Sony Xperia 5 III review: unboxing and first impression
A TEST REPORT from Fabian Menzel 
on September 08, 2021, 15:03 am | 2 comments
As early as April, the Japanese manufacturer presented the Sony Xperia 5 III together with its bigger brother, the 1III, officially before. Unfortunately, the smartphones are still not really affordable, which is pretty incomprehensible. Nonetheless, the 5 III is a very interesting smartphone because it uses the latest top hardware in a compact housing.
For example, customers have to Prozessor, the cameras, the battery capacity and the speakers do not make any compromises compared to its bigger brother, which costs a whole 1.299 euros more at 300 euros. The 5 III also has the Snapdragon 888, a vari-focal telephoto camera, a large 4.500 mAh battery and stereo speakers. Only in terms of display resolution, size, the back (glossy instead of matte glass) and the fact that it unfortunately cannot be charged wirelessly, there are no differences. Sony has already equipped us with a test device, which we now want to unpack in the following lines.
Unboxing
The Sony Xperia 5 III comes in a rather simple, white packaging that has not changed compared to last year for the 5 II. In addition to the smartphone itself, the scope of delivery also includes the usual paperwork, a cable from USB-C to USB-C and a 30 watt power supply with which the large battery can be charged very quickly. At least my test device did not come with headphones or a protective cover, but that may well be different with the retail version.
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- The rather unspectacular box of the Sony Xperia 5 III. (Image: TechnikNews)
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- A case and headphones are not on board with my test device. (Image: TechnikNews)
First impression of the Sony Xperia 5 III
What is immediately noticeable the first time you pick it up is the unusual form factor, because at 157 mm in height it is quite long, but at only 68 mm in width it is also quite narrow. The reason for this is the elongated aspect ratio of 21: 9, which Sony has been using for two years. Because of this, it can be operated very well with one hand and is very comfortable to hold. The frame is made of metal with a high-gloss finish and the back is made of glass, which gives a very high quality feel and, in my opinion, the smartphone also looks very chic.
So far, I can only say good things about the display. I find the FHD + resolution to be sufficient, colors are reproduced beautifully and naturally, animations are displayed as soft as butter thanks to the fluid 120 Hertz refresh rate and colors do not change color when tilted to the side as much as with 10III. I'm only a little skeptical when it comes to brightness, as I have unfortunately only heard bad things from some colleagues, but of course I will form my own opinion about this in the next few days.
As expected, the performance is convincing across the board after a few days. The Snapdragon 888 from Qualcomm works under the hood, which has enough power, but also gets noticeably warm quite quickly. After a few days, however, I can give the all-clear, I haven't noticed anything negative so far. It was noticeably warm when setting up, but that is completely normal and no different with other smartphones.
The vibration motor, the fingerprint sensor and the stereo front speakers have so far been convincing across the board. I find the vibration motor a bit too loud at one point or another, but it gives an extremely high-quality feeling in the hand at all times. Last but not least, I would like to briefly dedicate myself to the camera, more precisely to the zoom, because here we are dealing with a small peculiarity. Sony installed a 12 megapixel telecamera with variable focal length: 70 and 105 mm. This means that recordings at both 2,9 (70 mm) and 4,4 times magnification do not lose their quality, since each is an optical zoom. There is nothing like this on any other smartphone today. The final image quality has also convinced me so far. Colors are reproduced extremely naturally and the sharpness also makes a good impression.
Those were my first impressions after two days of use. In my detailed review in a few weeks' time, I will go into much more detail on the strengths and weaknesses of the Sony Xperia 5 III and, of course, clarify whether a purchase is worthwhile.
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- (Image: TechnikNews)
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- The back in black color. (Image: TechnikNews)
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- Sony installs a zoom camera with a variable focal length. (Image: TechnikNews)
No gender! Why don't you have something like that? Are customers not included here?
I think it's because in general everyone is meant, no matter what color and you don't have to emphasize that.