Sony Xperia 10, Test of Xperia 10 Plus: cheap and in all the cinema



[ad_1]

When everyone zigs, Sony loves zag. That's probably why he was one of the first Android phone makers to offer waterproof, all-glass fingerprint designs and side-mounted fingerprint sensors. That's why its new range of Xperia phones is the Armstrong extension of Android devices. They are thinner and longer than any phone I can remember – long enough to display 21: 9 format movies, with no black bars at the top or bottom.

Sony likes the idea of ​​movie screens, partly because it's a giant company with a division that produces a lot of movies. He also believes that entertainment is vital to his future. An important part of its press event at CES last January (a trade show devoted to consumer products) was dedicated to Spider-Man: in the Spider-Verse, a sign that tilts more than ever in its entertainment wing. Sony also manufactures many professional cameras. That's why he's interested in making everyone think about recording his own movies in a movie-wide resolution – what those phones can do too!

The Xperia 10 ($ 350) and the Xperia 10 Plus ($ 430) are the siblings of Sony's all-new Xperia 1 …, which you can afford to buy. Like the affordable Motorola Moto G phones, they are designed to run smoothly, and they will run on AT & T, T-Mobile or Verizon networks. I can not tell you why they are called Xperia 10 – they are not 10 times worse or better than the 1 – but that's how they are named. Xperia phones have used the alphabet over and over, so the numbers are worth trying. (Last year, Sony's main phones were part of the Xperia XZ series.)

Walk tall

Holding the Xperia 10 for the first time is a unique experience. It is about 6 inches long, nearly 2.5 inches wide and quite thin (one-third of an inch). At first, I loved the ease with which I could hold it. It seems smaller than most smartphones, and looks more like the iPhone 6, 7 and 8. My thumb is easily accessible on the screen, from right to left, and I had Feel good, until I start using it. The second I relaxed by the handle and started to sweep and hit a storm, he seemed to weigh heavy, as he was going to see from my palm. After a few minutes, this fear began to fade. It still seems long and people sometimes comment on its strange form. I do not think much about it though.

Sony

Almost all phones are too big for an average hands game nowadays. I have to go a little further on the Xperia 10 than other phones if I want to press something, but it is not as wide as these devices, which facilitates my grip. Having a long, narrow screen does not offer many benefits, but it has some advantages. Netflix movies expand on them, leaving no black bars (Amazon movies, not so much). You can also insert some extra icons on your home screen and read a little more text in your emails. Unrolling notifications is always easy. Just swipe anywhere on the home screen so that the screen falls off.

The long screen worked well, although the strange and typical placement of Sony's buttons bothered me more than usual. The power button is on the right side at two-thirds of the height, and underneath is a fingerprint sensor that can also unlock the phone. Under this, there is a volume flip-flop. I've been using Xperia phones for over 10 years, but after weeks of trying, I'm still bothered by the strange difficulty of finding the appropriate volume knob. The power button and the volume rocker do not come out too much of the edge, so it is easy to increase the volume when you want to lower it or press the power button. It takes concentration.

The fingerprint sensor works very well in theory, but sometimes it is wasted or it just can not record my finger. I have to press the power button to turn on the screen first. This is not a huge problem, nor are the minor quakes and slowdowns I encounter when using the phone, which runs on a rather clean version of Google's Android 9 Pie operating system without too much bloatware . This shift has also made me avoid the new Slide Sense menu from Sony. This is a potentially useful menu of recent apps that appear if you tap a small bar twice on the right side of the screen. (The Samsung Galaxy phones have a similar menu.) Its opening takes too much time, so I rarely use it.

I consider these issues up to the older and weaker Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor, and to 3GB of RAM inside the Xperia 10. The Xperia 10 Plus, larger, has 4GB from … RAM and more … Snapper Snapdragon 636. I recommend the 10 Plus if the lag bugs you a lot (or any of these other awesome Android phones).

On the plus side, the battery lasted a day, on average, ending most evenings with 20 to 40% in the tank, depending on the amount of tax on the phone. The included headphone jack and MicroSD slot are also useful.

I also appreciated Sony's decision to lock this phone in matt plastic, not glass and metal. No, it's not waterproof and it's a shame, but the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus are less slippery, less fragile and never feel like covered with fingerprints. If I drop that phone and it has a scratch, I feel good. Whatever the price of the glass phone, I can not worry about harming its shiny exterior. (The anxiety related to scratches is real!) Because it's not glass, it's also easier to use the Xperia 10 with bare hands. I can squeeze the Xperia 10 between the cheek and the shoulder to free my hands and it tends to stay in place. Glass phones, including the new Moto G7, tend to slide slowly out of position, as if they were slipping on a table if you did not watch them. Glass phones always try to destroy themselves at home.

Stay on target

The 8 megapixel front camera and the 13 and 5 megapixel rear lenses are usable and nicely standard on the paper. In practice, I am not a big fan. I am absolutely not an extraordinary photographer (a glance at the photos will tell you that). I tend to let the automatic cameras do their job. What I hope to recover is an overview of reality as I saw it. Sony's rear camera struggled to stay focused on this goal.

The rear camera has sometimes failed at a very shallow depth of field, even on the outside, leaving some areas of photography too blurry. If I take a picture of a tree, I do not want the branch branches to look blurry. Sometimes, the camera's hybrid autofocus, which synchronizes the two rear lenses, decided that everything would be out of focus or that focus would be out of focus if I shot it in the wrong place. Sony can probably solve these problems with software updates, but it was disappointing.

The Xperia 10 Plus is equipped with a more powerful 2X secondary zoom lens, which means that it is possible that the problem is not as serious. Neither phone has built-in optical image stabilization, which means you have to stay still if you want a good shot.

The Xperia 10 worked well as the main phone for a few weeks. The camera has left me occasionally disappointed, and I had to restart the phone to fix the fingerprint sensor problems, but it is usable – no question. I would not recommend it. At $ 350, the Xperia 10 is more expensive than the Moto G7 ($ 300) and more tedious to use. The Xperia 10 Plus is faster and is a better choice at its price of $ 430, but you may want to opt for another phone, like the Moto Z3. The Xperia 10 series is not bad. I just can not think of a compelling reason to own one.

[ad_2]

Source link