Sony Xperia 5 IV Audio Review

[Jimster480]

Oddly enough you can enable 5G on the international model. (it is off by default) haha. It still wont support 5G on CDMA networks. https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/x8qy2f

I'm going to have my friend try this tomorrow.

Absolutely a valid argument, but I have little doubt that there will be a day when a massive phone ransomware attack happens with millions of phone held hostage with the cloud being the way the devices are exploited. It just seems to me that the more you interconnect your life with the Internet, and what is more connected than syncing your phone with it, that your risk rises exponentially to become a data breach victim.

I will personally seek to minimize the need to use the cloud except for when I am truly forced to do so out of absolute necessity. Call me overly cautious, paranoid or whatever adjective seems appropriate, but I put a great deal of effort into minimizing avoidable risks and allowing the most personal gateway to my life, my phone, to become another node of the Internet, with very little real value to me, just seems unnecessary.

I turn my data and wifi on and off for every single use on my phone. When I'm done, my phone data and wifi goes off. Yes I am still exposed through the cellular network, but I am less exposed. I do not bank on my phone, I do not even use my e-mail on my phone, I do the least possible on my phone as I believe they are extremely vulnerable devices. Hell, I still take a bunch of cash out of the bank at the start of the week and live off of it. I get funny looks when I pay cash in stores. In this way my phone is also less crucial to my daily life so should I lose it, it won't devastate my life. It would simply be inconvenient. I probably am way out to left field on this one.

As you say, we make our choices and I have been warned.

Yea this definitely isn't me. However I am careful with the phone overall and do everything I can for phone security and minimize my usage of cloud services in general.

 

[A Surfer]

I'm going to have my friend try this tomorrow.


Yea this definitely isn't me. However I am careful with the phone overall and do everything I can for phone security and minimize my usage of cloud services in general.

Well, it probably won't remain me either. After posting that last night I started to think I need to get over it. If I don't do sensitive things on my phone, which clearly I don't, the risk is probably pretty low anyway so perhaps I just need to get with the program. I am not an overly suspicious or anxious person so perhaps the Cloud is something I should consider embracing. I do like the idea of having things backed up.

 

[Jmudrick]

Well, it probably won't remain me either. After posting that last night I started to think I need to get over it. If I don't do sensitive things on my phone, which clearly I don't, the risk is probably pretty low anyway so perhaps I just need to get with the program. I am not an overly suspicious or anxious person so perhaps the Cloud is something I should consider embracing. I do like the idea of having things backed up.

It boggles my mind to see posts on social media from friends saying "I lost my phone and all my contacts so please send your contact info"..... Google and FB already know how I like my steak I'll take the contacts backup...

 

[Jimster480]

It boggles my mind to see posts on social media from friends saying "I lost my phone and all my contacts so please send your contact info"..... Google and FB already know how I like my steak I'll take the contacts backup...

I don't use Facebook but it always amazed me how people can lose all their contacts.

 

[Jimster480]

Well, it probably won't remain me either. After posting that last night I started to think I need to get over it. If I don't do sensitive things on my phone, which clearly I don't, the risk is probably pretty low anyway so perhaps I just need to get with the program. I am not an overly suspicious or anxious person so perhaps the Cloud is something I should consider embracing. I do like the idea of having things backed up.

I only store things on cloud backups that aren't confidential. No IDs passwords or other sensitive materials. We have Google photos but I use that more for business than anything else.
I check the permissions of every app and don't grant anything permissions it doesn't need.

 

[Multicore]

The market for phones here in the US is really weak. I currently have a Xiaomi Mi 9T. The features and price suits me well. But the front glass is getting pretty dinged up so I went to look for a replacement. Nothing appealing. Xiaomi has a model I'd like but I would have to get it on a gray market import (ebay) and support it myself (provisioning APNs etc.)

Following up from this, over the last month I bought and returned the top of the line phones of both Apple and Samsung. Neither had cameras that were significantly better than my 3 year old 9T in ways that matter to me. The Apple tele performance was real bad. The Samsung tele cameras were OK but not worth the sacrifices on weight, size, fragility, cost, silly software, and battery drain.

So I'm back to the 9T and will perhaps revisit the question another time.

 

[Jimster480]

Following up from this, over the last month I bought and returned the top of the line phones of both Apple and Samsung. Neither had cameras that were significantly better than my 3 year old 9T in ways that matter to me. The Apple tele performance was real bad. The Samsung tele cameras were OK but not worth the sacrifices on weight, size, fragility, cost, silly software, and battery drain.

So I'm back to the 9T and will perhaps revisit the question another time.

Camera performance is your #1 metric?
I mean phone cameras haven't gotten much better in the last years...

