Unboxing the Sony Xperia X
The box appears all white, but as soon as you remove the top you are greeted with a burst of color - a promise of a multitude of hues to come from the X-Reality display. There's also the huge new logo of the re-branded X-line.
The box itself doesn't hold much - the phone, the manuals, a charger and a cable. We didn't get a headset; maybe that's just the review unit as there's an empty spot in the box, big enough to hold a headset.
The retail package that we received was missing headphones
It's important to note that while the Xperia X supports Quick Charging, the in-box unit puts out 1.5A at 5V. That's not very powerful, even for a non-quick charger. Packaging in the US is different, though, and includes a Sony UCH10 Quick Charger, which offers Quick Charge 2.0.
We were let down by the basic retail package, especially considering the price point. To be fair, other companies are slimming down their boxes too - the HTC 10 skips the headphones in some markets, and the Galaxy S7 doesn't come with a quick charger everywhere while some LGs come without a fast charger too.
Sony Xperia X 360° spin
The Sony Xperia X brings the screen size back to 5", so it's slightly smaller than the Z5 (but bigger than the Z5 Compact). It is roughly the same size as an Xperia M5. Slightly heavier though at 153g, in part due to the use of metal. It weighs the same as the Z5.
Hardware
The Sony Xperia X has been forged in the same fires as the Xperia Z5 - it's a stark and restrained aesthetic of boxy, rectangular design mixed with rounded-off sides and a side-positioned fingerprint reader.
Sony Xperia X takes after the Z-series
The rounded sides are complimented by the 2.5D glass that slopes into the them. The transition is smooth - a boon for side-swipes and a small but meaningful detail that contributes to the premium feel.
Two notches are cut into the front glass to give the stereo speakers room to let their voice out. They are a throwback to the Z3, unlike the Z5 where they were placed closer to the top and bottom edge.
The front glass is scratch resistant, but Sony hasn't mentioned any brand names.
Stereo speakers and 13MP selfie camera on the front
On the top half, there's a 13MP selfie camera - the Z-series were so focused on the back camera, so they only used to get 5MP front-facers. This camera is serious stuff - 1/3" sensor and a f/2.0 aperture, not too different from the specs of an iPhone 6s' primary camera.
The back is flat and made of metal with a frosted finish. The key placement is much the same as the Z-series as well.
The 23MP camera with G Lens
The Xperia X weighs a hair over 150g, and the weight is evenly distributed. With Sony's choice of materials, the heft helps sell the quality feel.
The sides of the phone are key to the Xperia design. The round button of the past is now the Power key/Fingerprint reader of today. The key is recessed, preventing accidental presses. The built-in scanner is also fast and accurate.
Recessed Power key/fingerprint reader and the oddly placed volume rocker
We're still not happy about the placement of the volume rocker. It's between the Power and Shutter keys, so you have to tilt the phone sideways so your thumb can reach low enough. Sony is the last holdout for hardware shutter keys, and the benefit of having one is less certain when you won't be able to take pictures underwater.
On the other side of the phone is the card tray. It can be accessed without eject pins and it holds a nanoSIM and a microSD card. The Sony Xperia X also has a dual-SIM version.
The card tray reboots the phone when you take it out
One annoying thing is that the phone immediately restarts when you pull out the tray - no questions asked, no chance to properly exit apps, no option to prevent the reset. Yet Sony has not enabled the Adoptable Storage feature of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which would be one reason to restart the phone as soon as the cards leave it.
At the bottom is the microUSB 2.0 port and the mic, there's a secondary mic on top.
Top and bottom sides hold wired ports and microphones
Display
The Sony Xperia X brings a Bravia, Triluminos, X-Reality display (hey, the names match!), 5" big with 1080p resolution. Sony won the sharpness wars with its 4K Xperia Z5 Premium, so the Xperia X is free to go for quality instead of bragging rights of a QHD display.
All those brand names really stand for an IPS LCD built on the Quantum Dot technology. It generates colors in a different way than vanilla LCD's and you can tell - even if you're used to AMOLED, the saturated colors of this screen look spell-binding.
