phone 26 – sony xperia 1 ii

it might be because of the hype. or wanting to upgrade my work phone. which is about 3 years already. but certainly, this phone checks all the boxes of what my ideal work phone is. launched in 2020, i bought it in 2020. that is how i badly want this phone. i do not usually buy a phone, the year it was launched.

but before chatting about this phone. there is a short story about my upgrading on my work phone. buying z5 premium 2 years after it was release means it is illogical to buy the phones released just after it. the x series is great, but going to full hd display from ultra hd display might ruin the experience. there are improvements on x series, for sure, specifically the x performance. but z5 premium amazes me more, not only because of the uhd display but on the overall experience. then there is that xz premium, there are many improvements. but there is a battle between, my wants with my wallet. ha! sure, the 4k uhd hdr display is tempting, it even has the highest pixel density on a smartphone to date. z5 premium just comes close to second. xz premium also has the 960 fps superslowmo video recording, a 3d capture and a more efficient processor. but i felt that it is too early for an upgrade. xz1 came. but wanting a pixel density on par with z5 premium. i postponed upgrading. then xz2 series. along with the xz2 premium. but did not like the design. i regret somehow since xz2 was the last xperia officially sold in the philippines. i think xz2 premium and xz2 compact did not make it as well. xz3 was next. no more 4k display. they went to 2k, which is good. but it was an oled panel. and the perceived sharpness of the display is less than that of an ips display. sadly, no more 3.5mm audio port as well.

2019. 2 years of using z5 premium, i just thought it is due for an upgrade. i kept on postponing, the sony xperia 1 (mk 1) is almost my ideal phone. i kept on lurking on a local reseller, just to check if the xperia 1 he posted is still available. but i kept on postponing since it still lacks some of what i want. it is really a desperate move to buy it. i even thought of buying samsung galaxy note9. or a huawei. a xiaomi. but the experience of my peers from those brands held be back. not really bad experiences, but it does not suit my usage on a phone and they quite overdo user experience and image processing.

then this phone, sony xperia 1 ii, was announced. watched and read many reviews. sure, there are some “shortcomings” according to most technology reviewers. but it suits my style. truth be told, my bias comes from my experience of using xperia phones and also of other phones that do not quite meet my expectations. they are either short or overdo against my wants. i do not want to write down everything i like about it – but uninterrupted display, flat sides and display (but still prefers the flatness on my z5 premium), 3.5mm audio jack (i already have the xz2 compact before buying this, and still not used to the absence of the 3.5mm audio port… what a relief, finding that 3.5mm hole on the xperia 1 ii), and of course a 4k display, though not an ultra hd type of 4k display.

realizing that the “short story” became quite long… i am going to jump in to the my conservative battery test!

last year, 2020, it was able to fully charge in an hour and 54 minutes. this is one of the few phones i have that charges below 2 hours. but, ye, not that significant. this year, 2021, it charges a minute more than last year. as for the battery life. i was really impressed. i already was on xz2 compact for having 8 hours screen on time. but this smartphone managed to last for 9 hours screen on time. and since there is an inactive testing, it managed to last for a day, 22 hours and 27 minutes. it is not significantly different from xz2 compact. but that also means, charging only on the second day of usage is okay. and again, an hour of charging in the morning everyday will “ideally” put off your worries of running out of battery.

battery score card

before testing, i updated the phone to android 11. almost forgot mentioning that, but the music experience reminds me. the front facing loudspeaker seemed improve. it has more bass than before. quite louder too. the phone still vibrates like a boombox on lg smartphones, but that is already on hardware. some people does not like it and sony heard it. so they minimized the vibration on sony xperia 1 iii. personally, i do not mind the vibrations. sometimes it has good effect when placed on a wooden table. wireless audio is still great like my other xperias. wired audio? it is excellent, especially when dsee is turned on, the difference from dsee on my xz2 compact is not that obvious especially on some tracks. but it is noticeably better than z5 premium. turn on dolby atmos to music mode, great! may not be as excellent as that of lg smartphones having quad dac, but the upscaling is way better than my previous xperias, and those xperias are even good for music play to begin with. so there is really nothing to complain here, not only for music play but for all my audio needs, so far. ye, including mics.

