Sony Xperia 1 II Review: The Alpha Camera Phone That Time Almost Forgot
Does the Sony Xperia 1 II’s professional camera UI and 4K display hold up years later? We tested the benchmarks, battery life, and Zeiss optics to find out if this 2020 flagship deserves a spot in your pocket in 2026.
Our Verdict: A Cult Classic, Not a Mainstream Hero
The Sony Xperia 1 II is a fascinating artifact of smartphone history—a device that chose professional control over computational convenience at a time when the entire industry sprinted in the opposite direction. While it faces stiff competition from newer devices like the Motorola Razr 2025 and OnePlus 15, its unique 21:9 4K OLED, dedicated shutter button, and headphone jack make it a cult classic for photographers and film buffs buying refurbished.
What is the price of Sony Xperia 1 II? Originally launched at $1,200, it is now found in the refurbished market for significantly less—often between $350 and $450—making it a high-value entry point into Sony’s ecosystem. According to UL Benchmarks, the device still competes admirably in sustained workload tests, though its age shows in battery chemistry. What is the Sony Xperia 1 II release date? It was announced on February 24, 2020, and released on May 22, 2020, meaning it has already passed the typical five-year software support window for most Android manufacturers.
Strengths and Weaknesses at a Glance
Before we dive deep, let’s outline the major takeaways. On the positive side, you get a 4K HDR OLED display with professional color accuracy that rivals studio monitors. There is a real headphone jack with high-res audio support—a feature almost extinct in 2026. The dedicated two-stage shutter button paired with Alpha camera UI remains unmatched for ergonomics. Sony’s excellent Eye-AF and 20fps burst shooting still outperform many mid-range phones released three years later. You also get expandable storage via microSD and a full IP68 dust/water resistance rating.
However, the compromises are significant. The 60Hz refresh rate feels positively dated compared to modern 120Hz or even 90Hz screens. Computational photography is weak; auto-mode images look flat and lack dynamic range compared to any Google Pixel from the same era. There is no 5G support in the US—a strange omission for a 2020 flagship, as noted by The Verge in their original review. Battery life is so-so at best, delivering just over six hours of active use. Finally, the tall form factor is slippery and hard to use one-handed without a case.
Design & Display: Cinematic Proportions With Real-World Trade-Offs
The 21:9 "CinemaWide" Experience
The first thing you notice about the Xperia 1 II is its height. The 6.5-inch OLED display uses a 21:9 aspect ratio (3840 x 1644 pixels). This is the same ratio as modern cinema films, meaning when you watch widescreen content on Netflix or Prime Video, you get zero letterboxing—no black bars at the top and bottom. It is a truly immersive experience for movie lovers, and few phones before or since have replicated this dedication to film purism.
However, the ergonomics are a double-edged sword. While the narrow width of 72 millimeters makes it comfortable to grip in theory, the phone stands 166 millimeters tall. You cannot reach the top notification shade without shuffling the phone in your hand or enabling one-handed mode. Furthermore, the glass back is incredibly slippery. The Verge noted that their review unit slid off a slightly inclined table and cracked the rear glass within the first week. A case is non-negotiable if you plan to carry this daily.
For a deeper look at how Sony’s design language has evolved, check out our comparison of Sony Xperia design generations and our guide to the best rugged cases for tall smartphones.
Durability, Haptics, and the Return of the Jack
Despite the slippery nature, build quality is top-tier. It features Corning Gorilla Glass 6 on the front and back, an aluminum frame, and an IP65/IP68 rating for water resistance. You can submerge it in fresh water up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes without worry. It is a minimalist black slab that feels premium in the hand, even if it is a fingerprint magnet.
One of the unique selling points is the 3.5mm headphone jack. In 2020, Sony bucked the trend by bringing it back after removing it on the Xperia XZ3. For audiophiles, this is huge, especially combined with Sony’s LDAC codec for wireless and high-res audio support over wired connections. GSMArena confirmed in their audio testing that the Xperia 1 II produces a clean, noise-free output with excellent stereo separation when using wired headphones.
Display Performance: Still a Looker, But Not a Speedster
Sony is one of the few manufacturers to ever push 4K resolution on a phone. At 643 pixels per inch, it is impossibly sharp—you cannot see individual pixels even under magnification. However, the debate has always been whether you need 4K on a 6.5-inch screen when 1440p is already beyond the limits of human visual acuity at typical viewing distances.
The good news is that the OLED panel supports HDR BT.2020 and offers "Creator Mode" powered by CineAlta, which reproduces colors as the director intended. In our ultimate guide to smartphone HDR standards, we ranked the Xperia 1 II’s color accuracy above the iPhone 12 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. It is very accurate, if not as punchy or saturated as what most consumers expect.
The bad news is that the refresh rate is only 60Hz. In 2020, competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S20 were doing 120Hz. Sony uses "Motion Blur Reduction" to simulate higher refresh rates by inserting black frames between images, but this does not match the fluidity of a high-refresh panel for scrolling or gaming. UL Benchmarks confirms that the display supports multi-touch with low latency, but battery life takes a hit when driving all those pixels, netting a median of just 6 hours and 17 minutes in the PCMark Work 3.0 battery test. For comparison, a modern mid-range phone like the Google Pixel 7a easily exceeds 10 hours.
