Earlier this month, Sony Xperia 1 IV debuted as the latest flagship smartphone from the company. This premium smartphone features a new telephoto lens with true optical zoom capability. Sony has designed this smartphone to target content creators. The Sony flagship smartphone packs in some of the latest technologies for imaging, gaming, and music content. This Sony Xperia smartphone will provide a truly immersive experience in terms of audio and video. Along with this flagship, the company unveiled the mid-range Sony Xperia 10 IV.
Sony Xperia 1 IV price, availability
The all-new Sony Xperia 1 IV price in the United States starts at USD 1599, roughly Rs 123500. The company has already started the pre-orders for the same. Furthermore, the Sony Xperia 1 IV will begin shipping around September in Q3, 2022. Interested customers can pre-order and purchase their Sony Xperia 1 IV from the authorized dealers and via Sony US official website.
This Xperia smartphone will arrive in three color options: Black, Purple, and White. Additionally, the company plans to launch the Xperia 1 IV in select South East Asian countries from Q3, 2022. Currently, we don’t have any information regarding its availability in India.
Sony Xperia 10 IV price, availability
The Sony Xperia 10 IV is another mid-range smartphone from the company. The Sony Xperia 10 IV price in the United States starts at USD 499, roughly Rs 38500 for the sole variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. This mid-range Xperia model is also likely to be sold in select South East Asian countries from Q3, 2022. The latest Sony Xperia 10 IV will be launched in four color options: Black, Lavender, Mint, and White.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Specifications
The flagship smartphone, the Sony Xperia 1 IV, sports a 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display with bezels instead of a notch. The display on the Xperia 1 IV gets a 120Hz refresh rate and a 21:9 aspect ratio. Specifically for gamers, the Sony Xperia handset features a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Additionally, this display offers a pixel density of 643PPI.
The Sony Xperia 1 IV is HDR10 Video certified. However, there is no support for Dolby Vision. Furthermore, it also supports a 240Hz motion blur reduction technology. The RT record function allows gamers to share 30-second gameplay clips on their social media profile. Additionally, they can also use the Game Enhancer option to host the gameplay live stream on YouTube.
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Hardware
Under the hood, the Sony Xperia 1 IV is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. The processor will pair with 12GB RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. The smartphone also supports storage expansion with a dedicated microSD expandable storage option. This flagship smartphone runs on nearly stock Android 12 out of the box.
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Camera
As for the camera setup, Sony is offering a triple rear camera setup on the latest flagship smartphone. The Xperia handset gets three 12MP EXMOR RS image sensors. These camera sensors include a 16mm ultra-wide lens, 24mm wide lens, and a new 85-125mm telephoto lens which offers continuous optical zoom.
The camera setup on Sony Xperia 1 IV can record 4K videos at 120fps. Furthermore, it can also shoot 5x slow-motion video—the Xperia 1 IV packs in a 12MP EXMOR RS image sensor for selfies and video calling.
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Battery
Sony Xperia 1 IV will get its backup from a 5000mAh battery and quick charging support. The company claims that this fast-charging solution can provide up to 50 percent battery life in just 30 minutes. In terms of audio experience, the Sony Xperia 1 IV handset comes with full-stage stereo speakers capable of playing 360 Reality Audio. Additionally, the Music Pro function uses cloud processing to transform recorded audio into audio that sounds like it was recorded in a professional studio.
Sony Xperia 10 IV: Specifications
As mentioned above, besides Sony Xperia 1 IV, the company also launched Sony Xperia 10 IV. The Xperia 10 IV is the latest mid-range smartphone from the company. It sports a 6-inch Full-HD+ OLED display. Additionally, this display gets a screen resolution of 1080*2520 pixels with a 60Hz refresh rate.
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Snapdragon 695 chipset on Xperia Smartphone
Furthermore, the display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. Under the hood, the Sony Xperia 10IV packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, and this smartphone also runs on nearly stock Android 12.
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Triple Rear Camera Unit with 12 MP primary sensor
The Xperia 10 IV features a triple rear camera setup for photos and videos. This camera unit includes a 12MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture. Additionally, there are two 8MP secondary sensors with an f/2.2 aperture. The Sony Xperia 10 IV packs an 8MP selfie shooter on the front with an f/2.0 aperture.
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Sony Xperia mobile with USB Type-C Port
The Sony Xperia 10IV features a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack regarding connectivity options. The smartphone also supports dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth v5.1 wireless connectivity. It houses a long-lasting 5,000mAh battery. Now, let’s look at the unboxing of the Sony Xperia 1 IV and look at the handset itself.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Full Review
The Sony Xperia 1 IV is the latest flagship smartphone from the company. It brings all the premium features and hardware specifications that we can expect from a high-end 2022 phone. Furthermore, the Xperia 1 IV also gets many proprietary Sony features.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Design
The flagship Xperia 1 IV gets the familiar tall flat and slim design. The design of the 2022 flagship is very familiar to the last year’s model. Although, this year company is offering the Xperia 1 IV in the matte color scheme. The Matte Black color scheme looks way better than other color options in terms of personal preference.
