Sony announced the Xperia at the Mobile World Congress on February 25, 2019, and released the device on May 30, 2019. It’s an Android smartphone from the Xperia flagship series. This is the first smartphone in the world to feature an aspect ratio of 21:9 with 4K resolution. It was priced at Rs 73,990 at launch.

Display

The Sony Xperia 1 comes with an OLED screen that measures 6.5 inches, with a screen-to-body ratio of 82%, a resolution of 1644x3840 pixels, an aspect ratio of 21:9, and a pixel density of 643 ppi.

Overall, this is the best smartphone display at the time of launch. It is the first OLED panel to feature an aspect ratio of 21:9, the ratio you often in cinema movies, and a 4K resolution. In terms of the view experience, it’s nearly impossible to see the pixels individually at such a high pixel density and the angled view of this screen is incredible.

It’s worth noting that due to the long screen design, the viewing area of the Sony Xperia 1 is smaller than that on other phones. Besides, the maximum brightness of this handset is not really impressive, just enough for use. However, OLED panels already feature higher contrast than older screen design, so you won’t have any problems using the phone outdoors and under sunlight.

The biggest downside of this screen is its 21:9 aspect ratio. While this feature was aimed at the ultimate cinema experience, you won’t see as many videos at this ratio as you think. Currently, most YouTube videos are still at the 16:9 or 18:9 aspect ratio, meaning you will see two thick black bezels on the sides of the videos, which could be a turn-off.

When it comes to gaming, there’s almost nothing we can complain about this display. The graphics are smooth even for intensive titles like Free Fire and PUBG. Thanks to the high pixel density and resolution, playing games will also feel like watching a 4K movie. Apart from the smooth detail and stable frame rate, the color and contrast are also amazing on this screen. However, for games not compatible to this aspect ratio, you will see two big black bezels on either the sides or the bottom of the screen when you play games.

Chip

The Sony Xperia 1 is powered by the Snapdragon 855. It’s a 7nm octa-core processor that consists of a 2.84GHz core, triple 2.42GHz cores, and quad 1.78GHz cores. The CPU is paired with the Adreno 640 GPU for graphics performance.

The Snapdragon is one of the most powerful chipsets from Qualcomm, after the Snapdragon 865. On AnTuTu, this processor gets a total of 419711 points, including 170829 points for the GPU.

With such a powerful set of chips, you don’t have to worry that it cannot handle intensive games at all. The Snapdragon 855 more power than enough to seamlessly run any mobile title you want. The GPU, combined with the superior display, maintains the stability of the viewing experience in games very well.

However, testing shows that the phone heats up pretty fast when you play games, meaning its heat management is not as good as other Snapdragon 855 smartphones like the Xiaomi K20 Pro. This could cause a disturbing feeling in the hands if you hold the device for a long gaming session.

Storage

Regarding the storage, buyers of the Sony Xperia 1 have two options to choose from. They can either get 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, but regardless, they will get the 6GB RAM.

To be honest, this RAM capacity is only average, not impressive as a high-end phone often comes with 8GB or even 12GB RAM. The good news is, this handset packs a very good processor to optimize its performance.

As we mentioned in the previous section, this phone’s temperature rises faster than other phones powered by the same processor. And the reason for this quick increase is that the heat management on the Sony Xperia 1 is not as good. To come around this problem, the best you can do is playing games in a cool environment and avoiding gaming for too long.

Battery

The battery is the biggest disappointments of the Sony Xperia 1. The phone packs a 3,300mAh battery along with support for 18W fast charging.

This battery capacity is awfully small compared with other smartphones these days. Furthermore, as the phone heats up very fast during gameplay, the battery juice runs out quickly. You will notice the heat mostly concentrated at the top of the phone, around the camera module.

If you are a moderate user, the battery will still be able to get you through a day on one charge, but if you play games a lot, you may last a few hours

Camera

On the back of the camera, there is a triple-lens array, including a 12MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 12MP telephoto lens. With the rear cameras, you can record videos at a resolution of 4K or 1080 pixels along with a frame rate of 24, 30, 60, or 960 fps. The rear camera module supports HDR, panorama, and eye-tracking features.

On the front, there is a single 8MP selfie lens that supports wide-angle and HDR mode. It also lets you record videos at 1080 pixels and 30 fps.