Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium review

Sony's light customizations on top of Android 8.0 Oreo

One thing you can count on with Sony smartphones is that from a software standpoint they all look and behave in a pretty much identical way, and that's not far detached from stock Android. That's all fine and dandy, except the OS version on the XZ2 Premium is 8.0 Oreo - not Pie, and not even the latest Oreo available. There's the August security patch on board our review unit, so at least it's up to date security-wise.

Long-term Sony fans should feel right at home on the XZ2 Premium with what is essentially the same Xperia launcher. The homescreen appears unchanged from previous Xperia generations. This includes the swipe down gesture, which shows a screen of the apps you use most along with recommendations for new apps to install. The search field is highlighted so you can start typing the app's name immediately. There is also a Google Feed pane, accessible through a left swipe on the home screen. You can get rid of the shortcut to the app drawer and evoke it with an upward swipe like on the Pixels.

Xperia launcher

Themes are available (both free and paid) that can customize the look and sound of the Xperia XZ2 Premium. These are managed through a dedicated interface but are in fact distributed via the Google Play Store. Some themes are even interactive, with their wallpapers reacting to your touches.

Xperia Themes

The notification drawer and the task switcher are very similar to the vanilla Android ones. There is also a Split Screen feature available to a limited number of apps.

Notification shade • Quick toggles • Task switcher • Split screen

Sony takes great pride in the A/V prowess of its devices, and the multimedia apps are all custom and feature-rich - Album, Music, and the Video app.

Album • More Album • Music • Audio settings • Video

The Xperia Assistant is a relatively recent addition to the Xperia custom software. Naturally, in keeping with current trends, it utilizes AI, but nothing too fancy, like Bixby, Siri or the Google Assistant. It lacks a voice of its own, at least for now, and is more of an interactive manual and convenient management hub for some of the device's features. The main interface is arranged in a chat manner, although you rarely get to actually type. Rather, the Assistant guides you via suggested topics.

It's a fairly intuitive mode of operation, even if not particularly speedy. When you reach a certain juncture in your conversation, the Xperia Assistant can drop convenient links to features you might be interested in checking out. Those cards, or notifications, of sorts, also end up in your inbox, for quicker access later, without having to repeat the conversation with the AI. In some cases, the assistant can directly navigate you to an interface of interest. It can also remind you of various things and send you tips through its own volition when it deems them applicable. You can thankfully enable or disable this behavior on a per-topic basis.

The third and final tab in the Xperia Assistant UI is titled Tools and serves as a convenient management hub for convenient Xperia features, like the extensive STAMINA mode battery-saving platform and the Battery Care feature.

Xperia Assistant

Synthetic benchmarks

You know the flagship formula - the latest Snapdragon and heaps of RAM inside. It's no different on the Xperia XZ2 Premium and it comes with the S845 and a 6 gigs of memory for your running apps.

With hardware this similar between high-end devices, it's no surprise that the benchmark scores aren't radically different either. In single-core GeekBench, the S845 handsets are within a few percent from each other, the XZ2 Premium in there. The S835 crowd from last year is a few steps behind as is the Huawei P20 Pro with the soon to be replaced Kirin 970. Meanwhile, the Exynos Galaxy S9+ and Note9 boast substantially better single-core performance, eyeing up the iPhone X, but not quite catching up.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone X
  4256
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  3771
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  3642
• vivo NEX S
  2466
• HTC U12+
  2456
• Sony Xperia XZ2
  2454
• OnePlus 6
  2450
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  2438
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  2431
• Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
  2419
• LG G7 ThinQ
  2395
• Oppo Find X
  2322
• Motorola Moto Z3
  1924
• Huawei P20 Pro
  1907
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  1836
• Google Pixel 2 XL (Android 9)
  1807

The difference between this year's and last year's crop remains in the multi-core test, but here the Exynos Galaxies lose their edge. The Xperia XZ2 Premium posts predictably great numbers, though a bunch of competitors have a minor advantage.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone X
  10215
• vivo NEX S
  9160
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  9026
• OnePlus 6
  9011
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  9003
• HTC U12+
  9001
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  8883
• LG G7 ThinQ
  8865
• Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
  8509
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  8494
• Sony Xperia XZ2
  8466
• Oppo Find X
  8018
• Huawei P20 Pro
  6679
• Motorola Moto Z3
  6614
• Google Pixel 2 XL (Android 9)
  6055
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  5460

In the graphics benchmarks, you'd expect the 4K display to bring about lower fps numbers, but in fact the Xperia XZ2 Premium tops the chart in onscreen GeekBench Manhattan 3.1. The secret is that it's actually treated as a 1080p display for the purposes of the benchmark as the phone renders in 4K when there are high-res videos and photos to be displayed. In the offscreen test a handful of devices inch ahead of the Premium, but it does remain in the top half of the chart.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
  57
• vivo NEX S
  55
• OnePlus 6
  55
• Sony Xperia XZ2
  51
• Oppo Find X
  50
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  50
• Apple iPhone X
  44
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  41
• Huawei P20 Pro
  37
• Motorola Moto Z3
  37
• HTC U12+
  33
• LG G7 ThinQ
  30
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  24
• Google Pixel 2 XL (Android 9)
  15

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC U12+
  60
• Oppo Find X
  60
• vivo NEX S
  60
• OnePlus 6
  58
• Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
  58
• LG G7 ThinQ
  57
• Sony Xperia XZ2
  55
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  53
• Apple iPhone X
  51
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  47
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  45
• Motorola Moto Z3
  42
• Huawei P20 Pro
  40
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  39
• Google Pixel 2 XL (Android 9)
  30

Switching over to Antutu, we've got BBK's overachievers Oppo Find X and vivo NEX S on top and then it's the Xperia XZ2 Premium, tied with the Pocophone F1, OnePlus 6, and HTC U12+. The Exynos Galaxies are slightly behind the S845 team, while the Mi 8 underdelivers.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Oppo Find X
  291218
• vivo NEX S
  287081
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  265314
• Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
  264734
• OnePlus 6
  264200
• HTC U12+
  263696
• LG G7 ThinQ
  259393
• Sony Xperia XZ2
  259244
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  248823
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  246660
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  217298
• Huawei P20 Pro
  209884
• Motorola Moto Z3
  207903
• Google Pixel 2 XL (Android 9)
  206711

Overall, the Xperia XZ2 Premium puts out pretty high numbers in the benchmarks, but it does tend to throttle after repeated runs and it also warms up on the outside quite a bit in the process.