Sony Xperia 10
21:9 ON A BUDGET.
SONY HAS NEVER really excelled at making mid-range smartphones the way competitors like HTC and Samsung have, but the company is aiming to change that with the new Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus.
If you regularly watch films and videos on your phone, Sony thinks this is the handset for you. While its upcoming Xperia 1 may have the best screen on a smartphone ever, with 4K HDR OLED technology, this is a Full HD display, but comes in the same 21:9 aspect ratio.
This is unmistakably a mid-range phone though. It may sport that unique screen aspect ratio, but it also features a low-end chipset and some middling specs. So how does the overall package shape up?
DISPLAY
The screen on the Xperia 10 isn’t as impressive as the one on the Xperia 1, but that’s because this is a far more affordable phone. That said, it’s still something that takes you by surprise when you first see the Xperia 10 — and in a good way.
It’s a Full HD+ 6-inch screen at a 21:9 aspect ratio. That means the display is taller than on your existing smartphone, and the idea here is that when you flip it to landscape it’ll offer the optimally-sized display for watching video, viewing photos or playing games.
If you’re watching movies from specific streaming services this makes a lot of sense, as it can fit perfectly into the display, with no distracting black bars on either side.
Sony says almost 70% of the films on Netflix are made specifically for the 21:9 aspect ratio, while 21:9 content is also available from other streaming services such as Amazon, and Sony’s own movie store.
Don’t expect all films and TV shows you’re watching to appear perfectly in this format though. Most TV shows are filmed in 16:9, so when we watched episodes of The Office they appeared with thick black bars down each side of the display.
We watched Venom on the phone, and when you’re watching in 21:9 on the Xperia 10 it’s a fantastic experience — it really does feel closer to what the film looks like on the big screen, so it’s a shame that it’s so difficult to find 21:9 content.
DESIGN
The Sony Xperia 10 feels high-end considering its price, with a glass front with a metal rear that feel premium to the touch — if you’re looking for an affordable device that’s also easy on the eye this could be a great choice.
THE SONY XPERIA 10 FEELS HIGH-END CONSIDERING ITS PRICE, WITH A GLASS FRONT WITH A METAL REAR THAT FEEL PREMIUM TO THE TOUCH – IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR AN AFFORDABLE DEVICE THAT’S ALSO EASY ON THE EYE THIS COULD BE A GREAT CHOICE.
SCREEN AT A 21:9 ASPECT RATIO. THAT MEANS THE DISPLAY IS TALLER THAN ON YOUR EXISTING SMARTPHONE, AND THE IDEA HERE IS THAT WHEN YOU FLIP IT TO LANDSCAPE IT’LL OFFER THE OPTIMALLY-SIZED DISPLAY FOR WATCHING VIDEO, VIEWING PHOTOS OR PLAYING GAMES.
As we’ve mentioned, this is a tall handset, and with dimensions of 156 x 68 x 8.4mm it feels slim in the hand; it’s also relatively lightweight at 162g.
We imagine that if you’ve got smaller hands, you’ll struggle to reach the top of the display when using the phone one-handed. That’s why Sony has brought its Side Sense features to the phone, which you can read about in the Software section below.
There’s a fingerprint scanner built into the right-hand side of the phone that’s in a good position for your thumb to tap if you’re right-handed — if you’re left-handed you may find this a bit tougher to reach.
BATTERY LIFE
The battery on the Sony Xperia 10 is one of the most disappointing elements. It’s not going to ruin your entire experience, but it’s not an impressive showing from Sony either.
It’s powered by a 2,870mAh cell inside which, considering it’s powering a large Full HD screen, isn’t particularly big. We would have preferred to have a slightly heavier handset as a trade-off for getting a bigger and longer-lasting battery.
We regularly found ourselves having to charge up the phone towards the end of the day, having started the day with it fully charged. On one particular day, with normal to high usage, we found the Xperia 10 only lasted until around 9pm, despite only being taken off charge at around 7:30am.
That’s not good enough if you tend to use your phone extensively, although if you don’t use your phone a lot it should easily be able to make it through a full day.
CAMERA
You’re not going to be blown away by the camera on the Xperia 10, and quite often we found using it a frustrating experience. The camera on the Moto G7 — a much cheaper phone — proved smoother to use but provided shots of similar quality. The Xperia 10 features a dual rear camera setup, with 13MP f/2.0 and 5MP f/2.4 snappers working in tandem. The secondary camera is there to allow for blurred-background or ‘bokeh’ images.
The main camera is pretty good for the money, and we found it was capable of capturing good levels of detail and reproducing colours well. It performed especially well in good lighting, but in low-light conditions shots looked a little grainy and disappointing.
SOFTWARE
The Sony Xperia 10 is running Android 9 Pie out of the box, which means you get access to all of the latest features of the OS. It’s not vanilla Android, as you’d find on Google phones like the Pixel 3, as the company has added its own overlay to give it a Sony flavour.
Sony’s overlay has improved a lot in recent years, but it still looks dramatically different to how Google intends Android to look. That said, it’s easy to navigate around the software and make the most of the features on offer.
VERDICT
The Sony Xperia 10 doesn’t feel like the full package it needs to be in order to compete in the tough mid-range market. At the time of writing it’s not available here in Australia directly, but you can get it through various grey importers, and it will almost certainly get a full release here shortly.
It’s a perfectly fine mid-range phone which does the job, but it doesn’t excel like competing phones we’ve reviewed in the last year, like the the Moto G7 Plus.
Instead, it sits in a bit of a middle ground between ‘okay’ and ‘good’ making it a difficult handset to recommend.