TechPhonesAndroid Phones5 reasons Sony Xperia 1 IV is the Android phone this iPhone user lusts afterI’m an iPhone owner but this Sony beats my iPhone 13 Pro in some significant waysWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechPhonesAndroid Phones5 reasons Sony Xperia 1 IV is the Android phone this iPhone user lusts afterI’m an iPhone owner but this Sony beats my iPhone 13 Pro in some significant waysWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
I’m an iPhone owner but this Sony beats my iPhone 13 Pro in some significant ways
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Sony)
(Image credit: Sony)
SonyXperia may lag behind iPhones andSamsung Galaxyphones when it comes to sales and media coverage but for those in the know – connoisseurs of the smartphone oeuvre – they are remarkably desirable.
I’m aniPhoneuser but I’ve already written a few times aboutSony’s Xperiaphones, which I reckon are among thebest Android phonesout there. Sure they have a bit of a price premium, especially on the most advanced models, but quality always comes with a price tag attached. I’ve been spending some time with the latest flagship, theSony Xperia 1 IV. If I weren’t already a paid-up citizen of Apple’s ecosystem and could afford Sony’s fairly steep asking price, this is the phone I’d be lusting after. Here’s why…
1. It came from another planet
The Xperia 1 IV looks like the mysterious obelisk from 2001: A Space Odyssey and is as black as Disaster Area’s stunt spaceship in the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. And that’s an immediate win as far as I’m concerned: this is a phone that doesn’t care about looking fun or frivolous. It’s here to do a job, and that job might be teaching monkeys how to fight or crashing into the sun.
2. That extended aspect ratio is genuinely useful
3. The camera is incredible
Even before you get into the manual controls the Sony takes much more realistic and nuanced shots. It has a much better optical zoom and wider field of view too. It’s effectively a Sony Alpha camera crammed into a smartphone shell. It does get a little hot after a while, but I don’t shoot for long enough for that to be an issue for me.
MyiPhone 13Pro takes very good pictures, but like many of the best smartphones it relies very heavily on processing – and that’s not always ideal, so for example every time I take a photo of my youngest on a sunny day my iPhone decides that their eyes are the most spectacularly blue eyes that any human has ever had. And as lovely as those eyes are, they’re not the blazing blue my iPhone says they are.
But it’s the controls that really matter here.Appleis about shoot-and-forget, while Sony is targeting the kind of photographer who wants to get everything just-so before shooting.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
4. It’s made for media
My only niggle is that the Sony isn’t quite as loud as my iPhone is: I’ve tried a few pairs of my favourite earbuds including a set ofMelomaniaTouch and a pair ofAstell&Kern UW100sand the volume is noticeably lower than when they’re connected to my Apple device.
5. It delivers movie magic
That super wide 4K 120Hz OLED display is superb for movies, even at their gloomiest: the contrast here is better than Sony’s previous Xperia and if you’re serious about cinema there’s a Creator Mode that works much like the Filmmaker mode in thebest TVs, removing processing to show scenes as the director and cinematographer intended.
PS5 could finally be getting Gears of War and Halo after game-changing decisionThe age of exclusives is coming to an end
The age of exclusives is coming to an end
Samsung’s latest laptops changed my mind about AI – here’s whyThe Galaxy Book 5 Pro and Galaxy Book 5 360 are AI wunderkinds
The Galaxy Book 5 Pro and Galaxy Book 5 360 are AI wunderkinds
