As the title of this quick review suggests, the Sony Xperia 5 is essentially a smaller screen (6.1”) version of the 1. This is good news as very little else is downgraded apart from the price. So, if you are looking for a premium quality phone without a giant screen the 5 is probably worth considering.
Because of this smaller size, you can use the phone easily with one hand and it’s lighter – 164g. But, you still get a 21:9 aspect screen, making it ideal for watching movies.
Old Fashioned Looks But A Top Notch Spec’
Let’s take a closer look at the detail. The Sony Xperia 5 has an aluminum frame with Gorilla glass 6 on the front and bank. There is no notch and punch hole on the screen for the selfie camera, with a rather old-fashioned looking larger bezel at the top to house it and the top speaker. Available in black, red grey and blue, it certainly looks nice but is a similar price to flagships like the One Plus 7 Pro that look more modern.
Inside, there is the bang up-to-date Snapdragon 855 processor with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, expandable via a MicroSD card to 1TB. It also has stereo speakers but in common with far too many new phones these days, no 3.5mm audio jack.
Triple Array Camera Good But Not The Best
Like the 1, the Sony Xperia 5 has a triple array camera. The main 12MP, f/1.6 wide, secondary 12MP, f/2.4 telephoto and 12MP, f/2.4 ultra-wide. This is a good setup but, sadly considering the number of other phones that now use Sony sensors, well short of the best around. What’s more the camera array sits quite proud of the back, meaning it will scratch easily unless you put a case on it.
All this is powered by a 3140 mAH battery, giving it better battery life than its bigger brother. It also has a on-screen fingerprint sensor, however quite a few reviewers have reported problems with this not working all the time.
So, in summary, is the Sony Xperia 5 worth the price? Probably not if you compare it to other similar priced phones. But if you are a Sony Fan, then it makes more sense that the bigger Xperia 1.
