Sony Xperia 5 ii Review By TheDigitalDigest

And here with the digital digest- and today I wanted to share my full review- the digitally digested segment for the Sony, Xperia 5 mark ii, this phone launched in october 2020 here in the US at 950 us dollars and even though it's expensive, it's still less expensive than the Xperia one mark ii and, more importantly, I think it actually has more to offer the majority of users, and I'll get to that through the course of this review. So let's talk about what you're getting in terms of specifications at 950 bucks, we have a 6.1 inch, OLED display, roughly basically full HD based on its aspect ratio. The literal resolution is 1080 by 2520. Brightness is fairly solid. It's HDR capable at least per Sony, and in addition to that, we've got stereo speakers. We have a snapdragon 865 processors under the hood, complemented by eight gigs of ram 128 gigs of storage, which, by the way, is expandable right here, and I'll, be getting to that a little later, because I do love uh, this design of the sim tray, something the Xperia one mark ii had as well.

Basically, you do not need a tool, so that's fantastic and uh. Part of the reason is that this is a Sony phone, and it is meant to reflect the fact that Sony right now is the king of the hill when it comes to digital imaging. So part of the good news with this is that you are getting the exact same camera system as the Xperia 1 mark ii. It doesn't have the exact same autofocus system, but the sensors and the actual uh lens assemblies and overall performance is right there. I did not really see any major difference between the autofocus on this phone and the Xperia 1 mark ii, even though the one mark ii has a more complex, autofocus system.

Another thing that this phone has that the Xperia one mark ii doesn't is the ability to capture 4k video at 120 frames per second. So I'm not aware of any other phone that has that capability and, interestingly enough, this did launch right around the same time as the a7s mark 3. That also is famous for its 4k uh 120 frames per second capability, so really impressive. To have that in this 950 phone, so when it comes to cameras, they've pretty much in my opinion, hit it out of the park uh, some users will favor over processing and things that this phone doesn't do. Much like the Xperia one mark ii doesn't do those things, but I think they really have hit the nail on the head.

When it comes to a DI perspective, you still get the cinema pro app, which is where you will actually find the 4k 120 frames per second option. You can see it will be captured or finalized at 24 frames and no audio capability. Just so you're, aware of that, and you still get all the niceties like the Xperia one mark ii when it comes to the look, whether you want Venice, I mean these are all the options you would expect out of a cinema camera, and yet they live here in a 950 dollar phone. And while some may think this is a gimmick, I would argue. This is the beginning of Sony really making their mark in the smartphone business, something that Sony as a brand should really own, but yet kind of sat on their hands and had a lot of swings, swings and misses here, at least in the U.

S. So I'm glad to say this is the second phone I'm reviewing from Sony uh. I would have liked to have said in 2020, but this review unit came fairly late, so I was not able to give this review to all of you in 2020, but it was a product of 2020 and between it and the Xperia one mark ii. I think Sony is emerging now as one of the best manufacturers out there as they should be in the smartphone business. Beyond this app giving you the look and feel of a cinema camera, you can see, it actually will create a project.

It shows you uh it's right now in hog. It gives you your codec. Furthermore, it gives you your battery remaining battery, your remaining internal storage, your audio levels. I mean everything that you could possibly want. Is this for everyone? No, absolutely not! But if you're a Sony user having access to it is going to be something you really enjoy, the same can be said of the photo pro app.

You know the ability to jump into essentially uh a mode dial, just like the Xperia one mark ii and have everything at your fingertips in terms of manual control. You could possibly desire it's just something that you're not going to find on most phones. Now, don't get me wrong. Other manufacturers, such as Samsung, have introduced pro apps for their camera, but the likelihood that users are running after that on a Samsung device, I think, is far less than it would be on something like a Sony phone that is clearly being uh branded as a companion to Sony digital imaging users like myself and many of you out there. Now you can go with the regular photo app if you want to so those of you who are intimidated or just aren't interested in the amount of you know, options presented to you, you just want point and shoot.

You still have it, of course, with the traditional android camera app. So that's part of the beauty of this phone is that you aren't stuck inside the pro apps. If you don't want them, but remember if you want to shoot that 4k slow motion, 120 frames per second, you will need to use the pro cinema app. So just be aware of that. The other nice thing about this phone is that it does have a dedicated shutter button.

You hold it down for two seconds more, like a second and a half, and you're in the camera, app and, of course, easily shooting- and this does still have eye autofocus, just like the Xperia 1 mark ii. So really the experience not to be cute is virtually the same as the Xperia 1 mark ii. It just doesn't have the literal, identical, autofocus system, but again I've seen no marked difference between this and the one mark ii. The selfie camera, I think, is the biggest letdown. Just like the Xperia one mark ii.

