As expected, Sony latest flagship smartphone is the first phone to feature a 4K HDR OLED display with a 21:9 cinematic aspect ratio.
The Sony Xperia 1 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, three rear cameras, and a 3,300 mAh battery. But its most distinctive characteristic is its 6.5 inch, 3840 x 1644 pixel display.
That high-resolution, ultra-wide (in landscape mode) display allows you to watch full-screen movies without letterboxing — and you won’t have to contend with a notch either, since the phone doesn’t have one. There’s virtually no bezel on the bottom of the display, but there is a decent-sized one on top for the front-facing camera and earpiece.
Sony sort of obscures that bezel in its promotional images by showing a phone with a wallpaper that’s dark at the top. But if you brighten the images the bezel becomes easier to see.
When you’re not watching movies, Sony says the display comes in handy for viewing two apps at once. The company built on Android’s native multi-window capabilities by allowing you to open apps in a second window by voice command as well as by using a 21:9 multi-window launcher.
This isn’t the first time Sony has released a phone with a so-called 4K display. The company’s been doing it since 2015, when Sony introduced the Xperia Z5 Premium with a 3840 x 2160 pixel display. But up until now the company has stuck with 16:9 aspect ratio and LCD technology.
The Xperia 1 is the first phone with a 4K OLED display and a wider/taller aspect ratio.
On the back of the phone, there are three 12MP cameras:
- 26mm primary camera (with optical image stabilization)
- 16mm 135 degree wide-angle camera
- 52mm 45 degree, telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom (with OIS)
Like other recent Sony smartphones, the cameras also support 4K HDR video recording and slow-motion video recording at up to 960 frames per second.
There’s an 8MP front-facing camera, a fingerprint sensor on the side of the phone, and the Sony Xperia 1 is IP65/68 rated for dust and water resistance.
Other features include Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC support, Dolby Atmos audio, stereo speakers, and an 8MP front-facing camera.
Sony will offer the phone in black, grey, white, and purple color options and the Xperia X1 should be available this spring.
The company is also introducing new entry-level and mid-range smartphones:
I’m not a fan of these aspect ratios at all. They are ruining all the things I do on my phone. Landscape use with a keyboard open is really difficult on my S9+. Remote desktop requires constantly zooming and panning the screen. Least important, but still annoying, is the fact that it’s getting further away from the aspect ratio of the classic games I play on emulators.
True.
But this 21:9 is much more functional than the 19:9 and 18:9 screens that have become mainstream. Still the most useful screen is 16:9. It is non-existent, but even better/useful are 1:1.414 screens.
My only reservations with this is they could’ve bumped at least to 8GB RAM, added another 1,500mAh of battery, and included the front-firing stereo loudspeakers (even if it means making it slightly longer, which doesn’t make much of a difference compared to other subpar 18:9 devices).
These aspect ratios are getting out of hand. If phones get much longer you will have to hang a red flag on the end of it when you place it in your pocket.