Ladies and gentlemen, gather 'round, because I've got a smartphone story that'll make you chuckle and swoon simultaneously! Picture this: a phone so sleek, it makes James Bond's gadgets look like child's play. Enter the Sony Xperia 10 V in a classy shade of black, sent to me by the downright awesome AO website.Now, I'll be honest; I'm usually more of a "whatever's in the bargain bin" kinda guy, but this Sony Xperia 10 V made me feel like a VIP without the need for a secret handshake or a monocle. It's all about that Sony excellence and style, baby!First off, the 128GB of storage left me feeling like I could store the entire internet on this thing, along with all my embarrassing cat videos from the past decade. No more deleting photos of my lunch to make space ... MoreLadies and gentlemen, gather 'round, because I've got a smartphone story that'll make you chuckle and swoon simultaneously! Picture this: a phone so sleek, it makes James Bond's gadgets look like child's play. Enter the Sony Xperia 10 V in a classy shade of black, sent to me by the downright awesome AO website.Now, I'll be honest; I'm usually more of a "whatever's in the bargain bin" kinda guy, but this Sony Xperia 10 V made me feel like a VIP without the need for a secret handshake or a monocle. It's all about that Sony excellence and style, baby!First off, the 128GB of storage left me feeling like I could store the entire internet on this thing, along with all my embarrassing cat videos from the past decade. No more deleting photos of my lunch to make space for new ones! My smartphone gallery now resembles a gourmet restaurant's menu.And let's talk about the design. This phone is so sexy, it could moonlight as a runway model. I half-expected it to strut its stuff across my coffee table. It's like Sony hired a team of fashion experts to design a phone. If it were a person, it would wear a tuxedo to bed just because it can.But it's not all style and no substance! The Sony Xperia 10 V has a performance that's smoother than a freshly buttered slide. Apps open faster than my refrigerator door when I'm looking for dessert, and multitasking is a breeze. It's like having a personal assistant that doesn't complain when you ask it to do a thousand things at once. Take that, Karen!And when it comes to the camera, oh boy! It's so good that my selfies now look like I belong on the cover of a magazine. I've even started signing autographs for my adoring fans (by "fans," I mean my mom and my dog, but still).The battery life? It's like the Energizer Bunny on steroids! This thing just keeps going and going. I watched an entire season of a TV show, played a few hours of games, and still had juice left to order pizza and tweet about it. It's like the phone version of a bottomless soda at a fast-food joint.So, there you have it, folks: the Sony Xperia 10 V in Black, brought to me by the AO website – or should I say the "AO-some" website? It's got Sony's trademark excellence, style that could make a supermodel envious, and enough storage to make even data hoarders like me happy. If you're in the market for a mid-range phone that'll make you feel like a million bucks, this is it! Just remember to charge it after your pizza-induced Twitter spree. Cheers to an "AO-some" smartphone experience!

A great phone (with a couple of reservations)

The build quality is very good and possibly an improvement on the previous Sony phones I've had. The Xperia 10V is fast and responsive, with great picture and sound quality. I've had the phone a couple of weeks and my only criticisms are that the centre navigation button sometimes takes you to a random location rather than the home screen, and for some bizarre reason you can only show the clock on the lockscreen when the phone is on charge, which may save the battery a bit but is very annoying.Otherwise it's all great.

Appalling support and poor software

The answer to every question of support seems to be factory reset rather than escalate a bug to the technical department. Five times now.An example, I am informed by Sony there is a software update to apply. I take the option. It tells me it needs to use my WiFi. My WiFi is switched on. The screen hangs telling you nothing. I ring support, switch off mobile data they say. That doesn't work. Factory reset.they say. That means downloading my apps again I say? But the Google apps will automatically download anyway no other option they say. This has happened on several occasions.If I could throw it or them in the canal I would. It is not cheap and I will be paying for 3 years as my finances are limited.When I replace it sure won't be Sony.

