As announced last week, Sony’s new flagship smartphone, the Xperia 5 II, is now officially out.
As is typical of Sony’s smartphones, the Xperia 5 II has a strong photography emphasis, with a triple rear camera with three focal lengths: 16/24/70 millimeters. Sony obviously doesn’t think megapixels are very important so it never mentions them, instead focusing on what these cameras can do. That includes very fast shooting at 20fps for those sports shots, zooming in, and portrait shots, as well as 4K HDR 120fps slow-motion video and 21:9 video shooting at up to 60fps.
Sony Xperia 5 II has IP65/68 water resistance.
Design-wise, the Xperia 5 II is a fairly interesting phone because it’s not huge like most Android phones these days. It has a 21:9, 6.1-inch display, making it significantly smaller than the massive Xperia 1 II. Oh, and it’s an OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate, making it on par with other top phone displays, though it still has an unsightly chin, top and bottom. Both the front and the rear panel are made of Corning Gorilla Glass 6.
Other specs are pretty great: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 with 5G, a 4,000mAh battery with fast charging, stereo speakers, high-res sound, a 3.5-millimeter audio jack (YES!), IP65/68 water resistance.
Sony has positioned the Xperia 5 II as a gaming machine, too.
Some specs haven’t been revealed, but Sony is smart not to focus on specs. Besides the phone’s photography-related features, the company is positioning the Xperia 5 II as a gaming machine. The phone has a 240Hz touch scanning rate, motion blur reduction, and touch response has been improved 35 percent compared to the Xperia 1 II model. With its wide and narrow display, the Xperia 5 II should be ideal for horizontal gaming, but you can also connect a PlayStation Dualshock controller to the phone for added comfort.
The Sony Xperia 5 II will become available in the fall for €899 ($1,060). It comes in three colors: Black, Blue, and Grey, with color availability varying by country.