What's good
- Comfortable grip and premium design
- Bright, colorful display
- MicroSD support
- Good performance
What's bad
- Cost
- Inconsistent camera performance
- Weak audio
With it’s smaller screen and mid-tier hardware, Sony Xperia X shows a different approach from Sony on their flagship line. Can a series known for pushing the spec envelope still deliver with the settings dialed back? Let’s see what the reviews are saying.
If you’ve seen any other Xperia phone, you’ll likely recognize the design on the Xperia X. It takes Sony’s classic omnibalance design and adds a bit of budget-friendly plastic to the mix. The back is a textured metal while the sides are a soft, smooth plastic. AndroidPIT loved the look, saying, “Although little has changed, appearance-wise, on this 5-inch smartphone, the Sony Xperia X still makes a good impression.” Unfortunately, many other reviews found the design a bit boring. The words “familiar” and “safe” were common.
The phone includes Sony’s normal mid-phone power button. Though now that button hides a fingerprint sensor as well. Most reviews indicated that as long as you didn’t mind the placement of the button, that it performed on par with the best scanners available. Mirror praised it as “exceedingly fast, and far more convenient than other sensors I've tested that have been incorporated into the home button.”
Heading around to the front of the phone, you’ll find a 5-inch, 1080p IPS panel. This is one area where all reviews agree that the phone shines. Sony’s Triluminous technology provides a boost of brightness while the high-quality display offers a great visual experience as well. Mirror loved the screen, saying, “[It] looks utterly fantastic, delivering almost AMOLED levels of depth and richness without appearing oversaturated.” If you’re frequently on-the-go, AndroidPIT praised the phone for it’s visibility in direct sunlight.
Pushing all those pixels, you’ll find one of the first debated aspects of the phone--a hexa-core 1.8Ghz processor. This is far from what you’ll find in many of the current flagships. However, reviews on daily usage don’t appear to suffer. Mirror notes, “It naturally fell quite a long way behind rivals like the HTC 10 and LG G5 in our benchmark tests. In all fairness, though, the Xperia X still feels exceedingly fast.” Many reviews even noted that it handles gaming with no signs of delays or overheating. You’ll also find 32GB of internal storage and microSD support for those gaming and movie marathons.
Many of the reviews attribute this to Sony’s tweaks to Android 6.0.1. Nearly every site mentioned how fluidly the phone swipes between pages and loads apps. They also loved the minimal touches to the stock interface. Stuff dug into the phone’s interface and declared, “[You] Get a nice, stripped-back experience without too much bloat. Everything but the Music app and photo album can be eradicated, so making your Sony Xperia X bloat-free only takes two minutes.”
Keeping your phone chugging along throughout the day, you’ll find a 2,620mAh battery. While many reviews questioned the ability for the phone to last through a day, nearly all found that you could make it back to the charger at night without an issue. Alphr summed up findings well, saying, “As with any modern smartphone, if you use it constantly, you won’t get much more than a day out of it. However, as I write this, the battery gauge is sitting on 19% after a day and a half of use.”
Unfortunately, the phone has a few quirks that reviewers didn’t love. The main issue being the cameras. Rated at 23MP, many reviews applauded the image stabilization of the rear shooter. However, almost every review mentioned that low-light performance was terrible. Alphr summed up the issues, noting, “Things start to go wrong when the light isn’t optimal. Examining a shot captured on a grey London day closely reveals lots of noise and overprocessing, which are evident in smeared blocks of color and odd speckles around the edges of objects.”
Many of these same quirks carried over to the front-facing 13MP lens. AndroidPIT was nicer with their opinion of the camera, saying, “Details can become washed out, but the results, for a smartphone camera, are very strong.”
Overall, reviews were mixed on the Xperia X. Stuff perhaps highlights the core issue with most of the reviews when they say, “There's really nothing much to hate about it, but nor is there quite enough to love about it.” Alphr feels that the weak point is something else entirely, saying, “The Sony Xperia X is an odd fish. In its own right, it’s a very good smartphone, with lovely design, decent battery life and performance, a great screen and (in some circumstances) an impressive set of cameras. Yet, given its specifications, it’s entirely the wrong price.”
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Chris Barraclough, RecombuThe Xperia X is unfortunately eclipsed these days by the freshly launched OnePlus 3T, which offers seriously impressive performance for the same asking price. But despite this, there’s still plenty to like here. Sony’s more compact design is easier to use one-handed, while the dual camer...
- Desmond Koh, TechgoonduThe Xperia X is a decent mid-ranged device, pairing good quality (no washed out screen or trashy camera) components with a good finish.
- Zayne Seah, VR-ZoneThe Xperia X is a lovely phone in my opinion. It’s just too expensive to put it bluntly. Is it worth the cash? Maybe? However I think that at this price, there are equivalent or better options. Nevertheless, I loved the “xperience” and I think that the Xperia is a great 5&rdqu...
- Hadlee Simons, GearburnThere’s brisk performance, a solid design and a camera capable of excellent daytime snaps. But for R11 999, you’d expect better low-light camera performance, a cutting-edge processor and a phone that doesn’t overheat (yet again).
- Manuel Masiero, NotebookcheckThe Sony Xperia X does a lot of things right, but cannot entirely live up to its self-imposed claim of being a top smartphone. Nevertheless, there are many arguments in favor of the 5-inch Android phone. It features an elegant case made of aluminum and plastic, which also feels premium to the touch,...
Prices (Where to Buy)
Common Questions
We've got you covered! Download a free PDF copy of the Sony Xperia X user manual here.
Sony backs up the Xperia X with a 1 Year parts & labour warranty.
If your Xperia X has problems and is still within its warranty period, you could contact Sony support or the retailer you purchased the phone from. You'll find Sony's contact information here. If your phone is off warranty and needs repair for a physical problem such as a broken screen or bad battery, you should visit an authorized service centre or a local phone repair shop. You can also connect with others in The Informr Community Forum to find and share answers to questions.
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Resources
Manuals / User Guides
- Sony Xperia X Manual (PDF)
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