The Sony Xperia 5 V is a compact and highly effective smartphone that gives a cinematic expertise with its 21:9 facet ratio, a professional-grade digicam with its Photograph Professional and Cinema Professional apps, and a clean and vibrant show with its 120Hz refresh charge and HDR10+ assist.
The cellphone is a good alternative for film and gaming fanatics, in addition to anybody who appreciates a compact and highly effective machine.
Design
The Sony Xperia 5 V has a steel and glass physique, with a twin digicam module on the again and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
It additionally retains the three.5mm headphone jack and the microSD card slot, each uncommon – and welcome – options in at the moment’s flagships.
The cellphone is IP65/68 rated for water and dirt resistance, which provides to its sturdiness. Nevertheless, the cellphone additionally has some potential drawbacks when it comes to design.
The cellphone has thick bezels on the highest and backside of the display screen, which make it look a bit of boxy in comparison with different telephones with razor-thin dimensions and notch or punch-hole shows to accommodate the front-facing digicam.
The cellphone can also be fairly chunky, measuring 9.3mm in thickness and weighing 183g.
The cellphone’s elongated form might not be comfy for everybody to carry or use with one hand, however the matte rear makes this cellphone lots much less vulnerable to slips than the latest Xperia 1 V.
The cellphone makes use of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back and front, which incorporates a mean of twenty-two% pre-consumer recycled supplies, whereas sustaining superior scratch resistance and improved drop safety on rougher surfaces.
Display screen and audio
The Sony Xperia 5 V has a 6.1-inch OLED show with a decision of 2520 x 1080 pixels, which interprets to a pixel density of 449ppi – smaller however nonetheless spectacular versus the Xperia 1 V.
The display screen helps HDR10+ and has a refresh charge of 120Hz, making for clean and vibrant visuals.
The display screen additionally homes some bespoke options to reinforce the viewing expertise, resembling Sony’s Creator Mode, which adjusts the colour settings in keeping with the content material, and Video Picture Optimization, which improves the distinction and sharpness of movies.
The display screen additionally has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 safety, which makes it immune to scratches and drops.
The display screen’s brightness will not be significantly excessive nevertheless – particularly in outside situations – which makes it a bit of tougher to view in direct daylight.
The display screen additionally has a blue tint when seen from sure angles, which impacts shade accuracy. The display screen’s decision can also be a tad decrease than a few of its opponents, which have QHD or greater shows, however greater than adequate for consumption of content material.
The Sony Xperia 5 V has booming stereo audio system on the highest and backside of the cellphone, which produce loud and clear sound. The Xperia 5 V’s audio system additionally assist Dolby Atmos and DSEE Final applied sciences, additional enhancing sound high quality and element.
The audio system even have a Dynamic Vibration System, which provides haptic suggestions to the audio output – barely gimmicky on first use, however quick turns into an sudden enhancement to watching films and video.
Shoutout to the three.5mm headphone jack as soon as once more, which makes connecting wired headphones a breeze.
The cellphone additionally helps LDAC and aptX HD codecs, which enhance the wi-fi audio high quality to studio ranges for these in search of the very best quality aural expertise.
Interface and working system
The Sony Xperia 5 V runs on Android 13 out of the field, with Sony’s customized interface sprinkled on prime. The interface is light-weight and minimalist, with none bloatware or adverts.
The interface additionally presents some helpful options, resembling Facet Sense, which permits customers to entry shortcuts and apps by tapping or swiping on the sting of the display screen; Recreation Enhancer, which optimizes the efficiency and settings for gaming; Video Creator, which helps customers edit and share their movies; Bravia Core for Xperia, which presents entry to Sony’s streaming service; and Sony’s incredible Cinema Professional, Photograph Professional, and Video Professional apps, which give professional-grade controls for capturing pictures and movies.
Nevertheless, the interface additionally has some issues that might profit from refinement. The interface lacks some customization choices, resembling altering the icon form or dimension by default, or making use of customized themes or fonts.
The interface additionally has some bugs and glitches that have an effect on the soundness and efficiency of the cellphone.
The interface additionally has a weak replace coverage, as Sony solely ensures two years of Android OS updates and three years of safety patches for its telephones, whereas Samsung presents 4 years of safety patches and three years of Android OS updates for its flagships.
Which means that the Sony Xperia 5 V might not obtain any new options or safety enhancements after Android 15, which can have an effect on its longevity and usefulness.
Storage and reminiscence
The Sony Xperia 5 V comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of inner storage as commonplace. That is sufficient for many customers to run a number of apps easily and retailer their pictures, movies, music, video games, and different information.
Nevertheless, some customers might discover this storage capability inadequate for his or her wants, particularly in the event that they seize plenty of high-resolution pictures and movies, or obtain plenty of massive apps and video games.
