So-so Cameras for a Flagship
Let’s talk cameras. The Sony Xperia XZ2 is equipped with a 19-megapixel camera at an aperture of f/2.0. You still have their Motion Eye tech that captures photos just before you hit the shutter key to give you a selection in case someone’s eyes are closed or when trying to take photos of little tots. Overall image quality is alright but not quite on-par with other flagships we’ve handled recently. You’re still getting nice picture quality when subjects are lit well and we like how colors seem to pop but it’s a little disappointing to see the XZ2’s camera trip up a little in low-light or when exposure is a little tricky given the company’s prowess in putting out some pretty solid cameras.
The 5-megapixel front camera does a good job as well but has the same weaknesses as the rear shooter.
One of the big things about the XZ2’s rear camera is its ability to take 4K video with HDR. This is great if you like making videos on your smartphone since the dynamic range will make your footage look a lot better. We should warn you that the resulting video with HDR on will look a little flat but you can go into editing software to liven up the colors. One thing we think they could have done better on the rear camera though is giving us OIS instead of just relying on EIS. We would still highly recommend getting an Osmo Mobile 2 or another 3-axis gimbal if you take your mobile videography seriously.
Another thing Sony improved on the resolution for taking slow-mo video; increasing it from just HD to Full HD, which is another tool to have handy to get you more interesting footage when on a trip with friends and family. You do have to have to be in an extremely well-lit environment to get the videos look really nice and noise-free though.
The Right Amount of Juice
The Sony Xperia XZ2 is powered by a 3180mAh battery and we’ve found that it has enough juice to last the day with moderate use. We’ve had a little string of bad luck running our usual benchmark tests as of late to give you guys an actual number but it really does have enough lasting power to be used the entire day with maybe a little pick me up before you leave the office on a particularly heavy daw of using the XZ2 extensively with mobile data on. If you do need to top it up, it’ll take a little over 2 hours to do so.