web browsing is a new experience. such experience is not that obvious on xz2 compact, but the taller display makes it noticeable by much. there is less scrolling, texts and images are sharp, but not at the level of z5 premium. but it compensates much in color rendering. if you come across an image that has gradient, it is nicely rendered. something that my z5 premium and laptop cannot show properly. pages loads way faster than my z5 premium, that coming back to z5 premium is quite annoying when i need to open multiple tabs on my web browser. as for the display brightness, i am still able to read what is written on the display even outdoors. for curiosity sake, i even tried under direct sunlight. ye, it is not brighter than my lg phone (oops spoiler), but it is usable and i really cannot complain. i wonder why some people point that out. oh, techtubers! in short, my daily world wide web needs and wants are well covered by this phone.

gaming? say it no more. i just realize that my testing is very conservative. obviously it is, since i devised my standardized testing based on what my xperia miro can do. and doing otherwise will just frustrate me in doing the testing for lower powered phones i have. dumb phones. but, ye, somehow the game testing i did is quite different. instead of installing an old apk version of subway surfer, i downloaded the latest one from google play store. for curiosity, i also installed it on my z5 premium. sadly, it lagged on it, especially on the part where i am about to reach a high score. perhaps, there are processing it has to do before reaching personal top score, but it really lags and even frame rates slow down significantly. on xperia 1 ii? it is smooth. no noticeable lag. fluid. also tried asphalt. i enjoyed it so much that i am quite certain, this phone can run most intensive games out there. that “quite” is there, since i really do not play intensive games. ha!

for photo shoots and video recording, there are a lot of things that are new on xperia 1 ii, that was not on my previous xperias. there are also things that are missing. i just realized they are moving in a different direction, different from other makers and, even, like they used to. you can read my past posts about sony xperia z3 dual, sony xperia z1 compact (a) and sony xperia z5 premium dual to have an idea of what i am talking about. but in short – scene recognition (other makers, now call it ai camera) and multiple camera modes (like the “ar effect” that some makers also starting to have). it is like sony is telling them “been there, done that”. though honestly, as the technology is still raw that time, it is not as fine as now.

the camera can now be operated by three apps – basic camera app, cinema pro app, and photo pro app. i am not new to manual photo shoots. nokia lumia 1020 and lg g4 have manual camera settings. but i am not that expert. as for the photo pro app, i just find it quite complicated since lg g4 and nokia lumia 1020 has straightforward ui. the best among these is the nokia lumia 1020. but as i spend more time with the xperia 1 ii, it became easier by the day. tried to replicate the camera settings i did with the two aforementioned phones. what is completely new to me is the cinema pro app. it is more like a video editing app as the files are contained on a project. it just lacks digital transition effects, and adding elements such as texts to really consider it a video editing and video rendering app. the camera results also goes back to the goals it had on z series, though. it has real to life colors and sharpness. it is softer than most – even my xz2 compact has oversharpening involved. the positive effect is, it does not alter the details when zoomed in. the room for post processing is larger too. the photo quality is similar to what i see on nokia lumia 1020, except that 1020 boost yellow colors, making it quite different on the actual colors. as for hdr, i almost believe reviewers nitpicking on hdr shots, until i tinker with the settings and found d range is selected instead of auto hdr. i still like the output using d range, but seeing hdr on other phones are good on some scenario. though, i switch to each options – off, d range and auto hdr. there are some scenes where i prefer one thing over the others. but again, i am not really an expert on photography or videography. i just love tinkering things, sometimes. i cannot compare the video recording on my other phones, though – the video recording experience and output is pleasurable.

