The Xperia 10 IV is the newest mid-ranger from Sony, however as with so many different Xperia telephones, there are query marks over whether or not it could actually dwell as much as its price ticket. The sunshine and slim body present sufficient room for a deceptively massive battery, and UI options resembling facet sense make for easy multitasking. Nonetheless, laggy cameras and staticky audio system do make for some tough edges. Is the Sony Xperia 10 IV the best telephone for you? Discover out in Android Authority’s Sony Xperia 10 IV assessment.

• Sony Xperia 10 IV (6GB/128GB): £429 / €499 (~$515)

The Xperia 10 IV is the newest mid-ranger from Sony, making minor enhancements to the Xperia 10 III and coming in nicely under the flagship Xperia 1 IV within the 2022 Xperia household. As with its predecessor, this telephone is presently solely accessible within the UK and Europe, with no phrase on a possible launch date in North America. The primary variations between the third and fourth Xperia 10 telephones are that the latter has a much bigger battery (5,000mAh in comparison with 4,500mAh) and an upgraded chipset, transferring from the Snapdragon 690 to the Snapdragon 695.

Moreover, the Xperia 10 IV has some up to date safety. The acquainted and slim 21:9 show is now lined by the stronger Gorilla Glass Victus slightly than Gorilla Glass 6, serving to to additional “scratch-proof” the display. Nonetheless, the scrolling expertise continues to be on the gradual finish, with a refresh fee locked to 60Hz. Most opponents on this vary provide larger refresh charges, such because the Moto G 5G and Nothing Telephone 1 at 90Hz or the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G and Poco F4, which each have 120Hz shows.

The bottom of the Xperia 10 IV options the identical trio of cameras discovered on the Xperia 10 III: a 12MP major sensor, 8MP telephoto, and an 8MP ultrawide lens. Nonetheless, there may be one disappointing downgrade with video recording maxing out at 1080p in comparison with 4K on the earlier era.

Sony has promised three years of safety updates and two years of Android software program updates, with the telephone finally getting Android 13 at an unconfirmed date. These commitments are modest for a finances telephone. Whereas not as plentiful as massive names like Samsung or Google, they’re according to the variety of updates you’d count on from OnePlus or Motorola and surpass these supplied by the likes of Poco or Redmi.

There’s just one configuration of the Xperia 10 IV, however there may be house for a microSDXC card to develop the storage, shared with the SIM slot. It additionally carries a headphone jack — more and more a rarity on any fashionable smartphone. You’ve got your selection of 4 colours for the Xperia 10 IV: Black, White, Mint, and Lavender.

As a part of Sony’s push in the direction of sustainability, there is no such thing as a plastic packaging, and it doesn’t include a charger or USB cable. But, lots of folded paper takes up the house contained in the field, making us marvel why Sony didn’t downsize the packaging to suit the telephone.

Probably the most spectacular facet of the Sony Xperia 10 IV is the killer combo of an enormous battery in a compact and light-weight body. I may use the telephone for practically two full days of gentle use with occasional net searching and messaging with out ever charging, because of the long-lasting 5,000mAh battery.

Benchmark outcomes aren’t nice for a 2022 mid-ranger, however we’ve seen comparable outcomes from different Snapdragon 695 telephones just like the Nord N20 and Moto G Stylus 5G — two telephones that also carry out simply tremendous in every day use. Whereas you may get way more highly effective telephones on this value tier — notably the Google Pixel 6a or Apple iPhone SE — in case you aren’t placing the telephone by means of intensive pressure, the day-to-day efficiency isn’t a deal breaker.

The tall 21:9 OLED show display makes for nice viewing. The colours out of the field are barely oversaturated, nonetheless, you’ll be able to tweak the colours within the settings to your preferences, which is a plus. Streamed content material seems to be crisp, and wide-screen video will fill out the body. Gaming, then again, doesn’t at all times impress. Demanding video games like Genshin Influence are playable however don’t count on tremendous easy body charges. It’ll additionally battle to maintain heavy and can run sizzling throughout the hour.

