Introduction
Long live the Sony Xperia Compact - only it's no longer called a Compact but goes by the much less revealing Xperia 5. Historically the only maker to put out full-fledged pocketable flagships is back at it with the 5 that's essentially a scaled down 1.
Going from 1 to 5, Sony's shrunk the screen down from 6.5 to 6.1 inches in diagonal in the same tall 21:9 aspect ratio. The sortof 4K resolution would have been too much for the smaller display (possibly excessive on the Xperia 1 too, but that's a different story), so the Xperia 5 gets a more reasonable 1080p. Alongside the display, the battery capacity has been decreased by a few percent - nothing too dramatic.
And that's about it.
It's still the same 3x12MP camera configuration on the back that you'd find on the Xperia 1 - the de facto standard for a high-end phone trio of regular wide, ultra wide, and short (2x) telephoto. The Xperia 5 is also powered by the same Snapdragon 855 chipset as the full-sized version - no midrange SoCs just because you're going smaller.
On top of these, the compact Xperia checks all of the other hardware features you'd get on the bigger model. You'd be getting the stereo speakers, microSD slot, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and dedicated hardware camera key - a staple of Sony smartphone design. The point is, the 5 isn't missing something the 1 has, just for the sake of segmentation - and yes, we're looking at you, Galaxy Note10.
Sony Xperia 5 specs
- Body: Aluminum frame; Gorilla Glass 6 on back and front; 158x68x8.2mm, 164g; IP65/68 ingress protection rating; Color options: Blue, Red, Black, Grey.
- Screen: 6.1" OLED; 21:9 aspect ratio; 4K (1080x2520px); 449ppi; HDR BT.2020; DCI-P3 color space.
- Rear cameras: Primary: 12MP (1/2.6" Exmor RS), f/1.6 aperture (ISO 3200), 26mm lens, Dual Photo Diode. Telephoto: 12MP (1/3.4"), f/2.4, 52mm lens. Ultra wide: 12MP (1/3.4"), f/2.4, 16mm.
- Additional camera features: Predictive Capture (Motion/Smile), Autofocus burst with up to 10 fps AE/AF tracking; Eye Autofocus; Predictive Hybrid Autofocus; Anti-distortion shutter; Optical SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode (5-axis EIS + OIS); RAW noise reduction.
- Video capture: 4K (16:9 or 21:9), Super slow motion 960fps at FullHD.
- Front camera: 8MP (1/4" sensor), f/2.0, 24mm lens, fixed-focus.
- Chipset: Snapdragon 855 chipset, octa-core processor (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 485), Adreno 640 GPU.
- Memory: 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage; up to 512GB microSD card support.
- OS: Android 9.0 Pie
- Battery: 3,140mAh Li-Ion; USB Power Delivery fast charging; Smart STAMINA, Battery Care, Xperia Adaptive Charging.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM/Single-SIM options available (market dependent); 5CA LTE 4x4 MIMO, Cat.19 LTE (Up to 1.6Gbps download speed); USB 3.1 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC.
- Audio: Hybrid stereo speaker setup, Dolby Atmos, DSEE HX, LDAC, Qualcomm aptX HD.
- Misc: Side-mounted fingerprint reader, X1 for mobile engine, TRILUMINOS display, BIONZ X for mobile (Eye autofocus); Cinema Pro app for cinematic video recording.
Let's have a look inside the box for the stuff that doesn't go in the specsheet.
Sony Xperia 5 unboxing
The Xperia 5's box is similar to the 1's, only narrower (logical) and taller (what?!). Inside it, you'll find the same set of accessories that ship with the Xperia 1. That means the several months between the two phones' releases haven't made Sony switch to USB-C headphones - you're still getting a pair of earbuds ending in a 3.5mm connector which you then plug into the included USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle and then into the phone.
The package also contains a reasonably powerful 18W USB Power Delivery 3.0 adapter and a USB-C-to-C cable to complete the link.
Design
We already started along on the whole Compact tangent, but just how compact is the Xperia 5? Either not very, or a lot, depending on how you look at it.
The phone measures 158x68x8.2mm and that's more than 3 centimeters taller than the last Compact, the XZ2 Compact from the Spring of 2018. The 5 is substantially thinner (some 4mm) and 3mm narrower, but there's no escaping the fact that it towers over the XZ2C. It's also taller than some current pocket-friendly competitors, like the Galaxy S10e (by 16mm) and regular S10 (by 8mm).