video playback on xperia phones is always a joy for me. except the first, xperia miro, as it lacks what my other xperias have. being my first phone having an oled hdr (my z5 premium only has nonhdr ips lcd panel), i enjoyed watching my own shots. though it is not displayed natively, as the xperia 1 ii has different type of 4k display, not the ultra hd that the phone is capable of recording. i also enjoyed watching hdr videos on youtube.

overall, it is an excellent phone. the shortcomings that some techtubers exaggerate are not bothering me anymore. display brightness is decent. outdoors, it is usable. under direct sunlight, it is fine. it is not the brightest, sure, but it is far from being useless. the long or wide display, depending on how you are orienting the phone is not an issue either. and that is from someone coming from phones with 16:9 aspect ratio. so i do not see, me making it an issue if ever i came from 19:9 or 20:9. it is a laughable nitpick from haters using such aspect ratio, that is not even a content standard. the front stereo loudspeaker is not among the loudest, but the quality is good. it got even punchier after i updated it. the vibration is also nitpicked, i say, it is similar to boom sound of lg mobile.

i think i found the worthy upgrade from my z5 premium – a no nonsense smartphone that does the job while i also do mine. when work-related stress gets in, my work phone should not add up to the stress. and with the recent issues on the snapdragon 888 which is on the next iteration, xperia 1 iii, then this will remain as my work phone, perhaps as long as my z5 premium did. but, i must admit, i am still tempted to get the xperia 1 iii, despite the improvements are not affecting my work phone use cases, i think. but lemme make a justification to buy it. ha!

phone 25 – sony xperia xz2 compact

2018. 2019. no reason to buy more. there are a lot of temptations. but, when watching gadget reviews, most of them looks the same. before 2019 ends, i found a reason, though. not because i am looking for a reason. but i was more than happy to comply. ha!

the reason? my personal phone since 2016 shows battery degradation. i get shorter and shorter battery life every day. it was to the point that it goes off on mid day. at first, i used my other phones. but, the usage i throw on my phone was different. i feel limited most of the time even on android smartphones i have in the collection. so the search for the next personal phone was on.

at first, i browse through the sales online. but there are some shortcomings i cannot take. i just want similar size to that of xperia z1 compact (a) [sony xperia z1 compact (b)]. uncompromised power, though most midrangers in 2020, even entry levels already have similar raw power than my z1 compact (a) [z1 compact (b)], if not better. i almost pick anything that is small. until…

until pandemic came, i relocated “myself” for the “work from home” to a far far away place. ha! and stumble upon a needy person sporting a sony xperia xz2 compact, the last xperia having the “compact” on its name. you know the drill. the rest is history.

this phone launched in 2018, the same year when i stopped buying phones, or at least pause for a while. buying a second hand in 2020 means it is quite old and may already have signs of wear and tear. but, to my surprise, it still looks good and performs way better than my z1 compact (a) [z1 compact (b)]. well of course that was launched in 2014, and it was the first generation. comparing it to the last generation is pointless. they differ in so many ways. and similar in many ways, being both xperia devices. xz2 compact is significantly heavier than z1 compact. slightly larger too. but i am already “at home” in a couple of months.

battery test. shall we? last year, 2020, i managed to test this smartphone too. from empty battery, it was fully charged after 2 hours and 11 minutes. quite slow in todays standards, since this phone has lower than 3000mah battery capacity. this year, 2021, the battery charging test results to 2 hours and 7 minutes. if charging is not impressive (but is still on par with my other phones), the battery life is impressive (at least on my conservative battery test). it managed to last for a day, 21 hours and 32 minutes. 8 hours and 32 minutes of which is the active use, screen on time. that is, turning off stamina mode. impressive right? it means it only needs charging before the second day ends. or better yet charge it for an hour every morning while you do your routines, and “ideally” you will not worry of running out of juice. i did not, especially now being at home working. i can just plug it whenever i want to.

