Sony Xperia 5 II Review: The Right Tool for the Right Jobs

More than any other smartphone I’ve used this year, the Sony Xperia 5 II looks like a device. It’s not just that it has a very understated design (although it definitely plays a part), it’s that Sony’s whole approach is to give you as much control over the phone as possible. Control how it looks, and makes noises and takes photos and videos.

Like any tool, however, you get more out of the Xperia 5 II when you’re ready to put more. A good worker never blames his equipment. But I bet most people who pay માટે 99 for a phone (probably € 99 / / 99 9999) are probably looking for a device that is ready to meet them, and most on default default or automatic settings. The only thing I want to see is whether the Xperia 5 II can accomplish that.

The Xperia 5 II goes on sale in the US on December 4, and is available in Europe from this week.

I can’t say too much about the design of the Xperia 5 II. Combining Sony’s trademark 21: 9 aspect ratio with a slightly larger 6.1-inch display compared to the larger Xperia 1, making it a pleasant narrow phone that fits nicely without strain for hand use. This screen is only 1080 pages at the moment, but at this size I don’t think you’ll want the extra resolution.

At the top and bottom of the display you’ll find a few more bezels than many other flagships choose for these days, and that means there are no excellent or hole-punch cutouts to speak of. You get a stereo pair of capable front-facing speakers that sound less resonant than their down-firing competitors.

At the top you’ll find a headphone jack, which is a great inclusion and is almost unheard of in premium-priced smartphones these days, and on the back there’s the phone’s main, ultraviolet and telephoto lens housing camera bump. If you want a phone that is guaranteed No This is probably after turning the head. That’s it. Like I said, it’s a tool.

Along with volume controls and a side-mounted power and fingerprint sensor combo button, the phone has both dedicated camera shutter and Google auxiliary buttons on the side. Given Sony’s photography ambitions for the 5 II, I’d allow it physical control shutter control, but the Google Assistant button seems unnecessary – especially in situations that aren’t conducive to pressing.

The aspect ratio of the Xperia 5 II’s screen makes it difficult to reach the top of the screen when used aside, but you can find much more useful screen real estate in many applications like Twitter or Gmail. Personally, I like that it gives me enough space to split-screen my Aeropress Recipe Generator app with the Stopwatch app to make coffee, but I just do that. Beyond its aspect ratio, the HDR-compatible OLED screen is bright, colorful and a pleasure to watch videos on it, and its refreshing rate of 120 Hz means it looks simple and responsive to use.

Internally, with the exception of the increasingly-rare microSD storage expansion, you’ll find a typical array of price specs, including a Snapdragon 865 processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage (there’s also a 256GB version), but it’s exclusive to Asia), and 4,000. MAH has a battery. This is not support for wireless charging, this price is not a nuisance, and if you use the U.S. There is also no support for 5G if you are buying a phone in (in Europe you get sub-6GHz support, but no millimeter wave).

Given the 5G status at the moment, our advice is that it is not advisable to pay extra for a 5G if a less expensive phone would otherwise suit your needs. But on the flip side, if you’re paying $ 949 for a phone in 2020 at the moment, it seems a little ridiculous not to support 5G. The phone currently has specs to handle most of the jobs you need, but there is no 5G in the US which means it could soon fall behind.

I haven’t had any battery issues with the Xperia 5 II. I can easily use Twitter, Slack, Gmail and YouTube during a day working at home at night, with about 40 to 50 percent charge left when I plug in at night.

Sony’s take on Android 10 is restricted, and you are primarily given additional settings to tweak. (The company was unable to confirm when an update to Android 11 came out.) Sony gives you a jungle amount of control over the phone’s white balance settings, for example, and the settings include the Dolby Atmos Equ menu, if you want the phone’s audio Dio. Pay attention to what it looks like. You can customize the Xperia 5 II to suit your needs.

Still, I wasn’t a fan of the number of apps pre-installed on the phone. It includes apps like LinkedIn that can be disabled but not easily uninstalled. This is especially annoying when the Xperia 5 II is designed to hold so much control in your hands.

Sony’s approach to smartphone photography has doubled. First, when left on its own devices, it tends to prefer accuracy over vivid, color photographs. It often results in a less visible image with the impression you get from most phones, but you can always tweak the image in editing after the fact.

If you want to do things your way completely, Sony is also ready to give you a discount. Its pro photography mode gives you vast control over how you take photos, giving you the modeling experience behind its single mirrorless alpha camera. There are a lot of restrictions to find it if you want, but it seems very engaging for someone who just wants to show off their phone to a group of friends and get a nice photograph.

First, though, let’s talk about hardware. The Xperia 5 II includes three rear cameras; Main camera with large 1 / 1.7-inch sensor, ultraviolet camera with 124-degree field view and telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The nice thing here is that they all have the same resolution, 12 megapixels, which means you don’t notice any significant change in detail when you switch between them.

Grid view

In daylight you get detailed photographs, but these sometimes seem a little flat. It’s accuracy on the stimulus. Surprisingly, exceptions seem to be the exception, where despite the camera’s “soft skin effect” option being turned off, Sony’s handset wants to brighten and smooth your skin. Even if you’re using the standard Camera My app, you get a responsive auto-focus system, and burst shooting up to 10fps. I found a combination of Quick Eye-Tracked of Tofocus and Burst Photography to photograph pets in particular.

Low light photography is where Sony’s approach to photography is most evident. By default, the Camera My app doesn’t make your night shots as bright as if they were taken in broad daylight. Instead, you get accurate photos that the camera takes a while to process each time. It’s a very different experience from a phone like the Pixel 4, where you can tap the shutter button and instantly get a clear, bright photo, even at night.

Swap to advanced photography mode and a whole wealth of options opens up. There’s full of white balance, auto to-focus, exposure, burst shooting, flash and HDR settings, allowing you to control almost every aspect of your photography. If you are ready to put to work, including making enough night shots for the day, it is enough that you can get more about any look for your photos. But the whole process can be a bit involved, and it’s frustrating if you’re someone who just wants to whip up their phone and get a reliably crisp, clear shot every time.

When it comes to video shooting you get the same level of control, where you have the option of recording at 4K in slow-motion up to 120fps. I was particularly impressed with the focus pooling settings, which are fun to play around with. For most people, though, I think most people would be happy with a regular camera video recording in my app.

You can get good photographs from Sony Xperia 5 II, but sometimes you have to work to get them the way you want. Its camera is a powerful tool, but it will not work for you.

Sony has a special idea about the type of phone it wants Xperia 5 II. Although it matches many of its main competitors in terms of specs, its most interesting features are around the controls it gives you. There are advanced camera features and .dio visual modes to really tailor the experience to your needs.

But I think you have to want these advanced settings to fit the relatively high કિંમ 949 price tag of the Xperia 5 II in the US. At that price it should actually include 5G support as well as wireless charging. These trades may be more profitable at a lower price, but not with a price tag of one thousand dollars. In Europe I think the price of 5 899 / કિંમત 799 you get 5G support, but, wireless charging is lacking.

Sony’s Xperia 5 II may seem like a very capable tool, but it’s expensive and sometimes works to get you more out of it. It makes the right tool for plenty of jobs, but it doesn’t necessarily have the right tool Of smartphones Job.

Photography by John Porter / The Verge