Sony’s New Xperia 1 II has a Lot Going for It

MWC may be cancelled, but companies are still announcing products, like Sony did this morning (last night?). During an online event, the Japanese company announced their two new phones for 2020, the Xperia 1 II and the Xperia 10 II. I’ve got time for this Xperia 1 II, because it’s coming to the US, so let’s dive into this quite-promising-sounding phone.

Before we get too far, understand that the name is said “Xperia 1 Mark 2,” not “Xperia 1 Two.” Why? I don’t know, this is just what Sony does. For example, the couple of RX100 cameras of theirs that I’ve owned were the RX100, RX100 Mark 3, and RX100 Mark 5. It’s their naming scheme, just go with it.

OK, the Xperia 1 II is Sony’s new flagship phone. Shall we take a look at specs?

Sony packed the Xperia 1 II with a 6.5″ (21:9) 4K HDR OLED (3840×1644) display that has “motion blur reduction,” that they claim should bring a similar experience to what you might see on a 90Hz phone. So it’s not a 90Hz phone, but it’ll act like it. It’s most definitely not 120Hz like Samsung’s new phones are.

You also get a Snapdragon 865, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage (with 1TB SD support), 4000mAh battery with fast charging, wireless charging, Bluetooth 5.1, fingerprint sensor (side-mounted),  “true” front stereo speakers, Android 10, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a triple rear camera system.

In that rear camera system, you have three 12MP shooters with focal lengths of 16mm (f/2.2), 24mm (f/1.7), and 70mm (f/2.4). In other words, you’ve got ultra-wide, wide, and telephoto, in that order. This camera setup pulls from Sony’s Alpha range to bring in impressive autofocus (like Real-time Eye AF) and 20fps burst shooting. It’ll have full manual controls for you pros, 2K 120fps video HDR recording, and 4K up to 60fps (wit h24/25/30fps options too).

See what I mean? This phone has a lot going for it!

I should point out that this phone does technically have 5G. However, looking at the US specs list and supported 5G networks has me questioning whether or not this phone will work on any of the current 5G networks available here. Comparing the listed 5G bands to our US carrier 5G table shows no compatibility. Sony, at least on its US page, mentions 5G once with an asterisk about select country availability. This may just be a 4G LTE phone here, which is fine since it has all of the major bands.

The Sony Xperia 1 II is scheduled for a “late” Spring 2020 launch. It comes in black and purple, though the US is only getting black. We’ll let you know when it arrives and for how much.

// Sony

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