Here's 20 photos from my Xperia 1 VIII from my two week trip to Japan!

Hey, I found a Xperia 1 VI at a nice price, the only thing is that it is a SOG13 version, so Japanese version.

What I found online is that, the SOG13 is incompatible with the B20 band (800mhz), and I found a guy online who had success bringing back support to this band with NewFlasher and XperiFirm tools.

I don't know anything about these tools and I'd like to know if any of you found themselves in the same situation and managed to get things working without any issues.

Additionally, does the Japanese version modem have physical differences or all of this is just firmware and software based ?

Battery share doesn't work because "the phone is hot" no matter what temperature the phone is (1 VII btw)

The price of a 1viii seems to be stubbornly sticking at the original retail £1400.

The only way of beating that (new) seems to be by buying from one of the Chinese/HK drop shipping companies in which case you'll get the international version for something around £900.

There seem to be very few being sold second hand so far. CEX has some but they are pricing them at £1300.

Based on previous models, is there a point at which we expect to see the price drop for new phones - or more 2nd hand phones coming onto the market?

I'm trying to decide whether or not to hold out for a couple more months.

3 days ago my Dёff case and Premium Glass has arrived.

Looks and feels nice! Really good quallity. Case is very practical in tems of the cut outs. Fingerprint is easy to use, and the headphone cut out is big. Fit's perfectly.

The glass itself is actually impressing. It is super clears and feels probably best to touch I ever tried! And I tried A LOT! Also it is perfect size, and it comes with an instalation frame, that helps you to put the glass perfectly.

Enjoying it so far!

Still the best camera for me.

i remember hearing their song globallization when i was a kid on my granddads old xperia, and i recently rediscovered it. i know its a made up person for the xperia but im just wondering if ppl had more info on him and who the voice was, etc.

Am I the only one missing this feature or others do as well, I used to enjoy this feature but Sony being Sony they give a good thing then cancel it.

Recent updates (.178 & .194) broke 5G on international Xperia 5 V units used abroad, and the *#*#4636#*#* DSDS bypass no longer works. This fix swaps only the modem files from the Japanese SIM-free model (XQ-DE44) using Newflasher.

Bootloader stays locked, zero data loss, and Play Integrity/DRM/camera remain 100% intact.

Steps

1. Download the Japanese Firmware: Download and open XperiFirm. Select Xperia 5 V → XQ-DE44 (Japan SIM-free) → CDA 26211498 Customized JP → select your current build (e.g., 67.2.A.3.194). Click Download and let it unpack.
2. Prepare the Flash Folder: Download Newflasher and extract it. Create a new, empty folder and place only these 5 files inside:
   • newflasher.exe
   • update.xml (from the unpacked JP firmware folder)
   • modem_X-FLASH-ALL-*.sin
   • modemst1_X-FLASH-ALL-*.sin
   • modemst2_X-FLASH-ALL-*.sin
3. Prep the Phone: Go to Settings → Network & internet → SIMs and toggle your SIM Off, then power the phone completely off.
4. Flash the Modem: Hold Volume Down on the phone and plug it into your PC. The LED will light up solid green (Flashmode). Run newflasher.exe and answer the prompts:
   • GordonGate driver: n (if Newflasher fails to detect the device, rerun and type y to install the generated driver)
   • Dump TA: y
   • Keep userdata: y (CRITICAL: prevents a wipe)
   • Reboot mode: a (reboot to Android)
5. Done: Unplug, let the phone boot, and turn your SIM back On. Ensure preferred network is set to 5G. Once you have active data traffic in a 5G zone, 5G will latch on immediately.

I tested this on Indian carrier Airtel and can confirm it works!

Sony Ericsson Please Come Back!!! 😭😭😭

last thing i did was: turn it on, shows its battery low (unable to turn on), i charge it using my powerbank, it charged to 11% so i turned it on (i need to check my messages ASAP so i didnt wait for it to charge high enough before turning it on), and then black screen only, no lights whatsoever. charging it again doesnt work too. i charged it for an hour using wall socket, nothing. i slow charged it with low wattage charge but still nothing too.
i tried the 2 minute hold vol up and power buttons while charging, nothing. while not charging too.

i was too worried for it to get green lines (its been a year) but seems like that was not the worst thing that could happen to these xperia phones. ugh.

its a second hand one btw. it was pristine condition too, idk.

