Sony Xperia 1 VI

Sony's Xperia range has always stood for solid quality, a good screen and a camera that's great, with virtually all the competition using Sony hardware. Sony funnily enough saves the best for their own phones, namely their Exmor T sensor combined with 16, 24 and 48mm focal lengths. It's stuck on a glass-coated back, because Sony's phones, as always, have to be very smooth and made of aluminium and glass. It's very anonymous and for many people it won't be attractive; they want others to see that they own an expensive phone.

The battery life is rated at two days, which is fine for normal use, but if you're the type who really gets into mobile gaming 5-6 hours a day, the answer is funnily enough something else. It's a standard 5000 mAh battery with two-way wireless charging and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, so it can suck up power if you force it to. The battery should be well protected and made to last at least four years, but there's no danger of excessive use with only 30 watts of charging - that's too low.

With the new Xperia 1 VI, you are, if nothing else, continuous, because it's the same story that can be told here, albeit with a twist. In the latest edition we get an 85-170 mm lens, giving us 7.1x optical zoom, and then there's a hefty telemacro lens as the other big seller on the camera front. And there's a dedicated camera button on the side as always, which is just a bit cooler.

The screen is from Sony's own Bravia series, at 1080x2340 HDR OLED and has "unique AI image adjustment" - but I can't quite see what AI has to do with automatic brightness control, but if you dig deep enough in the descriptions, you'll find that it improves contrast and colours. That's fine too, but perhaps a bit overkill for everyday use. It has variable refresh up to 120 Hz, and this time with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. There's nothing concrete about the nits brightness, other than that it's one and a half times more than the last generation, but with a little help from Uncle Google we managed to find a value around 1300. That might have been impressive a few years ago, but not anymore.

However, there are extra gaming features, including a black level enhancer that makes it easier to see dark and black areas on the screen when gaming. Likewise, you can also adjust the white balance, and this is of course in addition to normal gaming features.

The phone is of course integrated into the Sony ecosystem, whether as a PlayStation controller or with Sony's excellent headphones or in-ears. For some reason, LDAC is supported, but the marketing material mentions 320 kbps as a good thing, which is odd when you have a product that supports three times that bitrate. Perhaps it's to show the AI in a better light, as it can apparently "extend the dynamic range" to 24 bits. And I have to admit that I'm quite reactionary - you can't extend the dynamic range beyond what it originally comes with. You can make it look like or emulate, but a 16-bit file that has a dynamic range of 96 dB can't artificially get 144 dB dynamic range based on AI. The limitation is in the original recording and you can't change that digitally. Dynamic range can only be limited, not increased in this way. Sony also has a 360 Reality Audio system, which I didn't use as I simply hate virtual surround and am disappointed that there is no EU regulation banning it yet.

In addition, there is a fairly extensive EQ function that allows you to optimise the sound in games in the same way as you know it from your PC - perhaps a bit excessive, but a pretty cool detail. In terms of sound, it's quite nice, but more importantly, it supports the use of 3.5 mm connectors. It also offers "full stage" speakers with "improvements in bass" and "immersive soundstage" - while I'll admit the stereo effect is good, I wouldn't quite go as far as to call it immersive.

The last thing worth mentioning, however, is the SIM card tray that activates without tools. Why didn't anyone think of that before? And they kept the fingerprint scanner on the side of the phone. I've never been a fan and probably never will be; it's still a hassle and complains a little too often.

The recommended retail price is £1299 for 256 GB. So that's a tad too much. There's no doubt the camera part is great, 7.1x optical zoom and 4K 120 Hz recording, but there's no 8K, there's no magic or insane AI features in the same way as the main competitors. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is a really solid mobile phone with a reasonable screen and ditto camera. But that's just not enough in 2024; the train has left the station and you can get significantly better phones for less money on paper.