Sony's latest flagship Android phone is an absolute powerhouse with a great camera and screen, though its large size creates a serious tradeoff in usability

Sony’s Xperia Z2 is an update to the Z1, its flagship released just six months ago. It's slimmer, lighter and stretches the screen all while adding 4K video capture.

The Sony Xperia Z2 is quite clearly what its predecessor should have been the first time round. It's also Sony’s latest weapon in its war with Apple, Samsung and HTC - more the latter than the former two, as its phone sales put it third in the UK in 2013 with an 11% market share, trailing Samsung with 37% and Apple with 22%, but ahead of HTC's 5%, according to data from research firm IDC.

Monolithic design

Sony has stuck to its “omni-balance” design for the Xperia Z2, with a front and back slabs of glass surrounded by aluminium edging. It looks simple and well-designed and feels solid in the hand.



There are clear elements of design pulled from Sony's other products such the multi-coloured LED-strip notification light on the top, reminiscent of the PS4's controller, and the slab-like design, pulled straight from Sony's TVs.

The screen and back glass plates are sunk into the aluminium edging, keeping them off the deck when laid flat on a table. The texturised metal overhang also provides a slightly sharp ridge that makes the Xperia Z2 much less slippery to hold than its predecessor and some other glass-clad smartphones such as the LG-made Google Nexus 4.

Sony Xperia Z2 review Photograph: Sony

All of Sony’s high-end smartphones and tablets have been waterproof for the past couple of years and the Xperia Z2 is no exception. Its IP 68 rating means it will resist a 1.5m submersion for up to 30 minutes, rather than simply immersion to 1m like the competing Samsung Galaxy S5, but that comes with some design compromises.

While the headphones port is open, the micro-USB charging port and the microSD and micro-SIM slots are protected by rubber-sealed doors. The gaskets fit snugly, but charging the device every night will inevitably lead to wear and a break of the seal over the lifetime of the phone. Opening the door and plugging in the connector is also quite fiddly - but the Z2 has Sony’s magnetic charging port, for those that want to avoid having to hook up the phone via micro-USB each night. You can slot the phone into a charging dock, removing the need to fiddle with the door - but you have to buy it separately.

Sony Xperia Z2 review Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Screen: big, bright and bold

The Xperia Z2 has the largest screen of the big new three flagship smartphones. Its 5.2in size means the device is very wide indeed – a good 5mm wider than the HTC One M8 for instance – which makes holding on to the Z2 and reaching its entire screen area with the same hand a challenge. I found it just a bit too big for comfortable use, which its blocky, monolithic design exacerbates.



If you're looking to upgrade from an iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S2 or 3 after a two-year contract, the Z2 will feel gargantuan. But the same could be said for the majority of the flagship smartphones available today.

Sony Xperia Z2 review – a stretch to hold one-handed. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Forgetting its sheer size, the Z2’s screen is fantastic. It has very wide viewing angles, the colours are crisp and rich, and it's sharp and accurate, making text easy on the eyes. The details and colours in videos and photos look especially good. The gap between the glass cover and the display beneath is also very thin, making the screen feel much closer to your fingers as you touch it - reminiscent of Apple’s newest iPhones which use IPS (In-Plane Switching) touchscreens.

Sony has followed HTC’s lead. The Z2 has stereo front-facing speakers bracketing the screen which are loud, clear and a big step forward - if a bit tinny compared to the HTC One M8’s larger BoomSound speakers.

Specifications

Screen: 5.2in full HD IPS LCD



Processor: 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801



RAM: 3GB of RAM



Storage: 16GB



Operating system: Android 4.4 “Kitkat”



Camera: 20.7MP rear camera, 2.2MP front-facing camera



Connectivity: LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 with BLE and GPS



Dimensions: 146.8 x 73.3 x 8.2mm



Weight: 163g

Powerful with a massive battery

The Sony Xperia Z2 uses the same chip from Qualcomm (the Snapdragon 801) as the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 making it just as quick.

That means the Z2 is powerful, fast and lag-free, with graphically intensive games running smoothly and apps launching almost instantly. It is also relatively light on the battery: I found it lasted a good day and half on a single charge under heavy usage without activating any of the power-saving modes.

Sony Xperia Z2 review Photograph: Sony

The large 3,200 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery – 400mAh more than the Galaxy S5 and over twice the size of the iPhone 5S’s 1,570mAh battery – can be extended much further. When you activate Sony's Stamina mode, a battery that's 50% full will provide an estimated three days life by freezing background apps and turning off Wi-Fi and mobile data when the screen is off. A separate "low battery" mode is also available which will turn power-hungry features off to eke out even more time once the battery charge is below 20%.

Sony’s power saving modes aren’t quite as aggressive as HTC’s or Samsung’s new super-low power modes, which limit what the smartphone can do and turn the display to black and white for instance.

For the storage-minded, the Z2 also has a microSD card slot for adding up to 64GB more storage for movies, photos and music.

Attractive, useful tweaks

Sony makes some subtle customisations to the standard Android experience on all of its devices. While most are cosmetic, the small functional tweaks are almost uniformly useful. There aren't unnecessary lag-inducing animations, and the overall look of the interface is clean and understated.

