Hi Android Studio, Android is basically a software that allows your hardware to function. Android OS gives you access to many applications, including Google's own creation. This allows you to search information on the web, play music and videos, check your location on the map, take a photo using the camera and a lot more besides.
Android is a mobile operating system that is found on many modern devices, the most popular being the smartphone. On top of that you will also find the Android Tablet, the streaming TV and other portable gadgets.
Without Android, all this will not be possible.
Sony Xperia 5 II review, Android Device Manager requires two things before you can find the phone. The device must have a remote location enabled, that you find in Google Android Device Manager settings > > remotely found this device (make sure the box is ticked), and need to have access to the location as well. That's in settings Google > location. If this setting is off, then the Device Manager will not be able to find the device.
Check out our guide on how to set up your Android Sony Xperia 5 II review for an idea of what you'll need to do to get started. One of your first tasks will be to create a Google account (or sign in to an existing one). This gives you the email functionality and also provides a good way to back up your contacts, keep your files online and so on.
Android Device Manager works for tablets as well, but if you have multiple user accounts, the only tablet '' owner '' can enable features of Android Device Manager (or turn it off again).
Highly customizable Android phones, so they can be changed according Your needs and personal tastes. For example, you can set your own wallpapers, themes and launchers, Sony Xperia 5 II review that completely change the look of Your device interface. You can download new applications to do all sorts of things like check Facebook and Twitter feeds, manage your bank account, order a pizza and game play.
Read:
How to get started with Android
In fact, you can synchronize your personal information in all types of Android devices. This includes your favourite web sites, calendar entries and purchased apps. This is all supported seamlessly, background Sony Xperia 5 II review
The advantage of this is that if you lose your mobile phone Sony Xperia 5 II review All numbers and your important data will be saved. The next time you get an Android phone (or other device) and sign in with your Google account, all your contacts and your number will be displayed in the address book on your new phone immediately. There is no need to transfer them up or back them up somewhere else.
Introduction
When was the last time that the smaller phone of a high-end pair was the superior one - and not just because you prefer compact handsets? Well, that seems to be the case with the Sony Xperia 5 II we have here for review.
How is it better, you ask? For one, it has a 120Hz display while the Xperia 1 II uses a conventional 60Hz panel. Even though it's not 4K as the Xperia 1 II, the 450ppi density of the X5II's screen is more than plenty, so we won't consider that a downgrade.
The other bit where 5 II is better than 1 II is battery capacity - that's to say, it's the same - the smaller size phone comes with a battery that's just as large as the 4,000mAh power pack in the larger model. It's probably the first time we're seeing such absolute parity between two differently-sized handsets from (more or less) the same generation.
The next thing that probably qualifies as an advantage of the 5 II over the 1 II is the introduction of the Google Assistant button on the right side. Mind you, the 5 II has 5 mechanical buttons, in 2020 - we can see people liking it for that alone.
The rest of the 5 Mark II is more or less carried over from the 1 Mark II. The camera system, for example, has the same triple-module configuration - a 16mm-equivalent ultra-wide, a 24mm main cam, and a 70mm tele, all of them producing 12MP images. Sony axed the ToF pair for the small model, however, and we'll have to see how that affects nearby low-light focusing and portrait mode results.
Two Mark Twos - Xperia 1 II (left) next to the new Xperia 5 II
The Snapdragon 865 powers the Xperia 5 II (not the 865+), and the phone has 8GB of RAM. Unlike the 1 II, which only came with 256GB of storage, the 5 II can be had with either 128GB or 256GB.
Sony Xperia 5 II specs
Body: 158x68x8.0mm, 163g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 6), glass back (Gorilla Glass 6), aluminum frame; IP65/IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins); Colors: Black, Gray, Blue, Pink.
A few welcome generational improvements include the return of the 3.5mm headphone jack and the relocation of the bottom speaker to fire towards the front of the phone - both features shared with the 1 II, too.
What's not shared with the bigger model is the wireless charging capability - you'll need a cable to top up the 5 II. You can still do that over USB PowerDelivery up to 21W though Sony only ships (and, for that matter, makes) 18W chargers. Speaking of...
Sony Xperia 5 II unboxing
Our Xperia 5 II review unit arrived in a typical Sony white cardboard box with the phone's name stamped on the front in shiny letters. Inside the box, the minimalist approach continues - you get the phone, the 18W charger we mentioned, and a USB-C-to-C cable to go with it. That's it.
