Terribly buggy
By Richard
Rated 1 out of 5
Date: 2023-01-10
I had used the Sony Xperia 1 II a while back and was extremely happy with it, so I was excited about getting my hands on the Xperia 5 IV because it seemed to have little-to-no compromises on features (3 cameras, wireless charging, shutter button, headphone jack, giant battery, and a premium processor) in a much more compact/easy-to-hold form factor. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this device to anyone as the user interface has been dreadfully buggy. The keyboard closes while typing and will not re-open for an enormous length of time. Media playback will abruptly interrupt and lose track of position (this is not app or network related either, as it will also occur on locally stored media on various apps). Bluetooth connectivity misbehaves at times, as well to top things off. It has all the bells and whistles I could ask for in a perfectly sized package, but its general performance in everyday usage makes me want to pull my hair out and is ultimately a deal breaker for me. A shame because this phone cost a quite a bit and I'm not keen on spending more to replace it, but I'm going to have to as I don't think I can tolerate it for much longer.
I've discovered a few workarounds for the Xperia's flaws
By Matt
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2022-12-30
Let's be honest, Sony. The main reason we are interested in this phone is because it has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-SD slot for expandable storage. If Sony removes either of those two features in future releases, then I wouldn't buy this phone. The irony is that if you bought this phone around Black Friday of 2022 from B&H Photo, it came with free Sony wireless earbuds, which were a nice gift, but I want the ability to plug-in my old-school headphones without any adapters.
It's also ironic that this phone is priced as a flagship device, but most of us buy the Xperia for its legacy features like the headphone jack. Xperia's do NOT include the latest and greatest bells and whistles (more on that later), but one blast-from-the-past feature that I love is the notification LED on the front of the phone, which blinks when you step away from your phone and have missed calls or texts. No, I don't want to use the "always-on displays" that other phones offer, which kills battery life. The selfie cam and LED are on the top edge of the phone, clearly above and separated from the screen, which is much better than the iPhone's idiotic "Dynamic Island", which takes a chunk of screen real estate and literally leaves a black hole blocking your view of certain apps and games. Credit Sony for proper selfie camera placement.
Let's address the Xperia flaws and workarounds I've discovered:
1) No WiFi Calling for Verizon in the US. I almost returned this phone because it lacked this feature and I live in a dead zone. However, here's the fix that worked for me. Call Verizon and ask them to ship you an LTE Network Extender. It's like a cable modem that must sit close to a window (for a satellite signal) and plug into your wireless router with an ethernet cable. After I got it, I have no more dropped or choppy calls with the Xperia and I have 5 full bars throughout my home. Other Android phones have a feature called "HD Voice" where you can enable it to connect to the Network Extender, but with the Xperia, the feature can't be enabled or disabled. It's always on and will work great. Another tip is Verizon tried to force me to pay for the Network Extender, but when I refused and threatened to cancel my service, they agreed to ship it to me for free as loaner device as long as I continue to have service with them. Problem 1 solved.
2) Another problem with the Xperia is that my face would frequently and accidentally hit the mute or "end call" buttons when I was talking on the phone. No other reviewers complained about this issue, and I've never had any problems with any older Android phones. The fix: I bought a 3rd party app from Google Play called "True Phone." It is a custom dialer (another reason I choose Android over Apple), which allows users to customize the location and size of the mute and "end call" buttons, among other very useful features. It was a one time $10 cost for the app to remove all ads. I configured the ongoing call buttons to be much smaller and lower on the screen now, and I no longer mute myself by accident.
3) Sony already updated the Xperia 5 IV to Android 13 in December 2022. However, they thought it would be a good idea to make the default accent color a pastel pink, which looked truly disgusting compared to the colors of Android 12. To change the color back, go to Android Settings Wallpaper Wallpaper & style Basic Colors Blue. Now, other Android phones will give you a dozen color options or so to choose from, which is called "Material You", which is not available on the Xperia. Sony only allows you to pick light blue or cotton-candy barf pink. This leads me to the next topic.
The Xperia offers bare bones Android 13, which is good and bad. It's good because there isn't really much bloatware. I don't want to be forced to use Bixby, like on Samsung devices. The Xperia has a few preinstalled apps like Facebook and LinkedIn that can be uninstalled or disabled. However, Sony refuses to implement a lot of advanced features that I previously thought automatically come with Android, such as:
a) No ability to pick a custom volume level for each app.
b) No ability to control the intensity of haptic feedback. It's either on or off.
c) No ability to change the default volume settings. The default volume (if you press the volume buttons on the phone) is always "Media volume", so if you want to change the "Ring volume", you have to press the physical volume button, then press the three dots on the screen to show other volume options, then adjust the "Ring Volume" using a slider.
d) No Face Unlock.
However, I really like the Xperia fingerprint reader on the side of the phone. It's fast and accurate, especially if you find the Android setting "Remove Animations", which makes the phone fade in from black when it's unlocked. My girlfriend got an iPhone 14 Pro, and I think it's a joke Apple no longer includes fingerprint readers. On the Xperia, you may lightly touch the fingerprint reader to unlock the phone, or it may be used as a dual-purpose button. There's a setting that allows you to use the fingerprint button with your Google Assistant as well, if you press the button a little harder, it makes a click and invokes the Google Assistant, which is really nice.
I wish the dedicated physical camera button could be repurposed, but it can't be done as far as I know. Come on, Sony! Let the user decide what happens with that button. Different actions could be setup for a quick click, click & hold, or double click. Currently, its only purpose is to take a phone (which is nice), or long-hold to open the camera app (also nice, but I want more configuration options).
That said, some people like the Xperia camera because of its software configuration options, but I haven't had time to learn everything yet. I'm not overly impressed with the "basic" mode. I want to just point and click and let Sony create the best possible picture for me. The basic mode results are just OK.
The 5,000 mAh battery seems fantastic, and I often have 30% - 40% remaining by the end of the day despite that I spend too much time playing games on the toilet. That said, any new phone probably seems like an improvement when replacing a 3-year-old phone. Xperia wired charging seems fast. Wireless charging is slow by design to prolong the battery life, but I believe you can change the settings.
After I fixed the issue with drop calls, hearing my phone calls are crisp and clear, including the speakerphone. No one has complained they can't hear me well since my fix.
I haven't had any issues with the phone overheating, but I kept the default display settings at 60Hz instead of 120Hz, preferring battery life over visual display.
The waterproof feature of the Xperia is a huge plus, and I wouldn't buy a phone that lacks this often-overlooked benefit.
I have also not been impressed with my first experience with 5G on the Xperia. When I travel and find a 5G zone, it doesn't seem any faster than standard 4G LTE. I think 5G is overhyped.
Sony will only support the Xperia 5 IV through Android 15, which seems like a shorter time span than other flagship phones. As of December 2022, the Xperia runs Android 13.
The Xperia screen is made from Gorilla Glass Victus, which is supposed to be a more durable upgrade from my previous phone that had Gorilla Glass 5. However, the screen feels soft, which seemed nice as first, but I've already noticed minor scratches that wouldn't have happened with my previous phone.
My final tip is to buy a Spigen case for the Xperia phone, which I've used on this phone and others for years. I've never cracked a phone screen even though I've dropped my phones hundreds of times. I've tried other cases, but Spigen is the only case that gives the satisfying "clicks" when you press the phone's physical buttons. It fits the Xperia like a glove. The only drawback is Spigen cases only come in the color black for niche phones like the Xperia.
Finally, I want to give a shout out to B&H Photo. I almost returned this phone because it lacked WiFi calling, but I discovered the fix that I mentioned above. B&H customer service was easy to contact, and they would have accepted my returned my phone with free shipping for a full refund. In the end, I'm glad I kept this phone and will continue to shop on B&H.
Compact Android
By Vince
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-12-03
It's the most compact Android that is physical dual sim/sd card that works with Verizon, and works with c band. Fingerprint is way better than it was on the 5 III. I don't even use the camera much, I just wanted the form factor and as a result of such, I've been using Sony phones since the z5 compact. The screen is great. Yes, it gets warm, but I believe the updates have made it better?? It could just be because the ambient temperature is getting cooler outside by the day too? I use it to do food delivery and the screen is always on and running multiple apps. I have no big deal breaking complaints. Side note- gps signal is more accurate than on my pixel 6a. Signal strength is on par with most phones, it may be a few less db, but I haven't lost service anywhere. If I never did, I'd just switch to my other sim! Love Sony!
