Sony / Pocket-lint
Sony Xperia 1V
Good potential
The Sony Xperia 1 V is the company’s latest flagship device, bringing a number of improvements over the Xperia 1 iV, including a new sensor and camera chip.
Benefits- Improved camera sensor
- 3.5mm and microSD
- Waterproof design
![Sony Xperia 1 iv - new square label]()
Sony Xperia 1IV
A good alternative
The Sony Xperia 1 iV may not be the latest flagship smartphone anymore, but its price has come down a lot and its design is very similar to the latest model.
Benefits- Stunning design with waterproofing
- Excellent display for movies
- 3.5mm and microSD
The inconvenients- Camera not ideal for casual users
- No night mode in the camera
- Dear
Sony announced its next generation of flagship smartphone at an event on May 11 in the form of the Xperia 1 V. The device is the successor to the Xperia 1 iV and takes on the likes of Google’s Pixel 7 Pro, Galaxy S23 Ultra from Samsung and Apple’s iPhone 14. Pro.
While Sony also has its Xperia Pro-I smartphone – the Xperia 1 V is the most common device. If you’re wondering how it compares to last year’s model, whether you should upgrade or which one to choose, we’ve got you covered. This is how the Sony Xperia 1 V compares to the Xperia 1 iV. What changed ?
Price, availability and specifications
Sony said the Xperia 1 V will be available at the end of June and will cost around £1299, although final dates, pricing and availability information have not been fully detailed. We’ll update this feature as soon as we have the information, although we’re hoping for less than $1,500 in the US this time around. In terms of colors, the Sony Xperia 1 V is available in black, khaki green and platinum silver.
The Sony Xperia 1 iV comes in purple, white and black color options and it launched for £1299 in the UK and $1599.99 in the US. The higher price in the US was double the stocking of the base model in the UK and Europe. It is, however, available for a little cheaper now.
The differences between the two models might not be so obvious at first glance, but there have been improvements in a few areas, as you can see in the specs table below.
Sony Xperia 1V Sony Xperia 1IV SoCs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Display 6.5-inch, OLED, 3840 x 1644, 120Hz, 21:9 6.5-inch, OLED, 3840 x 1644, 120Hz, 21:9 Battery 5000mAh, Quick Charge, Wireless Charge 5000mAh, Quick Charge, Wireless Charge Ports USB-C, 3.5mm jack USB-C, 3.5mm jack Operating system android android Front camera 12MP 12MP, f/2.0 Rear cameras 48MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, 12MP optical telephoto zoom 12MP f/1.7 main, 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, 12MP f/2.3-f/2.8 optical telephoto Dimensions 165×71×8.3mm, 178g 165×71×8.2mm, 185g Colors Black, platinum silver, khaki green Black, White, Purple IP Rating IP65, IP68 IP65, IP68 RAM and storage 12 GB / 256 GB, microSD up to 1 TB 12 GB, 256/512 GB, microSD up to 1 TB
Design and build
So far, the Sony Xperia 1 has had a similar design for all four iterations and the fifth iteration continues along the same lines. Not much has changed and unless you were really looking for it, you’d probably be hard pressed to tell the difference between the original Xperia 1 and the Xperia 1 V, let alone the Xperia 1 V and the Xperia 1 iV.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the Sony Xperia 1 is different from its competitors. It hasn’t gone the route of the huge rear camera systems like you’ll find on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Oppo Find X6, instead keeping a simple pill-shaped body that’s nice and neat.
The Xperia 1 V and Xperia 1 iV that preceded it offer the same OmniBalance design that many have come to expect from Sony Xperia handsets now, with flat edges, a flat front and back, and slightly larger than average bezels at the top and downstairs. of the display. There has long been a dedicated camera shutter button on the right edge, and it remains for the Xperia 1 V, which will probably please fans. The Google Assistant button has been dropped for the Xperia 1 iV and this remains true for the Xperia 1 V as well.
Although no longer unique to Sony even though it once was, there is an IP68 rating on both the Xperia 1 V and Xperia 1 iV – or IP65 and IP68 as Sony details. Both have front and back glass, but the Xperia 1 iV is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the back, while the Xperia 1 V upgrades that protection to Victus 2. Otherwise, there are only subtle tweaks between these two handsets in terms of design – they even offer nearly identical measurements and weights, as you’ve often noticed in the specs table above.
Display
Both the Sony Xperia 1 V and the Xperia 1 iV have a 6.5-inch OLED display. Both devices also have the same resolution – which is 4K HDR at 3840 x 1644 pixels, delivering a pixel density of 643ppi. Sony has never really played the Quad HD+ resolution game like other Android makers so we saw a jump from Full HD+ to 4K a few years ago with the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and there’s not have changed since.
