Sony Xperia 5 III review: A smartphone that still performs well and holds well in the handif(typeof __ez_fad_position!='undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-charlestech_fr-box-3-0')};

Sony, a smartphone manufacturer for a few years now, presented its Xperia 5 III several months ago. Except that the manufacturer took a long time before making it available everywhere in the world. The device has therefore been available in France for a short time in reality. We had the opportunity to take it in hand for a few days, with success, as is often the case when testing a Sony device.

Design

The aesthetics of the device does not really change, the smartphone is still as flat on the front as on the back of the device . If everything is not perfect with the brand's smartphones, the manufacturer nevertheless takes care to offer devices with very good manufacturing quality.

In addition to this, despite a certain thickness, 8.3 mm, the latter does not feel that much once the device is in hand. This is what I appreciate about the brand's smartphones, the handling. Sony devices have a pleasant form-factor that allows a good grip by offering a smartphone that is not too wide but above all high. This, thanks to the 21: 9 screen ratio essentially.

Now let's take a quick tour of the owner by studying the smartphone in all its sides. On the front, we find the screen, predominant but not too much either. Indeed, Sony has this habit of keeping on its smartphones, edges on the lower and upper parts, the Xperia 5 III is one of them. This makes it possible to accommodate the front camera, which does not appear in the screen in particular.

On the front panel there are also the two speakers of the smartphone. These are located at the top and bottom, in order to provide a good distribution of sound when listening to music through the speaker. The other sensors are located on the upper part. Admittedly, the smartphone has a chin at the bottom of the screen, however, since the upper part is exactly identical, it is not very disturbing for once.

On the left side of the device, there is the SIM drawer, which opens simply, without extracting a paper clip. Here, only a nail of the correct length is enough, it's perfect and it avoids losing a tool which is nevertheless essential. You can insert in this SIM drawer, a nano-SIM card and a micro-SD or two nano-SIM cards.

On the right edge are the volume buttons, as well as the lock / unlock button. I would have preferred to find the volume buttons in two separate buttons on the left, question of ergonomics. Regarding the lock / unlock button, it houses the device's fingerprint sensor.

A little lower on the edge of the smartphone is the button for Google Assistant. It's a bit of a shame to have a button for that, but that's Sony's choice. A dedicated button just for Google Assistant was, in my opinion, not essential. Finally, even lower, the Xperia 5 III has a camera release button, the latter on the other hand is very practical.

On the lower edge, there is only the USB-C port and the main microphone for calls. On the upper edge, there is the secondary microphone for the cancellation of ambient noise, as well as a 3.5 mm jack, very appreciable especially on a high-end device.

Finally, on the back of the device, which is also made of glass but does not allow wireless charging, are the legal certifications. Sony is still in the habit of displaying an NFC logo on its smartphones, a very practical technology it must be admitted. Finally, at the top left when we have the smartphone with the back facing us, is the photo module. The latter contains three sensors allowing you to take beautiful photos, but still in 12 MP.

Just above this sensor is the LED flash, as well as the autofocus on the right. Overall, the device is very well finished and the design is neat in every way. We appreciate certain details such as the SIM drawer in particular.

Sony Xperia 5 III Features

Performance

The Xperia 5 III features a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC 888. The latter is one of the most efficient from Qualcomm, pending the next high-end SoCs from the manufacturer. It is an 8-core processor engraved in 5 nm with an architecture divided into three parts. Here is the CPU configuration:

The latter is supported by 8 GB of RAM in LPDDR5, there is however no 12 GB version here, I am not convinced that it is essential however. The storage is 128 GB and the standard used is UFS 3.1. Regarding the GPU, it is an Adreno 660 which provides the graphics part. This chip is one of the most efficient on the market, allowing you to play all games without the slightest lag.

Antutu of the Xperia 5 III

The Antutu score of the Sony Xperia 5 III is 742366 points. This is a good score for a high-end smartphone, despite the fact that other smartphones do better or even as well for less, as evidenced by the realme GT Neo 2. We can notice here good performance on the GPU side, very good too CPU side.

As for the RAM, it looks less ferocious than with other competitors, but it is above all by its quantity of “only” 8 GB that the smartphone scores such a score. As for the benchmark itself, the device took more than 9°C in temperature during the Antutu test and lost 6% of battery anyway. Performance has a cost, a lot of energy consumed on the battery.

