Sony Xperia Z2 Smartphone Review

[Raj]

Xperia Series by Sony, symbolize durability and powerful devices. It brings unique range of Smartphone's which are high end and costly. Sony Xperia Z2 is the last one. This device fulfill a lot of requirement when it comes to high end usage. You have a super cool camera, durable design, and lots of impressive feature that makes this device a very costly one. Xperia Z2 brings a good screen quality. You have a phablet size screen with ultra smooth touch support. It has very accurate screen. The design still brings waterproof and dustproof features. It is a complete locked device where the ports and slots are on the body with flaps. Most of the things are similar compare to old Xperia series. It is a bulky device to hold. It is sold for Rs.45000 approx online on Flipkart. There are different variants available at different prices. the one that we will going to test today is purple. Xperia Z2 is a performance device with great camera features. You get the latest android operating system with high end hardware to run almost any app or game on it.

Xperia Z series is designed to give you a dual features of Smartphone and point to shoot camera. With 20.7MP camera, Xperia Z2 still stands ahead in picture quality compare to other devices. But a mobile has its own limitations. Sony does not keeps the android UI limited to the stock features. They had integrated TouchWiz, the proprietary UI which is more useful but a bit heavy on the battery life. Other than camera, Xperia Z is also an amazing multimedia phone. Good speaker, quality great hd video output, etc makes it an ideal choice for multimedia. The sound quality is very impressive. To some extent the device justify the cost. It is a great multi-purpose phablet. A thing that this phone lack is dual sim slot. We will checkout all its features in more details but before that just have a look on the specification.

Specification:

• Display: 5.2 inches Capacitive IPS Display with Full HD 1920x1080 resolution.
• OS: Android 4.4 KitKat Operating System.
• CPU: 2.3 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm MSM8974AB
• GPU: Adreno 330
• Memory: 3GB RAM
• Camera: 20.7 MP Primary Camera with 8x digital zoom. Supported by LED Flash. 2.2MP Secondary camera for video chatting.
• Internal Storage: Up to 16GB. Expandable upto 128 GB through micro sd card.
• SIM: Single micro SIM
• Weight: 163 grams
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient light, Barometer, Game rotation vector, Geomagnetic rotation vector, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Step counter, Step detector, Significant motion detector & Proximity.
• Battery (Embedded): 3200 mAh minimum

Package: The package content of Sony Xperia Z2 offers you a Premium Cover, Sony Smartband SWR-10, Headset, Charger with detachable usb cable and manuals. The box that we received was having headset, usb cable and smartband.

[Raj]

Design:

Sony Xperia Z2 is a waterproof and dust proof phone. It is durable and has good design. It looks a bit big in size to hold. And the surface is slippery. This is due to glossy flash finish on the backside. It looks there are three layers in the body consist of back cover with middle layer that has a aluminum frame and the gloss cover the screen. Xperia Z2 has curved shape design. The phone is thick and weigh around 163gram. You can feel the weight when you hold that in your hand. Inside the box you will get premium cover that can protect the phone from shock and damages. A few time while holding I found the slippery. 5.7inch screen at the front is easier to operate with two hands. Waterproof and Dust proof design makes you carefree while using it. You don't have to worry about carrying the phone in rain or near pool. Remember to close the flaps tightly. You will get a screen notification when the flaps are open. No doubt Sony Xperia Z2 has a excellent build quality. It is a stunning and sleek phone but a bit heavy.

Front:

At front lies a 5.7inch HD screen powered by the Triluminos display & X-Reality technology. This two things is common in many Xperia series. This provide you a real life like effects on the screen. images are very sharp and clean with rich colors. Xperia Z2 has an amazing HD screen.

There are three things on the front top part. A proximity and light sensor at the left side. The middle lies speaker which has a notification led in it. And at the right side there is a 2.2MP front camera. At the bottom lies three capacity keys with speaker and microphone at the extreme bottom. There are dual speakers in Sony Xperia Z2 that produce a very clean and loud audio.

Left Side:

At the left top you can see a flap that has Micro USB port and Micro SIM slot. There is a single sim slot available in Xperia Z2. The slot has a tray on which you have to place the sim and fit. Do check the manual for the process of adding sim. Below that is a Charging Dock Connector.