Camera System: The Alpha DNA—For Better and Worse
This is the main event. The Sony Xperia 1 II features a triple 12MP array: a 16mm ultra-wide, a 24mm wide, and a 70mm telephoto, plus a 3D iToF sensor for depth mapping. Unlike typical smartphone cameras that use heavy processing to create a "pleasing" image, Sony borrowed hardware and software directly from its Alpha mirrorless camera division.
The Philosophy: Control vs. Automation
Unlike the iPhone 12 Pro Max or Google Pixel 4, which use heavy HDR and AI to brighten shadows and pop colors, the Xperia 1 II is conservative. It shoots for "photographic accuracy," which often looks flat compared to the competition. According to GSMArena’s 2020 head-to-head review, Xperia images have the most contrast and the narrowest dynamic range when left in auto mode. Skies clip to white sooner than on a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
However, for enthusiasts, this is where the magic begins. You are not supposed to use auto mode. You are supposed to use the Photo Pro app, which is a direct port of Sony’s Alpha camera UI. Here, you get real-time Eye-AF that locks onto human or animal eyes and holds focus perfectly, even as the subject moves. You get 20 frames per second burst shooting with AF/AE tracking on every single frame. No other phone at the time did this as cleanly. And you get full manual control over ISO (64-3200), shutter speed (30 seconds to 1/8000), and white balance.
For step-by-step instructions, read our tutorial on mastering Sony’s Photo Pro app and our list of the best manual camera settings for smartphone photography.
Image Quality Analysis
The main 24mm camera uses a 1/1.7-inch sensor, which is larger than what Apple used in the iPhone 11 but smaller than the 1/1.33-inch sensor in the Huawei Mate 40 Pro. In good light, detail is excellent, but CONNECT-TESTLAB noted that Sony’s processing leads to "poorer looking details" compared to competitors due to noise reduction being too aggressive. Fine textures like fabric or grass can appear smudged.
In low light (5 Lux, which simulates a dimly lit living room), images look "almost blurred" according to their test report. The phone lacks a dedicated night mode that stacks multiple exposures, so you must use a tripod and manual long exposure to compete with a Pixel’s handheld night sight.
The telephoto 70mm lens is decent for portraits. The Dead Leaves test, which measures how well a camera resolves fine texture, scored a respectable 481 line pairs per image height in bright light, though this degrades quickly indoors to around 320 LP/IH. The ultrawide 16mm lens is surprisingly sharp, scoring high in resolution tests at 1656 LP/IH, though edge distortion is visible in architectural shots.
Cinema Pro for Videographers
For videographers, the Cinema Pro app is a revelation. It allows you to shoot in 4K HDR at 60 frames per second with settings borrowed from Sony’s Venice professional cinema camera. You get eight color look-up tables (LUTs), allowing you to shoot in flat "S-Log" profiles for color grading later. It is a pro-level tool, not a point-and-shoot. In fact, The Verge argued that the Xperia 1 II is the best smartphone for aspiring indie filmmakers under $1,000, provided you are willing to learn color grading.
Overall Camera Score: CONNECT-TESTLAB gave the camera system a final score of 62 out of 100, grading it as "good" but not top-tier. The hardware is great; the auto-processing is the bottleneck. For a modern alternative with similar manual controls but better auto mode, see our Sony Xperia 1 V review and our comparison of pro-grade camera phones under $800.
Performance and Benchmarks
Under the hood, the Xperia 1 II runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with 8GB of RAM and an Adreno 650 GPU. At launch, this was near the top of the Android performance charts. By 2026 standards, it sits somewhere between a modern mid-range chip like the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 and a flagship chip from two generations ago.
Benchmark Scores from UL Benchmarks tell the story clearly. In PCMark Work 3.0, which simulates web browsing, video editing, and photo manipulation, the Xperia 1 II scores 11,302. That is still considered "Excellent" for everyday tasks. You will not notice lag in Chrome, Twitter, or Spotify. In 3DMark Wild Life, a cross-platform gaming benchmark, the phone scores 3,813 with a stability rating of 99 percent. That means the phone does not throttle—it does not slow down—during long gaming sessions, thanks to Sony’s conservative thermal design and the efficient 7nm+ manufacturing process of the Snapdragon 865.
Storage performance is also solid. Internal sequential read speeds hit 1245 MB per second using UFS 3.0 flash storage, ensuring apps load almost instantly. For comparison, a modern flagship like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra hits around 3,500 MB/s, but in real-world app opening, the difference is measured in fractions of a second.
Gaming performance remains usable. You can play Genshin Impact at medium settings or Call of Duty Mobile at high settings smoothly, but you are capped at 60 frames per second due to the screen. The phone stays cool thanks to the 7nm+ process, but it lacks the raw horsepower of newer chips like the Dimensity 7400X found in the Motorola Razr 2025. For a full breakdown of how the Snapdragon 865 compares to 2025 and 2026 chips, see our smartphone GPU hierarchy and long-term gaming guide.
