KPH tech blog

In my previous blog, I explored the Xperia 5 II in detail, but now I think I’m ready to make a decision. Thing is, this could go one of 4 ways, and I’m not quite sure which… yet.

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Samsung Galaxy S20

Let me just say, this is the perfect new phone for me. It has the same size screen as my S9 Plus, but in a smaller body with smaller bezels.

It doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone port, but it does have everything else I’ve come to love about Samsung’s Galaxy S flagship series: One UI (yes, I actually like it); reliable updates that don’t brick your phone (albeit, they’re often delayed); Game Launcher; and, the Good Lock app (for extended Home Screen, launcher & Notification Panel customisation).

It also comes with my ‘Holy Trinity’ of rear camera lenses: wide, ultrawide, & telephoto. The telephoto lens only has 1.1x optical zoom, but with 3x hybrid (optical + digital) zoom that seems to work okay.

But one downside is Samsung’s camera flaws. On my S9 Plus & Galaxy S7, photos tend to have a warmer & yellow-ish tint (especially evident at night).

There’s also a lot of over-sharpening. This is very visible when zooming in on images – that is, photos you’ve already taken. Grass roots appear like a cartoony sketch, and are horrible to look at. This effect is also visible when using the 2x optical telephoto lens on my S9 Plus.

I’m worried that this won’t have changed, and will also be a downside to using the Galaxy S20’s cameras.

Considering that the S20 is an otherwise perfect phone, this is a compromise I’d be willing to make. However, the main reason that’s stopping me from just walking into a store and buying it (apart from the Covid-19 pandemic), is the price.

At £799 for the 4G model, it’s still just too expensive for me. I’ve already explained that I’m not looking for a 5G phone this year, which is a good thing as the S20 5G is £899.

Also, the newer S20 FE might be a little cheaper, but the bigger 6.5″ screen means the entire device is just too big for my hands.

The standard, base Galaxy S20 model would otherwise be a perfect new phone, but 24 month contract plans also look too expensive, and I’ve been looking elsewhere.

Thankfully, this is where my other options step into the mix:

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Sony Xperia 5 II

As with the Galaxy S20, the Sony Xperia 5 II is a serious contender to be My Next Phone. It has everything I want from a new phone – 3.5mm port, Micro SD card slot, a system audio EQ, and the Holy Trinity of camera lenses – and all wrapped up in a slim 21:9 body.

The Pro camera apps offer a more hands-on camera experience – exactly what I’m looking for with a phone. However, the main problem is that the rest of the phone feels rather stripped-back.

Yes, there’s the expandable storage, the 3.5mm headphone port, the Game Enhancer mode, 120Hz screen, and it’s ever so slightly more portable than my S9 Plus – with a thinner, 21:9 aspect ratio design, and about 26g less in weight (according to GSMArena, the Xperia 5 II weighs around 163g, whereas my S9 Plus weighs about 189g).

But it feels like something is missing. The Pixel 4a & 5 feel like the optimum, clean, stock Android experience, and for non-Galaxy fans, the Galaxy S20 may feel rather bloated – not necessarily by bloatware apps, but by features that you won’t need or use.

The Xperia 5 II sits (in my opinion) firmly between the two extremes. It’s got the clean & simple UI of almost-stock Android, but with the extra bits on top like the Micro SD card slot & built-in audio EQ – two things the Pixels sadly lack.

Then again, it also feels like something is missing. It feels like the Xperia 5 II should’ve been an all-out Sony phone. Personally, I feel this could have been Sony’s answer to the Galaxy S20 FE – that is, on the basis that the Xperia 1 II is the all-out Sony flagship to rival Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra or Note 20 Ultra.

On the other hand, you could say Sony’s stripped back approach to the Xperia 5 II is exactly what makes it perfect. It’s a stock Android experience, with only the bare essential modifications on top – such as the audio equaliser, manual camera modes, and the Game Enhancer.

