Sony Xperia Xz2 Premium Review

UPDATE: You can now read our Sony Xperia XZ3 Review!When you’ve fallen out of contention in the flagship range, performance and value are two areas that need to be emphasized more with the next iteration than anything else. Sony, in particular, has been a low-key player of sorts the last few years, struggling to stay in the same scope as other notable flagships on the market – like the iPhones, Samsung Galaxy devices, and even LG’s latest ThinQ phones. Once a powerhouse in the industry, Sony now more than ever needs to step its game up if they intend on becoming relevant once again.

Earlier this year, Sony introduced us to its flagship in the Xperia XZ2, which managed to pique our interest more than its flagships from previous years. However, shortly after its introduction and subsequent release, the company soon announced its bigger brother in the Xperia XZ2 Premium – a behemoth in every regard! From its 4K HDR display, to the ultra low-light capture from its camera, the Xperia XZ2 Premium is a phone on steroids, the stuff we dream about. Everything about this phone appears to be promising, but with a retail price at $999.99, it’s seriously going to need to prove itself in every facet.

Design

Sony’s approach is unsurprising here with the Xperia XZ2 Premium, seeing that it shares the same design language as its sibling. For the vast majority of people who have been acquainted with Sony’s Xperia phones in the past, this is a radical and refreshing redesign that brings along some much-needed change. It’s modern looking, that’s for sure, without being too ornate or flashy in the process. The metal meets glass design is definitely refreshing for Sony, especially how the rear panel curves around the edges. Unlike its contemporaries, however, the Xperia XZ2 Premium isn’t afraid to show off its girth. It’s on the heavy side, a turn-off of sorts in an era where even some of the biggest phones still strive for a thin and light package.

Now, as much as the redesign takes a lot of precedence, there are two major glaring characteristics with the phone’s design. The first being how immensely slippery it is when placed on some hard surfaces, to the point that it uncannily will start to slide off edges. We can’t tell you the amount of times it just would slowly start to slide off edges with the most miniscule of slopes, but it does this frequently. Secondly, the finger print sensor’s placement on the back of the phone doesn’t particularly line up to where our finger would naturally lay – so hitting the camera lens with our finger becomes a common occurrence.

Other things worth noting about its design, there isn’t a headphone jack, but it does feature a handy dedicated camera shutter key, which in this day and age is a rare sighting amongst phones. In addition to that, it packs along dual front-firing speakers for a stereo experience. And finally, this is one of the very few phones that features an accessible SIM/microSD card slot that doesn’t require a SIM tool of any sort to open up. However, it would’ve been even better if the phone didn’t have to restart each time a new SIM is placed into it.

Display

If there’s one key aspect that makes this phone premium amongst all others out there, it has to be none other than its 5.8-inch 4K (2160 x 3840) HDR Triluminous Display taking center stage. At first, we were skeptical about the need for 4K displays in smartphones, but after watching a 4K HDR video, we can attest that there’s a noticeable degree of difference between it and today’s quad-HD panels. What’s interesting, though, is that Sony decided against going with the trendy 18:9 screen aspect ratio – choosing instead to go with a 16:9 one. For us, this isn’t a huge deal, but in an era where we have these all-screen designs, it’s a little bit of a throwback.
Regardless of that, we have to admit that we’re impressed by the display’s incredible detail, rich colors, and hypnotic grasp after watching a couple of 4K HDR videos on YouTube.

Beyond that, the display does produce some modest qualities. With a maximum brightness of 437 nits, it isn’t necessarily the brightest out there, which makes it a little bit challenging to view under direct sunlight. Meanwhile, the 7769K color temperature of the display runs a bit cold – while its color production in the sRGB color chart skews on the saturated side of things. However, these are things that can be easily overlooked the moment you feast your eyes on a 4K HDR video, just because there are few phones that can match its caliber in delivering the intensity when it comes to details and color!