How Does Sony Keep Doing This?
Sony Xperia 1 V will be underrated again… and I'm not sure how long this can last.
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Christopher Arzu
I hope Sony doesn’t stop making these. Photographers and videographers love these phones. Edit: I shoot on a Canon M50 and an iPhone 13 pro. Tried the Xperia 1 IV in store and thought it was cool, didn’t have 1300 bucks to spare tho, so I understand everyone’s arguments about buying it.
S H
What photographer/videographer would buy this? If you’re going to shell out this much dough and you’re already in the industry, there’s a chance you already have a dedicated camera for it. Also the phone doesn’t do anything above and beyond what a galaxy s22 ultra or 23 ultra can do if you’re an up and coming media creator
Alexej Vornoskov
@MemoFromEssex automode photos are terrible. Manual are among best there is. But casuals like me cannot use manual setting, i have no idea what they do and i dont want to learn it. I want to point and shoot. And that exactly the weak spot of them, while professionals can archive much greater result on them compared to other phones.
kk_FPS
Audiophiles love the Xperias as well, I hope these things get more attention in the future.
Haziq Irfan
If somebody in Sony actually took some notes from this video, in 1-2 years time they’re seriously gonna have an industry killer phone. I’m already excited seeing the list of specs and features at the end of the video. Kudos to Marques for bringing up this idea
Romeo Alpha Juliet Golf
If any phone would get me to switch back to android, it would be a do it all sony Xperia. They make the most aesthetic phones in the entire market.
MrZydras
@Romeo Alpha Juliet Golf That’s the reason I also would switch to andorid again! Those SM Galaxy, Oppo, OP Phones are all in their way good, but Sony always has a special place in my heart when it comes to smartphones.
If they would release a smartphone for the mass I would buy it for sure!
Hope they will also follow suit and support their software for 3-4 years instead of 2.
No Name
Yeah some school dropout from da hood (marcus blacklee) is going to tell the best tech company on earth how to run a business? He better focus on being a runaway dad and selling drugs back in da hood
M Z
Xperia PRO-I – professional
Xperia 1 – flagship
*Xperia 5 – premium mid-range*
Xperia 10 – mid-range
Xperia Ace – budget
The Xperia 5 series’ role was supposed to be everything that Marques said.
Rico S.
Actually I always considered the 5 more as a compact flagship instead of “only” premium mid-range. Apart from Apple, Sony has been the only company that was able (or willing) to put premium tech and features in a compact case.
Zsombor Szarka
almost everything he said the xperia 5 already does. They just really need to step up their point and shoot game… though based on other reviews, the mark V series is a huge step forward towards a great auto mode.
Argo Hein
And V is a bit too expensive. I still bought myself V mk4 though, but it was with a discount and xm4 bundle
Gregory
Or even drop the Ace line. It feels like they’d have to sacrifice too much to keep all Sony thing to compete with all $150-300 phones. Imo the sweet spot would be PRO-I as it is, bring in everything you have, Xperia 1 – 6.5″ 4K flagship, Xperia 5 – 6″ 1440p premium mid-range, Xperia 10 – 5.5″ 1080p mid range. I’d gladly swap to Sony with such lineup
Yosef Selim
Biggest problem with Sony in my experience, is that they tend to drop support for their devices much sooner than other companies.
Hiruka Shiro
This will always happen with anything niche. Mass market products tend to get longest support since the company wants people to keep buying the stuff even several years after the launch. It’s not the case with niche stuff as there won’t be anymore people buying after the launch, so there’s no incentive for the company to keep the support
Yosef Selim
@Hiruka Shiro the damage was done back when they WERE a major player as Sony-Ericsson… They dropped support for phones within a year… It burned so much of their fan-base.
The situation they’re in now, with low adoption numbers, is because they screwed over their past customers.
I think they make some of the best looking phones, but I’ll never buy another. Never.