Personally, I feel like the Xperia 5 II is more of a Pixel, but with better camera hardware. It comes with the Holy Trinity of Lenses (which I’m coining as the HLT) – standard, ultrawide, and telephoto. The Pixel 4a only comes with one lens, and whereas the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G come with 2 lenses, they ditch the Pixel 4’s telephoto lens for an ultrawide one.

But, this is where the target market differs, and that’s especially evident with the Xperia 5 II’s camera software. Where the Pixels are aimed at the average consumers who want great photos without much effort, the Xperia’s are aimed at enthusiasts who want to tinker with the Manual modes to capture equally brilliant photographs.

Although the Xperia 5 II does have an Auto camera app, I feel that because it’s being aimed at enthusiasts, the Automatic image processing algorithms aren’t as good as on the Pixels. That’s not to say they’re bad, but photos taken with the main Camera app are about average – whereas, most photos taken on Pixel’s look spectacular.

It wouldn’t be putting much faith in the hardware if Sony shipped the Xperia 5 II with an Auto mode that could produce superior shots to the 2 Manual apps, but it’s an important thing for me to consider.

The TL;DR, is that the Xperia 5 II’s cameras don’t have the prowess of Google’s AI image processing found on the Pixel phones. Yes, there’d be no over-sharpening like on Galaxy phones, and I would gain ‘full’ Manual controls (something which the Pixels, in my opinion, unfortunately lack), but I also lose the ‘Auto’ greatness of the Pixel’s algorithms which override the need to tinker within a Manual mode in the first place.

Realistically, on every phone I’ve had so far, one of the only times I use the Manual camera mode is when the Auto mode gets the exposure or colour temperature wrong. In these cases, I’ve found a Manual mode is useful to correct an image, when the Auto mode just doesn’t quite get things right. But if the Auto mode produces fantastic shots, as is the case with the Pixel phones, then there’s really no need to tinker with a Manual mode.

That’s not to say there aren’t any Manual toggles in the Pixel camera app – it has Dual Exposure sliders to control brightness & shadows – but the Pixel image processing algorithms are so good, they produce better shots than in Manual mode.

Another TL;DR: the Xperia 5 II is a device suited to enthusiasts (especially, owners of a DSLR camera) looking for more granular camera control, while overall still being a great ‘Daily Driver.’

Whereas I think it’s a bit stripped back compared to the more full-to-the-brim experience of using One UI on my Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, the average ‘Xperian’ might think it’s a clean & simple, almost-stock Android experience, without the unnecessary Samsung bloatware.

Thus, it has only the bells & whistles it needs, and strips back all the layers it doesn’t need.

This means the Xperia 5 II would give me a new experience – one that fits my checklist – but is it the one I’m looking for?

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Google: Pixel 4a, or Pixel 5?

Whilst the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 don’t have expandable storage (unlike the Galaxy S20 & Xperia 5 II), and lack the extra telephoto lens of the Xperia 5 II & Galaxy S20, they’re both still probably in the list of the best small Android phones currently available in 2020.

Collectively, as they’re both Pixel phones, they offer the best computational/auto photography on Android – and have manual toggles for exposure & highlights within the default Camera app.

Both may have only 128GB storage, but even with my music loaded onto them, I’d still have about 90GB for photos and videos. Plus they have USB OTG functionality, so I can always back up my photos to my PC, or even back then up to the cloud.

The question is, can I make do with the £349 Pixel 4a? I’m not that fussed that the cheaper Pixel has only a Snapdragon 730G, and I’m not interested in the 4a 5G as it’s the same physical size as my S9 Plus.

In reality, I’m more interested in having a cheaper, mid-range phone that’s reliable for the next 2 years, and that’s also smaller and lighter in my hands than my S9 Plus.

The Pixel 4a certainly ticks the right boxes, but is it good enough, or is the £599 Pixel 5 worth the extra money?

At this point, I’m not too sure. Yes, the Pixel 5 has wireless Qi charging at 12W – which is faster than the 9W Qi speed of my Galaxy S9 Plus – but, unlike with most people, wireless charging is a feature which I’ve only used occasionally with my S9 Plus.

