Sony Xperia 1 II, is anyone else excited about it?

[Kizzy Catwoman]

There's no such thing as a cheap DSLR if you get addicted to lenses

True. I only have 2 lenses.

 

[Mike Dee]

The Xperia 1 II Pro will be coming to Verizon with mmWave 5G. Not sure when that'll happen but it was announced few months back when Sony officially unveiled the Xperia 1 II series. So that will be fully compatible with Verizon and sold by them.

As far, wifi calling I never got a chance to use Xperia phones on Verizon since most of time with them was with T-Mobile. I can't remember if it worked on T-Mobile as well since I generally don't use wifi calling anyway. If I have to guess especially on Verizon it might not work with wifi calling and VoLTE.

I'm not all in at the moment and I hate buying the carrier version even if it's 5G which is pretty much useless on Verizon.

 

[RaRa85]

Second review is out and this time with way more camera samples and analysis to chew on. I'll post my thoughts later about some things they mentioned. But the overall tone of the review is positive.

https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_1_ii-review-2115.php

 

[bhatech]

I'm not all in at the moment and I hate buying the carrier version even if it's 5G which is pretty much useless on Verizon.

Yeah agreed on 5G, that's why I'm not bothered that much with lack of 5G on the Xperia 1 II and more over I won't be keeping this long enough for 5G to matter.

Probably I have stated many times, carrier versions aren't for me as well. Even if they hand over free to me with no commitments it's still not for me. That much I hate them in principle

 

[Mike Dee]

Yeah agreed on 5G, that's why I'm not bothered that much with lack of 5G on the Xperia 1 II and more over I won't be keeping this long enough for 5G to matter.

Probably I have stated many times, carrier versions aren't for me as well. Even if they hand over free to me with no commitments it's still not for me. That much I hate them in principle

Free carrier version I wouldn't turn down.

 

[bhatech]

Free carrier version I wouldn't turn down.

Haha I know I'm crazy lol

 

[RaRa85]

So after looking through the plentiful samples provided by GSMArena I have concluded that Sony just really simulated a real camera for better or worse on the phone. Similar characteristics you'd see from mirrorless or DSLR you get on the Xperia for better or worse. Sony kinda forgoes the modern benefits of HDR everything with this approach as well. No special night modes either which if you prefer those looks you may want to look elsewhere. Even true of what they mentioned about the telephoto at night. The system does not default to the main lens with a crop. No. You choose the telephoto, you get the telephoto. I find this approach very authentic which I believe was Sony's vision. But the camera samples show very strong results in any lighting condition without the extra effort of mounting the phone to a tripod for usable photos. Sony really catered this phone to more photo enthusiasts than the everything already processed and done for you audience and I'm fine with that. I want to see some comparisons with competing phones now but looking at the results by themselves, I love what I see. I have the same partial issue with the portrait mode though and that's a lack of HDR. The use of the telephoto lens with crisp details kind of offsets that for me but I would've like to see Sony use HDR with portrait mode which I take a lot of. Still the results look very beautiful.

 

[Sleepyzoid76]

https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/sony-xperia-1-ii-review

Here is another largely positive review on the phone.

To clarify the confusion over the free gift with pre orders, I think UK and US will get the ear buds, but some other European countries are getting the over ear headphones.

I've been attracted to it by the slightly unusual shape, the headphone jack, and the camera capabilities.

According to this, pre order available in UK later this week, so guess I'll get confirmation then on any gifts, prices.

 

[Sleepyzoid76]

https://www.stuff.tv/sony/xperia-1-ii/review

Another review just came up on UK version of Stuff website. Again only real negative seems to be the price.

The Oppo Find X2 range is also available for preorder in UK now as well, and I am torn over whether to spend £1100 on either top version.

I think the Sony wins out for headphone jack, and Sony familiarity. Also, I believe Oppo may be harder to get in the US.

The Oppo has pre order offer of B&O H8i headphones - in UK anyway - rather than Sony ear buds, but both are a very good incentive.

 

[timkelly0810]

I've been waiting for a phone with wireless charging, microSD slot, and headphone jack for a while now. The S10e had these features, but for some reason, I never jumped. I'm not sure if I can justify buying the phone at it's $1200 price point even with the buds. I may have considered it with the headphones. I've waited years for a new phone so whats another couple months when the price drops by half!

 

[seasideclub]

Am I the only one excited for the Sony phone? The camera looks promising and I'm tempted to get back to Sony. It pretty much has everything and high refresh rate is the only thing missing which I don't see that much of a difference between all my phones. So not a deal breaker for me. No 5G in US sucks if you plan to keep the phone for long.

But I'm kind of excited about this, as usual Sony announcement, pre order, release etc is all so messed up. Pre order opens up June 1st and releases July 24th

I'm considering to place a pre order and anyway have couple of months to decide if I want to cancel or not

No 5G? I'm out.

