Sony unveiled its latest compact flagship today - the Xperia 5 V. The phone brings a revamped camera system that loses the telephoto unit, but gains a much larger main sensor. It's still built around the same 6.1-inch FHD+ 120Hz 21:9 OLED and it's flanked by front-firing stereo speakers.
Sony put the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
inside the Xperia 5 V and there are 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is
expandable via the microSD card slot. The 3.5mm headphone jack has also kept
its place for another year - a real rarity these days.
Moving to the back and we see the first
notable difference. Sony dropped the triple camera setup in favor of a dual one
but it has a far more capable sensor than before. The Xperia 5 V has the same
1/1.35-inch 52MP main sensor as the Xperia 1 V. It will output 24mm 12MP snaps
by default. Thanks to the increase in sensor size and bright optics if you
chose the 2x zoom option (effectively 48mm) you'd still have superior light
gathering than what the Xperia 5 IV's telephoto camera offered.
The second camera is a 12MP 1/2.5-inch
ultrawide with a 16mm focal length - seemingly the same camera found on the
Xperia 1 V and last year's Xperia 5 IV. It's capable of dual-pixel autofocus. At
the front a 12MP 1/2.9-inch unit is in charge of selfies for another year.
Thanks to the 6.1-inch screen diagonal and
tall aspect, the Xperia 5 V has retained its compact size. The phone has gained
11 grams and is a bit thicker than before, but it's ever so slightly shorter
than its predecessor. Coming from an Xperia 1 V, the Xperia 5 V feels nicely
diminutive. It lands in a shrinking market of compact flagships and will lock
horns with Samsung's Galaxy S23 and Apple's upcoming iPhone 15 and 15 Pro.
The battery is the same 5,000mAh unit as
before, but we expect the Xperia 5 V to go longer on a charge thanks to the
upgraded Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. Sony claims you'll get 50% in 30 minutes with
its 30W charger (sold separately). The Sony Xperia 5 V will be available from
late September, priced € 999/£ 849.