Brilliantly portable full-frame camera let down by atrocious, outdated software

Pros: 1. Size (small enough to fit in your pocket, albeit a bit thick) 2. Powerful full-frame sensor that is excellent for low-light photography 3. The best lens native selection of any camera manufacturer, both new and aftermarket Cons: 1. Only one SD card slot 2. Ridiculous, outdated software / UI that looks and feels 15+ years old It's crazy that a 2k camera in 2021 has software that predates smartphones from a decade ago (literally - my Nexus 4 from 2011 was significantly more user friendly and sophisticated than this). The UI is nebulous and extremely non-user-friendly. To add insult to injury, it has a touchscreen but it is utterly useless! All you can do is use it to touch a focus point. To call it a wasted opportunity would be too kind - it is actually a ... MorePros: 1. Size (small enough to fit in your pocket, albeit a bit thick) 2. Powerful full-frame sensor that is excellent for low-light photography 3. The best lens native selection of any camera manufacturer, both new and aftermarket Cons: 1. Only one SD card slot 2. Ridiculous, outdated software / UI that looks and feels 15+ years old It's crazy that a 2k camera in 2021 has software that predates smartphones from a decade ago (literally - my Nexus 4 from 2011 was significantly more user friendly and sophisticated than this). The UI is nebulous and extremely non-user-friendly. To add insult to injury, it has a touchscreen but it is utterly useless! All you can do is use it to touch a focus point. To call it a wasted opportunity would be too kind - it is actually a rather unforgivable omission on Sony's behalf to not have enabled it to do more. Furthermore, Sony could have easily struck a deal with Google to have Android on this camera, similar to what they did with their Xperia smartphones and Bravia TVs. After all, Android was actually initially designed as a sophisticated touchscreen camera app and only later turned into a full mobile operating system. This would have made it much more user friendly, enabled the use of apps, deeper computational photography tools, and even allowed for seamless backup of files to the cloud by having the camera automatically connect to Wi-Fi. Wake up Sony - it's 2021.

Excelleent Battery

Hi. I`m using my xperia 10 V for two weeks now. moved to it directly from xperia xa2. I like the phone, does everything as it should, got used to it now. best thing so far: battery last more than two days or up to about 60 hours with normal usage (yes I know: samsung or iphone users won`t be able to comprehend this). this is main reason why I`m sticking to sony phones. I drive a lot, so it`s used mostly for spotify, phone calls or google meet calls, occasional fb, yt, google maps. it`s been 35hours since last charging while I`m writing this and phone has got still 50% battery left (adaptive battery is on, it helped to keep battery in excellent condition in previous sony phones). I`m not using camera much but it takes very good quality photos. sometimes camera might ... MoreHi. I`m using my xperia 10 V for two weeks now. moved to it directly from xperia xa2. I like the phone, does everything as it should, got used to it now. best thing so far: battery last more than two days or up to about 60 hours with normal usage (yes I know: samsung or iphone users won`t be able to comprehend this). this is main reason why I`m sticking to sony phones. I drive a lot, so it`s used mostly for spotify, phone calls or google meet calls, occasional fb, yt, google maps. it`s been 35hours since last charging while I`m writing this and phone has got still 50% battery left (adaptive battery is on, it helped to keep battery in excellent condition in previous sony phones). I`m not using camera much but it takes very good quality photos. sometimes camera might need some help or adjustements to take perfect shot, you might need familiarise yourself with it.from my point of view: Xperia 10 V is a perfect "all rounder". more than I need actually. and once again: battery is excellent.be aware: phone come without a charger and without the cable (usual for sony phones). if you don`t have one, you will need to buy them separately. get yourself dedicated or "proper one" with correct amps: well worth it, it will payback in a long term, secures battery life.

Excellent phone with a lot of power and storage.

I purchased ths phone a few weeks ago and I love it , sony phones are made so well. The Battery is great it last me a full day before charging., the phone being 5g runs at quick speeds , the settings for the phone was so easy to set up. The camera is very impressive and I am still getting use to how all the settings work on camera, I have noticed it works great at night. I was very impressed with the price of this phone, seeing that premium phones are over a £1000 these days which I do find dayight robbery, this phone comes in at just under £400 and I think is exceptional value for money .A small issue I have with this device is it only comes with the google gallery , I much prefer the Sony Gallery, if a update could implement a nice gallery then this phone would ... MoreI purchased ths phone a few weeks ago and I love it , sony phones are made so well. The Battery is great it last me a full day before charging., the phone being 5g runs at quick speeds , the settings for the phone was so easy to set up. The camera is very impressive and I am still getting use to how all the settings work on camera, I have noticed it works great at night. I was very impressed with the price of this phone, seeing that premium phones are over a £1000 these days which I do find dayight robbery, this phone comes in at just under £400 and I think is exceptional value for money .A small issue I have with this device is it only comes with the google gallery , I much prefer the Sony Gallery, if a update could implement a nice gallery then this phone would be a dream.

