Sony goes 5G with Xperia 1 II and also launches mid-range Xperia 10 II
As ever, Sony has no idea on naming products. It has today launched the second editions of its Xperia 1 and Xperia 10 range, named the Xperia 1 II and 10 II respectively.
It seems Sony doesn’t consider how products are searched for, how SEO works, or indeed how URLs can show these newly launched devices.
It’s rather like Nokia’s decision to go down the 7.1, 7.2 route. To me it seems crazy, but what do I know?
It’s not as if Sony is having any problems selling phones is it?
Xperia 1 II
The flagship Xperia 1 II has at least addressed my concerns of the last range, which seemed to go backwards in so many ways. Back is wireless charging, and there’s also a decent sized battery (4,000mAh) at last. Oh, and an IP65/68 rating for dust and water protection.
There’s also a 3.5mm headphone socket, which I am rather less bothered about having now built up a collection of USB-C kit, or just thrown adapters on older audio products.
The phone has a 6.5-inch 21:9 ratio 4K HDR OLED display, with extremely high colour accuracy, along with Dolby Atmos sound and dual front stereo speakers. The screen has motion blur reduction technology that is equivalent to a 90Hz display.
There’s 5G too, at last, making this Sony’s first 5G phone. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 SoC, the phone is going to be extremely quick and also enables Sony to do great things with its three cameras and Time-of-Flight sensor.
Features include 60fps auto-focus and auto-exposure, as well as a 20fps burst photo mode. The eye tracking that keeps people in perfect focus is now extended to pets, and also works brilliantly for sports.
There’s a massive improvement in low-light imaging from four different technologies working together.
4K video recording supports 24, 25, 30 and 60fps, and a 2K video mode allows for 120fps recording. There are professional modes on offer for stills and video too.
The triple-camera configuration has newly developed ZEISS optics, calibrated specifically for the phone.
For gaming, there’s a direct connection to PlayStation 4 Dualshock 4 controllers, with a special enhanced edition of Call of Duty: Mobile to take advantage of it.
Available in black or purple, the Xperia 1 II will ship in late Spring. Don’t expect it to be cheap, however, with US pricing expected to be around US$1,100.
Xperia Livestream
Xperia 10 II
If that seems rather expensive, then the cheaper Xperia 10 II might be more up your street.
Retaining the 21:9 ratio display, but at a lower resolution, the Xperia 10 II display now gets some OLED loving, as well as a IP65/68 rating.
Like the Xperia 1 II, there’s a triple-camera setup of a 12-megapixel main camera and two 8-megapixel cameras for ultra wide-angle and telephoto.
The Xperia 10 II lacks 5G and also comes with a smaller 3,600mAh battery, built on Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 665 SoC.
Available in black or white, the Xperia 10 II will also ship in late Spring.
More info: Sony