It's worth mentioning that the Xperia 1 II had a pair of earbuds in the package and Sony's had a history of tailoring retail bundles to different markets, so you may end up getting a headset with the 5 II after all.
Design
One thing that's immediately obvious with the Xperia 5 II is that it's missing the chiseled flat sides that we so loved so much on the Xperia 1 II and we're anticipating on the upcoming iPhones. Instead, the Mk II borrows the rounded frame of the model it replaces.
The Xperia 5 II has also stayed in the exact same footprint as the older model, a fact that shouldn't be surprising given the maintained 6.1-inch screen size. More importantly, however, the Mk II has actually gotten slightly thinner - 8.0mm vs. 8.2mm, while fitting a much larger battery. Nice!
Mark One on the left, Mark Two on the right
It is marginally heavier, the new handset, but at 4g more than the Mk I, you won't be noticing the difference. The Xperia 5 II, with its 168g, remains a pocketable phone and a compact one - about as much as a phone can be compact in 2020.
The 5 II has an elongated aspect ratio, physically, that's for sure. It comes as a consequence of that stretched out 21:9 display. But with aspects of 20:9 and taller being the new normal, the Xperias don't stand out quite as much anymore.
The Mk II has slightly different proportions on the front. Where the old one had a more pronounced forehead above the display and a slightly thinner chin, with the 5 II Sony went for a more symmetrical look.
The bottom speaker now fires towards the front as opposed to wasting decibels away from the phone, and that relocation could have something to do with the minor rearrangement on the facade. It's still a stereo speaker configuration with the earpiece serving as the left channel.
Sony mentions in its press materials how it's thinned out the frame assembly, but to our eyes the sides of the Xperia 5 II look just as thick as the ones on the 5 MkI. Other optimizations, invisible ones, like the 2-layer PCB and redesigned speaker box have allowed the phone to maintain the dimensions of the older device while fitting the bigger battery, the 5G antennas, and whatnot.
Ah, among the whatnots is the 3.5mm headphone jack that marks a return. It's on the top of the phone, same place you'd find it on the Xperia 1 II. As per our briefing, with a dedicated analog audio signal path to it, crosstalk between the two channels is significantly reduced compared to the Xperia 5's USB-C-based solution.
Going back to the frame, let's focus on the right side of the phone because there's a lot to unpack here. For starters, the Xperia 5 II adopts the 1 II's fingerprint reader/power button combo. It has a capacitive fingerprint sensor inside a clicky button - a much better solution than on the Xperia 5 where the two functions were decoupled and the fingerprint reader wasn't clickable.
The volume rocker is above the power button while a signature feature on Sony phones, the two-stage shutter release, is towards the bottom of the handset (or rightmost part if you are holding it in picture-taking landscape orientation).
But there's a new addition to the control set when comparing to the old model, and it's one that even the Xperia 1 II doesn't have. The 5 II gets a dedicated Google Assistant button, somewhere around the middle between the power button and the shutter key. There are no options for customizing or disabling that button, it just works. We'd appreciate being able to assign a different function to it, or disable it, but that's not the case here.
The Xperia 5 II is IP65/IP68 rated - so it's good for both submersion and water jets, though obviously neither is its preferred environment. It's covered with Gorilla Glass 6 front and back - no Victus here.
Filed under 'niche nice-to-haves', the RGB status LED in the top right corner is still here. It's one of those features that are increasingly hard to find, but arguably so too are the people looking for it.
Same size, twice the refresh rate
The Xperia 5 II maintains the display size of the phone it replaces - it's got a 6.1-inch screen in a 21:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 2520x1080px. That works out to a density of 450ppi, which is more than plenty even if not the Xperia 1 II's crazy 643ppi on its 4K-ish panel. Just as the bigger model and the predecessor, the 5 II uses an OLED display.
Where this one does differ is in the refresh rate - the Xperia 5 II is the first Sony smartphone that goes beyond 60Hz. It's not a half-there 90Hz solution, but a full-on 120Hz. The touch sampling rate is 240Hz too for improved speed of registering your taps.
As for brightness, the Xperia 5 II returned virtually the same results as the 1 II. Operating the slider manually, we measured a max of 336nits. A noticeable boost to 532nits is possible in bright ambient conditions when the adaptive brightness is enabled. Neither number is particularly impressive - current high-end phones can typically go beyond 800nits in auto mode, and most can be pushed higher than the Xperia even in manual mode.