Not everybody can be a fan of the slim six-inch display, however I discovered it very straightforward to deal with and entry any apps with one hand. The telephone is so slim that it may slide proper into my pocket beside my every day driver, a cumbersome Galaxy S21 Extremely, and it’s light-weight sufficient that you simply’ll hardly even really feel it beside your thigh.

The brand new Xperia telephones have a stock-like Android 12 interface. Fundamental Android options resembling Multi-window swap and Pop-up window are a bit extra pleasing to make use of on this tall show. Multi-window allows you to cut up your display between any two apps, so you’ll be able to enter data out of your notes into one other app with out switching backwards and forwards, as an illustration. Pop-up will overlay a small window over any app, so you could possibly watch a video whereas studying this text, for instance. Each of those actually profit from the extra vertical actual property.

There’s wonderful audio assist, particularly whereas utilizing Sony’s 360 Actuality Audio with appropriate headphones. The headphone jack is a pleasant contact, however in case you’re going wi-fi, there’s LDAC for high-resolution audio over Bluetooth connections at as much as 990 kbps at 32 bit/96 kHz and DSEE Final to upscale extra hi-quality to your compressed music.

Relating to safety, you get some actually high-end specs in a mid-range handset. The entrance show is shielded by Gorilla Glass Victus, which we sometimes solely see in flagship telephones. As an illustration, the brand new Pixel 6a solely had Gorilla Glass 3, and probably the most you’ll be able to usually count on at this value is Gorilla Glass 5. Mixed with the plastic again, this can be a fairly sturdy cushion for hitting the ground.

Moreover, the Sony Xperia 10 IV has spectacular water and mud resistance, spec’d to satisfy IP68 requirements. Meaning you’ll be able to submerge the telephone underwater at a depth of as much as 1.5m for as much as half-hour. Once more, this can be a minimize above the competitors that’s sometimes rated for IP67 or decrease.

Whereas the sound high quality by means of headphones or earbuds with the Xperia 10 IV is excellent, the exterior speaker is fairly poor. There are not any stereo audio system, only a single bottom-firing loudspeaker which is just too quiet at low to mid volumes and sounds very scratchy at max quantity. This makes attempting to indicate a video to a number of folks practically inaudible.

One of many extra contentious specs is the 60Hz refresh fee, which feels outdated and sluggish. The display judders are most noticeable when scrolling by means of net pages or app feeds. Many fashionable mid-tier smartphones now have 90Hz and 120Hz shows, and it’s disappointing that Sony hasn’t upped its sport right here. Whereas it could have been a trade-off for the battery life’s longevity, having the choice would’ve been good.

The telephone helps USB Energy Supply charging as much as 20W, however you’re taking a look at round a 2.5-hour cost time from zero to 100%, even with a completely appropriate adapter. That’s extraordinarily gradual in comparison with the competitors. The Galaxy A53 5G has the identical battery measurement but solely takes 85 minutes for a full cost, and the iPhone SE refills in about an hour with the advantage of supporting wi-fi charging.

I additionally discovered the facet fingerprint scanner fairly unreliable — a shock for an Xperia telephone, as they often get these proper. The truth is, it solely really labored to unlock my telephone a few times, even after rescanning my fingerprint. When it reads it mistaken, or in case you by chance contact totally different elements of your fingers, the telephone will lock you out for 30 seconds, which may get irritating. I discovered it finest to disable the characteristic and use a pin code as a substitute. Talking of fingerprints, the downgrade from a glass end to plastic means the bottom of your telephone will inevitably get smudged with fingerprint grease.

The Sony Xperia 10 IV has three rear cameras — the identical because the Xperia 10 III — besides that the first sensor now has OIS picture stabilization. On first impression, the Xperia 10 IV noticeably lags earlier than and after snapping a shot. The lag is even worse when utilizing the pinch-to-zoom characteristic, because the lenses take a second or two earlier than catching up together with your fingers, which could be annoying when attempting to gauge the best distance. That is one space the place the comparatively low-power Snapdragon 695 chipset exhibits its weaknesses.

