Sony’s Xperia 1 is the first flagship phone with a 21:9 screen but is this taller aspect ratio going to catch on?
If there’s just one thing to take away from this year’s MWC announcements, it’s that smartphone displays are always changing. With flexible-screened phones cresting the horizon and Samsung paying particular attention to HDR10+ supported panels, phone manufacturers are focusing more of their efforts on innovative display technologies to try and stand out from the crowd.
Sony’s upcoming Xperia 1 flagship continues this trend. With jean pockets bulging as screens steadily increase in size, the Xperia 1 introduces a new aspect ratio to smartphones. But is this really where the market is headed?
Sony Xperia 1 review: Key specifications, price and release date
- 6.5in OLED 4K HDR display (21:9 aspect ratio)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (2.84GHz) processor
- Adreno 640 GPU
- 128GB storage (microSD expandable up to 512GB)
- 6GB of RAM
- Triple rear cameras: 12MP, 12MP (telephoto), 12MP (wide)
- Selfie camera: 8MP
- Dual SIM (Nano-SIM)
- 3,330mAh battery
- 167 x 72 x 8.2 mm
- Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
- Android 9.0 Pie
- UK price: Expected £849
- UK release: Summer 2019
Sony Xperia 1 review: Design, key features and first impressions
The first thing you’ll notice is that the Xperia 1 is very, very tall. Peeping out from the top of your pockets, the Xperia 1’s 21:9 aspect ratio display has necessitated an increase in the phone’s overall dimensions, and it simply isn’t quite as pocketable as other flagship phones.
I also found it a bit awkward to use. Accessing the phone’s notification tray by dragging your thumb from the top of the screen is usually straightforward, but with the Xperia 1 it was quite cumbersome. This is no longer a one-handed task, but thankfully Sony’s ‘side sense’ feature returns to help reduce some of these issues, allowing you to access a special app tray when you swipe left from the right-hand edge of the screen.
Why include such a bizarre aspect ratio then? Well, movies are generally recorded natively in 21:9, so Sony says this new aspect ratio allows you to stream films exactly as the creators intended. In fact, 69% of Netflix content is already available in 21:9 format, so the Xperia 1 should be the perfect device for your binge viewing on the morning commute.
As for the screen’s actual specifications, the 6.5in display is a 4K HDR unit and benefits from Sony’s Bravia X1 enhancement technology, which is capable of upconverting SDR (standard dynamic range) movies to “near HDR” and works with all types of footage, from your home movies to YouTube videos.
There also aren’t any screen-bordering bezels on the left, right and bottom edges of the phone, although there is an asymmetrical forehead bezel which sits above the display, incorporating the Xperia 1’s 8-megapixel selfie camera.
On other respects, the Xperia 1 matches other flagships. It’s IP68 dust and water resistant, with the body sandwiched between protective layers of Gorilla Glass 6. Meanwhile, the phone’s other physical attributes are precisely where you expect them to be. The volume rocker, power button and dedicated camera shutter button sit side-by-side on the right edge, with a microSD card and nano-SIM tray on the left. Cast your eyes downward and you’ll spot the solitary USB Type-C port for charging. Alas, there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack.
A vertically aligned triple camera arrangement can be found on the back of the phone. This incorporates three 12-megapixel camera units. One is your standard RGB lens, while the other two are wide-angle and telephoto zoom sensors.
These camera specifications might not sound particularly noteworthy, but the Xperia 1’s co-development with Sony’s Alpha camera team should introduce some welcome upgrades. Sony’s next-generation flagship supposedly has more advanced noise reduction filtering tech, as well as more effective autofocusing on moving objects up to 10fps.
As for the phone’s video capabilities, Sony has incorporated some of its CineAlta post-processing techniques. Essentially, this means that editing footage should be more straightforward than ever, allowing you to apply different themes depending on the footage you’ve captured, as well as applying different cinema-grade colour profiles used by Sony’s professional-grade Venice full-frame movie cameras.
You’re going to need some swift internals to back all of this up, so it’s no surprise that the Xperia 1 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest mobile chipset, the Snapdragon 855. This is an octa-core 8nm architecture CPU, which is clocked at 2.84GHz and includes an embedded Adreno 640 GPU for graphics capabilities. This works with 16GB of RAM to aid multitasking, while the Xperia 1 also packs 128GB of in-built storage, which can be expanded up to a further 512GB via microSD.
Sony Xperia 1 review: Early verdict
On the one hand, Sony’s Xperia 1 successfully bolsters the firm’s past successes. While it’s still early days, I think there’s enough innovative tech on offer here for the Xperia 1 to stand out from the (ever-increasing) flagship crowd.
On the other hand, that 21:9 screen might be a bit of a throwaway gimmick, and I still don’t know whether this intriguing aspect ratio will introduce a new smartphone standard or turn out to be an odd digression from the norm, improving the movie-watching experience at the expense of overall usability. Hopefully it’s the former, as in all the other areas that matter the Xperia 1 has real potential to excel when it launches later this year.