Despite their surreal appearance, Sony managed to keep color reproduction fairly accurate - the display scores an average deltaE of 4.0 - that's more than the best in this regard (the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s), but it's still better than quite a few devices (the Xperia Z5, LG G5, and Huawei P9). It's really the white balance that's off (it has a blueish tint), the rest of the color reproduction stays mostly under a deltaE of 6. The biggest deviation was 9.4.
There are sliders to adjust white balance, but you need to have a calibration tool as you really can't do much by eye.
Sony also worked to improve contrast and the Xperia X scores 1,200:1, better than the 1,000:1 the Z5 managed and the 800:1 of the Xperia M5. This was largely done by improving the black levels, which are still on the high side. Even so, in the dark, you can get the brightness as low as 4.9 nits, a boon for late-night notifications when a bright screen would blind you.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.63 | 527 | 839 | |
| 0.59 | 583 | 986 | |
| 0.44 | 539 | 1219 | |
| - | 366 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 421 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 601 | ∞ | |
| 0.32 | 450 | 1398 | |
Sony does image post-processing in its gallery. You can turn it off, switch to X-Reality mode or go all in with Super-vivid mode (delivering self-described "surreal" images).
These modes sharpen images, boost contrast and (in super-vivid mode) enhance colors. You can get a side-by-side comparison to help you make your choice too.
The sunlight legibility marks a small improvement over the Xperia Z5 and M5. It's on par with, say, LG G5, but behind some mid-range AMOLED-packing phones.
Sunlight contrast ratio
The Display settings have a few additional perks. You can enable double-tap to wake (off by default), Glove mode (for cold winters) and Smart backlight control (keeps the screen on while you hold the phone).
Connectivity
The Sony Xperia X comes in single- and dual-SIM versions, ours is of the single-SIM kind.
For mobile data, LTE Cat. 6 (300Mbps down, 50Mbps up) along with HSPA as a fallback (42.2Mbps/5.76Mbps). You also get dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (the Xperia M5 lacked ac), Bluetooth 4.2 with aptX and Low Energy, NFC and FM Radio with RDS (we know it's important to some people).
The Wi-Fi connection can be used for screen casting - either via Miracast or Google Cast. This goes great if you connect a DualShock controller, the Xperia X becomes a portable console. For cars, MirrorLink can connect to your head unit.
The microUSB 2.0 port (yep, no Type-C action from Sony in the foreseeable future) lets you charge the phone as well as hook up USB storage and accessories. The port is MHL-enabled if you need a wired TV out instead.
Battery
Ask any Xperia owner about battery life and you'll hear good things. But the Sony Xperia X comes with a sealed 2,620mAh battery. Is it enough? That's the same capacity as the Xperia M5 and actually a bit less than the Xperia Z5 Compact (2,700mAh).
Note that the Xperia X is the first phone to launch with a Qnovo battery. It supports fast charging (Quick Charge 2.0 in this case)), but the company behind it claims it has a longer life and will last hundreds of charge cycles more than a conventional Lithium battery (especially one that's being fast-charged). This means that a year or two after you buy it, the X will continue to offer solid battery life while an aged regular battery will not be able to hold much charge (and this is important for a phone with a sealed battery).
Additional improvements, including a new chipset, help the Endurance rating to a good 67 hours. Not the best we've seen (Z3 Compact was a wonder), but we think it's actually an improvement over the Xperia Z5.
It comes down to the testing procedure - we used to set the brightness slider to 50% (which for the Z5 meant a low 90nits), but now we test all phones at 200nits. The only test the Xperia X loses compared to the Z5 is the browser test, but we think at equal brightness the Z5's lead will shrink.
In comparison, the LG G5 scored 60h (50h with Always On screen), HTC 10 did 66h, Sony Xperia Z5 73h, Huawei P9 75h, Samsung Galaxy S7 80h (49h with Always On).
Camera
The Sony Xperia X is the company's new photography star. It uses a big 1/2.3" 23MP Exmor RS sensor behind a F/2.0 G Lens.
The big addition in this camera generation is the Predictive Hybrid Autofocus. You can tap on your subject and the camera will track its movement, keeping the focus locked on it. This is great for subjects who would move all around the scene.
