Sony Xperia 5 II review

28 September 2020


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  • 27 Nov 2020

Anonymous, 02 Oct 2020The ONLY drawback on this phone is the screen brightness. I... moreThe front camera is a huge letdown as well. The video calls are a bad experience with an overly smooth video and boosted up colours, makes you look artificial during video calls!

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    • Anonymous
    • jgM
    • 23 Nov 2020

    Nice Sony cell!

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      • Chris
      • dQf
      • 20 Nov 2020

      Is the Xperia 5 II work upgrading to from the Xperia 5 ?
      I find the older version camera to be put at focusing and the colour balance not great either.

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        • Anonymous
        • kkr
        • 17 Nov 2020

        Sony's JPEG processing is miles ahead of Samsung. ACTUAL GRASS TEXTURE, not a smeared mess! Samsung, put DOWN the sharpening tools and come back to reality!

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          • Dai
          • gK9
          • 09 Nov 2020

          Frederick Fleece, 08 Nov 2020So, what about GPS quality? Does anyone even review that th... moreNotebook check covers GPS with a 'standardised' process

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            • Man
            • YUU
            • 08 Nov 2020

            Why sony smartphone always overprice compare other brand,

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              • Frederick Fleece
              • 0Bk
              • 08 Nov 2020

              So, what about GPS quality? Does anyone even review that these days? Even though GPS quality really does vary between phones.

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                • Phny
                • Mnh
                • 30 Oct 2020

                I have both Xperia 5ii and iPhone 11 pro. For me the screen brightness is not an issue as the iPhone 11 turns hot after blasting fully the screen brightness and mostly not needed as I can instead cover the screen to see under direct sunlight. I think till 550 is optimal 800 nits is overkill. Well Apple replaces the screen for skyhigh prices.

                  Nick Tagataka, 28 Sep 2020"500 nits is good enough" really sounds like a la... more"With brighter display you have an option to turn down the brightness if you need to, where the opposite won't be the case for a dim display"

                  And in most cases, you're not gonna use the full blast brightness as well, do you?
                  You can brag brightness and all that stuff all day, until it degrades and whites will suddenly turn yellowish and there will be marks of ghosting on the screen due to ghosting.
                  That's the reason why Sony screens are still in great condition even after 2 years of the Xperia XZ3.

                    Shanti Dope, 30 Oct 2020Lol, as if your comments even made any sense in the first p... moreYou presented any facts? Sorry I missed that ...
                    I know even as a Sony user I didn't drink Sony Kool-Aid :-D

                      Fearghast, 28 Sep 2020I know it's hard for you to understand, but I was argu... moreLol, as if your comments even made any sense in the first place?

                      Not like you're gonna listen to the facts that I say anyway, so I've decided to just talk bullsh*t here, like you always do 😂

                        Shanti Dope, 30 Oct 2020But you're not aware that OLEDs degrade quicker at hig... moreHard to hear issues on a device that has 0,1% of the market.

                          Nick Tagataka, 28 Sep 2020"500 nits is good enough" really sounds like a la... moreThey will make the 1 III's screen brighter because they're going to do something to prevent faster degradation while shining brighter. It's not like Samsung that carelessly blasts over 1000 nits of brightness without taking into consideration the possibility of burn ins and degradation, which OLEDs are STILL PRONE to.
                          HDR on OLEDs are excellent regardless of brightness. So long as you go over 300 nits, the screen is qualified enough to play HDR contents. Higher brightness often imposes overexposure on highlights, and unless you're living under the sunlight, I seriously doubt you won't be able to appreciate the HDR even on 500 nits only. They will improve that next year, of course, but right now that's not a huge issue that you should be crying about. It's not even an issue in the first place!

                          No wonder why Samsung displays are always plagued with issues in terms of durability like ever before. S8 red tint, S9 black crush, S10 burn in, what else?
                          Meanwhile, have you heard problems with Sony's OLED panels? I doubt you can even find one!

                          Now is that an excuse from a fanboy or is it just an ignorance of a fool like you? 😂

                            Fearghast, 28 Sep 2020I am well aware Sony screens are dimm and that is the fact ... moreBut you're not aware that OLEDs degrade quicker at higher brightness as well, otherwise you wouldn't have thought about criticizing Sony's choice to limit the brightness to most comfortable levels.

                            No wonder why Samsung screens are always plagued with random issues! Ever heard of a Sony phone having quality issues with OLED screens? Ha! I doubt it 😂👌

                              Fearghast, 28 Sep 2020:D funny :D Those "defenses" keep getting more ... moreLMAO it's not "what we want."
                              Literally even you guys were able to survive using OLEDs with 500 nits a few years ago, and now you can't use one again? What happened to your eyes? Were they blinded by the inefficient high brightness?

                              But fine. Let's enjoy that 1000 nits brightness of yours for like, uhmm....1 year??
                              Nevermind, I want that 500 nits that's good for the next 10 years 😂😂

                                Nick Tagataka, 28 Sep 2020What do you even mean by that?? Galaxy Note 20 Ultra runs 1... moreRuns 120Hz fine in FHD+, with a LOWER battery life despite the LARGER battery capacity 😂
                                Twice the brightness? Sure! You use that much brightness at all times, right? I assume you're living directly under the sun all the time 😂😂

                                Higher brightness = faster degradation
                                If Samsung's 500 nits OLED screens already degrade within 3 years, how much more if it's beyond 800 nits?

