Sony Xperia XZ2 review

14 March 2018
You don't really have to look any further than the new Xperia XZ2 and its little Compact sibling for proof that Sony is evolving even if slowly. The 2018 flagship is different in a number of ways, some of which more controversial than others.

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Nick, 16 Mar 2018Again, as I said before, if they are really just "noises", ... moreXZ2 improve the sharpen with reality quality if you don't know or don't believe please refer the Gsmarena's Photo Quality Comparison for low light conditions:
https://www.gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=5&idPhone1=8966&idPhone2=9081
Please refer to the currency note you can read the word "The Governor and Company of The Bank of England 2000" from XZ2 and it looks high definition without artificial sharpening. If you still don't believe you may refer to the black&red hat with black feather, the XZ2 take a very impressive black feather with natural details as it is, while the S9 fail the both..

    Tann Hauser, 16 Mar 2018?. You an actuall troll or sth? Of course I look them ... moreAnnd I stand corrected.
    Man, why did you make me look on desktop?

    On desktop screen, via zoom zoom zoom:
    in lowlight zoom in S9 does look better(kudos to noise correction) second place XZ2( but man, is that tripod one good), and....Pixel is....ugh.
    Daylight XZ2 best, Pixel sec, S9...not so good.

    But it was said Pixel is excellent in lowlight. I guess its true, just dont look on desktop, and dont zoom in.

    I guess they merit photo quality not by desktop, but by mobile screen use.

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      • Anonymous
      • 4S2
      • 16 Mar 2018

      Anonymous, 15 Mar 2018Why SONY always has much comments?Because Sony is popular.

        AnonD-265341, 16 Mar 2018Somewhat wird design, but the camera has gotten really good... moreYup, like, I really dig everything about the phone, but aint even considering buying. There is no jack. Period.
        Such a shame.

          Yann, 16 Mar 2018Are your judgments done looking pictures only on your phone... more?.
          You an actuall troll or sth?

          Of course I look them on my phone, like probably 95% of readers here. Much easier to zoom in
          I also look at other phone photos the same way, so I might be overseeing their flaws too.
          From my desktop experience, I really dont need to look them at big screen, cause they all look bad, especially the 12 mpx ones.

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            • AnonD-265341
            • nrm
            • 16 Mar 2018

            Somewhat wird design, but the camera has gotten really good, so thats great, lack of hpj is a bummer and a dealbreaker

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              • Yann
              • stv
              • 16 Mar 2018

              Tann Hauser, 16 Mar 2018I really dont get what you are getting about here. That th... moreAre your judgments done looking pictures only on your phone or tablet?
              Is that the way you gave "excellent" photos for SONY?
              O man, you're really, really biased person.

                Nick, 16 Mar 2018You sound like as if images with tons of saturation and ove... moreBut then again, Samsung is complete opposite when shooting good light shots, than it is when doing low light, oversaturated, and too much oversharpening/contrast. Isnt it?

                  Nick, 16 Mar 2018Again, as I said before, if they are really just "noises", ... moreI really dont get what you are getting about here.
                  That there is an excellent lowlight shot you linked:
                  https://m.gsmarena.com/showpic2.php3?sImg=reviews/17/google-pixel-2/camera/gsmarena_011.jpg&idReview=1680&idPage=9
                  #

                  Yes there is sharpening algorithm there, but that is ISO 160, and same is applied at ISO 50 at 1/1s shot.

                  But on those higher ISO ones I really dont know how you can call it on sharpening, all is equally fine tuned noise.

                  Croma on that other I really dont see, maybe on a desktop monitor it would be discernable...

                  Pixel with OIS also keeps the noise for detail, doesnt overreduce it to loose detail, and has much obvious noise, sharpening artefacts, and chroma noise you mention. that I just dont see on Xperias high ISO shot:

                  https://m.gsmarena.com/showpic2.php3?sImg=reviews/17/google-pixel-2/camera/gsmarena_011.jpg&idReview=1680&idPage=9

                  https://m.gsmarena.com/showpic2.php3?sImg=reviews/18/sony-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_021.jpg&idReview=1735&idPage=6

                  And yet, Pixel is considered a top lowlight shooter.

                  P.S. Before anyone comments of extra brightness on Pixel, nearest street light is on on that shot, on Xperia not.

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                    • Nick
                    • vmF
                    • 16 Mar 2018

                    Anonymous, 16 Mar 2018S9 wipe the noise but also wipe the details in lowlight, wh... moreYou sound like as if images with tons of saturation and oversharpening applied are still "natural" looking. Sky is having a purple tint on XZ2 and I find it much more "artificial" than what Huawei and Samsung do with the colour of the sky. And you should also remember that XZ2 also boosts contrast significantly to hide noises under low-light condition.
                    Kinda funny though, because for last couple of years Galaxy phones had been known for oversaturated and contrasty photos, but now it's completely opposite and produce one of more accurate-looking photos at least in terms of colours.