Hold the Xperia 5 after having spent some time with the Xperia 1 though, and you'll see what we're on about. The 5 is smaller than the 1 (math teachers look away) and quite appreciably so. That's the in-hand experience at least, even if photos or numbers don't make the difference seem that huge.
Then there's the matter of us gradually getting so used to the Pluses and Maxes around us that a handset the size of the Xperia 5 feels compact despite its 16-centimeter height. A welcome advantage of the Xperia 5's formfactor is that it's super comfy for voice calls - if you're still into that.
The Xperia 5 has a lot of the same genes as the 1 but there's that one very notable difference - the 5's camera assembly is in the top left corner as opposed to being along the central axis of the phone. The three modules share the same hump and there's also a single LED flash as well as a light temperature sensor - so same hardware as the 1, only shifted to the side.
Other than that, the Xperia 5 is a similar rectangular bar of a phone with a very solid, chunky feel to it. The default glass sandwich build is here to stay and the two sheets of the latest Gorilla Glass 6 are held together with an aluminum frame. Naturally, a fingerprint mess is to be expected unless you opt for a case. Case or not, the Xperia 5 is IP65/68 rated for dust and water protection.
The Xperia 5 has the same control layout as the 1 and we're not entirely fans of it. You have the volume rocker, fingerprint sensor, power button and two-stage shutter release, top to bottom, all on the right side of the phone. The power button and volume rocker click nicely but perhaps could have been a little larger. The shutter release has a well defined half-press so that's nice, though we can't help but finds its existence a bit unnecessary in the age of touchscreens.
Then there's the fingerprint reader. Initially, you'd have a slight issue adjusting to the fact that the fingerprint reader and power button are two separate entities, their functions decoupled, so you unlock with one and lock with the other, but you quickly get used to that.
It's just that the fingerprint unlock is a frustrating experience a lot of the time. For one, the sensor is small, and additionally it picks up smudges so you sort of need to wipe it clean every now and then to ensure it'll function. And then, the phone gives you no feedback for a failed attempt to unlock, so you could tap it several times unsuccessfully, only to find out you've exhausted the available attempts and need to wait or unlock otherwise.
Other bits you'd find around the Xperia 5's perimeter are the card slot, on the left side of the phone. It can take a nano SIM and a microSD card on the single SIM variant, while the dual SIM versions have a shared slots for the second SIM and memory card. Invariably, the phone will restart when you pull out the tray, but at least you don't need a pin for it.
Down on the bottom there's the USB-C port, which, in the absence of a 3.5mm jack, also serves as a headphone connector through the supplied adapter. The primary mic is around these quarters too, and here is where you'll find the primary loudspeaker, with a somewhat questionably looking grille in front. Up top, another mic helps with noise canceling and sound for video recording.
The nice 6.1-inch OLED display covers most of the front, its 21:9 cinematic proportions unobstructed by cutouts of any sort. In a world of minimal bezels and even 'waterfall displays', the Xperia 5 has a healthy amount of meat around its screen, but it's perfectly acceptable.
Above the display, Sony's fitted all the usual bits that bezelless phones struggle with relocating. The earpiece is in the center behind a mesh that tends to accumulate dirt over time, so a gentle touch with toothbrush every once in a while wouldn't hurt. The slefie camera is to the left, while the ambient light/proximity sensor pair are on the right. And a good old RGB notification LED lurks in the left corner, nice.
6.1 inches in a 21:9 aspect is the new Compact
The Xperia 5 has a 6.1-inch display. The diagonal sounds huge next to the latest true Compact, the XZ2 Compact's 5 inches, but such are the times. On the one hand, the 21:9 aspect does make for a narrower handset, and on the other, people's perceptions of a pocketable phone have evolved.
Sony's fitted an OLED panel on the Xperia 5, just like on the 1. Here they've opted for a 2560x1080px resolution resulting in a plentiful 449ppi density - there's certainly no need for 3840x1644px on a screen this size.
In the default Standard/Cool color mode we measured a maximum brightness of 353nits - slightly lower than average for a modern OLED display. This goes all the way up to 574nits in Adaptive brightness under direct light - much better, though still not among the leaders in the pack.
In Creator mode (which sets the color balance to Medium) we got higher readings both manually adjusting the slider (386nits) and in Adaptive mode (631 nits).
