Sony Xperia 10 VII: What Real Users Actually Think

I honestly don't get how Sony is still in the phone business. Their phones are usually 20-25% more expensive than anything else with similar specs, and apart from build quality and the occasional 3.5 connector they really don't give anything that would justify the price.

This phone is bigger than an iPhone 17 or Galaxy S25. Only the screen is smaller. You could say it is a total scam for small phone lovers.

Nearly €500 for slow USB transfer speeds, a full plastic build and an old Snapdragon chip. The 128GB of internal storage is forgiven, because this is one of the last devices with a microSD slot… and you're getting an AUX jack. For a few tenners more, you can get a near-flagship experience with the S25 FE, OnePlus 13R or Google Pixel 9. The Xperia seems fully geared towards enthusiasts and fans.

Small-ish phone with decent spec, camera, SD card and headphone jack, while on Android 15 and 4 major updates support... you don't have many options.

After 3.3 days I still have 13% battery — that's with 120hz on until stamina mode.

I ordered it because I thought it was small, but it's not. It has a smallish screen but with those bezels it's actually the same size as other 6.3 inch phones.

It does offer few positives that other brands don't do — no camera hole on display, front speakers, 3.5mm jack, memory card slot.

For the battery I wouldn't worry, it's a Sony trademark at this point. The 10 range is really good on that point.

I'm using one on T-Mobile US, the lack of band 71 support might be a problem in rural areas but it's been fine in the Pittsburgh and Detroit areas.

The SoC is the most important component for a smartphone, very disappointing that Sony keeps cheaping out on 10 Series' SoC.

I like the phone. It's clean, nice to use and extremely light in weight. Yes the top of the line specs are okay but overall, I give it an 8. No complaints from me.

I came from a flagship phone so the processor felt a bit slower but it's enough for my needs because I'm not a big gamer at all. Recently it also got the Android 16 update so that's been pretty cool. I like the camera. Of course it doesn't replace my mirrorless but good enough for a mid-range phone camera. Having the headphone jack and the micro SD card expansion slot has been amazing.

No always on display on OLED is lame. I had an old Xiaomi with LCD and it supported it (yes, battery usage increased heavily).

Maybe worth it for people who desperately need the expandable storage and headphone jack. But camera, screen quality, performance and battery life are disappointing for a phone starting at €449.00. About the same price as the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro at MSRP and a lot of other better options.

I already have the iPhone 16 Pro Max but this phone still captured my attention. It has all the bells and whistles in a perfectly balanced package. A hidden gem. Love that Sony still makes phones. Hope they won't give up.

Since people already pointed the issues with the specs and pricing, I want to point to how uninspiring Sony's product design has been for the past decade. I miss the Sony that made the early 2000s VAIOs, or those pendant styled Walkman MP3 players.

The catch — the price for its specs is too high.

I don't know, it's small, does basically everything without overcomplicating things and it looks great IMO. For my mom it would be a perfect device, she can't stand ONE UI for example.

My previous Pixel 6a had horrible battery life in recent months, so I got the 10 VII in the black friday sales, as I've always liked the design choices Sony made (front facing speakers, microsd, camera button, no notch), but I couldn't justify any of the flagship Xperias.

This is not a phone that wants to compete in the market for customers — at that price it is just a phone for existing customers and Sony fans. It will not appeal to young people, because they want the most performance and the most modern features for their money.

Still more smooth due to no crapware or bloatware. My 4 year old Xperia 10 III is running way better than an A55 from Samsung.

I don't get why Sony isn't even selling it EU-wide. I feel like not releasing this everywhere is a mistake, especially when Sony's features are becoming more unique by the year: they have a niche without much competition.

I'm a Sony fan but the 10 series is not 'compact' anymore. The Galaxy S25 with three cameras is both smaller and lighter than the mark VII, which is a shame since Sony's version of Android is better with less bloat. Hope they don't continue this trend of making bigger and bigger phones.

The problem is that because it has no AOD it also gives you no visual notification of an incoming message - the display won't light up for a few seconds. I never use the actual AOD function but that Sony keeps on stripping this feature away from the 10 series is inexcusable.

My main gripes with the phone: it does not have AOD — the screen doesn't light up when you receive notifications. There is no setting to double tap to wake or lock the screen. Unlocking and locking is clumsy as the phone doesn't have an optical fingerprint sensor. I consider all these should be standard features of a smartphone in 2025.

You can only get 4G or LTE to work and it must be on T-Mobile or their MVNO network players like US Mobile, Ting, Tello and Mint Mobile. Phone will not work on Verizon or AT&T as the phone isn't on their whitelist. 5G will not work.

I bought it and had a generally nice experience with it. Mostly I chose it because of the 3.5mm jack and microSD card reader, clean Android and understated design. Coming from a Pixel 6 I was disappointed with the cameras, colors felt dull. However, Sony's customer service has been terrible. Unreachable by phone.

Loving mine too — only one small issue is that photos from the main sensor seem a little over saturated.

The SOC is slower than the Xperia 1 (2019). I couldn't justify downgrading from a 6 year old flagship. This is by far the most expensive phone using this SOC, competition using the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 are in the 200s not 400s price range.

I have to laugh at the 'Motorola Edge 60 Neo' mention — we don't want a punch hole in a display and we want front firing stereo speakers. That's why we'll stay with Xperia until DEATH.

It also doesn't have tap to wake/lock. For me it's a deal breaker.

I actually love the Xperia. It is wonderful in the hand. Comfortable, light and has just a clean interface.

I like the battery life the most - charging the battery up to 80%, I get 3 days before the next charge - my usage consists of taking a few pics some days, some messaging, Netflix and Audible, navigation and brief Google searches. This is with 120hz off. The camera is not its best feature.

I love this phone so much.

128GB should be plenty since I can just offload everything except for apps on the SD Card anyway. And the headphone jack would be perfect to pair it with my IEMs. Not worried about the CPU at all — anything at around 300k-400k score in Antutu v10 performs just fine from my experience.

Your cons are either minor or irrelevant for me. I don't understand this artificial dichotomy of phones having either a headphone jack or wireless charging. I want both. Phones used to have both. There are maybe 5 phones or less from 2025 that have both. It's very frustrating.

I like the small size, SD card slot and audio jack. I don't like the other specs though. If the Samsung S25 had the SD card, I would've bought that and never look back.

It's a shame that Sony removed the option 'Press to unlock with fingerprint' since VI and still hasn't added it back in 2025. Apparently Sony's phone engineers don't use their own products.

450 EUR, all plastic design, Snapdragon 6, mediocre camera. What's not to like?

I have one on AT&T. Apparently no carrier in the US will allow the Xperia on 5G but the 4G LTE they allow. I switched to T-Mobile because I thought I would get access to 5G but that was not the case, in fact their service sucked and I switched back to AT&T.

My major gripe with it is that it only comes with 128GB storage and there's no 256GB version.

Surprise: no pro mode for the camera. Be ready for over exposure as you can't adjust it. If you are taking a picture with clouds you can either see the land or the clouds in the picture — there's no way to capture both properly.

I'm coming from a S24 Ultra and the big cons on the Xperia for me: no raise to wake, no tap to wake. I either have to press a button or touch the fingerprint reader to unlock it. There is no option to activate this either. Why?