Sony today announces two new phones, the Xperia 1 III and the Xperia 5 III. Both are the latest in Sony’s campaign to redefine the Xperia brand as a kind of sibling of its acclaimed Alpha digital cameras. As such, the camera system is again the main focus, and Sony is specifically working on improving the ‘world’s first smartphone with a variable telephoto lens coupled to a Dual PD sensor’ and enhancing its already fast and accurate autofocus system.
Pricing has not been announced, but both would be available “this summer” in the United States.
Each phone has the basic specifications you would expect on an Android phone: three cameras on the back, a Snapdragon 888 processor and support for 5G. Actually, the 5G support is worth noting, as these Xperia phones will be able to work on 5G networks in the US, something that is strangely lacking in the latest models. However, they will only work on the regular sub-6 networks on Verizon and T-Mobile, without support for AT & T’s 5G network. As is fairly common for Sony, it will be sold directly rather than through service providers.
The phone also retains the Xperia design language that Sony arrived with the original Xperia 1. They are long and narrow, with very shiny black and small curves in all the corners, giving them the most monolithic look of a smartphone today. I think they look good, but I’m also aware that they’s likely to cost a lot of money if Sony announces the price.
In order to establish the Xperia brand, Sony has also powered many other nice specs that are relatively difficult to obtain on other Android phones. The Xperia 1 III has a 4K OLED screen that now supports a fast (though locked) 120Hz refresh rate. There are dual speakers that are 40 percent louder and work with Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format.
Sony is also working on a special mode for the USB-C port that allows you to use a special cable to record an HD resolution video signal from an SLR camera so that you can use it as a monitor – just like the Xperia Pro can do with HDMI. It can also make them an interesting option for live streaming.
They come in both dual-SIM and SIM + microSD variants. And there is even a good headphone jack and a shutter button.
There is also the more standard rate, such as wireless charging and a 4500 mAh battery. When plugged in and playing, the phones can dissipate the power of the battery to reduce heat. Both phones are shipped with Android 11, but at the moment there is no clear commitment to future software updates.
If you step down from the Xperia 1 III to the Xperia 5 III, you will get a very similar set of specifications, with a few exceptions. It will of course be smaller. The larger phone has a 6.5-inch 21: 9 screen, while the 5 has a 6.1-inch 21: 9 screen – with a 1080p resolution instead of 4K. But it still has support for the periscope-style variable lens.
But again, there is a lot of pressure on the cameras and here Sony has done quite a bit to improve the hardware. Sony uses three 12-megapixel sensors on the back, and both the main and tele-lenses support OIS. (The Xperia 1 III also gets a flight time sensor.)
Sony says that it has lenses equivalent to 16mm (f / 2.2 ultrawide), 24mm (f / 1.7 wide) and 70mm (f / 2.3 telephoto), but that the telephoto can also reach an equivalent of f / 2.8 105mm. The extra telephoto zoom is due to a folded periscope lens design, and the Xperia physically moves the lens elements to get different focal lengths.
The idea is that photographers mostly stick to the focal length, but if they want to zoom in further or use a zoom level between the Xperia phones, they use digital zoom.
In addition to the luxury hardware, Sony has repeated its software. Unlike Google, Apple and even Samsung, Sony places its emphasis on technical features rather than computer photography. It requires improved performance in low light in some situations, but the emphasis is on features such as autofocus and shooting speed.
These phones can take photos up to 20 fps with focus / exposure readings at 60 fps. They also support 120FPS 4K in HDR. There is still the eye focus autofocus, but this year there is real-time detection for the autofocus. In a demo, Sony showed how a subject turns around and when their eye is visible again, the camera adjusts.
Sony is finally integrating its pro camera app with the main camera app. There is the “basic” mode like every smartphone, but it is now faster to get to the pro mode. Sony’s pro mode is also very much aimed at people who use Sony’s cameras: the interface looks great.
On paper, it all sounds very good. We need to review it to see if these specifications can translate to amazing experiences. Previous Sony Xperia phones also had excellent camera hardware specifications, but for taking quick shots, they often missed the point. Using a smartphone camera as a professional SLR camera can limit their appeal.
Sony’s tack with the Xperia line is to tackle them on the gills with specs and features that will appeal to photographers and even videographers (there’s an excellent video app based on workflow). In reality, however, Sony has struggled to gain any measurable market share in the US. Many of them come down to higher prices than the standard for even Android phones, but some also come down to availability. Without service provider partnerships or large marketing budgets, these Xperia phones will be more prone to camera enthusiasts than regular Android buyers.