 

[Steve Lazzar]

Am I the only one excited for the Sony phone? The camera looks promising and I'm tempted to get back to Sony. It pretty much has everything and high refresh rate is the only thing missing which I don't see that much of a difference between all my phones. So not a deal breaker for me. No 5G in US sucks if you plan to keep the phone for long.

But I'm kind of excited about this, as usual Sony announcement, pre order, release etc is all so messed up. Pre order opens up June 1st and releases July 24th

I'm considering to place a pre order and anyway have couple of months to decide if I want to cancel or not

It actually has a special type of Motion Blur Reduction which Sony claims makes the refresh rate equal to 90 Hz. You just have to enable it in the display settings.

For me though, NO U.S. 5G bands (and 1 missing 4G LTE one) IS a deal breaker though. ESPECIALLY since they didn't even bother to lower the price, which is so high in part due to the addition of 5G. Also no dedicated Face Unlock is just idiotic in 2020. If they were just a bit more considerate of their American customers, they would sell SO MANY more phones.

 

[bhatech]

If they were just a bit more considerate of their American customers, they would sell SO MANY more phones.

Agreed on everything, but expect this

They could make this $700 and I guarantee it still won't sell. Nothing sells other than Apple and Samsung in the US in any reasonable number.

 

[mgbosshogg]

So wanted to like this one. Sony usually laser focuses on certain areas and takes a different path with them. I like that.


But £1099 with 4000mAh, no real high refresh rate, no onscreen fps, no latest higher speed charging etc etc.
Plus Sony's history of shoddy updates here. Deffo niche.

I'll pick one up later second hand to have a play.

Still waiting on my second Find X2 Pro coming on the slow boat from the far East after my first got lost in the Bermuda Triangle .

 

[msm0511]

I've been interested in this phone since they announced it back in February I think it was. The biggest issue for me is lack of 5G in the US. Glad the reviews have been generally positive. We'll see if I make the jump from my Note, get the Note 20, or I'm honestly just considering keeping my 10+ for another year... who am I kidding? That's not gonna happen.

 

[alexd3498]

Weird confusion: when I try to pre-order on bestbuy's site, it says it is 5g compatible. Are they getting the euro-spec or is it a fluke? Also is the xperia pro significantly better?

 

[RaRa85]

So here we have an authentic comparison that's different from the "phone A vs phone b" fake ones on YouTube that never show you the actual phones. This guy has added the subtitles for us which is great. Some interesting results as well. The iPhone 11 Pro holds up very well against the 1 ii. Front facing camera hands down goes to the iPhone in daylight. At the end of the video the reviewer mentions that the Photo Pro app is currently waiting for a software update and cannot be used yet which is surprising seeing as how the loaner units sent to US creators has it enabled. I'm guessing that's for early test purposes given the July 24th shipping time frame. That gives Sony some time to improve some things if they see fit. Also RAW support is coming in a future update as well as a night mode mentioned by the reviewer. As is, inclined to wait now until Sony finalized everything. Also seeing how great the iPhone 11 Pro holds up here, I have decided to wait until the 12 Pro debuts alongside the Google Pixel 5 and Nokia Pureview 9.3 or whatever they call it. This fall is going to be heated in a good way.

Edit: the reviewer also stated that Sony has launched the Xperia 1 with apps that couldn't be used out of the gate until a software update was released. With this in mind Sony could really change the game if they enabled a night mode for all three lenses. This would make it an automatic buy for me personally if they do.

https://youtu.be/1K0ISR7RbLM

 

[BlackZeppelin]

This phone has one of the best new innovations I've ever heard. I would love Samsung to copy this.

Apparently when you plug the charger in, you can opt to bypass the phone's battery and power the phone directly. So no battery charging with battery heating and using up charge cycles. So you can watch hours and hours of videos and movies, games etc without running out of charge and at the same time not using the battery.

Brilliant!

 

[mgbosshogg]

I so wanted to get one.
4000mAh battery, no high refresh rate and slow charging put paid unfortunately. Shame.


I did post elsewhere - but for UK buyers O2 has this on refresh for £800 unlocked with the excellent B+O headphones thrown in. Which is around the price it should be. Far more palatable.

 

[RaRa85]

This phone has one of the best new innovations I've ever heard. I would love Samsung to copy this.

Apparently when you plug the charger in, you can opt to bypass the phone's battery and power the phone directly. So no battery charging with battery heating and using up charge cycles. So you can watch hours and hours of videos and movies, games etc without running out of charge and at the same time not using the battery.

Brilliant!

Yes I saw that and that is such an underrated feature! So perfect for IF I would let my kids play Roblox on it.