Display test
100% brightness
Black,cd/m2
White,cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Sony Xperia 5 II
0
336
∞
Sony Xperia 5 II (Max Auto)
0
532
∞
Sony Xperia 1 II
0
333
∞
Sony Xperia 1 II (Max Auto)
0
538
∞
Sony Xperia 5
0
353
∞
Sony Xperia 5 (Max Auto)
0
574
∞
Samsung Galaxy S20
0
397
∞
Samsung Galaxy S20 (Max Auto)
0
814
∞
Apple iPhone 11 Pro
0
805
∞
OnePlus 8 Pro
0
538
∞
OnePlus 8 Pro (Max Auto)
0
888
∞
OnePlus 8
0
496
∞
OnePlus 8 (Max Auto)
0
803
∞
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
0
522
∞
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G (Max Auto)
0
854
∞
Motorola Edge+
0
422
∞
Motorola Edge+ (Max Auto)
0
607
∞
LG Velvet
0
405
∞
LG Velvet (Max Auto)
0
617
∞
Google Pixel 4a
0
456
∞
Google Pixel 4a (Max Auto)
0
803
∞
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
0
529
∞
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro (Max Auto)
0
741
∞
Color reproduction is handled in a fairly standard Sony fashion. There's Creator mode, which adjusts the colors to match the content, and Standard mode, which gives colors a boost, but has a provision for auto Creator mode for a selection of apps. There's also a comprehensive set of custom white balance adjustment options with warm/medium/cool presets, different white point settings, as well as RGB sliders.
Display settings
Creator mode, when it recognizes sRGB content, is capable of rendering it super accurately - we measured an average dE2000 of 0.8 for our set of sRGB test swatches. That's with the white balance in the 'warm' position though, which isn't the default state ('medium' is, and we got an average dE2000 of 2.9 in that state).
As for the DCI-P3 color space, the software we use for testing doesn't trigger the Creator mode to make the switch to wide color gamut, so the test results we'd get won't be representative. The apps where you want it, however, do trigger it, and you can clearly see the phone adjusting colors when you open Netflix, for example.
Speaking of Netflix, the Xperia 5 II in its current state does not support HDR playback on the popular streaming platform. We're guessing it's just a matter of time - the phone isn't even released yet. YouTube and Amazon Prime Video do play in HDR on the Xperia.
Sony's implementation of 120Hz is one of the more straightforward ones. You flip the toggle to 120Hz and it stays in 120Hz mode no matter what you're doing on it, except for games which have a special status of sorts. There's no 'adaptive' refresh rate control. While that may be more taxing on the battery (more on that below), after our recent experience with adaptive HRR modes we're not exactly hating the honesty of Sony's approach.
As for games, from the Game Enhancer utility settings, you can switch the refresh rate for the display to 120Hz for titles that can go above 60fps - it's at 60Hz by default. You can also force it to 120Hz regardless of whether you know for a fact that the game itself supports a higher frame rate - just to be sure. That's done on a per-game basis and is buried several levels in the Game Enhancer so it's not the most intuitive implementation.
Sony Xperia 5 II battery life
The Xperia 5 II comes with a 4,000mAh battery inside - that's quite the upgrade over the old model's 3140mAh and the same capacity as the larger, 6.5-inch Xperia 1 II. Coincidentally, that's the capacity of the closest thing to a rival the Xperia 5 II has in terms of size - the Galaxy S20.
Well, the Xperia beats that Galaxy in the endurance race, comfortably so. With the screen set to 120Hz, we clocked 13:19h in Wi-Fi web browsing and 17:36h in video playback on the small Sony. Compare that to the S20's 10:48h and 9:09h respective scores. The 5 II also significantly outlasts the 1 II - by 3:27h on the web and 5:01h in looping videos.
Switch the Xperia 5 II to 60Hz, unnecessary as it may be given the 120Hz results, and you stand to gain even more operating hours. The web browsing result goes up to 15:07h, while offline video playback capability increases to nearly 21 hours.
For one reason or another, the Xperia 5 II couldn't quite match the 1 II's 31-hour voice call result, though the 27:35h figure is hardly bad. Conversely, the 5 II managed slightly better standby performance.
