Sony Xperia 1 II review - A Sony phone I’d love to keep in my pocket (Video!) - Android

Sony’s phone designs have always been unique, all the way back to the feature phones of yesteryear. The Xperia 1 II continues this trend. It’s a phone that, while incredibly simplistic, is bold in its own right. It’s a very squared-off device with a flat display, back, and sides. There are curves around the edges to keep the phone from feeling too sharp, but it’s still very boxy, which I appreciate quite a lot. Funny how making a non-curved phone is unique in 2020, eh?

Making the phone so flat on all sides allowed Sony to include some interesting additions. You’ve got the standard volume rockers on the right side of the phone, sitting right above the power button. But this power button is also a fingerprint reader, as we’ve seen in Sony phones of the past. I had a hard time getting this fingerprint reader to register my prints consistently, but the reviewer who had this device before me said it was among the most accurate he’s used. Your mileage may vary, depending on your finger, I guess?

Below the fingerprint reader/power button there’s a dedicated shutter button for the camera, which is nice to see. This is also a two-step shutter button, meaning you can soft press it to acquire focus, then press it all the way to capture an image. This is the same way most dedicated cameras work, and it’s nice to see Sony add a unique interface for taking photos.

The top of the phone houses a headphone jack, something which was curiously missing from the Xperia XZ2 I reviewed a couple of years ago, as well as the Xperia 1 from last year. Considering Sony makes some of the best headphones on the market, wired and otherwise, it makes sense for it to include the jack on its flagship smartphone. While I would have liked to see a quad DAC in this device as we see on many of LG’s flagships, the presence of the port is still a big win.

The left side of the phone is mostly clean, excluding the SIM card/microSD card slot. Sony has always been fairly unique with these slots though, allowing you to extract the tray with your finger instead of requiring a SIM tool. I really like this design, and it makes it easier to swap out SIMs or SD cards on a whim. As a phone reviewer, I’m almost constantly looking for SIM tools, so it’s nice that I don’t need one for this device.

The design of the Xperia 1 II is super minimalist but still stylish.

The bottom of the phone simply houses the USB-C port. The back and front glass are Gorilla Glass 6, and the frame is made of aluminum.

The Sony Xperia 1 II doesn’t have a notch or hole-punch for its selfie camera. Instead, it opted for some tried-and-true bezels. Opinions on bezels are split, but they are quite thin, and including them allowed Sony to use front-facing speakers on this phone. I love front-facing speakers, and they make music and videos sound great while consuming content. These speakers get quite loud, though they do get slightly distorted at maximum volume. That being said, they’re quite good for a smartphone.