battery score card

music play on this device is impressive too. the front facing stereo loudspeakers were immersive like that of my sony xperia z3 dual and sony xperia z5 premium dual, just a bit louder than those. bluetooth is better too. but the wired audio? this has no 3.5mm audio port. i have to settle with the usb type c to 3.5mm dongle. i just wish it has 3.5mm audio port, the extra “awareness” you have to do is annoying at times. at first, i always try to plug a 3.5mm jack on the phone, really annoying. if you get pass that, the audio quality is still great, especially when dsee is turned on. it is noticeably better than the dsee my previous xperias have. the volume is not significantly turned down, but the other sound frequencies are boosted, which is better, i think. in my previous xperias, i need to turn the volume up just to get similar loudness as that when dsee is turned off. but still, that dongle requirement before enjoying wired audio is annoying. at least to me.

web browsing, compared to z1 compact (a) [z1 compact (b)], is way better on the xz2 compact. for one, it has higher pixel density, that is from 720p on the z1compact (a) [z1 compact (b)] at 4.3 inches in 16:9 aspect ratio, to 1080p on the xz2 compact at 5.0 inches in 18:9 aspect ratio. while the aspect ratio is weird to my liking, i enjoyed how web pages are rendered. the display also has wider brightness range. it is bright enough when i need to browse the web outside with the sun shining proudly. it is also dim enough not to hurt my eye when reading at night. there is also a feature that puts an amber tint on the display to make it more comfortable to view in darker ambient light. the pages load faster than my previous personal phone, the newer soc really made a difference.

as for gaming, this is very capable even in 2021. i only used casual games to at least conform to the other phones i have. and it did nicely. i enjoyed it more. before testing, i also played a little of asphalt. the racing experience is enjoyable. did not experience lags, which i did on z1compact (a) [z1 compact (b)]. some users even claimed that it is still better than the budget gaming phones, usually powered by mediatek g series. for gaming, this is still a good recommendation. for gaming on a compact phone? there is nothing like it, yet.

photo shoot is another one where the difference from my previous xperias lies. i like the idea that the phone has better night shots. the photos in daylight are also noticeably sharper when zoomed out. but when zoomed in, i still prefer my old xperias, especially the z5 premium dual. the thing is, xz2 compact seemed to oversharpen which deters some details. but, the camera experience on this phone is still good. the manual controls are limited. but so as my previous xperias. making my lg g4 and nokia lumia 1020 better alternatives when i want to experiment on manual shooting. am not good at it, honestly. but it is fun. i also enjoyed using the 3d capture, which seems to be similar to lidar on iphones. though i cannot make some camera modes from past xperias work. i am referring to timeshift burst and some other camera modes.

video recording brought some new experiences to me too. more on the display perhaps. i appreciate the hdr display being good when shooting an hdr video. and one of the new things to experience? superslowmo, 960fps! just so you know, the most recent xperia i had before this one is z5 premium and 960fps were launched on xzs and xz premium.

video play? for a small phone, it may seem unenjoyable. but not on this phone. there is a sample video on the phone which looks great. i also watched some hdr videos on youtube. but the best video play are those videos i shoot using the phone. it really made sense when your phone can record hdr videos and play those on hdr display.

overall, it is a worthy upgrade. i think, i can use this phone as my personal phone for the same length of time i did with the z1compact (a), or longer. i just hope the battery can hold for such long period. and i believe it will. this is my first phone to have adaptive battery and adaptive charging. there are some auto tasks too. like the sleep mode, which slows down the refresh rate of the phone to prolong the battery life. that adaptive charging is for longevity too. and since it gave me an idea not to fully charge the phone, i just do not do it anymore. charging up to 90% is enough. and if i forgot, the adaptive charging can do the job for me. the user experience is quite different as well. i like how the rear finger print reader is always on. on z5 premium dual, the display should be turned on to use the side mounted finger print reader. luckily z5 premium dual has tap to wake feature, so i do not have to press the power button just to open it. it will prolong the life of the button. but the xz2 compact has no native tap to wake nor tap to sleep feature. but wait… it does, only when the ambient display is on. nevertheless, not having tap to wake on xz2 compact is not a deal breaker since, again, the rear finger print is always on. it just needs an extra step though when you want to use it on the table – lift it first, unlike with a side mounted finger print reader.

