Sony Xperia 1 II: camera above smartphone

The Sony Xperia 1 II is a very expensive smartphone that wants to distinguish itself with its cameras. In this Sony Xperia 1 II review we find out whether the device takes better photos and videos than the competition, and how it performs further.

Sony Xperia 1 II

MSRP € 1199,-

Colors black and purple

OS Android 10

Screen 6.5 inch OLED (3840 x 1644) 60Hz

Processor 2.84GHz octa-core (Snapdragon 865)

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB (expandable)

Battery 4,000mAh

Camera 12, 12 and 12 megapixels (rear), 8 megapixels (front)

Connectivity 5G, 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6, GPS

Format 16.5 x 7.1 x 0.76 cm

Weight 181 grams

Website www.sony.nl 7 Score 70

  • Pros
  • Camera capabilities and performance
  • Hardware
  • Refined, complete design
  • Negatives
  • Default Camera App Limitations
  • Wrong screen priorities
  • bloatware
  • Too expensive
  • Fingerprint Scanner
  • Simple selfie camera

Sony's Xperia 1 from early 2019 has received a successor in the form of the Xperia 1 II. You pronounce that name as 1 Mark Twee, a choice of name that has been taken over from Sony's camera division. The Xperia 1 II costs 1199 euros, which is considerably more than the 949 euros that Sony asked for the Xperia 1. Many competing high-end smartphones also cost less. Sony therefore plays high game and particularly praises the triple camera and three (!) camera apps on the phone. We tested it, of course, just like all the other parts of the Xperia 1 II.

Design

The design of the smartphone deserves a big compliment. The Xperia 1 II has a large 6.5-inch screen, but is much more manageable and lighter than expected. This is partly due to the elongated 21:9 screen. You can hardly operate the phone with one hand, but compared to competing devices, it comes across as more compact.

Sony also scores plus points by bringing back the 3.5mm headphone port after years of absence and placing a notification light in the top screen edge. Other nice features: the selfie camera is also in the narrow bezel above the screen and so does not interfere, and on the right side is a physical camera button to focus and shoot a photo. Due to its glass housing, the device is smooth and vulnerable to scratches, but fortunately it is water and dustproof and suitable for wireless charging. I am less enthusiastic about the fingerprint scanner. It's in the on and off button on the right side and doesn't work a few times a day, without explaining why. And if the scanner does work immediately, it is slower than the competition.

Hardware

The performance of the smartphone is, as expected, perfectly fine, which is thanks to the bloody fast Snapdragon 865 processor and 8 GB of RAM. The storage memory is 256 GB larger than that of the competition and also expandable with a micro SD card. The 4000 mAh battery is smaller than average but will last a long day. As mentioned, charging can be done wirelessly or via the USB-C port. Sony supplies an 18W plug. As fast as the iPhone 11 Pro, but slower than most competing Android smartphones. A quick recharge is unfortunately not possible, but charging slower is better for the life of the battery. Finally, the smartphone supports 5G internet.

Screen

I have mixed feelings about the screen. Sony provides the Xperia 1 II with a 6.5-inch screen with a bizarrely high 4K resolution, while full-hd or qhd is common. The utility of the higher 4K resolution is limited. In almost all situations, the screen automatically shows a full HD resolution to save battery and I have not been able to watch 4K content in popular video apps. I have 4K subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but the Xperia 1 II plays videos in full HD and HD resolution, respectively. I have asked Sony if this is correct. And while the OLED display delivers very beautiful colors, the maximum brightness is remarkably low. GSMarena technical tests also indicate this.

I would have preferred a screen with a higher refresh rate. The display of the Xperia 1 II uses a refresh rate of 60Hz and that is no longer common in 2020. Competing smartphones like the OnePlus 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20 have a 120Hz display, which means that the screen refreshes itself much more often per second. This produces a smoother and more pleasantly readable image.

Cameras

The spearhead of the Xperia 1 II is the triple camera on the back in combination with three apps. A basic camera app, a Photo Pro app for advanced photography and a Cinema Pro app for video enthusiasts. The three cameras are for regular photos, wide-angle images and zoom and all have a resolution of 12 megapixels.