The Xperia 1 V and Xperia 1 iV both have a 120Hz refresh rate – which has started to become the norm on flagship smartphones over the past couple of years, although most of the time it’s hard to see the difference between 90Hz and 120Hz. It provides a smoother experience, especially in the case of gaming. However, Sony doesn’t offer adaptive refresh rate on its devices like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, so you get either 60Hz or 120Hz, depending on what you’re doing.
Elsewhere, the Xperia 1 V and Xperia 1 iV also both have a 21:9 aspect ratio, which Sony has offered on its Xperia 1, Xperia 10 and Xperia 5 handsets since their initial launch in 2019. This allows for a large movie viewing experience, so if that’s something you like to do on your phone, then either of these devices is perfect for it.
Material
While the design and display have remained virtually the same between the Sony Xperia 1 V and the Sony Xperia 1 iV, there have been some differences in what’s under the hood, and that’s here and the item below where you might consider an upgrade.
The Xperia 1 iV runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, supported by 12GB of RAM. There’s 256GB of storage in the base model of the UK model, while the US model has 512GB of storage. Both do however have microSD support for storage expansion up to 1TB, which is a much rarer feature these days. You won’t find it in Samsung phones or Apple phones for example.
The Xperia 1 V upgrades the chipset to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is said to offer a 40% improvement over the Xperia 1 iV. This is again supported by 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, certainly in the UK anyway and there’s microSD on board for storage expansion up to 1TB thankfully. Aside from the platform, the rest of the specs therefore remain the same as the 2022 model, including the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The battery is also the same, with the Xperia 1 iV and Xperia 1 V offering a 5,000mAh cell under their hoods and supporting fast charging and wireless charging, as well as battery sharing, meaning that you can charge other devices wirelessly using your Xperia 1 iV or 1 V devices.
Sony devices have long had great battery life thanks to a number of features, including Stamina mode, so we’d expect the same from the Xperia 1 V. The Xperia 1 V is supposed to offer better battery distribution. heat – 60% according to Sony – which is a good thing as the Xperia 1 iV complained of getting a little hot. There are also dedicated speaker modules on the Xperia 1 V, designed for more spacious sound compared to the Xperia 1 iV.
Camera
With the design and display remaining almost identical between the Sony Xperia 1 iV and the Xperia 1 V, and many similar hardware specs as well, something must be different apart from the chipset, right? Just like with the Xperia 1 iV and Xperia 1 III, it’s the rear camera that sees this.
The Xperia 1 iV introduced a periscope lens to the Xperia 1 III, and that lens remains for the Xperia 1 V, so you’ll find the same 85-125mm optical telephoto lens on the Xperia 1 V and its predecessor. It has a resolution of 12 megapixels and offers both autofocus and optical image stabilization (OIS).
The main sensor has been improved for the Xperia 1 V compared to the Xperia 1 iV. In place of the 12-megapixel main sensor with f/1.7 aperture and 24mm focal length, there’s a 52-megapixel main sensor – although it uses 48-megapixels for stills, bumping the pixels down to 12 megapixels – and the sensor is 1.7x larger than the main sensor of the Xperia 1 iV.
The new main sensor is a stacked CMOS sensor with two-layer transistor pixels. The photodiode and transistor are on separate layers compared to the same layer you would normally find and this is designed to reduce noise levels. Sony claims that the main sensor in the Xperia 1 V is twice as good in low-light shooting compared to the Xperia 1 iV, although of course we still have to test this.
The ultra-wide sensor is the same on the Xperia 1 V as it is on the Xperia 1 iV, with a 12-megapixel lens offering an af/2.2 aperture and 16mm focal length. On the front there’s a 12-megapixel sensor on the Xperia 1 V and Xperia 1 iV, so no change there.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia 1 V doesn’t look that different from the Xperia 1 iV, in fact, they’re pretty much the same. There are, however, upgrades and improvements in a few areas, including the chipset, speakers, and heat distribution. It’s the camera Sony is putting the most emphasis on, with a new main sensor on the Xperia 1 V designed for better low-light photography and less noise.
We have yet to review the Xperia 1 V to determine if the camera improvements are a reason to upgrade if you have the Xperia 1 iV, especially since many other elements remain similar. If you’re choosing between the Xperia 1 iV and the Xperia 1 V, buying the newer model will future-proof your device for longer and give you the best of what Sony currently has to offer.
Sony Xperia 1IV
good alternative
The Xperia 1 iV is significantly cheaper than when it launched, which means it will also be cheaper than the Xperia 1 V, so if you’re on a budget and a Sony phone is the one you want, the Xperia 1 iV is a great phone for those who love photography but hate the AI ​​processing, as well as if you don’t take as many photos. It’s a powerful device with an excellent display and it’s also a capable gaming device.
