Sony Xperia Pro-I review

Pro or otherwise, Xperias all have the same UI

The Pro-I may not be strictly in the mainstream Xperia lineup, but it's just like any other when it comes to UI. And like any other, it's got a very stock Android feel (still on Android 11), though there are in-house bits if you look deep enough.

Starting with some of the basics, there's an always-on display feature (AOD) that goes by Google's Ambient display name and has a fairly limited set of customization options. The lockscreen is business as usual with a clock (that you can customize), a shortcut to the camera and another one for Google Assistant.

Always on display • Lockscreen

The homescreen, too, is as standard as they come. The Google feed is the leftmost pane, but you can disable it if it's not your thing. The quick toggles/notification area is Google's stock too. With this version of Android, you get Notification history and the Bubbles shortcuts as part of the Conversations features - both available on the Xperia, unlike some more heavily customized UIs.

Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Notification shade • Quick toggles • Notification settings

This brings us to one of the Sony exclusives, which deserves a mention even though it's not new - Multi-window switch. You can access it from the task switcher or from the dedicated shortcut icon on the homescreen, and you get sort of like two stacked task switcher rolodexes with your currently opened apps to pick one for the top half and one for the bottom half of the screen. The rightmost pane in each half lets you launch another app, not just pick from the already running ones.

The phone remembers three previously used pairs so you can access them directly, though we couldn't find a way to save custom app pair presets. It's worth mentioning that the window split can be done in almost any arbitrary ratio, not just 50/50.

Task switcher • Multi-window switcher

Side sense is another of the in-house Sony features. A handle on the side of the phone opens up a menu of shortcuts to apps and features, most of them user-configurable. The 21:9 multi-window pairs can be customized here, but they don't go into the three pair shortcuts in the regular task switcher. A recent addition to the menu is a widget to control the Sony headphones app - handy if you have a set of those.

Side sense

There's a fairly standard set of gestures for call handling, as well as a one-handed mode and smart backlight control. It's in this menu that you'll find the navigation options with the two basic types available - gestures or a navbar.

Gesture settings

Pros can enjoy the occasional game too, so the Xperia Pro-I has Sony's Game Enhancer as part of its software package. It's a comprehensive utility with two main interfaces - a game hub/launcher, and an overlay you pull out from the side while in a game.

Performance profiles (or Game Mode) can be set on a per-game basis, and it's in here that you get to set the screen refresh rate and lock it at 120Hz regardless of whether the game supports it (though, obviously, it would make sense on the games that do). Additional sliders let you select Touch response speed and touch tracking accuracy.

H.S. power control is the setting that deals with power management. When the feature is enabled, and the phone is plugged in, it won't actually charge the battery but will only essentially meet your current power consumption so as to avoid unnecessary heat generation - H.S. stands for Heat Suppression.

The Focus settings is an array of toggles that let you disable pesky notifications, turn off adaptive brightness, disable the camera button and the side sense functionality - limit distractions.

There are also screenshot and video capture features.

Game Enhancer

Synthetic benchmarks

The Xperia Pro-I has the Snapdragon 888 inside, just like the 1 III - Sony didn't bother implementing the SD888+, and it's hardly a big deal. A single RAM/storage configuration is available, and we believe the 12GB of RAM and half a terabyte of storage are just right.

As is usually the case with Xperias, the Pro-I isn't a benchmark champ, but it's still putting out the flagship-grade numbers you'd expect from its hardware. Aside from the single-core GeekBench, that is, where the Pro-I is sharing a joint victory with the Xperia 1 III.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5
  3710
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  3673
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  3636
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  3549
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  3540
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  3521
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  3518
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  3515
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  3316
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  3244
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  3191

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia 1 III
  1130
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  1129
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  1126
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  1126
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  1126
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  1117
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  1117
• Asus ROG Phone 5
  1110
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  1109
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  1107
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  926

The Pro-I goes back to its happy place a little bit down the chart in Antutu, still ahead of the Xperia 5 III.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  797484
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  794016
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  749132
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  735588
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  725839
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  708394

The Pro-I fares better in onscreen graphics benchmarks than phones with 1440p displays thanks to rendering at 1096x2560 - no 4K gaming here (as if you need that on your phone). The Xperia is no gaming phone though, and the ROG Phone 5 does beat it, but then so does the Zenfone 8 Flip.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5
  122
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  120
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  119
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  118
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  116
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  113
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  113
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  111
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  109
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  109
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  107

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  104
• Asus ROG Phone 5
  103
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  103
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  92
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  91
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  90
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  60
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  58
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  58
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  57
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  55

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5
  71
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  70
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  70
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  70
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  69
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  69
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  69
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  69
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  68
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  66
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  64

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  62
• Asus ROG Phone 5
  59
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  59
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  54
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  53
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  51
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  34
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  33
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  33
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  33

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  45
• Asus ROG Phone 5
  43
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  42
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  29
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  27
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  26
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  25
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  25
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  23

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  41
• Asus ROG Phone 5
  40
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  40
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  37
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  36
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  36
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  24
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  24
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  23
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  23

In 3DMark, the Xperia Pro-I climbs back up to the top of the chart, just barely beating the ROG Phone 5 by a handful of points - insignificant, but it works for bragging rights.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia 1 III
  5807
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  5753
• Asus ROG Phone 5
  5744
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  5742
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  5701
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  5691
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  5677
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  5676
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  5653
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  5556
• Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  5547

What the Xperia Pro-I can't brag about is sustained performance. That 3DMark result is only in the first run, and by the 6th one, the score drops to 3,900 with a further dip at the 12th loop to around 3,400 points for a stability rating of 60%. The CPU stability is a little bit better, with a 68% result in the CPU Throttling test.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test