The X camera lets you capture moments in the blink of an eye - from a locked phone, it takes a mere 0.6 seconds to capture the first shot. To use that feature, you need to enable taking a photo when waking the camera with the shutter key in Settings. The feature worked as fast as advertised and took the shot before we even got the chance to see the camera viewfinder. Then again, a lot of the photos came out blurry because we were still adjusting the framing of the scene while the phone took the pics.
The front camera is equally impressive. It has a 1/3" Exmor RS sensor with 13MP resolution and f/2.0 G Lens. It's the kind of setup some lower-end phones would use for their main camera.
Sony tech promises good performance in low light and smartly adjust the shutter speed based on movement in the scene - a static scene gets a long exposure time to reduce noise, a dynamic scene a short one to reduce motion blur.
New Xperia camera UI
Sony's latest camera UI is fairly streamlined (as seen in the Z5 series as well). You change modes by swiping up and down. Superior Auto will probably be the main mode you use, but there's a Manual option too. However, it is quite limited as you can change ISO and white balance, that's it.
The Camera App tab holds some useful features and some features, which are just there for fun.
Some of the available modes are Sweep Panorama, Slow-motion video, Face in picture, Sound Photo and a few more. Those are the pre-installed modes, more can be downloaded.
Camera apps
The selfie cam has pretty much the same features aside from minor differences (no ISO in manual mode). It even reminds you to look at the camera when taking a photo.
Image quality
The Sony Xperia X camera can perform well. Looking at our compare tool, resolution-wise, the X outperforms almost all camera phones in our database. The tiny print is visible and you see detail that is completely missing in photos from competitors.
However, it does suffer from the classic Sony weaknesses. Noise is ever-present and even stronger in every area that's not perfectly lit. Corner softness is barely visible, but it's there.
The noise - reduce noise - sharpen style of processing robs the camera of per-pixel detail and it's most noticeable in high-frequency detail like foliage and grass. The Xperia X has heaps of pixels to throw at the problem and photos are best viewed at less than 100%.
The Superior Auto had a relatively small impact, it would sometimes add contrast compared to the Manual mode shot, but in most cases you have to look hard to notice anything.
Color reproduction leaves something to be desired, colors in photos being undersaturated compared to real life hues. Due to the screen and gallery viewing enhancements on the Xperia X, though, you may not notice it until you take the photos off the phone.
The predictive motion-tracking autofocus works fairly well as long as the object it tracks does not leave the frame.
We're also quite happy with the re-focusing speed in general. Switching from subjects in close distance to ones far away is quick and seamless - okay, perhaps it's not as fast as Samsung's Dual Pixel AF, but it's an improvement over the Xperia Z5 camera.
Speaking of, when we reviewed the Z5 (admittedly an early unit) we encountered several software issues. There is none of that here.
Superior Auto • Normal
You can compare the Xperia X against some competing phones in its class over at our Photo Quality Comparison tool. Look at the fine print on the London map and the details on the 10 pound banknote. Look at the bottom right corner to judge the noise levels.
HDR
Technically, Superior Auto is supposed to engage HDR as needed, but there's a toggle in the Manual mode. Either way, the effects are so small that even in extreme situations you only get a minor improvement.
Superior Auto • Normal • HDR
Panorama
The Xperia X has a sweep panorama like Sony's digital cameras, but the results are not terribly impressive. The panoramas are 1080px tall, stitching has issues (ghosting) and the resolved detail is quite low.
Xperia X panorama
An Album up to Sony standards
The Album app is among the most comprehensive and feature-rich we've seen, it's fast and easy to use, too! Photos are organized by month, and you can use pinch-zoom to change the size of thumbnails (then they smoothly animate into the grid).
At the very top of the list is a slideshow, showing off your photos, lower down, the first photo of each month is shown at twice the size of other images.
The Album app is beautiful and functional
You can instead browse photos on a map (you can manually add geotag info) or by folder. This includes network storage so that you can view photos from a DLNA server (your home computer for one). Then there's integration with online albums - Facebook, Picasa, Flickr.
Image editing is handled by several apps, including Sketch and Sticker maker (so you can create your own custom stickers to send to your friends).
Sketch lets you fingerpaint over a photo or a paper-like texture, add text, stickers, photos and so on. If you're talented, you can share your creations on the Sketch mini-social network, and if you're not, you can just browse what others drew.