We measured a minimum brightness of 2.2nits - perfectly adequate, too.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 353 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 574 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 386 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 631 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 665 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 426 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 660 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 389 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 803 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 571 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 605 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 436 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 616 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 444 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 637 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 366 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 789 | ∞ | |
Speaking of those display modes. You have settings for "Image quality" where you can pick between Standard and Creator modes, and then there's the 'White balance" setting where you can choose between Warm/Medium/Cool, or adjust to your liking with RGB sliders.
In this Creator mode, the Xperia 5 should display as accurate colors as possible with any HDR video (it's the ITU-R BT.2020 color space in particular). It will also upconvert any SDR stream to HDR all while making sure the stream's color gamut is converted too. Of course, your best bet for making the most of the feature is watching appropriate HDR video content. You can either switch the Creator mode permanently on or have it activate automatically when you are playing back the right content.
We found the display to be very accurate in displaying our sRGB test swatches in Creator mode with Warm white balance (average deltaE of 1.9, 4.2 maximum), though the grayscale was off the most (dE around 4) and having a bluish tint. The shift to blue is noticeable in most display modes.
We're guessing our iProfiler/Calman/MobileForge testing setup can't trigger the right Creator enhancements because we didn't get very accurate readings when targeting other color spaces, and Standard mode was generally off the mark too.
Sony Xperia 5 battery life
The Xperia 5 is equipped with a 3,140mAh battery, some 190mAh less than the Xperia 1, or a 6% reduction in capacity for a display area that's 12% smaller. For a similarly sized display, the Galaxy S10e has a similarly sized battery (3,100mAh), while the Galaxy S10 packs more juice to power a slightly larger panel (3,400mAh).
All these numbers don't necessarily tell the whole story as we've come to find out in the past, and this is yet another such instance. The Xperia 5 posted excellent numbers in all disciplines comfortably outlasting the X1 in the screen on tests. In our testing, the Xperia 5 was good for 11:40h of Wi-Fi web browsing and 16:28h of looping videos - compare that to the Xperia 1's 8:57h and 11:10h results. The little Sony also beats the little Samsungs in both these tests, by a particularly wide margin when comparing against the S10 (10:10h and 12:56h results).
Call time was also more than respectable at 28:34h, which is again better than the Galaxies and more surprisingly, better than the Xperia 1.
In the end, the Xperia 5 scored an Endurance rating of 96h with particularly good performance in the screen on tests.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Sony Xperia 5 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
The bundled adapter gets the Xperia 5 from zero to full in 1:50h which isn't super fast. The charging rate tapers off severely towards the end, however, and an hour-long charging session will take you to 80+ percent, with 53% showing in the battery indicator 30 minutes into it.
Loudspeaker
The Xperia 5 has a similar stereo speaker system to the one on the Xperia 1. A primary driver ported on the bottom of the phone handles the right channel's mids and highs as well as most of the lows for moth channels, while the earpiece doubles as a left channel. There's no switching of channels if you rotate the handset the wrong side up, so be sure to have the buttons facing up if the correct channel orientation is important to you.
That aside, the Xperia 5 sounds a lot like its big brother and posted very similar results in our three pronged test, earning a 'Very Good' mark. The small Samsungs are a little louder, and do deliver slightly more kick in the lows, but the Xperia is more than adequate.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 66.2 | 68.3 | 73.6 | Good | |
| 67.9 | 71.6 | 73.7 | Good | |
| 66.0 | 71.8 | 81.2 | Good | |
| 68.1 | 73.8 | 79.5 | Very Good | |
| 66.7 | 73.3 | 83.3 | Very Good | |
| 68.1 | 73.1 | 82.2 | Very Good | |
| 69.8 | 74.5 | 81.0 | Very Good | |
| 71.2 | 76.8 | 80.6 | Excellent | |
| 70.1 | 72.8 | 85.7 | Excellent | |
| 82.2 | 74.9 | 85.5 | Excellent | |
| 86.2 | 79.0 | 87.0 | Excellent |
For more perceived bass, Sony has the Dynamic vibration system which is meant to engage the vibration motor in tune with the sound. In practice, we didn't particularly enjoy it - we found it to often follow the sound as opposed to work with it, and the motor itself doesn't have the nice satisfying feel of the units you'd find on a Pixel or an iPhone.
Audio quality
The good news is the Sony Xperia 5 matched the solid output of the Xperia 1 with an active external amplifier - it delivered audio of perfect clarity and above average loudness.