Sony Xperia Z2 review

Sony has integrated "theming" into its additions to Android, so the look and feel of the device can be customised way beyond simply changing the background. Menu buttons, status bar, lockscreen and lots of small interface elements can all be changed using downloadable themes. Some are improvements and some are simply hideous, but there’s no accounting for taste.

One of the most useful additions has to be the Stamina mode mentioned above, which is twinned with a battery icon that can contain the battery remaining percentage within it. (Normally, the percentage figure sits beside the icon, crowding the status bar.) It is a very small thing, but makes a big difference.

Users can also adjust the status bar contents to hide unnecessary icons, while the quick settings panel under the notifications pull-down menu adds a host of useful controls for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC among other settings that canbe configured and re-ordered.

The Xperia Z2 also has an added tap-to-wake gesture - double- tap the screen to wake the device. The HTC One M8 also has this, and it's easily one of my favourite features for large screen smartphones.

Sony’s apps also come preinstalled on the Z2, including the Walkman app and Sony’s music and movie subscription services. They're decent, but can be safely ignored if a user already has Netflix subscription or other preferred app or service.

One app worth mentioning is Sony’s Smart Connect app, which automatically puts the Z2 on silent when plugged into the mains at night – or at any other time-, hardware- or event-defined quick settings. You can define a whole host of custom actions to speed up everyday tasks such as switching from silent vibrate to a "loud" sound profile when you plug in headphones, or turning on Wi-Fi when you get to work.

Camera

The Xperia Z2’s camera is one of the best available. Its 20.7-megapixel sensor might seem like overkill on a smartphone, but the images look stunning.

By default, the Z2 takes care of the settings. Simply point and shoot, using touch to focus or the dedicated shutter button using "Superior Auto" mode. Manual mode provides adjustments for a whole host of settings including the white balance, ISO, HDR and metering.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sony Xperia Z2 review - Camera apps.

Sony’s also included a load of fancy camera apps that allow fun effects like background defocus (very similar to Samsung’s selective focus), insert dinosaurs into a picture, or use the "Timeshift" burst mode (which captures about 30 frames per second) to capture a series of images in rapid succession before and after the user hits the shutter button to grab the best shot. (How does it know when to start capturing before you touch the button? Because it begins capturing as soon as it's activated, but only saves footage from the second before you touch the button.)

There are also boosted video camera features, including the ability to capture 4K ultra-high-definition video (though that isn't the default) and slow-motion video. Sony has also brought its SteadyShot image stabilisation technology from its camcorder range, which makes shooting handheld video on the Z2 much easier removing the shakes. For most people, 4K will be overkill (and quickly eat up storage); it's more a gimmick than a feature.

Noise cancelling

The Xperia Z2 is the first smartphone with active noise-cancelling technology integrated into its body for use with a special headset. The headset contains microphones that monitor incoming noise and send it back to the Z2, which then blends in noise cancellation to whatever is being played.

Active noise-cancelling is not a new thing, but normally it requires headsets with a bulky battery and electronics pack attached to the headphone wire. Sony has squeezed the circuitry and software into the Z2, removing the bulk that normally makes noise-cancelling earphones bulky or heavy.

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Because the noise cancelling control system is built into the phone, you can select an appropriate profile for the noise to block out - the options are planes, trains, buses and the office - which makes the technology much more effective. I found the office setting to be particularly effective at blocking out the hubbub of an open-plan office, much more so than most other noise-cancelling ear or headphones.

The sound quality of the included noise-cancelling earbuds has good dynamic range and solid bass. The only detractor is that they do not have an in-line music control remote, as is common on mobile phone headsets (because the auxiliary channel that would control it is used for the sound feedback); you'll have to control it on the phone. If you use other headphones which do have a mic and/or music remote, they will work as on other phones.

Pricing: like a Samsung

The Xperia Z2 costs £560 in black, white or purple without a mobile phone contract, making it £10 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S5, but £29 more than the Apple iPhone 5S, £39 more than the new HTC One M8 and £269 more than Google’s own Nexus 5 smartphone.



Sony Xperia Z2 review Photograph: /Sony

Verdict: great phone for big hands

There is no doubt that the Sony Xperia Z2 is a great phone, and is what its short-lived predecessor the Z1 should have been.

It is powerful, packed with features and has a great-looking large screen making it a hefty upgrade from two years ago.

But that large size makes the phone a big beast. The monolithic, hard-edged design adds to the size, making it more difficult to handle one-handed than most other smaller flagship smartphones like the HTC One M8 or Google Nexus 5.

Compared with smartphones of two years ago, the Z2 is gigantic despite being thin.

If the size is not an issue (and before deciding that I recommend getting into a store and holding one for a bit) the Z2 is the complete high-end smartphone package. It’s built with premium materials, capable of capturing stunning photos, powerful enough to handle anything you can throw at it and will last all day on a single charge.

It’s just a shame that Sony just didn’t stick with a 5in screen and concentrate on shrinking the Z2‘s overall footprint. The 5.2in screen makes the phone difficult to handle and veers dangerously into phablet territory. You could argue that the Z2 is a phablet - at least by IDC's definition, which is a phone with a screen size of 5in or more. Whether it is or not isn't important. But a smaller screen would have been better.

Pros: great screen, waterproof, powerful camera, long battery life, built-in noise cancelling, premium materials Cons: fiddly doors for ports, wide footprint makes it difficult to hold one handed, heavier than some competitors

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