With the Matte color scheme, the company did an excellent job of hiding fingerprints and smudges. The frame of the Xperia 1 IV is all aluminum, and both the back panel and the aluminum frame are flat. The sharp edges on the handset make it comfortable to hold in hand for a long duration. The shatter resistance, Gorilla Glass Victus provides additional screen protection. Additionally, the glass back panel is also protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. Overall, the build quality is a bit sturdier and perfect.
Xperia 1 IV: Physical Overview
Following the previous trend, the new flagship Sony Xperia 1 IV is also water-resistant with IP65 and IP68 certifications. The company has also added a fingerprint reader inside the power button in terms of physical design. The size of the power button has also been increased, and this fingerprint reader for device authentication works perfectly.
The selfie camera sits in the top bezels rather than a usual cutout, and this Xperia handset also gets a notification LED. The regular 3.5MM headphone jack is also present for plugging in headphones and other audio devices.
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Dedicated Shutter Button
Like the last year’s Xperia, the Sony Xperia 1 IV also gets a dedicated two-step camera shutter. For instance, if a living object is in front, the phone will automatically use the eye autofocus and lock the focus on the subject’s eye. The Sony Xperia 1 IV also gets some old-school Sony features that we don’t see on many flagships.
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Dedicated MicroSD card slot
Sony Xperia 1 IV flagship phone also sports storage expansion with a dedicated microSD card slot. Even though the smartphone comes with up to 512GB of storage, it still does support the storage expansion feature. Besides this, the Xperia 1 IV model also features full-stage front-facing stereo speakers. The speakers are much louder than the last year’s flagship model, and the sound quality is much deeper and richer, with a noticeable boost in the bass.
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Dynamic Vibration
Dynamic Vibration is another cool feature on this flagship smartphone for 2022. We can enable this Dynamic Vibration feature next to the volume controls, and this feature will allow the smartphone to vibrate and the sound of media playback. Furthermore, the Sony Xperia 1 IV screen offers great haptic feedback, and the haptic is precise right on the spot as we touch the screen.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Display
The display on the latest flagship smartphone for 2022 is pretty much the same as the one we saw last year. It comes with a 6.5-inch OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate. The 4K resolution on this display impresses us. Even though specs-wise, this display is identical to the previous year’s flagship model.
But Sony claims that this display is brighter than last year’s flagship model. Furthermore, the Sony Xperia 1 IV display can offer a peak brightness of up to 700 nits. Based on our experience, the display provides good illumination for good sunlight legibility. Although, this display still lags in every aspect of its competitors. Overall, the display offers a crisp, clear, and contrast full picture quality.
The Xperia 1 IV gets a video drive that can uplift the SCR content to HDR in terms of video playback quality. It comes with 10-bit color support as well—the color settings a similar to the one we have already seen on last year’s flagship model. Furthermore, we can also tweak color settings.
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Sony Xperia Game Enhancer Settings
For gaming, the Sony Xperia 1 IV supports high frame gaming which can be enabled for supported games. It can be enabled via Game Enhancer Settings. In this Game Enhancer Settings, we get a 240Hz option too, and Sony calls it the Blur Reduction feature. This feature uses frame interpolation to reduce blur within 120Hz mode. Also Read – Virtual Dynamic RAM Expansion feature on Realme X series phone list
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Hardware
With Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, the Xperia 1 IV has the most powerful Android Hardware. Although, the performance is limited because it throttles quite heavily after just 10 minutes of testing. In just 10 minutes, the Xperia 1 IV went down to around 65 percent of the max CPU performance. Furthermore, the GPU output was also offering half of its actual output.
However, the games run well without lag or frame drop, even with this much throttling. It means that the dip in the performance isn’t noticeable. The Sony Xperia 1 IV handles’ thermals and throttles worse than its competitors. Overall, in day-to-day tasks, the flagship smartphone works perfectly fine.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Battery
The flagship smartphone for 2022 from the Sony Xperia lineup comes with a 5000mAh battery. This battery is 10 percent larger in capacity than the last year’s flagship model. Additionally, the battery life also improves with a bigger capacity battery. Also Read – Sony is dealing with PlayStation shortage, could continue to more till 2022 end
Like its competitors, Samsung and Apple, Sony began removing the proprietary charger from the package this year. The Sony Xperia 1 IV comes with 30W fast charging support with a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. In our experience, while charging, we can charge the smartphone from 0 to 40 percent in just 30 minutes with a 30W Sony charger. Furthermore, the flagship smartphone also sports Wireless charging of up to 15W.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Software
The interface of the Xperia 1 IV is similar to the interface of any other Xperia phone, and it runs on the same stock feeling Android 12 OS. The software also gets some proprietary Sony Apps and features. During the launch, Sony promised to offer a couple of new Sony features shortly. Also Read – Google Pixel 6a with Tensor SoC, 12.2-megapixel Sony IMX363 Primary sensor
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Camera App
The camera app on the Xperia 1 IV comes with many camera features like aspect ratio, flash Bokeh and White Balance. Extra features like Slow Motion, Panorama, Portrait Selfie, and other Creative Effects. The camera app also gets a dedicated Pro mode which includes a few modes, including Auto and Manual modes. Furthermore, this camera app gets a memory recall function too.
