Sony’s new smartphone, the Xperia XA2 has an incredibly elegant design, a good battery life and great day-to-day performance. Even better – its camera is fantastic and the phone is just beautifully sleek.
The XA2 features a high-resolution 23MP camera sensor that you can safely say outperforms any of its competitors, although you need to know what you’re doing; it’s not simple to use immediately.
The phone has a 5.2-inch screen, which some might find too small but it was perfect for me. It’s thicker than the XA1 as it has a larger battery and, while it’s lightweight it’s not so light that you would choose the XA2 for that feature. What you should choose this phone for is the camera.
Sony calls it the ‘ultimate selfie camera’ and it really is great for photos, particularly indoors and especially for selfie-lovers. Similar to the Xperia XA1, the XA2 features a high-res 23MP sensor, which makes it great for indoor photography. Sony describes the XA2 features as ‘cutting edge technology’ and it’s one of the best I’ve used.
The camera technology includes a powerful 23MP rear camera with Sony’s large 1/2.3” Exmor RSTM for mobile image sensor, an ISO 12800 sensitivity for clear low-light photography, 4K video recording, and 120fps slow-motion video capture.
As for the selfie feature – the XA2 features the ultimate selfie hack – a 120° super wide-angle 8MP front camera, making it easy to capture more of your friends or family members, as well as capturing a bigger backdrop in the frame.
When it comes to the overall design, I love the ‘borderless’ look, which features a 5.2” full HD display of Corning Gorilla Glass, and a one-touch rear fingerprint sensor in the metallic-back panel. The phone is made up of anodised aluminium on the sides and a diamond-cut finish on the top and bottom, an evolution of the recognisable Xperia ‘loop surface’ form.
Performance-wise, the XA2 features Android 8.0 Oreo software, a 3,300 mAh battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform, and Sony smart-charging technologies, including Smart Stamina for extended usage. It also features Battery Care and Qnovo Adaptive Charging for prolonged battery health. Quick charging capability also gives hours of power with just minutes of charging requires a Quick Charger UCH12W).
This is one of Sony’s more affordable models yet Sony hasn’t cut corners, for example, there’s a fingerprint scanner on the back, it’s incredibly reliable and while it doesn’t have a very wide aspect ratio screen, it’s considerably more high-res than the previous model.
When it comes to accessories, there’s a new leather-look Style Cover Stand which is adjustable to stand independently for video playback, as well as automatically pausing or sleeping the device when closed. (The Style Cover Stand is available in black and silver through Sony Kiosks and online for RRP $53 AUD.)
Also, you can power up quickly with the Sony Quick Charger UCH12W. Using Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and MediaTek Pump Express Plus 2.0 technology you can plug in for a few minutes and get hours of phone use. The Quick Charger comes with easy-plug USB Type-C1 and Micro-B cables, (available through Sony Kiosks and online for RRP $49 AUD.)
The Sony Experia XA2 RRP $549 available from JB Hi-Fi, Sony stores and online
