Sony Xperia Z2 review: style and substance

The bad:

Only an iterative improvement

Size too big for most hands

There are used to be three really great phones on the market. But nowSamsung’s Galaxy S5, HTC’s One and Apple’s iPhone 5S are joined bySony’s Xperia Z2. It’s the phone the original Z1 should have been in the first place. In short, there’s now a great screen and a superb camera paired with the processing power it deserves, and a water-resistant design that is as robust as smartphones get.

Same great design

In many ways, the Z2 is not all that different from its predecessor. Its design is practically identical, and that for many means it remains the best looking Android phone on the market. The glass and aluminium construction may show up the smudges and scratches, but it’s almost on a par with the iPhone. Few really like the S5’s plastic, even if that device aims to be a gateway to wearable smartwatches and fitness bands as much as it is a phone. The new HTC One’s curving metal design is the closest rival to the Z2 and I’d go with the Z2 myself. If there’s a downside, it’s that the rectangular design makes the Z2 feel bigger in the hand than its rivals and that the water resistance necessitates infuriating flaps to cover the charging jack.

Perhaps the Z2 Compact will be the real star, if the Z1 Compact is anything to go by. At 5.2”, the big Z2 screen is lovely but unwieldy. And thanks to those slightly sharper corners, it feels less manageable than a Galaxy Note 3, which adds more tablety features for those who want a supersize phone.

Picture perfect

The 20MP camera remains the star feature and it produces pictures that can be better than the Galaxy S5. It is certainly higher resolution than the iPhone. Default modes, annoyingly, dial the resolution back to just 8MP but you can take control of a wide range of controls yourself and get a level of detail that can easily be blown up to big screens or prints. The iPhone, however, retains the better processing for its pictures, making everything look somehow brighter without looking unrealistic, while the Z2 can produce photographs that tend to look cold. The S5 produces a level of detail that can surpass the Z2 and its autofocus doesn’t fuss around to such an extent that it sometimes loses the picture. But that should be fixable in a Z2 software update. Shooting 4K video is a useful feature, and almost certainly much higher resolution than your TV can display.

Latest software

And speaking of software, the Z2 also runs the very latest version of Android, KitKat, and like the HTC it dials back the cluttered skins that manufacturers once wanted to plaster all over Android. You still get Sony’s Entertainment Network products for music and film if you want them, but these are not foisted upon you and they’re genuinely beneficial. Too much, as Samsung discovered, and such additions get in the way but for now Sony gets it just right. So you get the best of Google Now and other Android features baked in to the heart of a great phone.

The 2.3GHz processor and 3GB of RAM make this a phone that flies along, bar the occasional stutter starting the camera, and I saw none of the overheating issues that allegedly pushed the launch back from early April to May. Shooting 4K video did make it warm, though. And while I’ve never found a phone that lasted me a whole day’s use, the Z2 lasts slightly longer than the S5 and a lot longer than the iPhone.

Verdict

Attempting to choose between any of the very latest smartphones is to dance slightly pointlessly on the head of a pin – the iPhone, S5, HTC One and Z2 are all excellent devices. Nokia too is coming up fast. But Samsung and Apple both pitch themselves increasingly as a gateway to apps and devices, while HTC and Sony focus on design. Both will offer more wearable devices in the near future. For now the Z2 is a device that can’t be bettered for photography fans who want detailed adjustment of settings, and offers a unique, appealing design that should serve Sony well.