The Sony Xperia 1 IV also comes with the Cinema Pro app. Like the photos, we can also take control of the videos using this app. In this app, we have more freedom while recording a video. We can adjust the aspect ratio, and we can also color correct the video footage afterward. This feature is helpful for content creators, and the content creators can directly upload the video footage on a suitable video-sharing platform.
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Video Features
Moreover, live video streaming is also possible on the 2022 flagship Sony Xperia 1 IV. For live video streaming, Sony has made an exclusive deal with YouTube. In this deal, if a content creator is using the Xperia 1 IV, they can directly live stream the video even if they don’t meet the minimum number of subscribers.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Camera
The triple rear camera setup on the Xperia 1 IV is similar to what we have already seen on Sony Xperia 1 III. However, the telephoto lens has been updated. In Xperia 1 IV, the telephoto lens provides seamless optical zoom. Additionally, all three cameras now support steady shots with a flawless eye, improving stability in low light conditions.
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Daylight Shots
Eye Autofocus and object tracking are also available on all the cameras. The triple rear cameras include a 12MP primary camera, a 12MP telephoto, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. Furthermore, there is also a ToF camera for bokeh. The flagship phone gets an RGB IR sensor for white balance adjustment.
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Primary Camera Quality
In our camera experience, the camera takes some outstanding photos that are incredibly rich with details and colors during the daytime. The daylight photos are nearly noise-free. The sharpness is well balanced, the colors are naturally true to life, and the white balance is decent. The dynamic range is also praise-worthy. Also Read – Sony WF-1000XM4 price in India, TWS earbuds with Noise Cancellation
Keep in mind that there is no dedicated portrait mode. But we can play with the Bokeh settings for the portrait shots. The result of these Bokeh shots is good. However, the subject separation is far from ideal.
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Telephoto Lens
Additionally, with a telephoto lens, we can click some decent images. The details are okay with a telephoto lens at 3.5x zoom. However, the photos aren’t as sharp as the images with the primary camera. But the colors are natural. The dynamic range is also decent. The more we zoom in, the quality of the photos starts to degrade. Overall, the images clicked with the telephoto lens are good and filled with details.
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Ultra-Wide Sensor
The photos licked with the ultra-wide sensor are impressive, and the output images get many details and good sharpness. The colors are almost real-life with fantastic-looking foliage, the noise is also low, and the dynamic range is excellent.
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Low-Light and Night Shots
Sony doesn’t match the Night shots and Low-light photos with its competitors. But the images we clicked at night are incredibly realistic and sharp. The output images are colorful, and the details are also good. Additionally, the dynamic range is also praise-worthy in most cases. The zoom-in night shots are sharp and lovely. The details in the images and color saturation are excellent, and noise levels are also on the lower side. Also Read – Sony 32W830 price in India, specifications, and other details
In darker situations, the photos come out to be darker. The dark images get many clipped highlights. The low-light images clicked with an ultra-wide sensor are solid, and the details are excellent and sharp. The output images are near to real life with excellent noise reduction. An additional Night Mode could have helped to improve the low-light and darker mode images.
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Selfie Camera
The new Xperia 1 IV gets a new 12MP front-facing selfie camera for selfies. The front camera is even capable of 4K video recording. The image quality of the selfie camera is excellent. The subjects in most shots are always well exposed in the selfies. The details and sharpness levels are unique, and noise levels are also on the lower side. The dynamic range is also good enough.
The rear cameras can shoot 4K videos at up to 120fps frame rate in terms of videos. The video footage from the primary camera is impressive with enough details, and the video footage also gets close to natural life colors. The noise levels are also relatively low in the video footage, offering a decent dynamic range. Keep in mind that there is no Electronic Image Stabilization on the Sony Xperia 1 IV smartphone.
Sony Xperia 1 IV: Final Verdict
The all-new Sony Xperia 1 IV comes with premium features that one could expect from a flagship-grade smartphone. Many premium features can make it stand close to its competitors. The addition of a 4K OLED screen, an excellent battery life, and the Pro-oriented Camera with various camera features make it a flagship smartphone. Other important aspects like expandable memory and a 3.5mm headphone jack are also present.
The only downside is that the charger’s absence within the box might be a turn-off point for most users. Another significant problem is the throttling issue on this Sony Xperia smartphone. Considering the heavy throttling, the Xperia 1 IV might not be the top choice for gamers. Also, some heating issues can be fixed with some software updates.
