Sony’s Xperia 1 VIII is still a phone for the fans

The Xperia 1 VIII marks an attempt at a step change for Sony’s flagship phone line. Not only has it had an aesthetic overhaul, but Sony has also revamped the camera system, dropping the continuous optical zoom telephoto that’s defined the last four generations of Xperia phone.

It’s not all different. Sony staples like a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot remain, and a few specific design touches, like a thick front bezel that fits stereo speakers, have stayed intact. Sony’s ambitious pricing hasn’t changed either: The Xperia 1 VIII isn’t launching in the US, but in the UK and Europe, it starts from £1,399 / €1,499 (about $1,850), rising to £1,849 / €1,999 ($2,450) if you want 1TB of storage.

Breaking Market Moves

For Sony diehards, this delivers the flagship essentials, including a capable camera, and looks good doing it. For everyone else, you can find better Android phones at this price, like Xiaomi’s 17 Ultra or the Vivo X300 Ultra.

Stark, striking design, headphone jack and microSD card slot, and capable cameras are some of the key features of the Xperia 1 VIII. However, middling battery life, uneven performance, only four years of Android updates, and a dreadful AI Camera Assistant are some of the drawbacks.

Design and Display

Sony’s Xperia 1 phones have looked almost identical to one another since 2020. It was a pretty handsome design, to be fair, but probably overdue sprucing up. The 1 VIII does just that, moving to a blocky new camera island and an unusual textured finish that make the phone feel very different to every previous Xperia.

I’m a big fan of the design, which has a stark, brutalist quality. The slightly grippy texture — a bit like an incredibly fine nail file — was designed to vary subtly between the back and frame, which helps prevent the phone from feeling like a monotone slab.

Camera Capabilities

This is definitely Sony’s best phone camera yet. After years of carving its own path, Sony has taken the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” approach to its Chinese flagship rivals, abandoning its clever continuous zoom lens and instead packing the 1 VIII with the biggest telephoto sensor it could fit.

The telephoto and the ultrawide are the two standouts, both using relatively large sensors compared to the competition. I’m a fan of Sony’s daytime processing, which leans toward higher contrast and slightly more muted colors than some other phones, and nighttime shots come out sharp and well-exposed too, though still struggle with bright streetlights.

Live Critical Analysis

The Xperia 1 VIII’s internals are unremarkable, with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset you’ll find on most comparable handsets. It’s paired with either 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage — available in black, red, or silver versions of the phone — or 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

What is remarkable is that Sony has managed to make the 8 Elite Gen 5 perform quite poorly. While the phone runs smoothly the majority of the time, I’ve run into repeated stuttering and slowdowns, especially in the camera or while switching between apps.

1. The phone gets hot, too. Using the phone to record the audio of a recent press event, with real-time AI transcription running, it became worryingly warm after just 30 minutes or so, and as the hourlong call ended, it was hot to the touch.
2. I don’t love the battery either. Sony claims you’ll get two days of life out of the 5,000mAh cell, but I don’t see how. I’m a light-to-moderate user most of the time, and I’ve dipped into single-digit territory by bedtime more than once.
3. This will last the day unless you push it hard, but expect to charge every 24 hours. That might take some time too, given the 30W max speed, substantially slower than most rivals.

Industry Shockwaves

The AI camera suggestions feel emblematic of Sony’s Xperia line, which always delivers an impressive amount on paper and then contrives to trip itself up. The headphone jack, expandable storage, and stereo speakers are great. The new design language is striking and unique.

Sony’s relatively simple, streamlined take on Android 16 has its appeal too, but a meager promise of four OS updates and six years of security support gives me pause. It has its irritating quirks too: it keeps insisting on creating home screen folders, adding Facebook to my Instagram icon to make a Meta folder, and throwing a whole host of Google apps on top of Google Maps.

Instant Disruptive Impact

All of which leaves Sony back where it started. It redesigned the Xperia, rethought its camera, and simplified its software, but this is still what it always was: a phone for the fanboys. The rest of us can do better.

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements.

To use the Xperia 1 VIII, you must agree to:

1. Sony’s terms and conditions
2. Google’s terms and conditions
3. Other mandatory agreements

FAQ

What is the price of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII?

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII starts from £1,399 / €1,499 (about $1,850), rising to £1,849 / €1,999 ($2,450) if you want 1TB of storage.

What are the key features of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII?

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII features a capable camera, stark, striking design, headphone jack, and microSD card slot.

What are the drawbacks of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII?

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII has middling battery life, uneven performance, only four years of Android updates, and a dreadful AI Camera Assistant.