Sony Xperia 5

The Sony Xperia 5 is a fantastic smartphone, which is smaller than the Sony Xperia 1, but more powerful than the Sony Xperia 10. Measuring in with a respectable 6.1-inch screen, complete with a marvellous three-camera system, the Sony Xperia 5 packs a punch. Xperia 5’s design is sleek, and it can be comfortably used with one hand. However, it does come at a pricey Rs. 61,990 price tag.

The Sony Xperia 5’s design is impressive, to say the least. The most striking aspect of its design is its height. It comes with a 21:9 display and thicker top and bottom bezels than its predecessor. On comparing its design with its market rivals – The OnePlus Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S10e, it is much lankier than the two. The smartphone’s key buttons have been crammed on the right side of the phone, including Sony’s dedicated shutter button. All in all, it feels great in hand, yet could have been better.

With its 2520×1080 display, the Sony Xperia 5 comes with a 6.1-inch, Full HD+ display. If you were to differentiate the Xperia 1 from the Xperia 5, the latter’s display would stand out. It comes with an OLED panel, pleasing contrast levels, HDR BT.2020 support and extensive standards support. Its screen is much sharper than the iPhone 11’s LCD panel and goes a long way in justifying its price tag.

The Sony Xperia 5 gets its power from a Snapdragon 855 CPU, as is the case with most flagship phones of 2019. The Xperia 5 comes with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory space. As would be expected, navigating generally is stutter-free, when it comes to the Xperia 5. Complex tasks, too, do not tax the phone. The Split-screen multitasking option also does not seem to stretch the phone’s capabilities in the slightest.

High-end games like PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile run seamlessly on the device, when the frame rate is set to its maximum level, and when the Graphics Quality setting is set to its highest possible standard. All in all, the Xperia 5’s performance solid, and on a par with the OnePlus 7, and the Huawei P30 Pro.

The Xperia 5 comes with a spectacular three-camera system. This is one of Sony’s best smartphone camera systems yet, providing for several features and stellar performance. It comes with a similar triple 12MP sensor setup as is in the iPhone 11 Pro. The Xperia 5 has a wide lens with a very bright f/1.6 aperture, an f/2.4 telephoto lens, and an ultra-wide lens, the latter two of which come with optical image stabilization (OIS). The images turn out to be quite decent when there is adequate light.

As is the case with most triple-camera systems, there is far less distortion effect when clicking very wide pictures. Unfortunately, there is no Night Mode, yet night photography is decent, to say the least. There is little grain in the low-light photographs.

The Sony Xperia 5 comes with a stellar 3,140mAh battery. While other smartphones in its price range offer much more powerful batteries, the Xperia 5’s battery is remarkable, to say the least. An entire day of intensive use would consume about 70% of its battery life. Streaming an hour of HDR videos saps into about 9% of the smartphone’s battery. While the smartphone does not come with wireless charging, an 18W charger more than suffices its need.

Priced at just 61,990 INR, the Xperia 5 is a marvellous, action-packed phone. The Xperia 5 is a strong flagship phone which strikes a beautiful balance between everyday practicality and top-end specifications. It comes with a wonderful display, an impressive triple camera system, and long-lasting battery life. Considering its price though, Sony could have offered more, the Xperia 5 not being all that different from the Xperia 1. There are several other smartphones on the market that provide better value for money.