10 reviews for Sony Xperia 5 IV 128GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone [U.S. Official w/Warranty], Black

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Tyler – August 27, 2024

   I’m going to start this review out by addressing two of the dumber criticisms I’ve seen about this phone.The first one being the Wi-Fi calling. IT IS NOT SONY’S FAULT THIS PHONE DOESN’T SUPPORT WI-FI CALLING. You can thank your carrier for that lack of functionality. T-Mo is less toxic in regards to unlocked phones than Verizon or AT&T is, but they do still restrict certain functionality to T-Mo branded phones. There are multiple MVNOs you can choose from that have far more lax policies regarding unlocked phones.The second criticism is the heat issue and while this one is valid for certain use cases, it applies to literally every single phone in the Android market today. Period. There isn’t a single phone, running a modern Qualcomm SOC that doesn’t thermal throttle to an extreme degree under sustained loads. Even my old GS9 running an SD840(4.5w peak) thermal throttled under sustained load. You’re dealing with a sealed device, with passive cooling and an SOC that’s pulling as much power as your average laptop CPU(8.5w). It’s a high power draw chip, it’s going to thermal throttle.The only reason that the thermal issue came up, is that Sony was too honest in the camera app. Sony chose to shut the camera down instead of dropping the framerate or dropping frames. Most manufacturers choose to allow you to continue recording, but sacrifice quality in the process. This is not a design flaw, this is a design DECISION. Sony chose to protect the integrity of your footage over allowing you to record a 35 hour long 4k video(which would be a wreck of dropped frames anyways).In day to day use, this phone gets no hotter than my GS9 did. I tested it against a Moto Edge+ 22, which is an absolute powerhouse of a phone and in most instances the Sony performs just as well. Take a look at either Beebom’s video on thermal throttling or GSMArena’s reviews of modern phones. They all thermal throttle which means they all are going to have a hard time driving the camera at the limits of performance. It just comes down to how the manufacturer chooses to deal with that.Closing this small rant out, I don’t think this is an issue with thermal design. This is an issue of Sony not being willing to budge on quality and that not jiving with what most consumers in America expect. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is an inefficient pile of crap, but I think Sony’s cooling solution is adaquate for most use cases. If heat is that big of issue for you, then buy an iPhone because there’s nothing in the Android space that can touch the efficiency of the A14 or A15 right now. Now, onto my actual thoughts about this phone.This in my opinion is the last true Android option. If you think back to 2017/2018 with the GS9 and the GS10, every phone that Samsung released added functionality. You still had a headphone jack, you still had a microSD card slot, you still had a full edge to edge display without a stupid hole punch. They were distinctly different products, aimed at people who wanted a different user experience than what Apple was offering. That’s what made them Android phones.Now you have Samsung, who has diluted their brand to the point that they’re basically Great Value Appleand the rest of the Android market(save for a few brands), has followed their example. They’ve cut a hole in the screen, because God forbid a phone have even the smallest black bar around the screen. They’ve removed the headphone jack after mocking Apple for doing the exact same thing only a year earlier. They’ve removed the microSD card slot because they saw Apple making money hand over fist by charging absurd amounts of money increased storage capacities. That’s not even touching on the privacy concerns of uploading all your personal data to cloud based storage.So now were stuck in a phone landscape where you have Apple and then green robot Apple for people that don’t want an iPhone for some reason. None of these modern phones do anything to differentiate themselves from their competition. So you end up with