Sony Xperia 5 IV

Sony Xperia 5 IV Review

Design

The Sony Xperia 5 IV, launched on September 22, 2022, features a compact design with dimensions of 156 x 67 x 8.2 mm and a weight of 172g. The phone is available in Black, Green, and Ecru White. Its construction provides a sleek, albeit somewhat tall and narrow form factor, making it comfortable for one-handed use. It lacks a foldable design, sticking with a traditional smartphone build. The phone incorporates a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security.

Display

The device boasts a 6.1-inch OLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2520 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 449 ppi. The screen supports 1B colors, a 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR, but lacks HDR10+, Dolby Vision, or LTPO technology. The display features a 21:9 aspect ratio and includes a 240Hz touch sampling rate. It also has HDR, DCI-P3, sRGB, and 10-bit color panel support. Protection is provided by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. Additional features include scratch resistance, capacitive touch, multi-touch, and color LED notifications.

Performance

Under the hood, the Xperia 5 IV is powered by the Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm) chipset. The octa-core CPU is configured with a 1x3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 core, 3x2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 cores, and 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 cores. Graphics processing is handled by the Adreno 730 GPU. The device comes with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It achieves an Antutu v10 score of 1021542. It does not have a microSD card slot for expandable storage, a dedicated cooling system, or gaming buttons.

Camera

The Xperia 5 IV features a triple rear camera setup. The primary lens is a 12MP Sony IMX557 sensor (1/1.7", 1.80 µm, f/1.7), accompanied by a 12MP Sony IMX363 Exmor RS wide-angle lens (1/2.55", 1.40 µm, f/2.2) and a 12MP Sony IMX650 Exmor RS telephoto lens (1/3.5", 1.00 µm, f/2.4). On the front, there's a 12MP Sony Exmor RS selfie camera (f/2.0, 1.25µm). Video recording capabilities include 4K HDR at various frame rates (24, 25, 30, 60, and 120fps) with OIS and EIS. Additional features include ZEISS quality calibrated lenses with ZEISS® T Coating, 7.5x hybrid zoom, LED flash, optical stabilization, slow motion video (120fps), autofocus, touch focus, continuous autofocus, phase detection autofocus, RAW support, and various other shooting modes. The phone achieved a DxOMark Mobile score of 119, with 121 for photo and 113 for video.

Battery Life

The device is powered by a 5000mAh Li-Polymer battery, which supports 30W fast charging. It also features bypass charging and reverse charging. The battery is non-removable. Wireless charging is not supported.

Software

The Xperia 5 IV launches with Android 12, with an update available to Android 13.

Pricing

The Xperia 5 IV is positioned in the medium price range, with variants including 8GB/256GB which can range from $629.95 to $757.44 USD. Pricing fluctuates based on retailers and promotions.

Overall Verdict

The Sony Xperia 5 IV offers a solid blend of performance, display quality, and camera capabilities within its compact frame. Its 120Hz OLED screen, coupled with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, ensures smooth performance. The triple-lens camera system offers flexible photography and videography. However, the lack of a microSD card slot and wireless charging may deter some users. The phone's specific focus on multimedia and prosumer features makes it a compelling choice for specific audiences despite its premium-mid-range price point.