Price when reviewed 299inc VAT
Sony’s thin and tall Xperia 10 is a weird fish with underwhelming specifications
Sony really should settle on a sensible naming scheme because after toing and froing between X and Z over the last couple of years, it’s now reverting to a simple numbering system for its smartphones. Except that the Sony Xperia 10 isn’t the most advanced phone in its new lineup – it’s the mid-priced budget option.
In fact, the Xperia languishes such a long way behind the Xperia 1 that I expected Sony to launch another model in between. In fact, the only other handset Sony is launching at the current time is the Xperia 10 Plus , which is essentially the same as this but with a larger screen.
Sony Xperia 10 review: Specifications, price and release date.
- 6in FHD+ 21:9 LCD display (Gorilla Glass 5)
- Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor (8×2.2GHz)
- 3GB RAM, 64GB storage
- MicroSD card slot (up to 512GB)
- 13MP/5MP (depth sensor) rear dual cameras
- 2,870mAh capacity battery
- Side sense, side fingerprint reader
- Gorilla Glass 5 on front
- Android 9 Pie
- 68 x 8.4 x 156mm, 162g
- Available in dark blue, silver, black and pink
- Price: £299
- Release date: 25 February
Sony Xperia 10 review: Key features and first impressions
The first thing that you’ll notice about the Sony Xperia 10 is how tall and thin it is. That’s due to a couple of things. First, it’s because the aspect ratio of the display is 21:9, which is much skinnier than most modern smartphones.
This is apparently to help you enjoy streaming movies as they were originally intended. Indeed, Sony claims 69% of Netflix movies are in the 21:9 format, so making the 21:9 Xperia 10 the perfect Netflix movie-watching vehicle. That still leaves an awful lot of 16:9 content that doesn’t fit, though, and the fact that the screen isn’t particularly large or an OLED panel damages its credentials further as a screen that’s aimed at entertainment.
The second reason is that, instead of going for the front-filling edge-to-edge style of display that most other manufacturers are opting for these days, Sony has produced a lopsided design with a big forehead and a vanishing chin. Sure, it doesn’t have a notch but, if anything, Sony’s approach results in an even uglier-looking phone no matter the colour. The Xperia 10 is available in blue, silver, black or pink by the way.
Even if you can get past the weirdly tall and thin look of the thing, you’ll still discover that the Xperia 10’s specifications aren’t up to much. Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor, a chip with eight ARM Cortex A53 cores running at up to 2.2GHz, and this is backed by 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
With a price that’s expected to come in at around £329, that’s a pretty underwhelming collection of core components. For the same money, you can pick up a Xiaomi Pocophone F1 with a top-level Snapdragon 845 inside, which is a chip that will blow the 630 in this phone completely out of the water. In fact, both the £239 Moto G7 and £179 Moto G7 Power have more up-to-date smartphone processors than the Sony Xperia 10 and those phones aren’t the fastest budget phones around anyway.
How about the camera? Well, that’s not particularly exciting but at least it’s a bit more standard-issue than the Snapdragon 630. You’re getting a 13-megapixel shooter with a rather small 1.3in sensor and a 5-megapixel camera that carries out depth-sensing duties so you can create convincing blurred-background images without needing a proper camera. Again, that’s no different to the Motorola Moto G7, which does the same sort of thing for considerably less money.
In fact, the only unusual thing about the Sony is that it has an area in the middle of the right edge of the screen which, when swiped, brings up a quick app launcher. I’m not convinced anyone’s going to buy a phone on the strength of that, though.
Sony Xperia 10 review: Early verdict
Other than those specifications, there appears to be little here to shout about. Yes, the phone feels nice in the hand – largely due to the use of Gorilla Glass 5 on the front – but it looks odd and the slightly underwhelming specification just makes things worse.
With the price set to come in at around the mid-priced mark, it looks as if Sony could well be onto a bit of a loser with the Xperia 10. It would be wrong to disregard it entirely out of hand having handled one for a matter of minutes, of course, but based on this evidence it’s most certainly not going to be one of the must-buy handsets of 2019.
