Are Tech Reviewers giving the Sony Xperia 1iii a hard time? By SuperSaf Speaks

Sony Xperia one mark iii, I'm finally getting my the hang of actually saying the name, because you know it's Xperia one three right, so some people get confused, I'm just referring to it as mark three. So it's not a big deal for me anymore, right, so um. You know I want to share, because I've had this for about a week now so um. Unfortunately, UK reviewers did not get this for a month like some American reviews did, which was kind of weird, I think don't put me in there. Well, not not you obviously you're, not Marquez you're, not Marquez anyway, so um, so here's the thing with Xperia devices, there's a lot that I like about them right. The problem is whenever I cover like, whenever I cover a device, I cover the positives and the negatives.

The problem I find is the hardcore fanboys just hold on to the negatives, and they grasp on, and then they're like they just like will not let go that. Why did you say this negative? And it's like look, I said a lot of positives about it as well, so I'm going to start off with the positives again, it's the one of the sharpest displays that you're going to get out there. You know probably the sharpest display um that we've had this year as far as right, it's very, very crisp right and the fact that it's also now 120 hertz is something that I really appreciate. Because last year we had 4k and 60 hertz right, and I remember asking this to TK who's, a good friend here on the channel and also um, I would say a very much a Sony fan and I asked them. I said: look if I give you the option for the Sony Xperia one mark ii to have a 4k display with 60 hertz or a quad HD display with a 120 hertz, which would you choose, guess what he said.120 heads that's right, exactly yeah and pretty much any Sony fan that I asked there. So then, in my opinion, that was the wrong decision this year, they've given us both so all right, brilliant amazing display- and I actually appreciate the 21x9 aspect- ratio right, because when you're scrolling you can see more of the feed, and also it's easier to hold in one hand.

So you can easily reach the other side. So it's something that I actually think that's quite different, and you know I quite like the one thing that I'm not so sure about. Well, you know, and it's a compromise that I do understand is the brightness. The peak brightness is not as much especially outdoors compared to um, you know, say the iPhone or especially the s21 ultra, which is your know, one of my favorite devices outdoors. Obviously, we've got the Xiaomi mi 11 ultra, which is amazing outdoors as well.

So that's the thing, but that's kind of a compromise. I understand, if you're pushing out 4k at 120 hertz to also give you peak brightness, it's just you know. Probably the technology isn't there at the time. So that's fine, and you know the battery for the 4k display 4500 William hours. It's been pretty decent for me, I would say: um you do get the charger included at the box as well, which, which is obviously nice in this day and age- and you know, you're getting some unique features which you don't get on any of the devices these days.

Let's be honest: you're getting a micro, SD card right, you're, getting a 3.5, millimeter, headphone jack you're, getting some front firing. Stereo speakers, which sound absolutely awesome I'd, say some of the best sounding speakers on any smartphone right now. Now the thing for me is when it comes to the cameras right. Okay, people have been going SAF. Compare this to the iPhone.

Compare this to the s21 ultra. The problem is, I cannot compare it in the traditional sense and I would have to come up with a whole different camera comparison format which would favor the Sony which would be, which wouldn't be fair. You know what I mean, so I'm I've not actually done a camera comparison. For that reason, because you know if I do a traditional camera comparison, the Sony's obviously going to lose right. But then, if I do a specialized camera comparison, I'm blatantly favoring, I'm blatantly doing it just to make the Sony you know somewhat win which then I can't win, and I know as a reviewer, that's a that's a dilemma that I have right now.

Here's the thing right! I'm just going to give you my opinion on the cameras. I think the camera is really great, and we've got some perfect hardware here, right um. Furthermore, I do like the fact that you can switch the focal length right, but the zoom isn't actually that great. In my opinion right, so you are using the same sensor for the variable zoom. What I would have loved is if you could actually do the in between zooms as well optically right now, you could just switch between 70 and 105 right.

So it's just batman right. Here's! My problem with the cameras, though right okay front facing camera, is eight megapixels 1080p, it's trash! Okay! Now I get people saying: oh I don't! I don't use the front-facing camera anyway. Well, that's up to you. I have to cover it. I have to cover it right.

You know what I mean, whether you, whether you use it or not. I have to cover it right. Okay, that's that's what I have to do right, okay, replacing cameras right again, they're, pretty good uh, and you've got so many controls right, which is thumbs up. I love having control, and you know like really being able to download settings and also because it's quite familiar to you know Sony alpha cameras, here's my here's, my thing: this is my argument, and it always has been on my iPhone. I have film pro, which gives you I would say almost all, if not some more features, some different features to really change up exactly and get the manual settings that you want right on an iPhone, and that is an app that I use all the time and I absolutely love it right.

So my point is okay, so I can somewhat get those features on a compared to camera right. But what I can't do on the Sony which I can do on other devices is had software features like night mode right now e you mentioned that you had a party um. You know happy birthday to e by the way, uh thank you and uh. Logan was taking pictures using night mode and the s20 and patron. They turned out great yeah.

