Flashback: the Sony Xperia XA Extremely had a tremendous selfie digital camera with OIS

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This week Sony unveiled its Xperia 5 V, a camera-focused cellphone that whereas not the smallest smartphone round remains to be one of the compact to function a flaghsip chipset and a premium digital camera setup. And whereas considering again on a few of Sony’s most fascinating digital camera telephones, we had been reminded of the Xperia XA Extremely, a cellphone with an unbelievable digital camera that sat on the other finish of the dimensions spectrum.

Sony Xperia XA

This mannequin arrived in mid-2016 and was an absolute big – it had a 6.0” 1080p show with the then-standard 16:9 side ratio. For comparability, a Galaxy Note7 from the identical yr had a 5.7” 16:9 show. The XA Extremely towered over the Be aware with its 164mm peak and it proved difficult for one hand operation at 79mm broad, 8.4mm thick and with its weight of 202g.

Whereas Sony took satisfaction in its slender aspect bezels, the highest and backside ones had been a unique matter. Besides this time there was a superb motive for it and it’s the identical motive that we considered this cellphone.

The Sony Xperia XA Extremely is certainly one of only a few smartphones with Optical Picture Stabilization (OIS) on the selfie digital camera. It was almost the primary cellphone to do it too, besides that two HTC 10 telephones beat it to the punch (that stated, the Xperia had the final giggle, however we’ll get to that).

The entrance digital camera had a pretty big 16MP sensor (1/2.6”) and a large 23mm lens, plus it had its personal LED flash for late evening selfies. It may file 1080p video at 30fps, which whereas not spectacular for 2016, was simply nearly as good as the primary digital camera on the rear may do.

Sony Xperia XA Extremely: Selfie • HDR Selfie

Picture high quality was spectacular for the time, photographs had been detailed and with little noise, the dynamic vary was good and it solely acquired higher with HDR enabled. There have been enjoyable modes to play with and the entrance flash even had a “fill gentle” mode. The digital camera struggled at the hours of darkness, nonetheless, and had hassle producing sharp photographs.

Sony Xperia XA Extremely low-light: Auto flash • Fill gentle

Whereas not unhealthy, the rear digital camera wasn’t something value spending greater than a paragraph on. It had a 21.5MP sensor (which was solely a bit greater at 1/2.4”) and curiously sufficient this module lacked OIS. The XA Extremely actually was all about that entrance digital camera.

You’d suppose that the OIS made the entrance digital camera good for capturing vlogs whereas strolling and whereas stabilization was respectable, it wasn’t good and there have been another points. For instance, the broad lens created a fish eye impact, which was corrected on nonetheless photographs, however the MediaTek Helio P10 chipset wasn’t highly effective sufficient to do it for movies too.

Efficiency was very center of the pack and regardless of having a big 6” 1080p show to work with, video games may solely render at 720p decision – the Mali-T860MP2 GPU simply didn’t minimize it for severe gaming.

Apart from that, the show was fairly stunning. It was brilliant and had good distinction ratio, the colours weren’t very correct however the Tremendous Vivid mode made photographs pop. And there was the Cell Bravia 2 engine that added picture processing like noise discount and sharpening to movies.

Regardless of its towering stature, the XA Extremely had a tiny battery with 2,700mAh capability – that was the identical capability because the 4.6” Xperia Z5 Compact! Battery endurance was round half of what equally sized telephones achieved. We’re undecided how this case got here to be, the Extremely was neither skinny nor gentle, why the tiny battery?

Admittedly, given the cellphone’s measurement and its aluminum body, it was by no means going to be gentle. That body made the cellphone really feel fairly upscale, although – even the premium Xperia X Efficiency had a plastic body (and an aluminum again panel). If Sony had managed to suit a bigger battery and had picked a quicker chipset, this could have been the most effective mid-rangers ever.

We cherished the XA Extremely for its display and on the time it had the perfect selfie digital camera. Positive, HTC 10 did the “OIS selfie cam” factor first, however its 5MP sensor left issues to be desired. On the time Oppo was advertising a cellphone referred to as the F1 Plus because the “selfie skilled”, however that wasn’t nearly as good because the Sony both. It goes with out saying that the HTC price greater than the XA Extremely, whereas the Oppo F1 Plus was about the identical value.

The Sony Xperia XA Extremely launched within the UK in Could of 2016 at £300, a month later it hit the US too at $370, it was obtainable in India too.

There have been two sequels – the Xperia XA1 Extremely and the XA2 Extremely in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The XA1 did ship a touch quicker Helio P20 chipset however saved the battery on the identical 2,700mAh capability. It was nonetheless one of many greatest telephones of its day with the most effective selfie cameras, however was nonetheless a gentle disappointment.

Sony Xperia XA1 Extremely • Sony Xperia XA2 Extremely

The Sony Xperia XA2 Extremely was a lot better. It jumped as much as the Snapdragon 630 chipset and packed in a 3,580mAh battery. Even higher, the 16MP entrance digital camera with OIS was partnered up with an 8MP 120° extremely broad digital camera. It was so good that we would cowl it in additional element in its personal article.

Do you keep in mind the Sony’x Xperia XA Extremely telephones? Do you suppose that smartphone makers have achieved sufficient to enhance selfie cameras over the intervening years or did they peak in 2016?

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