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
Video Recording & Speaker Evaluation
Video recording on the Xperia 1 is a prime feature. Sony promises HDR recording in HLG and BT.2020 colour space. The phone can record in various modes and Sony make available H.264 and H.265 codecs.
| Xperia 1 Camera Modes & Features HDR Recording |
|||
| Capture Mode | Main+Zoom | Wide Angle | |
| 1080p | ✓ | ✗ | |
| 1080p60 | ✗ | ✗ | |
| 4K | ✓ | ✗ | |
There are some limitations as to the HDR feature however; the phone can’t use it in 1080p60, and for whatever reason also not in 720p. Furthermore it’s also not available on the wide-angle lens module. Sony has other features such as video object racking and their well-known video stabilisation that can be turned on or off.
HDR recording on the Xperia 1 is excellent and rivals that of some of the best phones in terms of picture quality. There’s still the big question of format and display compatibility; video playback on the phone itself looks excellent while the YouTube upload here likely doesn’t quite do it justice.
EIS on the other hand was a complete and utter disaster on the main camera: The picture had massive amounts of left/right jitters and jump which are so annoying in that if Sony doesn’t fix the issue, I’d rather recommend just leaving EIS turned off.
Wide-angle video recording is alright, but without HDR, it’s not too great in scenarios where there’s lot of light and shadows.
It’s to be noted that the wide-angle lens cannot be used in combination with the other two modules, and the video recording between the two sets has to be separate. It’s very likely that Sony is multiplexing the MIPI-CSI interfaces between the cameras and the SoC and thus can’t easily switch between modules. For what it’s worth, transitions between the main sensor and the telephoto is quite fast, but the wide angle is separate. This is also valid for photo captures where switching to and from the wide angle has a notable delay that’s much longer than any other phone.
Sony was the first vendor to introduce 960fps video recording on their phones thanks to its integration of DRAM onto the image sensor. The Xperia 1 continues this feature and it’s still as good as ever.
Alongside the standard camera app, Sony ships the phone with the “Cinema Pro” app which essentially is a full manual video recording app.
The thing is that this might be very useful for professional users – but the limiting factor that when in this recording mode you do not have any kind of auto-exposure and that you’re meant to control ISO and exposure yourself manually means that this is a very niche use-case for most users including myself, and I don’t see a lot of people bother with as it’s a lot of work to get any kind of reasonable video out of the app.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
75 Comments
View All Comments
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...