Evaluation of Sony Xperia 1 III with innovative periscope variable telephoto lens "micro-single mobile phone"

In the current Android mobile phone market, Sony Xperia products can be called a special existence. In the current environment where the full-screen design of digging holes occupies the market, Sony still gives priority to the integrity of the screen and retains the upper and lower borders; While other manufacturers continue to improve the camera sensor size and image quality, Sony still focuses on the ability to quickly focus and capture images. Such a distinctive mobile phone product has been updated recently, and a brand-new Sony Xperia 1 III has been launched. While retaining the features of Xperia products, this concept of One SONY is fully utilized, including screen display, camera and audio, which brings users a more comprehensive experience.

appearance design

First of all, from the perspective of design, Sony's excellent industrial design has become its biggest brand label. The slender style from Xperia 1 is also reserved in this generation of mark 3. The square shape and the long screen of 2 1: 9 make the whole mobile phone tall and narrow, providing a larger screen display and ensuring the comfort when holding it.

The camera module of Xperia 1 III is designed at the upper left of the back like the previous generation. Due to the addition of large-size periscope variable telephoto lens, the size of the whole module has also been extended downward. The fuselage contains a larger lens module and a large battery with a power of 4500mAh, but Sony can still achieve an excellent feel experience in design, and the thickness (8.2mm) and weight (187g) are just right.

The overall outline of Xperia 1 III looks square and tough, but the edges are too smooth, which makes the four sides of the square feel round in the hand. This design also makes the metal frame wrap the front and rear well, which makes the connection between the front and rear glass and the frame very smooth without touching any gaps and edges. Compared with the common micro-surface design, it provides a more complete field of vision and a stronger structure.

The overall design of Sony Xperia 1 III is better than that of iPhone 12, and it is also a right-angled design. The slender and round grip is also a complete victory for apples.

On the back, except that the camera is moved to the upper left corner, AG glass with better texture is used as a whole, which increases the feel and reduces the pollution of fingerprints. The brand Logo of "SONY" adopts smooth glass effect treatment, which is very outstanding, and its design style is basically the same as that of the previous generation mark II.

In addition to the overall excellent design style, Sony has some distinctive designs that distinguish it from other products. I use my most traditional side fingerprint button with integrated power supply, and there is an iconic fast card slot on the right side, and it also has the function of microSD storage expansion. Moreover, Xperia 1 III also supports hot plug of SIM cards, so there is no need to restart when loading and unplugging cards.

The camera shutter button dedicated to the button has also been retained, and the relief design and 60fps AF focus detection in the half-pressed state have also been added. Different from other keys, it also increases the pressing feeling of the shutter. Long press to bring up the camera, and half press to focus is of course reserved. Xperia 1 III adds shortcut keys for outgoing voice assistants in addition to screen blanking and volume. It also supports the uncommon 3.5mm headphone jack. You can listen to music while charging with an external wired headset. With my own audio technology, I have enhanced my listening sense to some extent.

The world's first high-brush 4K mobile phone screen

The screen ratio of Xperia 1 III is 2 1: 9, which is the same as the previous flagship product. The screen resolution of the organic light-emitting diode is 3840 x 1644, which is equivalent to 643 pixels per inch, and the display effect is 10 bit HDR. The biggest upgrade point of Xperia 1 III screen this year is the increase of 120Hz refresh rate. 4K 120Hz also makes Gensonnie the world's first high refresh rate screen with 4K level.

Sony is committed to providing users with the perfect mobile phone screen to watch video content, and has not adopted the popular hole-digging design to increase the screen ratio. On the contrary, the top and bottom of the Sony Xperia 1 III display are designed with borders. The top border is used to accommodate the selfie camera, and the bottom border and the top border have a front speaker respectively. A more symmetrical border makes it better to watch the video horizontally.

The specification of this screen is undoubtedly the highest in the flagship of smart phones at present, which can provide better picture performance for users shooting 4K videos and watching HD movies. Coupled with the support of front dual speakers and Dolby panoramic sound, the full-screen picture of 2 1: 9 makes the viewing experience even better. The color of the Xperia 1 III screen provides the functions of main mode and video image enhancement. When watching movies, the mobile phone will automatically turn on, and the screen can also meet the different needs of professional creation and entertainment for screen color.