The not so great bit is that the 5 didn't manage to build on the 1's decent but uninspiring performance with headphones. Some intermodulation distortion crept in, the stereo crosstalk rose more than average and the volume went down to below average too. Good enough for most people overall, but not great for a flagship.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.0 | 92.8 | 0.0012 | 0.007 | -89.4 | |
| +0.25, -0.30 | -91.8 | 91.7 | 0.0045 | 0.312 | -57.3 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.6 | 93.5 | 0.0010 | 0.007 | -85.2 | |
| +0.31, -0.26 | -92.1 | 91.9 | 0.0060 | 0.302 | -55.1 | |
| +0.03, -0.01 | -93.0 | 92.6 | 0.0023 | 0.021 | -89.6 | |
| +0.10, -0.05 | -92.0 | 91.4 | 0.0034 | 0.106 | -74.8 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -90.5 | 90.4 | 0.0014 | 0.013 | -93.0 | |
| +0.14, -0.23 | -90.4 | 90.3 | 0.0046 | 0.211 | -47.0 | |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -92.2 | 92.0 | 0.0015 | 0.0079 | -92.7 | |
| +0.06, -0.03 | -91.9 | 91.7 | 0.0020 | 0.037 | -77.0 |
Sony Xperia 5 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Software
The Xperia 5 boots Android Pie, in the same very Pixel-like variation as the one we observed on the Xperia 1. Characteristic of that is the pill navigation (Sony calls it 'Swipe up on Home button') which is the default way of going back and home, though there is also the option for a classic three-button nav bar.
Fingerprint unlock, as well as Google's Smart Lock options, including Trusted Face (Face Unlock), are available. The most secure one is the fingerprint, of course, but in case you want it easier, you can use some of the Smart Lock suggestions.
Swipe up setting • Homescreen • App drawer • Folder view • Notification shade • Quick toggles
There are unique Xperia bits on top, however. Even though the 5 is noticeably smaller than the 1, One-handed mode is still available. A quick double tap on the Home button shrinks the UI to one corner bringing everything within reach. The 5's extreme height, even though it's a reasonably compact device overall, still means you can't reach the notification shade all too easily, but this way you can.
One-handed mode
We've had mixed experience with Side sense, but here's what it is. A pair of touch-sensitive areas on either side of the phone enable various actions most of which user-configurable. The base menu is sort of a take on the Android Pie recent apps interface, which is notably missing from its intended location as a row in the app drawer.
One particularly powerful and customizable option is the 21:9 pair shortcut feature. Through it, you simply select two apps and the relative location you want to launch them in and then you can trigger a split-screen with the pair instantly.
Side sense • Side sense options • Side sense menu • 21:9 multi-window • Task switcher
Unfortunately, in our experience engaging the trigger areas is a bit unreliable and we generally had a hard time triggering the Side Sense menu time after time.
An inherent benefit of an extra-long display is the ability to show more items in long lists - that includes boring stuff like the settings menu, and marginally more fun stuff like, say, posts in Instagram.
Another good use for a 21:9 screen is showing two apps in two larger-than-average halves of the said screen. Google did completely ruin the mechanics of going into multi-window with Pie, so it's a good thing Sony's worked around that with the 21:9 multi-window option in Side Sense, as well as a dedicated homescreen shortcut to it.
There's a downside to the unusual aspect too, in that some apps may not be able to display properly in it. We ran into this with one of the benchmarks we do, but not the more common apps you're likely to use. Even so, the possibility for incompatibility is still there, even after several years of odd screen ratios.
Settings (quite a few of them) • Chrome • Instagram
Sony still handles its own multimedia display and playback with its proprietary Album and Music apps. Album features both photo and video support, can connect to the cloud and local network services and is pretty good at organizing galleries and doing the occasional light edit on a shot.
The Music app is simple and well organized, without lacking any important features. All the while, it looks very appealing with large format album art (and automatic art download) and a flat design. It also features Google cloud integration. There are also various options to tweak the sound, including the DSEE HX up-scaler and Dolby Atmos. Others, like aptX HD, benefit listening to music wirelessly via Bluetooth.
Album app • Photo Editor • Music app • Audio settings
Game Enhancer is pretty self-explanatory but still contains a few interesting little features. It has two main interfaces - one acting as a game launcher, while the other being an overlay that can be pulled out while in game.
It gives two performance profiles to choose from, which you select on a per-game basis. One is "Performance preferred", while the other is a more battery-minded mode that caps fps to 40 and adjusts some other settings. Then there are the Focus settings, which let you disable pesky notifications and other distractions.
