Introduction
There's a shift of command in the house of Xperia. The Sony Xperia X and its two siblings are taking over from the Xperia Z. A dynasty has come to an end. We hear the C and M families are being put out to pasture as well, soon it will be all X top to bottom.
So, what's the new face of Sony like? The Xperia X, which will likely form the backbone of the new lineup, persists with the angular aesthetics that debuted with the original Xperia Z back in 2013. It has a metal back, but no more waterproofing (that's exclusive to the Xperia X Performance). Sony's trademark sonic experience however lives on with the on-board stereo speakers and High-Res audio. Another Sony staple, the camera, is more than robust but has an uncomfortable question to answer.
Key features
- 5" 1,080 x 1,920px LCD display with 441ppi, X-Reality for Mobile, Triluminos technology and Dynamic Contrast Enhancer; scratch-resistant glass, oleophobic coating
- Android OS v6.0 Marshmallow with Xperia launcher
- Hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 650, a dual-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A72 and quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53; Adreno 510 GPU; 3GB RAM
- 23 MP camera with 1080p@60fps video recording and tracking autofocus; 13 MP front-facing camera with 1080p@30fps video
- 32GB of built-in storage and a microSD card slot
- Single and dual-SIM variants
- LTE Cat.6 (300Mbps); Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; A-GPS/GLONASS receiver, Bluetooth v4.1, FM radio with RDS
- Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic; 24-bit/192kHz Hi-Res audio
- 2,620mAh non-removable battery
- Fingerprint sensor
Main disadvantages
- No 4K video recording
- No waterproofing
- Chipset and RAM not impressive for the price
We need to re-draw the Xperia family tree. If we agree that the Xperia X Performance replaces the Z5, then which one is X's predecessor? We think it's the Xperia M5.
Here's the deal: 5" 1080p screen, 13MP selfie camera, 21.2MP main camera with 4K video, IP68 rating. That's the Xperia M5. The Xperia X throws in a metal back and stereo speakers, but it loses 4K and IP68. It's an awkward trade-off to make against last year's midranger.
Sony Xperia X official images
Sony says that its secret sauce makes the Xperia X more than just a midrange handset and we're sure Sony fans would agree. So, if you want to experience this phone with your heart first - feel free. Starting on the next page, the hard facts and reason are back in the conversation.
Sony Xperia X official images
Display
The Sony Xperia X brings a Bravia, Triluminos, X-Reality display (hey, the names match!), 5" big with 1080p resolution. Sony won the sharpness wars with its 4K Xperia Z5 Premium, so the Xperia X is free to go for quality instead of bragging rights of a QHD display.
All those brand names really stand for an IPS LCD built on the Quantum Dot technology. It generates colors in a different way than vanilla LCD's and you can tell - even if you're used to AMOLED, the saturated colors of this screen look spell-binding.
Despite their surreal appearance, Sony managed to keep color reproduction fairly accurate - the display scores an average deltaE of 4.0 - that's more than the best in this regard (the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s), but it's still better than quite a few devices (the Xperia Z5, LG G5, and Huawei P9). It's really the white balance that's off (it has a blueish tint), the rest of the color reproduction stays mostly under a deltaE of 6. The biggest deviation was 9.4.
There are sliders to adjust white balance, but you need to have a calibration tool as you really can't do much by eye.
Sony also worked to improve contrast and the Xperia X scores 1,200:1, better than the 1,000:1 the Z5 managed and the 800:1 of the Xperia M5. This was largely done by improving the black levels, which are still on the high side. Even so, in the dark, you can get the brightness as low as 4.9 nits, a boon for late-night notifications when a bright screen would blind you.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.63 | 527 | 839 | |
| 0.59 | 583 | 986 | |
| 0.44 | 539 | 1219 | |
| - | 366 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 421 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 601 | ∞ | |
| 0.32 | 450 | 1398 | |
Sony does image post-processing in its gallery. You can turn it off, switch to X-Reality mode or go all in with Super-vivid mode (delivering self-described "surreal" images).
These modes sharpen images, boost contrast and (in super-vivid mode) enhance colors. You can get a side-by-side comparison to help you make your choice too.
The sunlight legibility marks a small improvement over the Xperia Z5 and M5. It's on par with, say, LG G5, but behind some mid-range AMOLED-packing phones.
Sunlight contrast ratio
The Display settings have a few additional perks. You can enable double-tap to wake (off by default), Glove mode (for cold winters) and Smart backlight control (keeps the screen on while you hold the phone).
Connectivity
The Sony Xperia X comes in single- and dual-SIM versions, ours is of the single-SIM kind.
