Sony Xperia 1 V review: Good flagship without a purchase recommendation
A TEST REPORT from Fabian Menzel 
on February 26, 2024, 7:50 | Write a comment
After we last looked at this Xperia 5V have examined in a detailed test report, let's now take a closer look at its bigger brother - the Sony Xperia 1 V.
In addition to the size, the design and the camera system differ greatly from the Xperia 5. You can read here whether these differences are enough to make you choose the Sony short test.
Jump to section
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia 1 V is a very good smartphone with a great display, excellent performance, long battery life and good stereo speakers, but I can hardly recommend it at this point. In my opinion, there are currently alternatives with a better zoom camera, thinner display bezels and faster fast charging for around 1.000 euros. In addition, the successor – the Sony Xperia 1 VI – will probably be presented soon. I would therefore advise all potential buyers to wait for the successor, look at the competition or choose something cheaper Sony Xperia 5V with better battery life.
Buy Sony Xperia 1V
Design and display
The Sony Xperia 1 V is a large smartphone that is not suitable in every situation procan be easily operated with one hand. Nevertheless, I like the form factor quite a bit, because Sony is once again using an elongated aspect ratio of 21:9, which makes it easier to use with one hand than similarly sized smartphones with 19:9 or 20:9 aspect ratios. It also weighs only 187 grams and at 8,3 millimeters is neither particularly thin nor thick.
Both the front and the frame have a special structure that not only looks cool, but also contributes to pleasant handling. Although I find that the Xperia 1 V feels quite angular in the hand, it is nowhere near as bad as its smaller brother - the Sony In my opinion, the power button is located far too far down and doesn't have a particularly good pressure point. It sometimes happened to me that I pressed the volume up/down button instead of the power button, because it should actually be where the volume up/down button is. However, since the smartphone is so long and the buttons are higher than on the Sony Xperia 5 V, I don't think it's quite as bad with the 5 V.
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
The front features a 6,1-inch OLED display surrounded by fairly thick bezels. Sony uses the space for good stereo speakers, but 99 percent of competitors in this price range show that smartphones can have both thin display bezels and good stereo speakers. The Xperia 1 V simply looks old-fashioned.
At least the quality of the screen is very good. Sony has finally managed to get the maximum brightness under control, because that was always a big problem with Sony flagships in the past. It is not as bright as the current iPhones or the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but even on sunny days the panel can be read without any problems. The sharpness of 3.840 x 1.644 pixels is terrific, colors are reproduced beautifully and naturally, the viewing angle stability is solid and the smooth refresh rate of 120 Hertz rounds off the great display quality.
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
Software, processor and battery
The software used is Material You based on Android 13. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the look, but I have to give Sony credit for the fact that the software is quite simple and has a lot of useful functions. In addition, there is hardly any bloatware. Unfortunately, there is no update guarantee.
Inside is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2, which is supported by 12 GB RAM and 256 GB of internal memory. The latter can even be expanded via a MicroSD card, which is not possible with any other flagship smartphone. Apps start and close extremely quickly and there are practically no stutters. The overall operating speed is extremely high and animations are played smoothly at all times. The Xperia 1 V has no problems with more complex apps or games and Sony has also managed to reduce heat generation significantly better than its predecessor, although it still gets warmer than other smartphones with intensive use.
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
-
- Picture: TechnikNews
A 5.000 mAh battery ensures long battery life. At the end of the day, with a screen-on time of four to five hours, I still had a maximum of 59 percent and at least 35 percent of battery power left. Although it has to admit defeat to the smaller Xperia 5 V here, the battery life is still really good. Unfortunately, the battery can only be fully charged with up to 30 watts in around 100 minutes, which is pretty weak in 2024. At least it supports wireless charging.
camera
One of the biggest differences compared to the Xperia 5 V concerns the camera. While the main camera and the ultra-wide-angle camera are completely identical, the Xperia 1 V also has a telephoto camera:
- 52 megapixel main camera (f/1.9), 1/1,35 inch
- 12 megapixel ultra wide angle camera (f/2.2), 1/2,5 inch, 123°
- 12 megapixel telephoto camera with variable focal length (85mm - 125mm), F2.3 (85mm) - F2.8 (125mm), 1/3,5 inch
Picture: TechnikNews
Not only on paper, but also in terms of the ultimate image quality, there are absolutely no differences between the 1 V and 5 V in both the main and ultra-wide-angle cameras, which is why we will only look at the telephoto camera in this review. If you are interested in the main and ultra-wide-angle camera as well as videos, you are welcome to take a look here:
Zoom recordings are significantly better than the smaller brother, but - as with the predecessor - I would have expected a lot more. The dynamic range is decent, but colors are often displayed too pale and the sharpness is sometimes really weak. And yes, even at 5,2x magnification, which is still optical. As impressive as this variable focal length technology is, the quality is a bit stagnant. Samsung, HUAWEI, Google and Apple are visibly better and with that Vivo X100 Pro I don't even have to start.
Other – fingerprint sensor, vibration motor, etc.
Although the screen edges are quite wide, Sony uses the space effectively for high-quality stereo front speakers. In my opinion, these could be louder, but the sound quality is really good.
The vibration motor delivers a high-quality feel, but is a bit too loud for me, especially when the smartphone is on the table and receiving notifications.
Unlike all other flagship smartphones, the fingerprint sensor is located in the power button and not in the display. Since the button is a little too far down, it often happened to me that my finger didn't hit the sensor optimally. However, if I hit it optimally, the smartphone is unlocked quickly and reliably.