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                      • Nick
                      • vmF
                      • 16 Mar 2018

                      Tann Hauser, 16 Mar 2018I am sorry, but clearly you misunderstand the sharpening ar... moreAgain, as I said before, if they are really just "noises", then they shouldn't exhibit any sort of splotchy, uneven zigzag patterns, which unfortunately shows up on (pretty much all) XZ2's photos. They contain a lot of noises, yes, but also a huge amount of sharpening artifacts. You would know this if you had edited RAW image on a smartphone even once (which probably you hadn't, since Sony phones do not support RAW image capturing) - this is not what the pure luminance noise looks like.
                      And as for the part where you said that oversharpening causes light sauces to form multiple layers instead of having smooth transition, that shows up in XZ2's photos as well. It's just that the noise level is so high that you cannot clearly see the "layers" of light, but if you look closely you can tell there are some uneven transition in the colour of light from light sources. Here's another photo (this one is taken with long-exposure) for you so that you can check some obvious sharpening halo around the light sources far away. This one exhibits strong patterns of sharpening on the left side of the image.
                      https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/sony-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_029.jpg

                      "And colour noise? You mean chroma noise? It is nonexistant"
                      Nope, I'm actually talking about colour/chroma noise.
                      https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/sony-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_028.jpg
                      This photo contains a lot of colour noises (red and green dots) across the whole image. It's suppressed and reduced so it's not something you can tell unless you zoom in, but it is definitely there once you start getting closer.

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                        • AnonD-647882
                        • IVR
                        • 16 Mar 2018

                        Anonymous, 16 Mar 2018Please note that studio shots are taken with the phones mou... moreya, if xz2 camera has the OIS, the quality won't lose S9+

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                          • AnonD-246723
                          • KSE
                          • 16 Mar 2018

                          AnonD-94604, 16 Mar 2018I think with XZ2 sony has made an improvement, previous son... moreU mean this wire antenna? Yup totally

                            Nick, 16 Mar 2018Optical image stabilisation definitely DOES help reducing n... moreI am sorry, but clearly you misunderstand the sharpening artefacts.
                            In those pictures you linked I clearly see the noise but not oversharpening.
                            https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/sony-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_026.jpg

                            Oversharpening for ex, is present here:
                            https://m.gsmarena.com/showpic2.php3?sImg=reviews/18/samsung-galaxy-s9/camera/gsmarena_021.jpg&idReview=1734&idPage=7

                            ....around every light source there can be seen layers, not smooth transition, that is oversharpening artefact.


                            And colour noise? You mean chroma noise? It is nonexistant, I can see only high ISO noise around cars and lights.
                            Maybe you are thinking at colour fringing?
                            Both have those, in same areas.

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                              • Anonymous
                              • tZ0
                              • 16 Mar 2018

                              Nick, 16 Mar 2018Optical image stabilisation definitely DOES help reducing n... moreS9 wipe the noise but also wipe the details in lowlight, while in daylight the 1.5 aperture overexpose causing some color fadeout. On the other hand, Mate 10 Pro boost the contrast but this will causing certain scene and object look unnaturally this causing the image looks artificial. iphone wipe the image looks more cozy and still punchy color but doesn't like Samsung.This time XZ2 much better overall because don't wipe details don't artificial with much colors show, it much close to reality too.

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                                • Nick
                                • vmF
                                • 16 Mar 2018

                                Tann Hauser, 16 Mar 2018I am pretty certain OIS would have no to minimum advantage ... moreSmartphones can use extremely fast electronic shutter to restrict the amount of light coming into a sensor, so wider aperture isn't really an issue here. And I'm pretty sure even with brighter (hence softer) lens, sheer resolution count of the high-res sensor which Sony uses can make up for it by a large margin.

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                                  • Nick
                                  • vmF
                                  • 16 Mar 2018

                                  Tann Hauser, 16 Mar 2018Image quality is excellent. You must be refering to less... moreOptical image stabilisation definitely DOES help reducing noise, as it allows shutter to open for a longer period of time, therefore lower ISO can be used to gain the same exposure.

                                  "Too much noise reduction as some other do it, looses detail and sharpness, and produces less quality image"

                                  The most of "noise" you're seeing on XZ2's nighttime photos are caused by oversharpening. Take a look at those photos, for example.
                                  https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/sony-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_026.jpg
                                  https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/sony-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_028.jpg
                                  Instead of being finely grained, noises are more like blobs and you can see a lot of sharpening artifacts around cars and roads in the first pic.
                                  The second picture has another problem - You can clearly tell that the whole thing is covered by quite a lot of colour noise, which all recent flagship smartphones handle perfectly. They are especially visible around moving objects such as front lights of cars.

                                  "And Daylight ones are top, dont even have to discuss those"

                                  With tons of oversharpening artifacts across frame and purplish sky, I wouldn't say it's on "top" though it is indeed one of better daylight shooters. Other phones like Mate 10 Pro and S9 have less details but clearly handles noise better than XZ2 does.

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                                    • IV%
                                    • 16 Mar 2018

                                    Anonymous, 15 Mar 2018Which means you clearly never used them and should not be c... moresame can be said about most people here

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                                      • IV%
                                      • 16 Mar 2018

                                      Anonymous, 16 Mar 2018I tested cameras of XZ2 and note 4. In XZ2, detail is less ... morethat comparison my friend, just kill your credibility

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                                        • Yann
                                        • SHp
                                        • 16 Mar 2018

                                        nice, 15 Mar 2018 The only thing this phone lack is headphone jack. Everyth... moreAre you blind? Famed hanging? What? The fattest phone on Earth? The ff camera without auto focus? Courage?
                                        What is wrong with you? Go check your eyes.
                                        This is phone which will be forgotten as soon as it arrives.
                                        DOA.

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