For mobile data, LTE Cat. 6 (300Mbps down, 50Mbps up) along with HSPA as a fallback (42.2Mbps/5.76Mbps). You also get dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (the Xperia M5 lacked ac), Bluetooth 4.2 with aptX and Low Energy, NFC and FM Radio with RDS (we know it's important to some people).
The Wi-Fi connection can be used for screen casting - either via Miracast or Google Cast. This goes great if you connect a DualShock controller, the Xperia X becomes a portable console. For cars, MirrorLink can connect to your head unit.
The microUSB 2.0 port (yep, no Type-C action from Sony in the foreseeable future) lets you charge the phone as well as hook up USB storage and accessories. The port is MHL-enabled if you need a wired TV out instead.
Battery
Ask any Xperia owner about battery life and you'll hear good things. But the Sony Xperia X comes with a sealed 2,620mAh battery. Is it enough? That's the same capacity as the Xperia M5 and actually a bit less than the Xperia Z5 Compact (2,700mAh).
Improvements, including a new chipset, help the Endurance rating to a solid 67 hours. Not the best we've seen (Z3 Compact was a wonder), but we think it's actually an improvement over the Xperia Z5.
It comes down to the testing procedure - we used to set the brightness slider to 50% (which for the Z5 meant a low 90nits), but now we test all phones at 200nits. The only test the Xperia X loses compared to the Z5 is the browser test, but we think at equal brightness the Z5's lead will shrink.
In comparison, the LG G5 scored 60h (50h with Always On screen), HTC 10 did 66h, Sony Xperia Z5 73h, Huawei P9 75h, Samsung Galaxy S7 80h (49h with Always On)
Performance
We already had a piece on chipsets and performance of the Sony Xperia X in our blog, but now we'll go into more detail.
The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 650 chipset. This means you get the new Cortex-A72 cores - better, faster than the A57 they replace - but only two of them. They are paired with four Cortex-A53's so the chipset is a replacement of the Snapdragon 808 (2x A57 + 4X A53). That said, this chipset is built on the older 28nm process while the Snapdragon 808 was built using the 20nm process.
Despite this fact, in multi-core CPU speed, the Xperia X does better than the LG Nexus 5X with S808, and it even matcheds the Xperia Z5, which uses an S810 chipset.
GeekBench 3 (multi-core)
Higher is better
AnTuTu 6 and Basemark OS II 2.0 have a positive view of the performance. They place it well ahead of the HTC One A9 and the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016), premium mid-rangers that compete for a similar spot as the Xperia X. It's not a flagship but it tops the Xperia Z5.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
The chipset also brings a new GPU - Adreno 510. It's a new generation graphics chip, and it only has to drive a 1080p screen. It's not as fast as the Snapdragon 810 graphics, but it does close to double the frames per second of its immediate competitors.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
Basemark X
Higher is better
Basemark X (medium)
Higher is better
The Adreno 510 supports the latest developments in mobile 3D graphics, so we ran OpenGL ES 3.1 benchmarks as well.
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
While we would have appreciated the Snapdragon 652 (it has two extra A72 cores), the 650 offers satisfactory performance for a premium midranger. If you're after more bang for the buck, however, the price tag of the X will send you looking elsewhere.
An Album up to Sony standards
The Album app is among the most comprehensive and feature-rich we've seen, it's fast and easy to use, too! Photos are organized by month, and you can use pinch-zoom to change the size of thumbnails (then they smoothly animate into the grid).
At the very top of the list is a slideshow, showing off your photos, lower down, the first photo of each month is shown at twice the size of other images.
The Album app is beautiful and functional
You can instead browse photos on a map (you can manually add geotag info) or by folder. This includes network storage so that you can view photos from a DLNA server (your home computer for one). Then there's integration with online albums - Facebook, Picasa, Flickr.
Image editing is handled by several apps, including Sketch and Sticker maker (so you can create your own custom stickers to send to your friends).
Sketch lets you fingerpaint over a photo or a paper-like texture, add text, stickers, photos and so on. If you're talented, you can share your creations on the Sketch mini-social network, and if you're not, you can just browse what others drew.
Sketch is a fun image editor with a mini social network for sharing art
Movie Creator is similar to the Assistant of Google Photos. It automatically creates short videos from the photos and videos you've shot.
You can do it manually too: pick photos and videos, change their order, add color effects and music (you get a small audio collection to start you off, but can use custom files too). Then tap the Share button and send out your animated slideshow.
The Movie Creator can automatically or manually make shareable slideshows
We mentioned it in the Display section, but we'll repeat it here. The Sony software uses image enhancements to make even average-looking photos pop. You can choose from Off, X-reality (sharpen and boost contrast) and Super-vivid.