Focusing and Burst Mode

Interesting is the Real-time Eye AF function in the Pro Photo camera app, where the camera automatically and continuously focuses on the eye of a human or animal. This increases the chance of a sharp photo. You may know this feature from a full-fledged Sony Alpha camera and is a nice addition that is missing from competing smartphones. Also cool - for more serious users - is the ability to shoot up to twenty photos per second in burst mode with autofocus and automatic shutter speed control. Those two functions are thanks to the AF/AE focus, which focuses and adjusts the exposure up to sixty times per second. Other high-end phones also do this less well.

I tried the default camera app first. That is disappointing, both in terms of functions and in terms of photo and video quality. For example, you can only zoom in three times; the range of the zoom lens. Those pictures look good, but it would have been nice if you could zoom further via digital zoom. Competing phones do offer that option. The app – as far as I have been able to discover – also has no night mode for better results in the dark and also no option to turn HDR on and off. I wouldn't mind if the camera took care of all this on its own, but it doesn't. Just before sunset I took the photo below with the Xperia 1 II on automatic mode. Ten seconds later I shot the same picture with the OnePlus 8 Pro (right), also in automatic mode. The photo of the Xperia 1 II is so dark that you can't do much with it. This happened every time.

The Photo Pro app contains many more options to adjust the camera settings to your own liking and - if set correctly - shoots significantly better photos in lower light. But then you have to know what the correct settings are and use the Photo Pro app every time instead of the standard camera app. It's just weird that the latter app takes significantly less good photos, and hopefully Sony can fix this with a software update.

More photo's

During the day, the Xperia 1 II makes very nice shots with both the standard app and Photo Pro, which look more realistic than pictures of a Samsung phone. The photos are sharp, colorful and handle the lighting well. As mentioned, the zoom is unfortunately limited. The wide-angle lens is of above-average quality. Macro photography is unfortunately disappointing: you have to keep the camera further away from an object than with competing devices.

Below you see two photo series from left to right: normal, wide angle and 3x zoom.

Cinema Pro Videos

The default camera app also has a movie mode. Sony boasts with a slow-motion function that films in full HD resolution at 120 frames per second. This can produce beautiful results, although the camera regularly has trouble focusing on the object. The slow-motion mode is not groundbreaking, by the way: the iPhone 11 Pro and OnePlus 8 Pro also make full-HD slow-motion videos at 120 or even 240 fps. Those and more devices can also film in 4K resolution at 60 fps via the standard camera app, something the Xperia 1 II can only do via the Cinema Pro app. That app offers very nice options to make seriously beautiful videos – there are already enough practical examples on the internet.

For a pricey smartphone with a focus on photography and videography, the Xperia 1 II has a remarkably simple selfie camera. The 8 megapixel camera lacks autofocus, has an (optional) bad beauty mode and scores in general photo quality comparable to competing devices. So fine, but nothing special.

Software

Sony supplies the Xperia 1 II with Android 10 and puts its light shell over it. It differs little from the standard Android version and is good, except for one thing. The smartphone contains five pre-installed applications and games that you cannot remove, only disable. These are Netflix, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tidal and Call of Duty. The latter game takes up more than 2.5 GB of storage memory when switched on and still 300 MB when switched off. Sony makes money by forcing these apps and games, and it really can't do that given the phone's retail price. Sony guarantees two years of updates, which is shorter than usual (three years or longer) in this price range.

Conclusion: Buy Sony Xperia 1 II?

The Sony Xperia 1 II is a very interesting smartphone on paper, but does not fully realize that potential in practice. While Sony does a good job with its advanced photo and video apps, the cameras aren't necessarily better than the competition. And while the Xperia 1 II impresses with its refined and complete design, the device has some technical problems. It's also weird that you can't remove the included advertising apps. The suggested retail price of 1199 euros is another stumbling block. Competing smartphones such as the Huawei P40 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and Apple iPhone 11 Pro are tens to hundreds of euros cheaper and perform at least as well in almost all areas. All this makes the Sony Xperia 1 II difficult to recommend, although it is certainly not a bad choice.

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