The Sony Xperia 1 Review: A 21:9 Take of the World
by Andrei Frumusanu on July 26, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Sony
- Smartphones
- Xperia 1
Battery Life - Meagre Results
Battery life results of the Xperia 1 is among one of the biggest questions for the device. With a 3330mAh battery capacity, the battery is a tad lower than what we’d find in other devices of the same device footprint this year. Sony managed to keep the size and weight of the phone in check, but it’s still quite on the lower end of capacities we’re finding on the market.
There’s also the big question of as to how then 4K resolution screen will behave. As mentioned on the previous page, the display implementation for the 4K might not be done in the most power efficient way, and the phone did showcase idle full screen black base power consumption of 538mW which is quite high compared to the ~400ish mW we saw from Samsung and OnePlus. As such, I’m heading into the battery results with a bit of pessimism as to how the Xperia 1 will end up.
Unfortunately my fears were validated and in our web browsing test the new Xperia 1 performed well short of its competition. The double-whammy of a smaller battery and more efficient screen isn’t a great combination and the device longevity visible suffers from this.
If one would simply scale up the result and normalise it for a 4000mAh battery, the phone would still largely lag behind at around 10.3h, but at least it’d be in line with other phones such as the OnePlus 7 Pro.
In PCMark the phone is also lagging behind by a tad, although the display’s inefficiencies here are less amplified as on the web browsing test.
Overall, the Xperia 1’s battery life isn’t too fantastic. It falls in line with the LG V40 which also suffered from an inefficient display, and I made the remark on that device that it was a deal-breaker, so I have to be fair and also say that it’s also a massive negative for the Xperia 1.
The display’s 4K resolution and less efficient DDIC is just a big trade-off to make, but to also have a competitively smaller battery really represents a double-negative for the phone which is very unfortunately given its price-range.
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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 withExodite - 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...