phones that are trying to copy iPhones, but doing so poorly because they’re running crappier crappier, less power efficient SOCs.But… Then there’s Sony.The one company that’s still giving us basic features that we enjoyed 5 years ago. Unlike other manufacturers that act like we’re idiots for expecting phones to get better with time… Sony has developed a bold new strategy of improving their products generation over generation, instead of making them worse and more expensive. So from a business ethos standpoint I feel like Sony is giving better value for money than you get from other brands.So pros and cons then.PROS:Display:Phenomenal. Seriously best display I’ve ever used on a mobile device. DXO gave it a perfect score for color accuracy and I can see why. It’s the proper brightness under all conditions. The gamma and white balance are perfect. The panel is extremely uniform as well.Speakers:Great. Actual front firing speakers. They sound good for phone speakers and they have really fine control over the volume. It always felt like my Samsung was either a little too loud or a little too quiet when I was using my phone in quiet surroundings. I don’t have that issue with the Sony. They range from loud to so quiet you can’t hear them without the speaker directly against your ear.Camera:This is it. This is the main selling point of the phone. It’s exactly what you would expect. Auto mode takes great photos with minimal processing. If you’re expecting the hyper-sharpened, rainbow neon vomit that you get from Pixel or Samsung phones, you’re going to be disappointed. The Xperia takes very natural, soft, DSLR like photos. If you’re willing to tinker with settings, you can take some truly jaw dropping photos with this phone.Performance:Everything is snappy and fast. It holds 60FPS in all the games I play and that’s all I really expect out of it.The UI:This is something I really, really like about this phone. It runs a super lightly skinned version of android, but the improvements that Sony has made don’t feel intrusive at all. Doing little things like explaining menu options in more detail, changing the layout of certain menus, even the custom clock they added on the lock screen, all add up to a better Android experience in my opinion. Also, features like H.S. power control are absolutely great.Design:Great. The 21:9 aspect ratio is great for most things that you use your phone for. Social media really benefits from the taller aspect ratio as do most 3D games. I absolutely love the dedicated shutter button. I didn’t think I would, but I use it constantly. Also, the notification LED is tremendously useful.Battery life:Holy f***. I’m not a super heavy user but I can usually get 2.5 – 3 days out of this battery. That’s with 5G, 120hz, 5ish hours of SOT and background bluetooth use. The idle power draw on this phone is so insanely low. It usually only loses ~3% overnight while idle.CONS:Software:It gets wonky sometimes. Sometimes random parts of menus will lose the correct theming and look like a stock android menu. Screen rotation gets fussy sometimes. The camera learning curve once you leave auto mode is more like a camera wall.Heat:So despite what I said in the outset, this is a big issue. The camera will shutdown under prolonged use. The phone does get warm when you push it. There’s simply no getting around the fact that the SD 8 gen 1 is a dumpster fire.Accessory support:There basically is none. Your only options are either knock off Chinese brands, Spigen or Devilcase. And Devilcase is no longer shipping to the US starting in January. So finding cases and screen protectors that are well made for this phone is very difficult.So, I think that’s about all I have to say about this phone. I think despite the thermal issues this is still easily a 5/5 phone. I don’t experience issues with heat during my day to day use and even if I did, I would still balance that against what the phone brings to the table. Every product is a balance of pros and cons.If the only thing that matters to you is thermal management, get an iPhone or something with either a Dimensity 8100 or a SD778G.Also, just started typing and didn’t realize I wrote a small novel until I went to proof-read this lol

