Test: Sony Xperia 1 Mark IV – Continues on marked track

Three years ago, Sony drastically changed its product portfolio for mobiles. They focused on three models, Xperia 1 with 4k screen, Xperia 5 in a slightly smoother format and the mid-price model Xperia 10, All in “mailbox format”, with extra long narrow screen and Selfie camera above the screen instead of recessed in.

Since then, they have stuck to it, and the new year models have been called land II, III and now IV (printed without land and with Roman numerals). It’s honest and fair, because it’s about new year models of basically the same mobile rather than major news. This also applies to this year’s Xperia 1 Mark IV.

At the same time, over the years, Sony has become an increasingly smaller player in mobile phones, and this has been countered by letting mobile manufacturing slip under the wings of the camera division. It seems to have made Sony less sensitive to the trends of the mobile world, and we have used the term “run their own race” about them so many times that we have worn out the term. In some areas, their own race has taken them far from other mobile manufacturers, while in others it has rather made them feel a bit ahead of their time.

Take design, for example. Like its predecessors, the Xperia 1 Mark IV has a 21: 9 format screen, which is narrower than other manufacturers’. When you also refuse to fold the selfie camera into the screen but keep it in a panel above, it gives a mobile that is narrow but tall and it is even harder than usual to reach across the entire screen with one hand. On the other hand, since the first Xperia 1, other mobile manufacturers have also moved towards a narrower screen, and the panel at the top has been gradually reduced in size, so the difference is now smaller than when Sony started.

Retro form that is inside again

The design with a flat glass back and a fairly angular aluminum frame is also something that Sony has only varied a little, this year’s model is slightly more angular than last year’s. The fact that the rest of the industry has gone from rounded to angular again at the same time makes the shape feel modern. However, I am a little worried about the mobile’s build quality after the color of the metal frame has started to rub off after only a couple of weeks. Sony has retained the 3.5 mm jack, small camera island, memory card slot and even the camera button. The fingerprint reader in the home button on the side was also something Sony was early on that others are now starting to join.

One of Sony’s arguments for its top model since before the first Xperia 1 has been the 4K screen, with higher resolution than on any other mobile. However, to save battery and processing power, the screen runs at 1096 x 2560 pixels rather than its full resolution except in some selected user scenarios, which Sony does not publish publicly.

I can not perceive any difference between the modes, but my eyes are getting older. Instead, I do a blind test with my son. I run a Youtube movie with alternating 4k and 1080p and ask him to say when the movie has a higher and lower resolution, respectively. He answers exactly 50 percent of the time, which shows that he can not perceive the difference either.

Now I do not know for sure if the Youtube app is one of the functions where the 4K mode is running (although it is likely), but it confirms on the other hand my point. If you can not determine if the 4k mode is running because you do not see the difference, it is a meaningless function.

If you do not gain anything from having a 4k screen, it does not hurt either, at least not in Mark IV. Compared to the previous model, the screen according to Sony has become 50 percent brighter and I have no complaints there. The screen also has 120 Hz refresh rate and has fast response. The battery life may be negatively affected a bit, but the Xperia 1 Mark IV has a larger battery than its predecessor and if the result in our battery test for screen time is not exceptional, it means that it is not bad either.

The phone runs Android 12, where Sony is not in and messes with the system as much as adding its own system apps. This includes apps that advertise Sony’s other services that you may or may not be interested in.

The clearest impression Sony makes, not so strange, when it comes to apps for the cameras. In some cases, it just gets confused. For example, you can record video with the standard camera app, just as you would expect, but at the same time there are the two Video Pro and Cinema Pro apps that also serve that purpose. Video Pro gives you more manual control, Cinema Pro focuses instead on color filters and the like. However, it will not be easier but more messy to have three apps instead of one.

Sony has done the same for still photography. People have had the confidence to believe that ordinary users can handle the automatic mode in the Camera Pro app, which is therefore the only app for taking still pictures. Camera Pro mimics the interface of Sony’s System Cameras, and is really successful. If you do not want to deal with advanced camera settings, you can point and press, while the manual controls are easily accessible.

