Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium review

27 August 2018
The third-gen Premium comes with Sony's first dual camera, a larger 5.8-inch display that is still 4K, and a due upgrade in the internals, all in a chunky package. Let's see if the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium is worthy of its name.

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  • S
  • S Yu
  • tLG
  • 28 Aug 2018

I've seen a few samples of the XZ2P where the merge mode wasn't so bad, but looks like this bad performance is the norm, I think this review is already done on production firmware. The merge mode is as bad, or even slightly worse than Huawei's in terms of smearing, while somehow DR is slightly reduced, as opposed to Huawei's DR boost, and this is done with a dedicated processor. Sony's had a bad track record on processing, but I still have to say I'm disappointed in this performance.
In daylight, Sony's somehow gotten chroma NR wrong and left more chroma noise than optimal, this is also strange as boosting chroma NR leads to very little smearing, only a little decrease in saturation and color fidelity but this is beyond the performance of smartphones. On m43 or above you may notice the colors turn a little flat on a chroma NR boost, while the image may look a little more realistic, lively, when a little chroma NR is suppressed at the cost of a little chroma noise, but on smartphones too many other factors influence the results, and the color signal isn't good enough to begin with.

    I am a Sony fan but with this battery life and no Headphone jack for that price. I will forgo the 4k screen and get the XZ1 instead or the new compact version.

    I commended Sony for the camera though, keep it up Sony! Nice improvement except for bokeh effects though. And don't stop making phones, we like Sony phones.

      Anonymous, 28 Aug 2018The lab tests show this phone' screen is nothing great and ... moreYou stop being the fanboy and commenting fake news
      This is the XZP which has 71 hours
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrN_uhmv64M&feature=youtu.be

      The XZ2P has 77 so don't count on numbers:)

        Geric.770, 28 Aug 2018This is the only review that has no stars rated to it. Why? They're fighting this company

          Anonymous, 28 Aug 2018It's a fhd display with approx 2900 mAh, sony has 4k + Bigg... moreNo you can't agree with GSMA because these are just numbers
          The XZP was 71 hours and the XZ2P is 77
          watch this video and tell me
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrN_uhmv64M&feature=youtu.be
          Besides there are other videos that XZ2 and the XZ2P are better than the iPhone X who does is the the first to die in the battery tests

            Niccy, 28 Aug 2018Sadly, Kamabdi is right... https://youtu.be/NrN_uhmv64M ... moreLol why sadly??? It is a good thing. Sony is better than Apple. :)
            And thumps up for the comment :)

              Anonymous, 28 Aug 2018Because using stars is the dumbest rating system in existen... moreWelp, that answers a lot.
              Thank you. :)

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • IW@
                • 28 Aug 2018

                Gsmarena team: "If you're the more reasonable type, there are likely more sensible options."

                I couldn't agree more. :)

                To put it simply, this is another overpriced, overkill 4k flagship smartphone from Sony purporting to have excellent low light photo/video capabilities (up to ISO 51,200) but doesn't live up to the high ISO hype. Several other 2-year old flagship phones capture better low light photos at the same shutter speed and at one-stop lower ISO. You only need to check out GSMArena's photo compare tool in low light to compare them side by side. And please gsmarena Sony fans, don't compare them in your mobile phone screen even if its an overkill 4K HDR. It won't make a difference. Do it on at least a 28" (or larger) calibrated 4K (or 8K) PC monitor and you'll see just how much money you've thrown away for that 'low light ISO 51,200' photo capability.

                  • M
                  • Mike
                  • LHe
                  • 28 Aug 2018

                  Imperator Neubaticus, 28 Aug 2018This is an embarrassment of a flagship. That display is dis... moreCurved back is very ergonomic as it's more surface that has friction with your palm. Thin slab phones are hold by the frame, they rarely lay back face down in your palm so the firmest grip is at the frame while there is empty space between your palm and the back of the phone. That's why the curved body is actually good for ergonomics in a trade of for thickness.

                    • D
                    • DD
                    • Q0y
                    • 28 Aug 2018

                    Anonymous, 28 Aug 2018this is by far the most ugly, bulky least desirable phone s... moreNo it's not. They sell great on Europe and Asia. They have better sales than HTC and LG combined.

                      • G
                      • Gan
                      • YQK
                      • 28 Aug 2018

                      Its time to close the mobile division of sony. They were know for design, camera and audio. Now for this type price also they are not able to deliver in any of these areas. Very sad. There sale almost nill in India, USA, China and Japan their home country also. Only mobile they were able sell was compact series in some countries...

                        • A
                        • ArMSWalker
                        • F0x
                        • 28 Aug 2018

                        Sony screwed this phone's design bad!
                        all the mid-rangers (xa2, xa2 ultra, and xa plus) are much better than the xz2 premium. I loved sony but right now apart from the xa2 plus none of the othere phones are worth buying

                          • X
                          • Xhxhyy
                          • 6ch
                          • 28 Aug 2018

                          I think reviewer team intended to use this phone as basic/standard/benchmark for scoring. Hence, it got no stars rating.

                            • s
                            • shongohan
                            • pHM
                            • 28 Aug 2018

                            My only question... is so dificult to score this mobile in terms of Photography?
                            I suppose will be at least in the podium.... the first second or third... in spite of bad design, video stabilization etc... if the question is only about the cameras... and the price go down to 700 euro... will be not a bad choice? what do you think???? :)

                              Let's be fair and square here. XZ2 Premium possibly not one of the best flagship phone in 2018 regarding the flaws it has such as 11.9 mm thickness and 236gr weight mass, lack of 3.5mm headphone jack, oversharping at some point, just okayish battery life (remember, it's a 4K panel, despite not running all the time, it's still powering the rest of the panel), priced way more than should be at $999, just okayish STB tho bezel is still useful for somepoint, and other you can name it. But, despite that, you also can't either denied that it has some great aspects, such as? Great detail on pitch black (complete darkness) videography, a RGB Sensor that one-packed with wide-angle at 25mm, a still reliable IPS LCD, fluid near vanilla Android UI with tons of customization (themes, transition) with being first OEM to implied Google Feed, keeping the RGB Notification LED, dedicated camera button where all OEM already removed it except for L series, and others, well you can name it by yourself. And yeah, design-wise, not perfect at all (a classic Sony Ericsson design with modern reimagined), but at least stand-out from the iPhone X design-wise clone such as notch and vertical camera setup with flash on the middle in Android ecosystem, which far from creative and tons people does complain towards that trend. In my perspective, XZ2 Premium is a great devices that stand-out in the public despite flaws inside out of it.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • XNk
                                • 28 Aug 2018

                                [deleted post]Comments that use the word "crapmoled" deserve the "crap" tag. That's so juvenile. Why can't you guys just use "amoled"?

                                  I would not pay 1000$ even for a real flagship and for this junk maybe 400$ and 20$ for a Dbrand Skin and a case to hide it's ugly AF design.

                                    Dientesdesierra, 28 Aug 2018iPhone 8 screen is obsolete, it is a low-end 8-bit SDR scre... moreGood point!

                                      Dientesdesierra, 28 Aug 2018Here it is seen how the screen of the XZ2p destroys crapmol... moreThey need to test it to understand! Otherwise these kind of test are troll awakening clips.

                                        Anonymous, 28 Aug 2018The lab tests show this phone' screen is nothing great and ... moreiPhone 8 screen is obsolete, it is a low-end 8-bit SDR screen, the screen of the xz2p is 4k HDR 10-bit with image processor TV High range these tests are useless, the image quality is not measured with a device of the Chinese

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