Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium hands-on review

21 July 2018
Premium Sony Xperias is where a lot of firsts happen - first 4K display on a smartphone with the Z5 Premium, first HDR display on a smartphone with the XZ Premium alongside 960fps super slow-mo video recording, and now, on the Xperia XZ2 Premium - a dual camera for the first time on a Sony smartphone (a bit late to that party, eh?).

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  • A
  • Anonymous
  • 4S2
  • 23 Jul 2018

Anonymous, 23 Jul 2018Hahaha...dual camera on Sony phones, its like one or two de... moreAt least the Xz2 did better than most of the dual cameras from other competitors, eventhough it is not a dual camera, lol.

    [deleted post]You should watch PAs review of the phone.
    Now those are real !diots, with an obvious purpose.
    They bable about 4k stabilisation and 10bit hdr, but of course, No mention of Fusions extra sensitive lowlight 1080p video performance, the no1 advertsed feature of this phone, at all....
    They completely avoided reviewing it.
    Its unbelievable.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 3Jn
      • 23 Jul 2018

      Anonymous, 23 Jul 2018So, showing the scene closer to the reality is wrong thing... moreYep the world goes downhill , when you realised people wanted
      Over saturated and over contrasted pictures like the p20...
      Which trys to look better than real to life.. as you say what we can see with the human eye.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • thw
        • 23 Jul 2018

        Hahaha...dual camera on Sony phones, its like one or two decades behind everyone else. Even chinese cheap phones have tons of dual camera, but probably Sony want to sell their respectfully Exmorr sensors or whatever they have had advanced in digital cameras. Slow-mo is a breakthrough but first dual camera on Sony phones? hahaha ...I just laugh on that jokes.

          LG Superfan, 23 Jul 2018Yes but slight curve not this big and it wobble on flat surfaceIt might even spin! A lot of the old thick curvy xperias did.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • LQX
            • 23 Jul 2018

            Steve, 23 Jul 2018Damn you are right I've mixed the XZ2 and P20 shots when ta... moreSo, showing the scene closer to the reality is wrong thing?

            I never knew that contrast and saturation levels higher than what we see with our eyes became the new correct.

              • A
              • Agent
              • BMa
              • 23 Jul 2018

              The back FPS looks so china style. So many bad steps from sony mobil i got sony xz premium and i fil thid is the last good sony phone :/ stylish fps on side 4k screen decent camera at night and day perfect EIS
              Good old times after sony mobil dies going for samy or LG (if LG not dies first XD)

                • S
                • Steve
                • LHe
                • 23 Jul 2018

                Shui8, 23 Jul 2018Wow what a long review. And about P20 blown highlight u men... moreDamn you are right I've mixed the XZ2 and P20 shots when talking about them!!!!! That's what happens when you go back and forth!!!! Sorry Sony you are dead last because of that cheap color contrast and digital bending! One thing I've noticed is that XZ2 Compact has a lot more details than XZ2P because it retains some of the noise.

                  • 6
                  • 60e[Z]
                  • 60E
                  • 23 Jul 2018

                  Predictive memorys, 23 Jul 2018When Sony introduce 20.7MP combine or transfer into 8MP in ... moreComeon man.. sony mobile is a dead brand.
                  We should put our hopes to the ps and camera divisions, not the mobile division.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • IW@
                    • 23 Jul 2018

                    Nick Tagataka, 23 Jul 2018Obviously not, but XZ2 Premium certainly can do better when... moreNow that's the correct answer. And yes, the XZ2 premium will probably take better photos in auto mode. I normally use a flash with slow shutter for night scenes with people and set the ISO to 400 or 800. That will give you better photos than any auto mode.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • IW@
                      • 23 Jul 2018

                      mixedfish, 23 Jul 2018Dude at least when you're trying to compare ridiculous pro ... moreYou could have just answered with a 'yes' or 'no'.

                        Mediatek sux, 23 Jul 2018But the curves make it much better to hold in hand. Yes but slight curve not this big and it wobble on flat surface

                          Anonymous, 23 Jul 2018LG V20. Shutter speed can be set up to 30 seconds. Astr... morePretty good. Good enough for setting as a wallpaper.

                            LG Superfan, 23 Jul 2018This year sony design is sh¡t they should've kept XZP... moreBut the curves make it much better to hold in hand.

                              Anonymous, 23 Jul 2018Tell me, can the Xperia XZ2 premium take this photo with it... moreObviously not, but XZ2 Premium certainly can do better when both devices are handheld.