 

[Multicore]

Camera performance is your #1 metric?

I made it a spec for the cameras of the new phone to be at least as good as the old phone.

I mean phone cameras haven't gotten much better in the last years...

So it seems.

The 3-year old 9T beat the pants off the Apple and held its own against the Samsung. The only thing about the Samsung that I really liked was OIS on the two tele cameras. Everything else seemed big, clunky, wizzbang, or inefficient. It felt somehow like on a gamer PC. And so fragile that I'd need a beefy case to protect it from a drop.

I suppose part of it is I'm just used to my old phone and am skilled at using it.

 

[A Surfer]

I only store things on cloud backups that aren't confidential. No IDs passwords or other sensitive materials. We have Google photos but I use that more for business than anything else.
I check the permissions of every app and don't grant anything permissions it doesn't need.

Ditto.

 

[Jimster480]

I made it a spec for the cameras of the new phone to be at least as good as the old phone.


So it seems.

The 3-year old 9T beat the pants off the Apple and held its own against the Samsung. The only thing about the Samsung that I really liked was OIS on the two tele cameras. Everything else seemed big, clunky, wizzbang, or inefficient. It felt somehow like on a gamer PC. And so fragile that I'd need a beefy case to protect it from a drop.

I suppose part of it is I'm just used to my old phone and am skilled at using it.

This is how I felt with my LG G8. The new Sony Xperia IV doesn't really have a better camera than the LG G8 for normal image taking in an everday scenario. The Sony does have a nice optical variable zoom lens though as well as better video recording options (not that it matters to me so much).

 

[A Surfer]

I also find the G8 takes very good pictures in good to fair lighting. I wonder if we have reached a current limit with the quality of software interpellation/processing and all we see are differences in style. For example, I read a great deal of phone camera reviews as it certainly for me is the most compelling reason to invest in a good phone. I have noticed that it tends to be image processing approaches that differ once you are comparing similar competence level with the phones in terms of the cameras.

Saying that, clearly having larger apertures and well implemented optical telephoto lenses would matter and this seems to be where we now see the big differences showing up. Expectedly to get those advances I wonder if that precipitates the need for a larger phone?

 

[Multicore]

This is how I felt with my LG G8. The new Sony Xperia IV doesn't really have a better camera than the LG G8 for normal image taking in an everday scenario. The Sony does have a nice optical variable zoom lens though as well as better video recording options (not that it matters to me so much).

I decided to go back to carrying a real camera for when I want good results. I have a small one and a large one. I made this little ootoob with the small on Monday.

By coincidence both the small and the large ones are Sony.

 

[Multicore]

I also find the G8 takes very good pictures in good to fair lighting.

If the camera's focal and sensor size are suitable for the scene you want to shoot then you'll get good results.

I wonder if we have reached a current limit with the quality of software interpellation/processing and all we see are differences in style. For example, I read a great deal of phone camera reviews as it certainly for me is the most compelling reason to invest in a good phone. I have noticed that it tends to be image processing approaches that differ once you are comparing similar competence level with the phones in terms of the cameras.

Saying that, clearly having larger apertures and well implemented optical telephoto lenses would matter and this seems to be where we now see the big differences showing up. Expectedly to get those advances I wonder if that precipitates the need for a larger phone?

With tiny phone sensors 1. you don't get the defocus blur that some people want (so they add it with SW now), and 2. you need good light to get decent IQ. 3. You have to add cameras to get decent telephoto IQ (e.g. the Samsung I tried has two additional telephoto cameras at about 70 and 100 mm equiv.)

These are all problems that have been solved a long time ago but not in the form factor that the market has come to expect from a smartphone. There's the problem. To make selling these things profitable, you have to sell a lot of them and make people upgrade frequently. And I think the cameras are good enough for most people.

The phone makers could make phones that are drop-proof, water-proof, last 10+ years and have great battery life. But they don't. Idk why but I assume it's because the market wants sleek, thin, shiny things. Apple has been obsessed with delicate thinness over robust utility for decades now. And I don't second guess their marketing people. I assume they know what people want. And the competition has had no joy marketing tough phones.

And I think the situation is similar with cameras. They are good enough for the mass market as it is. And I am honestly impressed how good they are.

So I believe the constraints of mass marketing smartphones is the limit here. It's not that we've reached some new limit in software or sensors.

 

[Jimster480]

I also find the G8 takes very good pictures in good to fair lighting. I wonder if we have reached a current limit with the quality of software interpellation/processing and all we see are differences in style. For example, I read a great deal of phone camera reviews as it certainly for me is the most compelling reason to invest in a good phone. I have noticed that it tends to be image processing approaches that differ once you are comparing similar competence level with the phones in terms of the cameras.