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Amazon Customer – August 27, 2024

   This is the review for the average user- not for professional photographers and videographers. While this phone is marketed toward content creators, there is so much more to the Xperia 5 IV!This is my first Sony phone. I’m coming from an Xperia 5 II.The 21:9 aspect ratio is the first thing you notice about the phone. It looks narrow, because compared to other phones, it is. While there may be some apps not formatted exactly for it, it has a couple of unique benefits:1. The screen is taller, which allows you to fit more on the screen as you scroll through your social media apps or a news article.2. The average person can hold this phone securely and type with one hand. Taking a selfie with one hand without feeling like you’re going to drop the phone is possible, too!The Xperia 5 IV runs very close to stock Android. Very little in the name of bloatware: just the standard Google apps and several custom apps. As for custom Sony-specific apps, there’s a game enhancer app and Sony’s creator apps. Photo Pro, Video Pro and Cinema Pro. New for this generation of Xperias is the Music Pro app, which allows you to record and edit audio, as well as use AI to clean up the files (free trial for the AI processing and then a modest subscription fee to continue).Cinema Pro is an app most people won’t use. Video Pro is a simpler version and for those who want to tinker a bit with their videos, it’s an excellent app. Photo Pro is the camera app and includes a basic mode, as well as manual modes. It is important to note that the Xperia 5 IV does very little software processing of photos. The photos are very natural and look excellent in most daylight scenarios. It is weaker in low light, but some may not be satisfied with the artificial saturation so common in today’s phones.The Sony Xperia 5 IV has dual front-facing speakers and excellent sound. While I personally tend not to turn it on, the phone has a dynamic vibration mode, which uses the phone’s haptic vibration motor to simulate bass when listening to audio or video. It Also has Sony 360 Reality Audio Upmix, DSEE Ultimate and Dolby Atmos sound enhancements (I have DSEE Ultimate and Dolby Atmos turned on and they do make a difference).For those looking for a phone with no notch, the Xperia 5 IV has no notches, but thin bezels at the top and bottom of the screen. At the top right hand corner of hte phone, there is also a notification LED. On the right side of the phone is the volume rocker, followed by the power button/fingerprint reader and a camera shutter button toward the bottom on the right. At the bottom, there is a dual SIM/SD card slot that is removable with just your fingernail, while the phone remains IP65/68 waterproof/dustproof. In addition, wireless charging has come to the Xperia 5 IV for the first time. Even better, there’s still 3.5mm headphone jack! The phone has a 5000 mAh battery, which will give you 1-2 days of battery life- even at 120hz refresh rate. The phone is extraordinarily bright and I rarely keep it at maximum brightness. I just don’t need to and that’s a first for me.While this phone does have a tendency to heat up, thermal management has improved. However, the warnings do get tiresome at times. Because it is a lower volume phone, peripheral options such as cases are less plentiful (I did find one I liked from Spigen, though) and there aren’t many places that will accept it as a trade-in or for sale.Regardless, I couldn’t be happier with the device. The Sony Xperia 5 IV is a productivity workhorse and great for content consumption. Whether you’re reading, typing, watching video, listening to music or editing, this phone won’t disappoint. If you’re willing to swallow the price, it’s a flagship to be proud of. 5 stars!

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   R.J.R.J. – August 27, 2024

   It’s a small, skinny, light, one handed phone. It’s so light that it feels cheaper than it is, given the glass and aluminum body.The back is a smooth, frosted glass similar to the new Samsung s23.Because of it’s size it feels better with a case on it, so you’re not gonna break it without a case. The size is optimized for one handed use better than any other phone.Expanded storage beats the Pixel or s23 I bought at the same time to see which I liked better. You can have 2tb for all the 4k video you want.It has the best screen in it’s class with X1 Sony tv tech. But, because it’s narrower than most phones the apps are smaller on the home screen, which annoyed me. S23 has better proportions for me. 120hz display is very fast. If you have a Sony tv like I do, you’ll know what I mean.Has 2 front facing, really loud speakers, so you can hold it on its side without covering the bottom speaker like every other phone. All phones should have front speakers. Compared to the Pixel 7 I compared it with, it’s just better in every way. Speakers on s23 are comparable, but again the bottom firing speaker is annoying when holding them phone horizontally.Having such a small phone with a 500 milliamp battery means going to bed with 50% charge after all day use. You’ll never need a charge before bed. The battery gets better after a week as the battery program adjusts to your habits.To get better battery life you have to buy the s23 ultra or iphone 14 pro -both hundreds more money.Camera. The Pixel 7 is supposed to have the best camera, but I couldn’t tell a difference with most use cases. I don’t take a lot of pics, tho. But, I compared them taking the same pics at the same time in different lighting, and they were the same to my eyes.The difference comes down to the Pixel doing more things automatically to different effects, while the Xperia allows you to manually control exactly what the photo looks like. But, for a typical guy, it’s a wash for me.3.5mm ear phone jack. This was big for me, as I’m an audiophile with expensive wired headphones, IEMs. But, unlike the LG phones the phone jack on the Xperia isn’t special. It’s much better than Bluetooth, but I still use my LG as a portable music player.It’s main benefit is streaming and editing video, which I don’t do.For gamers and streamers, the Xperia is made for you. It’s optimized for those activities. I’ve only tried the video game features which are nice like the ability to route power directly from a plug to not heat up the battery.But, if you’re a heavy gamer it’s probably too small for you.So, the main difference I noticed between the Sony and Pixel was that Sony focused on hardware, and Google on software. The Google does more, but it does it badly.The Sony is closer to stock Android (minus pixel only features), but does everything well.Example: the Pixel has a feature where you can just say “stop” to stop an alarm, but the microphone is so cheap you have to pick it up an say stop loudly close to the phone, making it a pointless feature.Pixel also has a call screening feature that’s literally just the phone transcribing what the robot menu system is saying in real time. The only difference is you can see what it’s saying, as well as hear it. Great for deaf people, pointless gimmick for everyone else.Every new “pixel only” feature is like that, a gimmick, while the needed day to day stuff sucks more. It’s a cheaper phone and it shows.As for the new s23, it matches the quality of the Xperia as it should. But given the speakers, expandable storage, ear jack, and battery life I prefer the Xperia. I just wish it was a little wider like the s23 which I think is a better size.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Grant Wilson – August 27, 2024

