The Sony Xperia 1 Mark 7 has just made its official debut, and we've had one for a while now testing just how well it's keeping up with the times. This review covers the phone's top features, build and screen quality, battery life, performance, and camera image quality. It's the seventh generation of Sony's top phone, and it brings some interesting changes.
Design and Build: Familiar Yet Refined
Sony's Xperia phones are known for their practical design and the Mark 7 continues this trend. It looks a lot like the previous model, with a rectangular shape and a back made of Gorilla Glass Victus. This gives it a rough, grippy texture. The aluminum frame is a bit different but still has a ribbed texture for extra grip. It's a comfortable phone to hold.
It also keeps the same IP65/IP68 rating for dust and water protection. So, it's pretty durable.
Display and Audio: Brightness Boost and Headphone Jack
The Xperia 1 Mark 7 has a 6.5-inch OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. While older Xperia flagships had 4K displays, this one uses a 1080p resolution, which is still very sharp and looks good. It supports 10-bit color depth and HDR10 video playback, but not Dolby Vision.
The 120 Hz refresh rate makes everything smooth, and it can adapt down to 30 Hz to save battery. The display is also brighter than last year's model, reaching up to 1,470 nits in auto mode.
One cool thing about the Xperia 1 Mark 7 is that it still has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Sony says the audio experience is powered by Walkman, with high-end circuitry for better sound. However, the front-facing stereo speakers seem to be a bit of a downgrade from last year, getting a "good" rating for loudness instead of "excellent."
Performance and Battery: Snapdragon 8 Elite and a Slight Dip
The Xperia 1 Mark 7 comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. In benchmarks, it's faster than its predecessor, but it's on the lower end compared to other phones with the same chip. This doesn't mean it's not powerful, just that some competitors are more optimized. Also, sustained performance could be better, with a noticeable drop in CPU performance during stress tests.
The phone has a 5,000 mAh battery, the same as last year. While the previous model had amazing battery life, the Mark 7 gets an active use score of 14 hours and 44 minutes. This is still good, but it's less than the 17.5 hours of last year's model.
Charging speed is still 30W, and the charger isn't included. It takes about an hour and a half for a full charge, which is pretty slow by today's standards. It does support wireless and reverse wireless charging.
Software and Features: Android 15 and Sony's Touches
The Xperia 1 Mark 7 runs Android 15 with Sony's own software on top. Sony keeps its modifications pretty minimal. Some notable features include:
- Quick Toggles: Square and uniform in the notification shade.
- Multi-Wind Switch: Two task switchers for split-screen navigation.
- Side Sense: A handle on the screen's edge that opens a menu of shortcuts.
- Sony Alpha Camera Connection: Use the phone as an external monitor for Sony Alpha cameras.
- Game Enhancer: A gaming interface with various options.
Interestingly, there aren't many AI-based features here, unlike other modern flagships. Sony says AI is used behind the scenes for camera processing. Sony promises four major OS updates and six years of security patches.
Camera System: A New Ultrawide and Solid Performance
The camera setup includes the same main camera and continuous zoom telephoto as before, but there's a new, larger 50MP ultrawide camera. It also has a dedicated two-step shutter button with better feedback.
Main Camera
- Daylight Photos: Generally great, with excellent detail, natural textures, and good dynamic range. Photos of people are okay, but facial detail isn't the best.
- 2x Zoom: Very good, especially outdoors. Indoor shots can be a bit softer.
- Nighttime Photos: High contrast with good dynamic range, excellent detail, and accurate colors.
Telephoto Camera
- Continuous Zoom: Ranges from 3.5x to 7.1x optical zoom.
- 3.5x Zoom: Good detail and sharpness, some noise indoors. Great dynamic range and colors.
- 5x Zoom: Still good, but sharpness isn't stellar.
- Macro Mode: At 5x zoom, it can focus from 4 cm for nice close-ups.
- 7.1x Zoom: Decline in sharpness, but results are still quite good.
- Nighttime Zoom: Good detail at 3.5x, but not very sharp. Quality declines at higher zoom levels.
Ultrawide Camera
- Daylight Photos: Super sharp and detailed, well-controlled noise, excellent dynamic range, and superb color.
- Nighttime Photos: Praiseworthy with outstanding detail, low noise, and great colors and dynamic range.
Selfies and Video
- Selfies: 12MP fixed-focus front camera. Very good detail, likable colors and skin tones, excellent dynamic range.
- Video: Records 4K up to 120 fps with rear cameras, 4K at 60 fps with selfie cam.
- Main Cam 4K: Good, but a general softness is noticeable.
- Telephoto Cam 4K: Very good colors and dynamic range, but sharpness could be better.
- Ultrawide Cam 4K: Excellent colors and dynamic range, but not as detailed as still photos.
- Stabilization: Works well to smooth out movements.
- Night Video: Main camera does a reasonable job. Telephoto is quite soft. Ultrawide captures better detail than average.
Conclusion: A Niche Flagship
- Pros: Headphone jack, expandable storage, new ultrawide camera, powerful chipset.
- Cons: Battery life is shorter than last year, speakers are quieter, lacks AI features found in competitors.
The Xperia 1 Mark 7 offers some unique features like the headphone jack and expandable storage, which are rare in flagships today. It has a new chipset and a great new ultrawide camera. However, the battery life is a bit less than last year, and the speakers are quieter. Also, it doesn't have the AI features that many other manufacturers are adding. If you like Sony's approach and don't care about AI, the Mark 7 could be a good choice. But last year's model might be a better deal for some.
