Sony Xperia 5 II - is this the World's Best Compact Phone? By sony365

Hi, I'm tom, the founder of BTX, welcome back to this full review of the Xperia 5 mark ii. We're so fired up about this phone, but before I get into it, I want you to imagine with me that you are in the meeting room, presumably in Tokyo, Japan, when they're, you know they're going through the Xperia top brass, all the features they want to pack into this compact device, and it's just good news. After good news, after good news, there is so much to love about this phone and then someone- I don't know who in this meeting must have said hey. I know, let's put in a dedicated Google Assistant button, let's put it between the camera shutter button and the power button. So it's right in the way. Let's make sure you can't turn it off or reassign it.

What do you reckon- and someone said yes, so before I get into this- make sure you're subbed and that you smash the notification bell, because we've got Expedia videos coming up against our new iPhones, which I'm excited about loads of other stuff and Jordan? Of course, who's doing some great videos. Uh over in the UK, I remember that place now. Look let's get into the design first and build quality that sort of stuff everything feels absolutely solid. As you would expect. This is a Sony product.

After all, it's smaller, of course, more compact than the Xperia 1 mark ii, but it's got the same magic to it that same beautiful lightness. It's a fingerprint magnet too, just like the Xperia one mark ii. It doesn't bother me too much because you're going to stick a case on this. I expect. But what I will say, though, is you really do want to stick a case on this one, because it's lighter and smaller than the Xperia one mark ii.

This thing's been slipping out of our pockets. It's I mean it's nearly come Agrippa quite a few times, so you'll definitely want to get a case for it. So, unsurprisingly, it feels super premium. Let's talk about the audio here, because even though it's a smaller phone, you do have dual front-facing stereo speakers, a very, very similar arrangement, of course, to the Xperia 1 mark ii and the results are the same. And what I mean by that it is a very detailed, balanced, nuanced sound, but is by no means the loudest, even when you turn on Dolby Atmos, which you need to do, because it sounds better and a lot louder.

If you do that, it's still nowhere near as loud as the competition. Does. That worry me no, not in the slightest, because it's not all about you, know, mph, it's about the way that the sound is delivered. So I just want to briefly come back to the Google Assistant button because it is here- and it is in the way- and we did find that we triggered it a few times accidentally, and it's really annoying when it happens. What's most annoying of all, apart from the fact that it's there when it doesn't need to be um because really what's the point, if you want to call up the big g, we know what the wake words are.

We can do that easily. Even on the software there on the screen we can do, it doesn't need its own button. Even google's own hardware doesn't do this now with the um, the latest pixel 5. It's a complete mystery to me as to why they've done this anyway um, but it is there, so we have to flag that. We also find that um.

It gets in the way when you use a tripod- and you know the clamp there, it's just annoying. You know I promise not to mention it until the very end right, let's move on anyway. What do I also love here just to kind of bring things back up? Will the notification light? I love that I wish more phones had it. As I've said before, the fingerprint scanner is superfast. I love the way it falls on the phone there when you use it to unlock.

It's just super quick, uh yeah, it's its! It's a really, really beautiful, pocketable lovely, looking phone uh. So far, it's all good, all good, except for the thing that you know: let's not go there again. Let's talk about the display uh again, look: Sony is famous for beautiful, beautiful displays, and this is no exception. Full HD plus, not 4k. You have to make a decision.

Don't you at this point, maybe in the future things will change? Do you want 4k or do you want the high refresh rate? Well here we have the higher refresh rate and because the screen is smaller, you absolutely get away with that. No issues whatsoever and I love the fact that the refresh rate is so high. It makes swishing about on this thing. Absolutely it feels so um luxurious, I think, is probably the word. It's just a really enjoyable phone to use on the daily because of that high refresh rate, so things are looking good there.

It's worth mentioning that, unlike other manufacturers, this is locked at 120 hertz, but you can lower it manually. If you, you know really want to do that, I mean, I don't think you have to because battery life which we'll come on to later, is really, really healthy on this you'll get through a day, no problem whatsoever um, but you know it's locked in there at 120 hertz, and I like that. I mean it's just great um. What else do I like here, the 21 9 aspect ratios? I've said this before with Sony: Xperia phones, I love it. It looks really, really good.