Right Side:

There are total 4 things on the right side. The first one is the memory card slot with flap on it. You can use upto 128GB of expandable storage on the device. Below that lies the silver round shape power key and below that lies the volume key. There is a dedicated camera key also provided. Being a camera phone, camera key is helpful when you are taking photos. You don't have to tap on the screen that shakes the balance.

[Raj]

Top/Bottom:

One the top side you can see a 3.5mm audio jack with second microphone. And at the bottom the first microphone with strap hole in the corner.

Backside:

The camera placement is at the top left. Sometime when you hold the phone your fingers can easily interrupt the scene. Most of the device I had seen has a camera placed at the center top with flash. But Sony keeps that at the extreme top left which is a bit uncomfortable to use. There is a 20.7MP camera with flash and NFC in the center.

UI & Features:

Sony Xperia Z2 comes with latest Android 4.4 Kitkat operating system. recently a new update was released that reduce the overheating issue of the device. this thing is common in Xperia Z1 also. I had tested the device before and while playing games or watching movie the device gets hot. This can be due to its compact design and lots of similar high end android Smartphone deal with heating problem. Xperia Z2 runs on TouchWiz UI. It is smart and fast responsive. But Sony load the device with lots of apps that are not needed. A few of them cannot be removed. Customized UI makes the phone a lot more easier to use. You have so many benefits compared to the stock Android operating system. The device already comes loaded with a lot amount of application. Few of them belong to Sony. Xperia Z2 is extremely easy to use and customize.

To modify the home screen you have to hold on for few seconds and you can get a customization menu. from where you can ad and remove various things. It is divided into four parts. Widgets, Apps, Wallpapers and Themes. For app drawer you have to swipe from the left side to open up a side bar menu. This allow you to arrange, uninstall or sort apps as per your need. You can directly go in Google Play Store or on Sony Select from here.

[Raj]

A few pre-installed apps in Sony Xperia Z2 is handy to use. Like you can use Xperia Lounge to get some latest information around the globe. it works well on high speed internet connection. Most of it consist of multimedia files that can save you for getting bored. Just tap or navigate through different videos and enjoy some good content. There is a vip access available that allow you to play few contest and win prizes. You can use Sony LIV to watch popular shows in your region. You have to create account on the same. And you can stream popular TV shows of your region. You can use Bigflix to have latest movies on your device. But this is a subscription based app which might not give you full access without paying. Still you have a lot of things to checkout on this. There is a amazing picture editor app called as Pixlr Express. After taking some good photos from your camera you can use this add effects or make collage.

In the same way you can also use Sketch app. Xperia Z2 supports stylus. you can use the phone screen as canvas to doodle or to draw some art. You can also add photos and write on them. It is a fun app. You can do lot more on that. It is recommended to use a stylus on the same. You can make your images more funny or adorable and share them with your friends. There is one more app called as What's New which deliver you some latest apps and games on your phone. This is again a good way to avoid boring time.

A few productivity apps available are WisePilot app. This is for navigation. You can add direction in that and through gps it will show you accurate way. You can directly search for restaurant in your nearby area and locate direction. It is not very accurate but works well to find local railway station, bus stop, etc. You can try using TrackID to locate a song info, Play Newsstand, Playstation app, Sony Select, News from SocialLife, etc. Xperia Z2 is loaded with many helpful app which are wroth to try. For communication Xperia Z2 has a Noise suppression mic. It makes your voice clear so that other person can hear you. It also has a talk equalizer and voice enhancement support. this makes your call very clear to listen even when you are in noisy environment.

The keyboard is simple to use. Due to big size screen you get enough space to type on it. You can personalize the keyboard as per your need. It has predictive text input on through which you can type a lot more faster. It learns through your typing. You can tell the keyboard how to work. By tapping on customize you can make settings as per your need. It also supports different languages and lots of smiley's.

[Raj]

Camera:

Camera is the prime highlight on Xperia Z2. A 20.7MP camera is really high. It can give you crystal clear images in hd resolution instantly. But it is essential that while taking photos don't shake your hand much. Or else images will be blurry. Especially when you are trying to take a focus shot. The flash help a little bit in taking brighter images in night. Using too many flash can cause fast battery drain. So use that wisely. to give you blur free images, Sony has added a G Lens in it with Exmore RS Sensor. This allow you to take clear pictures at a high shutter speed. And to give you stable images it also has a BIONZ engine. This one take are about moving objects. The overall camera quality is very nice and the default camera app brings a lot of thing. Through 8X digital zoom you can take long distance photos clearly. Keeping things on Auto focus is the best option. You do not have to mess with the settings much and the camera adjust itself based on light condition. while taking selfies you can turn on face detection. The front facing camera is also enough for taking a few good close up shots. It s capable of giving you 1080p full resolution but you have to be in more light to get clear pictures.

