Sony Xperia 5 II review: It's incredible By CNET

This is the Sony Xperia 5 mark ii, it's basically a smaller, more affordable version of the Xperia 1 mark ii. So what do we need to do a review? Well, it's got a high refresh rate display, and it's the first phone that can film 4k video at 120 frames per second, oh, and it also costs hundreds of dollars less look. I absolutely enjoyed the Xperia one mark ii. It was aimed at creative types who want more control over photography and videography on their phone, and since the majority of this phone is exactly the same, I want to focus on the differences in what's new. So if you want to catch up on the basics, take a look at my Xperia 1 mark ii, review video or take a look at the short film. I robber that I shot and made on the phone with the cinema pro app.

Also, before we jump in this particular Xperia 5. Mark ii is a pre-production phone running final software. Now the Sony Xperia one mark ii really impressed me with its solid specs 4k display and creative apps like photo pro and cinema pro. That allowed me to have detailed controls for photo and video capture aside from the 4k display. All of that is here in the Xperia 5 mark ii, the same snapdragon 865 processors, the 8 gigabytes of ram, the same triple rear camera array, the 20 frame per second burst mode, with autofocus and auto exposure adjustments between each frame.

It's all here: okay, the uh- it doesn't have a type of flight sensor, but it still has eye autofocus for humans and pets, and it's still pretty wonderful. My biggest gripe against the Xperia one mark ii was its 1200 price. Now right off the bat. The Xperia 5 mark ii grabs my intention because at 950 it costs 250 less two things, though, that's still a hundred and fifty dollars more than last year's Xperia 5 mark 1, and we're in a pandemic and a lot of people are enduring financial hardship right now. So it's hard to recommend any phone that costs close to a thousand dollars.

That said, if you have the budget and are into Sony's mirrorless camera system, then yeah the Xperia 5 mark ii is definitely worth considering. Another picky point I had with the Xperia 1 mark ii was its 4k display. The 4k part was stunning, it looked fantastic, but it lacked a high refresh rate and that's because 4k displays aren't made that have a high refresh rate, at least not yet so the Xperia 5 mark ii is nifty because it has a 120 hertz display with a HD resolution. As for the refresh rate, it's either 60 hertz or 120 hertz. Now there isn't an in-between option or adaptive software, like other phones, but you can see the difference, especially when gaming at 120 hertz part of that comes from the new and improved game, enhancer app, which basically has gone a complete overhaul and uses software to crank that 120 hertz to 240 hertz, and it worked.

You can actually see the difference in gameplay, it's like someone added sharpness and contrast to my games, and it's pretty impressive, especially in a game like Call of Duty. Now the game enhancer app also has a little heads up display. So if you're playing a game, you can actually preview what the refresh rate looks like before you choose it. So that's pretty cool too. Then there is the battery which is larger than the Xperia 5.

Despite the phone being pretty much exactly the same size and with game enhancer, it gets another cool ability. It's called HS power control, aka heat suppression. If your phone is plugged in the idea is you could turn on the mode, and this will allow you to play longer while avoiding overheating. The phone? Now speaking of heat inside the phone there's a new graphene layer that helps the phone dissipate heat, so it doesn't feel hot to the touch in testing the phone. It got warm but never hot, and that was mostly when I was playing games for more than 30 minutes or if I was shooting lots of photos and videos- and I should say, HS power control is only available in the game.

Enhancer app, but let's talk cameras. Okay, the Xperia 5 mark ii builds on the same opera, 1, mark ii's camera hardware and software and adds raw support for photos from each camera. Now photos taken with the native camera app are good, but I like the control I get being able to take a raw photo and adjust things later now, also props to Sony the photo pro apps menus have been updated and look like the ones from the a7 s3 camera and speaking of the a7s3 camera. You can now connect a cable between it and the Xperia 5 mark ii and send photo and video files to the phone for ftp uploads. But the feature that I was most excited to try out was the new 4k 120 frames per second video capture.

Now this only works in the cinema, pro app and files get saved as 30 fps or 24 fps, which give it a dreamy four times or five times slow motion effect. I shot a bunch of slow motion footage using the cinema pro app and even graded it, and this is by far the best slow-motion video I've seen from a phone now as much as I like, the Xperia 5 mark ii. Everything isn't great when using the cinema pro app, there's a sweet spot for exposure, and I ran into the same issue with the Xperia one mark ii as well. If it's too bright, you can't get the ISO or shutter angle low enough and if it's too dark well, you run into similar challenges. ISO tops out at 800 and because cameras on phones have a fixed aperture aside from the galaxy phones a couple of years ago, you really only have the shutter angle to adjust for exposure which isn't ideal because of how it affects movement, but also you bottom out pretty fast.

But let's get to the thing that probably bothers me. The most Sony added an extra button now on the right side, there's already a volume, rocker, a combo power button and fingerprint reader and a shutter button for the camera, and now there's a hardware key that triggers Google Assistant. Look it's just one button too many and are people using Google Assistant so much that it needs its own button. Maybe I don't know, I don't know these people and if that's you please leave a comment, but here's what gets me this phone is aimed at photographers and videographers gamers creative types, journalists and nearly every one of those people are going to mount this phone. Maybe if you're a gamer, you're going to mount it to a PS4 controller uh.

If you're taking photos or video, you might mount it to a tripod and when I put the phone into a holder for a tripod, not only is the Google Assistant button really easy to hit, avoiding it is so finicky, sorry I don't understand and when I do finally get the phone mounted, I no longer have access to my recessed power button or fingerprint reader, because it's under the tripod holder and here are the top search results. That's frustrating so yeah, that's not cool Sony and this last one's more of a nitpick and a preference, because I do really enjoy the way the Xperia 5 mark ii fits in my hand, but I miss the squared off edges of the Xperia 1 mark ii. I could even sometimes stand up the Xperia one mark two to take a photo or video, but on the whole I really like this phone. I think it's. The best phone Sony has made in years.

If you're, looking at getting one pre-orders start on September 29th and the phone will be available December 4th also Sony. Does this kind of pre-order bundle things they have one for the Sony, Xperia 5.2? When you buy it, you can get a bunch of gaming accessories for free, including a hyper cloud 2 gaming headsets, a 10 000 William hour, portable power bank and 21 600 Call of Duty points. I mean why not 22 000, but anyway also, if you want a more in-depth look at this phone check out. My Sony, Xperia 5, mark ii, review on CNET I'll, have results from battery test processor test and more, but I want to hear from you would do you think of the Sony Xperia 5 mark ii? Would you get it instead of the Xperia one mark ii and what features are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments.

Source : CNET