Battery Life: The Weak Link
The phone houses a 4000 milliamp-hour battery. For a device with a 4K screen, this is the bare minimum. In practice, longevity is the single biggest frustration for daily users.
Expect around 4 to 5 hours of screen-on time if you keep the resolution at its native 4K. If you manually lower the resolution to 1080p, you can stretch that to 5.5 or even 6 hours, but that defeats the purpose of buying this phone. Heavy camera use drains the battery even faster—shooting 20fps bursts for five minutes can consume 10 to 15 percent of the charge.
Charging is also slow by modern standards. It supports 21W wired charging via USB Power Delivery and 11W wireless charging. It takes over an hour and a half to go from zero to 100 percent. For context, a 2025 mid-range phone like the OnePlus Nord 4 charges from zero to full in under 30 minutes. Standby time, however, is surprisingly good. The Snapdragon 865 is efficient when idle, losing only 1 to 2 percent per hour overnight.
For battery optimization tips, read our guide to extending battery life on older Android flagships and our comparison of battery replacement services for Sony Xperia devices.
Software and User Experience
The phone launched with Android 10 and has likely received updates up to Android 12, depending on your carrier and region. Sony promised two major OS updates and three years of security patches, meaning the Xperia 1 II reached end-of-life for software support in mid-2023. If you buy one refurbished in 2026, you will be running an outdated OS with known security vulnerabilities unless you install a custom ROM like LineageOS.
Sony’s skin is very close to "Stock Android"—sometimes called "Vanilla Android." There is almost no bloatware, which keeps the system snappy. You get a few Sony apps like Album, Music, and the aforementioned Photo Pro and Cinema Pro, but you can disable or uninstall most of them. The lack of a modern refresh rate and the awkward size, however, make daily navigation feel slightly archaic compared to the fluidity of a Google Pixel 6 or iPhone 13.
Conclusion: Is It Worth It in 2026?
You should buy the Sony Xperia 1 II if: You are a photographer or videographer looking for a cheap secondary device to use as a dedicated camera monitor or B-roll shooter. You want a headphone jack, expandable storage, and a 4K screen for watching movies on long flights. You hate computational photography—you despise AI over-sharpening and fake HDR—and you want to edit RAW files manually in Lightroom.
You should not buy it if: You want a social media camera for Instagram or TikTok. Stick with an iPhone or Google Pixel instead. You need 5G in the USA—it simply does not work. You want all-day battery life or a smooth 120Hz scrolling experience. And you care about security updates, because this phone is no longer receiving them.
Final Score: 7.5 out of 10
*Recommended for enthusiasts and creators; ignored by the mainstream. For a modern Sony alternative with 5G and a 120Hz screen, read our Sony Xperia 5 V review. For a non-Sony alternative with pro camera controls, see our Sony Xperia Pro-I vs iPhone 15 Pro Max comparison.*
Frequently Asked Questions: Sony Xperia 1 II
Does the Sony Xperia 1 II have a headphone jack?
Yes, it features a 3.5mm headphone jack, a rarity in high-end phones, supporting 24-bit/192kHz audio playback. This is confirmed by both GSMArena and The Verge in their original specifications breakdowns.
How is the camera autofocus?
Excellent. It utilizes Sony Alpha technology with real-time Eye-AF for both humans and animals and can shoot 20 frames per second with continuous autofocus on every frame, making it one of the best action cameras of its generation. For a demonstration, see our real-world Eye-AF test on moving subjects.
Does it support 5G?
It depends on the region. The hardware supports it, but in the United States, the feature was disabled at launch due to carrier certification issues. International models (specifically the XQ-AT51 and XQ-AT52) do support 5G on specific bands used in Europe and Asia. GSMArena notes that US users should assume 4G LTE only.
Is the Sony Xperia 1 II waterproof?
Yes, it has an IP65/IP68 rating, meaning it is dust-tight and can be submerged in fresh water up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. However, Sony’s own support documentation advises against exposing it to salt water, soap, or high-pressure water jets.
How does it compare to the Samsung Galaxy S20?
The Galaxy S20 has a better 120Hz screen and superior auto-mode camera processing. The Xperia 1 II has a sharper 4K screen, better manual camera controls, and a headphone jack. For a detailed head-to-head, read our Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Sony Xperia 1 II shootout.
What is the refresh rate?
60Hz. It does not have a high refresh rate display. Sony’s "Motion Blur Reduction" feature inserts black frames to reduce perceived motion blur, but it does not increase the refresh rate.
Can I install a custom ROM on the Xperia 1 II?
Yes, because Sony officially supports bootloader unlocking on most Xperia devices. Popular custom ROMs like LineageOS and crDroid have official builds for the Xperia 1 II (codenamed "pdx203"). However, unlocking the bootloader will permanently disable some Sony camera features, including the proprietary low-light processing. See our guide to installing LineageOS on Sony Xperia 1 II for step-by-step instructions.
*Sources: UL Benchmarks, GSMArena, CONNECT-TESTLAB, The Verge. Additional testing data from internal lab results and community-submitted benchmarks. Article last updated April 12, 2026.*