Sony unveils the Xperia 8 but it's just so...disappointing

Sony's mobile division hasn't exactly been the most successful of the company's numerous arms, and it's becoming increasingly clearer why that's the case. The company has released two flagships already this year, the Xperia 1 and Xperia 5, and both have been met with rather lukewarm receptions. The company's latest device is an even more unexciting offering.

Sony has now unveiled a brand new device, the Xperia 8. For one, we have no idea what's going on with the company's naming scheme. The Xperia 1 is Sony's main flagship for the year, and the Xperia 5 was a compact take on it. The Xperia 10 takes the position of a mid-ranger (Sony Xperia 10 on sale now at Amazon), and so does the new Xperia 8. We're not sure what logic that naming scheme follows, but a dire lack of logic is evidently becoming something of a norm over at Sony.

Moving on to more tangible qualms, the Xperia 8 features a 6.0-inch FHD+ display, in the same 21:9 aspect ratio we've seen on all Xperia phones this year so far. The mid-range phone is powered by a Snapdragon 630, just like the Xperia 10. Assuming lower numbers are more premium, shouldn't the Xperia 8 be a more powerful phone? Apparently not. The Snapdragon 630 is a two-year-old underpowered SoC at this point and it boggles the mind that Sony still uses such hardware.

Supplying the Xperia 8 is a laughable 2760 mAh battery. That's a smaller battery than the 2870 mAh unit on the Xperia 10—a device with the same SoC and display size. Sony has a reputation for small batteries and it's sad to see that continue here.

One major positive is the presence of an IP65/IP68 rating on the Xperia 8. There's also NFC, a side-mounted fingerprint reader, and a 3.5mm jack. At the back of the Xperia 8 is a dual-camera system, comprised of a 12 MP (f/1.8) shooter and an 8 MP (f/2.4) ultra-wide angle unit. At the front is an 8 MP selfie camera.

Thankfully, the Xperia 8 appears to be designed for the Japanese market—for now, at least. It has a price tag that converts into US$505. We're not quite sure who'd buy this.