GeekBench of the Xperia 5 III

The GeekBench score of the Sony Xperia 5 III is 3611 points. This is one of the best scores I've had on an Android device. The smartphone, unlike devices like the Mi 11 Ultra, does not heat up too much and above all, knows how to dissipate the temperature it generates well. Because indeed, the device can rise in temperature. But the main thing is to know how to get rid of it and on top of that, he knows how to do it.

The single-core score is quite different from the multi-core score. This is normal because not all cores are of the same power. There is one very efficient, three others less efficient and finally, the last four, optimized for reduced energy consumption.

PerformanceTest du Xperia 5 III

As for RAM, we have LPDDR5 here, which allows you to achieve really optimal performance, with very comfortable speeds. RAM speeds are 3562 MB/s read and 3484 MB/s write, with latencies of just 27.4 ns. These are excellent characteristics, which justify being able to settle for 8 GB of RAM and no more.

As for the storage chip, speeds are also very high with 1077MB/s read and 485MB/s write, which is also excellent. Sony shows its perfect mastery of the smartphone with a muscular configuration here, which does not have to be ashamed in front of the Chinese flagship killers.

Xperia 5 III 3DMark

For graphics performance, the manufacturer has placed a Snapdragon SoC in its smartphone with an Adreno 660 as GPU. This provides very good graphics performance, both with OpenGL and Vulkan. These two graphics engines, the old and the new respectively, work perfectly well on the Xperia 5 III, with the following scores:

The scores speak for themselves, the performance is there and it's also noticeable in game. In GTA San Andreas, we suffered no bugs, no lags , performance is very good. It's nice to be able to play with so much fluidity on a 120 Hz panel, with a smartphone that doesn't heat up that much compared to what it has in its stomach.

Screen

As usual, Sony does not offer a screen like the others. While all the other manufacturers offer a panel with a 20:9 ratio, some still in 19.5:9, Sony does in 21:9. The cinema format is, it must be said, not suitable for everyone. On the other hand, for anyone who wants to watch a movie with their smartphone, this is clearly ideal.

This screen is convenient for some users, some others may not like it. For my part, I especially appreciate the fact that Sony adopts a form of smartphone pleasant to take in hand with this smartphone and its ultra-high screen. The screen resolution of this Xperia 5 III is 2520 x 1080 pixels. It is a classic Full HD resolution, adapted to the higher screen of the device.

The pixel density is 449 DPI, which is high, much more than the 326 DPI beyond which the human eye can no longer distinguish pixels. We therefore have sufficient margin before seeing the slightest pixel on this smartphone with its 6.1-inch screen. On the panel side, it is obviously an OLED screen that we have here, with very good color reproduction.

Sony could not put less than a 120 Hz panel on a such smartphone. That's just good, that's what the manufacturer has done. As for the touch sampling rate, it's double, or 240 Hz, which allows for a fast touch response, but not as much as some rather gaming-oriented smartphones.

The screen is beautiful and pleasant, it covers the entire DCI-P3 spectrum, to have 1.07 billion colors. The difference with the sRGB spectrum can be seen, even if we will not really discern the millions of shades of colors with the naked eye. It is possible in the settings to adjust the quality of the image, either using the creator mode with a BT.2020 color range and 10-bit color depth, or a standard mode, which is already very pleasant.

The same goes for the white balance, which can be adjusted with fairly high precision. The frequency of the screen, 120 Hz as we recall, can be activated either permanently or not at all, there does not seem to be any intermediate mode. As on all smartphones, there is a dark mode, allowing the smartphone to be used with less blue light at night. Except that it's always like that at Sony, the black background is not really black. It's a dark gray that doesn't exploit the OLED screen as it should and creates light.

It is also possible to modify certain settings of the lock screen, such as a double tap to wake up the smartphone. However, it is not possible to take advantage of an Always-On mode. Despite everything, the screen of the Xperia 5 III remains very good and pleasant to use.

Camera

The Xperia 5 III, like many smartphones, has a triple photo sensor on the back. The latter allows you to take wide-angle photos, in normal mode x1 or to zoom up to a certain level. The smartphone has three sensors, all of which are 12 MP. After all, a 108 MP sensor isn't always essential. Witness the iPhone, always with 12 MP for years and at the top of the rankings very often.

