Sony's Xperia 10 Review

Japanese classics in design, curious ergonomics of the “cinema” display and pleasant trifles like FM radio and NFC in the Xperia 10 smartphone are combined with a confident technical base in terms of performance, shooting quality and autonomy. Even if this smartphone has already been sold on the Russian market for several months, it will not be superfluous to tell about it not only in the form of the March announcement of prices and main characteristics , but also in a more detailed review. So, the focus is on the representative of the middle class smartphones Sony.


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While the market has not happened a consensus on what to do with the camera, speakers and sensors in smartphones with frameless screens, our designers profess the classics. In the Sony Xperia 10 on the sides and in the lower part of the case the display frame is framed with very thin frames, and on top - the area is wider. Because of this, the smartphone has added a little in height, but there is a normal display, without figured interventions in the content. It would seem a traditional solution, but against the background of others, now it looks unusual and helps the smartphone to stand out.



The Xperia 10 display is covered with a strong protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The case itself can be chosen from four colors: black and silver classics, as well as dark blue and pink. Traditionally for Sony, a smartphone in hand is convenient. The body is thin (8.4 mm) and does not dig into the palm with faces due to small rounding. On the sides, as usual, there are a tray for SIM-cards and a memory card, a screen-on key and a volume control button. And also a fingerprint scanner returned to the side panel, it is made as a separate module with a finger-friendly protrusion.



The back is symmetrical: on top of the flash, a dual camera module and an NFC chip with the corresponding mark, in the center of the Sony logo, below the inscription Xperia. Increasingly, identification marks are now only on the rear panel - on the smartphone market, this is a victory for designers over marketers, because users hardly ever need to have a reminder of the manufacturer before their eyes. But the surrounding - let them know that the device lies in your hand.



The height of the Xperia 10 is large, this is because of the cinematic screen with the proportions of 21: 9. The characteristics are: 6-inch diagonal, Full HD resolution, IPS matrix type. Movies and TV shows in this format look impressive because they occupy 100% of the screen without black stripes. And if you turn on video with 16: 9 aspect ratio, the emptiness on the sides does not interfere. Its presence is easier to survive than if you have to lose the usable area vertically when viewing 21: 9 on a normal display.



However, the Xperia 10 display has advantages not only within the trend for mobile video. With proportions 21: 9 you can see more content on websites, social networks, text editors, to-do lists and other applications. In addition, multitasking works better. Divided applications in equal shares on the screen are better displayed and contain more content than when using 18: 9 and 16: 9 displays. In addition, on the Xperia 10 display, you can split the screen so that one application is displayed in the classic 16: 9 format (for example, a music video) and at the same time there is enough space for the second application. There are also more icons placed on the home screen, which means there is a chance to collect all the shortcuts and folders in one place and get rid of the need to scroll. There is something to offer to mobile gamers: Fortnite, Asphalt 9, Arena of Valor, World of Tanks Blitz and some other games have been optimized for such display parameters and open in full screen. And with the increase in the size of the six-inch panel vertically at the same time, its width decreased, so that the smartphone is easy to manage without the help of a second hand. A fair note is that this complicates access to the elements at the top of the display, but this compensates for the Side Sense sidebar with icons and quick settings, as well as an activated one-handed control mode with an offset interface.



Responsible for the performance of the processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 with 3 GB of RAM. This is a middle class solution, which is enough for any tasks. The Android 9.0 Pie interface works responsively and smoothly here, applications run instantly, you can play everything, though for the most demanding games it’s better to set the average graphics settings. 64GB of memory is available for photos, music, application data and other information. If not enough - there is support for microSD up to 512 GB. The set of wireless interfaces includes a dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 module, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, Google Cast and a bunch of GPS + GLONASS. For charging and data transfer uses symmetric USB Type-C.



The main camera is double, it consists of 13 and 5 megapixel sensors from Sony. The first is for everyday shooting, the second is responsible for portrait mode. Photo and video recording in 21: 9 format, video shooting in 4K and slow-motion shooting 120 frames per second are supported, HDR is also available for photos, hybrid autofocus and the ability to set ISO up to 12 800. In dry numbers the matrix of the main sensor is 1/3 inches with a pixel of 1.12 μm, aperture F / 2.0 and a viewing angle of 76.4 °. In the portrait, there is a 1/4 inch matrix with 1.4 μm pixels, F / 2.4 optics with an angle of 87.9 °. The front camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels, a 84 ° wide-angle lens, F / 2.0 optics, photo capture in HDR mode, digital SteadyShot stabilization, and flash display.



Sony has always paid a lot of attention to sound, Xperia 10 is no exception. The official site lists a lot of different technologies. We chose the most important thing that a customer needs to know: the presence of High-Resolution Audio support for wired headphones, as well as support for LDAC and Qualcomm aptX for high quality when listening to music in Bluetooth headphones. By the way, there is support for FM-radio in the smartphone, which is not so common now, but is very much appreciated by some users.



Finish the autonomy of the device. The Xperia 10 has a battery capacity of 2870 mAh. Not by today's standards, but there is a trick - Sony engineers are able to do so that even the batteries installed in their smartphones are revealed to one hundred percent and are able to hold a charge for a very long time. And they are very hardy in the long run and resist power loss well over time. For this, all are responsible adaptive charging Xperia, Battery Care and Smart Stamina mode. Fast charging provides USB Power Delivery.



By the way, in the same format, Sony has another smartphone - Xperia 10 Plus. This model has a half-inch larger display (6.5 ”diagonal), a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor in combination with 4 GB of RAM, more advanced dual main camera modules (12 + 8 megapixels), and more to compensate for more power consumption 3000 mAh high capacity battery.



You can buy Sony's Xperia 10 smartphone from the Sony Online Store online store and the Sony Center chain stores. Also, smartphones are available from partners: Svyaznoy, Euroset, M.Video, DNS, Megaphone and KNOW-HOW. At the time of publication Xperia 10 costs 19,990 rubles.