Game Enhancer
There are also screenshot and video capture features, the latter of which can also capture footage from your selfie camera along with the game. There is no direct streaming to any video platforms, though. Last, but not least, a quick search function can bring up YouTube videos in a floating video for you, related to the game you are currently playing.
Synthetic benchmarks
The Xperia 5 packs a Snapdragon 855, Qualcomm's current finest - that is, if you don't count its Plus version that's only got minor clock speed tweaks. There's only one RAM and storage version for the Xperia 5 and that's 6GB/128GB. The storage is of the UFS 2.1 variety as opposed to the faster UFS 3.0 that you'd find on a Galaxy Note10 or a OnePlus 7 Pro.
We ran the usual benchmarks and got the usual results. The Xperia 5 matches its big bro in CPU performance and the two are towards the top of the pack in multi-core GeekBench. The Xperia 5 edges ahead of the compact Galaxies under such loads, but does trail them significantly in terms of single-core potency - that is, if you compare against Exynos Galaxies.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS
11472 - Xiaomi Mi 9
11181 - OnePlus 7
11075 - Sony Xperia 1
10985 - Sony Xperia 5
10941 - LG G8 ThinQ
10735 - Asus Zenfone 6
10721 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
10353 - Samsung Galaxy S10
10174 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
10081 - Huawei P30
9789 - Google Pixel 3
8146
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS
4823 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
4544 - Samsung Galaxy S10
4543 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
4518 - Asus Zenfone 6
3505 - Xiaomi Mi 9
3503 - Sony Xperia 5
3493 - OnePlus 7
3461 - Sony Xperia 1
3447 - LG G8 ThinQ
3419 - Huawei P30
3295 - Google Pixel 3
2377
In Antutu, the Xperia 5 didn't quite put out the same numbers as the 1, and also placed behind our Exynos Note10. The Galaxy S10 and S10 are still those all-important few-thousand points behind, for what it's worth.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9
372006 - OnePlus 7
367812 - Asus Zenfone 6
361679 - Sony Xperia 1
356734 - Apple iPhone XS
346379 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
344442 - Sony Xperia 5
334809 - LG G8 ThinQ
331537 - Samsung Galaxy S10
328366 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
325192 - Huawei P30
287960 - Google Pixel 3
233699
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS
98 - Asus Zenfone 6
71 - Sony Xperia 1
71 - OnePlus 7
71 - Xiaomi Mi 9
70 - Sony Xperia 5
69 - Samsung Galaxy S10
68 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
67 - LG G8 ThinQ
65 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
59 - Google Pixel 3
57 - Huawei P30
54
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS
60 - Asus Zenfone 6
57 - OnePlus 7
57 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
57 - Xiaomi Mi 9
56 - Sony Xperia 1
55 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
55 - Google Pixel 3
55 - Sony Xperia 5
52 - Huawei P30
48 - Samsung Galaxy S10
37 - LG G8 ThinQ
33
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS
60 - Samsung Galaxy S10
43 - Xiaomi Mi 9
42 - Asus Zenfone 6
42 - Sony Xperia 1
42 - OnePlus 7
42 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
42 - LG G8 ThinQ
40 - Sony Xperia 5
40 - Google Pixel 3
35 - Huawei P30
29 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
28
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XS
47 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
40 - Asus Zenfone 6
36 - OnePlus 7
36 - Xiaomi Mi 9
35 - Sony Xperia 1
33 - Sony Xperia 5
33 - Google Pixel 3
33 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
28 - Huawei P30
26 - Samsung Galaxy S10
23 - LG G8 ThinQ
20
Speaking of thermals, the Xperia 5 does heat up noticeably and its performance under sustained load suffers. During benchmarking it was common for the results to drop after repeated runs, though it was by up to 7-8%, so it's not an issue in real life. In any case, the Xperia 5 is certainly one powerful pocketable flagship.
Second Xperia with a triple cam
Following in the footsteps of the Xperia 1, the 5 is the second Xperia with a triple camera, and it's the exact same setup as on the bigger model. That means a fairly typical ensamble of an ultra wide angle module, a regular wide angle (main) camera, and a short telephoto offering 2x zoom when counting from the main cam.
Here's a quick refresher on the key specs of the three modules.
