TechStage | Sony Xperia 5 IV in review: compact smartphone for cinema fans

The Japanese manufacturer Sony is no longer as important on the world market as it used to be when it comes to smartphones. Still, it considers itself a niche manufacturer for a specific audience looking for the exact specs that Sony offers. This generally includes high quality workmanship and technology, but also an elongated 21:9 display without a notch for better media enjoyment and more manageability, top performance thanks to the top processor and memory expansion via micro SD card, and a jack connection for analogue headphones.

Sony will continue to follow this recipe in 2022 – and the success seems to prove the provider right, otherwise the company would have changed course long ago. But is that really still up to date?

When it comes to design and workmanship, Sony again raises the bar enormously with the Xperia 5 IV. As with the predecessor Xperia 5 III (test report), the company relies on an elongated 21:9 format for the display, which makes the smartphone narrow and therefore handy compared to a 16:9 display, but also longer.

The missing notch for the front camera still takes some getting used to. While all other manufacturers now let their selfie cam peek through the display through a so-called punch-hole notch, Sony, like 10 years ago, relies on a wide black bar above the display, which also houses the camera, among other things. This ensures uninterrupted film and video enjoyment, since not even a tiny front camera hole spoils the display, but compared to the competition, significantly less front is used for the display. It actually seems a bit old-fashioned at times – does a small camera hole really bother you more than the wide bar that’s always there?

Otherwise you can’t blame Sony. For years, the manufacturer has understood how to further refine and perfect its monolithic design. Both the glass front and the back flow smoothly into the metal frame with a gentle curve, something that not all manufacturers manage to do so perfectly. In addition, the buttons integrated into the side of the frame are perfect in terms of pressure point and key travel – including the power button, which, in contrast to the volume rocker and dedicated camera button, does not protrude slightly but is set back in the frame. It also houses the very well-functioning fingerprint sensor – another difference to the competition, which uses a sensor within the screen for OLED displays.

In addition to the great workmanship and the at least optically angular look, Sony also offers a very subtle design for the Xperia 5 IV. Where other manufacturers often have large, conspicuous camera blocks on the back, Sony almost shyly installs three lenses one below the other, which are housed in a calm, elongated oval elevation. Incidentally, the Sony Xperia 5 IV is manufactured in Thailand and not in China. And there is another special feature: the slide that is responsible for accommodating nano-SIM(s) and/or micro-SD memory card can be opened without tools, only a fingernail is required for this. Nevertheless, the smartphone is dust and waterproof according to IP68.

Sony relies on OLED in its smartphones, this technology is generally convincing with rich colors, good black value and contrast as well as great viewing angle stability. With the Xperia 5 IV, Sony also includes 120 Hz on the data sheet, which leads to smooth playback of moving content. The screen diagonal is almost moderate at 6.1 inches, which together with the narrow display results in the already mentioned, above-average handiness.

The resolution is 2520 x 1080 pixels, which is easily enough for a sharp display. The HDR-capable screen also offers decent brightness. In the test, we measured almost 900 cd/m² in automatic mode and almost 600 candelas in manual mode. Although there are smartphones with even brighter screens, the Xperia 5 IV is easily sufficient for everyday use. Overall, the Japanese smartphone veteran installs a pretty good panel here.

The cameras in the Sony Xperia 5 IV are something special simply because the manufacturer refuses to follow the megapixel hype and chooses exactly the same resolution for all four cameras: 12 megapixels. They were also created in cooperation with Zeiss and offer everything that makes a high-quality camera setup with a main, wide-angle and telephoto camera as well as a selfie cam including optical image stabilizer (OIS). At least on the data sheet, however, the lack of the variable zoom of the predecessor is a disadvantage.

In terms of quality, Sony’s camera setup makes a good impression. However, in terms of image sharpness and richness of detail, we don’t see the main and telephoto cameras quite on par with the top competition, which costs a few hundred euros more. In relation to the price, the image quality is absolutely fine, at least during the day. The wide-angle lags slightly behind the main camera in terms of quality, as is almost always the case, but it can assert itself against the competition.

