The Sony line of Xperia smartphones is nothing brand new. But Sony is adding to the line of Xperia smartphones this year at MWC 2019 with some interesting devices. The Xperia 1, Xperia 10, and the Xperia 10 Plus are Sony’s 2019 mobile offerings.
The company says they are establishing a new “vision” for the Xperia line, which is a long time coming. Many users have complained about the lack of innovation or movement in design from Sony when it comes to their smartphones.
“We have established a new vision for our Xperia™ brand, which is to bring our customers experiences beyond imagination. We are continuing to push the boundaries in pursuit of innovation, and our new Xperia 1 delivers genuine technological advancements with a multitude of professional-grade features for creative entertainment experiences that are only possible with Sony.”
Mitsuya Kishida, President of Sony Mobile Communications
Xperia 1
The flagship Sony Xperia 1 sports a 6.5″ CinemaWide 4K HDR OLED display which has a 21:9 aspect ratio. Of course, since this is an OLED Sony panel, we expect color reproduction to be amazing.
The panel uses Sony’s BRAVIA TV technology and what the company calls its X1 mobile engine. The X1 mobile engine is supposed to bring more contrast, color, and clarity to the OLED display. The display also supports 10-bit tonal gradation and wide color space ITU-R BT.2020, as well as DCI-P3 with Illuminant D65 and is covered by Gorilla Glass 6.
The Xperia 1 also sports a triple lens camera (12MP) with a 16mm for wide landscapes, a versatile 26mm lens, and a 52mm lens telephoto shooting (35mm equiv.). Sony says they packed in some of the technology from its Alpha line of cameras which they are calling BIONZ X for mobile.
The cameras offer up the world’s first Eye Auto Focus in a smartphone. The camera also delivers continuous burst shooting with up to 10 fps AF/AE tracking. Sony also says you can capture better low light images with the F1.6 lens and large pixel pitch 1.4μm Dual Photo Diode image sensor.
Xperia 1 takes motion pictures to the next level via the developer’s collaboration with engineers from Sony’s professional digital cinema camera division, known for its CineAlta brand and for its Full Frame digital cinematography camera “VENICE”. You can shoot with natural cinematic tone and further apply expression-based color management pre-sets with the new Cinema Pro feature. Create the intended mood from a total of eight different expressions to turn your clips into cinematic stories. All of this can be shot in 4K HDR at 24 frames per second (fps) in 21:9 format.
Xperia 1 also lets you grab a 21:9 still image off the live view or recorded clips, with or without the “Look” color management pre-sets. The unique hybrid stabilization system runs Optical SteadyShot™ with a unique algorithm to ensure smooth and shake-free recording.
Sony Press Release
The Xperia 1 also has Dolby Atmos sound built-in and the company says they have enhanced the gaming experience on mobile. Gaming is improved by offering a deeper unrestricted field-of-view of gameplay, while the Game Enhancer optimizes the performance and blocks unwanted notifications, as well as enables you to record gameplay and find game tips online.
As for performance, the Xperia 1 is rocking the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon Elite Gaming for handling processor-intensive apps and games. As for RAM, you can expect a healthy 6GB of RAM as well as Android 9.0. The battery sits at 3,330 mAh, which isn’t too bad but still a bit behind some of the competition. Sony says its battery has what the call Smart Stamina, Battery Care, and Xperia Adaptive Charging.
Rounding out the Xperia smartphones at MWC 2019
Additional features include:
- 21:9 Movie recording in 4K allows you to shoot videos with Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus in the same aspect ratio used by filmmakers. Plus, the multi-aspect ratio lets you choose the ideal image size – for example, choose 21:9 to fill the screen or 1:1 for the perfect Instagram post.
- Dual cameras on both Xperia 10 (13MP+5MP) and Xperia 10 Plus (12MP+8MP) enable you to capture high-quality images with artistic Bokeh effect. Both the main and front cameras feature SteadyShot™ to capture blur-free videos. Exclusive to Xperia 10 Plus, 2X optical zoom* lets you get closer to the action.
- Advanced audio technology with Sony’s High-Resolution Audio and LDAC™, so you can hear music in its purest and truest form even if you’re listening wirelessly. Also includes Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE HX™) which automatically upscales compressed sound files to near high-resolution sound quality
- Xperia 10 features a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 630 Mobile Platform, designed to produce amazing graphics, advanced multimedia experiences, and longlasting battery life (with a 2870mAh battery). Xperia 10 Plus features a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 636 Mobile Platform, bringing impressive performance, outstanding image quality, and long-lasting battery life (with a 3000mAh battery).
The Xperia 1 comes in Black, Purple, Gray, and White (only Black and Purple available in
The Xperia 10 (MSRP US$349.99) and Xperia 10 Plus (MSRP US$429.99) come in Black, Silver Navy, Pink (Xperia 10 only) and Gold (Xperia 10 Plus only), with Black and Silver available only in the U.S. Both the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus launch on Android 9.0 Pie in the U.S. from March 18, 2019.
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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