                                Durability over bragging rights any day 👌

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                                  • Jasonx
                                  • St{
                                  • 29 Oct 2020

                                  Phny, 28 Oct 2020Xperia 5ii. No regrets. Glad ive read that! Sold my chinese OP 8 pro and made some profit and ordered this beauty! I only fear selfie cam as a lot of people is kinda bad for that price

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                                    • Phny
                                    • JD2
                                    • 28 Oct 2020

                                    Zaxk34, 16 Oct 2020Oppo Find X2 Pro or Xperia 5 II? I could get them both at ... moreXperia 5ii. No regrets.

                                      I have just read GSMArena's Cinema Pro App review from last year, and after that I started to feel an urging need to register, just to set some things straight. I will post my thoughts here because this is the newest flagsip, therefore some people might find it useful before buying.

                                      I was a happy owner of various flagships in the last twelve months, namely iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone 11, Xiaomi Mi10 and Samsung Note 10. After these, I bought a Sony Xperia 5 (the first one) which I currently possess. I shot three short films with phones and made hundreds of camera tests, thus I gained a little bit of experience in the meantime.

                                      First of all, let me put this straight: now Sony smartphones are the best for video creation. Period. However, photos are average IMO. So finally those days are over when Sony made almost all camera sensors but provided the worst camera experience.
                                      The otherwise decent article (and the nice video, you can find these here: https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_1_cinema_pro_app_put_to_the_test_shooting_a_cinematic_video-news-37695.php) lacked one important thing: comparison. A serious argument occured in the comments, some people stated that other companies made pro video modes much better. I think that they did not talk out of experience but only based on the cons of the article. And they are wrong, because the article is wrong and lacked comparison.

                                      Pro video modes from other phone manufacturers mostly utilizes only the main cameras. That’s the situation with Samsung and Xiaomi. Sony provided us with full support for all sensors, which means you can use Filmic Pro for example at its full potential, just like with an iPhone. With Xiaomi, Samsung, Huawei and Oneplus, for example, you can’t. And that can also be a gamechanger, especially if you does not like Cinema Pro itself. And I did not mentioned mc24fps Pro, which is a whole new level, much better than Filmic. Someone mentioned log modes from LG. LG has eliminated its log mode after V30, leaving „only” screen profiles. That log mode was only a software filter itself, a „loggy” screen profile. Third party apps like Filmic Pro also use software filters as log modes, because the color spectrum has basically reached the possible maximum. Special HDR modes of course helped this situation, but most people out there do not possess HDR10+ compatible displays to shoot content for them.

                                      Sony Xperia phones can shoot 10bit 4K video, leaving you some extra space for post processing. Now that IS a gamechanger, which the article mentioned but didn’t explained. I have no knowledge of any other smartphone that is capable of doing this, and most Sony cameras actually shoot at 8bit. If you think that this is not important, google up Canon Magic Lantern 14-bit raw, see what can you do with a 10+ years old camera if you can unchain if from software boundaries. Someone at EOSHD mentioned that iOS 11 supported 10bit, but from iOS 12 it is gone. I cannot confirm, it is interesting however.

                                      And on the top of that, Sony managed to eliminate oversharpening, which is possible at full level Camera2 API compatibility. That „phony” look does not only come from short shutter speeds, but from oversharpening as well. And IMO it looks like shit. Using Sony you can kiss its ass goodbye. How cool is that? Focus panning is also a feature which is unique and pretty useful to gain „pro” look. Oh and what about low light capabilities? In Hungary, the street lights are really awful. My country is corrupted as hell, the son-in-law of the prime minister screwed up city lights badly. While I used an iPhone, my nighttime street shots were awful: grainy, blurry, noisy and the colors and textures flew apart. All of them were unusable, even if using iPhone 11. Sony is also grainy at the darker parts of the screen, but the street lit scenery is clean, sharp and accurate which is the first with anything less capable than an expensive compact such as Sony RX100, so first from a phone.

                                      Oh and what about the downsides mentioned in the article last year? You cannot edit your footage. And what? You can’t do it with any other „pro” video app either. Effective editing requires more than a tablet or phone. For example, use the free DaVinci Resolve. I cannot consider it a con. You can’t set picture profile and fps, but let’s be honest, you probably won’t need it. You shoot a short video using one for indoors, one for outdoors, one for nightmare scenes etc. Yeah, that will be several projects, but probably not on a single shooting day.
                                      Oh and about automatic compensation between sensors: do not consider something a con which does not exist (at least yet). It’s a bit more complex than converting sheer numbers.

                                      Yeah, you cannot set color temperature and there is no timelapse and high fps, that’s sad. But the latter, the eye EF and the slo mo arrived with the current generation, and the first Xperia 1 and 5 have already exceeded all competition (including Apple) regarding video picture quality. I find my Xperia 5 simply amazing, and can’t wait to afford an Xperia 5 II. Until that, I stick with the first one, which only did cost 200 bucks.

                                        Moonflower, 10 Oct 2020I'm wondering if the low light photos are all made wit... moreThem are all handheld.
                                        Look at SS shutter speed, if it was on a tripod it would be SS 1, but them are all 1/10, 1/8, or 1/4.

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