Sony Xperia — Who Are They For?
There still seems to be confusion surrounding Sony’s Xperia brand and who exactly the phones are made for, even though they’ve been on a particular strategy for several years at this point. Let’s try and clear that up anyway!
It’s no secret that Sony don’t sell anywhere near the numbers of phones that they used to. Once a giant of the Android smartphone world its sales have dwindled over time under the weight of larger corporations and their large marketing budgets. Of course Sony themselves never marketed Xperia very well and that added to the downturn in their fortunes.
The last several years have seen a change in the brand however, with a new found focus that many seemingly still don’t understand. Sony decided to reduce the number of models of Xperia they produce then coupled with selling them in a much reduced number of markets to concentrate on giving a niche of users the tools to create, a lot of the expertise coming from their Alpha camera division and putting an emphasis on you being the photographer/videographer rather than the phone doing it all for you.
Whether you’re into photography, creating YouTube videos, playing/streaming mobile games or recording a podcast. Sony Xperia is there to allow you to create the content you want to create and provides you multiple tools and features that enable and support this content creation.
Apps like Photography Pro, Videography Pro and Cinematography Pro give you specific tools in creating specific types of content. Having a headphone jack that not only allows you to listen to music but can be used as a microphone input, something that I myself use frequently. The Game Enhancer that allows many customisation options and allows you to enable H.S Power Control (Heat Suppression Power Control) on an individual app basis, which lets you have the phone plugged into a charger and having that power go direct to the phone bypassing the battery almost entirely, thus giving you less thermal issues and outstanding battery health compared to other phones out there.
These are some of the features you won’t find in any other handset on the market. They’re not for everyone, but for someone like myself it’s an extremely useful tool. For instance I’ve been recording videos using an Xperia 5 mk ii with Filmic Pro, plugged into the charger and with H.S Power Control enabled. I also have a Rode VideoMic plugged in to the headphone jack. The results are pretty great in my opinion.
When it comes to the photography the main argument against it tends to be in regards to the Xperia auto modes. They can be hit and miss that’s true. Bright backgrounds can be blown out and with no dedicated night time mode you won’t get a bright clear image like you would on a Pixel for instance. In good conditions though they look great and I prefer the shots over the competition most of the time. I understand people’s argument for why this isn’t good enough. Sony are adamant that they want the photographer to be taking the picture, not the phone itself. It’s about you wanting to get a particular shot and going through that process of attaining it through the traditional means of learning how to use your tools correctly. I’ve really been enjoying learning how cameras function. I think an Xperia is a very good entry point into that instead of having to have a dedicated camera.
Again this isn’t for everyone. If you’re someone who is a bit of a night owl and you’re socialising into the early hours wanting to capture everything that happens then this isn’t the phone for that. You would be much more suited to a Galaxy, Vivo or Pixel. Those phones also have very different feature sets to analyse but they have very similar approaches when it comes to the auto-HDR heavy point and click shots.
I don’t think it’s a very complicated approach to understand. Sony in the last year turned their sales around and are now profitable. Their change of focus in the last few years is paying dividends and they’re providing people, however few they are, with a genuine alternative to all of the other brands that seem determined to copy each other on features to the lowest common denominator. They are clear in their approach as noted in the video from the newly announced Xperia 1 mk IV. Anyone who says otherwise at this stage is either being flippant or simply not listening.
Do you think Sony Xperia would be suitable for your needs? Let me know in the comments.