It just doesn't have the quality that most flagship devices have so considering Sony is so DI focused. I wish that they really would give us a higher quality, front-facing camera. I would say I'm nitpicking, but I'm not. You know we're now in 2021, and it's time if Sony is going to really capture a large audience in the US and around the world selfie cameras. Even though they're not the most important thing to me, I can't justify them not having a better camera than the one.

That's on here now, if you're wondering about megapixels, because I haven't really talked a lot about them. Sony is not in that game. They realize, and I think they think their customers realize that you know Samsung calling their sensors 64 megapixels or over 100 megapixels is ridiculous. Now, I'm not saying they don't literally contain that many megapixels, but sensor size is clearly the more important uh goal to achieve here for dynamic range and the actual ability to utilize those megapixels uh, whereas you know stuffing them into a tiny sensor, really is just a marketing gimmick, so uh they're not playing the megapixel uh war here, because it's a stupid one. Camera manufacturers learned that many years ago, so we're getting 12 megapixels across all three sensors, just like the Xperia one mark ii and eight on the front, and that's where I feel like users are going to say well, this phone's got all the specs.

I would want uh even 5g, capable in some markets, but then it falls short on that front-facing camera. So you know that's going to be a matter of personal preference, but to compensate as I've stated, you are getting 4k 120 frames per second video capture that you won't find anywhere else even on the more expensive 4k displayed, Xperia 1 mark ii. So you know take that with a grain of salt. Now, in terms of the physical build, it's a spotless handset that Sony opted for rounded edges rather than uh the corners that we got with the Xperia one mark ii uh. We still have a headphone jack, which I think many of you appreciate for obvious reasons, uh on the right side of the device a little strange.

I will admit that here at eight and a half minutes in when I first saw this, I was kind of scratching my head. You've got a volume rocker, a fingerprint scanner, slash power button. It doubles as both. Then you have a Google Assistant button right there dedicated. So if we hit that we're prompted with the Google Assistant, and then we have the camera shutter button now it's admittedly strange, but I think this is really a matter of personal preference while I've, yet to see a phone have four buttons on one side of it.

Uh to this point uh in my personal experience it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. I do actually like having a dedicated button for the Google Assistant. Do I think everybody's going to want it? No, I don't, but it's still nice to have, so I can't really knock it. It's just a little bizarre from a design perspective on the bottom, of course, your type c port for charging, which tops out at 18 watts. That means it's going to take you a little over an hour to charge the 4 000 William hour battery.

Inside this, the good news is, is that, while I could have told you- or I would have thought two years ago, if you had told me that this was only going to be 18 watts, I would have said that's not very fast. Samsung did take a step backwards with quick charging this year. My note, 20 ultra, for example, did not take out the note 10 plus. In other words the note 10 plus, was capable of faster charging than the note 20 ultra. So for some odd reason blame it on the pandemic.

I guess Samsung decided to take a step backwards in terms of quick charge capability. Many other manufacturers continuing to push forward and giving us new standards in rapid charging that we'll probably see sometime this year in 2021 or 2022, but for whatever reason they took a step backwards and that, as a result, gives me the ability to say you know, I'm not gonna really give it to Sony on this now had Samsung and other manufacturers apples, one of them really pushed the envelope with quick charging. Then I would be saying this is a glaringly obvious uh problem, but it's not because other manufacturers mainstream large ones, have not uh really pushed the envelope in 2020, even though we're now in 2021 by all of a few days. So I can't really give Sony too much grief over the 18 watts, and you know still to charge up your phone in a little over an hour. Isn't that far from much of the flagship competition.

Now, as I mentioned earlier in the video, this is one of my favorite elements of the Xperia 1 mark ii and the Xperia 5 mark ii that we're looking at here, which is the tool-less design. You will need a little of a nail which I barely have any, but I'm still able to get it, and you can see I've already opened up the dual tray for your sim card and micro SD card. So storage expansion is a go here. I've tested it with my one terabyte micro SD card no problems, and the beauty of this is that, if you're using this, the way Sony intends, which is really as a camera. That's why it has the pro apps.