- Main: 12MP (1/2.6"), f/1.6, 26mm lens, dual-pixel PDAF, OIS
- Telephoto: 12MP (1/3.4"), f/2.4, 52mm lens (2x zoom), PDAF, OIS
- Ultra-wide: 12MP (1/3.4"), f/2.4, 16mm lens, fixed-focus
The Xperia 5 comes with Sony's Eye AF, borrowed from the company's mirrorless camera branch. It's an intelligent focusing system that can fix itself on a subject's eye and provide impressively accurate tracking. Not only it is smart enough to easily tell the distance the person in question is at, but it can also remember a particular eye. So that even if more people come into the frame or said person moves out of the frame and then returns back in, the eye-tracking and focus, that goes along with it remain unfazed.
Between the 1 and the 5, Sony has improved the autofocus further and the Xperia 5's Eye AF now works at the full 30fps as the Eye tracking. Previously, the Xperia 1 could track the eye at 30fps, but would only refocus at 15fps, and now that's been addressed on the 5. The 1 will be updated to match the 5 in this respect.
The camera app of the Xperia 5 is the same as on the 1. One of the main beefs we have with it is that switching between the three cameras happens with a button which cycles through them so you don't have direct access to each - to get to the ultra wide from the main one, you need to go through the telephoto. And then there's the matter that going to the ultra wide takes much longer than usual - it's as if takes time to power on.
You have dedicated viewfinders for stills and video, and extra modes behind a mode button. In the stills mode viewfinder, you have settings for flash, self-timer, aspect, basic white balance, and exposure compensation. There's also a toggle to switch between front and rear cameras, but you can do that more easily with a swipe on the screen.
As all other Xperias, the 5 has a hardware shutter release button and consequently a correct-side-up - the UI doesn't rotate accordingly if you tilt the phone to landscape to the right instead of to the left. We sort of get the reasoning, but still think it's backwards thinking - it isn't hurting anyone to have the UI aligned properly if the button ends up on the bottom every once in a while.
Auto mode detects the scenes and adjusts parameters accordingly, and it even takes into consideration whether the phone is stable enough to invoke longer shutter speeds. Mind you, its 'Backlit' scene mode for handling high-contrast scenes isn't quite as HDR-y as the HDR on toggle in Manual mode, which is much better for such scenarios. The problem is, you can only shoot with the main camera in Manual mode, so there's no proper full-on HDR for the telephoto and ultra wide cameras.
Speaking of Manual mode, in addition to the HDR toggle (well, at least it should have been a toggle, but it's a two-choice menu, why?) you get to tweak exposure parameters yourself. It's not the most full-featured - white balance, for example, can only be set to one of four presets, but not by light temperature. ISO range is 64-3200, so that's pretty good, while shutter speed can be set between 1/4000s and 30s. You can dial in exposure compensation in the -2EV to +2EV range in 1/3EV increments and you can also focus manually, but there's no focus peaking. A live histogram is also missing.
Camera app
Daylight image quality
The Xperia 5's photos taken with the main cam have lively colors and great contrast and look really appealing at fit to screen zoom level. Pixel peeping reveals good detail, though also some noise - it's not the spotless Galaxy output, though it doesn't really have to be.
Then there's the matter of dynamic range. The 'Backlit' scene in Auto mode doesn't alwasy trigger in high-contrast scenes, and even if it does, it's not as dramatic an effect as you'd get if you go into Manual and engage the HDR yourself. It's a longstanding peculiarity of the Xperia's camera app and it's hurting it in comparisons with rivals which have always on HDR processing.
Daylight samples, main camera
The telephoto camera takes similarly good looking images as the main cam. It's plenty sharp and captures excellent detail. Much as on the Xperia 1, we observed a certain indecisiveness in autofocus performance from the telephoto camera, so once more, taking multiple shots and potentially tapping on the subject wouldn't be a bad idea.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera
The ultra wide angle camera has heavy distortion but there's software correction for that in settings. We kept that on, and even though Sony is forcing you to prioritize either 'image quality' (non-corrected image) and 'correction for distortion', we find the corrected images the better balance. If, however, you're specifically going for that distorted look, the setting is there for you.
This ultra wide lacks autofocus, so it's not the best for extreme close ups of small objects, but on the other hand it's one of the sharpest ultra wide cameras on the market. Colors are rendered to match the other modules so we're liking them too.
Dynamic range depends on the kind of processing the Auto mode picks for you and we found it to produce excellent results when it goes heavy on the HDR, and less so when it's more conservative. Too bad you can't access the ultra wide angle cam in Manual mode to toggle the HDR on yourself.