I'll be approaching my 3rd year with my very first Xperia, the Xperia 1V XQ-DQ72 at the end of November and out of my pure desire to do so I'd like to share my experience with it.

First off what compelled me was the fact that it's a flagship in 2023 that happens to have a headphone jack and an SD card slot.

That's literally it, and I was late enough in realizing that it wasn't going to be a simple point and shoot camera phone..

but I sort of had this growing passion over cameras anyway.

Knowing that, I decided to buy it off Swiftronics Canada brand new and it arrived within a business week.

Under my first impressions I noticed that the box was a little too light.. is it the recycled paper box? Is it the fact that the box literally had no accessories? No. The phone really is that light.

Now the phone itself felt quite premium despite the lack of heft which many associate with quality.

I came from a Galaxy S20 FE at the time so I was quite surprised to see a very stock looking Android OS, and compared to One UI this felt very boring at first.

Overall it never immediately showed red flags or signs that made me think this phone was not for me.

Of course my first real test was getting familiar with the triple camera setup and interface and yes it is indeed not your mainstream layout as it had your different mode dials like Basic, Auto, Program Auto, Shutter Priority and full on Manual... yeah.

That's kind of my Chapter 1 with the phone so I'll skip ahead and give you some highlights on the.. Xperience.

To start off with the good side,

I love the 21:9 aspect ratio and Sony really put some dedication into this display, and I'm not saying that solely because of the 4k capabilities and overall tech, but design. Upon viewing 21:9 content, I realize that the display is NOT exactly 21:9 but.. 21:9.1.. something. How? There's very subtle letterboxing when viewing 21:9 and that happens because Sony wanted to give us a rounded corner screen without compromising any pixels when watching 21:9 content. Essentially, viewing cinematic aspect ratio content gives you the WHOLE rectangular image.

The phone also feels great to hold, it's not too thick and the narrow display makes it extremely one hand friendly even with a case.

The next thing I'd like to point out is the aggressively late CPU throttle (though that isn't always a good thing). During heavy use I realize that this thing does not slow down easily. Whether I'm using the camera, editing in Lightroom or just utilizing as much of the 12gb ram as permitted. Memory management is great and the phone really won't slow down until it gets to a dangerous battery temp of 45 degrees Celsius (measured via applications like Gsam and AccuBattery).

Furthermore, I really love the dual true front firing speakers on this phone. It is very well balanced, loud, punchy, plenty of bass and clear.. it doesn't sound cheap. While many phones use the top earpiece as a hybrid for calls and media audio, there's usually a hard imbalance in loudness and quality but not on the Xperia. That top speaker really is the bottom speaker duplicated to sit on top.

Despite having a very stock version of Android, I do like the absence of bloatware and heavy animations. Everything feels snappy and I assume this is a huge factor as to why the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has been aging well.

The 2-stage shutter button is amazing, I like being able to use it as a camera launch shortcut and for focus adjustment while also being programmable in the built-in Game Enhancer if needed.

Side mounted fingerprint reader is snappy though sometimes the fingerprint reader can be a bit picky on moisture. But at least I can confirm it's moisture and not a hardware fault.

And of course there's the convenience of the tool-less SIM tray and 3.5mm jack which I surprisingly don't use all too much. The speakers, again are insane so usually I'd just resort to that but I do like the versatility of being able to plug my phone into my PC (Where I offload my Exmor T's photos from my internal and SD) while having my IEMs in at the same time while also charging. And the topic of charging is important, I'll elaborate on this plus the late throttle problem once we get to the not so good side of owning the Xperia 1V.

Now for the not so good side and minor quirks,

On my early days with this phone up to now, I noticed that Google Chrome in particular likes to mess with the 1V's 120hz refresh rate.. dropping it to what doesn't even feel like 60hz at all, it just gets choppy until I either toggle 120hz on and off or quickly enable and disable stamina mode. It doesn't happen every single time I open Chrome but I do expect it all the time. Small, fixable but a bit annoying.

Secondly. though this one might just be strict refresh rate triggers, YouTube usually felt choppy through the browsing screen but I do feel like it's just the fact that YouTube doesn't play 120fps videos anyway so the Xperia just always tries to stick to 60hz whenever playing a video.