深境打擊者
Thanks and appreciate that you voiced out some some concerns or worries we have. We need some big men to tell Sony what we really think about its phone. The qualities of photos taking from telephoto lens and wide angle lens still have a huge room for improvement. I’m a Sony fan and I recognise the qualities of photos on 1 Mark 5 are slightly better than those on 1 Mark 4, except for the main camera but the price of 1 Mark 5 is still very aggressive, sometimes I would say it’s overpriced when you consider the improvement from Mark 4 to Mark 5. But I would say the target customers of 1 Mark 5 would be the photographers or professionals related media productions. Xperia 5 Series would be more suitable for the masses according to your suggestions if Sony increase the battery of Xperia 5 series to 5000 mAh. As I remember they explained why they wanna name their flagship phone as “1”, because they wanna put all their top and amazing technologies on “1” thing, then Xperia 1 series came out 😂😂. So, Xperia 1 series is kind of a product to tell the world what Sony and how Sony integrates their technologies into a smartphone amazingly.
But please Sony, can you improve the photo qualities from telephoto and wide angle lens even much better, through software updates? Please?😂😂😂
tilgare
This year in the blind smartphone camera test, you should make two of the cameras this phone – with one in auto mode and the second using a comfortable photographer in manual mode. Would be really interesting to see it prove how capable it is.
Parth Prajapati
Bro even though a manual camera photoes might turn out to be better, its not like you are going to use it everytime, it beats the purpose of smart phone camera, most of the people just like to open there camera and click photos, and if i want a manuel camera to click photos i would rather go for a dslr, at these price range you will get way way better quality of photos than by a phone..
Almie
@Parth Prajapati not necessarily, I like to take pics with a DSLR but it’s heavy and annoying to carry around, I would love to sometimes just take out my smartphone but still be able to manually adjust the settings to get the picture I want.
oogway the sussy turtle.
@Parth Prajapati yeah but it’s also true that sony using just auto mode in sony’s cameras in a comparison is unfair to it. it doesn’t represent the true capability of sony’s cameras. a comparison is all about a device’s strengths and weaknesses. using just auto mode only shows it’s weakness, not it’s strength.
Parth Prajapati
@Almie well it dependes person to person, a guy who wants to do a professional photography will any way chose a proper camera as compared to a smart phone camera, at 1400 price point, even if i go for 700 dollar smart phone, and 700 dollar dslr, i would be getting best of the both world, a good smartphone camera to click photos on the go, and a dslr for a better professional photography. And a 700 dollar dslr will still out perform a 1400 dollar samrtphone camera in professional photofraphy. Well its just how i prefer..
hujanpanas
i do think sony really nailed this 1 v,theres a reason why they tend to make the picture a lil overexpose in auto shoot.thats because its is easier to handle in pos processing.Ive been taught this in my school ”overexpose is better than underexpose”’.They keep the expandable storage so we can have a dedicated storage that has extreme mobility which photographer are dying for a phone.But yeah its not for everyone tho especially for 1400 bucks
James Halpert
”overexpose is better than underexpose”’ is a very strange thing to teach. When you overexpose and blow out the highlights, they are gone forever and it is very noticeable. If you underexpose and the very dark areas of the image are a bit crushed (usually there is still a lot of detail to be brought back – much more than with overexposure), it is almost not noticeable when you bring the general brightness level back up. Additionally, we naturally focus much more on bright areas of images compared to dark areas. So I don’t agree at all with this and would say the exact opposite is true.
Richard Tapia
I went to a convention recently and when I handed my phone to a friend for a picture, they didn’t know how because there wasn’t a big white button on the screen. With the way he held the phone though,his finger was already on the dedicated shutter button. Once I told him that, he liked it a lot and started asking me more about my phone. I wish Sony would market just a bit more, I really think they’d make a dent in the marketplace if they pushed a lil harder on getting the word out. Most people aren’t even aware that Sony makes smartphones
Edit: I forgot to mention that I’m using a Sony Xperia 1 iii
sundaynightdrunk
It’s so surprising that their camera app doesn’t just put out killer photos from the rip. Their mirrorless cameras stripped a lot of people from Canon and Nikon, and did it with great autofocus and great photos without much effort.
Bruhder
I’m really curious what their smartphone division is thinking. What’s their long terms strategy, what are the targeted sales and do they reach them?
DexWasTaken
I’m honestly not entirely sure but they’re probably not expecting to be competing with the bigger smartphone companies hence why theyre targeting a smaller and more niche market.
Their main focus are probably still televisions and other general electronics and they excel greatly in those so I don’t think marques comparing it to porche in the video was the most accurate but yeah the marketing department should be taking note of what he said
Rahman Hacen
Mr CEO SONY PHONE COMPANY: You have to create a new line and a new name to take off again because the Xperia line was burned, and of course with a radical change in policy as Marques said, Sony historically does not like to concede and follow, but now it is forced to imitate others after everyone used to imitate it.