Colors are really accurate. Sony's creator mode gives you full control over that anyway. It's a very, very good, looking display. Let's talk about something, that's a little of a negative um for me, and I've said this before in my Xperia one mark ii, uh review, it's the very it's its acceptable outdoors, but it's at the minimum level of acceptable when it comes to really bright conditions, so um it could be brighter. Actually, you know what I'm going to say.

I do want Sony to make devices brighter in the future. Just a bit would really help so, so far so good. Now, let's talk about the camera tech, the only uh thing, you'll notice, missing here from the hardware side of things, is the timer flight sensor. If you look over here on the back, we've got that beautiful, triple camera setup, 12 megapixels across the board, very reminiscent, of course, of the Xperia one mark ii and as with the one mark ii. This is all about getting into pro mode, if you're the sort of person who will enjoy that you don't have to be a pro, I'm not a pro, but I've really enjoyed it so much way more than I ever thought.

I would so if you think you want to get into these shots and just tune them to perfection and, of course, shooting raw. Oh hello, shooting raw is what this phone is all about as well. All three cameras shoot raw, so I mean there is that and if, if you want to buy this t-shirt, you can do that and if you do that, you're supporting us here at tech, so take a look at these pictures here that we've taken um as we expected images are sharp um. The macro mode felt like it had been improved compared to the Xperia 1 mark ii. Obviously I know it's subjective, so I don't want to give you too much of my opinion or our opinion here at team b tech.

I want to know what you think. Basically, the colors are very natural. Sony's color science is super. I mean this is very, very impressive stuff as long as you're, not one of those people who want that kind of, dare I say, Samsung or pixel approach, which is more vivid not as true to life but really kind of um vivid as you like, and in your face. This is a very different, more natural approach.

I will say, though, as I said with the Xperia one mark ii, I wish auto mode was better. I do think it's possible to give us all of this Sony alpha magic that we have here in the pro modes. That's wonderful, but also to give us a better performing automatic mode, especially in low light or challenging light uh conditions. It can be done uh, and I would like to see that happen in the future. I think that's a fair point, so what else is worth mentioning here on the camera side of things? Well, um, it would be nice to see HDR in auto mode.

I mean it, it should be there. I think. Furthermore, I also think that it would be nice. Furthermore, I mean Jordan picked up on this as well. It would be nice to potentially have all of this available in the one app, so you can go into pro mode from within the app rather than having three separate apps for pro in on the video side of things, the camera side of things and then the auto mode.

That would streamline the process a bit more and perhaps encourage more people. You know to get into the promos, but actually for me, the star of the show here when it comes to the video, it's nice to see Sony returning to being the kings of slow motion here on phones again, and they are, without a shadow of a doubt, 4k 120 frames per second. This is stunning. I just this is what we like to see. Isn't it Sony doing what they do best and just nailing the execution? And here they have? Let's talk about the software, so the UI here is.

This is typical, modern Sony opera, it's very, very stock, android, android 10, of course, but with that sprinkling of Sony magic, just like you get on the Xperia one mark ii um. Personally, I love it. It's the little things like the attention to detail. It's a cleaner look, um! Even the sounds. I really like it's its a really great phone to use this on the daily.

I think anyone would enjoy it. Furthermore, I think attention to detail could almost be like its own sort of chapter here when we talk about Sony phones, because it's often the sort of non-headline grabbing little details that make all the difference when it comes to living with the phone for a long period of time, for example, the way they look after the batteries. In fact, I'm getting ahead of myself we're going to come on to the battery tech in a minute. But you know this is a very um thoughtfully put together device and that really shows in the software. However, this is not cool bloatware.

We talked about this when I gave my l4 review just the other day. I don't like bloatware, I don't think anyone does it shouldn't be here, especially not on a device costing this much. I made a note of what you can expect to find here and not be able to get rid of Call of Duty. Fine, if you're a gamer and of course chances are you may well be. I mean I'm not really very good at gaming.

I don't really do it very much but Call of Duty. Is there Netflix Facebook, LinkedIn booking. com three months of title, that free Amazon shopping, prime video PlayStation, app Sony news, AccuWeather, okay, we've got to just keep an eye on that, haven't we because that is going to upset some people. So look. Let's talk about performance, it is um a snapdragon 865 processors.