Screen settings
The Album app is beautiful and functional
Sketch is a fun image editor with a mini social network for sharing art
The Movie Creator can automatically or manually make shareable slideshows
Screen settings
Music app
The Music app feels like a part of the same software package as the rest of the custom Sony stuff. The side menu offers much of the same browsing options - by folder, network folder and online services, in this case, Spotify (it's just a link to the Spotify app though). You can share music from the phone to compatible players.
Music app
The Infinite button as such is gone, but its functionality is now under the More about this option in the menu. It can find the track's video on YouTube, look up info about the artist on Wikipedia and search for lyrics on Google. Gracenote is used here too and it can automatically download information about your tracks and album art.
The Music app offers a variety of audio settings - ClearAudio+ determines the best audio quality settings depending on the track you're listening to. We liked how it changed the sound and carefully accentuated various details.
Then there's DSEE HX, which uses an almost wizardly algorithm on compressed music files, like MP3s and restores or rather extrapolates high range sound. According to Sony, the result is near Hi-Res Audio Quality. We aren't quite sure about that, but the processing does seem to boost quality quite noticeably. Also, it only works with wired headphones.
Dynamic normalizer evens out the volume differences across tracks, which is great if you've mixed multiple albums from multiple sources.
Audio settings
Noise-cancelling headphones are supported - they are a special kind that doesn't require batteries as Sony has figured out a way to make the phone do the work. You'll need noise-cancelling headphones from Sony, though.
Music app
Audio settings
FM Radio
There's also an FM radio tuner with RDS. The app features multiple visualizations and integrates with TrackID to recognize the currently playing song. The interface is very intuitive and full of stunning animations. Possibly one of the best FM radio apps out there.
Of course, you would need to have your headset plugged in for the FM radio to pick up any signal.
FM radio with RDS and track recognition
FM radio with RDS and track recognition
Video
The Movies app is gone, a simpler Video app takes its place. The app is simpler to use - you pick a file from one of the local folders or your home network. You can also use the Search feature to look up videos on YouTube. The app is missing the HTPC-like functionality though, which pulled movie and TV show info automatically.
A chapter view lets you find a specific part of the video, by letting you scrub through a virtual timeline.
Video player
Videos can continue to play in the background (it's an option), but you can't view the video in a small floating window. At least you get full subtitle settings.
Video player
Audio output starts off strong, loses some brilliance with headphones
The Sony Xperia X showed perfect clarity in the first part of our audio quality test. When attached to an active external amplifier, the smartphone produced great scores top to bottom and things were above average in terms of loudness too, for a great performance.
Plugging in our standard headphones did cause some damage - volume dropped to below average, stereo crosstalk rose a bit and some distortion crept in. It’s still a very good performance, but no longer up there with the best.
Here go the results so you can do your comparisons.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| Sony Xperia X | +0.01, -0.04 | -94.8 | 89.9 | 0.0043 | 0.015 | -93.4 |
| Sony Xperia X (headphones) | +0.44, -0.03 | -83.7 | 87.7 | 0.0083 | 0.226 | -65.5 |
| Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) | +0.02, -0.07 | -94.3 | 92.2 | 0.0065 | 0.010 | -95.0 |
| Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) (headphones) | +0.42, -0.01 | -93.4 | 87.1 | 0.029 | 0.254 | -53.0 |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 | +0.01, -0.04 | -95.6 | 92.8 | 0.0024 | 0.0094 | -94.5 |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 (headphones) | +0.02, -0.05 | -92.6 | 91.9 | 0.0025 | 0.042 | -83.4 |
| HTC One M9 | +0.02, -0.06 | -94.8 | 93.0 | 0.0049 | 0.026 | -93.7 |
| HTC One M9 (headphones attached) | +0.03, -0.05 | -93.7 | 92.7 | 0.0082 | 0.030 | -91.6 |
Camera
The Sony Xperia X is the company's new photography star. It uses a big 1/2.3" 23MP Exmor RS sensor behind a F/2.0 G Lens.
The big addition in this camera generation is the Predictive Hybrid Autofocus. You can tap on your subject and the camera will track its movement, keeping the focus locked on it. This is great for subjects who would move all around the scene.
The X camera lets you capture moments in the blink of an eye - from a locked phone, it takes a mere 0.6 seconds to capture the first shot. To use that feature, you need to enable taking a photo when waking the camera with the shutter key in Settings. The feature worked as fast as advertised and took the shot before we even got the chance to see the camera viewfinder. Then again, a lot of the photos came out blurry because we were still adjusting the framing of the scene while the phone took the pics.
