Sony Xperia 1 VIII unveiled with larger 48MP telephoto sensor, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Comments
- Some
- mAN
LOL, 17 May 2026GSMArena should do a comprehensive test of the Xperia 1 VIII, and pay close attention to the t... moreYou might wanna check this one out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIMNVMBopgA . The new 1 VIII's photos are levels beyond the iphone's 17 pro and the s26.
- LOL
- RxF
GSMArena should do a comprehensive test of the Xperia 1 VIII, and pay close attention to the thermal performance and throttling.
- Anonymous
- gDQ
Aiman90, 13 May 2026use humanistic mode!!!How to switch the device from futuristic mode to humanistic mode? 🤔
- Anonymous
- rK@
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- Anonymous
- B4r
User935, 15 May 2026Got it, I'd probably see it the same way in your place. Thanks for the reply.
Well, fi... moreYeah my Redmagic is great. The 3.5mm is great for the cheap IEMs I use fairly frequently, I don't take any pictures of myself so I don't particularly care how bad the under display front camera is (if it wasn't for my matte screen protector I genuinely wouldn't see it, it's very well hidden), the back camera is fine for my nil requirements even though I wish they just removed the macro camera and added autofocus to the ultrawide (nice they're not in the way though), it does game very well even though that's a pretty small part of my use case and the RGB lights are very useful for notifications.
Even the ultrasonic fingerprint reader has hiccuped maybe twice in 6 months, coming from the optical ones that weren't great and hearing how bad Samsung's one was I was worried about it but it finally feels like an actual reliable feature instead of a beta test.
Biggest annoyance for me right now is no Qi2 protocol, so a lot of the MagSafe style pads that are out there only charge fast enough for overnight (I don't drive yet but I expect 4W won't be enough for car duties). Also while battery life is exceptional it's not out of this world like some others are (OnePlus 15 and Poco X8 Pro Max comes to mind, those look like almost 3 day phones) and I feel like the lack of LTPO has some factor in that. The software is also usable but I don't really like the skin they've for some reason put on it, they should just use completely stock Android like others have done.
There's also of course no SD card slot, it's something I can live with given it cost less than half of the Sony and I don't even use half of my 512GB but I can see people exceeding 1TB with Winlator and the like so it should be there out of principle.
- User935
- gEb
Anonymous, 15 May 2026I don't think they'd even notice to be fair (I see a lot of Qi2 / MagSafe ones in th... moreGot it, I'd probably see it the same way in your place. Thanks for the reply.
Well, fingers crossed you find (or already have) a phone that suits you and that next year's Xperia will get a better battery and charging, if it'd otherwise be an interesting device for you! Cheers! 🍻
- Anonymous
- B4r
User935, 14 May 2026I see, and I didn't mean to dismiss the potential benefits of a larger battery or faster ... moreI don't think they'd even notice to be fair (I see a lot of Qi2 / MagSafe ones in the wild), it's just I really don't see the point. It's more weight and another thing to charge / potentially get damaged, coupled with it would either be at home or not charged when I actually need it, last time my phone was running low when I wasn't at home all I had was the USB outlet on a bus and the tiny USB cable Bose put in the box. It's the same reason I just don't care for Bluetooth things in general anymore, they often feel like they're charged until I want to use them.
- Anonymous
- FVw
Calm down about the charging rate, people. A phone is more than its charging rate.
get the phone you want. don't try to get the best of the best, unless you want/need specifically the best of the best.
In any case, arguing with random people about this isn't going to be fruitful
remember the definition of "opinion"
i0S.- Never.- Again., 14 May 2026"I can easily notice the excessive white exposure/highlights from both Vivo and Oppo in b... moreThese people don't even have access to any real Ultras.
All they can do is rely on online reviews which can be heavily biased.
- User935
- gEb
Anonymous, 14 May 2026And that's fine, if it works for you then it works for you. Just for a lot of people that... moreI see, and I didn't mean to dismiss the potential benefits of a larger battery or faster charging, it's why I said in my first reply to you that I "personally" don't have a need for it. If you do need or even just want that, I can understand your disappointment with a phone not providing it. The comment about having "life under control" was more of a joke, I believe you got that.
Btw, a (small) powerbank in your pocket would also be forbidden at your work? Or just too much of a hassle? Not suggesting you do that, it's obviously an inferior solution to the problem, just wondering.
- Anonymous
- B4r
User935, 14 May 2026Well, I had a very cool THL 5000 with, a rather obvious name 🤣, 5000 mAh back in 2014 or so wh... moreAnd that's fine, if it works for you then it works for you. Just for a lot of people that's not possible, for example one of the 'joys' of working retail is leaving your phone on charge when you're not working is leaving it unattended, meaning the only time I would have to charge my phone at work is my break. Not only that, here in the UK I can't just bring my charger from home as anything not PAT tested isn't allowed to be plugged in at all, so unless I happen to be right place right time I'm stuck with 5W USB. That's not going to get me very far compared to even just 15 minutes on a charger at home, and my old ZF10 caused me multiple issues with the charging rate so in my case the choice is obvious.
