During the past years Sony phones have landed in the US like lead balloons. His handsets don’t get a lot of support from carriers or space on the shelves. But with the new Xperia 1 Mark III, Sony may be ready for a major comeback.
The Xperia 1 III has Sony’s signature minimalist style, but comes with the world’s first variable telephoto camera on a phone and also the first mobile 4K HDR OLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
The Xperia 1 III’s new variable telephoto camera marks a huge step forward for smartphone photography as instead of using multiple cameras for different focal lengths, Sony can offer a 2.9x zoom (70mm) and a 4x zoom (105mm) with a single camera sensor, which relies on moving optics to switch between the two zoom ranges at will. Unfortunately, the Xperia 1 III still can’t choose a zoom between those two focal lengths like you would on a traditional camera with a typical zoom lens, but for those concerned about the increasing size of today’s smartphone camera modules, Sony’s implementation presents a much more elegant and refined way of supporting a wide variety of zoom lenses.
In addition, by borrowing technology from the leading focus-Following it used on its Alpha mirrorless cams, Sony now supports real-time Eye AF for all Xperia 1 III’s rear cameras (12 MP main lens, 12 MP telephoto, 12 MP ultra-wide angle and a bonus time-of-flight depth sensor), with burst shooting speeds of up to 20 fps.
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Sony has even redesigned its camera app to give users more control over photo settings, as well as adding new streamlined shooting modes to keep people from getting overwhelmed when they just want to take a quick photo.
And if you want to view your photos and videos, the Xperia 1 Mark III’s 6.5-inch OLED display offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a 4K resolution and support for HDR, 10-bit color and tuning thanks to Sony’s Bravia. TVs, which should provide a viewing experience out there with the best Samsung phones. And similar to what Sony did for the Xperia Pro, you can even connect the Xperia 1 III to some cameras with an HDMI to USB-C cable and use the phone as an external monitor.
The Xperia 1 III is packed with it premium specifications, including a Snapdragon 888 chip, 12 GB of RAM, at least 256 GB of storage and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, in addition to features such as a 3.5 mm audio jack and a microSD card slot, the latter of which are things Samsung dropped on recent Galaxy S phones. In fact, Sony still has a handy dedicated shutter release button to really bring out the phone’s camera performance.
And while audio is an area often overlooked on phones, Sony says the Xperia 1 III front-facing stereo speakers have 40% louder than before, while also increasing the new 360 Reality Audio and Spatial Audio designed to provide a richer, more immersive listening experience. Heck, Sony even included a 4,500 mAh battery (which is large by Sony standards) and faster 30W wired charging, with Qi wireless and reverse wireless charging for good measure.
I have not had a chance to check out the Xperia 1 III personally, the more I learn, the more excited about Sony’s next flagship mobile device. It ticks almost all the boxes when it comes to what I’m looking for in a high-end phone, and even comes with things like a headphone jack that other big names like Samsung, OnePlus, and others have dropped lately. And now that Sony has integrated even more technology from its other gadget divisions, it really feels like Sony has finally created a complete, attractive package in the Xperia 1 Mark III. (I’d still like to see a little more influence from the PlayStation team, though.)
If you like the overall design and specs of the Xperia 1 Mark III but would prefer something a bit more compact, Sony is also announcing the Xperia 5 Mark III which is pretty much the same phone (minus the variable telephoto camera), but with a smaller 6-inch screen.
At the moment, my only concern is that even on Verizon (that’s Sony’s carrier of choice in the US), the Xperia 1 III will only support sub-6Ghz 5G but not mmWave 5G, even though the Snapdragon 888 technically supports both . And for unlocked models on other carriers, the Xperia 1 III is limited to 4G LTE only, which could be a big disappointment for anyone planning to keep the phone for more than a few years, and probably the general availability in the retail trade. .
Sadly, Sony hasn’t yet announced specific pricing or availability information for either the Xperia 1 Mark III or the Xperia 5 Mark III, but you can be sure I’ll keep my eyes peeled.