In the actual experience, the screen ratio of 2 1: 9 also brings more interesting gameplay for the use of mobile phones, with narrower body and larger screen. In order to bring more content display, Sony added a small window mode. It also retains the previous multi-window mode of 2 1: 9, and has corresponding options directly on the home page, as well as default collocation, which makes multitasking open faster. At the same time, the previously used side-by-side feeling function also allows us to find commonly used apps and settings more quickly, making it easier to hold and use with one hand.

As the flagship mobile phone, the screen refresh rate of Xperia 1 III has also been increased to 120Hz. After opening, you can feel a smoother picture. Even if you are not playing games, the experience of brushing waterfalls such as Weibo is smooth.

Cameras and photographs

Sony Xperia 1 III is equipped with a main lens with a focal length of120,000 pixels f//0.7 24 mm, a wide-angle lens with a focal length of120,000 pixels f/2.2 16mm and a periscope variable telephoto lens with a focal length of120,000 pixels. There is also a 3D iToF sensor. In addition to the lens module, Sony also added Zeiss T* coating. According to the official statement, this coating can reduce the reflected light to obtain better image quality and contrast.

Periscope variable telephoto lens is the first time to appear in mobile phone products, and Xperia 1 III is also the world's first smart phone equipped with dual PD sensors in periscope variable telephoto lens. Sony uses a mechanical periscope system to move the lens to these different points. This can achieve a true optical zoom of 2.9 times or 5 times. However, any value between these two focal lengths (for example, 4 times) will involve digital cropping instead of continuous optical zooming.

Zoom lens sample

This time, Sony intends to build this Xperia 1 III into a professional camera in mobile phones, integrating the technical functions of its own micro-camera, so that users can also have the performance operation comparable to Sony's professional camera on mobile phones, which can be described as a real "micro-single mobile phone".

Sony Xperia 1 III integrates standard camera interface and photographer in camera function, and they can be switched with each other. Sony said that the "main photographer" function in Xperia is an imaging system developed by Sony's flagship Alpha series cameras. In this mode, it has a camera interface design that is more in line with the operating habits of professional photographers, as well as a brand-new manual control function and support for professional RAW format. In addition, Sony's real-time tracking, eyeball focusing and high-speed continuous shooting functions make it easier and more efficient to shoot images and animals, providing a broader creative space.

Users can quickly switch between normal mode and professional mode by manually operating the mode of the camera main interface when taking pictures. In the ordinary camera interface, Xperia 1 III provides the most basic shooting function, without other fancy modes on Android, and also allows users to focus more on video and taking pictures, which is simple and clear to use.

The options of four focal lengths are also directly presented to the user in the camera interface, which means that the zoom setting still needs to manually switch different focal lengths of different lenses, instead of directly adjusting the zoom multiple as the mainstream mobile phone cameras do now, and the system automatically switches lenses. Friends who are familiar with Sony mobile phones know that if you want to take photos with this mobile phone, you must spend some time manually adjusting it in the professional mode of camera application. The professional photo mode of Xperia 1 III has moved the setting interface of its own micro-camera to the mobile phone in order to let everyone get started better. For friends who know photography, the entry threshold is further lowered.

In the main photographer interface, Sony simplified the overall operation logic of taking pictures. In addition to the basic routine touch shooting, the user can put the index finger of his right hand at the position of the shutter button and adjust all the commonly used parameters with his thumb, while the left hand is responsible for switching the shooting mode and lens while holding the phone steady. Click on the top left to select M and P files, and click on the bottom left to freely switch the lens focal length. Here we can see the familiar 24mm-70mm main focal length. The choice of four focal lengths is clearer than the zoom ratio in the ordinary interface, and the settings such as exposure compensation and focusing are also available.

A master photographer can switch between different shooting modes like a camera.

In order to give users a better shooting experience, the master photographer also added hand-point frame focusing to the application, which is more in line with the usage habits of mobile phone users when taking pictures.

The biggest highlight of Xperia 1 III is focusing. Whether it is to quickly start the camera application or shoot the shutter button, Sony is conveying an idea to users, that is, more convenient and faster mobile phone shooting. In order to fit the idea of taking photos quickly and capture photos quickly, autofocus has naturally become the biggest feature of Sony mobile phone shooting.

Real-time tracking display

The Xperia 1 III autofocus system has 247 phase detection autofocus points, and a real-time tracking function has been added. With the shutter button, half shutter focusing and full shutter shooting can be realized. Among them, the real-time tracking function can accurately detect and focus the target by measuring the distance from the target with the help of AI technology and 3D iToF sensor, and can quickly capture even if it swings greatly. This function is very suitable for friends who have children or pets at home.

