Sony Xperia 1 III Review | Sony’s best phone for quite some time

The Sony Xperia 1 III is the best smartphone the company has made for years, offering a top-tier smartphone display, great battery life and a versatile camera that’s easier to use than those on previous Sony handsets.

It isn’t the right phone for everyone – there are some unique elements to Sony’s approach to handsets that means it may not be for you – but if you like Sony smartphones, or you’re willing to try something a bit different, this could be for you.

Sony is making a song and dance about how this is the world’s first 4K 120Hz smartphone – although that claim isn’t quite as impressive as it sounds, as Sony is currently the only brand making 4K phones. That 120Hz upgrade makes this screen better than ever though, with super-smooth scrolling the icing on the ultra-high resolution cake.

The 21:9 aspect ratio won’t be for everyone – it’s designed that way to offer a ‘big screen’ experience when watching video – and this has a big impact on the design of the handset, and will make it difficult for people with smaller hands to hold. That said, this is the best screen we’ve seen from Sony for some time, and it’s one of the best on any phone released in 2021 so far.

The camera has been upgraded over the Xperia 1 II – the new features aren’t game-changing, but the company has included a variable telephoto camera and a few tweaks to the main shooter that make this a stronger handset for photography than previous Sony phones.

In fact, we found this to be the easiest camera to use on a Sony phone for some time. The automatic mode works well, and if you’re willing to play around with the settings you’ll find even more is possible via the in-depth shooting app.

Inside the phone are a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset and 12GB of RAM, which we found delivered impressive performance throughout our testing, and you’ve got the option of 256GB or 512GB of storage. That’s plenty of power, and more than enough storage space for the average user.

Sony has also improved the battery life here, by increasing the size of the cell, as well as by implementing a few new optimizations enabled by the new chipset. We found that the phone was able to last a full day even with intensive usage, and there are also new wireless charging features, such as reverse charging.

There’s no denying that the price of the Xperia 1 III is high, and the 21:9 aspect ratio design will put some off, too. But if those aren’t issues for you, and you want a highly capable smartphone with a superb screen, the Xperia 1 III may be the perfect phone for you.

The Sony Xperia 1 III was revealed on April 14, 2021, and the official release date is set for August 19. That's a long gap between being announced and it being on sale.

The starting price of the phone is $1,299.99 in the US and £1,199 (around AU$2,200) in the UK, which is slightly more than the launch cost of the Xperia 1 II.

And while the phone has gone up for pre-order in the US and UK, there's no word on whether it'll arrive in Australia. Sony doesn't traditionally sell its phones in Australia, so we're not expecting it to arrive there.

Reda the full review - https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/sony-xperia-1-iii

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