Sony's latest flagship phone is here, the Sony Xperia 5 II. As is usual for a Sony handset, the screen and the camera are the stars of this particular show, though it also comes with plenty of power under the hood and will have a certain appeal for mobile gamers.
With a screen size of 6.1 inches, the Xperia 5 II is relatively compact by today's standards. That OLED display runs at a 2,520 x 1,080 pixel resolution, and it's good to see a 120-Hz refresh rate too – one of the reasons you might buy this phone for gaming.
Another reason is the 240-Hz touch scanning rate that should mean your frantic taps are registered instantly. There's also 240-Hz motion blur reduction technology here, and if past Xperias are anything to go by, this will be a quality screen.
Inside the phone everything is powered by a Snapdragon 865 processor, and that's matched up with 8 GB of RAM and either 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage. Those are top-tier Android specs for 2020, even if the Snapdragon 865 Plus is now out and available in other handsets.
The quality of Sony's camera sensors is not in doubt – which is why it sells them to so many other phone makers. Here there's a triple-lens, 12-MP + 12-MP + 12-MP camera on the back, and both ultrawide shots and 3x optical zoom are included. On paper, it should be able to compete with the best phone cameras in the business.
Sony is pushing the camera's real-time eye autofocus and burst shot features as extra ways of getting that perfect snap, while it's the first phone that we've seen to be capable of 120 frames per second slow motion movies that also support 4K and HDR processing.
The phone comes with a pair of stereo speakers and a headphone jack, and there's a 4,000-mAh battery packed inside. Sony hasn't made any claims about battery life, but given the size and resolution of the display, it should be decent enough. Thanks to the integrated fast charging, you'll apparently be able to get a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes, though there's no wireless charging.
The Xperia 5 II has an IP65/68 rating and will survive 30 minutes in water at a depth of 1.5 m (nearly 5 ft). There's no 5G on board though, even though the Snapdragon 865 supports it, and the software is Android 10 rather than the brand new Android 11.
Sony continues to leverage its expertise in digital cameras and televisions to improve its phones, and that might help the Xperia 5 II stand out in a crowded market. Pre-orders open in the US on September 29, with shipping expected in December, and the phone will cost you a rather hefty US$950.
Product page: Sony Xperia 5 II