They did yeah uh because you know Logan and I will show you some pictures, so you guys can if you're watching the podcast you'll see some pictures uh. What was interested in this discussion because we talked about this over the weekend on our twitter spaces uh- was the fact that look if he doesn't have a night mode and I had a birthday party, it was in the evening it turned to night and I picked up, I said: look David Logan you're, a YouTuber you're not in take photos so be the photographer tonight. David's like sure, no problem, buddy and all David said was hey guys. This is night motion just hold for a second. Don't just move erratically because it's just going to look bad, and he took a photo.

People were a little grumpy, but once they saw the photo, they were like. Okay cool another one. Please go ahead, and that is the difference as opposed to uh. You know me using the Sony and taking a photo where it's not going to look good. I just watched uh Michael fisher's, video last night on the Sony, and those are some of the things he talked about, because you know he went to Montauk, which he always does, even though he makes it seem like it's something very, very new all the time, but it was.

It was interesting to see the image quality, especially at night, where um, you know, he's taking photos, and it looked like something from literally three years ago or even from a lesser camera, and that's the difference here because for you to take that photo. This is something I learned from my buddy Marion cell is that this is long exposure and the part that gets me with this device. Am I've always said this, and I'll say this? Am I don't think Sony knows what market it wants to do because they say this is for the professional photographer right and I have a very good friend who is a professional photographer, and I can tell you the phones that he enjoyed to use? He's an iPhone user on standard um. He liked the galaxy he liked the pixel he loved the Huawei, especially the p20 and the p30, because it did things for him that he knows he has to take a photo, and then he goes to Lightroom, and then he has to do his edits, and then he will even take it back into photoshop, and they might switch a couple of applications just to get the image the way he wants to, as opposed to whenever he went out to a party, or he had friends over the every photographer will tell you the best camera is the one in your pocket, not the one at home. Exactly now he's here being my what I want to mention.

You know you mentioned night mode right, okay, so Sony's argument seems to be that they want to go for more of a natural look right. Okay, so I'm like that's fine, why not have the option for a night mode it can be switched off by default, give people the natural shot that you're looking for, but hey, there's going to be certain situations because look, as I said, if I want, I can switch off night mode, okay, and I can take pictures without that and guess what they'll look a lot more natural right? Okay, I can go into pro mode on my s21 ultra and I can tweak some things to get the type of shot that I want, but on the Sony, there's not that counter thing right, portrait mode again, you just don't get that same level of portrait mode that you get on. You know the other devices and stuff like that. So so so my point was you know, and- and I was emphasizing this last year as well with the Sony Xperia mark ii as well, these manual controls and all of these features are great. You're going for a natural shot amazing, I love it right, but then why are you not giving features, which could essentially be here as options at least right and that way you'll be a lot more competitive? Why are you giving a 1080p front-facing camera for a device? That's priced at 1300 right, it's unacceptable! In my opinion, and I'm not just giving Sony stick for this.

You would go back and see my um camera comparison of the OnePlus 9 pro right, I'm I'm! I'm ranting the exact same thing. If, if you have a flagship device with a 1080p front-facing camera, then I'm sorry, I'm going to criticize it because, yes, you may not use it specifically, but it is something that you know: we've come to expect from flagship's devices. Now I also want to mention that for the 1300 price point and the 1200 pound price point, at least in the UK, you can get some son yum uh the headphones mark iii headphones. I don't even remember the name um with those for free right, so that actually makes the price a little more reasonable and competitive. But the other thing I want to mention sony is that this device was initially announced.

What is it? Was it April time April may time? I think it was right god I we. I got briefed around that time, okay, somewhere around then it's July, it's July now, reviewers have got it in their hands. Guess when it's releasing august. So look at the time gap between when it was announced the hype. Is there it's going down it's going down.

It's going down. You've got the reviewers kind of getting the hands on it. The hype goes a little up, but guess what the device isn't going to release for over a month. Still, I think it's the 19th of august or something like yeah to me. That doesn't make any sense right.

I think you know pretty much every other manufacturer they announce a device and then, within a month maximum months yeah it's in it. You can buy it right. So the hype is there everybody's still interested if it's a device in your mind, you already think that's an old device because you've heard about it from April right. So that's another thing, that's a negative on here now I want to add something quickly. Here is yeah.

So a lot of a lot of Sony, fanboys will say at 1300 you're, not just getting a camera you're getting you know the video output features uh. You know to your professional camera. Uh you're, getting one of the cool features that Sony did introduce. That I do like is the fact that, while you're gaming uh it does it save your battery, and it doesn't actually use your battery if you're plugged in to your charger, it just uses directly from the know from the wall socket, that's that's great and that's cool, but here's the thing about smartphones are now graded. First on camera, not by me, not by staff but by every consumer, because that is what they have in their pocket got.

We no longer buy cameras specifically to take photos. We buy cameras because you're creating content as a content creator as a videographer and all that kind of stuff. Your phone literally. The first thing you do in your phone is take photos, so those have to match there's a reason why the market leaders are apple and Samsung. Not because I mean just advertising this marketing, but the fact that look, they have gone a long way to make taking photos easy for the regular consumer.