Here is how the photo sensors of the Sony Xperia 5 III are distributed:

We have a wide-angle sensor with a fairly wide opening angle, one of the widest that I was able to see on a smartphone. Regarding the telephoto lens, the latter is variable focal length, between 70 and 105 mm. At Sony however, the uses are:

That's it. No dual-view video, no 108 MP photo or any other function we will admit, more futile than anything else. Sony does not allow you to do things with your smartphone, that's clear. However, the manufacturer focuses on the essentials, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Automatic photo

As for the automatic mode in the photos, we took a few shots with inclement weather. Indeed, the rain that was starting to fall did not really help us to have as high a contrast as expected. However, the photos taken with the device are of very good quality. It generally manages to adapt well to the ambient light and to offer automatic settings quickly.

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The details are sharp and clearly visible, such as the rail ballast in the first photo, second line. The photos, however, have the advantage of remaining natural, unlike other cameras. They adopt a pleasant color profile, but the device sometimes has a little trouble in low light as evidenced by the last photo. Overall, it's still very good, the photo is a bit the domain of Sony.

Zoom

The Sony Xperia 5 III does not have a wide-angle x0.5 or even x0.6, that would be too good. It is a wide-angle at x0.7. Suffice to say that for a starting price of 1000 euros, we clearly expect better, an x0.5 would have been essential on this smartphone, but that is not the choice made by Sony and it is really very regrettable .

x0.7

x1

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x2

x5

x12.5

However, we appreciate the image quality, which is very decent, that's the least we can do for a device at this price. Similarly, the maximum zoom is x12.5 and at this level, the images are still quite correct, which is fortunately normal for a device of this range. Despite everything, the wide angle not so wide that it disappoints.

Front camera

The Sony Xperia 5 III has an 8 MP front camera. It's not exceptional, of course. However, it is not always essential to have a 32 MP front camera to take great photos. Well-controlled cameras are often much better than a front camera with too high a resolution but poorly managed by the software part.

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Here, the photos are of good quality, although a little smooth. However, it is a shame not to have a portrait mode with the front camera.

Interface

The interface is really the downside of Xperia smartphones. It has a big advantage however, it is fluid and the navigation is very fast. However for everything else, there are a lot of flaws, starting with the design itself. It's neither more nor less than a stock Android sprinkled with very fast customization, that's all. While Sony is able to do much better, the smartphone interface is clearly not the strong point of the manufacturer.

First, when you start the device once configured, you come across something very dark, with a wallpaper that does not inspire the greatest joy. Fortunately, I quickly download BackDrops to have very nice wallpapers.

Navigation is simple, via gestures or buttons, it's up to you. Sony puts the gestures forward, because it is the novelty of Android for a few years. However, on the design of the software, it is still the same as a stock Android without much customization. If for some applications, these are Google applications, such as the telephone and messages, Sony adds its personal touch.

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There are indeed Photo Pro and Cinema Pro applications, allowing you to take videos in high quality and above all, with well-defined parameters. It's the same for photos. Sony also incorporates multi-window switching. With a screen this tall and wide when flipped over, it is indeed convenient to have easy-access multitasking on this smartphone.

We can however regret the introduction of pre-installed games, it's a shame to see a manufacturer like Sony stoop to this kind of practice. Especially when we know the price of the smartphone, we know very well that it is profitable without too many worries for the manufacturer.

Sound quality

When it comes to audio, we know Sony and I trust this brand. But I still tested the audio quality of the device, of course. With its two stereo speakers located on the front of the device, the manufacturer keeps its good habits to offer optimal audio quality, by sending the sound directly to the front, towards the user in short.

The sound is powerful and pleasant, we were able to test some music listening on YouTube in high quality. If the sound power is not at the top, it is not worse, so as not to have a sound that starts to sizzle unnecessarily. With this powerful and clear sound, well balanced in terms of bass / mids / treble, comes Sony's dynamic vibration system. This allows the smartphone to vibrate according to the music for more immersion.