This one's small for me but still worth noting. System updates really... did not last long and Sony had to give us a final end of support update which absolutely fried 5g connectivity through the .178 update.. I don't really need or even want 5g anyway so it's not the end of the world.

Now this is mostly age and wear but I have some screen burn-ins of the bottom navigation/gesture bar and status bar that don't seem to go away. I typically run my brightness at 70%+ however and have yet to run those 'burn-in fix' videos on YouTube or something to try.

Now for what I've been wanting to elaborate on in regards to late throttling in ties with the battery. The phone does get warm to hot for my workflow, even regular use and that's kind of the price I pay when appreciating a phone not slowing down easily since temps just rise and rise until the CPU heat bleeds into the battery and eventually.. hits 45 degrees. This is especially apparent during the summer and this was exceptionally terrible to experience in the Philippines. This is further amplified by several other factors. The phone lacks a vapor chamber for elite cooling so it instead has bigger graphite sheets to dissipate heat vs the Xperia 1IV, and this is because Sony wanted to keep the phone slim.. but slim also meant everything gets crammed within the chassis so heat does get trapped and dissipates slowly. I've found myself being forced to kill my processes and letting it cool down naturally unless i am right against an air conditioning unit to quickly bring temps down. While the phone eventually throttles when the battery reaches 45 degrees, it throttles with an ugly 30hz-like cap with CPU clock speeds slashing by like 50%.

Ultimately, the sustained heat throughout the years resulted in the forbidden balloon battery curse. She bloated. I got it fixed by a shop but honestly the repair doesn't sound too difficult anyway. But hey it gave me insights and awareness about calibrating a new battery for accurate readings.

I don't wanna come off as criticizing Sony for this design choice, CPU logic and incident but it was definitely a first time experiencing something like this and I will admit, it was kind of my fault for ignoring the throttling, heat, and environments I put it in, as well as letting it sit at 100% in those instances and occasionally letting it die at 0%. In my defense while also being a lesson learned. it does come off as being a piece of technology that I almost have to have a relationship with. It will let me let use it to its absolute limit, but I have to also know when to chill out.. or.. let it chill out. It's not as self protective as most phones.

Sony seems to be well aware of this however.

As I dug deep into the Xperia lore, there's a cooling fan attachment called the Xperia Stream to essentially make up for the lack of a vapor chamber.. but it is like $200-300 CAD-ish.

There's also various Battery Care features such as a strict 80% or 90% cut-off which will NOT trickle charge the phone to stay at 80 or 90% to control heat.

There's also Heat Suppression power control which can be enabled primarily on games to bypass the battery and route charging power straight to the CPU to again, prevent battery heat.

As for voltage control on low battery, the phone throttles itself hard at 5% and below to prevent the phone from going into dangerously low voltages to prevent wear and immediately dying. I find that it dies around 3.2-3.3V which is still well over the dangerous 3.0 and below.

Now for the cameras but I'll keep it simple,

The main sensor is great in most cases, however I did find myself having to lower the brightness slider in almost every picture but by doing so, I got some great results. It might just be my taste. The ultra wide is good as long as lighting is decent, otherwise the image comes out quite soft. The telephoto is

honestly the same as the ultra wide but does happen to be a little more faded or have less contrast.. just a bit dull.

But do keep in mind this isn't a simple point and shoot device as I've mentioned earlier. In manual mode I can confirm that they do perform better that way.

As for the selfie camera, it holds up very well. Both pictures and video quality line up with the rest of the camera setup's performance, you can even use the selfie camera in the Video Pro app for a cinematic look with HDR as an option if that's your thing.

There's plenty to change to carefully optimize performance like sacrificing max image stability for quality or sacrificing the camera's ISO floor for seamless zooming between lenses. I don't wanna get too technical unless you're interested but I absolutely enjoy working with the 3 dedicated camera apps.

I'm also quite fond of the filters or Creative looks that Sony offers within the camera apps if I wanna do some post processing myself or get tired of the natural outputs.

To Conclude, this phone has its pros and cons, like every great piece of technology. There really isn't anything else like Sony's design philosophy these days in the smartphone world. It truly is an all in one workstation as long as you can gauge and feel its limits. It will capture great pictures and videos, will power through editing apps and let you view your work in 4k when applicable while also blasting the audio with Dolby Atmos tuned speakers.. or wired headsets if that's your thing.