You have quick access to your storage so that you don't have to rely on the type c port to transfer your images or some wireless protocol you're just going to pop out the sim card sim tray and take out your SD card and review your images transfer them do whatever you need to. So I really like that. We still have ip68 rating on this, so dust and water resistance. This, of course, can get wet it's wrapped in gorilla glass six, so they did not spare an expense when it comes to what sort of glass they're using talking you know about that, you could look at someone like apple who I don't know if they've ever used gorilla glass at any rate, the whole premise here is again to live up to their digital imaging prowess, and I think it's really smart that they do that. I wish more manufacturers would so, even though this is tool-less, you can still submerge this in water for up to 30 minutes, of course, don't go too deep.

No ip68 rating supports what is it greater than uh? Was it um? It's not three meters. At any rate, this really, in my opinion, no phone should be submerged in water. If it doesn't have to be, you know, the idea is that it's there to protect the phone. It's not meant to be a calling card to submerge this in water all the time, so don't confuse the two okay, but overall, really nice design. In my opinion, some will prefer this design over the sharp edges.

I actually like the design of the Xperia one mark ii more, but with that in mind, I still am starting to think over the two weeks I spent with this. This is the better phone overall, because that refresh rate, it really does make a difference, especially when most modern flagship phones do have 120hz refresh rates. God knows they'll, probably even start to push out more and then, in addition to that, with Sony's game, enhancer software, you can actually simulate higher refresh rates and, if you're not familiar with the game, enhancer software, it's pretty unique because it basically allows you to prioritize processor performance overall capability for the game you're playing now. Some manufacturers have similar concepts to this, but I don't think anyone does it better than Sony so considering Sony's not as mainstream as large a player in the handset business, and yet they figured, in my opinion, figured it out at a better level than the majority of the competition says a lot about what they've done here the multi-window switch is nice. I don't think a lot of users will really look at this phone and say you know.

Sony's put amazing touches on the software. In fact, the beauty of the Xperia line, both the one mark ii and here the five mark ii- is that this is as close to a pixel. That is a stock android experience as you're going to get, which is a great thing for performance and battery life. Here I had no problems going all day so considering this is a 4 000 William hour battery, the slightly you know the not slightly but the lower resolution on this display, even with the 120 hertz refresh rate. That's another really nice thing about this.

Uh battery life is better than what you get with the Xperia 1 mark ii. So you're spending less you're getting a higher refresh rate you're getting better battery life, yes at the expense of the resolution, but then throw in the 4k 120 frame rate, video recording and this phone is unique. The stereo speakers do not disappoint call quality was excellent, but I kind of expected that and overall I just think that Sony's done it again, you know they made this more affordable by the way screen. Brightness is not all the way up. If I do take it all the way up, it's going to get blown out.

So, even though I was saying this doesn't get as bright as something like the note 20 ultra most phones. Don't, so you know, that's something you have to be realistic about uh, Wi-Fi performance on. This is great no issues with that Bluetooth, no issues there either. But remember you have a dedicated, true uh. You know three and a half millimeter audio jack.

So if you're really uh interested in audio quality, that's the route to go. You don't want to screw around with wireless connections. We've been forced to by manufacturers because well they don't have headphone jacks anymore. You can thank apple for that and then now Samsung followed suit as well. Of course.

In fact, I have the last device that Samsung last note that they made with a headphone jack right here, the good old note, 9 and just for a side by side, so you can see hand holding capability. I do think that the Xperia is a more palm friendly device, no question about it. So if you're trying to figure out whether you're going to be happy with something like the Xperia be aware that there are very few devices like this meaning, a large format display granted. The aspect ratio lends itself to a more narrow field of view, it's a longer device than most, but it really delivers everything other than pen input that anyone could ever want. It's got solid internal storage.

That is expandable. It's got the right amount of ram. I mean. Would I like to see more? I'm used to you know 12 gigs of ram, because ever since the note 10, plus and of course, uh my Galaxy Z, fold, 2 right now as well, I haven't had 8 gigs of ram well since the z, which is also a great phone but a lot more expensive, and it's a folding phone at that. But when it comes to the processor, the display the ram expandable storage ip68 rating, this phone has it all.

Except for wireless charging, I mean that's really where I think it falls short and if that's my biggest critique, I mean apple users have only had wireless charging now, for you know a few generations, so, realistically speaking, Sony has done pretty much almost everything right with this phone. I think that pricing is on point uh. The cameras, as you already know, from what I've stated through the course of this review are very good. So where does it fall short? I mean I already mentioned the 18 watts here, which I think a lot of people will point out. I think some people will say that you know the four buttons they don't like, but I really think that's going to be a matter of personal preference.