In the end, the Xperia 5 II's Endurance rating works out to 102h with the screen set to 120Hz and 110h when you have it at 60Hz. Just as last year, the small high-end Xperia has much better battery life than the big high-end Xperia.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Sony Xperia 5 II for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Battery charging
The Xperia 5 II, much like the 1 II, supports charging over USB PowerDelivery 3.0 at up to 21W. However, Sony doesn't make a 21W charger, but it does make an 18W one and that's what you're getting in the box. Charging times were relatively slow - the 45% we had after a 30-minute charging session and the 1:49h time for a full charge are nowhere near what industry leaders are capable of.
The numbers are nearly identical to the ones we got out of the Xperia 1 II, which is no surprise given the same battery capacity and charger used. As we noted while testing the bigger model, going for a more powerful adapter will hardly result ina night-and-day type of difference either - it will shave a few minutes off the full charge number and get you around 52% at the half-hour mark.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Huawei P40 Pro 80%
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 77%
OnePlus 8 69%
OnePlus 8 Pro 63%
Samsung Galaxy S20+ 62%
Huawei P40 60%
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 58%
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 56%
Sony Xperia 5 53%
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 53%
Sony Xperia 1 II 46%
Sony Xperia 5 II 45%
LG V60 ThinQ 5G 42%
LG Velvet 36%
Motorola Edge+ 30%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Huawei P40 Pro 0:50h
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 0:50h
OnePlus 8 0:53h
Samsung Galaxy S20+ 0:57h
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 1:12h
Huawei P40 1:15h
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 1:32h
Sony Xperia 5 II 1:49h
Sony Xperia 5 1:50h
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 1:50h
Sony Xperia 1 II 1:51h
LG Velvet 1:52h
Motorola Edge+ 2:37h
One notable downgrade on the 5 II when comparing to the 1 II is the lack of wireless charging. While its omission here is worth mentioning and some will find it a dealbreaker, others couldn't care less. It would have meant a thicker phone and we can see how compactness was a priority on the 5 II.
The Xperia 5 II may be slow to charge, but it makes up for it with features to make the process even slower. Ahem... that is to say, it comes with a comprehensive set of Battery care options that will help preserve your battery's health in the long run.
A new addition this time around is the ability to set a hard limit to the charging - you can have it cut off at 80% or 90% and never go above. Since Li-Ion batteries are known to dislike being charged all the way up, treating the Xperia this way would likely indeed prolong its battery's life. We have a colleague or two at the office who'd be all over that.
The other options are still here - if you set the Xperia to the Auto mode in the Battery care menu, it will learn your charging habits and will only top up the battery immediately before you need the device, so as to avoid extended periods of full charge. It works best with overnight charging and a well-established daily (nightly) routine, obviously, though there's another option where you could set a custom time frame yourself. Still, Asus is one step ahead of Sony on this one with the Zenfone 7, offering to tie the top up to the time set in your wake-up alarm for the day.
Battery settings
Speaker test
The Xperia 5 II adopts the speaker setup of the 1 II - both units of the stereo pair fire forward, unlike on the Xperia 5, where the bottom one fired away from the viewer wasting precious decibels. As usual, the earpiece doubles as the left channel, and that's that - there's no switching going on if you happen to hold the device in landscape with the earpiece to the right. There's a good explanation for that - Sony handsets, thanks to their control placement, camera shutter button in particular, have an 'correct and intended' side up and that places the earpiece on the left.
Bottom speaker has been moved to the front
Out of the box, with no sound enhancements turned on, the Xperia 5 II missed the 'Good' mark for loudness just barely and placed in the 'Average' bowl, a notch below the 1 II. Sound quality is about identical between the two, it's just that the smaller phone is marginally quieter.
Turn on the Dolby Atmos toggle (in its Dynamic mode) and loudness goes up, scoring a 'Good' mark for the Xperia 5 II. A similar effect was observed on the 1 II, however, and with Dolby enabled, it went into 'Very Good' territory for loudness, so the smaller phone is still behind.
Dolby-ing the Xperia 5 II, as we observed on the 1 II too, means boosting vocals and treble response, which is undoubtedly contributing to the perception of loudness. It does sound better that way, though low-frequency punch remains nowhere to be found.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
The reason for that is that most phones that arrived for testing were already excellent in this regard and whatever difference there was, it was marginal and probably indistinguishable to anything but our lab equipment.