The camera app is just amazing. It brings out various effects and ways to capture different photos in different modes. I am quite sure you will really enjoy taking photos from Xperia Z1. Above you can see glimpse of all effects in it. If you set the same on Superior Auto the camera manages to take pictures on auto settings. and if you are trying to take the same images under a very low light condition, images will be more grainy. better light means better and clear pictures. The app gives you few extra things to make your video and images more amazing. Like you have a 4K video section from where you can take high quality videos instantly. You can use Timeshift to record videos on very high frame rate and apply different effects on the same. Background Defocus is a new thing. You can take clear close up shots from that and defocus the background. Creative effect add some artistic effects on the images giving you pro dlsr features. Each feature in the camera app is worth to test.

Performance:

Sony Xperia Z is powered Qualcomm MSM8974AB chipset. This brings a quad core 2.3Ghz Krait 400 processor, a 450Mhz Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB RAM. A very high end hardware that can run various apps and games smoothly. The phone is great for hd gaming also. You can play almost all types of game on it. And at the same time you can also run different apps in the background. Till yet I had not notice any performance issue on the device. I had tested many hd videos on it, played games like Real Racing, Asphalt, etc that worked well. The phone is ideal for all kind of usage. Multi-tasking is really smooth on it. Xperia Z2 has a lag free performance. but the device gets hot while playing games within few minutes.

The default audio/video player are enough to run different multimedia file format. You can do have to use any third party software on the same. Sony offers, Walkman the default audio player and Movie the video payer app. This apps supports lan sharing. That means if you had connected the device on your home or office wifi, you can access the shared folders in it. You can stream movies, music and files on it and it works really fast. The audio quality is improved due to 3D Surround Sound (VPT) support and you can make it more louder by Xloud. You can enable this from the settings. Xperia Z2 is capable of giving you High definition audio.

The screen is also great for reading eBooks. You can checkout news, and read them clearly. You don't have to put strain on your eyes to identify the text. You can zoom in to read more clearly but the screen gets occupied in that. Reading chat messaging, checking out facebook status, etc is an amazing experience on Xperia Z2. No doubt this phone has one of the best display quality. Leaving multimedia aside, if you just want to use the phone for texting, emailing then you have the best option. Every text is clear and crisp. You can use Chrome for checking different sites on the. You can use the info eye from Camera to find out information on any object directly by clicking its photo.

Battery:

Xperia Z2 runs on 3200 mAH battery. As per the specification the device you get around 15hours of talk time on the same. And if you go with a mixed usage like camera, gaming, multimedia, etc then you can get a entire day usage. I am quite impressed with the battery output. It is good if you can keep a few things off if you want to increase the battery life. Like you can turn off xLoud, xReality, etc features. This will add more life. And you can use the stamina mode directly from the settings to increase your battery life more. The power management section from settings will give you the estimate battery file depending on your usage. Ti offer you two modes to use. First is Stamina mode and second is Low Battery mode. Each of this can be personalize as per your need.

Conclusion:

Sony Xperia Z2 is a good phone. But Sony has yet not able to locate solution for heating issue. It gets a bit uncomfortable to hold the phone if gets hot from the backside. And this happen mostly when you are streaming a video from lan or internet and while playing games. And this happens within a few minute. This one of the biggest drawback of this device. Sony has packed the device with all things you need. You have a amazing camera to use, you can expand the storage to 128GB, you can simply run any game or app on the same. And it works well without lagging. Above all, the battery life is well optimized to work for long period. I am quite sure if you use the phone wisely you don't have to carry a power bank with you. Adding a cover is good because of slippery back. if you hand is wet, it can slip off. The durable design already is enough to protect the phone for water damage. The device cost around Rr.45000 approx depending on the color you are buying. I had seen different price for different variants.

Pros

• Great Performance
• Good Battery Life
• Best Quality Screen
• Best Camera

Cons

• Single Micro Sim Slot
• Slippery Back panel
• Gets hot instantly on gaming or video streaming
• Not easy to use sim slot.