When a big conference such as Mobile World Congress comes along there are so many new device announcements that it is easy for a manufacturer to be outshone or forgotten about. This year so far it has all been about the Samsung Galaxy S9 but not to be overshadowed, Sony are looking to announce their best looking device in a long time, the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact.
The new Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact are rumoured to be unveiled on the eve of MWC 2018 in Barcelona and tonight Evan Blass has shown them off to the world. After sticking with their extremely tired old design language for so long (and suffering because of it) Sony have finally entered the full-screen world with the Xperia XZ2 smartphones.
The phones appear to finally be the full screen devices that we are now seeing all manufacturers switch to with minimal bezels on the front of the device. The large bezels of recent Sony phones appear to be gone and the new design looks sleek and stylish, something Sony have traditionally done well at.
With both devices sporting the new 18:9 display ratio the Xperia XZ2 will have a 5.7 inch FHD display and the Xperia XZ2 Compact a 5 inch FHD display. With an aluminium frame the front and rear of the Xperia XZ2 will be covered with 3D glass (we assume Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides but the front at least will be Gorilla Glass 5) whereas the Xperia XZ2 Compact will come in a less-premium polycarbonate finish. The Xperia XZ2 will come in a glossy black, silver, green and pink.
The Xperia XZ2 will come with a single rear 19MP f/1.8 camera, as found on the XZ Premium. It will still be capable of recording in 4K HDR with super slow motion capture in FHD resolution. The Xperia XZ2 Compact will house a different camera but the details have not yet been revealed. The rear of the devices will also house the fingerprint sensor.
Both smartphones will be powered by the all new Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and house stereo front-facing speakers with the Xperia XZ2 (but not the Compact) also syncing the haptic feedback vibrations to the sound of the device. The Xperia XZ2 will house a 3180mAh battery which will be charged either wirelessly or through the USB-C charging port. The Xperia XZ2 Compact will not have the wireless charging and will only have a 2870mAh battery inside.
Both phones will run Android 8.0 Oreo at release, meaning that they will support Project Treble. Hopefully this means many fast and trouble-free updates in the future.
Finally Sony have changed their design to something more modern. After becoming incredibly stale in recent times their sales have suffered. Hopefully this all new, clean design will bring a change of fortune for Sony’s smartphone sales. All will be revealed in Barcelona this Sunday evening and we will be there to cover it in person and obtain all the local availability and pricing details.
Stay tuned to Ausdroid for all the Aussie flavour of all the MWC 2018 announcements in the coming days. We are four-strong on the floor in Barcelona so will bring to you much more than ever before.
Are you impressed? Would you consider this for your next smartphone? Has Sony found their mojo?
#bringbackthebezel
Sony always seems to be the “nearly” phone company. This looks nice. Hopefully they can ship it soon unlike what they normally do which is announce and ship in three months time.