Sony Xperia 1 VII: What Real Users Actually Think

Sony doesn't mess around — they want to make it clear that when they have decided to fail, no one can stop them. They have dragged it out for so many years to make it clear, that they will fail at their own pace — not because they are incompetent, but because they choose their time and fate.

Sony's strategy of selling phones for as expensive as possible in as few markets as possible is a bold move. Let's see if it pays off.

I wouldn't call only 256 as a bad thing cause it has SD card support

I have Xperia 10 III and Samsung A55 (phone I got from work), and hell, even if the A55 has much better components it's a buggy mess, notification spam, laggy experience. Meanwhile, the old, cheap Xperia has a lag-free experience. I don't see how the Xperia is 'outdated' just because it lacks the AI gimmicks no one wants or the bezel-less design that adds a camera hole.

This has a worse battery than its predecessor, although with longer supports (4 OS and 6 years of security updates), and better chipset, but the rest is quite similar. Whoever is in charge for Sony mobile phone division needs to be sacked.

I gave up on Sony just a few weeks ago. I've been a fanboy for about 10 years but I'm fed up with the issues they refuse to fix and the outrageous pricing they have. Fingerprint Sensor failed twice, overheating, lack of software updates, poor customer support, and always a high price.

The 1 VII is really disappointing, specially due to the LACK of improvements to the telephoto and basically snake oil marketing points with the headphone jack — not even an improved DAC to compete with LG's 2017 V30. WTF Sony?

I didn't realize they'd switched to a 1080p display last year. That's insane for the price they're charging.

Xperia sales team if you're reading this please bring down the price to $999. No one's paying $1400.

Pros: +versatile camera system with continuous zoom +very long battery life +bright 120 Hz OLED +extensive features +high-quality build +fast SoC +dust and waterproof +6-year updates. Cons: -power adapter and USB-C cable not included -low charging capacity -only 256 GB of storage -mediocre telephoto camera

256 is what I would call a neutral, it should be the default for any nicer phones these days.

And now I'm debating to just get the 1 V, the last 5G 4K 21:9 phone to be sold in the US...

Pricing is the same as the S25U in my country, sometimes more expensive because they don't have any incentive offer like Samsung does. Their software is iffy at best. I'd love the SD card slot and headphone jack but the pricing just doesn't make sense to me.

I feel sickened tbh. Literally just a new EIS cropping mode and new ultra wide lens and... that's it?? These things were fun, take me back to 1 III/Pro-I era when they had more fun things to offer. This release felt like they phoned it in.

They're expensive and notoriously have hardware issues like screens, buttons, and fingerprint scanners failing. It's so bad that they will swap out your phone for free.

They enhanced ultrawide — the sensor which has the lowest practical value. Sony indeed are consistent in their journey... Lol.

That's really awful for a premium priced phone. Yeah, it has a microSD card but Sony does nothing to undo Google's crippling of it.

I will take Sony's design choice over any other phones. No rounded screens, no black bar or punch holes or rounded display corners. No under display cameras or finger print reader, keep those separate! A little bezel does not hurt!

At least it gets way brighter than the 4K panel they were using with the 1 V, but yeah for the price it's ridiculous. There are 1440p panels that get just as bright.

Sony is doing a nice job and it's refreshing to see some reviews noticing these. I'm loving my 1VII.

I'm starting to think they have a backroom agreement to not put their best cameras in their own phones. There's no other explanation for the maker of the best cameras to repeatedly put sub par cameras in all their own models including the flagship.

In terms of feature set, build quality, hand feel, size and aspect ratio, the Xperia 1 VI I'm typing this out on is the best phone I've used since 2005. Oh and it comes in a bright, deep red, which is a small thing, but genuinely nice.

Imagine — a company that sells a lot of great sensors for Samsung, iPhone and other phone cameras can't make their own phone be the best in photography.

The main reason I went pixel this year, I'm so tired of things that are a bit far away being completely un-capturable. Plus it's expensive as hell for having cut ANY corners, but then it's insulting that the corner they cut is the CAMERA which is from the division in the SAME COMPANY.

The actual primary con of these phones, which is hardly ever mentioned, is just the fact that they almost never get trade in deals or really good sales. So it's just absurdly expensive, and not just because of the sticker price.

Sony just continues to shoot themselves in the foot.

If you look at the poor SD card transfer speeds and the fact that external storage is handled rather poorly I'd say it's still quite bad that they don't have larger options.