   Been using this phone for a few weeks and it os the best phone I have used in a long time. Moved up from Xperia 5 because of networks dropping 3G support (my phone connection was never the same). The camera is more than enough for the average user and has great features for pro user. I love the basic mode in the camera app for quick photos. Connections to wifi, data, and bluetooth are strong and stable. I had a few issues with phone calls right out of the box but that was fixed with updating. 120hz refresh on the screen is so satisfying. 60hz is good enough though. The superiority over other phones comes with the headphone jack and expandable sd card slot – thank you sony for keeping these features!!! Dual front facing speakers are excellent quality and just make sense. Proximity sensor seems to have improved in my personal use from older sony phones, as well as fingerprint sensor (always register the same finger more than once). Form factor is comfortable and not straining on the handsMy only issue with sony phones is not a big deal but its more something i miss – the proprietary sony apps. Sony had great apps in older models for messaging, phone, and album. Unfortunately the corresponding google apps come preinstalled. You could always install other options from an app store. But most of all i miss the old xperia keyboard. It was the best keyboard ive ever used on any phone and i hate that sony dropped support for it. The keys were the perfect size, it was responsive and settings were flexible. The phone does get a little warm at times but nothing out of the ordinary from other phones.My personal opinions does not take away from how great this phone is and how much better it is than anything else on the market. There are a ton of other features that make this phone so fun to use but this review would be pages long. I really do not regret this purchase.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Daniel Williams – August 27, 2024

   This is a very nice phone.Versatility (I travel a lot and use my phone in a number of different ways) – Headphone port (insert every reason why having a standard headphone port is still a good thing) – SD card slot, great for storing files and using apps geared for offline usage for when I’m out of cell range – HDMI through usb-c so you can still output to displays that don’t have any form of Miracast or ChromecastGames: – Uses a high end Qualcomm processor so the GPU is solid. – The phone has a “shutter” button conveniently placed for use as a shoulder button in FPSs and Emulated games (and the power button is below the volume keys, so VOL + can be a shoulder button too if you want to reach) – This emulates gamecube way better than my last phone (most games I checked so far have been nice and smooth)So I’m very happy with how everything’s functioning.A few issues:- I have one pair of headphones which don’t work when plugged directly into the phone (but will work with other phones/PCs), not a huge issue since most phones don’t work with any wired headphones, but if you encounter it, you’re not alone. My troublesome headphones were made for iPhone… could have been an issue.- Newer Android will come with it’s own issues (if you want to make the most of your SD card, you’ll probably have to follow a tutorial in using ADB for the occasional app. Ever since Android 11 there’s been some bad decisions in this area)I don’t normally care much about features tacked onto vanilla Android, but their windowed app feature has been appreciated.Really, this has just been a nice phone. Mostly, none of the hardware or software feels like it was designed to take any shortcuts to be released. It feels solid.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Foxy – August 27, 2024