Daylight samples, ultra wide angle camera
Low-light image quality
We were quite impressed by the Xperia 1's low-light performance and the 5 doesn't disappoint either. The Auto mode can sense if your hand is stable enough and will display a tripod icon even if the phone isn't mounted on a tripod. This will allow the camera to use some night mode-like trickery that takes a couple of seconds to capture and process, but this isn't exactly an actual night mode, like the competitors are doing. Instead, the Xperia 1 drops the shutter speed down to around 1 second. And while shooting this kind of (a real) long-exposure shot, it also tries its best to compensate for the handshake - probably by using its OIS- and quite successfully we'd say.
Indeed, the Xperia 5's low-light shots are well detailed, with good noise suppression (there isnoise, of course) and color saturation. We would have preferred slightly brighter exposures on some of these, though.
Low-light samples, main camera
Sony is taking a hard-line approach and straight up defaults to the main cam when you try to shoot at 2x in the dark, so you'll get a digitally zoomed in shot. Samsung's latest Note10 does tend to use actual tele camera in some dark situations, so perhaps we'll see Sony get there eventually as well.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera
As far as ultra wide angle cameras go, the one on the Xperia 5 takes some pretty great lo-light shots. There's nowhere near the ones out of the main cam but the ultra wide does manage to capture some detail while keeping noise within reason.
Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera
Portraits
The Xperia 5's portraits can be very good or not so much. We've had more than the usual amount of bad subject isolation which also varies particularly widely from shot to shot with minute changes of angle. Then there's the matter that HDR doesn't work in bokeh mode, so challenging light makes for a less than ideal rendition.
That said, under the right circumstances you can end up with nice portrait shots. These circumstances include a well lit face, simple haircut and reasonably close proximity to your subject.
Portrait samples
The Xperia 5 delivers fairly convincing bokeh shots of non humans too, though again your shot to shot success may vary.
Portrait mode on non-human subjects
Selfies
The Xperia 5 borrows the 1's front-facing camera. It's an 8MP unit with a 1/4" sensor, 1.12µm pixels and a lens with an f/2.0 aperture. The focus is fixed, as usual for selfie cams, though Samsung started using AF modules in the S10 and the Pixels already have autofocus on the front since last year.
In good lighting, the Xperia 5 takes nicely detailed selfies with spot on color reproduction. In dimmer settings, images do get softer but still perfectly acceptable.
Selfie samples
Portrait selfies are available, but the algorithms are easy to fool with busy backgrounds or hairstyles. While this is the norm with such single-cam implementations, we'd say the Xperia is particularly prone to bad subject isolation even with less complex shapes.
Selfie portrait samples
Video recording
The Xperia 5 records video up to 2160p at 30fps and it's missing 2160p at 60fps, which a lot of top-tier devices now offer. It does have 60fps at 1080p, however. Sony lets you record HDR videos (4K only) to play on that HDR display and you get a choice between the h.264 and h.265 codecs for the regular vids (HDR is h.265 only).
The 4K videos are encoded at around 55Mbps, which is a little higher than average. 1080p/60fps footage gets 30Mbps flat, while 1080p/30fps is treated to 17-17.5Mbps. Audio is recorded in stereo and gets a 156kbps bit rate regardless of video mode.
Electronic stabilization is available in all modes, and now works in conjunction with the stabilized optics of the main and telephoto modules. We found the Xperia 5's stabilization on the main an ultra wide angle shootres to be effective at canceling out camera shake from walking and it handled pans without issues too. The telephoto cam is similarly capable of producing stable footage, though its limitations were exposed on this particularly windy day. Still, we've seen even smoother clips from competitors, so while good and usable, we wouldn't call Sony's stabilization class-leading.
Put the Xperia 5 on a tripod and you can count on some really nice videos. Little has changed in this respect since the Xperia 1, and using its main camera the 5 captures a wide dynamic range and renders true to life colors. Detail in 4K isn't the best, however - while the footage isn't bad, we've seen others capture finer videos. 1080p at 30fps is among the better ones, however, though there is the usual drop in quality in 1080p at 60fps too.
The telephoto cam outputs slightly softer videos than the main one, and it's also outresolved by the Galaxy Note10, for example, which captures more detail both in 4K and 1080p. We're still liking the Xperia's colors and dynamic range, no complaints here.
The ultra wide angle camera adds a bit of a warm color cast, but it's not too disturbing. It's decently detailed too, though it's still bested by others on the market. Ultra wide videos aren't really meant for staring from up close though, we reckon.
Cinema Pro video recording app
Finally, besides the standard camera app, Sony also provides the "Cinema Pro" video recording app, which is designed in collaboration with Sony's CineAlta movie camera division and is squarely aimed at videography enthusiasts. We're already familiar with it from our Xperia 1 review, and You can also check out our in-depth Cinema Pro app review for more details of our experience shooting video with it.
