KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Sony has officially revealed its Xperia 5 and this is essentially their compact version of their flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1. According to Sony, they have brought over what customers loved from the Xperia 1 into a smaller design without compromising on performance.
Instead of a 6.5″ 4K OLED display, the Xperia 5 comes with a smaller 6.1″ Full HD+ screen that still utilises an OLED panel with HDR support. It still retains a 21:9 aspect ratio and it has a narrower 68mm width for better single-handed operation.
Although it is much narrower than most smartphones, the device is still quite tall at 158mm and has a thickness of 8.2mm. As a comparison, the 5.8″ Galaxy S10e is 142.2mm tall and has a thickness of 7.9mm. Even the larger 6.3″ Galaxy Note 10 is shorter at 151mm and it’s only 7.9mm slim.
Powering the device is a Snapdragon 855 processor with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage. Fortunately, you can still expand storage via microSD card.
In the imaging department, it gets a similar setup as its bigger flagship with a triple-camera array that uses 12MP sensors. It still gets a 12MP f/1.6 main, a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto lens with 2X optical zoom and a 12MP f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle shooter. For steadier shots, both the main and telephoto camera comes with optical image stabilisation.
The cameras also get Sony’s Eye AF technology and it can support burst shots of up to 10fps. For a cinematic feel, the device also has a Cinema Pro feature that’s “powered by CineAlta”. For selfies, it still retains an 8MP f/2.0 front camera that supports HDR.
Powering the device is a 3,140mAh battery and it supports USB-PD fast charging. According to Sony, you can get a 50% charge in just 30 minutes.
The device also comes with stereo speakers as well as IP68 dust and water resistance. Unfortunately, there’s no headphone jack so you’ll either have to use the USB-C port or go completely wireless.
The Xperia 5 will be available from October 2019 and Sony is accepting pre-orders starting next week in selected European countries. Sony is also bundling the latest pair of WF-1000XM3 wireless ANC headphones for pre-order customers. — SoyaCincau