Stock Android 10, some Sony enhancements
The Xperia 5 II runs Android 10 in a mostly stock-looking state with a few Sony bits added here and there. Rumor has it that Sony will push an update to Android 11 shortly after the phone's market launch, but we haven't heard official word on that yet.
There's little to set the 5 II apart from the 1 II, and both phones share the UI basics with Google's own handsets.
That includes the options for navigation too - you get the gesture based system from the Pixels or the classic three-button nav bar. The pill-based method that the previous-gen Xperias used and is still available on Pixels is not an option on the Mark 2 Xperias.
Fingerprint unlock is the only biometric unlock method available - as was the case on the 1 II. Similarly to the bigger phone, we found the side-mounted reader to work with consistently high speed and accuracy, whether using the right thumb or the left index finger. Hence, the lack of any form face unlock is perhaps forgivable, though if you're one to often handle your phone with wet/sweaty/dirty hands, you may miss the ease of use of face unlock.
Navigation options • Back sensitivity • Biometrics security
Among the features Sony bolted on top of Android is a one-handed mode. It lets you shrink the UI to one corner by double-tapping the home button (if you're using the legacy nav bar) or by tapping on the feature's icon in Side Sense.
Speaking of, Sony's Side Sense is present as well. A pair of touch-sensitive areas on either side of the phone enable various actions most of which user-configurable. One particularly powerful and customizable option is the 21:9 pair shortcut feature. Through it, you simply select two apps and the relative location you want to launch them in and then you can trigger a split-screen with the pair instantly.
One-handed mode • Side sense
With the Album duties already offloaded to Google Photos on the Xperia 1 II, the Music app is the one piece of in-house multimedia software remaining on the Xperia 5 II as well. Again, it's likely not long until this one dies down too.
Then there's Game Enhancer, itself further enhanced on the 5 II even compared to the 1 II. The basic premise is the same - it has two main interfaces with one acting as a game hub and launcher, while the other is an overlay that can be pulled out mid-game.
Game Enhancer, launcher app
Performance profiles (or Game Mode) can be set on a per-game basis, but now, in addition to the "Performance preferred", "Battery life preferred" and "Balanced" profiles, there's also a 'Custom setting and that's where the fancy stuff is. Here you can set the screen refresh rate and you can lock it at 120Hz regardless of whether your game actually support it (though, obviously, it would make sense on the games that do). There's also a 240Hz setting that will make things look smoother using black frame insertion. Additional sliders let you select Touch response speed and the touch tracking accuracy.
H.S. power control that we saw on the Xperia 1 II is here on the 5 II as well. When you're gaming and the phone is plugged in the charger, it won't actually charge the battery but will only essentially meet your current power consumption. The rationale is to limit the heat generation - H.S. stands for Heat Suppression.
The Focus settings is an array of toggles that let you disable pesky notifications, turn off adaptive brightness, disable the camera button and the side sense functionality - basically limit distractions.
There are also screenshot and video capture features, the latter of which can also capture footage from your selfie camera along with the game, as well as sound from your microphone. Volume level adjustments are provided. There is no direct streaming to any video platforms, though. Last, but not least, a quick search function can bring up YouTube videos in a floating video for you, related to the game you are currently playing.
Game Enhancer, in-game features
Synthetic benchmarks
The Xperia 5 II is powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset - not the improved 865+ version that the cool kids got this fall. It's then equipped precisely as the Xperia 1 II - for the 6 months or so between them, a plus would have looked better, though the regular 865 is, of course, plenty potent. There's 8GB of RAM on board the 5 II and two storage tiers are available, with our unit having 128GB and not 256GB.
Predictably, the Xperia 5 II posted benchmark results in line with other Snapdragon 865 devices - average ones, you could say. The 865+ equipped Zenfone 7 Pro, ROG Phone 3, and Galaxy Z Fold2 have an edge in single-core CPU performance, easily explained by the higher clock of the Prime CPU core. It's an advantage that diminishes in multi-core tests where S865 overachievers actually post slightly higher numbers than S865+ ones.
