Construction and design
I had a purple Xperia 10 V for testing. The color, texture, and general materials are nearly identical to another phone I tested earlier this year, the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G. And that’s not bad. The phone feels very good in the hand, well built and feels very solid, although it is lightweight and the back panel feels “hollow”. The Xperia 10 V claims to be the lightest phone with a 5000 mAh battery, and I’m inclined to believe it. At 159 grams, the 6.1-inch terminal is really very compact and fits well in the hand.
As buttons, the Sony Xperia 10 V has two combined volume buttons and a power button with a built-in fingerprint sensor. As in many phones with such a button, it is not very convenient to feel and press it, although you can get used to it with time. You also have a headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a SIM card tray on this phone. I want to talk a little about this box too, because it has a very cool feature that I want to see on all phones. It can be removed without a key. All you have to do is make your nails a little longer and that’s it, you’ve pulled out the drawer. Thus, you can quickly replace the card or micro SD card if necessary.
You can also find the Xperia 10 V in black, white or green. The phone is elegant and has a simple design, which I really like because I am a fan of phones that do not stand out in any way, even if I like the most pistachio ones.
The smartphone is IP65/IP68 water resistant. The haptic feedback is rather weak, and if you have vibration while typing enabled, you’ll notice that the vibration motor “jumps” on touch if you type faster.
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Screen and sound
I have come to my favorite part of this phone. The extra-long 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED screen is ideal for watching movies, TV series and documentaries. It can display a billion colors and has HDR, so for viewing content it is especially beautiful, but also accurate and has many settings for calibration in the corresponding menu. It doesn’t have a high refresh rate, so it’s limited to 60Hz, which confuses it because it’s not an iPhone, and because on Android, all phones over 2100 lei in recent years have at least 90Hz.
In fact, this is the only drawback of this extremely beautiful panel. Ultra-wide movies and TV shows fit perfectly on this screen, with no top and bottom borders, making it perfect for Netflix or HBO Max, for example. Actually, for this I also used it most of all. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. In bright light, you won’t have any problems because the screen is clearly visible, like most OLED displays on the market.
Another thing that helps is the stereo of the speakers, which sound loud and clear and are very well placed. Both are user-centric no matter how you hold the terminal, so you’ll always enjoy the best sound and don’t risk blocking any speakers.
So, for multimedia, 10 points for the stretched screen, which also helps when you’re holding the phone in your hand, but if I take into account the fact that it doesn’t even have 90Hz, I have to deduct a few points.
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Performance and system
The Sony Xperia 10 V is powered by a 6nm Snapdragon 695 processor with 5G support, an already slightly dated processor that, while suitable for general use, is starting to show its age. Less intensive games run decently, but Asphalt 9 still has moments where it twitches, it could be something from an optimization made by Sony, but it could also be a relatively modest chipset. The phone comes with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS storage. Although not very powerful, the processor has its advantages, such as the fact that it does not consume a lot of resources, and the autonomy of this phone is very good, plus you have access to 5G networks. The Sony Xperia 10 V comes with Android 13 out of the box and will receive updates for a few years, but Sony doesn’t boast the very long-term software support that Samsung does.
As far as connectivity is concerned, you won’t have any problems with this terminal. The Xperia 10 V has 5G, WiFi ac and Bluetooth 5.1. It also has a headphone jack, a rarity in its price segment, and even NFC. The USB-C port is speed limited to 2.0, so file transfers will be slightly slower.
Battery and Charging
Battery life is one of the things that impressed me about this phone. Even with Netflix all day at maximum brightness, the device lasted almost two days, so very good if you ask me. If you use it more carefully, it can last you even longer, but if you play it or use it for a lot of browsing, it lasts about a day and a half.
What I liked less was the charging speed, almost two hours on a full charge from 5 percent. Even Samsung is not that weak in this regard in this price range with models like the A54 5G charging in about an hour and 20 minutes. I’m not talking here about competitors like realme or Xiaomi, which offer a full charge in half an hour for the same money.
Rooms
As for the camera, Sony has opted for a very well balanced setup. We have a 48MP main camera, an 8MP telephoto lens, and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. On the front we have an 8 megapixel camera, quite normal but nothing WOW. The Xperia 10 V takes good pictures with all four cameras, but you don’t have as many options as other manufacturers. For me, as an iPhone user, this is good because it doesn’t overwhelm me when I need to take a picture. You also have a pro mode if you want to play around with it, but cameras and processing are relatively limited compared to other models. At night, the pictures come out well, similar to what I have seen on other phone models that I have tested for a long time. The Xperia 10 V shoots in 1080P and 30fps on all cameras, while some manufacturers offer 4K resolution for the money, so it might not hurt to upgrade in that direction.
CONCLUSIONS
Currently Sony Xperia 10 V can be bought for 2100 lei.and in some retailers you can also find it bundled with a set of Sony WH-CH520B wireless headphones, which is a good deal for the package you get. However, if you think only about the terminal, without a promotional package, I think I would reorient myself to another device. In my opinion, the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is the best choice.
No, you don’t have as long a screen as the Sony, so the viewing experience isn’t as good in terms of framing, but the haptic feedback is better, you get faster loading times, longer software support, and better content.
At the same time, since it has been on the market for some time, you can find a version with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage for 2100 lei, which is twice the model here.
In Sony’s defense, you get a well-optimized OS, and 60Hz isn’t that bad, but all other manufacturers offer the benefit of a high refresh rate.