Reason for that is our fire safety laws date from the late 1980s and using a non PAT tested electrical adaptor would invalidate the building's fire safety certificate, so they're not even allowed to let us use them.
- User935
- gEb
Anonymous, 14 May 2026I don't necessarily disagree with that judgement, but I feel like it matters more now bat... moreWell, I had a very cool THL 5000 with, a rather obvious name 🤣, 5000 mAh back in 2014 or so when the "normal phones" had 2500-3000. Easily lasted well over two days, so I know what good battery life feels like. And I used phones well before we got to where they last only a day, I actually expected much more technological progress as far as that goes, there was talk about fuel cells coming up as an alternative to batteries in early 00's. 🤷♂️😄
But I do indeed sleep every day for 8 hours, I do sit at a desk at work on a computer for 8 hours. There's plenty of time to charge. 😄 If I go hiking or am on vacation in another city/country or whatever, I have a backpack and would carry my powerbank either way as a "just in case" for the phone or anything else that could need a charge.
Simply isn't much of a priority for me. Wouldn't mind a bigger battery but also wouldn't buy a phone depending on whether it has 5000 mAh and 30 W or 8000 mAh and 100 W. My Xperia 1 III is five years old and it still doesn't give me any trouble nor, like I said, do I ever wish it'd charge faster. 🤷♂️
YUKI93, 13 May 2026That person isn't wrong though. I just compared the camera photos from GSMArena reviews o... more"I can easily notice the excessive white exposure/highlights from both Vivo and Oppo in both daylight and lowlight conditions. Colour vibrance is a close call between them, though it's not hard to see the Vivo has the highest saturation."
>>> Did you check which modes the Vivo and Oppo were shooting those images in?
The default mode on the Vivo is Vivid, which gives that saturated, vibrant social media ready look.
There's no competition, Gsmarena has concluded that the Chinese Ultra phones are light years ahead.
Sony isn't even in the same category.
You might club the Sony flagship with other weaker camera sporting flagships from Apple, Samsung or Google.
User935, 14 May 2026Seems that a surprising number of people really don't have their life under control if th... morePeople stuck on 10W and 30W are in no position to speak on what premium fast charging experience feels like.
- Anonymous
- B4r
Invetor, 14 May 2026GSMArena already reviewed the VIIIOh right, don't know why I never saw that. Just didn't show in the feed I guess.
It's still a good hour worse battery than the global Xiaomi 17 Ultra though: https://m.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_1_viii-review-2963p3.php and wouldn't be even close to the OnePlus 15 at over 23 hours that for some reason they didn't even put in the comparison.
Also while the battery life does appear to be better the short cycle charging rate has somehow got even worse, so at 4:37 of 'active use' score from a 15 minute charge it's still worse than the f*cking Pixel and almost every other phone on the market. That's just not good enough when they're more than almost every other phone on the market.
- Anonymous
- B4r
User935, 14 May 2026Seems that a surprising number of people really don't have their life under control if th... moreI don't necessarily disagree with that judgement, but I feel like it matters more now battery life is so much better across the board with Si/C being mainstream. As someone who went from a ZF10 to an RM11 Pro one of the things that happened now the battery lasts 2 days is half the time I just can't be bothered to put it on the wireless charger. When it's at 60% there's literally no point charging it, of course it it only lasts a day at most not bothering to charge it overnight just wouldn't happen.
The great part about the charging speed is if I use it more than I thought I would the second say (happens a surprising amount) I can just get 20% back into it in often 10-15 minutes and it'll easily last the rest of the day. It's not a necessity but at this price point I think it's really got to have everything going for it, including nice to have features.
- Invetor
- KLN
Anonymous, 14 May 2026Last year's phone is the only one that matters for comparison because this year's on... moreGSMArena already reviewed the VIII
- Anonymous
- B4r
Invetor, 13 May 2026I'm not talking about Sony's efficiency "last year" lolLast year's phone is the only one that matters for comparison because this year's one isn't available yet, and it performs measurably worse than the one that came before it. That's a bad trend.
- Pablon
- mWa
I just ordered the silver version with headphones and case :)
- User935
- gEb
Anonymous, 13 May 2026No matter how you want to slice it, many parts of the 1 VII was completely unacceptable at tha... moreSeems that a surprising number of people really don't have their life under control if they're always in a hurry to charge the phone in a couple of minutes and need to base their buying decisions on how much of a charge they'll get. 🤔
Personally never had any issues with it with phones that charged at 10 and less W, don't have an issue with 30 W. I still feel that's blazingly fast 😄 and I literally never had a situation where I'd think "I wish it charged faster".