The front camera is equally impressive. It has a 1/3" Exmor RS sensor with 13MP resolution and f/2.0 G Lens. It's the kind of setup some lower-end phones would use for their main camera.
Sony tech promises good performance in low light and smartly adjust the shutter speed based on movement in the scene - a static scene gets a long exposure time to reduce noise, a dynamic scene a short one to reduce motion blur.
New Xperia camera UI
Sony's latest camera UI is fairly streamlined (as seen in the Z5 series as well). You change modes by swiping up and down. Superior Auto will probably be the main mode you use, but there's a Manual option too. However, it is quite limited as you can change ISO and white balance, that's it.
The Camera App tab holds some useful features and some features, which are just there for fun.
Some of the available modes are Sweep Panorama, Slow-motion video, Face in picture, Sound Photo and a few more. Those are the pre-installed modes, more can be downloaded.
Camera apps
The selfie cam has pretty much the same features aside from minor differences (no ISO in manual mode). It even reminds you to look at the camera when taking a photo.
Image quality
The Sony Xperia X camera can perform well, but it suffers from the classic Sony weaknesses. Noise is ever-present and even stronger in every area that's not perfectly lit. Corner softness is barely visible, but it's there.
The noise - reduce noise - sharpen style of processing robs the camera of per-pixel detail and it's most noticeable in high-frequency detail like foliage and grass. The Xperia X has heaps of pixels to throw at the problem and photos are best viewed at less than 100%.
The Superior Auto had a relatively small impact, it would sometimes add contrast compared to the Manual mode shot, but in most cases you have to look hard to notice anything.
Color reproduction leaves something to be desired, colors in photos being undersaturated compared to real life hues. Due to the screen and gallery viewing enhancements on the Xperia X, though, you may not notice it until you take the photos off the phone.
The predictive motion-tracking autofocus works fairly well as long as the object its tracks does not leave the frame.
We're also quite happy with the re-focusing speed in general. Switching from subjects in close distance to ones far away is quick and seamless - okay, perhaps it's not as fast as Samsung's Dual Pixel AF, but it's an improvement over the Xperia Z5 camera.
Speaking of, when we reviewed the Z5 (admittedly an early unit) we encountered several software issues. There is none of that here.
Superior Auto • Normal
You can compare the Xperia X against some competing phones in its class over at our Photo Quality Comparison too.
HDR
Technically, Superior Auto is supposed to engage HDR as needed, but there's a toggle in the Manual mode. Either way, the effects are so small that even in extreme situations you only get a minor improvement.
Superior Auto • Normal • HDR
Panorama
The Xperia X has a sweep panorama like Sony's digital cameras, but the results are not terribly impressive. The panoramas are 1080px tall, stitching has issues (ghosting) and the resolved detail is quite low.
Xperia X panorama
Selfies
The selfie camera has an above-average resolution, its focus is well-adjusted to shoot at arm's length (you'd think all selfie cameras are like that).
In perfect light, you can squeeze a lot of detail out of a selfie. Indoors, however, the increased noise eats away the resolution advantage. Again, Xperia photos are best viewed at less than 100% - which is another way of saying they look great on the phone's screen.
Selfies
Videos
The Xperia X can record 1080p at 30fps and 60fps, but there's no 4K option even though it's a feature that's sneaking into midrange phones recently - even the Xperia M5 has it.
Image quality can be quite good, but it is not without its flaws. Some of the finer detail either gets smeared out by noise reduction, other shows jaggies.
When there are moving objects in the scene, there's an intermittent "pulsation" caused by compression fluctuation in an action packed scene - it's the phone's way to make sure it captures everything smoothly within a fixed bitrate ceiling.
You can watch an example of this effect in our camera sample - every time a car passes in front of the camera the quality drops and then recovers quickly.
The good news is that switching from 30fps to 60fps does not have a noticeable impact on quality so you can enjoy the smoother action without paying a quality penalty as is usually the case. You do need more storage though, as 30fps videos are shot at a bitrate of 18Mbps, while 60fps videos hover around 30Mbps.
In either case audio is recorded in stereo at 156Kbps/48kHz. The quality of the microphones is impressive, they capture detailed audio even in noisy environments and eliminate most of the wind noise.
The Sony Xperia X features SteadyShot, a digital image stabilization. When shooting from a steady position, however, the system can actually add vibrations and cause unpleasant jittery action in videos but it's fine when you shoot handheld. It's still something that Sony should perhaps look into as you literally can't capture a decent video with the phone mounted on a tripod unless you turn off the digital stabilization manually.
New Xperia camera UI
Camera apps
Superior Auto • Normal
Superior Auto • Normal • HDR
Xperia X panorama
Selfies
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