Barely six months after releasing the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact, Sony is back with another pair of flagship phones. And, you guessed it, they’re called the Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact.
Sony announced the smartphones at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, alongside an in-ear Bluetooth speaker called the Xperia Ear Duo. While the Japanese company has finally taken the opportunity to overhaul its outmoded and angular handset design, there’s little else here to really get excited about beyond a modest sprinkling of novel features.
Six months isn’t long in smartphone terms, but the XZ1 and XZ1 Compact didn’t look that modern when they were first announced. Fortunately, Sony has now done away with the right angles and blocky design and opted instead for a much smoother form with a curved back that sits easily in the hand.
Display: XZ2: 5.7-inch full HD display with HDR XZ2 Compact: five-inch full HD display with HDR
Rear-facing camera: XZ2: 19 megapixel XZ2 Compact: 19 megapixel
Front-facing camera: XZ2: five megapixel XZ2 Compact: five megapixel
Battery: XZ2: 3,180mAh XZ2 Compact: 2,870mAh
Release date: TBC
Price: TBC
The XZ2 is coated front and back in Gorilla Glass, which curves smoothly round the rear of the device. Underneath that glass is a panel of metallic-tinged colouring (in silver, grey, teal or lilac) that changes hue depending on how it catches the light. The Gorilla Glass is an absolute fingerprint-magnet, of course, but if you look beyond the smudges the colour really is stunning.
As well as curving the back of the XZ2, Sony has rounded-off the phone’s corners for a design that feels a lot softer and more approachable than the previous model.
The bezel at the top and bottom has been reduced to fit in a 13 percent larger screen, but it’s still sizeable compared to the nearly bezel-less iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9. Because Sony has crammed in a few extra features, including a new dynamic vibration element (more on that later), the weight has increased a smidgen, too, and as a result the XZ2 does feel ever so slightly chunkier than you’d expect from a flagship.
The XZ2 Compact, on the other hand, eschews the Gorilla Glass coating in favour of a completely matt finish in a handful of colours. According to Sony, this coating is scratch-proof, and it certainly attracts far fewer fingerprints than its larger cousin.
The XZ2 has a 5.7-inch screen, and the the XS2 Compact a 5-inch screen, although both are still just Full HD/HDR. Both phones have also switched to the taller and thinner 18:9 aspect ratio, making for displays that are well-suited for watching films and playing games on the go.
Sony is keen to use these phones to push its own high dynamic range (HDR) technology, borrowed from its Bravia line of TVs, and each model lets you play a beefed-up version of any video content even if it wasn’t filmed in HDR. The results, at least when it comes to the examples that Sony chose to demonstrate, are impressive.
Turning on the HDR boost adds plenty of detail to lighter areas that would otherwise be washed out, while noise in dark patches of the screen is dramatically reduced.
Unlike Samsung and Apple, Sony has opted to go with a single-lens camera for these phones, both of which have a rear-facing 19 megapixel lens and a 5 megapixel selfie camera.
Shots taken with the HDR mode enabled looked great, with the camera having no trouble restoring colour to parts of the photo that some other cameras would complete wash-out with light, although photos taken in this mode do use up 25 percent more space, so watch out for that.
Sony has tweaked the way the speakers work in the XZ2 in order to increase loudness by 20 percent compared to the XZ1, while using the same stereo speaker arrangement.
There is also the option to turn on what Sony calls a “dynamic vibration system” that adds vibrations based on the audio of the film you’re watching or game you’re playing. It’s a bit like DualShock, but for your phone, and thankfully Sony have included the option to tone it all the way down to ‘mild’ or turn it off altogether if you'd rather not have your phone vibrate off the table every time you watch an action movie.
Also in the audio department, Sony announced its own Bluetooth earbuds, the Xperia Ear Duo. First seen as the Xperia Ear Open-Style concept last year, the earbud hooks into your earhole while the rest of it tucks slightly behind your outer ear, which is surprisingly comfortable although it looks a little like you're a businessperson who has forgotten how to wear a Bluetooth headset.
The Ear Duos have been designed so they allow sound from the outside in, thanks to a hole in the earpiece, so they don't allow complete isolation, but could be suitable for people that like to have one ear open to the wider world.
Dual microphones on each earpiece pick up voice commands, and they are also responsive to head movements so you can answer a call by nodding your head, for example.
A single charge gives four hours of use, with the battery case packing enough juice for three extra charges on top of that. The Ear Duos will cost £229 and are expected to be out this spring.
Read more: These are the best smartphones for any budget in 2021
It’s hard to really get excited about the latest in the Xperia XZ line of smartphones. Sony has added plenty of nice touches like wireless charging, a repositioned fingerprint sensor and a neat redesign. But most of these only bring Sony up to parity with flagship phones that other manufacturers released last year or even earlier.
Other features, like 3D face scanning and dynamic vibration feel like little more than novelties. In an earlier era, the XZ2 and XZ2 Compact would have been great phones, but now they already feel behind the curve, and they've not even been released yet.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