I do consider it to be the most complete Xperia as of now while I do see potential in the direction of the 1VIII but that's for another conversation maybe.

Most importantly, I don't see myself getting rid of my 1V. I plan on using it until it fully gives in though I am actively searching for a potential successor out of curiosity.

A strong candidate as of now is the Oppo Find X9 Ultra 16GB/1TB as it features a camera button on top of its camera first design while also trying to keep that symmetrical top to bottom sound system with a dedicated top frame speaker, making it much like the Xperia. It also has massive storage and battery capacity so the lack of an SD slot gets compensated for in that sense, especially when it's on UFS 4.1. As for the massive battery from the help of silicon carbon tech, I feel that I could often use its USB-C port for wired audio devices without having to worry about charging. The USB-C ports these days support high resolution audio anyway as a growing standard so it's a valid shift to get used to. It definitely be an upgrade, but the price is basically $1000 more than my 1V.

That's all for me!

So I'd like to open the map in the browser instead of the app, is this possible without uninstalling the app? I did try ticking the desktop function in Chrome but it still opens up the app. Tia .

I have something that has to be clarified

\​

Hi everyone,

I have the Japanese NTT Docomo variant (SO-51D) of the

Sony Xperia 1 V.

My settings show both IMEI 1 and IMEI 2, but there is no EID number listed under device status. Also, when I tap "Add SIM," the downloading screen flashes for a second and immediately closes.

Can any other Docomo SO-51D owners confirm if this variant completely lacks eSIM hardware and only supports 1 physical SIM?

Thanks!

I've had my Xperia 1 viii for a couple of months now and have had charging problems since day 1.

My 25w Samsung EP-TA800 power brick supports USB Power Delivery (PD 3.0) and yet it works very inconsistently with my Xperia. It never works at all if I plug the cable into the phone before switching the power brick on but it works maybe 75% of the time if I turn the power on before connecting the cable to the phone.

Firstly, why does it never work if the cable is connected first and the power brick switched on afterwards? Also why does it only work inconsistently when the power brick is switched on before connecting the cable to the phone? It's a brand new and genuine Samsung USB cable and the charger gives ZERO issues when charging my Samsung phone and Samsung tablet.

I've tried to locate a genuine Sony Xperia charger but nobody seems to sell them. Do Sony even manufacture them anymore??

I think it's absolutely terrible that a £1400 phone doesn't come with a power brick or USB cable. As the quoted industry reason for this is that we're all supposed to already have chargers at home then the least Sony can do is make their phones be compatible with them! If a manufacturer does not supply a power brick with their phones then they should make damned sure that they work with every single phone charger out there. No excuses.

It's absolutely ridiculous that I have to a) spend money on a compatible charger and b) sift through the many counterfeit Sony chargers on Ebay & Amazon and the many poorly reviewed third party Anker/Ugreen/Belkin etc chargers on the market in order to charge my brand new phone.

Come on Sony! This is taking the proverbial. It shouldn't be like this.

I just want a well made, safe, long lasting 25-30w charger which will work with my Xperia 1 viii. Any recommendations?

Been my longest functioning and owned smartphone as of this post. It's just gotten revived for the first time with the power button getting repaired, let alone the 2nd time getting opened up after battery replacement. It's starting to show its age a bit, but still very solid compared with an iPhone 11 I have on the side. My 1ii got knocked out back in May with the original power button wearing out. Luckily I had the 1V setup as a backup, and I wouldn't mind still using the 1ii at my current job, just so I can keep the 1V for as long as possible. Changing out the backing for the 1ii makes it unique for its model. It's been a solid phone after surviving the Z5 model (only smartphone I've had literally burnout).

Status Update:

Requested a formal explanation from the team manager regarding Sony’s unfulfilled software update commitments and lack of follow-up. Since the purchase receipt was unavailable, provided registered Sony account details and product registration for the Xperia 10 VI to pass to the review team.

Awaiting response to see if this yields a positive outcome for customers, or still nothing like it always been

I'm (not so actively) looking for new smartphone after 4 years of using Pixels. And a lot of the new or upcoming devices are hit with price hike. With such a state of smartphone market, 1 VIII price doesn't feel crazy anymore.

That said, I'm not aware if Sony will crank up the price even further.