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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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- When you think of truly
great flagship smartphones,

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you don't typically
think of Sony.

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They've been around for years
churning out respectable phones

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at a decent clip that
just never seemed

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to make much of an impact.

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I have to assume that people
working on these devices

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have been getting
pretty frustrated.

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Maybe that's why the new
Xperia 1 is as weird as it is.

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Rather than slavishly latching
on to every new smartphone

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trend, Sony built a
uniquely Sony smartphone,

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one that apparently draws on all
the different kinds of hardware

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expertise inside the company.

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The end result is a device
with a truly different set

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of priorities than
all of the others,

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but are they enough to
warrant spending $950?

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Let's take a closer
look and find out.

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Before we get any further.

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I think we should probably knock
out some of the broad strokes.

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There's a Snapdragon
855 chipset in here

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along with six gigs of RAM
and 128 gigabytes of storage.

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If that sounds
familiar, it should,

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because most of the flagship
smartphones we've tested

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this year have used
that configuration

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or something very close to it.

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That also means that while
the Xperia 1 is fast,

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and it is actually really fast,
it doesn't seem appreciably

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quicker or more responsive
than anything else

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out there, which is generally
a good thing considering just

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how fast these devices are.

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I will have to admit going
into this I was concerned

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that having to drive such a
super high resolution display

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would cause the Xperia
1 some headaches.

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But to my surprise, it's
actually run really reliably

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since the time I started it up.

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Speaking of things I was a
little concerned about before I

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started testing this
thing, the Xperia 1

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also runs Android 9.0 Pie.

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And if you've used a
Sony device in the past,

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you're probably well aware that
historically the company has

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just thrown a ton of
stuff on top of Android

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in a way that to me never
really felt cohesive

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or really all that valuable.

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That thankfully has
changed with the Xperia 1.

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It's a pretty clean
build of Android and one

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that I've actually found
myself really enjoying.

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There are some flourishes here
that helped tune the Xperia

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1 to really make use of
this super tall display,

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but we'll get into that
stuff a little bit later.

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I do want to point out, though,
that the physical design is

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actually great as well,
except for maybe one thing.

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All of the controls, I'm talking
volume, power, fingerprints,

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even the camera key,
because there is one here,

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they're all located on
the phone's right side.

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And that's great if you're like
me and you're right handed,

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but if you're a lefty, good
luck getting to any of that

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on a really consistent basis.

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I think ideally what
Sony should have done

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is have a fingerprint sensor
sitting dead center like it

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is now, but have the
power button above it

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and the volume keys on
the left side, but look,

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whatever, it's fine.

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What really helps the
Xperia 1 stand out,

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though, is this display,
which as I've mentioned

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is super tall.

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We're looking at a
21 by 9 aspect ratio.

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And that was meant to give
it more of a cinematic look.

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A lot of films are
shot in an aspect ratio

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that's very close to that.

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So if you're watching movies
on a device like this,

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it should feel a bit more
immersive to the extent

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that movies can feel
immersive on a smartphone,

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than if you're watching
on say an iPhone.

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More than that, though, I've
actually grown really fond

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of this weird aspect ratio,
just because of how comfortable

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it makes this phone to feel.

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It's surprisingly narrow as a
result of this tall display,

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and I can't remember the
last time I've picked up

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a phone like this and not really
felt like I had to struggle

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to wrap my hand around it.

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While I don't think I've
picked up a phone I've enjoyed

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watching movies
on nearly as much

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as the Xperia 1 in a
while, it's less than

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great for some of the
stuff that you're going

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to run into on a daily basis.

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If you're watching on
YouTube, for example,

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you're probably looking at a
lot of 16 by 9 widescreen video.

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That stuff gets
featured on the display

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with a lot of dead
space on either side.

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The problem gets even worse
if you happen to be watching 4

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by 3 video, which leaves
you with plenty of room

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for your thumbs to
just hang out on screen

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while you're watching.

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But I do think that the
quality of the screen

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kind of makes up for it.

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This is the world's first 4K HDR
OLED display in a smartphone,

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and it is, objectively
speaking, beautiful.

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Samsung gets all the
credit for screens.

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But don't sleep on Sony,
because this display

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is really, really nice.

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You get really sumptuous
colors, deep blacks,

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and HDR when you're watching
stuff that's compatible

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with it really does shine.

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I kind of love this screen.

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I do have kind of a difficult
relationship with it though.

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And I think there's
one fundamental problem

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they still need to address.

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When you're looking
at the display

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from a typical distance,
at arm's length

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or down in your
lap on the subway,

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whatever, really the value
of all of those extra pixels

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is lost.

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I don't know why you would
want to splurge on a smartphone

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with a 4K display.

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The value is there, you can spot
minute differences in detail,

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but on a day to day
basis, it really doesn't

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add that much to your life.

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If you're feeling the urge
to splurge on an Xperia 1,

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it's probably because you
want to watch stuff on it,

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but that's not what you're going
to be doing all day every day.

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Thankfully Sony has made some
software improvements that

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do make the prospect of working
with this really tall screen

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just a little more palatable.

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There is a one handed
mode, for example.

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Once that's enabled you can
double tap on the Home button

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to effectively shrink the
size of the display down

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into something that's
much more manageable.

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It's surprisingly
helpful, especially

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if you're trying to reach
something all the way

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up in the notification shade.

