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  • yetanotherhuman - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I'd rather they'd bring back the Compact series, and don't compromise it this time with lacking headphone jack and so on. The last one they made was super thick and yet lacked a headphone jack or wireless charging. Ugh.
  • yetanotherhuman - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    Oh, and make it actually compact, like the older Compact ones. I use a Z3 Compact still as my work phone, and it's so goddamn nice in the hand compared to other phones I come in contact with
  • Exodite - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    +1 for the Z3C! :)

    Still using my green one, though the front glass is starting to come off and I really should get that fixed. It's coming up on 5 years old soon and it's by far the best device I've owned.

    It's unfortunate AT got to review Sony devices now that they're past their prime. Their current units drift ever more toward the generic curved-screen, camera-hump-endowed, subpar aspect-ratio blandness that most other vendors offer.

    While the Z3C was, and is, great and unique there's nothing particularly compelling about The Xperia 1 over competition from, say, One+.
  • boredsysadmin - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    No 3.5mm jack = no sale, at least not for me. The lag on BT phones is unacceptable for gaming and they can shove their 'orrible dongles or semi-proprietary usb-c phones up their collective asses.
  • pmcorriveau - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I don't know why more companies don't at least include 2 USB-C ports. I have C headphones, but I'm still frustrated by not being able to charge and listen at the same time. Stopping a movie on a plane just to charge my device sucks.
  • yankeeDDL - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I think a USB port takes up more real estate than a jack.
    I like bluetooth, but I constantly use plugged in headset while working: on huge phones there's no excuse.
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    But it's thinner, the excuse was thickness, it was always an excuse but a second C port doesn't add to thickness. I can live with a C port substituting a 3.5mm, but not without a second port of any kind.
  • Jay1984 - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    Why do that if there is wireless charging?
  • eldakka - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    There are dongle's that allow charging and headphones simultaneously.

    Unfortunately, it does mean carrying around more stuff with your phone, which reduces the mobility aspect of mobile phones...
  • flyingpants265 - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    Pretty soon, they'll start integrating those dongles INTO the phone itself. Futuristic technology...
  • zamboni.palin - Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - link

    Works only assuming your phone has an integrated DAC (Sony phones and many others do, Pixels don't).
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    I agree, I've been with Samsung for two phones in a row but now the ROG Phone 2 is looking more and more competitive, I just need a case to cover up most of the ugliness in the back...
  • flyingpants265 - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    Absolutely no reason for those supermassive bezels.
  • s.yu - Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - link

    They're not "supermassive", just ~2017, which is entirely acceptable coming from a Note8, compared to what a supermassive downgrade removal of the headphone jack is.
  • UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link

    Useless "4K" screen, minus the headphone jack. The millennials will love it.
  • GamingGuy800 - Friday, January 31, 2020 - link

    Or you are just too stupid to realize that higher resolutions are completely better for everything!
  • Samus - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    Needs to be orange too!
  • Lord of the Bored - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    You WOULD want it to be orange, Ms. Aran.
  • Cliff34 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    I do like to see more compact android phones but I don't think many companies will be willing to invest to create a new model for a niche market.
  • Aditya Khurana - Tuesday, April 7, 2020 - link

    that would mean they will just be spending money on something that might not get sold.. unless of course there is an already identified customer base for it.
  • flyingpants265 - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    You know, they could just make a phone with all the features people want. In all sizes. Why don't you ask for that instead?

    Front speakers, 5000mAh battery, fast wireless charging, waterproofing that actually works, usb-c/audio jack, in-screen fingerprint reader that works properly, under-screen camera. 5", 5.6" and 6.2" options.

    16:9 or 17:9 screen, no ridiculous screens that are the size of a TV remote. MicroSD would be nice, but I'd be willing to sacrifice it if we got cheap 128gb/256gb options.
  • HJr. - Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - link

    Congratulations you describe Galaxy S10!
  • inperfectdarkness - Sunday, August 18, 2019 - link

    I have an Xperia XZ2 Compact and I love it. That said, yes, the only compelling reason to buy Sony was for a smartphone that wasn't actually a phablet. I do miss the 3.5mm jack. I can survive w/o wireless charging; and that's really the one and only thing I had to give up over the full size XZ2. Honestly, the Z3 compact was only a smidgen smaller than the XZ2 (127.3 x 64.9 x 8.6 mm for the Z3 compact vs. 135 x 65 x 12.1 mm for the XZ2 compact).

