Newsletter
Sony’s 2018 flagships are official, and the Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact are both sporting a brand-new design language that brings the phones into the modern era here at Mobile World Congress 2018. Once rumored as “Mirai,” the new design language is officially called ‘Ambient Flow’ and shows its full force on the larger of the two new phones, the Xperia XZ2. This bigger model sports a 5.7-inch 18:9 (2:1) aspect ratio display with minimal bezels, yet still has room for stereo front-facing speakers that Sony is so well known for. The metal and glass frame of the XZ2 is fully IP68 water and dust resistant, like its predecessors, and now features a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner instead of having it included in the side-mounted power button.
While some may have preferred the power button’s location, Sony’s removal of the sensor from here and to the back now means that all Xperia XZ2 units shipped throughout the world will have fully-functioning fingerprint scanners. This is of course bigger news in the US, where all previous generations of Sony phones didn’t feature functioning fingerprint scanners for some truly unknown reasons. The smaller Xperia XZ2 Compact fits a 5-inch 18:9 (2:1) aspect ratio screen onto a much smaller, polycarbonate frame, but still features the same 1080p display with HDR capabilities as the larger unit. It’s also IP68 water and dust resistant and features that new rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. Both models pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC inside, but neither include a 3.5mm audio jack up top, something that seems a bit amiss on a Sony branded phone.
Sony is enhancing the camera form the previous generation Xperia XZ1 devices, as expected, and is now including full-fledged 4K HDR video recording on a smartphone’s auto mode for the first time ever. On top of this, Sony’s now famous 960FPS recording from last year’s devices is getting a resolution bump; from a 720p cropped image to a full-frame 1080p image still at 960FPS thanks to the new ISP inside the Snapdragon 845. Sony is also enhancing its unique 3D scanning feature that lets you turn yourself, or another object, into a 3D model, making the process quicker and more accurate. Check out our hands-on video below and don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube!