The 10 Plus, along with the smaller 10, are the first two phones that will attempt to sell you on a 21:9 screen – Sony may want you to think the flagship Xperia 1 is the true ambassador of the crazy-tall aspect, but that one is months away and the 10s are here now. It’s not the best phone you can buy for this price by any means, but if you like to watch movies and TV shows on your commute it may be perfect for you. This is the phone my work has been looking at to save costs than iPhones as our work phones.
Sony Xperia 10 Plus specs
• Body: Plastic unibody with “metallic finish”; Gorilla Glass 5 on front; 167 x 73 x 8.3 mm; 180 grams; Navy, Black, Silver, Gold color options.
• Display: 6.5″ IPS; 21:9 aspect ratio; FullHD+ (1080x2520px).
• Rear cameras: Primary: 12MP (1/2.8″). Secondary: 8MP (1/4″) 2x telephoto camera (only available for stills). Hybrid AF, ISO 12800 for photos and 3200 for videos; 4K (16:9 or 21:9); SteadyShot.
• Front camera: 8MP (1/4″), ISO 3200 for photos and 1600 for video.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 636 chipset, octa-core processor (8×1.8 GHz Kryo 260), Adreno 509 GPU.
• Memory: 4GB/6GB (in China) of RAM + 64GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card support.
• OS/Software: Android 9.0 Pie.
• Battery: 3,000mAh Li-Ion; Smart STAMINA, Battery Care.
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM/ Single-SIM options available (market dependant); Cat.12 LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC; 3.5mm audio jack.
• Audio: Single bottom-firing speaker, DSEE HX, LDAC, Smart Amplifier.
• Misc: Side-mounted fingerprint reader.
The Xperia 10 Plus is going to have a tough time on the free market. The Galaxy A9 (2018), for example, has dropped in price significantly since launch and now goes for less than the Xperia. The A9 is hard to recommend for its image quality but does have an ultra wide camera in addition to the regular and tele, plus a superior display, better battery life, more powerful chipset and more RAM. The Xperia has an extra-tall display to counter all that, plus Android Pie out of the box, while the A9’s Pie is coming who knows when.