Sketch is a fun image editor with a mini social network for sharing art
Movie Creator is similar to the Assistant of Google Photos. It automatically creates short videos from the photos and videos you've shot.
You can do it manually too: pick photos and videos, change their order, add color effects and music (you get a small audio collection to start you off, but can use custom files too). Then tap the Share button and send out your animated slideshow.
The Movie Creator can automatically or manually make shareable slideshows
We mentioned it in the Display section, but we'll repeat it here. The Sony software uses image enhancements to make even average-looking photos pop. You can choose from Off, X-reality (sharpen and boost contrast) and Super-vivid.
Screen settings
Music app
The Music app feels like a part of the same software package as the rest of the custom Sony stuff. The side menu offers much of the same browsing options - by folder, network folder and online services, in this case, Spotify (it's just a link to the Spotify app though). You can share music from the phone to compatible players.
Music app
The Infinite button as such is gone, but its functionality is now under the More about this option in the menu. It can find the track's video on YouTube, look up info about the artist on Wikipedia and search for lyrics on Google. Gracenote is used here too and it can automatically download information about your tracks and album art.
The Music app offers a variety of audio settings - ClearAudio+ determines the best audio quality settings depending on the track you're listening to. We liked how it changed the sound and carefully accentuated various details.
Then there's DSEE HX, which uses an almost wizardly algorithm on compressed music files, like MP3s and restores or rather extrapolates high range sound. According to Sony, the result is near Hi-Res Audio Quality. We aren't quite sure about that, but the processing does seem to boost quality quite noticeably. Also, it only works with wired headphones.
Dynamic normalizer evens out the volume differences across tracks, which is great if you've mixed multiple albums from multiple sources.
Audio settings
Noise-cancelling headphones are supported - they are a special kind that doesn't require batteries as Sony has figured out a way to make the phone do the work. You'll need noise-cancelling headphones from Sony, though.
FM Radio
There's also an FM radio tuner with RDS. The app features multiple visualizations and integrates with TrackID to recognize the currently playing song. The interface is very intuitive and full of stunning animations. Possibly one of the best FM radio apps out there.
Of course, you would need to have your headset plugged in for the FM radio to pick up any signal.
FM radio with RDS and track recognition
Video
The Movies app is gone, a simpler Video app takes its place. The app is simpler to use - you pick a file from one of the local folders or your home network. You can also use the Search feature to look up videos on YouTube. The app is missing the HTPC-like functionality though, which pulled movie and TV show info automatically.
A chapter view lets you find a specific part of the video, by letting you scrub through a virtual timeline.
Video player
Videos can continue to play in the background (it's an option), but you can't view the video in a small floating window. At least you get full subtitle settings.
Audio output starts off strong, loses some brilliance with headphones
The Sony Xperia X showed perfect clarity in the first part of our audio quality test. When attached to an active external amplifier, the smartphone produced great scores top to bottom and things were above average in terms of loudness too, for a great performance.
Plugging in our standard headphones did cause some damage - volume dropped to below average, stereo crosstalk rose a bit and some distortion crept in. It’s still a very good performance, but no longer up there with the best.
Here go the results so you can do your comparisons.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| Sony Xperia X | +0.01, -0.04 | -94.8 | 89.9 | 0.0043 | 0.015 | -93.4 |
| Sony Xperia X (headphones) | +0.44, -0.03 | -83.7 | 87.7 | 0.0083 | 0.226 | -65.5 |
| Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) | +0.02, -0.07 | -94.3 | 92.2 | 0.0065 | 0.010 | -95.0 |
| Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) (headphones) | +0.42, -0.01 | -93.4 | 87.1 | 0.029 | 0.254 | -53.0 |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 | +0.01, -0.04 | -95.6 | 92.8 | 0.0024 | 0.0094 | -94.5 |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 (headphones) | +0.02, -0.05 | -92.6 | 91.9 | 0.0025 | 0.042 | -83.4 |
| HTC One M9 | +0.02, -0.06 | -94.8 | 93.0 | 0.0049 | 0.026 | -93.7 |
| HTC One M9 (headphones attached) | +0.03, -0.05 | -93.7 | 92.7 | 0.0082 | 0.030 | -91.6 |
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