It is hard to describe what it offers in a few words, but some of the most important highlights include shooting at a cinematic 23.98 fps at 21:9 resolutions of either 3840 x 1640 or 2520 x 1080. The footage is HDR, and is shot in H.265. There is also adjustable ISO, ranging from 50 to 1600, adjustable shutter speed (1/23.98 to 1/1541.32) and manual control of focus. Finally, the app also allows you to choose the camera you'd like to shoot with - the 16mm f/2.4, or the 26mm f/1.6 or the 52mm f/2.4.
Cinema Pro app
Most interesting, however, is the Look selector, which gives you a pick from professional color profiles for your video. These include VENICE CS, Strong/BU60 YE60, Bright/BU20 YE60, Soft/YE80, String/BU100, Cool/BU60, and Deep/YE40. Of those, Venice CS is the flattest one with soft colors, the least amount of contrast and soft tonal transitions. It should lend itself well to color grading in post-processing.
Here's a sample of what is possible to achieve with the Cinema Pro video recording app. We shot it on the Xperia 1, but the Xperia 5 we have here has identical capabilities.
Competition
So what are your options if you're after a phone that can sort of almost go unnoticed in your pocket? One of them is yet to be announced, so let's get it out of the way first - the Pixel 4 will likely be missing an ultra wide angle camera, so the Xperia starts off well in this battle. We can't see the Pixel match the Xperia in battery life either (an educated guess on our end here). On the other hand, the Pixel will have all the Pixel goodies like the speediest of updates, free cloud storage, and amazing image quality, plus the Soli front camera gestures if that's your thing.
Samsung Galaxy S10e • Galaxy S10 • Galaxy Note10 • Apple iPhone 11 Pro • Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Back to the here and now. Compact Galaxies can be had for as much as an Xperia 5, and there are even three of them, depending on how compact is compact enough for you. The S10e is the smallest one you can have and it's a good 16mm shorter, but you'd be sacrificing the telephoto camera. An S10 will match the X5's camera setup, but loses the endurance race by a lot. The Note10's battery life and camera count equal the Xperia's and it's got an S Pen, but it's the furthest from 'compact' in this bunch.
The iPhone 11 Pro is worth a look too. Triple camera, great display, (promised) awesome battery life, reasonably sized (if very heavy) - there's a lot going for it. There's the tiny caveat that the 11 Pro will be some 25% more expensive.
So here's a much cheaper alternative then, going for about a third of the Xperia's price - the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE. Yes, it's got a midrange chipset, but the Snapdragon 712 is still plenty powerful and a ton of users wouldn't know where to look for the difference. There's a very capable triple camera on the Mi 9 SE, one of the most well rounded setups you can find for the money. Battery life may not be Xperia level, but it's easily good enough. The Xiaomi compact is also compacter than the Sony one, and let's reiterate the best bit about it - you can have three Mi 9 SEs for the price of an Xperia 5.
Verdict
The Compact lives on in the Xperia 5! Sony's created another pocketable (at least by the standards of the day) high-end phone that isn't really missing any of the true flagship's features and, as an added bonus, even outlasts it in the endurance race. The Xperia 5 is then easy to recommend if you're a Sony fan, a Sony Compact fan, or just out for a small top-tier handset.
The Pixel 4 might prove to be your thing when it arrives, an iPhone 11 Pro could make sense if you're fruitily inclined, and a selection of reasonably-sized Galaxies exist that may tempt you as well. Esteemed rivals these, and ones that the Xperia 5 can easily take on, so be sure то keep the small(-ish) Sony towards the top of your shortlist.
Pros
- Bright and HDR-capable notchless cinematic display.
- Class-leading battery life.
- Flagship-grade Snapdragon 855 chipset.
- Classy design with IP68-certification.
- Excellent stereo speakers setup.
- Top notch camera experience, photo and video.
- Night-time shots are Sony's best yet.
- Eye tracking auto focus and super fast Face tracking make the camera stand out.
- The Xperia UI is clean and snappy and integrates nicely with Sony's ecosystem.
Cons
- No audio jack.
- No 4K@60fps video recording.
- No night mode (though regular low-light photos are superb already).
- We wish the ultra wide cam had autofocus.
- Audio output quality is not on the level of competition.
- No Wireless charging.
- No Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) support even though the chipset supports it.
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