Sony's Xperia 1 VIII wild telephoto camera can't distract from its biggest flaw

Sony has unveiled its latest camera flagship, the Xperia 1 VIII, and it comes with some important upgrades. The specs of its telephoto camera in particular have seen a big boost. However, the phone has a big demerit, and most of you seem to agree with that.

A mind-blowing telephoto camera

The Sony Xperia 1 VII, which was released last year, didn't score good marks in our in-house testing. The overall camera performance was very unimpressive, especially if you consider its €1,499 price tag. The company has definitely tried to improve on the camera front this year, as the Xperia 1 VIII comes with improved cameras.

First, let's talk about the star of the triple camera setup – the telephoto lens. The phone features a completely new 1/1.56-inch sensor, which is four times bigger than what you will find in its predecessor. The announcement video claims that the new, bigger sensor will allow the device to deliver high-quality images when shooting distant objects in low-lighting conditions.

The company also mentions that all three 48 MP cameras at the back are compatible with RAW multi-frame processing. In simple terms, the smartphone will offer an expanded dynamic range, and images taken in low lighting conditions will have less noise compared to previous models.

Other than the hardware improvements, the announcement video also gives a lot of emphasis to the new AI camera assistant. It will basically analyze the subject and the environment and suggest different things you can do to take a perfect shot. For instance, you might be suggested different filters, asked to change the angle, or even given a bokeh setting that will work the best based on the environment.

Other details of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII

Although the camera is the main highlight of the phone, some other departments have also seen noticeable changes. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, which is an upgrade over its predecessor, which runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. The screen is 6.5 inches that supports a 120 Hz refresh rate.

Sony is one of the few brands that is still offering a 3.5mm jack, and the trend continues in its latest device as well. The battery numbers are still the same this year – a 5000mAh cell that supports 30 W wired charging. However, the company claims that it will offer slightly better battery life because of better optimization under the hood.

It's too costly

It's time to reveal the biggest flaw of the latest Sony flagship: its price. The smartphone is available in two storage options. The standard 12 GB/256 GB variant costs $1,759 (via direct conversion from €1,499), while the 16 GB/1 TB variant costs $2,346 (via direct conversion from €1,999).

In fact, just before the official launch of the device, we talked about its leaked specifications in one of our posts. The story included a poll in which we asked you to share the most exciting part about the Xperia 1 VIII. Unsurprisingly, most of you voted for the option that said, "At this price, nothing is exciting," which clearly suggests that pricing is still king when choosing a smartphone.