Sony Mobile has made a hugely controversial change to its advice around Xperia waterproof devices. Despite most recent Sony Xperia waterproof devices achieving an Ingress Protection rating of IP68 for water resistance, the highest possible, Sony now says that they should not be used underwater.
In a year of excellent flagship smartphones, there is little to fault with Sony Xperia 5
You are third Irish tech reviewer who I have great respect for that has offered this verdict. I assume you meant can't see a market segment. The flaws (no wireless charging, no headphone jack, no Android 10) I can live with. But if I were to review every phone from the viewpoint of 'are there better phones than this' and then dismiss it on this basis, I would only ever review one phone a year (or maybe two, one IOS and one Android).
I am not taking issue with your view either but it's hardly Sony's fault there are lots of great phones this year. Personally I would recommend OnePlus 7T to anyone I know as for €599 it blows much of the competition out of the water. The camera is much better than it gets credit for. But I'm loving Pixel 4 too and the battery issue is almost irrelevant in my daily routine of work/home but is a consideration if I am going out for the evening or day. Pixel 4 is like Xperia 5 in that many reviewers I enjoy reading such as you say it has no obvious market segment etc
I await your thoughts with interest
No, I meant there is definitely a place for a high-powered pocket rocket.
The default size now is basically 6.1".
I am enjoying the Pixel 4 more than most because it's so easy to use
Oh and I don't rate wireless charging. I never use it - it's practically zero effort to plug it in and wired chargers will fill a phone from 0% in 90 minutes. Can easily use my phone while charging.
That will teach me to make assumptions eh? Can you see my blushing face from there? :-)
Took me a fortnight to get to love it.
And the battery life does get much better once it starts aggressively turning stuff off automatically.
Sony Xperia L3 has a lot to offer once you know its limits. 3GB of RAM, a 12-nano chipset and a dual-lens camera are all enticing on their own but are offset by a 720p resolution, unspectacular CPU/GPU power and a flimsy feel.
With other Android flagships starting to steer towards more unconventional form-factors, Sony try something new while not reinventing the wheel. A 21:9 aspect ratio is designed for super-wide media and on first impressions it's worth what little trade-off there is with a 'long' device.
After having my Samsung phones with OLED screens eventually having burn in traces il honestly more inclined to go with a high end LCD these days. I’d be curious to see how it stacks up. Sony usually has top notch LCD panels.
Mid range these days are far and away the best value. The point in buying a flagship is decreasing by the day
I'm with you on that the only thing the mid range phones don't have at this moment in time is something like Samsung Dex or wp continuum. For me I use them quite a bit but if the mid range phones get this type of os then I'll defo look at a mid range device next time.