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But if you have small hands and
you're thinking of maybe using

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this on the regular,
just do yourself a favor

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and buy a smaller phone instead.

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There's also what Sony calls
side sense, which claims to use

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a sensor in the
sides of the phone

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to react to double taps
and gestures so you can

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maneuver things more easily.

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I don't think there's
actually an extra sensor here.

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I think Sony is actually just
relying on the touchscreen

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itself to detect these inputs,
and that is the problem here.

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The way it works is you double
tap the side of the screen,

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and you'll get a little
slider menu that gives you

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quick access to
recently used apps,

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certain options from your
quick settings panel,

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and access to modes like multi
window and the one handed mode.

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It's great.

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The problem is it's been
difficult for me at least

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to figure out the right
double tap cadence

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to get this thing to pop up.

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So when I need it, I
can't get it to work.

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And when I don't need it, it
seems to pop up all the time.

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There is one other way
that the big screen here

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doesn't actually help
the overall experience.

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That's when it comes
to battery life.

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Remember, this is a 4K panel,
that's a lot of pixels.

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This phone has to drive.

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That coupled with the fact that
Sony only put a 3,300 milliamp

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power battery in
this thing, is not

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a recipe for long term success.

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I mean, even the Pixel 3a, a
phone that costs half of this,

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easily has a 4,000
milliamp power battery.

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That's the watermark we
should be working towards,

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than to have
something so limited

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in a device this ambitious
feels really less than great.

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This can be better.

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This should be better.

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But Sony just decided, you
know what, we don't want that.

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And then there are the cameras.

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Sony went with a triple
camera system here,

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and it's generally more than
respectable, even if it doesn't

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produce the kind of
game changing photos

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you'll expect from devices
like the Pixel 3, for instance.

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Let's actually take a
closer look at these.

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We have a 12 megapixel main
camera with an F 1.6 aperture,

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a 12 megapixel zoom
with an F 2.4 aperture,

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and the ultra wide, which
sits there and captures

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137 degrees worth of
whatever's in front of it

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at a resolution of you
guessed it 12 megapixels.

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Now, on their own
each of them were

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capable of taking some
pretty impressive,

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nicely detailed
photos, especially

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when you're working with Sony's
built in intelligent auto mode.

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As the name sort
of implies, it uses

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AI to analyze what's
in front of it

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and tune its output
appropriately.

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And it's really
helpful when you're

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taking photos of
flowers and wildlife

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just to give it that
extra bit of life.

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And it's smart
enough to make even

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photos with backlit subjects
look surprisingly nice.

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That's not to say
that Sony's work

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here is perfect by any stretch.

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I found that the exposure
of a particular scene

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can vary pretty
wildly from moment

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to moment, especially
when you're switching

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between those three cameras.

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The standard sensor
generally looks pretty dark

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while the 2x zoom camera
kind of overexposes

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without any provocation
from my part.

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And that wide
camera, well, look,

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the results are
generally all right.

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But by default, it sets
the maximize image quality

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instead of ironing out the
inherent and slight fish eye

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distortion.

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In other words, that means Sony
is trying to give you as much

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of what's in front of you
in a photo as possible,

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even if the photo
looks a little skewed.

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And you can easily change that
setting, but I don't know,

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I don't think you should
have to right out of the box.

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Beyond all of that, I still
kind of hate Sony's camera's

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interface too.

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It's not that it's overly
complicated or anything.

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It's just not really laid out
with much regard for how people

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tend to use their cameras.

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I will say, though, shooting
video with the built in cinema

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pro app is truly kind of great.

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Sony leaned on some of
its CineAlta engineers

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to help out with this.

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Though I am not a video
person, but you should

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definitely be grateful for it.

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The app offers a lot
of depth for people

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who know what they're doing.

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You've got options for changing
which camera you're using

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and tweaking the
ISO and the shutter,

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even manually focusing on your
subject, which sounds great.

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There's no focus
peaking or anything

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like here, which would be really
nice to help you figure out

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when your subject is pin sharp.

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But I guess we can't
have everything.

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You can even replicate
certain cinematic looks, which

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is kind of a nice touch,
especially for wannabe

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filmmakers like me.

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At the end of it
all, the Xperia 1 is

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a powerful device, no question.

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But it's not a sensible one,
at least for most people.

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I have to give Sony
credit for bucking

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just about every
smartphone trend out here.

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There's no in display
fingerprint sensor,

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there's no notch in the display.

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They've built something
that feels truly unique,

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00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,210
but I think that uniqueness
also comes at a cost.

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00:09:45,210 --> 00:09:48,220
This is just one of many
expensive flagship phones

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00:09:48,220 --> 00:09:49,020
out there.

248
00:09:49,020 --> 00:09:51,480
And I just don't see the
kind of normal people

249
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,720
who drive smartphone sales
falling for the Xperia

250
00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,150
1's specific charms, let's say.

251
00:09:57,150 --> 00:09:59,430
This is a niche gadget
through and through.

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00:09:59,430 --> 00:10:01,380
If you're the kind
of person who loves

253
00:10:01,380 --> 00:10:04,140
watching and making
movies, you will find

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00:10:04,140 --> 00:10:05,970
something to appreciate here.

255
00:10:05,970 --> 00:10:10,440
Everyone else can move along
and not really worry about it.

256
00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,790
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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00:10:13,790 --> 00:10:28,587