The shooting effect of Xperia 1 III is the same as that of a micro-camera, and it can almost restore the true color with 100%. In the backlight environment, the HDR shooting of Xperia 1 III can well preserve the details of the dark and bright parts, while showing a relatively real contrast between light and dark. You can also save RAW format files after shooting, which is more convenient for later debugging.

Xperia 1 III still has no special night scene mode, but it will automatically identify the dark environment through AI, and the exposure time can be appropriately extended by detection when taking pictures.

To sum up, the focusing performance of Xperia 1 III is excellent, and the pictures taken by the three lenses are all good. The upgrade of independent shutter button and main mode makes Xperia 1 III a more professional camera and easier to control.

Specifications and performance

Like many flagship smartphone products of 202 1, Sony Xperia 1 III is also equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile platform, which adopts unique three-cluster CPU architecture design and 5nm advanced technology. In the CPU part, the latest Kryo 680 architecture is applied, and a new Cortex-X 1 super core is added, with a main frequency of 2.84GHz, which improves the CPU performance of Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 by 25%. GPU architecture is Adreno 660, which improves the graphics rendering performance by 35%, allowing players to run smoothly in complex scenes of large games.

Sony Xperia 1 III is equipped with 12GB memory. Larger memory can run the game well, and the loading time of multiple applications in the background is relatively short, so the overall use process will not encounter the problem of jam or delay. Sony Xperia 1 III also optimized the game mode.

In addition to camera black technology, Sony also introduced a large number of display and audio technologies in mobile games. In addition to increasing the screen refresh rate of 1 III to 120Hz and the touch sampling rate to 240Hz, Sony has also introduced a jitter blur reduction technology of up to 240Hz, which makes the dynamic game picture on the screen clearer when running compatible games. Sony even optimized the charging scene during the game. When it detects that the heat is too high, it will automatically stop charging the battery and only use the external power supply to power the mobile phone system.

Sony also specially implanted the L-Y raiser low gamma elevator in the software this time. When this function is turned on, you can highlight the dark part of the picture to show more details. The audio output of the game can also be processed by the built-in sound equalizer, highlighting the key game audio such as gunshots and footsteps in the scene. And for users who like to record their own game process, Sony also provides a screen recording function of up to 120Hz or up to 600 screen shots in 30 seconds, so that users can save their wonderful victory moments. In addition to Dolby panoramic sound, the built-in stereo speakers also support Sony 360 live sound effects.

Under the high-quality setting, the frame rate of Call of Duty runs smoothly at 60FPS, and the middle frame is a transition picture.

In addition to the configuration upgrade, the Bank of China version also supports full netcom dual-mode 5G, and the domestic network-wide support is also very sincere. In terms of battery life, in order to cope with greater power consumption, Xperia 1 III upgraded the 4500mAh battery to support wireless charging, and the wired charging was upgraded to 30W at the highest, which can be fully charged in half an hour.

In terms of system, Xperia 1 III still adopts the cooperation scheme of native Android and third-party applications, which is very simple as a whole. What is slightly insufficient is that many localized things in China have not been well supported. The application store uses the application treasure, and every upgrade and installation requires authorization. Although it is safe, it is relatively troublesome, but the machine currently being tested is only an engineering machine. It is expected that the 520-country version will perform better in localization adaptation.

abstract

The overall performance of Sony Xperia 1 III can reach the standard of an excellent flagship mobile phone. The performance configuration of the flagship is indispensable. The square appearance and comfortable grip are unique. Sony's industrial design also makes this product different from the current curved screen. With the 4K HDR organic light-emitting diode screen and Dolby panoramic sound, it has become a mobile audio-visual weapon with good experience. On the basis of the previous generation, the image system is optimized to give users more creative space, and the screen refresh rate of 120Hz greatly improves the fluency of games and use. Of course, in terms of system, I am still looking forward to the performance of the Bank of China version.

Sony, which is famous for its imaging products, has a high reputation in China, and its sales of mirrorless cameras also prove the popularity of the products. Although Sony's mobile phone products are relatively few in China. However, with the concept of One SONY, the integration of TV, audio and photography technologies, and the introduction of more advanced technologies, the release of Sony Xperia 1 III still has a high position in the eyes of users. If you want to pursue unique and excellent design, like photography, and want to play some of your own characteristics, then this "micro-single mobile phone" is still worth considering.