Sony’s Xperia XZ2 phones have a fresh design, smaller bezels, and no headphone jack | Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact go big on cool camera tech

Sony is putting effort into its smartphones again. The company’s new XZ2 and XZ2 Compact shrink down the chunky bezels of their predecessors (to an extent) and feature the same taller, slimmer displays that helped Samsung, LG, and other companies roundly outclass Sony’s smartphone design last year. Both new Sony phones are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor, the latest and greatest silicon that will be inside most of 2018’s Android flagships. They’re scheduled to ship this spring, with pricing to be announced later.

This time around, Sony isn’t overdoing it with a gimmicky 4K screen. The XZ2’s 5.7-inch display has a 2:1 aspect ratio and resolution of 2160 × 1440. The top and bottom bezels have been significantly downsized. There’s still enough room for Sony to put its name at the bottom of the phone, so the company isn’t quite at par with Samsung, LG, or OnePlus. But this is certainly an improvement. The screen supports HDR and Sony says it automatically up-converts SDR content to look more colorful and vibrant.

The XZ2 features a 5.7-inch display with 2:1 aspect ratio.

Sony refers to the XZ2’s overall design as “ambient flow.” That makes a bit more sense when you flip it over and examine the back, which is quite a departure from recent Sony handsets. The back nicely slopes into the aluminum rail at each side, and Sony has moved the camera position so that it’s now center-aligned. And beneath it is a new standalone fingerprint reader. For a long time, Sony made the side power button of its Xperia phones double as a fingerprint scanner, but the company always disabled that functionality in the United States. Now, everyone gets a fingerprint reader — and it’s in the right spot. The XZ2’s rear aesthetic strikes me as very HTC, but I’m in favor of this change over the rectangular, blocky feel of previous Xperias. This one is much more comfortable to grip.

What you won’t find anywhere on the XZ2 is a headphone jack. Sony is following the herd and getting rid of it this year. That’s disappointing to see from a company that prides itself on supporting hi-fi audio. The phone supports AptX HD and LDAC codecs for high-quality Bluetooth audio, if that’s any consolation.

The XZ2’s hardware still includes a dedicated camera shutter button, and like last year’s XZ Premium, it has a 19-megapixel sensor inside. When shooting 4K video, the camera is now capable of capturing HDR color, and the ultra slo-mo mode can record 960fps footage at a higher 1080p resolution. That’s pretty cool and bests what Samsung is doing with the Galaxy S9, but you’ll need to have a subject in good lighting if you want usable footage. And for fans of Sony’s fun 3D Creator face-scanning app, that now works with the front-facing selfie camera. (Previously you had to use the primary camera.)

The XZ2’s bezels are substantially smaller, but still larger than some existing Android flagships.

Inside the XZ2 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (with microSD slot), and all the cellular networking hardware necessary for gigabit data speeds. The 845 made the XZ2 feel very snappy in my brief time using it. (Sony’s lightweight, stock-ish Android 8.0 Oreo software also helps matters there.)

But there will be a lot of phones with that same chip inside this year, so to help differentiate its own flagship, Sony came up with something else to add: rumble feedback. The new Dynamic Vibration System in the XZ2 makes your phone rumble along with media (movies, music, trailers, etc.) and games. Sony’s tagline for the feature is that it helps you “feel your media.”

You can adjust the vibration intensity for individual apps, so you can leave it off for YouTube but turn up the vibration power for Netflix. The vibration system also adds subtle feedback in other areas, like when you’re setting a timer. I don’t know how much value it actually adds — and it didn’t feel quite as impressive as the iPhone’s Haptic engine — but it’s among the XZ2’s headline features. The XZ2 will be available in black, silver, green (which looks rather blue, as you can see above), or pink. Pricing and release date will come later.

XZ2 COMPACT

For those who prefer smaller smartphones, Sony is introducing the XZ2 Compact with a 5-inch screen. It shares many hardware specs with the flagship phone: you get the Snapdragon 845 and same camera capabilities. But you lose the Dynamic Vibration System, and the back of the XZ2 Compact is plastic instead of glass. Unfortunately, the smaller model lacks wireless charging altogether.

So Sony has new phones with a bit of design spark and powerful internals. But there’s no telling whether that will be enough to reverse the company’s ailing mobile situation — especially in the US, where carriers like Verizon and AT&T stopped carrying Sony’s devices years ago. Oddly, Sony says the XZ2 Compact will be certified for use on Verizon when it launches, but the same doesn’t seem to be true of the flagship. (Both phones will support AT&T and T-Mobile.)

The smaller XZ2 Compact has a plastic back instead of glass, but it lacks wireless charging.

If the plan is to once again exclusively sell the XZ2 unlocked, it won’t have much hope against the flagship smartphones you can walk into a carrier store and buy. It’s good to finally see a revamped look, but there’s little that makes Sony stand out versus the Galaxy S9.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Sony appears to have packed its latest flagships, the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact, with every bit of tech it could find lying around its R&D lab.

The 5.7-inch XZ2 is the bigger of the two phones, but while the 5-inch Compact may be smaller, it still shares almost all of the same key specs. Wireless charging is finally available on a Sony phone, but that's limited only to the full-size XZ2.

The rear cameras on both phones not only shoot HDR video for even exposure and rich colours, but do so at 4K resolution. They shoot super slow motion footage too -- something we've seen on Sony's existing phones -- but the resolution has been bumped from 720p to full HD.

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Sony Xperia's XZ2 and XZ2 Compact unveiled at MWC 2018

Sony says it developed the camera firmware in partnership with Qualcomm to optimise the images for better low light performance, too. It's also brought the 3D face-mapping feature from the rear camera to the front, allowing you to quickly create a 3D selfie. (Why you'd want to is another matter entirely.)

Beyond the camera, both phones have been given a much needed design update. While previous Xperias had fat bezels that made the screens look squashed in, these new variants stretch the displays right to the edges of the phone. It's particularly important on the XZ2 Compact as it means that 5-inch display fits in a chassis that's extremely comfortable to use with even one hand.

They're made of metal and glass and are waterproof down to 1.5 meters (5 feet) for up to 30 minutes. Realistically, that means they're both safe from spilled drinks or accidental drops in the kitchen sink.

Sony hasn't yet revealed any pricing for the phones, but you can bet they won't come cheap. That said, with so much top-end tech on board, and a more up-to-date design, that price may be justified.

I find the Compact particularly exciting as it will be the most powerful smaller phone around -- ideal if the idea of wrapping your hand around the giant Galaxy Note 8 doesn't appeal.

Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact key specs

• 5.7-inch display (XZ2)
• 5-inch display (XZ2 Compact)
• 19-megapixel rear camera
• 5-megapixel front camera
• Android 8.0 Oreo software
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor
• 4GB RAM
• 64GB storage
• MicroSD card expandable up to 400GB
• Fingerprint scanner on the back
• Gorilla Glass 5 on front and back
• QI Wireless charging (XZ2 only)