Sony’s smartphone division went through some rough patches in recent years. But lately, they have been coming up with some really appealing phones. A testament to it is the newly launched Xperia 5 II. It’s something we all wanted from a Sony phone; a decent size and design, a good camera, a capable gaming phone, and more importantly a 120Hz refresh rate screen, unlike the Xperia 1 II.
The OLED display measures 6.1-inch diagonally but downgrade it to 1080p+ while at the same time keeping the 21:9 aspect ratio. However, the display still supports HDR and since it’s an OLED panel, it will produce vibrant colors. In fact, it comes with black frame insertion to reduce motion blur — it’s something TVs have been using but first of its kind on any smartphones.
Underneath, we have the Snapdragon 865 chipset which goes with 8GB of RAM, putting it in line with the Sony Xperia 1 II. The Xperia 5 II even betters its larger counterpart with an optimized governor that helps run more core at the same time while consuming less power.
As for the camera, it stays the same, except for the lack of a 3D ToF sensor. Sony has put in some software tweaks, as the phone can now shoot in both JPG+RAW and 4K/120fps slow-mo video in HDR. This will be available for the Xperia 1 II as well.
Taking a look at the back, there are three 12MP cameras. The main one is a 1/1.7″ sensor with OIS, while the second one is an ultrawide shooter — both get Dual Pixel autofocus. The remaining is a 3x zoom camera with OIS.
The triple-camera has ZEISS lenses with T* anti-reflective coating. There’s also eye autofocus, much like the bigger flagship, and the phone is able to shoot 20 photos per second with continuous AE/AF. Basically, Sony has not compromised a bit in terms of the camera hardware.
Albeit smaller footprint, the Xperia 5 II offers a similar 4,000mAh battery as the bigger brother. It supports up to 21W of fast charging but you’ll get a 18W charging brick out of the box. This should help you achieve at least 50% of charge in 30 minutes.
The phone also comes with ‘Battery Care’ which lets you set the maximum charge at 90%. Then there’s H.S power control — which went largely unnoticed in the Xperia 1 II — that lets you use power directly from the USB-C port rather than the battery. This should eliminate heat generated by the battery.
The phone also has a 3.5mm headphone jack and the top and bottom bezels both boast front-firing stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio. You’ll get 3-months of free Tidal music subscription to experience that.
The phone also brings an IP68/IPX5 rating for dust and water resistance, while both the front and back have Gorilla Glass 6 protection. For color options, you’ll get Black, Grey, Pink, and Blue at launch.
Pricing of the phone starts at $950 in the US, with pre-orders starting from September 29 and shipping on December 4. For Europe, it’ll cost €900.