    My XZ2 will have to be pried from my cold dead hands. It truly is the last of the flagship-level "compact" smartphones.
  • abufrejoval - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I’ve been close to buying a Sony device some years ago, Snapdragon 800 generation when they had a thinner and bigger competitor to the Galaxy Note, I believe and I generally value them as a great engineering company.

    Betting on this form factor is obviously a risk: If they find enough fans in that niche as well as the compact one, I’d be happy to see them survive.

    I may watch a small video here and there on a phone, but watching a full-length movie on that screen would only work for me if you could fit it into a headset, like Google Cardboard or LeEco LeVR: The Sony screen seems to have a good enough resolution to make that attractive e.g. for a longer plane ride. Any idea on if such a device is working/available for this Sony?

    My major smartphone usage is reading and browsing so actually I could be more easily tempted by a 16:10 (like the original Galaxy Note) or 3:2 device (another niche, Sony!).

    And at that price it requires a fully functioning desktop replacement mode with Ethernet and a 4k monitor available via a docking station as well as properly managed DPI adaptations for OS and apps at dock/undock to work out economically.

    Another issue with Sony phone has been that I prefer custom ROMs in general, and Sony devices tend to lose a lot of their photo/video capabilities on AOSP.

    I was surprised to see a Czech/French dictionary (and more Czech books) in your library: I would have guessed that your mother tongue was Rumanian and that in Luxembourg you’ll have to manage with French, Germany and Lëtzebuergesch as well as English.

    Some commentators here don’t appreciate that when you deal with four languages or more on a daily base, certain errors tend to creep in. I manage German, English, Spanish and French pretty much every day and towards the evening or with current temperatures all can deteriorate to a point just short of mumbo jumbo.
  • GlossGhost - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    If you think Sony have it bad with custom ROM's, try Samsung. You literally get dogshit camera quality, no hardware acceleration (at least on the Exynos model), no Always On Display and probably many of the framework boosters.
  • abufrejoval - Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - link

    The custom ROM situation is only getting worse, because vendors need you to buy a new device regularly: Their temptation to boycott is easy to understand and completely intolerable.

    My Samsung Note 3 followed a Note (1) and that the initial i9000 that made Jobs lose it.

    They all still work thanks to replacable batteries and custom ROMs.

    The Note 3 is stilly actually still used regularly (runs Pie) as a backup device on my fairly regular business trips across the EU.

    Screen protectors, silicon protection cases and a plastic body have kept them look like new, despite various drops on streets not always dry or clean.

    Everything Samsung delivered since, was just plain nonsense, badly overpriced or putting corporate interests so much before customers (Exynos), that it hurts: I travel internationally and want a global phone, even if I live mostly in Europe. Geographic market segmentation is so anti mobile they might as well sell them with a cable.

    I got a LeEco Le Max2 next (also still active) and can't see any reason to upgrade beyond my current OnePlus 5 (finally a phone so efficient, I totally lost my battery anxiety), rather unfortunately really, because I really like playing with toys with new features. Those three run on linked corporate SIMs with global roaming and with identical apps and launchers, so I can switch between them very seamlessly. Haven't bothered with hotel or public Wifi in years, none come even close to the ~100Mbit LTE data rates tend to get, at least in Europe. 5G? Can't quite imagine why I'd need it any time soon.

    Unfortunately, mobile phones develop only features I cannot appreciate or even dislike (rounded screens, glass/metal cases), yet none of those I'd consider valuable (good desktop mode with 4K monitor and cable Ethernet for Wifi-less office use).

    So I need to spend my play-money on new toys like the DJI Robomaster, except that for some reason they don't sell it in Europe yet... Nobody wants to sell me what I want!

