At the 2019 Mobile World Congress, Sony has unveiled its new cinematic flagship, the Xperia 1.
With a tall screen that measures at 6.57 inches in height, it really stands out from the pack — literally.
Xperia 1 Dwarfs The Competition
As the successor to the Xperia XZ3, the Xperia 1 is made for watching and builds on what its predecessor had to offer in this regard. At that, it sports a 21:9 CinemaWide 6.5-inch 4K (3,840 x 1,644) HDR OLED display. Its aspect ratio is what makes it distinct, allowing the handset to deliver a cinematic viewing experience. Not to mention that it has a lot of screen real estate to go around for multitasking with two apps.
Complementing the visuals is Dolby Atmos audio technology, which is delivered via stereo speakers. The device also has support for high-resolution audio, including the format for wireless audio.
There are no notches here. Instead, there's a good amount of bezel at the top where the 8-megapixel front-facing camera and earpiece are. It practically has no bezels at the bottom, though.
Regarding its other core specs, it's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, 6 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of internal storage that's expandable up to 512 GB via a microSD card. Out of the box, it runs on Android 9 Pie and boasts a 3,330 mAh battery. It's also resistant to water and dust with an IP65/68 rating, and it's topped with a Corning Gorilla Glass 6 to steer clear of scratches.
It's designed not only to shoot great pictures but also videos, thanks to its triple rear camera setup that's composed of 12-megapixel sensors with differing focal lengths — 16 mm for wide angles, 26 mm for the primary camera, and 52 mm for telephoto, all of which are 35 mm equivalents. That said, it can capture in clips in 4K HDR and slo-mo at up to 960 frames per second.
For gamers, it's loaded with a Game Enhancer feature that should improve a game's performance and block out notifications so that there won't be any distractions while playing.
Last but not least, it's going to be available in a variety of color options: black, purple, white, and gray.
More On Xperia 1's Really Tall Display
Notably, the Xperia 1 isn't Sony's first smartphone with a 4K display. For starters, there's 2015's Xperia X5 Premium that comes with a 5.5-inch panel with a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. The big difference is, it only had an LCD display and a 16:9 aspect ratio. On top of that, there's also 2017's Xperia XZ Premium, which pretty much offers the same viewing experience as the Xperia X5 Premium, down to the same resolution and screen technology but in a 5.46-inch screen.
It's worth noting that the Xperia 1 might be difficult to handle with one hand because of its height, so much so that even users with big hands may find trouble with it. However, two taps on the home button activates one-handed mode, downsizing the whole user interface into a corner of the screen.
At the moment, there's no word on how much the Xperia 1 is going to cost, but it's expected to land on U.S. shores sometime in late spring.