The fingerprint scanner is perfectly fine. It's on par with the competition. I didn't experience any issues with that and at the end of the day, the only thing that could have really screwed things up would be battery life, and it's solid, so the biggest shortcomings to some things up here, the front-facing camera just like on the Xperia 1 mark ii. It shares that in common. After all, it has all the same cameras.

Remember the autofocus system is the only thing, that's different, and I couldn't tell a real difference because eye autofocus still locks in very quickly and beyond that you're really getting more features than the Xperia 1 mark ii has the one thing the Xperia one mark ii has that this doesn't again is that 4k OLED display, which is an amazing thing, to look at and experience, but certainly there are many people out there who are going to say I don't need a 4k display in my pocket. Another thing you've got to remember is that inside of the settings you know, you've got a very stock, look and feel, but then, if you really dig in there, you are going to find things that don't exist with other manufacturers. So let me take down the brightness. So one example is the Dolby Atmos sound. I do recommend using it.

It's going to make things louder. The sound stage is more dynamic for lack of a better way of putting it. Another thing you want to be aware of when you jump into settings, is that you know when you look at the display. You have the ability to adjust white balance, which is really nice and of course you can go back to 60 hertz if you really want to max out the battery, but I don't recommend doing so. The other thing to know is that inside of the image quality settings, just like the Xperia one mark ii, you do have access to the creator mode, which is very cool, but certainly not needed.

For the majority of people, which means you can get uh a true 10-bit uh reproduction here on this phone. So when it comes to color accuracy, you know Sony's not going to make any um they're not going to take issue with having a color accurate display on a phone. In fact, when I go back to laptops and what Sony uh was known for, at least view was known for it's no longer part of Sony, but going back to some of my favorite machines from them. They were all about color accuracy, even when they were, of course, part of the Sony brand. Some of you that can remember that far back will know exactly what I was talking about.

I mean their digital studio. Laptops were all about having color, accurate displays, and now that they've got OLED technology. Well, they don't really have to try very hard, because OLED brings color accuracy to you pretty much, no matter what so you've got that creator mode, which is cool. I've left it in auto creator mode, which is how it comes out of the box. They also have their video image enhancement, which you know is a nice add-on, and this is really part of what Sony does right with their OLED based devices and televisions.

You know when you buy an OLED TV from Sony, it's a lg panel, but the processing and ultimate final product, the reason you're paying more for it isn't just because Sony slapped their name on it. It's because they've done fine-tuning that lg doesn't bother to do it's, not a gimmick. It's real go and take a look well we're in a pandemic when we're not in a pandemic or once you've had a vaccine. Take a look at if you haven't already at what a Sony OLED looks like versus a lg, and you'll see the difference. Now, whether that will warrant you wanting to spend more money, different story entirely but uh at the end of the day, there is a reason you're paying more for the Sony and, as I stated it's not just because of the name so do I think this is worth buying uh now for me personally, it's hard for me to look at phones that don't have wireless charging, and that may be a non-issue for the majority of you out there.

It probably is especially since so many people own iPhones that don't support wireless charging, because again only a few generations have supported it, whereas QI charging has been around. Oh, I feel like it's. My first phone with q-charging, I think, was a HTC that tells you how long uh QI charging has been standard now uh and across most android phones. It is so that really is my biggest nitpick with it uh. Beyond that, I can't really complain about much again.

Cameras are right. There processing power is there battery life. Is there you've got the 120 hertz. So if you were concerned about that, you don't need to be the game. Enhancer on the software side is really nice.

If you do play games, it will give you an experience that ultimately, is better than the majority of handsets, and it should, I mean this is Sony after all, come on PlayStation. Do I really need to say more, I mean if Microsoft was in the handset business and I don't mean the duo that I reviewed, but I mean if they had any true footprint uh, they would be another manufacturer? You'd expect to deliver a better gaming experience because of their console business but Sony being the real, the true godfather of gaming. Their phones do have a higher level of capability or expectation to live up to just like they do with digital imaging now that they're at the top of that hill, so I think they deliver and that's really important if you're trying to differentiate a product but still keep things as stock as you possibly can I actually, as I stated like the fact that we have that dedicated Google Assistant button, a lot of you aren't going to care for it. In fact, I think a lot of people will look at this and say it just looks like a mess they didn't. Try.

I think it's good. I really do. Furthermore, I may not be the prettiest look. It may be harder to mount this phone on a phone holder for using it as a dedicated camera, but I think overall this is one of the best smartphones on the market. Could they have made the charging via hardwired type c, faster sure, do they need to this year? No.

