Content is king in a world dominated by digital displays today. Gone are the days where you must wait for the newspaper to be printed the next day to know what happened in the world yesterday. Gone are the days where you must buy an array of magazines to know what is trending in the week and expectations moving forward.

Today, contents are created on the go and edited in almost real time. Contents gets published and distributed almost immediately after whatever that is happening happened. Modern cameras are not just created for photography too, they are made for videos and to go LIVE quickly and easily. At the same time, social media is making contents even more readily available and optimised for smartphones, the little computers that is constantly with us.

But content creators are also debating about something else today. A lot of content creators are saying that your smartphone is the best tool you have for creating contents. You can use to vlog, create voice memos to be used later, record videos, take photos, and even stream events LIVE. While that is true in most cases, there has never been a smartphone that really highlights its power in creating contents. Until Sony releases their Xperia 1 IV that is.

If you want to pronounce the name correctly, the full name of the new flagship from Sony is named the Xperia 1 mark four. Sony’s naming scheme has always been a little mouthful, but their products have always been some of our favourites for good reason. One of the reasons we love the Xperia 1 flagship series is that it is the only smartphone in the current market to feature a nice 4K display.

The 4K HDR 120Hz – Still Brilliant

Yes, we are going to talk about the very familiar display to Sony users. It is a 4K display, not really a true 4K since you are missing some resolutions at the sides of the slim display. It is still a 6.5-inch OLED panel that refreshes at 120Hz that you have seen from the previous Xperia 1 III. You still get HDR BT.2020 standard colours too from the fourth generation Xperia 1 flagship. It is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus, which is also the same case in the older flagship.

No upgrades in the display section of the Xperia 1 IV then. To be fair to Sony though, they are the only major smartphone maker to include 4K resolution in their flagships. At 120Hz, it really does not get much better than this in the smartphone industry currently.

Thanks to the advancements that is made with the Sony Xperia Pro though, the 4K display has a new function added to it. You can now use the Xperia 1 flagship as a 4K monitor display for your Alpha cameras. You can use the USB type-C port of the camera and the smartphone to get it to work as your monitor. Not only that, your smartphone can stream the contents captured on your Alpha camera directly to YouTube if you need it to.

Powerful Insides

Of course, it is 2022, and the Xperia 1 must be updated to match the modern age of smartphones. It packs a healthy 12GB of RAM to start with. You can opt for 512GB in storage for the Xperia 1 IV too, if you want. The highlight here is the brand-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 system on a chip (SoC) that makes the flagship the most powerful Sony has ever made so far. To be fair though, Sony is a little late in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 game.

Sony also managed to shoehorn a larger battery module in the same form factor they retained from the Xperia 1 III. It is now a 5,000 mAh battery that charges at up to 30W with fast wireless charging and reverse charging capabilities. The larger battery also means that the smartphone should be able to last a little longer than before when you are out and about.

Even More Powerful Cameras

On paper, it does not look like Sony has changed much on their camera array. You still get three 12-Megapixel cameras out the back. The main camera is attached to 24mm lens at f/1.7, similar to the third generation Sony Xperia 1. You also get a nice 16mm ultra-wide shooter like before. The only change they made, in terms of hardware anyway, is the first truly optical zooming lens at 85-125mm lens on the telephoto camera. This allows the device to zoom smoothly, when you want it to, pretty impressive stuff while keeping all 12-Megapixels while you zoom in.

But that is not all they did to improve their camera. It now supports Sony Alpha’s very famous EYE Auto Focus mechanism that allows the Photography Pro app to work just like your Alpha cameras. Thanks to their know how in stabilising mirrorless cameras too, the Optical SteadyShot allows you to take clear photos whenever, wherever, however. You can even take photos with EYE AF at up to 20fps real time burst mode and in HDR with all three lenses.

Their video and cinema capabilities have been sort of put on steroids too. The fourth generation Sony Xperia 1 still shoots at up to 4K 120fps. Videography Pro now allows you to shoot videos with EYE AF though, which also means that you might not need to fight with focus hunting in the future. You can just leave your app to Auto Focus mode and it will just do its thing in keeping your subject in focus no matter what. It cleverly switches from face detection to eye detection too, when the option is available. At the same time Videography Pro also allows you to capture your videos with all your lenses at the same time. That allows you a wider dynamic range to work with. Not only that, but you can also seamlessly zoom in between scenes like what you see in the movie 300. They worked with three cameras for that iconic battle shot featuring Gerard Butler cutting up Persians. You now only need one smartphone to recreate that iconic shot.

It is a smartphone; you are going to be constantly connected. That also means you get to livestream your contents or even vlog freely if you want. You can even use your main cameras to vlog with Sony’s optional attachments. In that case, you get to enjoy Sony’s clever EYE AF and object tracking features with your vlogs. The Optical SteadyShot will also be mighty helpful in keeping your vlogs look really good and focused.

Of course, fi you want more cinematic creativity, Cinematography Pro “powered by CineAlta” is available for you to shoot in Logs. When they say that the best camera is the one that is with you, this one takes it to a completely different level in this case. All three cameras at the back can shoot videos at 4K 120fps too, which will be greatly appreciated by content creators anywhere.

Even Better Sounds

The Xperia 1 IV now gets 360 Reality Audio support on its speakers. Its speakers are also tuned to allow for more immersive sound with improved bass response. The combination of that is that you get a better audio experience with your Xperia smartphone on apps like Tidal for example, without even using headphones. If you want to use headphones anyway, the Xperia still retains the 3.5mm combo jack that other flagships have conveniently omitted for reasons.

To ensure that you are getting the best audio experience from the Xperia 1 IV, DSEE Ultimate algorithm improves sound quality of all your streaming platforms. You get audio quality that is close or at least comparable to CD quality sounds. If you prefer to listen to your music wirelessly, Bluetooth LE Audio will be available later to reduce latency.

But improvements to the audio aspect of the Xperia 1 IV is not just on its speakers. They have made their microphones and audio recording feature even better than before. The Xperia 1 IV is not just your audio note recorder now. You can turn it into a one-stop-shop for remote music recording with Music Pro. With the power of machine learning and AI, the app allows you to record audio out in the open and still get crisp, studio tuned quality audio. You can even record your voice and guitar simultaneously and the app cleverly separates the two audio channels to allow for a much more robust mix on-the-go.

Price and Availability

The Sony Xperia 1 IV will be available in only two colours. No white options here though, you choose between black, or Purple. It’s priced from US$ 1,599 globally, which converts to about MYR * today. We expect the price of the new flagship to hover somewhere around the MYR 6,999 mark or more when it gets to local shores. Sony Malaysia confirms that the device will be available in Malaysia by July 2022. More information on the Sony Xperia 1 IV can be found on their website.