Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Sony Xperia 1 V Review”.
Foreign, this is the Sony Xperia one Mark V and if you’re saying to yourself hey this looks a lot like the Sony, Xperia one mark IV or hey. This looks a lot like the Sony, Xperia 1 Mark III – you’re right it does. In fact, it takes all the great things on those phones, like the 4K display and as a bunch of quality of life. Improvements like on the sides here, they’re ribbed, which makes it easier to grip and a bit more stylish or the back where we have Gorilla Glass, victus 2 – and it has this nice textured imprint on the back, which not only looks stylish but does this yeah. So, if anyone’s looking for a washboard player in their Jug Band, give me a call, but on the whole the Sony Xperia one Mark V is defined by the cameras. Oh the cameras, I am so incredibly impressed with these cameras.
Let’S talk all about it, foreign. Let’S start by getting all the disclaimery stuff out of the way, this is the Sony Xperia one Mark V. This is a pre-production sample that Sony lent me to test out.
I’Ve had about four days with the phone at this point when I’m recording this video. So I’m just going to focus mainly on the cameras and the improvements that come with those and do some comparison to some other phones and that’s about it. If you want to see my full written review, check out, cnet.com it’ll have battery tests and performance tests and just what it’s like to use in everyday real life. And let’s talk about the cameras and first we’re actually going to start with a photo that Tim Cook shared on Twitter of him visiting Sony in Japan.
First of all, yeah. Let’S acknowledge that Tim Cook is doing a very Vincent D’Onofrio Law and Order Titan to inspect those iPhones there, but bigger than that is the fact that apple and Sony have had a decade-long partnership. Basically, Sony supplies apple with sensors for their cameras on the iPhone and what I love about.
Xperia phones is oftentimes, we’ll see some of those sensors make their debut on the Xperia, and that brings me to the Sony Xperia one Mark V in its new sensor. Now, Hardware, wise three out of the four cameras on this phone are identical to the ones on last year’s Experian, one mark IV, that’s the same 12 megapixel selfie, camera same 12, megapixel Ultra wide camera and the same 12 megapixel. It’S insane to think that this is inside this camera telephoto camera with lens elements that actually move between 3.5 and 5 point times, magnification, just like an actual camera lens, and that brings us to the main camera.
And the big news here is: there’s a new 52 megapixel sensor. What’S unique about this sensor? Is it’s actually really wide? Most sensors are pretty squarish and we take a photo. It uses up the entire sensor, but when you take a video it crops into just the middle of the sensor to do that, 16×9 video crop and where Sony did is they’re expanding their sensor. So when you use video, it uses the whole sensor and when you take photos, it’s just cropping in on those edges, so as opposed to using 52 megapixels for photos, you’re getting a 48 megapixel photo. That’S pixel bend down to 12 megapixels that combined with faster data, readout speeds is how Sony is now leaning into computational photography, just like apple just like Google, just like Samsung. That means there’s a night mode on this phone for the very first time, and this phone should take better photos in medium and mixed lighting. You don’t have to take my word for it in fact, take a look for yourself. Thank you all right now, you might be wondering how this phone holds up against the iPhone 14 pro. Well, pretty good. Actually, now take a look at this photo. I took inside of Barbershop with the Sony notice, the window and the man who is seated pay attention to his head and neck. Now, here’s the iPhone’s photo the man’s head and neck is all in Shadow.
Now take a look at the tips sign on the table. The lettering is a little sharper in the iPhone’s photo. In fact, on the whole, the iPhone’s photo is over sharpened compared to the one from the Sony. Uh here are photos of a dog outside a skate shop.
I took these with the Sony at 3.5 times magnification and the iPhone at three times. Magnification notice, the texture on the dog’s fur and both photos is great. The Sony’s photo has the natural out of focus background of its lens, whereas the iPhone’s photo. The background is also in focus on the whole, these are both good shots, but I prefer the one for the Xperia, the dog just looks less flat and just pops out more now. Let’S add in the Samsung Galaxy s23 Ultra to the mix here are photos from each phone of a Ford Bronco at dusk. Again, all three photos look good in the Samsung picture.
Everything is just a little bit brighter and the iPhone pick. There’S more contrast and the Shadows are darker notice, the front wheel. The Sony photo lives somewhere in between Shadows, aren’t crushed, but black, but there’s still a good amount of contrast and highlights just roll off buttery smooth here are photos from all three phones of some baked eggs taken under mixed lighting. The iPhone’s photo looks over sharpened notice.
The bread and the colors are a bit muted. Also, there is daylight coming in from the side and warm lighting above and the iPhone seems to white balance, things to look more cool. The Samsung’s photo really saturates, the colors of the romesco sauce, but I think, does the best jobs in terms of color temperature. The Sony’s photos definitely skew warm and focus on the kale, as opposed to the bread, and my doctor wants me to do that.
More too ha ha, let’s go someplace really dark, like the basement bar at Smuggler’s Cove. These photos were taken with the phone’s night mode of the three. My favorite is the one from the Samsung.
Now the Sony does a good job of handling the shadows and colors, but the bartender’s movements during the capture time just makes everything look blurry and the highlights are blown. Let’S try a static subject like this tiny table of tiki drinks of the three photos. My favorite has to be either from the Sony or the Samsung.
Now the iPhone’s photo is just over sharp and also notice. The colors of the umbrella, the Sony’s photo, makes it look almost orange overall, I’m glad Sony boosted the computational photography on the Xperia and I think it’s a success in most situations. However, we also see from this test that Samsung still dominates when it comes to night mode. But let’s talk about video for a moment if my voiceover sounds a bit different, I’m using the Sony Xperia 1 Mark 5 and the music Pro app to record this section.
Now, let’s take a look at a couple: videos, the first one is recorded by the Sony and it’s inside a stairwell at a mall, and the first thing I notice is the lack of dynamic range. The entire stairwell, which is lit by sunlight, is blown out. All the highlights are blown to White and the shadows and stuff. It just looks very muddy and here’s the iPhone version and immediately you see what all that Apple processing does there’s a wider dynamic range. It is a little over sharp, but everything looks clean and clear. All right here are two videos. This first one is with the iPhone and before I zoom in, I think the video has really good image quality, but, as I zoom you can see that digital Zoom, just things, are degrading becoming more contrasty and more noisy. Now, with the Sony, I think this General shot looks good, but as soon as I start to zoom in it’s a it holds the image a little bit better, but that to be expected because it has a dedicated telephoto lens that moves [ Applause ].
At the end of four days, what are my thoughts about this phone overall, I’m just so happy that Sony added computational photography to the Xperia. I think in most situations it’s a success. The next thing. Well, we’re reminded how Samsung is still dominant when it comes to night mode and then there’s one more detail.
That’S going to put all this in perspective for you, the Sony Xperia 1 Mark 5 costs fourteen hundred dollars. That’S a lot of money. The iPhone 14 Pro cost a thousand dollars the Samsung Galaxy s23 Ultra costs twelve hundred dollars this phone costs. Fourteen hundred dollars do I want to buy it for fourteen hundred dollars. Personally, I think no, but there are other people who this might be perfect, for, in fact, if you’re one of those people considering this phone know that Sony does have a pre-order deal that when you buy this phone, you’ll get a free pair of Sony headphones.
So that does ease the sting a bit, but now I want to hear from you guys what do you think about the Sony Xperia one Mark V? Do you think the computational photography brings this up to the level of apple and its iPhone or Samsung and its Galaxy Ultra Series? Let me know in the comments .