if you are just curious about the upgrade path on my personal phone, here is it… Nokia 1100 (a year), Alcatel OT-C552 (less than a year), Nokia 1600 (about 3 years), Nokia N70 (a) (about 3 years), Lenovo E156 (a year), Sony Xperia miro (about 3 years), Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (a) (about 4 years). then why do i have 25 phones up to this? collections and work phones. ha! so… what is next? at 27 years old, i should have 27 phones…

phone 24 – nokia n8 (b)

ye, for the collection. this is the third model i bought in two. released in 2010, bought a second unit in 2017. i also had two sony xperiaz1 compact (a) [sony xperia z1 compact (b)] and nokia n70 (a) [nokia n70 (b)]. though there are different reasons why i bought two of those.

i bought this phone since the nokia n8 (a) is already unusable in 2017 due to amoled deterioration. many of my experiences on this phone were similar to nokia n8 (a). you might want to read that post.

battery test time! in 2020, this phone fully charged in 2 hours and 4 minutes. this 2021, it fully charged a minute less than that. the usage is still impressive. it stays up for almost 24 hours. only a minute short. active use is also a minute less than 4 hours. apparently, the battery drains faster after 50% mark.

battery score card

music play is similar to nokia n8 (a) in every way. like the rear small loudspeaker which is not that loud. better experience via bluetooth. best via 3.5mm audio port.

web browsing is not a joy to use, though. scrolling and pinching is not that responsive. even tapping links is hard as it activates the link just below it, not the link where your fingers are. likewise, some websites no longer work on it as well.

gaming is just okay. i managed to install fruit ninja and angry birds on it. it is still enjoyable like the android versions of the game. with such casual games, the phone did not heat up nor lagged.

photo shoots and video recording may not be as feature rich as most smartphones in 2021, but the quality is capable to defeat some camera phones. i prefer its output than the oversaturated and oversharpened output of some camera phones. there is an option to sharpen the image, but it is still better as it does not overdo in a way that distorts details.

video playback is not its forte despite having a good quality display. you cannot enjoy the videos you took with it to its full glory. i just find the display size small and the pixel density less. that is, compared to 2021 phones. but still, this phone is a usable alternative to modern camera phones.

just to point out, this is still a good alternative to modern camera phones. this might also be good to those people looking for compact phones in 2021. but you are giving away android apps, including imaging, messaging and social media apps. you may use web browser, but the experience is not good – scrolling, zooming and even tapping. also, less camera features. but, then again, you get a good quality shot.

being a satisfying phone, including others in my collection, this is the last phone i bought in 2017. ye, there are 3 of them. satisfying, to the point that i did not acquire more, for about 2 years. so, what will make me buy more?

phone 23 – nokia n70 (b)

as a collection, yes. released in 2005. bought another one in 2017. that is 12 years. though i already bought one in 2009. i admit, it was like a nostalgia. it was also intended to be an extra device, just in case my nokia n70 (a) decides to just break itself.

the experience i had with nokia n70 (b) is similar to nokian70 (a). you might want to read that post to know more about it.

however, the software version of nokia n70 (b) has some differences with that of nokia n70 (a). it was not as stock as the (a). it was a customized firmware for a certain carrier overseas. there are some applications that cannot be removed. ye, bloatware on a symbian os. aside from that, everything is similar, from audio quality of the built in speaker to the camera quality.