I've already said that, through the course of this video, they were able to get away with it and the fact that you're getting a higher refresh rate display that is a little smaller, I think, is going to be preferable for the majority of users out there it's at a lower price in the Xperia one mark ii, you're getting the exact same sensor, lens pairings, with mass star coding, t-star coding, the flash is well a flash on a mobile phone. So don't get too excited about that. The gorilla glass wrap is great, but from a fingerprint standpoint it is gross. I mean I know it's coming across in this video it just it looks like a mess, but that's what you get with a glossy black finish, a mirrored black finish on any device. The phone is made in Thailand if you missed the sticker right there on the back not made in China for those of you that that matters to and just overall it's a perfect phone with a pixel-esque feel but much better features in many areas.

So, if you've been waiting for Sony to come out with a more affordable, more well-rounded, both figuratively and literally device than the Xperia one mark ii, I think you're, looking at it and granted I've only spent a couple of weeks with it. I can still say here at the beginning of 2021 that this is one of the best phones on the market. Again great cameras, great battery life, uh, 4k, 120 frames per second, you won't find anywhere else and by the way there is electronic image stabilization, not that that's shocking, it's a phone, and it's solid, it's not as good as the Xperia one mark ii in that department. I would say: that's the only defining true uh difference that I experienced firsthand was that the electronic stabilization for shooting video on the Xperia one mark ii was a little better. But if that's the biggest difference, this phone pretty much wins in every way, shape and form.

I mean I would rather have the 4k 120 frames per second, I even like, as I've stated over and over again having the digital assistant button, I use Google Assistant more than I'd like to admit and having a physical button is not a bad thing, because then you can turn off the keyword, and you know hit a button which may not sound intuitive, but there are a few reasons that you'd want to do that. So, at the end of the day, the biggest letdown with this phone really is uh the selfie camera. In my opinion, which I don't even care that much about, but I still have to tell all of you because I know a lot of you- will care about it and then the fact that we have a beautiful display, uh, solid processor, uh, you know it's not the 865 plus like I have in my I see fold over here, but look at that size, difference uh. Of course this is half the price of the z-fold. It's actually less than half the price, and there is a huge difference in processing capability.

I mean the 865 plus over the 865, it's a step um, but you know what I like to what I've liked to have seen Sony give us the 865 plus sure I would have, but again, I'm looking at this as a first step for Sony to getting their chops back in the smartphone realm and both the Xperia one mark ii and this phone proves to me, and it should to most of you out there who are interested. That Sony means business because they've produced two phones that even if it's not for you, anyone could happily take use and enjoy, and I can't say that of unfortunately, the lineage of Xperia handsets particularly that launched here in the US or didn't launch, especially if you were a Verizon customer like myself, you literally had no options when it came to Xperia phones. Now we do have options granted no 5g with them, but I don't even live in a 5g market anyway, so that pretty much wraps it up. I mean kudos to Sony for opening the door back to premium handsets that deserve glowing reviews because well they pretty much almost have the best of everything. So I'm really excited about Sony's future in this space, and I can't wait to see what they have coming.

Next I mean CES is right around the corner. Hopefully we'll see some new things from them, uh, even if it's virtually. I have high expectations for what Sony's going to do, and hopefully Sony will bring us a tablet as well. In the future I mean these are just some. You know final thoughts, but I'd like to see some more competition beyond apple and Samsung when it comes too high quality tablets.

So much like they're now giving us another option in the phone realm, even if they haven't made the phone I want yet personally, because I do love my z-fold too, and no one else makes a phone that compares with that. That is my daily driver. I love that thing to death. It's the best of both worlds. If I was still only interested in a candy bar style phone, you better believe that this and the Xperia one mark ii are right up there and again, with this being the more affordable and overall, more functional device than the Xperia one mark ii for the majority of users who don't care about the 4k display Sony's, hitting it out of the park, especially with the stereo audio, which I couldn't have done.

Justice with in this video, at any rate, hope you enjoyed the review.29 minutes in you will not be disappointed with this phone. It is premium all around, and it is worth its asking price, and it will only go down in price over time. I guarantee that, but that pretty much rounds it out great phone again kudos to Sony for making something that I can recommend in the smartphone realm. That is just not something I could say for the last 10 years, but 2020 well, that was the beginning for again the most premium manufacturer, in my opinion, in the business that, for some odd reason, just quit on phones, but the good news is they're back at it. Any questions or comments, please feel free to post them, hit that like button and as usual, please feel free to subscribe, and please stay safe later.

Source : TheDigitalDigest