I’ve always been a fan of Sony phones for their distinct character that sets them apart in the market. While some may perceive Sony’s approach to the Xperia line as stubborn, I see it as a refreshing commitment to consistency. With a Sony Xperia, you know what to expect: a 21:9 screen, front-facing speakers, expandable storage, and a 3.5 mm jack. These features appeal to enthusiasts who value a rich media experience, high-quality wired headphones, and hands-on photography. Sony largely succeeds with this approach, and the Xperia 1 V is their best in years. However, there are a few critical flaws that hinder its suitability for my travel needs.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Sony or the resort mentioned below. I did not receive any monetary or other incentives from them. My opinions are solely based on my personal experience.

The Xperia 1 V retains familiar elements like its predecessors, the mark III and IV, including the 21:9 4K 120 Hz screen, now slightly brighter. It keeps the front-facing speakers, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a two-step shutter button. The most noticeable change is the dot texture on the back, enhancing grip and reducing scratch visibility, though it makes applying skins challenging.

The upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor is significant, addressing the overheating issues of the previous model. It still sometimes struggles with overheating during intensive tasks like 4K recording, but it’s less frequent.

A highlight is the new 48 MP primary camera. Sony’s stacked sensor technology promises better light capture without increasing the size of the sensor. I tested the cameras of this phone on a recent trip to Hoshino Aomoriya Resort in Japan.

Hoshino Aomoriya Resort is located in the northern part of Honshu (the main island where Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are). The resort showcases the rural culture of Aomori with traditional Japanese homes, local festivals shows, and crafts on full display. This part of Japan is also known for its apples. A lot of the food available on the resort was Apple-themed.

There were two main issues I ran into while using this camera. First, the lack of vibration or visual feedback during photo capture is frustrating. The only feedback is audio and only if your phone is not on vibrate/silent. I have run into numerous times where I thought I hit the shutter and captured the picture but ended up with no photo.

Second, there’s a noticeable delay in the UI response after stopping video recordings. It often seems like the phone is frozen for a good 1 second before the video is saved making it very difficult to discern whether you stopped the video at the right time.

Both of these issues make this phone’s cameras rather challenging to use. Which I would argue is one of the main reasons to consider an Xperia phone.

Let’s quickly talk about the image quality of the photos. While landscape photos are stunning, the auto white balance can be a little unreliable. Some photos can appear a bit washed out. There were a couple of times when it made my wife’s skin look unnaturally pale.

Out of the three lenses, the telephoto lens is the weakest of the bunch. Photos from that lens can appear soft, especially at high zoom magnifications.

Low-light photos with the new 48 MP wide lens significantly improved from the last gen. The colors it produces are quite vibrant. One nice thing to see is that this is done mainly via hardware rather than the computational tricks that other devices use. You are less likely to see weird artifacts or unnatural looking photos from this approach. I still do hope Sony adds some computational photography techniques to further enhance their natural looking photos.

Auto mode on the Sony Xperia 1 V is decent. There are some times when a faster shutter speed would have been beneficial (case in point, the photo above). I would say it’s a little less reliable compared to the likes of the Pixel.

Overall, I think the Sony Xperia 1 V’s suitability depends on your travel style. For those who travel leisurely or are very into photography (especially being able to set a lot of manual controls), it is an excellent phone. Those who are familiar with Sony’s camera UI will feel right at home. Even the color profile is very similar to their Alpha line of cameras. For travelers who like fast-paced trips or take a lot of photos of people, this device might fall short of their expectations.