    Is that the new way of selling more? Making sure you never get what you want so you'll have to keep on buying?
  • philehidiot - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    On the ISS they use Runglish or something, which is the blend of Russian and English that just developed on the station due to constantly flipping between languages.
  • sonny73n - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    AT, Sony experia isn’t worth our time. Give us something else, anything!
  • Teckk - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    Not sure if the width is enough looks lil weird. For that price - the battery capacity and RAM (compared to other phones) and seems to be relatively less.
  • Arbie - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    A media machine with no headphone jack. Smart.
  • doungmli - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I do not think that the creator mode of x1 is supposed to respect a norm but to create a new one trying to reflect the content of the creator if the translation has been done. There was an interview about it here: https://www.phileweb.com/interview/article/201907/...
  • vortexmak - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I opened this article with cautious optimism. Sony trying to make a comeback, maybe they learned from their past mistakes

    Scrolled down: No 3.5mm jack, no microSD. Never learn Sony , enjoy your fall into oblivion
    No headphone jack , no microSD = no consideration.
  • qwertymac93 - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    The phone does have a microSD slot.
  • khanikun - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    I wouldn't say Sony is trying to make a comeback, they never left. It's just them combining divisions. They've been making smartphones every year.

    Also all their flagships have microSD slots and this one doesn't change that fact. 3.5mm jack was taken out the last generation. I wish they wouldn't have though.
  • Sp12er - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    Nice concise, but detailed and easy to understand review, it sums up what's the strength an weakness of the device with clear proof given, I start to like this one, IMO you did it better than Gsmarena does.

    So it's all software eh? Sony seems to hav tee hardware nailed on so many levels, but the software feels like it's trying to catch up, no computational imaging, weird calibration, overexcited marketing.

    All overall makes it an underperforming device for the price.
    But, it makes me excited for their future. I hope they'd continue add soldier on with their software, getting it closer to the standard with more time.
  • 1_rick - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    "the screen is 6.5” in diameter"

    A round cell phone--that's pretty innovative! Not sure if it's a good idea, though.
  • qlum - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I think we should really stop using screen diagonal for size as it really only works if aspect ratio is fixed. screen surface area would be a much better measurement.
  • Lord of the Bored - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    Yes, but how would marketing departments make screens sound bigger than they are?
  • kendytan - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    https://youtu.be/sJk7XeX1uJ8

    Please watch YouTube video on the link above 10:09 mark. Hong Kong expert tested Xperia 1 and get average 0.53 value using CalMan. Suggested white balance to achieve D65 by expert: Red 72, Green 68, Blue 0
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    He's measuring the saturation against a higher gamma target and that's why gets gets a lower dE. Furthermore he's in the standard mode.

    Lastly, his result are very likely wrong depending on how he measured them. The issue with the calibration is the luminance factor which is affected by APL. I measured the greyscale and saturations at APL50 window 50 to minimize the impact, and the GMB tests are done on a single static image pattern which is 100% accurate.
  • kendytan - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    Oh I see...BTW the expert posted the recommended white balance setting and brightness range to achieve D65, but I found that the display become warmer after I apply this setting, for your reference: https://post76.hk/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid...
  • mobutu - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    nah
  • Ap717 - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    You guys forget it's coming with sonys Bluetooth headphones that's worth $350. So it is better value at that price. Also how is it worse than the XS in low light?!? Are they actually looking at the pics?? Every other review has given it the cameras great reviews...just crappy clunky software
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    The headphone was a limited time offer and doesn't exist anymore.
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    "Every other review has given it the cameras great reviews"
    No I think all two reviews I read (besides this one) gave it negatives.
  • NICOXIS - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    Playing catch up won't make it, or they'll have the same fate as HTC or Blackberry. They have to either make a huge jump over the competition or just accept defeit and become a niche brand on some Android corner.
  • artifex - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    If it's on Android P now, for how long do they promise to give updates?
  • Richlet - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    I agree with 99% of this article, I just don't get the wireless charging grumpifying I keep seeing. Wireless charging seems to me to be one of the most useless "features" any phone can provide. So, to charge it, it has to stay sitting on a bed, pick it up, it stops charging. As opposed to my cord is long enough, I can have the phone in my hands and still keep it charging. *sigh*
  • Cliff34 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    If you don't use it, it ain't useless for others. Wireless charging is great. You don't need to plug in the cable all the time. I use it whenever I can, especially when I'm at work where i need to keep the phone charge.

