Review Sony Xperia Series XA2 Ultra - Great Camera, Dated Design

Key features are a 6 inch FHD screen with Snapdragon 630, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, and a 3.580 mAh battery. The main disadvantage we see is the date design.

Let's see, see our full review.

Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra Specs

Display: FHD 6 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD Image Editing Technology with 2.5D curved glass and Gorilla Glass protection at 367 ppi
CPU: 2.2GHz 64-bit Processor Snapdragon 630 octa-core
GPU: Adreno 508
RAM: 4GB
ROM: 64GB can be upgraded via microSD card slot up to 256GB (special)
Rear Camera: 23MP f / 2.0 1 / 2.3-inch Exmor RS sensor with Hybrid AF, SteadyShot, and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 16MP Sensor 1/2 "Exmor RS f / 2.0 w / OIS + 8MP f / 2.4 1/4-inch Exmor R w / wide angle lens 120 degrees
Battery: 3.580 mAh w / Qnovo Adaptive Charging and Quick Charge 3.0
OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, LTE with VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM
Sensor: Accelerometer, distance, compass, light
Other: Fingerprint Sensor, USB Type-C, Color: silver, black, blue, gold
Dimensions: 163 x 80 x 9.5 mm
Weight: 221g
Price: PHP 22.990

Review Sony Xperia Series XA2 Ultra - Great Camera, Dated Design

Unboxing/Accessories Sony Xperia Series Xa2 Ultra

Inside is a phone with the following inclusion: Quick Charge 3.0 USB Charger, USB cable to Type C, earphone, SIM ejector device, and documentation. It does not have a free silicone jelly case.

Build Quality/Design

This is the aluminum design Sony has been using since the Xperia Z series with minimal changes. It looks old but it lasts a long time and compared to that great competition.

" Not so 2018 type of design"

The great thing about the design is that the display only has glass so that only the front is a fingerprint magnet. The edge to the end of the phone is an aluminum machine so that without a case, paint is scratched easily.

At the front there is an LED flash, dual self-camera, and multiple sensors.

Volume rocker, power button and dedicated camera button on the right side. Camera, LED flash, NFC and fingerprint sensor are on the back while sim card and microSD card slot are on the left.

At the top is a 3.5mm microphone and headphone jack while another microphone, USB Type-C port and speaker grill are at the bottom.

Display Quality

The screen is a 6 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD Image Enhancement Technology with 2.5D curved glass protected by Gorilla Glass at 367 ppi.

At maximum brightness, bright enough to beat the direct sunlight when viewing the screen at a 90 degree angle.

Good point of view. There is no color deterioration or resolution but when there is no large or strong light source. When there is a strong and large light source such as the sun, the curved glass actually reflects the light making it a little more difficult to read the display at a certain angle.

It is a 10-point multi-touch screen that is built to handle games or apps that use multiple taps and accurate and responsive movements simultaneously.

Audio Quality

There's one speaker speaker on the bottom and this is one of the loudest speakers we've ever tested. At 90% volume, loud enough to fill the room and overcome the surrounding noise. The sound from it is well defined with some separations with decent detail and medium range. MID, treble and bass are offset by minimal distortion.

At 100 percent, the voice was distorted that we felt comfortable only having it at 90 percent.

Stock earphones are mixed bags. These cables are textured with a premium matte finish but metal jacks and ear pieces do not feel as premium.

The sound quality is OK-ish. We found a muddy noise even though the volume could be loud. Separation and definition is okay but definitely not the best out there.

We hope Sony is able to give more love to their stock earphones as they do to those branded Extra Bass.

With a reliable RHA S500i, the sound quality gets better. Detail and separation are clearer and more subtle overall. Somehow, it's still a bit muddy we do not experience with other audio devices with RHA.

Good microphone experience. Clean recorded sound with clear details and no worries from callers with voice calls or recording issues.

Battery Life

In our usual Mark PC battery benchmark, a 3.580 mAh battery is capable of pushing a large 6-inch screen for up to 8 hours. Very honorable given that the screen is a 6 inch FHD screen. It could be better.

This is consistent with the routine of email, SMS, calls, social media, websurfing, streaming YouTube with LTE in between. XA2 Ultra produces 9 to 10 hours of use. Without LTE, it will last longer.

It also has a stamina mode that limits most applications and only allows the most basic functions to work. It has three different levels where you can choose priorities: battery time, balance, or performance preferences.

The charger charges the phone from 0 to 100 percent for less than 120 minutes or under two hours.

Camera

The main camera is a 23MP sensor f / 2.0 1 / 2.3-inch Exmor RS w / Hybrid AF, SteadyShot, and LED flash. Equipped with several modes such as Manual, Superior Auto, Video, Sound Photo, and Time Shift Burst.

Manual mode allows you to modify the following: Shutter Speed: 1 second to 1 / 4000th per second, ISO 100 to 3200, white balance, and exposure compensation.

The Sound Photo lets you record audio while shooting while Time Shift Burst takes up to 30 photos with a single click of the shutter button and lets you choose the best shot.

In our experience, it can take spectacular shots during the day. The resolution (sharpness) and details are out of the chart even at a 100 percent harvest when viewed from a laptop screen. The color is tolerable but because of its strong contrast, it may seem bleak to some people.

Under the light, the picture is very good, or decent. Hardly we get a bad picture in low light except for total darkness.

The LED flash behind is there and powerful enough to illuminate up to 5 to 6 feet from the phone.

Performance Sony Xperia Series XA2 Ultra

It carries a 642-bit Snapdragon 630 octa-core 2.2GHz processor with Adreno 508 and 4GB of RAM. It pushes the 6 inch FHD screen without any problems.

The app launches quickly and runs smoothly with no problems. We never have an example where we run multiple apps at the same time and stutter. This with 10 to 12 apps running in the background.

Verdict

The Sony XA2 performs well and it may have one of the best cameras in the PHP 23K price range.

Why? It performs well in day light and lowlight. Even if you zoom in, the detail is retained and the grain is rather pleasing.

The performance of this device is also respectable even if it is not as fast versus other similarly priced devices from the Chinese brands.

The only true flaw is that the phone has a dated design with THICK bezels and it is too bulky for 2018.

Otherwise this is a great phone we can recommend of you really want a Sony phone at that price point.

Build/Design - 3.25

Display - 4

Audio - 4

Battery - 4

Camera - 4

Performance - 4

Average - 3.875/5