Sony Xperia 5 V review: Compact smartphone with a long battery life
A TEST REPORT from Fabian Menzel 
on December 03, 2023, 18:00 am | Write a comment
A few weeks ago, the Japanese manufacturer officially presented its compact flagship smartphone for 5, the Sony Xperia 2023 V. It continues the path of the handy 5 series and now has an even larger battery with an impressive 5.000 mAh.
But also with ProThere are major changes to the processor and cameras, although some of these changes are not really positive. You can find out what I mean by that and whether the Sony Xperia 5 V is worth buying in this detailed test report.
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Conclusion
My conclusion about the Sony Xperia 5 V is anything but easy for me, because although it is finally a handy smartphone with good features, it is unfortunately not free from weaknesses:
The 120 Hz OLED display is sharp and true to color, the performance is outstanding thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2, the battery lasts a very long time, the cameras are solid and have a 3,5 mm jack, good stereo speakers and a microSD slot there is also. However, this is offset by extremely long battery charging times, an outdated and non-ergonomic design, a missing zoom camera and disappointing update support. For currently around 900 euros, I can only recommend the Sony Xperia 5 V to people who are looking for a handy Android flagship with really good battery life and great performance. I would recommend that everyone else wait a little longer or alternatively go for the predecessor.
Buy Sony Xperia 5V
Feel, design & display – what’s that supposed to mean?
The 5 series smartphones have been known for their compact size for several years now proOne-handed operation was possible without any problems. This is of course also possible with the latest model in the series – the Sony Xperia 5 V. It measures 154 mm in height and is only 68 mm wide, which is quite small compared to the competition. Unfortunately, at 9 mm, the smartphone is slightly thicker than most other devices. This may take some getting used to, but it never really bothered me. What bothers me more is the shape of the frame, because it is extremely sharp-edged and not... absolutely not at all – rounded.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
In my opinion, the transition from the frame to the back is so sharp that the Xperia 5 V is extremely uncomfortable and difficult to hold in the hand. I also gave the smartphone to two friends and they had the same opinion. In my opinion, the angular frame is a complete design flaw. Apple's new iPhone 15, for example, shows that there are also smartphones with angular frames that are comfortable to hold Pro. Unfortunately, the criticism of the design continues. In my opinion, the power button is located far too far down and has a very poor pressure point. It happened to me so often 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.
Now let's go to the back. This is made of matt glass, which feels very high quality and looks beautiful, but the back is not grippy at all. Especially in the cold, I constantly feel like the Xperia is slipping out of my hand. Smartphones with glossy backs offer a better grip. But here too I have to say that I have used many other smartphones with a matte glass back that were nowhere near as slippery as the Xperia 5 V.
Picture: TechnikNews
There is a 6,1-inch OLED display on the front, which is surrounded by fairly thick edges. Sony uses the space for good stereo speakers, but the fact that smartphones can have both thin display bezels and good stereo speakers is evident in this price range Procenter of competitors. The Xperia 5 V simply looks old-fashioned, which doesn't do justice to the high RRP of 979 euros. At least the quality of the screen is very good. The maximum brightness could be a little higher, but sharpness, color rendering and viewing angle stability are at a high level. The smooth refresh rate of 120 Hz rounds off the great display quality.
Performance – it doesn’t get much better
Under the hood is the current flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen2proprocessor from Qualcomm. It is supported by 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 1 TB via a microSD card. This makes Sony, along with HUAWEI, the only manufacturer to offer memory expansion in the flagship range.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen2 is known for good performance and this is of course also offered by the Sony Xperia 5 V. Apps start and close extremely quickly and you'll look for stuttering in vain. The overall operating speed is at an extremely high level and animations are played back smoothly at all times. Even with more complex apps or games, the 5 V doesn't have any problems Proproblems. It doesn't get noticeably warm either, which is something I've criticized with previous Xperia smartphones.
Software – disappointing update policy
The software used is Material You based on Android 13. Personally, I'm not a fan of the look at all, but I have to give Sony credit for the fact that the software is quite simple and has many useful functions. Where Sony clearly needs to be criticized, however, is its update policy. The 5V only comes with two major Android updates and three years of security updates, which is extremely weak for a flagship these days.
Battery life – the highlight
I'll keep it short and sweet - the battery life of the Sony Xperia 5 V is phenomenal! 5.000 mAh and a small (dark) display make it possible. I am always proI got through a day without a charge without any problems and even 2 to 2,5 days when I used it propossible without any problems. At the end of the day I still had between 4,5% and 5,5% battery left with a screen-on time of 57 to 72 hours. Wow! In my opinion, Sony has a unique selling point here, as hardly any other compact smartphone offers such a fantastic battery life.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
Unfortunately, the Xperia 5 V can only be charged with up to 30 watts. The battery is fully charged in about 90 minutes, which is simply disappointing in 2023. It doesn't even come with the right power supply. At least the battery can also be charged wirelessly.
Camera - neat
A dual camera is used on the back, which is set up as follows:
- 52 megapixel main camera (f/1.9)
- 12 megapixel ultra wide-angle camera (f/2.2)
Picture: TechnikNews
Let's start with the main camera first. In good lighting conditions, this takes very good photos with good sharpness and beautiful color reproduction. Hardly any other smartphone reproduces colors as realistically as the Sony Xperia 5 V. I also really like the dynamic range, but sometimes bright areas are overexposed and dark areas are underexposed. For example, here is this Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or HUAWEI P60 Pro (significantly better. The same applies to the zoom: the predecessor still had a periscope camera with a variable focal length, which produced very good images. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't have a zoom camera on the Xperia 5 V, which is completely incomprehensible to me. Accordingly, zoom shots look anything but good.
The Xperia is also impressive in poor lighting conditions. Colors are still reproduced beautifully and naturally and the sharpness is satisfactory, but here too some competitors are a little better. Nevertheless, Sony has improved a lot here compared to its predecessor.
The ultra-wide-angle camera can capture significantly more, which is practical in everyday life, but also affects the final image quality. Fortunately, the losses are very small in daylight. The photos impress with great color reproduction, good sharpness - especially in the middle of the image - and a solid dynamic range. However, as soon as the lighting conditions become worse, the images are only partially convincing. The images lack sharpness and brightness.
Videos can be recorded in 4K at up to 120 FPS, which is undoubtedly impressive. Nevertheless, I would advise you to film primarily at 60 FPS, as I like the stabilization and dynamic range a little better here. A 12 megapixel front camera is responsible for selfies. It takes sharp and natural photos with slight weaknesses in backlight.
Other – great speakers, solid vibration motor etc.
Even if the edges around the screen are quite thick, Sony at least uses the space sensibly for good stereo front speakers. Although they could be a little louder, the sound quality is really good.
However, I'm a little conflicted about the vibration motor, because although it gives a very high-quality feel in the hand, it's (significantly) too loud for me personally. This is particularly annoying when the smartphone is lying on the table and vibrates for notifications.
Finally, I would like to briefly talk about the fingerprint sensor, which is housed in the power button. As already mentioned, in my opinion the button is a little too far down, which is why I can't always hit the sensor optimally with my finger. This can lead to unintentional input errors. However, if I hit it optimally, the smartphone is unlocked quickly and reliably.