    Now I have kids, it is even more useful. Try plugging in a phone while holding a 25 Lb crying toddler and you will see the benefit of wireless charging.
  • Cliff34 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    One more note, all the flagship phones have wireless charging. For this phone to not have it becomes a disadvantage. Wireless charging doesn't require substantial space or cost. For a phone so expensive, it should include all the bells and whistles.
  • FunBunny2 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    "I use it whenever I can, especially when I'm at work where i need to keep the phone charge."

    As I understand it, these sorts of batteries are limited by the number of charge cycles, irregardless of how much charge is made each time. IOW, repeated teeny charges chew up that limit long before the battery is really dead.
  • cfenton - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    That's not correct. A charge cycle is made up of 100% of the capacity of the battery. It doesn't matter if it's one 100% charge, two 50% charges, or ten 10% charges. Each of those count as one charge cycle. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but what's important is that a series of small charges are not each an entire charge cycle.
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    Wow, I didn't realize some people still use "irregardless".
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    You're doing it all wrong. Well the tech tree's grown in the wrong direction thanks to Apple's greed too. There's supposed to be two C ports, keep a magnetic adapter plugged in one and use headphones in the other, or if you actually just use BT then keep the C port plugged with a magnetic adapter and use magnetic cords, they work like Magsafe only they also transfer data. Hold the adapter close to the cord and it attaches automatically, you could charge your phone, use it in your hand, and hold that toddler with the other.
    That I can't give up the magnetic charging is a major reason why I won't consider any device without a headphone jack, the C port is always occupied and pulling the magnetic adapter out then inserting a C-3.5 adapter is ridiculous and unacceptable.
  • flyingpants265 - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    That sounds OK, but wireless charging PLUS two ports sounds even better.
  • s.yu - Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - link

    Yup, and I'd like a kitchen sink too.
  • khanikun - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    If it has wireless charging, guess what else it has? Plugged in charging too. It's not a one or the other, it's both. You get the option of both. Just because you don't use it, doesn't mean it's a useless feature. Just useless to some ppl.

    I don't care much about the camera in the phone, as I have a better point and shoot. So quality of it doesn't matter to me, but doesn't negate that other people want a good camera in the phone. So of course, some ppl will grumble about it.
  • flyingpants265 - Monday, July 29, 2019 - link

    No, it's so you can charge the phone with one hand, it takes only 1 second, as opposed to 3-5 seconds plugging and replugging my cable each time. Phone is basically at 100% all the time. and not need to plug the cable in, wiggle it around, and eventually bust the USB-C port. Those ports and their internal assemblies are quite fragile. It also doesn't need to add any thickness, as the wireless charging pad can be inside an external case, wired to the phone through a contact pad like on an older Xperia.

    No babbling about how you've personally never broken one, please. USB port is one of the most common fixes, apart from screen. Anandtech users are supposed to be power-users, yet you keep spending $900 on phones lacking basic features.
  • yacoub35 - Friday, July 26, 2019 - link

    lol @ no headphone jack. what a failure for a device with a resolution so clearly intended for movie watching.
  • UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link

    This makes choosing the next phone so much easier. Galaxy S10 for the high end, or Pixel 3A for less money.
  • Samus - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    So this is going to need a custom ROM to get proper 4K rendering across applications? How the hell is a 4K screen useful if the only thing it shows at 4K are photos?
  • Lord of the Bored - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    "the included headphones are 3.5mm"

    No standard headphone port, includes standard headphones.
    I ... I can't make fun of this. It is too easy, I'd feel bad.
  • Cliff34 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    Given that Sony also makes the camera, it will make sense or a stronger marketing strategy if the phone's strong suit is the camera.

    Hopefully, the next model the smart phone team can work w the camera team to integrate in a way that blows away the competition.