There’s a few reasons for this, which I’ll now explain:

1. Because it takes an hour longer to charge wirelessly than wired: 2hrs 30mins to charge wirelessly from 0-100%, versus 1hr 30mins via USB.

2. It’s great when I’m not using the phone, but even at a max 15W, it’s terribly slow when I need just a quick top-up of juice.

3. I can still use my phone while it’s plugged in with a USB. But, with wireless charging, the charging stops the moment I pick up my phone to respond to a message.

As the Pixel 5 only has 12W – which is only a small improvement over my Galaxy S9 Plus’ 9W – I can’t see my charging habits changing anytime soon.

Plus, if you think about it, it’s not really wireless charging – the Qi charger pad itself still has to be plugged into the wall, meaning the only ‘wireless’ bit is between the phone and the charging pad.

The Pixel 5 also has reverse wireless charging, rated at 5W, but again, as wireless charging isn’t something I do every day, it’s just a bit of a redundant feature. I also don’t use wireless earbuds, or a smart watch, so there’s nothing to use it with.

What angers me the most, is that in order to give us wireless charging on the Pixel 5, Google’s then sacrificed the 3.5mm headphone port. A feature I would use a lot, sacrificed for a feature I would barely use. (This makes the Pixel 4a, more of a realistic choice.)

The Pixel 5 ships with Android 11, vs Android 10 on the Pixel 4a, meaning it will be supported by OS updates for longer – going up to Android 14, vs just Android 13 on the Pixel 4a.

Physically, the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 are the same size, but the 5 comes with a 0.2″ bigger screen than the 4a. The difference really comes with the bezels – the Pixel 4a has a thicker frame around the screen than the Pixel 5, meaning it comes with a 5.8″ screen, vs the Pixel 5’s 6.0″ screen.

Both have HDR-compliant OLED panels, with a screen res of 2340x1080p: the 4a has a pixel density of 443 Pixels Per Inch, vs the Pixel 5’s 432 PPI.

The Pixel 5 has an extra 16MP, 107° degree, rear ultrawide camera on the rear, with a f/2.2 aperture & 1.0 micron pixels. It hasn’t got the same field of view as the 123° ‘true’ ultrawide camera on the Galaxy S20, but image quality should be better thanks to Google’s better image processing algorithms, and looking at examples, the Pixel 5’s ultrawide camera has less barrel distortion than the Galaxy S20’s lens.

Both have a USB Type-C port, but the Pixel 4a only comes with a 3,140mAh battery whereas the Pixel 5 has a 4,080mAh battery.

But, for an extra £250, is all of this really worth it? While I’m not comfortable losing the 3.5mm headphone port, I’d gain a slightly bigger screen, a slightly better processor, a bigger battery, slightly longer OS support, and wireless charging.

But I’m not sure that’s worth it, to be honest. Although I now have a great pair of Bluetooth headphones, and I use a dongle to use my older/wired headphones with my Tab S5e (when my Bluetooth pair is on charge), the 3.5mm port can also be used to plug in an external microphone. It’s not a feature I’ve used a lot, but losing the port means losing that extra functionality – and having to use dongles to regain those features.

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Conclusion

The Pixel 4a seems like the perfect phone for me, but then if I consider that I’m still getting a mostly clean UI with a better camera array and Pro controls, the £799 Xperia 5 II looks like a better option.

Granted, that’s the same price as the base model Galaxy S20 – which has more useful features for me – but I’ve also seen more deals for the Sony than for the Samsung. On deals & offers alone, the Xperia 5 II wins that battle.

But then there’s the Pixel 5. I really do like the Pixel 4a, but if I can get a Black Friday deal that knocks the price of the Pixel 5 down from £599… then I might consider it.

Really, on specs alone, it’s a two horse race at the moment between the Xperia 5 II and the Pixel 5. But in price, it’s between the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5.

And, to follow through with that horse-racing metaphor, I’m getting really, really close to the finish line.

Good job, too – as my current contract ends in just a couple of weeks.

– Chris JK.