Insane battery life

10-12 hour SOT straight out the box, can easily go 2 days on a single charge without even taking any battery saver measures. Decent performance as it's a vanilla Android OS. Nice build, lightweight,great stereo speakers. Camera software and processing could be better, and the fingerprint scanner can be hit and miss. Still an excellent phone though!

Missing features

I'm only a couple of weeks into the Xperience and so far I mostly have annoyances. Yes, the phone is nice and works properly, etc., but when I get to the everyday usage, it has failed me on occasions.First, I miss the double tap screen illuminating function to see quickly the time,then I cannot adjust screen and character sizes to make sense (my eyes got old a bit and cannot read text messages with any setting). This may not be a problem for those with good eyes or with permanent glasses/contact lenses, but proves itself kind of careless, considering the narrower screen due to 21:9 widescreen ratio.Yes, one can say "Why did you buy an Xperia?"...It also bothers me that the power and the volume buttons are on the same side very close to one another and that ... MoreI'm only a couple of weeks into the Xperience and so far I mostly have annoyances. Yes, the phone is nice and works properly, etc., but when I get to the everyday usage, it has failed me on occasions.First, I miss the double tap screen illuminating function to see quickly the time,then I cannot adjust screen and character sizes to make sense (my eyes got old a bit and cannot read text messages with any setting). This may not be a problem for those with good eyes or with permanent glasses/contact lenses, but proves itself kind of careless, considering the narrower screen due to 21:9 widescreen ratio.Yes, one can say "Why did you buy an Xperia?"...It also bothers me that the power and the volume buttons are on the same side very close to one another and that they are, I would say, a cm lower than comfortable/ergonomic.Otherwise, the handset is light and the battery seems pretty good so far, as I didn't have to charge it besides using Android Auto for an hour tops per day.As for the plastic body, I had to buy quickly some silicon cover because I had the constant feeling that the phone slips off of every surface I put it on.I'm really sorry to give 3 stars only, but the accessibility features I mentioned above are so poor, that ruined my experience so far. I probably should have bought the 1 V but I'm not the one spending that amount of money on any phone.

Not very impressed if I'm honest

I find the software an issue. The phone constantly closes apps unexpectedly, runs slow or is just generally buggy. For example listening to Spotify for 3 hours while working, it has closed 4 times with no warning.Phone is not very robust at all, I'm not rough with my phone but its already showing signs of wear and tear after a two weeks.If I'm completely honest I am a bit gutted with my purchase.I was trying to move away from Apple products but in all honesty I wish I had just stuck with them

Quality

I'm never disappointed when I purchase a Sony Xperia smartphone and this one didn't break that trend.You can actually feel the difference in weight, it's so light that you notice it - and the last time I had a phone fit this well in my hand where I could use reach all my apps using one hand was with the Z3 compact or the U and that’s not to say it’s small – just trimmed – because you don’t lose anything.Smooth, flawless operation and the UI is easy to navigate as always.I'm a bit disappointed that since my last xperia purchase that they've removed the Sony Album and now we're left with the stock google app for photos because that really is a step down, but other than that I can't grumble. It’s not overloaded with useless apps like some of my past purchases too ... MoreI'm never disappointed when I purchase a Sony Xperia smartphone and this one didn't break that trend.You can actually feel the difference in weight, it's so light that you notice it - and the last time I had a phone fit this well in my hand where I could use reach all my apps using one hand was with the Z3 compact or the U and that’s not to say it’s small – just trimmed – because you don’t lose anything.Smooth, flawless operation and the UI is easy to navigate as always.I'm a bit disappointed that since my last xperia purchase that they've removed the Sony Album and now we're left with the stock google app for photos because that really is a step down, but other than that I can't grumble. It’s not overloaded with useless apps like some of my past purchases too which is something I appreciate.Camera is as you'd expect from Sony - quality - and quite a bit easier to use in this model as it has a good zoom function which saves a bit a fiddling with pinching/spreading fingers on the screen.What else can I say - it's a quality bit of kit - I left Sony last year and tried a different manufacturer trying to save a few pennies – their unit had similar CPU/GPU specs as my previous Xperia but it functioned nowhere near as smooth and so that was a big mistake and so as soon as I unboxed my new Xperia and powered up, I was instantly welcomed by an old friend – performance.It honestly felt like - coming home.