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 provided. So right here we’re with the extra inexpensive Xperia 5 V (pronounced 5 mark 5). Except it is hardly an “affordable” 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 effectively rounded, with a foolish identify, an aesthetic design, and a novel function set. It packs high-end specs and nonetheless goals squarely on the content material creator area of interest with photograph and video options that may go over most individuals’s heads. It’s behind the curve on some fronts when in comparison with equally priced Android phones, however at the very least it is a greater worth than the Xperia 1 V. It is a disgrace it is not coming to the US.

Sony Style

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 through the years. Some describe it as compact, however the Xperia 5 V is considerably heavier and taller than an iPhone 15 or Samsung Galaxy S23. It’s 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. But similar to the Xperia 1 V, there’s a 3.5-mm headphone jack up prime, the correct 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 rating to outlive submersions in water, and Sony employs Gorilla Glass Victus for the glass, making it sturdy sufficient. However, plenty of telephones at this worth have upgraded to the marginally harder Victus 2.

One of the primary downgrades from the Xperia 1 V is the show, however I don’t assume most people could have any points with this 6.1-inch OLED. The 2,520 x 1,080-pixel decision is sharp, and the display screen will get shiny sufficient to stay legible outdoor in case you keep away from direct daylight. It nonetheless has Sony’s most popular 21:9 side ratio, with room for bezels and front-facing audio system prime and backside, making it good for watching motion pictures (although you don’t get Sony’s Creator Mode for devoted coloration copy). The refresh rate is 60 Hz by default, however you’ll be able to change it to 120 Hz for a smoother expertise at the price of some battery life (it is a trade-off value 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 grievance. The Xperia 5 V will get heat throughout lengthy gaming classes or whenever you shoot video, however not worryingly so. Just 128 GB of storage is disappointing, however Sony mitigates it by together with a microSD card slot, a rarity on top-end telephones today.

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 in case you use Sony’s Stamina mode. A half-hour of charging was sufficient so as to add 50 p.c, however the Xperia 5 V took virtually two hours to completely cost, which is sort of sluggish in comparison with the competitors. Charging maxes out at 30 watts and slows down when the telephone will get heat. Thankfully, there’s help for wireless charging.

Slick Shooter

Sony’s picture sensors account for a hefty slice of the corporate’s earnings. It makes far extra money 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 powerful, 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 photograph than customary digital zoom.