battery test? while it should be a spare device when nokian70 (a) degrades, it is the one that degrades faster than my first n70. ye, plot twist, indeed. the display looks better on n70 (b) when it was still working as the n70 (a) already has washout display. however, n70 (b) display was totally unusable after a couple of months. it also wont boot even with a working battery. it is not a good idea to include another phone of the same model to my collection. before this model, i also have two sony xperia z1 compact [sony xperia z1 compact (a), sony xperia z1 compact (b)]. but, there is still another model, i bought twice.

phone 22 – sony xperia z5 premium dual

as if having bought 6 phones, including my first ever work phone, sony xperia z3 dual, is not enough, i continued expanding my collection. but this actually happened on the last quarter of 2017. i also thought of demoting xperia z3 as a multimedia device, which is intended for watching movies and eventually upgrade my work phone. being a producer of dependable handsets, i chose another xperia phone which was released in 2015. in 2017, being already reviewed by many people and being impressed as well, i chose the z5 premium dual.

i wont deny that one of the reasons of selecting the premium variant over the regular variant is its headlining feature – the first 4k display on a smartphone. that is aside from great audio experience and of course the design. remember that when i bought the firefy mobile aurii secret 4g which is supposed to be an aurii envy, i already set an eye on z5 premium for its design.

for the battery testing, it still managed to be one of the good phones in my collection. last year, 2020, it charges for 2 hours and 22 minutes. this year, 2021, it charges quite longer, not really significant. it lasted for a day and an hour which is also good in comparison to other phones i have. anything for more or less than a day is good for me.

battery score card

music play is similar to that of sony xperia z3 dual. the pair of front loudspeakers provides immersive experience. for a small room, they can fill it well. a surround sound option for headphones also work on the loudspeakers. but for bigger room, like the living room, there is a need for external loudspeaker. that is not a problem since there is a 3.5mm port for the existing speakers at home. bluetooth speaker? no problem as well.

it also excels on web browsing. the texts and images are sharp. despite running on 1080p instead of 2160p most of the time, the sharpness is still noticeable. with screen captures, web pages can be zoomed significantly and is still sharp. i never seen such on my sony xperia z3 dual. viewing the same screen captures on my laptop also look better than those coming from my sony xperia z3 dual, since the screenshots maintain the 2160p resolution. surely, it is one of the advantages for my work related tasks as it is really intended for that purpose – work. that is why i always disagree to those naysayers saying that a 2160p or 4k display is useless on a phone. well, if you only use a phone for text messaging and calls, then even a 720p display is useless.

for gaming, casual gaming is seamless. for heavy games, especially for newer ones, it might not run seamlessly. if it does, the phone will get significantly warm. based on comments i have been reading on the internet, the most complaints is too much heat. i experienced worse on some of my phones. worst on firefly mobile aurii secret 4g. not to discredit their experience, but at my end, ye, the temperature gets really high but i do not see it as something to complain about. perhaps, my usage is incomparable to theirs.

for photo shoots, there are a lot of improvements on the quality, but the camera modes on sony xperia z3 dual, sony xperia z1 compact(a) and [sony xperia z1 compact (b)] were similar. same story for video recording. and i already mentioned things i love about the camera on those previous posts.

video play is where z5 premium is significantly better than all my previous xperias. while z3 dual can record 4k videos, z5 premium can also play it natively. it is one of the use cases, where the 2160p or 4k display kicks in. well, all pixels work all the time, but playing a 4k video means the gpu treats each pixel separately. for video streaming apps, like youtube, you also get higher bit rate, which means better viewing. however, being the first generation 4k display, z5 premium still has no hdr display. so, you cannot enjoy hdr playback even with the videos you recorded.

in 2020, i demoted it as a multimedia phone since i upgraded my work phone last year. though, from time to time i still use it for work related stuff. so, it helped me for over 3 years as a work phone. i was really satisfied with both z1 compact (a) and z5 premium dual that i did not plan for an upgrade unless both deteriorates. does it mean i will not buy any phone in 2017? for personal phone and work phone, of course i wont. buying for collection is another story.