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Sony Xperia 5 III Review

The Xperia 5 III seems to pack plenty of flagship-grade specifications, so can its lower price tempt you away from Sony’s top-of-the-line model?

What we love — Reliable cameras, good battery life, powerful processor

The Sony Xperia 5 III has a triple rear camera comprised of a wide angle, ultrawide, and telephoto lens, which ensures a good amount of versatility. Although there isn’t a killer feature that puts the snapper far beyond the rest of the field, it is plenty versatile and delivers images that are more realistic than those of the Samsung Galaxy S21 thanks to a muted approach to post-processing.

The screen isn’t as sharp as the Sony Xperia 1 III, but this OLED panel still offers a high enough resolution that images and icons look clear, while the excellent contrast combined with HDR support packs plenty of punch. And talking about punch, it also runs on the powerful Snapdragon 888 5G processor, which can handle tricky tasks with ease.

The battery is another strong selling point of this device, lasting a full day even with the demanding 120Hz refresh rate enabled though it can be extended by dialling that down to 60Hz. Charging it back up again tended to take us just over an hour.

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What we didn’t like — Atypical aspect ratio, quite costly

The design of this device is a little unusual, since it has an unusual 21:9 aspect ratio, meaning that the screen is long and thin. While this was intended to be ideal for watching films, it’s not exactly ideal for day-to-day usage as apps are not well optimised for this format. What’s more, while the screen does offer a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, there is no variable refresh rate option which is a little surprising for a phone that costs £899.

Verdict

The Sony Xperia 5 III is a solid all-round Android smartphone that delivers the goods in key areas including the camera, the performance, the battery, and the screen. That said, the unusual aspect ratio will prove to be divisive, and it’s not a cheap phone by any means.

Our Recombu reviews are created using data collected by Trusted Reviews Labs, utilising their testing expertise to bring you an easy-to-read, short-form review.

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