I came from a long list of Moto G phones to the Xperia line. I'm in the USA and our carriers HATE this phone. That means there are good reasons for me to like it!
I have a SanDisk Extreme Pro 1TB micro SD card and the 512 GB Xperia 1 vi. All storage modes I've used on it are lightning fast.
The camera is better than the Moto line.
The audio quality is absolutely breathtaking! That alone sold me on buying a second Xperia for my wife though she's still stuck on Moto for now.
Rooting the 1 vi is fairly straightforward and doesn't induce many unwanted effects. I have never passed SafetyNet with any rooted device, nor have I needed to.
The one glaring downside to the 1 vi is that it does not do wifi calling. That means a good cell signal is critical. US carriers will not help here, so make sure you have some cash for a good cell booster iljust in case.
Overall, though, now that the 1 vi is two generations back, the prices should be around $600-$700 US. I paid $900 and it's worth every bit of that.
One of the best feature packed no BS smartphone with unique Sony twist that no other manufacturers do. They don't blindly follow trend by removing a lot of useful customer friendly features (3.5mm jack, memory card slow etc).
The display is satisfying. Unobstructed view because no punch hole or notch or any other fancy name gives very pleasing viewing experience
The camera is overall great. On auto mode it may not as good as any other flagship. To get the best result, you need to use the pro mode for the best setting and RAW file output
Audio department is also great. The speaker placement is front facing which is perfect. And the sound quality from 3.5mm jack is also great. It will please audiophiles
The best part is the battery life. The 5000mah might not be the largest, but due to some less taxing hardware and great optimization, it can last long and can be longer than any other flagship phone on the market
The only big downside is the slow (standard) battery charging speed. Because other flagships can provide up to twice to thrice as fast charging time
This phone is amazing! The camera, audio, battery life and display quality is top notch. Photos comes out lovely with nice natural details, no nonsense, no fake details added. On top of that, you get class leading telemacro shots, 30fps burst accross all lenses and 4k 120 on all lenses! Battery life is amazing! A whole day of heavy use with 2 days of lite use. Audio is among the best you can get. The design is slimmer and lighter than the competition, while retaining 3.5 mm and sd expansion. Shame on the competition for removing these features and increasing the prices.
Cons:
There are some minor software issues and the auto HDR rarely doesn't trigger.