    Having a big screen and a small battery is a hard sale. Plus the steep price Tag.
  • FunBunny2 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    "Given that Sony also makes the camera"

    this appears to be a case of the cobbler's kids going barefoot. aren't most high end phone cameras sourced from Sony?
  • 5j3rul3 - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    So where's the test results of Xperia 1's Loudspeakers in the article?
  • nandnandnand - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link

    "While the panel is indeed 4K"

    3840 x 1644 = 76% of 4K UHD
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    The detail retention surprised me. There's clear evidence of heavy sharpening and strange artifacts in the clouds and/or shadows, but yes, some of the increase in detail retention can't be explained by mere sharpening.
    The results here are better than at GSMA, maybe it's sample variation, but the artifacts are quite often disturbing, like leaves that look munched up by bugs. Apart from crushed blacks, the Pixel's output still seems the best, since it avoids the artifacts, and Apple's SmartHDR also balances between noise retention, artifact generation and detail retention. For example the shadow cast by the tree onto the street(scene 3), there are still tiles in that shadow, yet only the Pixel and XS could recover the tiles with texture in a way that's more or less consistent with the tiles around it under sunlight, while Sony left a smear there and Huawei's texture still seems aggregated and fake. Also in the indoor shot Sony failed in several places regarding texture, it smeared fibers and wood. Sony seems to have gone too far leaving artifacts everywhere.
    The sharpness of the UWA is clearly because of the uncorrected barrel distortion, it's half a fisheye which is much easier to correct CA for while the others are largely rectilinear, but the P30P has a narrower FoV, which also makes it easier to correct. The fact that the S10+ is as wide as the Xperia yet as corrected and as sharp as the P30P makes it the better UWA.
  • s.yu - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    At night I believe metering is still a significant issue, devices/instances that expose to the right get much better results overall...and I believe the P30P fakes UWA shots in certain instances, only the peripherals (over 50% in area) are managed by the UWA while the center is actually data from the main, the transition is quite obvious in the tunnel shot...
    I believe there is some sort of merging going on in the Xperia shots. The artifacts in the clouds in certain daylight shots resemble those in LR during an HDR DNG capture, if there's merging in the day there's no sense it doesn't merge at night. That result also seems too stable (if above 1/2s) even considering the OIS.
  • Zumaso - Sunday, July 28, 2019 - link

    nice
  • UtilityMax - Thursday, August 1, 2019 - link

    I really wonder if the architecture with separate CPUs for three types of different workloads is basically a gimmick to score well on single-core benchmarks. Considering that many OEMs still haven't figured out how to optimize well for the big.LITTLE architectures with separate CPUs for only two types of workloads.
  • Hrel - Friday, August 2, 2019 - link

    OMG a Sony review on Anandtech! Wow!

    Now, go back and get your hands on the XZ3, XZ2, XZ2 Compact, and if you really wanna offer good scope get an XZ as well, the phone I'm still currently using that does everything better than any Samsung I've ever been subjected to.
  • Hrel - Friday, August 2, 2019 - link

    "The one big thing that I do need to mention here in the intro is that Sony is a bit misleading as to the 4K resolution. While the panel is indeed 4K, only certain media content such as the native photos gallery app as well as video playback in some applications is in fact rendered in 4K, as the default software rendering for most other applications happens at 1440p. It’s something we’ll address later on, but it’s something one should be aware of from the start."

    Ok... but you do know that the human eye literally, physically cannot tell the difference between 1080p and 4k on anything smaller than like a 65" screen right? So who cares? You literally cannot tell or notice in any way. Why even mention it?

    What I'm most upset about is how much more power it takes to process data at 4k than 1080p, we're talking about a 5-6" screen here people, even 1080p is ridiculous over kill!
  • Hrel - Sunday, August 4, 2019 - link

    I generally buy these phones 6-12 months later online for $400, at that price they are fantastic!

    A grand, or anything even approaching it, is absurd.
  • WarVic - Monday, September 9, 2019 - link

    I'm surprised how good was Lg G8 here. Sure it's completely ignored in this review as well as in many others. But the fact that I can get it for nearly half price of Xperia 1 force me thinking about it. 3K screen doesn't look much worse anyway.
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