Sony Xperia PRO-I Two Months Later: A Great Idea, But..

Sony brings all the inspiration from their Alpha cameras to their latest smartphone -- the Sony Xperia PRO-I sports that 1-inch sensor, but does it actually elevate the smartphone camera experience? JV takes the camera for a spin, in a device that is otherwise a wonderful smartphone. Check out his thoughts on the Sony Xperia PRO-I!

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[Sabundy]

What I find frustrating about a lot of smartphone reviews is how almost all review all phones as 1) needing to be for everyone, 2) must work like an iphone, and 3) that the Xperia camera system is so complicated. It would be the same as if car reviewers talked about an SUV, a sports car, and a minivan as all being for the same general audience, market and type of person. And expecting all different cars designed and engineered for a different customer to work in the same way.

I think Sony knows exactly who they made this phone for. And I think it's a bit dishonest to simply call it a niche market in the sense that while it is a niche...it's also a fairly sizable one. Last time I checked there are millions of professional, prosumer, and hobbyist photographers out there. Who like and want manual control, natural looking pics, and a camera like experience. There's a reason millions of cameras 📸 are still sold each year. If anything I would argue it's a shrewd move to target that market. Not to mention the growing market for content creators. I think it's perfectly fine to make a phone for a certain type of person. Iphones are already made for the average person that knows little about photography and thus need the phone to do all of the work.

Also, I think that Sony is deliberately going a different way with their camera system. They are focusing on what they do well. It's very difficult to be better than someone who already does what they do well. It's best to focus on your own strengths. Sony is never going to out iphone Apple. They already are good at making iphones. So it's a smart move for Sony to instead differentiate themselves and do what they do well. And I can't understand why so many reviewers have difficulty with the idea of a different approach. Again....the car analogy. An iphone or Galaxy camera system largely does the work for the person (and that's perfectly fine for a lot of people. Maybe most people) and is like an automatic luxury sedan. It's comfortable and does most of the work for you. The Sony Xperia by comparison is more like a manual sports car. It's a bit more tricky to operate, has a learning curve and requires some effort from you but you can push it more than a sedan and is more fun. Is it for But there is no shortage of people who love a manual sports car.

I have had the Sony Xperia 1 mark ii for about a year and a half now and I am no camera guru nor tech guru and yet I was able to figure out the manual control apps in a day. I think a lot of reviewers do a disservice to a lot of people in assuming that no one can figure anything out and that every phone must dumb every part of it's function down to the lowest common denominator. I think a LOT of tech consumers are much smarter than that.

After a year and a half of use I have found the camera system to be pretty good. In the sense that it gives me what I want. Full manual control and natural looking pictures. I had gotten into photography about three years ago and after having Samsungs and an iphone I was frustrated with the limitations of smartphones as well as the oversaturated colours of the phones I had been using and the phone essentially doing all the work. I frankly found the Xperia a bit of a revelation. It actually made me want to go out and take pictures because it makes me feel creative because I can use the total manual control to get exactly the look I want. If anything it's been a great practice at learning manual control before I buy a full frame mirrorless camera.

[MegasXLR]

The design is amazing, no stupid holes no nothing. And the rear is unique too :)

[baronofgreymatter]

You know you can make presets in manual mode and save them ? Then its just as fast as auto mode

[bryanwelch]

If apple or Samsung made this phone people would be all over it.

[deathdoor]

You see, that's the problem man, you're using the camera like you would use on any other phone and that's not the point of PRO-I. The sensors and the camera applications allows you to achieve quality that you can't achieve on other cameras because they lack these controls. This is specially true in low light situations. If only you're aware of this and knows what settings to change (you can just experiment for a few minutes to figure out) than you can change quality from night to day.
Of course this doesn't makes sense for those who want the "pixel experience', but this isn't what Sony is trying to deliver. And because tubers that actually do test what these phones are able are very rare the vicious circle continues.

[teknerd]

I thought this video review a bit confusing for this particular phone model. This phone is targeted at AV professionals and not the normal consumers. Both because of its feature set/ technical software and its price tag. So, I don't see why be critical of its lack of ease of use given whose Sony's target buyers for this phone are I can understand criticism from the AV professional of professional controls and how they may use it but not from the normal consumer. That's like criticizing Sony's flagship alpha mirrorless camera because they didn't put a big red super easy to see AUTO button on it.

Btw, I don't own this phone. But I know who it is for. Also, full manual is somewhat of a misnomer since it only has two physical apertures settings. It's more like a semi-manual control since the sensitivity and the shutter will have to be adjusted by the processor based on the aperture setting

[Chrain]

Their optimization for speed and multimedia is phenomenal, their hardware is top-notch and their camera optimization is not the best, so they are like "Here are the tools to destroy the competition but figure things out yourself.". 🤷🏻

[CarnageChaosCustoms]

This helps. The person I want this for HATES the auto settings on most phones. She is really good at dialing in a good style, so pro use, and not just vlogs

[llewellynanderson]

Evidently this Sony Xperia Pro-I was designed for the Sony enthusiasts who's familiar with Sony's photography products and want to have a professional camera on hand without always having to take along the the primary Sony studio gear from home. Users that don't understand photography settings should probably just stick to the iPhone or something, but hope this helps 👍

[Dragontrumpetare]

It's a 1.0-type sensor, not 1 inch. As usual a reviewer don't understand what Sony is trying too do. There are reasons for why the whole 1.0-type sensor only used 60% the lense. It's too close. It's not software it's hardware. Sony probably didn't think people wanted a huge camera bump on the back and therefore compromised.

[jasonlewis]

Buddy, the whole footage looks amazing. This is phone is a game changer with that video vlog set up. I am sure many companies will start copying. Than people will think that APPLE invented it. I think SONY deserves more credit.

[PresidentJackBauer]

This is like a step between an amateur and a pro. It's like your invested enough to spend the money but don't have the money to go bigger

[Kamodomon]

I still want it. Not going to get the most out of it because I can only see myself using those features sometimes but I still want this phone because when I want to use features like that, it'll be nice to have on hand.

[Temmple]

Really wish they could figure out how to utilize the entire sensor. Is this even possible in a smartphone?

[joelconolly]

The only improvements I want to see on the new Xperia 1 IV is better front cameras, louder speakers (sideways if they want to go full volume) and better auto/manual combo. As much as Sony want to turn the Xperia into a camera, they need to learn the limitations exists and they can't fully expect hardware to overcome limitations without fully acknowledging software prowess. I'm not expecting an iPhone, Samsung or Pixel experience but I do expect Sony to improve the basics.
I do enjoy Sony phones and hope to see then do better.

[divinusfilius]

Wow, this after all is the company behind the (Sony) Clie! the most complicated digital device (from the future at the time) that nobody could use without reading a 300 page manual. This device seems to be truly tailored for the pro users, so it's not really meant for anything "auto" by default lol. Having said that, I strongly believe this is one of the rare devices worth it's price premium. Huge respects to Sony, for being the one smartphone maker that doesn't insult user's intelligence. Thanks for the review!

[Exyvia]

Note: Should update @1:25 that isn't not actually Quad HD+ (which is 3440x1440) but Ultra Wide Quad HD Plus (3840 × 1600)

[RamonGT]

My friend: the iPhone is for you...
This phone is too advanced, complex and overkill for the standard user looking for simplicity

[ukmitch]

Did you not think about mentioning that pixels are double the size of nearest competitors?

[tbpom]

It's hella easy to use manual mode if you know how to use