Sony Xperia 10 III
The tall and angular design gives the Xperia 10 a striking look, but isn’t the best choice for speed or photography
SCORE
PRICE £333 (£399 inc VAT) from johnlewis.com
The Xperia 10 is that rarest of things: an affordable Sony handset. This is its third iteration, and just as with the Xperia 1 III ( see p62) you can deduce that from the silly “III” appendage to its name. It also shares its sibling’s unusual 21:9 design, which, Sony is keen to point out, is the aspect ratio that two thirds of Netflix’s movies are shot in.
In practice, the screen’s aspect ratio is a mixed blessing. For films shot in 21:9 then it’s a treat, with no black borders at all. However, TV series are filmed in 16:9 and this means thick black borders on either side of the show you’re watching; far thicker than the ones you experience watching 21:9 content on a regular handset.
It’s a striking display, though. Measuring 6in, this OLED panel includes 1,080 x 2,520 pixels to give a sharp density of 457ppi. Being an OLED screen, it’s particularly good at painting inky-looking black levels, and I can confirm that films look stunning. Other screens are more colour accurate, with a mediocre average Delta E of 1.61, but it covers 98% of the sRGB gamut and 82% of the DCI-P3 space. Its onl only notable weakness is a maximum brightness of 329cd/m², which means you’ll struggle in sunny weather.
One more thing: while a greater number of mid-range smartphones are embracing screens with 90Hz or 120Hz refresh rates, the Xperia 10 III sticks with 60Hz. I don’t see this as a dealbreaker, given the shortage of high refresh-rate apps and games available on the Play store – not to mention the potential knock-on effect on battery life – but it means you lose the slickness of higher refresh screens.
This brings me to performance, which is a challenging subject for the £399 Xperia because it uses the same Snapdragon 690 – backed by 6GB of RAM and a generous 128GB of internal storage – as the £249 OnePlus Nord N10 ( see issue 317, p65). Scores of 535 and 1,669 in Geekbench 5 are by no means awful, lining up almost identically to the £349 Google Pixel 4a ( see issue 313, p60), but if you seek speed then the £329 Xiaomi Poco F3 ( see issue 322, p68) trounces allcomers with scores of 973 and 3,303. I h have no complaints about battery ery life, with the Xperia peria 10 lasting over 20 hours in our videorundown test.
The Xperia 10 III has a triple camera array made up of a 12MP (f/1.8) main lens and two 8MP units: one ne for ultrawide shots ( (f/2.2) 2) and another for 2x optical zoom (f/2.4). It can shoot video at 16:9 or 21:9 aspect ratios in both 4K or 1080p, and the recording is fully stabilised; but only 1080p 16:9 offers a buttery smooth 60fps. Image quality is generally good, even if sudden camera pans and changes of light give the stabilisation a little trouble while it catches up.
At first glance, I was even more impressed with the camera’s photos; but then I compared it to shots taken on the Poco F3. While each handset smooths over fine detail when you zoom in, Xiaomi’s phone loses less information and – without wanting to sound like a broken record – is £70 cheaper. If photography is more important to you than speed, both phones are comfortably beaten by the quality of the Google Pixel 4a, particularly in tricky lighting conditions.
There are areas where the Xperia 10 III beats both of its rivals, though, and striking design is one of them. Whilst this Xperia is more curved than Sony phones of the recent past, it’s angular by modern standards. The back of the handset is nice and simple, with just the word “Sony” in the middle and the traffic light-style camera array neatly tucked into the top left-hand corner. It might be plastic, but the back has a glassy sheen that’s very appealing – until it’s covered in fingerprints. Speaking of which, authentication is done via a sensor that’s comfortably built into the power button on the right-hand side of the handset.
Sony also earns plenty of points for consumer-friendly design choices made along the way. It supports microSD expansion (or you can use the slot for a second SIM card), it has IP68-rated waterproofing and it maintains the 3.5mm headphone jack.
This is a beautifully designed handset with a superb screen, but it’s hard to justify the price against such tough opposition. If speed is your bag then the Poco F3 is as good as it gets, while the Pixel 4a remains the picture-taking king. Either way, you’ll save £50 to £100 compared to the Xperia 10 III.
SPECIFICATIONS
8-core 2GHz/1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chipset 6GB RAM Adreno 619 graphics 6in OLED screen, 1,080 x 2,520 resolution 128GB storage microSD slot triple 13MP/8MP/8MP rear cameras 8MP front camera Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5.1 NFC USB-C 3.5mm audio jack 4,500mAh battery Android 11 68 x 8.3 x 154mm (WDH)
169g 2yr RTB warranty via John Lewis
“Being an OLED screen, it’s particularly good at painting inky-looking black levels, and I can confirm that films look stunning”