we can't just keep using the real thing, which doesn't have the potential flaws. The thing about larger sensors, of course, is that they require lenses that project a larger image circle — and phone lenses can't really be like ILC lenses because, well, the form factors conflict. You can't stuff a 135/1.8 in your pocket; the laws of optics are what makes those lenses as big as they are.

Likes it

I was a huge Note fan, I'm using a Sony Xperia 1 III now which is not perfect but it's OK. Has a proper headphone jack at least, and the S7-style colour notification LED is really useful (although not quite as good as the S7's version).

Likes itDoesn’t say they own it

> Mobile doesn't have 4K screens . . . The Sony Xperia 1 series does (along with a headphone jack, microSD card support, notification LED, a hardware camera button, no hole in the screen for the front camera, etc.).

Likes itDoesn’t say they own it

The Sony Xperia 1 is one answer. At the time, my Nokia and LG smartphones had significantly better photo quality than the top iPhone of the time. Despite their marketing, I’ve never been aware of iPhones actually having the best image quality of smartphones. I haven’t followed the iPhone 14. Does it do something different?