DarudeSandstorm
Commenting from Japan – Sony is big enough here that they don’t even market their phones behind Sony but solely behind Xperia. They have four different lines of phones at different price points and feature sets and I do believe they sell well? Not entirely sure why they same isn’t done globally but in Japan at least I see Xperia pretty often.
Aiswar P
The Xperia 5 IV already exists 😅, I own one and it’s a great handy phone 6.1″ and same spec as 1 IV🔥It would be great if MKBHD reviews it and you will use it as your secondary phone for 😃
Zero Epic Moments
Many people still find phones to be too tall and costly. It would be beneficial if manufacturers like Sony consider creating a 5 series with a regular aspect ratio, similar to the iPhone 14 and S23, priced around $699 or less. This approach would cater to the needs of users who prefer more compact devices while also offering a more affordable option in the market
waskonator
This is such a love letter to Sony, I hope it plays in front of the board meeting as soon as possible. We know they have what it takes to be contenders, we are all just waiting for them to get it right.
pussymuncha69
Definitely yes, I so badly want to switch to a Sony phone again! To add to all of your points a compact version (doesn’t have to be thin) would be amazeballs, think Z1 compact with no bezels and modern tech would be my wet dream.
Jigar Dhulla
In India, I had and was a fan of Sony Xperia ZR even though the specs were little low compared to other smart phones in the market. But I loved the build quality, look and feel. Also IP58 phone in those days where rarity. I am still missing that extra button to click pictures in landscape mode!
Sunil Kumar
I bought Sony Xperia M20 Aqua Dual when it came out. Though I changed my phone but I still have the Sony phone. It’s the most beautiful phone I’ve ever owned. No phone can beat Sony in the looks.
Valkyrie
Same.. i had Xperia C3 and that time having 5 inch phone was a major flex and also that was one of the slimmest phone i ever seen. The amount of compliment i got was really worth the extra price. Even today when i meet my old friends from high school days they talk about my Xperia phone.
Divit Karekar
I remember those Sony stores where they used to keep the phone in a small waterfall and show the water resistant feature
Fruit Cake
When I bought an Xperia 5 III, it was because of the camera system, sim + sd card tray, headphone jack, and front facing speakers. It even has the notification LED. It was by far the best feature set, and I hope more people discover the value in their phone lineup.
Владислав Горанов
One of the best reviewing channels! Good work!
As technical artist I am pretty disappointed that Sony dropped some of their professional target audience(like me) by stopping the development of the 3D creator in their newer phones. Now they also dropped the IToF sensor which makes the Xperia 1 V unworthy phone for taking quick scans on the go even if Sony resurrect their 3D creator or if I want to root the phone and reverse engineer the app to work using the newer APIs. I have an Xperia XZ2 which I bought back around the summer of 2018, a month after this phone was released. It took awesome pictures compared to it’s rivals with several cameras, it’s indestructible and most importantly – the 3d scanner. Only this 3D scanner feature paid itself at least tens of times the prize of the phone. Now I use this phone as a second phone, mostly when it’s special features are needed. My main phone is Xiaomi 11 note, it’s a 150USD phone with loud speakers, 90hz oled screen, poor-mediocre cameras, 5000mAh battery – get’s the job done. Yeah, I also appreciate taking professional photos, especially my dream was to have a phone with good optics and big sensor like the 1 V, but not sure if it’s worth it. The 3D scanning feature is the difference between “I WANT this phone NOW” and “who cares, I have several expensive project cars, better I throw these money for some small car upgrades”.
GT KC
I got my Xperia 1V already for awhile now. It’s launched faster in Asia I think. I’m surprised you didn’t touch on the video capabilities and the S-Cinetone. This thing is amazing for videos!
Anonymous
The camera does not go black because it is a stacked sensor. Traditional camera sensors need to stop collecting light to store the light data for the picture. Since in a stacked sensor the two things are decoupled (as explained in the video), the screen can keep showing what the sensor sees and avoid “sensor blackout”.
Ngoni Mujuru
Great video Marques! Loved the in depth analysis of the situation and the advice you gave, hopefully Sony sees this and implements your suggestions.
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