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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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • IW@
  • 23 Jul 2018

And I don't expect the XZ2 premium to do anything different from the original XZ premium. It will likely have the same crippled manual controls like all the rest of Sony's previous flagships.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • IW@
    • 23 Jul 2018

    Steve, 23 Jul 2018Oh Good! I guess you are familiar with what I was saying. S... moreBecause the original XZ premium has crippled manual features. Shutter speed is up to 1 second maximum. You can't set manual shutter speed and ISO at the same time. A smartphone being sold as a serious low light photography tool should at the VERY LEAST allow full manual controls and not limit shutter speeds to a measly 1 second.

      • S
      • Shab
      • 6Ps
      • 23 Jul 2018

      I love Xperia xz2 premium

        • S
        • Steve
        • LHe
        • 23 Jul 2018

        Anonymous, 23 Jul 2018Actually, you don't need to lecture me that smartphone came... moreOh Good! I guess you are familiar with what I was saying. Since you are the manual guy and all we got here are examples of auto mode between the devices how come you are so certain how XZ2 Premium performs if you haven't played with it yet?

          Tann Hauser, 23 Jul 2018Pixel Peepers made the only compare on that motion blur spe... moreI've already watched the video and that's not even remotely close to being severe. One scene is not enough to draw a conclusion, and also it is difficult to compare the amount of motion blur produced by an object moving in a circular motion like a carousel. We need samples of moving cars on a straight road in the same lighting.

            • D
            • AnonD-476622
            • yuq
            • 23 Jul 2018

            Sony have improved the processing for photos in a big way with the XZ2 and XZ2 P, truth be told it was horrid so any improvement was welcome, very good to see there are moving in the right direction, though the foliage (leaves of trees, grass etc.) is still pretty awful. But at least they are on th eright track and hopefully future updates will improve things even more.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • IW@
              • 23 Jul 2018

              Mediatek sux, 23 Jul 2018Which phone is that?LG V20.
              Shutter speed can be set up to 30 seconds.
              Astrophotography is perfectly possible with a smartphone.
              Sample photos here:
              https://m.imgur.com/gallery/onErB

                LG Superfan, 22 Jul 2018Resolution has nothing to do with image quality 10MP shots ... moreWhen Sony introduce 20.7MP combine or transfer into 8MP in superior mode in Z2, those trolls complain 8MP can competing with 13~16MP with other flagships at that time. Then, this time P20 Pro suffer the same faith that shrink the pixels from 40MP to 10MP. As an expensive flapship from China brands for 2018, it is overrated, you can only use the 10MP for show the best results, 40MP still a mess.

                  Nick Tagataka, 23 Jul 2018Not "especially" in Night Mode, you ONLY see severe motion ... morePixel Peepers made the only compare on that motion blur specifics between XZ2 and P20Pro, go check it out on yt if you dont believe me.

                    Nick Tagataka, 23 Jul 2018The amount of details aren't great on XZ2 Premium though. ... moreHere I am looking and pixelpeeping these night shots from Aube dual vs others, XZ2 has IMO most detail preserved in shades due to Aube processing, but looses the advantage of single cam shot in preserving texture detail, yes...
                    Then again single cam texture preservation seems superb, but has some more noise.
                    Overall IMO best photo performer here, especially because you can choose less/Aube duo or more/Single noise/texture...just a candy here, for noise complainers.
                    I personally would use Manual and go for somewhat less exposure and higher ISO setting for these lowlights tho....
                    Wish they d shot some street car or people in motion too, to see how good Aube copes with motion blur...

                      Pipi, 22 Jul 2018I like G2... I was going to buy it, but the lack of slot ... moreI have G2 and I really miss the SD Card slot espcially since it only has 32GB of storage if you want a phone without SD card make sure it has atleast 128GB storage

                        LG Superfan, 23 Jul 2018Pixel have noise but not that much its ok and I dont see an... more?! Seriously?
                        Its lowlight noise levels are atrocious, and artefacts are all over the place, especially around light exposed areas....its just awful.

                          Mediatek sux, 23 Jul 2018Which phone is that?Seems like LG V

                            Tann Hauser, 23 Jul 2018Pixel does it really, really bad. Its extreme noise levels ... moreThe amount of details aren't great on XZ2 Premium though.
                            It's Pixel 2 XL(but with most noise)>S9+>XZ2 Premium≥P20, but as for the dynamic range,
                            P20>Pixel 2>S9>XZ2 Premium.
                            Sony needs a better HDR algorithm, it's obviously not working well enough in low-light situations.

                              Mediatek sux, 23 Jul 2018I agree about the camera and fingerprint placement. Dont th... moreThis year sony design is sh¡t they should've kept XZP design and upgraded the specs that all they had to do

                                Tann Hauser, 23 Jul 2018Ahhnah...its pretty bad, every photo test you look, especia... moreNot "especially" in Night Mode, you ONLY see severe motion blur/ghosting in Night Mode. If you keep using regular auto you'll actually see a lot less motion blur than devices like S9+ due to shorter shutter speed. And in auto it still does better than XZ2 Premium in most common street night scenes thanks to better HDR algorithm.

                                  Tann Hauser, 23 Jul 2018Ahhnah...its pretty bad, every photo test you look, especia... moreIt has ghosting but not that much to be unusable and you can also use photo mode instead of night mode without fake long exposure to avoid this and pictures would still be great

                                    Tango., 23 Jul 2018OMG... I can't believe you replied! A GSMArena staff member... moreYes, you are right. Sorry, I misunderstood your sarcasm, but it's hard to tell whether someone's being sarcastic or not in written form ;)

                                      Tann Hauser, 23 Jul 2018Pixel does it really, really bad. Its extreme noise levels ... morePixel have noise but not that much its ok and I dont see any artifcate

                                        LG Superfan, 22 Jul 2018Gsmarena should have compared samples with P20 Pro though t... morePixel does it really, really bad. Its extreme noise levels are obvious even on 1:1 shots without zooming in. And hdr artefacts are...just too much.
                                        And no manual mode to avoid that in any way.
                                        Dont know why its camera is even in the compare...

                                        XZ2 Prem here in lowlight has least amount of noise of all, with most kept detail, but too much exposure tho...
                                        Its great, but I wouldnt mind some noise for more sharpness.
                                        But theres Manual, to get best what one personally wants out of the shot.

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