   I’m a chinese user chose this US build, build (and 128GB ver) is limited in these year (factory can’t change software), and there is may some different between CQ62 and CQ72 more than software differ. I love my (this) phone just like the perfect kid, I spent another $400 (authorized official local repair, 1 screen+middle, 1 back glass) to changed the color to white, I like white. I ORDERED this phone then I can have it, Sony restrict the build they sold, chinese build is totally goverment hacked and garbage.THE BIGGEST SHINING this build is “DIRECT POWER SUPPLY” this will more efficient with long-time charging like laptop, and no longer cause the SoC thermal corrupt damage, the every phone I used has this problem, Sony’s stands longest (XZ2C 1.5 years), this is best suit for me, and the charging game playing!! I like to use long frame cinematic recording. The every new feature is perfact and Sony-limited.I use the phone to play big games, listen music, process daily computer’s working, everything is perfact and the every software functions are NEWEST USEFULL.I like the whole screen WITHOUT black area / cut corner.Audio jact is perfact for my earphone N3AP.Sony’s SoC may isn’t the newest but BEST adjusted and programmed, the cooling is strong as you can touch, actually may cause injury, but Sony’s heat point is upper screen, so you can make moving sticker at the bottom of screen (rotate the screen) to solve this.Awesome, and I love Amazon!! Who supported me the phone easily!

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Heather – August 27, 2024

   I’ve been using this phone for about a month now and have been able to take some really nice pictures with the camera. All 3 of the lenses are really well tuned and consistent. I can switch seamlessly between them and the color and white balance stay close to what I see with my eyes. The screen is also really well calibrated, which helps setup good shots and check the pictures you’ve taken.The battery life is crazy on this phone. I get around 2 days with >9 hours of screen time on a single charge. I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about overheating, but it hasn’t been an issue for me. It got hot when I first took it out of the box and it was setting everything up, but it’s been fine ever since then. I’ll update this review if that changes.I also really like the size of this phone. The 6.1″ screen is just the right size and it’s really tall which is nice for web browsing. The tall screen also helps with the camera because all the controls are on the one side and you still get a lot of room for the viewfinder.Overall I really like this phone. It has all the features I need and is well built. Also, the SD card slot gives me plenty of extra room for pictures and videos.

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Sean K. – August 27, 2024

   SONY isn’t very well known in the US for it’s flagship phones but the Xperia line up is the last of what I consider a proper flagship phone. It’s one of the last high end phones that retains a audio jack, and an SD card. Plus even with those two features it’s water resistant up to 2m of water (iirc).Now there are a few cons to this phone compared to the Xperia 1 mk IV. The biggest problem that I’ve run into is the RAM. As far as I can tell the drop in RAM really hinders the performance of this phone and leads to weird bugs that seem to be caused by a RAM cleaning sub routine that SONY has running in the background.That’s basically all I have to say for now in terms of review of the phone itself. But if you’re thinking on getting this I highly recommend the IQ Shield line of screen protectors, they may not be tempered glass, but they don’t break as often and they still provide adequate protection.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DudeManBroDudeManBro – August 27, 2024

   The phone comes with a nice static-cling cover on the screen (photo, left), so I recommend you order a screen protector alongside the phone and install it immediately before using. It was seamless, perfect install.Be aware this phone doesn’t treat you like a child. When shooting video it will not degrade your video quality when it heats up. Instead it will give you a warning, and it is your decision whether to change your settings or shoot until it shuts down to prevent overheating damage.I love the micro SD slot: easy tool-free removal. And there’s a headphone jack. Even the Fairphone 4 lacks a headphone jack. If Sony made this phone with a removable battery, it would be the best cell phone ever created. But there aren’t many options for a removable battery these days. The Fairphone is a big step down from this just to get the replaceable battery.Let’s hope this phone sells well. As consumers we should not give up on repairability. We can vote with our wallets.

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Daryl Kamadu – August 27, 2024

    Pros:- Exceptionally good display: colours are very accurate on Creator Mode and the display can get extremely bright (peak brightness of ~1000 nits when displaying content that covers 70% of the screen – so you can expect great highlight details when viewing HDR content)- Excellent battery life: expect 20-30 hours of screen-on time (offline/online video viewing + web browsing)Cons- Potential overheating issues: I don’t use the phone for gaming but there are reports of the Xperia 5 iv getting quite hot when running “heavy games”; Phone is also likely to get hot after an extended period of 4k HDR 120 fps recording.Bottomline:Would definitely recommend the phone for audio and video consumption, but not for gaming and long-duration 4K HDR recording.