Saying that, clearly having larger apertures and well implemented optical telephoto lenses would matter and this seems to be where we now see the big differences showing up. Expectedly to get those advances I wonder if that precipitates the need for a larger phone?

Well for me I enjoy the vastly better battery life of my Sony. The higher resolution screen allows me to shrink the UI and text and fit more on my screen while still being clear to me. The additional memory allows me to open various apps at once so I can help my customers / do business easier.
As far as the camera I think we have kind of hit a wall. Outside of telephoto stuff I don't see my Sony (or any new phone I've tried really) vastly surpass my G8 in casual photo capturing.

I decided to go back to carrying a real camera for when I want good results. I have a small one and a large one. I made this little ootoob with the small on Monday.

By coincidence both the small and the large ones are Sony.

Honestly nothing touches modern day real cameras. I have a Panasonic GX55 and the quality of the video and images blow away any smartphone even today.

 

[A Surfer]

I'm not surprised how good true, dedicated cameras are. I think I could see a case for owning one, but you have to admit, a good smartphone camera, all things being considered is still a pretty decent thing. The convenience factor is of course of major significance. Still, if I knew that I was going to a special event or destination, and really, really wanted the best possible pictures, I could see owning a good dedicated camera.

Saying that, I would not want to spend more than about $500 on a dedicated camera, and for that money it would have to be noticeably better than any smartphone camera going to justify that price. After all, the only function it would perform is taking pictures/video, so for that money it better be well better than a smartphone. Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense. If you have to spend closer to a $1000 on a dedicated camera, for example, to best the best smartphone, the point of diminishing return/marginality has to be viewed as considerable.

The smartphone offers the user quite a few tangible benefits/uses, including the camera, so a simple camera alone should not be nearly as expensive to best it at photography alone. IMO. I have no idea what dedicated cameras cost these days, I'll have to go look as I'm curious now.

 

[Jimster480]

I'm not surprised how good true, dedicated cameras are. I think I could see a case for owning one, but you have to admit, a good smartphone camera, all things being considered is still a pretty decent thing. The convenience factor is of course of major significance. Still, if I knew that I was going to a special event or destination, and really, really wanted the best possible pictures, I could see owning a good dedicated camera.

Saying that, I would not want to spend more than about $500 on a dedicated camera, and for that money it would have to be noticeably better than any smartphone camera going to justify that price. After all, the only function it would perform is taking pictures/video, so for that money it better be well better than a smartphone. Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense. If you have to spend closer to a $1000 on a dedicated camera, for example, to best the best smartphone, the point of diminishing return/marginality has to be viewed as considerable.

The smartphone offers the user quite a few tangible benefits/uses, including the camera, so a simple camera alone should not be nearly as expensive to best it at photography alone. IMO. I have no idea what dedicated cameras cost these days, I'll have to go look as I'm curious now.

I have both and my dedicated camera was around $800. Everything said and done was a little over $1000 but its well worth it because I have recorded things that there would just be no way to record with any smartphone camera. I have also taken pictures that will last a lifetime that could have never been taken with a smartphone camera.
Smartphones are good for convenience factor but as good as the images are from smartphones they pale in comparison to any decent dedicated camera today.

 

[Samuelsmash]

I use a XIaomi Redmi 9, which is a low end smartphone from 2020, it is capable of putting 1Vrms on the headphone jack by going thru the secret engineer mode and raising the max headphone volume.

Unfortunately custom roms like lineageOS don't support the engineer mode and now I'm stuck at 0.5Vrms with no way of raising the max volume, there is very little documentation on how the audio works on mtk devices, on Qualcomm devices you could edit the mixer_paths.xml file to raise the max volume, no info on how it is done on mtk devices.

 

[amirm]

FYI I gave up and bought the Samsung S23 Ultra. It is so heavy it almost pulls my pants down when in the pocket! The performance is impressive though and usability quite high due to size of the display. Already miss the headphone jack though. .....

 

[Rottmannash]

FYI I gave up and bought the Samsung S23 Ultra. It is so heavy it almost pulls my pants down when in the pocket! The performance is impressive though and usability quite high due to size of the display. Already miss the headphone jack though. .....

I have the S21Plus and it actually does pull my scrub pants down to the point I don't want to carry it around during the day...

 

[Dennis_FL]

I do. Wanted to avoid it but seems not possible. I am waiting for Feb 1 announcement of S23 if I go that route. I realized that with wireless charging, I can use the USB for audio and still be able to charge, albeit with the phone in the cradle of the charger.

Apple's iPhones have analog out with a dongle.

I also have an older portable DAC (Oppo HA 2) which you can rubber band to an iPhone and play hi res using the Onkyo APP

But I found myself using the more convenient Bluetooth connection the most.