For night shots, Sony relies more on a natural look and does without strong resharpening, which means that the corresponding shots look less crisp overall than those of the competition. In return, image noise recedes further into the background, although the camera’s white balance tends to be warmer than previous models.

Overall, Sony delivers good photo performance with the Xperia 5 IV, at least during the day. In low light, however, photos fall behind the competition. This also applies to the good selfie cam on the front. In video, the good image stabilization is convincing and recordings in 4K/60 are pleasantly sharp and smooth even with panning. Videos with good sound also score points.

With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm, Sony has given the Xperia 5 IV the latest top chipset, and the first models with an even faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 are only coming onto the market very slowly. The processor is combined with only one memory variant with 8/128 GB. That’s still enough for very good values ​​in benchmarks, even if not for the top spot. For example, the Sony model with around 12,500 points in PCmark Work 3.0 is beaten by around 3,000 points by a Motorola Edge 30 Ultra (test report) with the same chip. The Sony model is also clearly at a disadvantage in 3Dmark Wild Life with slightly more than 2000 points to 2750 points in a direct comparison.

But that doesn’t matter in everyday use and it’s not noticeable in demanding games either. There is no situation here that users could overwhelm the Xperia model with. There are no stutters and loading times are short. However, the smartphone gets warm when playing – a typical phenomenon in models with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. While this can even lead to the chipset being downclocked in benchmarks, there is no noticeable reduction in performance in everyday use.

The smartphone scores with the option to record a memory card, and owners of good headphones with a jack connection can be happy because Sony has also equipped the Xperia 5 IV with them. In addition, there are powerful, clear stereo speakers with a comparatively large amount of bass, and a fingerprint sensor that works quickly and directly in the power button on the side. Further features can be found in the data sheet for the device.

When it comes to the software, Sony has once again opted for an operating system that is quite up-to-date with Android and installs an only slightly modified user interface over it. For example, there is the function called Side Sense, with which apps can be opened as a window in front of others, or a game optimizer that offers quick access to display and audio functions and a high-performance mode during games. Otherwise, deviations from vanilla Android are limited, only a few Sony and other apps are installed during the setup process, but users can also do without them.

We find the fact that Sony only wants to deliver two years of version upgrades and three years of security patches a bit unfortunate. Other manufacturers do this much longer and should be standard for high-priced smartphones such as the Xperia 5 IV. The security patch of our test model was also from October 2022, so Sony should be happy to step it up a notch.

The battery of the Sony Xperia 5 IV has a capacity of 5000 mAh and thus offers a lot of power for such a compact smartphone. Nevertheless, the runtimes are rather mediocre. In PCmark’s battery test, the device only managed 10 hours in automatic mode for the playback frequency. That’s easily enough for a day and even for a second with moderate use, but some competitors like the aforementioned Motorola Edge 30 Ultra (test report) prove significantly more endurance.

Sony does not include a charger in the scope of delivery and instead advises buyers to use a 30-watt Sony charger. In the test with a slightly more powerful charger, the Xperia still needs more than 1.5 hours. For comparison: Motorola grants the Edge 30 Ultra a whopping 125 watts and thus hammers the power completely back into the battery in less than 30 minutes. The Xperia 5 IV now also supports wireless charging according to the Qi standard. Here the model needs around 2.5 to 3 hours.

At the time of testing, the Sony Xperia 5 IV cost from 810 euros. There are three colors to choose from.

With the Xperia 5 IV, Sony again manages a balancing act between independence and quirkiness. We consider the black bar instead of the punch-hole notch to be quirky, because who seriously watches a movie on a 6.1-inch “large” display and then complains about a tiny camera hole? On the other hand, thanks to the elongated design, the Xperia 5 IV is surprisingly handy for a modern smartphone and the workmanship is beyond doubt. Otherwise, the device does not have any real dropouts.

The battery life is at least in the midfield, the camera in the upper range – but without being able to proclaim the top for itself. Elsewhere, the Sony model can set itself apart from the competition – for example with the memory expansion option and the jack plug.