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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  • k
  • kujtim
  • naq
  • 22 Jul 2018

XZ Premium owner, 22 Jul 2018Sony should have made the previous phone better instead of ... morethen all of them has done the same mistake Samsung sony and all that have the finger sensor on the back side do not say just for sony but I think you don't have what to say about how perfect this sony device is and you blaim for the finger scanner...
I am sorry my English maybe its not so right but my opinion gets down yours.

    • s
    • shongohan
    • mF$
    • 22 Jul 2018

    I would like to see in gsmarena a comparison between a low light slow mo with the xz2 premium that could be fine where xz2 compact could appear with more noise... I hope this new sensitivity could be useful for the slow mo also... in the other hand... Has the same few options as the xz2 compact? (only 1080@ 960 and 720@ 960 but doesnt have a 480@ mode with more record time?)

      • B
      • BillyUK
      • mr@
      • 22 Jul 2018

      This looks like a phone from 3 years ago - those top and bottom bezels are way too thick for today's market. Yes, they house dual stereo speakers but other manufacturers are finding ways around this with their minimum/notch bezels. It has attractive features and specs but the look of it, weight and width is a no no

        • S
        • Shui8
        • KZ8
        • 22 Jul 2018

        kobresia, 22 Jul 2018Pictures on xz2 premium are better in low light, because pi... moreXZ2 premium pictures has more information indeed but the oversharpening sometimes way overboard that u cant do anything with it. P20 pro supports raw though while XZ2 premium? It would be the 1st for Sony if it has. The only way XZ2 Premium maybe can surpass P20 pro, low down the resolution to 12mp, but as of now, there are no samples yet.

          • k
          • kobresia
          • gDL
          • 22 Jul 2018

          Shui8, 22 Jul 2018Wow comparison on youtube has come out, confirmed this is t... morePictures on xz2 premium are better in low light, because picture has better colours, has more information and you can edit it. On the other side huawei p20pro has washed out pictures. At video recording xperia is far ahead.

            • X
            • XZ Premium owner
            • wxy
            • 22 Jul 2018

            Sony should have made the previous phone better instead of this omnibalance stupidity. The fingerprint sensor on the side will always be superior. And the headphone jack was part of the sweet spot. Now my advise for XZ3 Premium, take the above mentioned and support 5G, perfect the dual cam and put 8GB LPDDR5 memory + latest high end Snapdragon chip. Did I forget anything?

              • b
              • bmth
              • Kxc
              • 22 Jul 2018

              IMHO sony should order custom processor from processor maker for their smartphone, because they need wait snapdragon 845 to made 1080p 960fps (xz2 series) from 720p 960fps on snapdragon 835 (xz1 series)

                • S
                • Shui8
                • KZ8
                • 22 Jul 2018

                Wow comparison on youtube has come out, confirmed this is the best Sony Xperia phones camera to date. However in low lights photography P20 Pro is still ahead but its not far off. No telephoto lens makes 3x zoom on XZ2 premium looks very digitalized compare to the great P20 Pro, forget the 5x zoom. Of course 4k video recording still superior than P20 Pro.

                But Sony camera still plague with the same flaws, overblown highlights (huawei is best when it comes to control highlight), oversharpening causing strong noise presents because of the very low noise reduction. All in all i hope later on final product the software is more matured and fix some of those thing. As of now:

                King of low light photography - P20 Pro
                King of low light videography - XZ2 Premium

                  Nick Tagataka, 22 Jul 2018Samples from XZ2 Premium is noisy because Sony favors to ad... moreGood thing we got grass pics, like what is better to test algorithm :)

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • xHb
                    • 22 Jul 2018

                    I prefer flat back panel like z5

                      • T
                      • TamSE3P
                      • rVd
                      • 22 Jul 2018

                      Very excited to pick this up on the 30th! Looking forward to moving away from my Xperia XZ Premium. I appreciate this preview of the device and indeed, I'm confused as to how this is pre-production software when the phone has all ready launched. A personal preference of mine is heavy phones. I like weight. It makes me feel like I paid for something, and reaffirms the material choices. Of course, people will express concern but it's not like phones are all that heavy anyways. The camera software looks promising as I really do enjoy taking photos a lot.

                        Nick Tagataka, 22 Jul 2018Dual camera samples look softer than those taken with only ... moreI don't think that's the main reason really, since the Galaxy S9 with an even brighter f/1.5 lens captures about as much detail as the XZ2's f/2.0 lens. As GSMArena editors have said multiple times, it must be due to the software not yet being perfectly polished.

                          alirezaasol, 22 Jul 2018looks like the monochrome sensor is doing nothing in these ... moreBetween the 2 sensors, probably only the monochrome sensor is capable of truly reaching at such ISO levels, since if the main 19MP Motion Eye™ snapper can, then all Xperias that are using it must be capable of going as high as the XZ2 Premium as well. So it's not really doing nothing, rather it only works at times when its help is truly needed; the same concept applied to its own 4K HDR display working only with the right content for it.

                            • H
                            • Hoffmann
                            • JG$
                            • 22 Jul 2018

                            I'll pass this one.

                              looks like the monochrome sensor is doing nothing in these samples.
                              you can get better results by applying a little NR and sharpening to single sensor samples

                                alirezaasol, 21 Jul 2018pixel 2 is king again! s9 and p20 photos are super ugly s... moreIt depends on how you see the photos - I can't stand looking at Pixel 2's terrible noise and artifacts in darker part of the frame & around moving objects. As for dynamic range P20 does much better than the rest but overall S9 is the most consistent one IMO, when details/exposure/noise/colors are all considered.

                                  Dual camera samples look softer than those taken with only one camera because the color information from the main sensor needs to be combined with the exposure and detail information from the B&W sensor. Since the B&W sensor only is 12MP in resolution, and sits behind brighter but softer F1.6 lens, the detail information it contains is considerably less than that of the main sensor, hence looks worse when pixel peeping.

                                    • d
                                    • dragon
                                    • MVI
                                    • 22 Jul 2018

                                    hope sony will not sell this sensor to anyone and the rivals are lost.

                                      • K
                                      • Kobresia
                                      • gDL
                                      • 22 Jul 2018

                                      For me the camera is most important part of the phone. With this phone sony show us what is capable of. This time sony left all competition far behind. This is Japanese tech.

                                        Anonymous, 21 Jul 2018Yes, XZ2P has more noise in daylight. Because the NR is... moreSamples from XZ2 Premium is noisy because Sony favors to add excessive amount of sharpening. Hefty amount of noise reduction is still applied, but the sharpening artifacts created from sharpening overpowers it. The results? Poor rendition of high-frequency details like grass and leaves, especially in medium lighting conditions. P20 Pro and S9 still adds a lot of sharpening to their images, but at least it's not overbearing as what Sony does.

                                        >Must be trash to be hidden that way
                                        I've seen a sample before: It was ISO 4000, but surprisingly it was a bit better than a photo shot in the same scene with S9 at ISO 1000.

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