The cellphone does have a microSD card slot, which permits customers to develop the storage as much as 1TB, however this might not be as quick or dependable as the interior storage.
Processor and efficiency
The Sony Xperia 5 V is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which is without doubt one of the strongest chipsets out there.
The processor has an octa-core CPU with a clock pace of as much as 2.94GHz, and an Adreno 740 GPU for graphics.
The processor additionally helps 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and GPS. The processor delivers glorious efficiency in each day duties, resembling shopping, messaging, social media, streaming, and productiveness.
The processor additionally handles gaming very effectively, as it will possibly run most video games at excessive settings and body charges with none lag or stutter.
The processor generates plenty of warmth when underneath heavy load, which makes the cellphone uncomfortable to carry and will trigger thermal throttling. The processor additionally consumes plenty of battery energy, which reduces the battery lifetime of the cellphone.
Digicam and video high quality
The Sony Xperia 5 V has a twin digicam system on the again, consisting of a 12MP most important digicam with an f/1.7 aperture, optical picture stabilization (OIS), and twin pixel section detection autofocus (PDAF); and a 12MP ultra-wide digicam with an f/2.2 aperture and a 124-degree subject of view.
The cellphone doesn’t have a telephoto digicam, in contrast to its predecessor or its flagship counterpart. The cellphone additionally has an 8MP selfie digicam with an f/2.0 aperture on the entrance. The cellphone’s most important digicam is its spotlight, because it produces beautiful pictures with glorious element, dynamic vary, shade accuracy, and low-light efficiency.
The principle digicam additionally helps varied modes and options, resembling HDR, Night time Mode, Portrait Mode, Panorama Mode, Guide Mode, and AI Scene Recognition. The principle digicam additionally helps video recording as much as 4K decision at 60fps or Full HD decision at 120fps, with OIS and EIS for stabilization.
The principle digicam additionally presents professional-grade controls for video recording by means of the Cinema Professional app, which permits customers to regulate the publicity, white stability, focus, shutter pace, ISO, shade profile, and facet ratio.
Nevertheless, the cellphone’s different cameras are usually not as spectacular as the principle digicam. The ultra-wide digicam suffers from distortion on the edges, noise in low-light situations, and lack of autofocus or stabilization.
The ultra-wide digicam additionally doesn’t assist video recording above Full HD decision at 30fps. The selfie digicam is first rate for informal selfies and video calls, however it lacks element and dynamic vary in comparison with the principle digicam. The selfie digicam additionally doesn’t assist HDR or Night time Mode.
Battery life
The Sony Xperia 5 V has a 4,000mAh battery that helps quick charging as much as 30W with the included charger. The battery lifetime of the cellphone is first rate sufficient to final by means of a day of average utilization with some juice left over.
The cellphone can deal with duties resembling shopping, messaging, social media, streaming, and productiveness with out draining an excessive amount of battery energy.
Nevertheless, the battery lifetime of the cellphone will not be very spectacular in comparison with a few of its opponents, which have bigger batteries or extra environment friendly processors.
The cellphone’s battery life additionally suffers when utilizing the 120Hz refresh charge, 5G connectivity, or gaming, which eat plenty of energy.
The cellphone doesn’t assist wi-fi charging or reverse wi-fi charging, that are handy options which can be accessible in another flagships.
UK pricing
The Sony Xperia 5 V is priced at £849 within the UK, which is correct up there with flagship rivals such because the Samsung Galaxy S23 and a shade greater (£50) than the bottom mannequin of iPhone 15, regardless of an identical quantity of reminiscence.
The cellphone presents plenty of worth for its value nevertheless, boasting a robust processor, a surprising most important digicam, a clean OLED show, and a compact design.
Closing verdict
The Sony Xperia 5 V is a compact and highly effective smartphone that gives a cinematic expertise with its 21:9 facet ratio, a professional-grade digicam with its Photograph Professional and Cinema Professional apps, and a clean and vibrant show with its 120Hz refresh charge and HDR10+ assist.
The cellphone additionally runs on Android 13 with a minimalist interface that has some helpful options from Sony, resembling Bravia Core for Xperia, Recreation Enhancer, and Video Creator.
Nevertheless, the cellphone additionally has some drawbacks, resembling thick bezels, a chunky physique, a weak ultra-wide digicam, and no wi-fi charging.
The cellphone is priced at £849 within the UK, which is affordable for its high quality and worth, however it additionally faces some competitors from cheaper, equally specced options.
The cellphone additionally has a shorter replace coverage, as Sony solely ensures two years of Android OS updates and three years of safety patches for its telephones, whereas Samsung presents 4 years of safety patches and three years of Android OS updates for its flagships.
In abstract, the Sony Xperia 5 V is a good alternative for film and gaming fanatics, in addition to anybody who appreciates a compact and highly effective machine.
