Sony Xperia 1 VIII launches with a Google Pixel-style camera assist feature and a new design

• Sony has launched the Xperia 1 VIII
• It has a redesigned camera block, a new telephoto sensor, an AI camera assistant, and a top-end chipset
• It also costs more than most high-end phones, and isn't available in much of the world

Like clockwork, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII has now been announced, a year to the day after the Sony Xperia 1 VII. But while the day is the same, the details are different, as Sony has given its new phone a much-needed redesign.

That’s mostly meant changing the camera block, so instead of the vertical line of lenses in the top left corner that we’ve seen since the Sony Xperia 1 II, there’s now a square camera block, with the metal housing wrapping around to the left edge of the phone.

Other than some new gemstone-inspired shades (Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, Garnet ...