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It is a practical and pleasant feature but which I find at the same time totally useless and energy-consuming. It consumes a lot of battery, the vibrations are however configurable, so as to be more or less intense. Even without this feature enabled, the smartphone vibrates slightly with the power of sound.

It is possible to activate in the audio settings, a Dolby Atmos equalizer, but also the 360 ​​Spatial Sound, which will certainly be better if you use Sony headphones like an XM4. It is also possible to activate the DSEE Ultimate, which will improve the precision and quality of compressed music with an artificial intelligence. If you have music in .mp3 file for example, it is possible to improve the quality of this compressed sound via an AI. The result is not obvious, but it is there! The effect is pleasant, although you shouldn't expect anything exceptional either.

Battery

The Sony Xperia 5 III has a 4500 mAh battery. This allows the device to hold without too much trouble during the day. Be careful however, forcing the screen to 120 Hz has the effect of consuming more energy, necessarily. But if you read me often, you'll know that as it's an extra comfort, I don't deprive myself, even if it means losing 1 hour of autonomy at the end of the day, too bad.

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We also performed benchmarks to find out how long the smartphone would last with the screen on. The smartphone gave us about 14 hours of battery life.

To charge the smartphone, Sony provides a 30 Watt charger. Which is certainly not exceptional, but it is hard to see Sony offering a 65 Watt charger, I admit. It's better than Apple or even Samsung, which don't offer more than 25 Watts. An hour is enough to recharge the Xperia 5 III.

Locking and security

To be unlocked, the Xperia 5 III only has a fingerprint sensor. While many other smartphones offer a facial recognition system with it, this is not the case with Sony. It's a shame not to have this feature, however, we can understand the choice of the brand. If it's to have a system that also works with a photo or any other lure, it's not much use.

Sony must certainly (hopefully) want to develop a Face ID-style system, allowing real security. As for the fingerprint sensor again, we could complain that it is not under the screen. However, it is not very disturbing. The fingerprint sensors under the screen are very good but still less reliable and fast than physical sensors like the one in the side button.

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This model unlocks the smartphone very quickly and does not make mistakes. On about fifty attempts in a row, we had no unlocking failure.

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia 5 III obviously has the latest wireless connection standards. On the program here, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, NFC and Bluetooth 5.2. Let's start with Bluetooth 5.2, practical and very pleasant to listen to music with a very correct quality, while not consuming too much energy, we appreciate.

NFC is also highly promoted by Sony. Indeed, this connectivity makes it possible to pay wirelessly but also to add a Bluetooth device quickly, via a simple contact. Sony displays the NFC logo on every smartphone that has this technology. Regarding the Wi-Fi 6 connection, it is like a standard on high-end smartphones and we carried out a speedtest with our Asus XT8 router. On the left, you will find the Wi-Fi 6 speed, on the right the 5G speed.

Wi-Fi 6 speeds

5G speeds

As for 5G finally, we have the following cellular bands on the smartphone:

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2G	850, 900, 1800, 1900
3G	2100 (band 1), 1900 (band 2), 1700 (band 4), 850 (band 5), 800 (band 6), 900 (band 8), 800 (band 19)
4G	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32 , 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 66
5G	n1, n3, n5, n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n77, n78

Finally, Sony has provided, as the standard requires and soon the law, a USB-C port. Except that at the top of the device, there is a 3.5 mm mini jack port. It is increasingly rare on high-end smartphones but Sony persists and signs, the jack is not dead.

Sony Xperia 5 III review: Opinion

Once again Sony clearly pleases us with a high-quality smartphone. However, a few small black dots do not help the picture. The interface is still as austere and not to my taste, the impossibility of filming in 4K UHD 60 fps other than via the Camera Pro application... However, the device has major advantages such as its form-factor, its very beautiful screen and its impeccable performance.

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Despite some small flaws that persist over the versions, Sony is once again offering a very good smartphone, efficient and pleasant overall. Between the 30 Watts recharge, a good camera and top quality manufacturing, the Xperia 5 improves even more on this third version.

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Sony Xperia 5 III Review

88.58.5/10

Sony Xperia 5 III: Review

The Xperia 5 III is the third installment of the high-end smartphone from Sony, but not the ultra high-end version, however. Its performance is very good, it offers a beautiful Full HD+ OLED screen, but it is above all certain features and its grip that it will please.

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