The Sony Xperia XZ2 is offering a camera that can shoot excellent still images, 4K footage in 10-bit HDR, and 960fps slow-motion footage in full 1080p resolution.
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The Xperia XZ2 is a welcome change in the sea of monotony that Sony’s smartphone division has released over the past few years. It offers buyers cutting-edge specs, a newly reworked 18:9 screen and modern-looking design. Sony has finally ditched the squarish omnibalance design that plagued past Xperias on the XZ2. The flat, hard-to-hold design has been replaced with a beautiful mixed-material chassis, featuring a 2.5D, slightly curved-glass back.
The end result is a modern device that’s every bit as alluring as the Samsung Galaxy S9. The only minor annoyance is that the bezel, while small, remains noticeable although it’s nowhere near as thick as in some other smartphones. The Xperia XZ2 comes equipped with NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, Qi wireless charging and a microSD card slot, which makes it quick and easy to bump up the phone’s internal storage. So, all new technologies you'd expect are here.
For audio fans there’s added support for LDAC and Hi-Res audio, alongside reworked speakers that Sony claims are “20% louder†than those that featured on the first XZ. The phone’s entertainment capabilities are further aided by the addition of Sony’s new Dynamic Vibration System. This is a version of the haptic engine you’ll find inside a DualShock 4 PS4 controller. The phone gives a more pronounced rumble when you receive a notification, or if you’re playing games and viewing films.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 is comfortable to hold, but there are a few design annoyances. Like many other phones, the XZ2’s fingerprint scanner sits on its rear but it’s atypically low placed. The Xperia XZ2 runs Sony’s launcher on top of Android 8 Oreo and inside there’s a 2.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm 845 processor plus 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot that will take cards up to 400GB in capacity. When all is said and done, an interesting phone but nothing more. ■