I bought one strictly because of hardware. 4K 120hz OLED display, headphone jack, expandable storage, front facing speakers, dedicated shutter button, side mounted fingerprint reader that doubles as a power button, toolless sim removal, and all this while being IP68 water resistant. Software is quite meh, it's close to stock, not a lot of bloat. You only get 2 major android ver updates and a bit over 2 years of security. I can live with being stuck on Android 15.

Battery life for me is basically half a day worse than the 1 VI was and the device also gets much hotter than VI and especially V. Probably not much of it is in Sony's control and down to how Qualcomm tunes their SoCs. The next 1 should have a bigger battery capacity and charge at approx. 40W. Telephoto camera quality except for macro mode is disappointing.

It's simply a shame Sony with its still great design team, the Sony Alpha team and one of the largest manufacturers of image sensors in the world can't figure out how to make a proper phone camera when ALL other brands can.

€1500 for no improvement in the tele sensor, WTF Sony?

A bit of fancy words to describe a wet fart... seriously this thing would be worth $900 max, yet it tries to challenge the best of the best flagships with no real improvement over its own predecessor. I was holding out to get this but now I'm having second thoughts.

After the update the fingerprint sensor works how it should. Now it unlocks 99% of time. Before it would struggle. On the previous update fingerprint sensor was the worst.

Damn, what an underwhelming update... Xperia brand becomes worse and worse. I love my 1 VI but I think it's the last Xperia I will ever own.

Bezels are thick for 2025 standards, but the upside is no camera cutout to block content and you get front facing speakers. They're slim enough already to not be noticed in day to day use. This definitely is not a con for me.

Should've called them out on the fact that you can absolutely have a Pro mode and an Auto mode in the camera. And putting a shit quality micro SD card reader on a 1500 dollar phone is just spitting in their customers' faces.

Been great on T-Mobile. Connects to 5G band n41 no problem and great speeds.

Works killer on T-Mobile!

This is nowhere near worth the price. Basically just 1 VI II.

As expected... the telephoto is still extremely disappointing. I prayed that it was software related on the mk6 and it wasn't. Looks like there's no change on the mk7 either.

Bluetooth earbuds sound leveling back to normal after the update. Camera is more stable during startup without much initial capture lag, saving photo seems faster. Reading of micro SD card folders and files is faster too. Fingerprint still more stable when unlocking phone. Overall quite satisfied with the improvements.

It was great using it in the US. I'm using Xperia 1 VII (512Gb) with T-Mobile network. Bought from WondaMobile.

I love that it has a 3.5mm headphone jack. I love that it doesn't have a hole punch. I love that it has a microSD card slot. I am OK with the screen being good but not great. The camera is good enough for me. The battery is disappointing, and is one of the most important parts of a phone for me. It's a phone with some features I really want, but I would be making some compromises to get them.

I think it's overpriced. I would've gone with it, but that price tag, no way.

I don't hate Sony design but actually really like it. My problem is the lack of camera innovation despite providing one of the best sensors for their competitors and using inferior sensors for their own phones. They need a lot of work with their post processing in auto. Charging $1500 is absolutely insane!

I am using it with T-Mobile. It is an amazing phone and so happy I bought it. It has 5G as well, which required a quick click in the settings section.

Despite its flaws, Sony phones had some of the best features: SD card slot, headphone jack, great simple rectangle shape, no curved screen BS, minimal camera bump ugliness. All Sony had to do is create an easily rootable flagship phone for the US with these features and I think a bunch of us would have bought it.

I upgraded from my Galaxy S20 FE to this Xperia 1 VII last week and the telephoto lens is nothing short of miraculous to me. The 3x lens on the S20 FE was a toy that worked for a shot once in a while. I see myself using the 3.5-7.1x here a lot. Any blur in the photos I've seen comes exclusively from my hand movement. When I brace or tripod the phone, the images are outstanding.

Sony is just milking money from enthusiasts. 1080p display in $1000+, phone starts throttling after 15min of heavy use, no proper heat management, poor battery life, no camera improvement. Yes I know if you're pro in photography it's a great tool but what about just point and shoot?

The telephoto has and will always be Sony's Achilles heel. It's a pity it hasn't improved. Competitors like Xiaomi, Vivo, Samsung etc have stellar zoom cameras. I'm on the 1 IV and will not upgrade until they improve the zoom camera. The shots come out soft and lack sharpness. I prefer the digital zoom crops from the main sensor instead.