The first 12MP digital camera is slightly inconsistent. Most notably, colours are extra saturated right here than in different lenses, and objects of various sizes and distances change into blurred. In the course of the day, there was at occasions an excessive amount of publicity, making the sky seem white as a substitute of blue. It didn’t assist that the preview picture in Sony’s Digicam app wasn’t very clear and solely worsened underneath shiny daylight. White steadiness was additionally hit or miss, struggling particularly in low-light circumstances.

Having a devoted telephoto digital camera is extraordinarily uncommon at this value. Regardless of its humble {hardware}, the 2x optical zoom is surprisingly dependable in numerous environments. This was my most well-liked digital camera on the Xperia 10 IV, delivering sharper particulars and warmer-looking colours than the first. The dynamic vary and publicity are much better than comparable finances digital camera telephones with solely digital zoom.

The 8MP ultrawide digital camera was additionally extra strong than the first, exhibiting pretty well-balanced highlights and shadows with out overblowing the colours. It may get slightly delicate and warped across the edges, however the efficiency isn’t dangerous. The Auto HDR characteristic additionally appeared extra correct on the ultrawide than the principle one, which is the other of what we’d count on.

The Sony Xperia 10 IV’s night time photographs are first rate as long as you might be close to some synthetic gentle. For instance, it could actually carry shadows round neon indicators making them legible at night time, however taking pictures in pitch black darkness would make the first focus indecisive, mechanically switching between totally different focal lengths. The ultrawide would produce an excessive amount of noise with a extra noticeable softening impact. Out of the three, the telephoto lens carried out the perfect with night time mode, lifting shadows and bringing out sharper particulars.

You’ll don’t have any hassle taking selfies appropriate for social media utilizing the entrance 8MP digital camera, though the beautifying results of the portrait filter could be overkill. I didn’t discover a lot distinction utilizing the slender face or eye enlargement choices, however the delicate pores and skin filter made my facial hair too blurry. The extremes of the pores and skin brightness results ranged from making me look ghostly pale to an virtually sickly inexperienced, however maybe these choices aren’t meant for me.

Sony additionally sacrificed the power to report 4K video. The rear digital camera now tops out at 1080p at a measly 30fps, which might be disappointing even for telephones that sit nicely under the Xperia 10 IV’s asking value. Maybe to cowl up the downgrade is the “Inventive” mode, which exhibits you samples of varied filters utilized over no matter you’re pointing your digital camera at, permitting you to experiment with totally different seems to be earlier than hitting report.

Whereas the Xperia 10 IV is a good telephone for on a regular basis utilization, Sony is finally charging an excessive amount of for what it affords when contemplating the general worth. The battery life is excellent and packed into a light-weight, easy-to-use telephone. However for the worth of £429 within the UK (simply over $500), it lacks in some essential areas, and it ceaselessly feels prefer it’s behind the occasions in important respects.

The bizarre factor concerning the Xperia 10 IV is how wildly imbalanced it’s. It has some surprising flagship specs, resembling Gorilla Glass Victus, a telephoto digital camera with 2x optical zoom, an IP68 score, and a headphone jack, lots of which you simply don’t discover at this value. However the efficiency is mediocre and the first digital camera — the one which typically will get probably the most utilization — is fairly poor. The audio system aren’t nice, the charging is painfully gradual, and the display is barely 60Hz. Finally, this telephone feels lopsided and doesn’t add up to a whole package deal.

Maybe the Xperia 10 IV has sufficient going for it to attraction to wired audio purists or those that need a slim, reasonably priced, light-weight telephone. However suppose Sony had given this telephone slightly additional love and polish. In that case, it may have been well-rounded sufficient to take care of the heavy hitters, such because the Google Pixel 6a (£399), Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (£399), or the Nothing Telephone 1 (£399), all of which have the higher hand concerning digital camera picture high quality and efficiency, to not point out barely cheaper value tags.