We go hands-on with the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus!

Sony understands not everyone has the scratch to drop more than 50K for a phone with a 21:9 aspect ratio, so the Japanese giant also announced a pair of mid-range smartphones that delivers the same cinematic experience, for less (we hope). The Xperia 10 and 10 Plus have mid-range innards, reasonably good displays along with what we hope are friendly prices when they’re officially offered locally this year.

Tall displays that make the phones stand out above the crowd

Just like the Xperia 1, both the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus have super-tall displays that use a 21:9 aspect ratio: the Xperia 10 has a 6-inch, full HD+ IPS panel, while the Xperia 10 Plus has an even bigger 6.5-inch full HD+ IPS panel. The aspect ratio makes the phones taller than your average smartphone, and a lot narrower too.

Just like the Xperia 1, the two phones’ narrow body is both a blessing and a curse. They’re both easier to hold one-handed, and you can run two apps at the same time via split screen easily. The tall display also makes reaching for content on bottom and top of display difficult, especially when you’re gripping the phone(s) at the middle.

Sony put in what they call side-sense AI to try and alleviate some of the annoyance that comes with using those tall displays, but they’re still a bear to use one-handed, especially for people with daintier hands (i.e. women).

Still, those ultra-tall displays and the 21:9 aspect ratio that comes with them is a boon when you’re streaming movies from sites like Netflix since a majority of the movies and TV shows streamed there uses the 21:9 aspect ratio. That means you’re not going to see black bars on the top or bottom of the screen.

Both the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus use dual-cameras: the Xperia 10 gets a 13-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture paired with a 5-megapixel secondary sensor, while the Xperia 10 Plus gets a slightly better 12-megapixel camera with an f/1.8 aperture and an 8-megapixel camera with 2x optical zoom, f/2.4 aperture lens.

Both phones slot into mid-range territory, so it’s not surprising that Xperia 10 uses a Snapdragon 630 processor with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage while the Xperia 10 Plus has a slightly better Snapdragon 636 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

Right now Sony hasn’t announced price tags of either phone in any territory – we’ll have to wait to find out if Sony actually prices both phones right this time.

Sony Xperia 10 Specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor
• Adreno 508 GPU
• 3GB RAM
• 6-inch Full HD+ IPS Display, 21:9 aspect ratio, Gorilla Glass 5
• 64GB of expandable storage
• 4G, LTE
• Dual SIM
• Dual rear cameras: 13-megapixel main camera withf/2.0 aperture lens, 5-megapixel secondary camera
• 8-megapixel front camera
• WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C, IP68 rating
• 2870mAh Battery
• Android 9.0 Pie

Sony Xperia 10 Plus Specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor
• Adreno 509 GPU
• 4GB RAM
• 6.5-inch Full HD+ IPS Display, 21:9 aspect ratio, Gorilla Glass 5
• 64GB of expandable storage
• 4G, LTE
• Dual SIM
• 12-megapixel main camera, f/1.8 aperture lens, 8-megapixel camera with f/2.4 2x optical zoom lens
• 8-megapixel front camera
• WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C, IP68 rating
• 2870mAh Battery
• Android 9.0 Pie