                                • S
                                • Shui8
                                • KZ8
                                • 23 Jul 2018

                                Steve, 23 Jul 2018Dual camera in ultra sensitive mode should only be used in ... moreWow what a long review. And about P20 blown highlight u mentioned, please check your eyes again, P20 is the best when it comes to preserves highlights.

                                And i dont know why they put normal P20 to compete instead of P20 Pro.

                                  • S
                                  • Steve
                                  • LHe
                                  • 23 Jul 2018

                                  Dual camera in ultra sensitive mode should only be used in extreme low light in other words in pure pitch black. There is no benefit of shooting dual camera in ordinary low light. Also there is a live viewfinder even for pitch black situations and that's something others don't have.

                                  Picture comparison in this article in unfortunately not really relevant unless you want to compare auto modes of each which is fine as most users would stay in auto. If we take a look at the low light picture example of a building with six pillars lit up with deep yellow my subjective order of quality would be the following:

                                  1) S9
                                  - It retains enough of noise to keep the details which is really important in low light. I don't know why others are so afraid of the noise and smudge the image. It does nice job of retaining the highlights which is another important aspect of low light shots but contrast is not good enough as it brightens up mids and lows too much and it looses the atmosphere of night time photography where deepest blacks compliment true tone mids and bright highlights. Color reproduction is just OK as it doesn't kill the ambient lighting of the night that much and it oversaturates the highs for some reason and it add blue across the board.

                                  2) XZ2 Premium
                                  Not enough of noise, details are smudged especially sharp lines on the pavers and foliage for that horrible digital effect but on the other hand it has the best night time contrast (together with P20) as it balances the whole range from low to highs. Just look at the dynamics on both buildings, great job as none of them are washed out. It has the best highlight control and it doesn't allow the highlights to eat up the details (take a look at the retained details on stone facade above greenest foliage to the left and contained highlight beams next to 6 rich yellow pillars). Night time Colors as well as ambient lights are retained as well, it doesn't paint over the blocks by killing the contrast like Pixel does. Saturation is well contained as well and hands down the best in the bunch.

                                  3) Pixel 2 XL
                                  Astonishing lack of details, it kills everything across the board like a water color painting, there is absolutely nothing going on underneath the highlights. When it comes to preserving the detail in this shot it's worst in the whole bunch compared here. Night time contrast is killed as everything is blended into one dimensional lighting situation. Take a look at the square pillars above Bulgarian flag, completely unnatural night light situation that cannot be witnessed in real life. It looks like a reflector beam is hitting right at the face minimizing all the shadow dynamics. Highlights are not well contained at all, they burst and they spill. Color correction is the biggest offender of Pixel post processing as whole ambient lighting is killed by gruesome beige death. Everything turns beige in Pixel's night photography and that' true not on this sample but across the board. Horrible

                                  4) P20
                                  Shot is not focused right but from what I can tell it experiences the same lack of details as Sony does. It experiences horrible digital bending (look at the yellow pavers underneath foliage) but that might be due to shot being out of focus. Overall Night time contrast is as good as Sony's, really proper balancing performance between lows and highs that gives the sensation it's night time. Where it fails in contrast is the super artificial software post processing which tries to make the blacks too black and over saturate the highs to make a cheap looking contrast like Photoshop beginner retouching the photo. That is the cardinal sin and sole reason why I put it behind Pixel 2 XL as it's better than Pixel in every category. It also fails on highlights though unfortunately. They are too blown out and they spread out too much. Color retention is OK, it doesn't washout all the ambient color like Pixel does but it does kill some blue unlike S9 which adds too much of the blue. Saturation is absolutely the worst of the bunch but that's mainly due to super cheap post processing which is the reason I placed it dead last

                                  5) P20 Night mode
                                  Completely useless in this photo example.

                                    Predictive memorys, 23 Jul 2018When Sony introduce 20.7MP combine or transfer into 8MP in ... more40MP is a mess in low light because it has smaller pixels and smaller aperture f1.8 10MP combines those tiny pixels into a big pixel resulting in alot more light and better pictures and how is it overrated its currently the best smartphone for photography and let the trolls complain about sony superior auto

                                      • m
                                      • mixedfish
                                      • vu9
                                      • 23 Jul 2018

                                      Anonymous, 23 Jul 2018Tell me, can the Xperia XZ2 premium take this photo with it... moreDude at least when you're trying to compare ridiculous pro features to a phone camera you would at least link to a picture that wasn't grainy as you attempted to put down

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • IW@
                                        • 23 Jul 2018

                                        Tell me, can the Xperia XZ2 premium take this photo with its gimmicky, ultra noisy ISO 51200?
                                        https://m.imgur.com/gallery/fGQWN