Sony has taken the wraps off the Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact. Both phones are the first Sony smartphones to come with the trending 18:9 display. But the Xperia XZ2 duo pack more than a full-screen display.
Design
Gone are the huge bezels that defined the OmniBalance design of Sony phones. In its place are smaller bezels in a new design Sony has dubbed “Ambient Flow”.
Ambient Flow not only brings smaller bezels, but also brings more curves. The corners are curved and the back is curved too. This allows for a more comfortable grip and feel in the hand.
Another major design change is the fingerprint scanner which now sits at the back instead of on the side and doesn’t seem to be market dependent anymore.
Even with the new design, both phones are still different. The Xperia XZ2 has Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides. While it does give it a premium appearance, it makes it slippery and a fingerprint magnet.
The Xperia XZ2 compact on the other hand has a polycarbonate back with a matte finish. Won’t turn eyes but won’t slide off the table too.
Specs
The Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact both sport 5.7” and 5.0” 18:9 displays. Both are FHD+ screens but the compact has a higher PPI due to its smaller size. The displays also support HDR.
Under the glass or polycarbonate back is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 mobile platform paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Storage is expandable up to 400GB via a hybrid dual SIM slot.
They both have NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi, and USB 3.1 Type-C ports. There is no audio jack on either phones but they come with stereo front facing speakers. Sony will ship both phones with a Y-shaped USB-C adapter that allows you charge and use a 3.5mm connector at the same time.
Battery capacity on the Xperia XZ2 is 3180mAh with support for wireless charging while the XZ2 Compact comes with a 2870mAh battery without wireless charging support.
Cameras
The cameras on the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact are pretty important and deserve their own separate section.
Sony has kept the sensors from last year’s models. It is a 19MP Sony IMX400 f/2.0 sensor. It also keeps all of the key features like 5-axis stabilization, hybrid laser-phase detection-contrast autofocus, and burst autofocus. The dedicated physical camera button remains too.
Sony has worked with Qualcomm on image processing. This has resulted in a new BIONZ image processing algorithm which handles colors, details, and noise reduction for low light images.
Another new feature is that the cameras can now record 960fps slo-motion at 1080p and also record 4K HDR videos. For the former, the duration of recording in slo-motion FHD is half that of 720p.
The front camera is a 5MP f/2.2 23mm wide-angle sensor. It also supports 3D creator like the rear camera.
READ MORE: Sony Xperia XZ1 And XZ1 Compact Patched Against Spectre And Meltdown
Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact Price and Availability
The Xperia XZ2 will come in Liquid Black, Liquid Silver, Deep Green, and Ash Pink. The compact will come in Black, Coral Pink, and Moss Green.
Both are scheduled to arrive in late March or early April but pricing has not been revealed.
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