Now you may say this is for the professional, but I can almost guarantee your professional look at that and go. I might as well just pick up my a7 s3 or my camera. Oh, my whatever, exactly because this is something that fisher said in his review as well, that you know if you're going to be essentially, if you, if you're, going to be carrying around a tripod right to be able to use this camera properly and doing all of this, and that you might as well and if it is that pro that Sony's completely targeting they already have an alpha camera with them right. I own three Sony alpha cameras, okay and most of the time. One of them is with me right, you're, also on three Sony, alpha cameras, and they're amazing right now, if I'm going to be doing all of this faffing around right to get the right shot, why not just pull out my Sony that I've got in my uh backpack anyway, and just use that you know what I mean right, and the other thing is with smartphone photography right.

I like having those manual options because there's sometimes you can, you know like just if you want to get like a silhouette or something you know certain situations where you really want to kind of um have that manual control, but the problem is you've got fixed aperture on all of these cameras right. So, if you're outdoors right, you're going to be on a stupid, ass, shutter speed in order to be able to get things not overexposed right, and it's just not going to work because again it's a smartphone camera. So again you know. For me, this is the reason why I really like the iPhone camera right is because I use it for different things. I most of the time.

I have my Sony with me anyway right my Sony, a7 um s3 or my uh Sony a7c right and I can just pull that out, and I get amazing shots and I absolutely love it right. But the reason why I use my smartphone camera is for quick things. If I just want to get- and I you know like dynamic range, you get some great dynamic range straight out of the bat which you can share straight away and that's what you know. Most people use their smartphone photography for now. If Sony want to carry on- and do this very specifically targeted device- that's well and good right, but then you can't criticize us for calling it enthusiast device, because that's exactly what it is, so we're calling it what it is, we're reviewing it as we review the devices.

We can't really change the review process to favor this, to make it look good, we're using the same review process when we're comparing it to other smartphones as well. We can't like to favor something over another, so this is the thing I kind of just want to kind of get this out there. I'm sure there's going to be lots of Sony fans hating in the comments and stuff. That's fine! You go ahead and do that, I'm just I'm going to give you my honest opinions regardless. I will just say this: is that look they're only right now, they're only two manufacturers who have the ability to give us a true all-around phone.

The iPhone is not and I'll. Tell you why Sony and Samsung are the only two companies that have divisions that have quality on almost every single aspect. Right Sony displays in terms of TVs, even their professional monitors are crazy. Sony has a great audio department. We know how the headphones are.

Speakers as well Sony make these sensors for almost everybody's cell phone out there right. Uh Sony has a great camera division. They have a gaming division like and- and all I am asking I don't know about software- I'm asking is Sony if you're going to give me if you want to tell me, spend 1300 if you, if we did a vol tron of all those division and all powers combined, captain planet type thing, and you gave me captain planet, I would pay for that. At least I will talk about it because you are now showing that yes, the best of Sony is here. What I feel here is that the best of one division is trying to do something while not all of it is coming together, and it's not a synergistic approach, which is why you know somebody asked me is like: will Sony go the right of right route of lg and I say, is very possible because they are not catering to a market that is waiting for them to be catered to.

There is a void for number three, a huge void, because Huawei's gone lg's out of the market, and nobody has taken that number three spot, no one. It's like Xiaomi, opp, they're, all kind of like kind of floating around that number three place, and its yeah pixel is trying to do a push now with the pixel six, because we're here, and they're going high-end- and you know all these different things, but there's just nobody there, and you have the pedigree. You have the history to do it, and you've got the skill sets to do it. I'm just asking to show me what you can do. That's all that's all yeah, but I mean this is the thing again.

I guarantee you based on this video people are just going to look at the know all the good things that we said about the device earlier on. It's going to be completely forgotten, and they're, just gonna kind of hold on to oh yeah. You guys just don't know how to shoot cam with cameras and stuff who needs night mode. I don't use a front-facing camera anyway. Hey look! It's up to you, um! If, if that's who the smartphone is for um, then that's great.

But what I'm saying is it's? It's only ever going to be a very niche and enthusiastic device and if, if that's exactly what Sony won, and they're happy with that, then that's great, but we're going to review it based on our experiences and our um. You know our format of how we review other devices, and we're going to do that. And if that's not to your level, then goodbye anyway. That's what we want to say um, but you know I. I really hope that you know Sony doesn't go down the lg route right um.

As I said, you know some things that I would love to keep with this device, such as the 21x9 aspect ratio, I'm happy with the 4k 120 hertz as well sure I'll make the compromise, but you know give us a better front-facing camera give us more. Camera features, sure keep those manual settings and everything that you've got, but give us more. Camera features that we see in other devices as well, give us those options, and then you're not gonna, have an excuse. We're not going to have an excuse, because not only can this smartphone be for enthusiasts, but it can be for people who are after a proper flagship device, a different flagship device, and then they can become um. Those enthusiasts we'll see.

I hope you enjoyed that clip. If you want to hear the full podcast episode, then that will be linked down below and if you want to see more clips like this, then be sure to subscribe and hit that bell icon. So you don't miss them thanks for watching. This is SAF on Superman speaks I'll, see you next time.

Source : SuperSaf Speaks