Sony Xperia 1 II - A return to form for Sony?

Tejstar · 23 Feb 2020 at 17:30

I've just been reading the latest leaks of Sony's new flagship smartphone for 2020 and it looks good on paper. Sony has consistently underperformed in recent years, but could this be their first good phone in a while.?

The Xperia 1 II seems to have a lot of boxes ticked including a return of the 3.5mm headphone jack for those that care! Sony appear to have changed some of their camera specs - they are now using a ZEISS lens, instead of their own G Lens that they've been using for a while.

The 5G handset also has a 6.5-inch 21:9 4K HDR OLED display, 4000mAh battery, wireless charging, stereo speakers, 3x optical zoom on its triple rear camera array, water resistance, 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage if the specs are to be believed.

Sony's press conference will reveal all tomorrow. Anyone else exicted?

neoboy · 23 Feb 2020 at 18:05

I was pretty severely disappointed by Xperia 1 and returned it under the 14 days. Camera was also a big disappointment, they just can't nail HDR and high contrast scenes which for a flagship isn't really forgivable in 2019. It's their software behind it that's the problem, not hardware so not sure how much a Zeiss lens will help.

Saying that I love being wrong, so if reviews back it up then might be mildly interested, I do love my headphone jack

Does at least look like they are learning some lessons and addressing most criticisms in terms of specs. Wireless charging, bigger battery and 5G ready.

Mr_Cool · 23 Feb 2020 at 18:30

Probably gonna be overpriced though.

Tejstar · 23 Feb 2020 at 18:54

neoboy said:
Camera was also a big disappointment, they just can't nail HDR and high contrast scenes which for a flagship isn't really forgivable in 2019. It's their software behind it that's the problem, not hardware so not sure how much a Zeiss lens will help.

Mr_Cool said:
Probably gonna be overpriced though.

Yep, agree. Two of Sony's biggest problems have been camera quality and price. We'll have to wait and see about the former, but can't see the latter being any better than in the past unfortunately. Maybe they will throw in some goodies to sweeten the deal.

Squink · 23 Feb 2020 at 19:02

Tejstar said:
Yep, agree. Two of Sony's biggest problems have been camera quality and price.

Don't forget undersized batteries.

doodah · 23 Feb 2020 at 19:10

Don't Sony make a number of the sensors in modern smart phones? Seems odd they still miss the mark. And yeah a 4,000 mAh on that I don't trust lasting long.

Tejstar · 23 Feb 2020 at 20:11

mulpsmebeauty said:
Don't forget undersized batteries.

Agreed, particularly with 5G in the mix...

neoboy · 23 Feb 2020 at 21:02

doodah said:
Don't Sony make a number of the sensors in modern smart phones? Seems odd they still miss the mark. And yeah a 4,000 mAh on that I don't trust lasting long.

My Xperia 1 managed 6 hours SoT before hitting 5% with that 6.5" 4k screen. With a battery capacity boost of 20% should easily clear 7 hours and a bit. Of course we do have 5G here so not sure how much that would affect it.

Also forgot just how bad the fingerprint sensor was on it, so bad I actually reverted back to pin. After getting Samsung S10e, difference was night and day.

Sony really need some of that Google's software prowess in the camera department. As people said, they produce a lot of sensors for many flagship phones and their camera division has really been hitting that home run with Alpha cameras.

Even Chinese manufacturers have been catching up in that department massively over last 2 years so not sure what their excuse is.

Fry750 · 23 Feb 2020 at 21:13

I'm provisionally excited however a few things have the potential to turn this into a dud...

As long it is has:
Micro SD card slot
HDMI output/MHL support
Decent camera perf

The seeming lack of 4K recording and 5G mmWave support are already slightly concerning...

Though I am pleased with return of wireless charging and headphone jack - those two additions to Xperia 1 would've made it an absolute peach!

Azrael1 · 23 Feb 2020 at 21:16

mulpsmebeauty said:
Don't forget undersized batteries.

Yeah I had one many many years ago - the battery was just so poor it was unusable.

I keep reading and seeing they keep using small battery size for whatever reason

Rimsy · 23 Feb 2020 at 21:28

If the camera software is massively better than previous efforts then it may have a chance ...which surely they must know?!

Meddling-Monk · 24 Feb 2020 at 02:05

If that 4000mah battery is accurate, that's going to be a problem. Most of these devices eat through the battery fast (especially a high density screen) and having a high end device is fine and all, but if it doesn't last, there's very little value to it if you're constantly looking for a power point to charge from. And of course, lets hope the fingerprint reading has improved since the last one (which was my previous consideration to move up to).

b00merang69 · 24 Feb 2020 at 02:24

Some news popped up on my phone about this, a live stream is scheduled (I can get info if anyone wants).

Fry750 · 24 Feb 2020 at 08:01

Leaks all seem accurate.

Xperia Pro looks interesting but won't be offered in Europe.

No mention of SD card slot which is crazy when the phone is targeted at multimedia users. 256GB could get filled with 4K stuff pretty quick!

Fry750 · 24 Feb 2020 at 08:06

Actually gsmarena spec list suggests it does have an SDXC card slot. Panic over

doodah · 24 Feb 2020 at 09:20

neoboy said:
My Xperia 1 managed 6 hours SoT before hitting 5% with that 6.5" 4k screen. With a battery capacity boost of 20% should easily clear 7 hours and a bit. Of course we do have 5G here so not sure how much that would affect it.

Also forgot just how bad the fingerprint sensor was on it, so bad I actually reverted back to pin. After getting Samsung S10e, difference was night and day.

Sony really need some of that Google's software prowess in the camera department. As people said, they produce a lot of sensors for many flagship phones and their camera division has really been hitting that home run with Alpha cameras.

Even Chinese manufacturers have been catching up in that department massively over last 2 years so not sure what their excuse is.

Fair enough, my experiences with Sony phones have been lackluster when it comes to the battery but that was a long time ago. Read into this phone a little more and on paper - the specs are pretty darn good. If they can get the battery and camera right - might consider it as my next phone (the OP8 is the current main interest).

Smeghead · 24 Feb 2020 at 12:39

Ticks quite a lot of boxes for me (headphone jack, no notch/holepunch/etc., front facing speakers, I've always liked that they have a hardware camera button). Not sure about the 4000mah battery - I was looking at the Asus Zenfone 6 or the ROG Phone II as my potential next phone, which have 5000/6000mah respectively. I've always heard Sony phones are sub-par though, so I'll have to keep an eye out on reviews first.

.:MBK:. · 24 Feb 2020 at 13:35

Hopefully they use a more reliable part for the fp sensor this time around.

Squink · 24 Feb 2020 at 13:44

It looks smart enough. Unfortunately for Sony, I think they've played the Android game half-heartedly for so long that they're no longer a name you think of automatically when considering a new phone.

doodah · 24 Feb 2020 at 16:06

Well that's me out, I wasn't expecting it to be cheap but unless it's way better than a e.g. OP8 - hard to justify the price tag.

The Sony Xperia 1 II will come out in the second quarter of this year in Black and Purple. The full retail price is €1,200. Note that there’s no 4G version, only 5G, and only one memory configuration – 8/256GB (expandable with microSD cards).