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Our Sony Xperia 5 IV Review

Sony’s Xperia 5 is sitting at a pretty price of £699 and is a strong contender in the realm of mid-range smartphones. It’s a competitive world out there for these hand-held devices, so what sets the Xperia 5 aside from the rest? 

Sony Xperia 5 key features: 

• A triple-lens camera, with 16mm, 26mm and 52mm lenses 

• Eye Autofocus 

• 6.1” FHD+ HDR OLED display

Sony Xperia 5 design

Weighing in at only 164g with dimensions of 158x68x8.2mm, the Sony Xperia 5 is extremely slender, making it a great choice for people unenthused by the larger phones on the market.

On the bottom of the phone is the USB-C port and on the side is the fingerprint scanner and dedicated camera button. The sim card tray can be opened without the need for tools like many other smartphones require and can hold cards of up to 512gb in size! 

Unfortunately, you’ll find no headphone jack on Sony’s Xperia 5, but it does come with a USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor. The 3140mAh battery it’s built with is more than substantial and has enough juice to comfortably get you through the day with regular usage. 

Sony Xperia 5 camera

Unlike the Xperia 1 where the camera is in the middle of the phone, Sony’s Xperia 5 camera is located on the left-hand side. The camera juts out slightly, which is to be expected of a camera with that amount of power, but after a while, the edges start to become scuffed if not handled with care.

The Xperia 5 comes equipped with Sony’s Eye AF - derived from their mirrorless camera series - and houses an intelligent focusing system that automates tracking via a subject’s eye. 

We found the ultra-wide view lacks autofocus and is not great for taking close up photos of smaller objects but otherwise works well when trying to fit a large amount into one image. With an 8-megapixel front camera too, your selfie game will be taken up a notch.

Sony Xperia 5 display

The 21:9 aspect ratio of the screen is an addition particularly with movies and gaming enthusiasts in mind. While it’s great for the cinematic experience, the top of the screen might prove difficult to reach at times unless you have longer-than-average fingers. 

The Xperia 5 drops its 4k resolution for a 1080x2520, which is a significant loss from the Xperia 1, and its 6.1-inch OLED display has a lower resolution at 449 pixels per inch as opposed to the Xperia 1’s 643. 

So the screen definitely isn’t as good as the Xperia 1, and when using it outside, can be difficult to see at times in bright conditions. If the brightness could be turned up past the current maximum it’d be a much more pleasant user experience. 

Sony Xperia 5 performance

The Xperia 5 runs on the Android 9 Pie, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, and is generally considered a smart AI that moulds itself to your usage habits. Adaptive Brightness is an example of this, which is where the phone learns the tweaks you make to your brightness throughout the day and sets it accordingly. It takes a while to get used to you, but once you feel comfortable enough to leave the auto-brightness feature turned on, we think you’ll feel perfectly satisfied. 

Its intelligence doesn’t stop there. Plugging your headphones in will prompt the Xperia 5 into thinking you’re about to listen to music, so your most recently played playlist will pop up. Or when you’re about to leave the house for your morning commute, your Google Maps app will appear. The brains of the Android 9 Pie OS is backed up by the raw power of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, helping deliver the enhanced AI capabilities the Xperia 5 has to offer. 

Sony Xperia 5 sturdiness 

The phone is built around a frame made from aluminium, with Corning Gorilla Glass on the front and back - chemically strengthened and supposedly damage-resistant. Despite it being long and slender in stature, we felt the phone was generally robust, and after testing a few run-of-the-mill drops, not a scratch was found. 

Our Sony Xperia 5 verdict

For those who have their phone for entertainment purposes and enjoy taking high-quality photos, you might find the Xperia 5 is for you. 

Robustly built with superb cinematic qualities, for the average smart-phone user, any drawbacks on the Sony Xperia 5 will almost go unnoticed. But for an extra £30, you’ll be able to purchase yourself a brand new iPhone 11 (sorry Android fanbase).