Here it's not the 865 plus uh. Does that worry me? No, it's absolutely! With eight gigs around I mean this. You can jump in and out of as many apps as you want, it's very, very, very difficult to slow this down. You can't really, unless you're actively trying to I mean I use my phone for work uh, and I need a powerhouse uh, for you know, power users, I suppose I'm a power user um. This will do the job, it's a smaller device than the Xperia one mark ii, of course, but it really does pack the same punch, which is extremely important.

Overall, I would say the performance is roughly the same as the Xperia one mark ii, but the difference is it actually feels more powerful, and I was trying to work out. Why is that? Because it's actually not quicker or more powerful what it is, of course it's that 120 hertz refresh rate and that's why it feels even zippier. I mean this. This is again very, very, very solid in the performance department um. If you're looking for a flagship, then they're all going to feel roughly the same with the 865 or 865 plus process, so processors.

So again, as I said before, don't let the fact that it hasn't got the plus put you off in any way shape or form. This is a sort of mixed bag. We don't have wireless charging, and we're going to do a whole, separate video, comparing the five mark ii and the one mark ii, which does have wireless charging, make sure you sub for that and smash the notification bell. Um, I'm not worried about that. It worries some people more than others.

I think if you've already invested in all the hardware to just charge wirelessly- and you can't now use it with this device- I can understand if that annoyed you charging it up, actually isn't the fastest thing it's up to 21 watts, but in the box it's just an 18 watt charger. That means it feels a little slower than the compact wall. It is a little slower than the competition. There is a battery life hit on the 120 hertz screen. We managed to eke out a few more hours of use when this was reduced to 60 hertz, but I still wouldn't recommend doing that because it is enough to get you through the day.

It just depends. I mean my goodness: you'd have to be a serious power user to have this run out before the end of the day, but you can get a few more hours if you want to reduce it, I wouldn't bother bottom line. Then, when it comes to the battery 4 000 William hours for a phone this size- I mean it's, you couldn't really ask for much more, I'm very, very happy. Now, let's move on to the price- and I want to give you my verdicts on this phone. We are going to do a separate video by the way where we um look at all the uh questions, you've given us, and we try and answer every single one of them, but right now this is just my team TeX verdict.

What we think about this device, starting with the price in the UK 799 actually over 900 in the states, uh 799 British pounds by the way. Obviously, in the UK um, is Sony asking a lot for this. I think you have to remember something here with Sony phones as with anything in life, whether it's watches or cars or whatever any product. If it's more exclusive you're going to pay a bit more, that's just economics and the way things are it's the same here with these Xperia phones, especially with the five mark ii. It's a unique device, and it's for someone who's really into getting into pro mode and someone who enjoys the art of photography and videography.

And this is a celebration I think of all the things that Sony does well. There's bra via magic here, um, there's PlayStation magic here, the Xperia experience didn't think I'd be saying those two words so closely together is really enjoyable, and I think most people will get a kick out of this phone if you're not hooked and totally reliant on automatic mode when it comes to taking your own pictures at this price point, though, what I'm worried about from Sony's side of things here is that a lot of people are going to be swayed if they're open to iOS to potentially the new iPhone 12 series which we're going to be reviewing in detail, of course, but on the android side of things. I think this was always going to be a niche device, but it's a really enjoyable niche device to own on the daily. This is definitely as far as I'm concerned: uh, it's a five-star device. It is absolutely as much fun and as much enjoyment and as dependable and powerful and reliable as its bigger brother.

The one mark ii, but just in a smaller form, factor a couple of trade-offs, a little of a sacrifice here and there. But overall it's a massive win and literally the worst thing about this phone. Is the Google Assistant button come on guys? I still can't quite believe that I'm even saying this but yeah, let's see if we can persuade Sony to I'm going to put a comment um in the comment section below and pin it. Let's ask Sony respectfully to consider doing away with that when they bring out the five mark iii or the one mark iii and actually yeah, there's a lot to be excited about Xperia pro, of course, there's some cool stuff around. Let's keep an eye out for that and in the meantime, thank you.

So much for watching I'll see you next time you.

Source : sony365