Independent autofocus

Sony solves the autofocus in a different way than other mobile manufacturers. Instead of focusing on a point on the sensor, you focus on an object and the focus on that object is maintained if you move the camera or the object moves. The camera button can, as on a real camera, be pressed in two steps where the button is pressed halfway when the autofocus is locked.

You see on the screen what the automatics choose to focus on, and that’s good, because I usually think that what’s in the middle of the picture is what I want to take, but Sony does not think so but instead locks on faces, even if they are in one corner of the viewfinder. You can manually select what to focus on by tapping the screen.

As a whole, I think the Sony camera app is probably the best in a mobile. Other manufacturers have begun to invest more in camera-like professional modes, which only reinforces the feeling that Sony is number one.

If the camera app is good, what about the pictures? This is an area where Sony has lost the lead to Samsung and formerly Huawei. This may seem strange because Sony, in addition to being a camera manufacturer, also supplies the sensors to Samsung, among others, but it may show how much of the image result today is due to computing power and finishing where several exposures are combined.

In any case, the Xperia 1 Mark IV, like its predecessors, has three 12-megapixel cameras. Standard, wide angle and telephoto. Sony has not chosen to focus on super zoom this time, but instead the telephoto lens has steplessly variable zoom from 3.5 times to 5.2 times optical magnification compared to the main camera.

Here I will immediately say that my test copy is defective. The images from the telecamera do not become sharp regardless of the magnification. Sony agrees with me that this should not be the case, I have received two different test specimens, both defective. Sony is working to find a solution but has no information to give at present. It puts me as a tester in a difficult position. I can not judge this feature. I can also not determine if there is a problem that appears in the commercial copies. I have seen sample images from other neutral testers who say that it is not a general problem, and that the telecom camera keeps its promise. I also can not wait to write this test for any length of time. Sony suggests that I evaluate the other features of the phone and complete the test when they solve the problem with the telecamera, and that is what I have chosen to do.

Excellent except in the dark

So we leave the innovative telecamera there and look at the main camera. That the resolution is relatively low with today’s standard is nothing to worry about. Most mobile cameras deliver images with 12 – 16 megapixels as the end result, and this can be achieved with good results with both more and fewer pixels on the sensor.

In daylight outdoors, I think the Xperia 1 mark IV takes as good pictures as you can wish for. The image result is on average better than on the Samsung Galaxy S22 that I compare with. Color reproduction and sharpness are excellent. It feels like Sony is more frugal with HDR effects in the pictures, which means that dark areas often feel darker than in the Samsung camera, but it’s a matter of taste if you think it’s a problem or it feels more real and natural. This often becomes clearer in indoor photos where the light is worse. As I said, I need to keep an eye on autofocus so that what I want in focus does not become blurred.

When it comes to images in really bad light, however, Sony is being stern-sailed by Samsung. This has been the case for many years and it continues to be so. The best thing you can say about pictures taken in the dark is that they feel natural. The images get dark, but what is seen is often sharp.

When it comes to the wide-angle camera, on the other hand, it is Sony that sweeps the track with Samsung, Sony’s camera in Xperia 1 mark 4 with autofocus is significantly more ambitious than the one in Samsung Galaxy S22, and the image result is almost the same class as from the main camera. Autofocus and the short-range close also allow the wide-angle camera to be used to take excellent macro shots. The camera people at Sony also let you choose whether you want the wide-angle images to be perspective-corrected or keep the fish-eye effect.

The first Xperia 1 cost SEK 9,500. Since then, each new generation has increased in price by about 1,500 kronor, and now it is a fairly expensive model for 14,000 kronor. It’s hard to see that it really lives up to this premium price, despite the good camera app.

Questions and answers

Sony is a sound company too, have you done anything for the sound? In addition to 3.5 mm sockets, there are also various sound enhancement techniques for 3D sound and high definition sound. The phone also has pretty good stereo speakers.

Is the long narrow screen format good for movies? There may be movies in 21: 9 format, but most of the content on streaming services has a narrower format and then you get black bars on each page of the image.

How is the vibrator feedback? Soft and comfortable.

An alternative

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the phone you should have if you want a real camera worst today. The price is about the same, but the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a heavier and more clumsy mobile.

Camera example

Sometimes Sony pulls in the dark direction, but with this contrast-rich image, they have succeeded well.