Sony have launched the world’s first smartphone to have a 6.5-inch 4K OLED display at the Mobile World Congress.
Their latest smartphone literally stands out from the crowd thanks to its super tall screen. To put the size into perspective, it’s nearly an inch taller than Apple’s iPhone XS.
This flagship replaces the Xperia XZ which was released two years ago. The Xperia 1 has a 21:9 display with no notch at the top of the phone. Instead, the 6.5-inch display has a bezel at the top for the front camera. The phone has a wide aspect ratio which means that the screen is bigger and taller than any other smartphone on the market.
According to BGR, Sony is planning on optimising some of its movies for the flagship phone, eliminating black bars you’d usually see on the top and bottom of ultrawide films. We could also see some games being optimised for the bigger screen, as well as the ability to run more than one app at a time on the screen. It would mean you don’t necessarily need a folding phone to multitask on one smartphone screen!
The Xperia 1 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor, also found in 2019 devices such as the Galaxy S10 and the LG V8 ThinQ. The Android smartphone comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
It has a triple camera setup on the back with all three having 12-megapixels. There’s a wide angle and a telephoto lens completing the lineup, with an 8-megapixel on the front for taking selfies.
For those clumsy people worried about dropping their phone in water or dust getting in your device, the Xperia 1 has IP68 dust and water certification. There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the side and a 3,330 mAh battery.
As well as the flagship device, Sony are releasing more budget-friendly phones such as the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus. Both of these phones will also have same 21:9 aspect ratio found on the Xperia 1. The smaller of the budget phones, the Xperia 10, has a 6-inch LCD screen, 3GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a midrange Snapdragon 630 processor. Meanwhile, the 10 Plus has a 6.5-inch LCD display with a lower resolution to the Xperia 1. It comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
It will be interesting to see how users react to the new type of tall screen when the phones are released. The Xperia 10 and 10 Plus will be released on March 18 with the Xperia 1 coming out sometime in late spring. Sony are yet to reveal how much the devices are going to cost, but that could be announced over the next couple of days.
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Matt Weston is a lover of electric cars, artificial intelligence and space. From Cornwall, he’s a UCLan graduate that still dreams of being a Formula One driver in the very near future. Previously work includes reporting for regional newspapers and freelance video for the International Business Times.