It’s been a while since I last used a Sony phone (back in 2013 in fact). I must say I have a soft spot for Sony electronic products - I’ve bought their TV, radios, smartwatches but rarely mobile phones. Their mobile phone design and especially price in recent years leaves a lot to be desired. That said, their new tall and narrow 21:9 aspect ratio design since 2019 is eye-catching to me so when I sold my last Samsung Note 9, I decided to give the Sony Xperia 10 II a try.
At first glance, the tall and narrow design while unique, I still had time to get used to it. The Xperia 10 II features a 6” OLED screen, an outdated Snapdragon 665 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory. Unlike the Note 9, this Sony phone doesn’t have wireless charging. Fast charging is supported but you will need to purchase the optional Sony UCH32C fast charger. There’s no face unlock but you got this useful fingerprint sensor cum power button on the side.
The Android OS 10 that comes in the box is upgradeable instantly to Android 11. I like that Sony decided to use this almost stock Android user-interface instead of a custom Android skin. The side-sense and multitasking features are useful. Snapping photos from its triple lens camera you immediately notice there’s a significant lag between tapping the shutter button and the camera actually taking the picture. If the subject is moving you will definitely get a blurry shot. Low light photo quality from the Xperia 10 II is adequate but not great.
It does not take me long to notice the lack of performance of this phone. Compared to the much older Samsung Note 9, this phone feels slower and less responsive. The display despite being OLED is not that good, there's no always on display, the speaker sound mediocre, the battery does not last long and the camera quality is questionable. And that’s coming from a Sony sensor. Being a tall and narrow phone, watching most streaming website will leave you with a black bar on both sides of the screen unless you double tap to zoom in.
So basically, the Xperia 10 II is a downgrade from my Note 9. Yes the body and design is quite pretty on the outside but internally, it’s rubbish. Lack of wireless charging is a real bummer. The overall performance quality is below par. I have been warned about this from the many reviews that I saw on YouTube but I decided to buy it anyway and lived to regret it. But no matter, I have now disposed of this phone albeit with a little loss. You probably get a better performing phone with their flagship Xperia 1 II but that one costs as much as the latest iPhone. You might as well get an iPhone with that price in my opinion.
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