The chief downside I had with Sony’s flagship smartphone of 2023, the Xperia 1 V, was that it was simply too darn costly for what it supplied. So right here we’re with the extra reasonably priced Xperia 5 V (pronounced 5 mark 5). Besides it is hardly an “reasonably priced” smartphone—it nonetheless prices £850 (round $1,000), roughly £450 lower than its taller sibling.
The excellent news is that this new Sony telephone is nicely rounded, with a foolish title, an aesthetic design, and a novel characteristic set. It packs high-end specs and nonetheless goals squarely on the content material creator area of interest with picture and video options that can go over most individuals’s heads. It is behind the curve on some fronts when in comparison with equally priced Android telephones, however at the least it is a greater worth than the Xperia 1 V. It’s a disgrace it isn’t coming to the US.
Sony Model
Sony’s signature rectangular profile is a glance that dates again over a decade to its earliest Android telephones, however the Xperia vary has grown taller and slimmer over time. Some describe it as compact, however the Xperia 5 V is considerably heavier and taller than an iPhone 15 or Samsung Galaxy S23. It is simply narrower than each. That makes it simple to handle one-handed, although the keyboard can really feel cramped in portrait orientation.
This glass sandwich is available in black, blue, or platinum (grey), however the again of the Xperia 5 V is clean and matte, lacking out on the grippy texture of its costlier counterpart. However similar to the Xperia 1 V, there’s a 3.5-mm headphone jack up prime, the suitable edge hosts a quantity rocker, energy button with fingerprint sensor, and digital camera shutter button, plus there is a microSD card alongside the underside. There’s an IP65/IP68 dust- and water-resistance ranking to outlive submersions in water, and Sony employs Gorilla Glass Victus for the glass, making it sturdy sufficient. Nonetheless, lots of telephones at this value have upgraded to the marginally more durable Victus 2.
One of many major downgrades from the Xperia 1 V is the show, however I don’t assume most folk can have any points with this 6.1-inch OLED. The two,520 x 1,080-pixel decision is sharp, and the display screen will get brilliant sufficient to stay legible open air if you happen to keep away from direct daylight. It nonetheless has Sony’s most well-liked 21:9 facet ratio, with room for bezels and front-facing audio system prime and backside, making it good for watching films (although you don’t get Sony’s Creator Mode for devoted coloration replica). The refresh fee is 60 Hz by default, however you possibly can swap it to 120 Hz for a smoother expertise at the price of some battery life (it is a trade-off price making).
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor with 8 GB of RAM makes for flagship efficiency. It feels responsive, jumps out and in of apps with ease, and runs video games like Asphalt 9: Legends and Kingdom Rush Origins for hours with out criticism. The Xperia 5 V will get heat throughout lengthy gaming periods or if you shoot video, however not worryingly so. Simply 128 GB of storage is disappointing, however Sony mitigates it by together with a microSD card slot, a rarity on top-end telephones nowadays.
Battery life is a power. The 5,000-mAh cell noticed me by way of the busiest of days, and you might push to 2 days between prices if you happen to use Sony’s Stamina mode. A half-hour of charging was sufficient so as to add 50 %, however the Xperia 5 V took nearly two hours to totally cost, which is kind of gradual in comparison with the competitors. Charging maxes out at 30 watts and slows down when the telephone will get heat. Fortunately, there’s help for wi-fi charging.
Slick Shooter
Sony’s picture sensors account for a hefty slice of the corporate’s earnings. It makes far more cash by supplying digital camera sensors to different producers, together with Apple, than from gross sales of its personal Xperia vary. The digital camera system within the Xperia 5 V is robust, with the identical 52-MP major digital camera and 12-MP ultrawide, because the Xperia 1 V. It solely misses out on the telephoto lens, however Sony makes use of that major sensor to crop in and ship a good 2X zoom, producing a barely sharper picture than customary digital zoom.
