Sony Xperia 5 V review: Should you buy it?

In case you’re longing to get your palms on Sony’s finest cellular know-how however wince at Xperia 1 pricing, you’ll undoubtedly have an interest within the new Sony Xperia 5 V. Nevertheless, has Sony made simply the fitting nips and tucks to maintain its extra reasonably priced flagship aggressive with the very best Android telephones?

Followers of Sony’s formulation will really feel proper at residence with the Xperia 5 V. It nonetheless refuses to bow to conference, boasting a headphone jack, expandable microSD storage for as much as 1TB more room, and a stable sufficient side-mounted fingerprint scanner that you just’ll seldom discover elsewhere. Sony has tweaked the cellphone’s look with a brand new twin digicam housing, however the metallic and glass cuboid is unmistakably Xperia. As is the light-weight Android 13 interface and the suite of pro-grade Digicam, Cinema, and Video Professional apps. However reality be advised, you’ve seen this formulation earlier than, and after reviewing a number of generations of Xperia telephones, a way of déjà vu was unavoidable.

So what’s new? Properly, Sony is doubling down on the content material creator/shopper angle. The brand new Video Creator app can rapidly compile your footage into quick spotlight movies and provides strong adjustment instruments when you dive in additional. However the auto-generated music is corny, and this isn’t a substitute on your laptop computer enhancing suite. Recreation Enhancer has a extra colourful UI and now boasts direct-to-YouTube streaming. You additionally obtain Bravia Core for Xperia, which is nice for 5 film titles and one 12 months of limitless streaming. Good additions, however, in typical Sony vogue, these will attraction to niches moderately than the mainstream.

Sony’s {hardware} is normally the extra spectacular side of the Xperia line-up, and there are some new tips right here. For starters, the improved amplifier within the front-facing stereo audio system impressed me, identical to it did on the Xperia 1 V.

A 5,000mAh battery in a cellphone this compact is an much more spectacular feat and lends itself to all-day battery life and extra. Our testing factors to over 15 hours of net searching, 22 hours of video streaming, and over three hours of maximum gaming as a worst-case state of affairs. The underside line, the Xperia 5 V will take you thru all of your wants on a single cost, which is nice information as a result of it takes a painful 96 minutes to fill the Xperia 5 V from empty.

Sluggish charging partially outcomes from excessive temperatures, inflicting Sony to throttle again on the already low 24W peak charging fee after simply quarter-hour. A symptom that additionally impacts the cellphone’s sustained efficiency below stress. Whereas greater than acceptable for each day duties and lighter video games, the cellphone hits an uncomfortably heat 44.8°C throughout longer classes taking part in the most recent high-end video games. Nonetheless, the cellphone performs in the identical profile as its bigger sibling and higher than another Android flagships, owing to an improved cooling resolution, but it surely’s not an extreme-performance gaming handset.

The Xperia 5 V doesn’t nail every part, and in some regards, this era looks like a step backward. For starters, you’d affiliate the chunky bezels with finances Android telephones of yore. The look diminishes the in any other case premium really feel we’ve come to affiliate with earlier fashions. Worse, it makes the already slim 21:9 OLED display (which remains to be locked to both 120Hz or 60Hz default, with no dynamic changes) really feel awkwardly cramped, like peering by way of an airplane window.

Subsequent, the telephoto digicam is gone. Sony has regularly gutted the Xperia 5 sequence’ long-range digicam capabilities, from a cutting-edge 2.9x to 4.4x variable focal size digicam within the Xperia 5 III to a set 2.5x zoom within the 5 IV. However with no zoom lens in any respect on the 5 V, the cellphone additionally lacks a correct portrait focal size, betraying the Xperia’s long-running pictures focus and instantly placing it behind the perfect digicam telephones.

Instead, Sony makes use of a 2x crop from the first digicam’s 48MP decision to supply a 12MP snap (identical to the most recent iPhone and Pixel). Nevertheless, that image nonetheless has a 24mm focal size (not 48mm), and the pictures, whereas vibrant, lack the sharpness of an optical zoom. The digicam can also be capped at a 6x max zoom, but it surely appears to be like terrible, with 3x being its sensible restrict.

Fortunately, the brand new Exmor-T stacked picture sensor appears to be like nice for traditional snaps and holds up fairly OK in dim mild, too. Colours are punchy, eye AF and monitoring assist preserve every part in focus, and the primary and ultrawide cameras deal with HDR situations a lot better than in earlier years, though the ultrawide isn’t fairly as persistently good.

The selfie digicam can also be a lot punchy and provides good trying bokeh blur with stable edge detection, however the smaller sensor struggles in low mild. On the entire, Sony has dialed issues up simply sufficient right here to make the images stand out with out going overboard. Ditto for video, which appears to be like wonderful in flavors as much as 4K 120fps.

In case you don’t just like the look, you may tweak to your coronary heart’s content material with Picture Professional and Video Professional’s intensive handbook controls and/or go for considered one of Sony’s six shade profile presets. In the fitting palms, the Xperia 5 V is as versatile as the very best within the enterprise. Nevertheless, this isn’t fairly a best-in-class digicam setup with out long-range capabilities.

Likewise, simply two years of Android updates is one other letdown. Apple, Samsung, and Google provide 4 or extra years of OS upgrades for a similar value, with the latter anticipated to push that to a whopping seven years with the Pixel 8. Regardless of the Xperia 5 V’s multimedia strengths, there are one too many trade-offs that definitely make trying out the competitors worthwhile.

Sony’s Xperia 5 V comes up in opposition to stiff competitors within the entry-level flagship phase. All the key manufacturers do an ideal job distilling stable flagship specs right into a extra reasonably priced kind issue, however whether or not they’re higher than the Xperia boils down to precisely what you’re in search of.

• Samsung Galaxy S23 ($799 at Amazon): Arguably the handset to beat on this value bracket, Samsung’s Galaxy S23 is a formidable piece of equipment. Its triple digicam array, 120Hz LTPO show, and long-term replace coverage transcend Sony’s mannequin. Not forgetting that the cellphone matches the water resistance and wi-fi charging specs, too. Nevertheless, Samsung doesn’t provide a headphone jack or expandable storage.
• Google Pixel 7 Professional ($589.98 at Amazon): In case you’re in search of a sturdy digicam expertise, you may’t go mistaken with Google’s Pixel 7 Professional, which boasts 5x optical zoom capabilities, nice low-light snaps, and Google Pictures enhancing chops. Plus, the cellphone will see 5 years of assist, which we are able to’t say for the Xperia. Though, at this level, it’s most likely value ready to see what the Pixel 8 Professional has in retailer.
• Apple iPhone 15 ($799 at Apple): At this value level, it will be impolite to not point out Apple’s newest entry-level flagship. The iPhone 15 is compact like Sony’s flagship and delivers comparably on the pictures and videography fronts. A sturdy construct, MagSafe wi-fi charging, and long-term replace assist make this a superb different. Offering you’re completely happy to maneuver to iOS and may reside with out Sony’s further ports.