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 1333
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 996
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 975
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 950
vivo X50 Pro+ 930
OnePlus 8 919
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 910
Motorola Edge+ 910
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 905
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 902
Sony Xperia 1 II 897
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 895
Sony Xperia 5 II 890
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 886
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 880
Huawei P40 Pro 780
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 3466
vivo X50 Pro+ 3411
OnePlus 8 3399
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 3374
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 3357
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 3331
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 3322
Sony Xperia 1 II 3318
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 3302
Sony Xperia 5 II 3301
Motorola Edge+ 3295
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 3289
Huawei P40 Pro 3197
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 2715
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 2703
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 2603
The differences aren't as clearly defined in Antutu where the performance of all components goes into play. The Xperia 5 II does okay and outperforms Exynos Galaxy S20s and the Note20 Ultra, as well as the Kirin-powered Huawei P40 Pro, though the Sonys are around the bottom of the S865 pack in this benchmark.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
vivo X50 Pro+ 621433
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 602934
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 601858
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 595246
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 578056
Motorola Edge+ 574155
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 573276
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 564907
OnePlus 8 564708
Sony Xperia 1 II 534701
Sony Xperia 5 II 532655
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 527612
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 508760
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 500114
Huawei P40 Pro 496356
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 489371
This middle of the road performance continues into the graphics tests. The Xperia does indeed deliver flagship-grade numbers, it just does so without standing out.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 178
Motorola Edge+ 128
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 128
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 128
OnePlus 8 127
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 127
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 126
Sony Xperia 5 II 124
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 123
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 123
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 123
Sony Xperia 1 II 120
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 119
Huawei P40 Pro 118
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 116
vivo X50 Pro+ 106
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
vivo X50 Pro+ 122
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 111
Sony Xperia 5 II 101
Motorola Edge+ 89
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 89
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 88
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 88
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 88
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 84
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 84
OnePlus 8 60
Sony Xperia 1 II 60
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 60
Huawei P40 Pro 59
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 58
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 57
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 118
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 92
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 91
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 90
Motorola Edge+ 89
OnePlus 8 88
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 86
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 86
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 86
Sony Xperia 5 II 86
vivo X50 Pro+ 85
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 85
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 85
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 84
Sony Xperia 1 II 84
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 80
Huawei P40 Pro 75
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
Motorola Edge+ 83
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 82
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 78
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 76
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 75
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 75
vivo X50 Pro+ 74
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 73
Sony Xperia 5 II 71
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 60
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 59
Sony Xperia 1 II 59
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 53
Huawei P40 Pro 52
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 43
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 43
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 66
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 56
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 55
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 54
OnePlus 8 52
Motorola Edge+ 52
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 51
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 51
Sony Xperia 1 II 51
vivo X50 Pro+ 51
Sony Xperia 5 II 51
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 51
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 50
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 50
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 50
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 50
Huawei P40 Pro 44
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
Apple iPhone 11 Pro 57
Motorola Edge+ 48
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 48
OnePlus 8 46
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 46
LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run) 44
vivo X50 Pro+ 43
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 42
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 42
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 42
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 42
Sony Xperia 5 II 41
Sony Xperia 1 II 39
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 33
Huawei P40 Pro 31
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 25
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 24
Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
Motorola Edge+ 32
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 31
OnePlus 8 30
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 29
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 29
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 27
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 26
Sony Xperia 5 II 23
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 22
Sony Xperia 1 II 20
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 20
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 17
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 14
Aztek OpenGL ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
Motorola Edge+ 33
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 32
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 32
OnePlus 8 31
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 31
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 31
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G 29
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 29
Sony Xperia 5 II 28
Sony Xperia 1 II 27
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 22
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 19
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 17
3DMark SSE OpenGL ES 3.1 1440p
Higher is better
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 7687
Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz) 7645
Motorola Edge+ 7409
OnePlus 8 7290
vivo X50 Pro+ 7253
Sony Xperia 1 II 7138
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 7132
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 7127
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 7035
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 6819
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 6735
Sony Xperia 5 II 6716
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 6543
Huawei P40 Pro 6062
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p
Higher is better
Asus Zenfone 7 Pro 7002
OnePlus 8 6720
Motorola Edge+ 6666
Sony Xperia 5 II 6579
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G 6490
OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p) 6425
vivo X50 Pro+ 6393
Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p) 6354
Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p) 6311
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G 6248
Sony Xperia 1 II 6167
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G 5879
Huawei P40 Pro 5637
The Xperia 5 II does get warm under sustained load, in a similarly 'average' fashion - It's not uncomfortably hot, and it's not entirely cool either. Its performance does decline with repeated benchmark runs - for example, a drop of 10-12% in Antutu scores after a few runs is something to be expected from the 5 II, but that's really the norm with mainstream designs (it's no ROG Phone 3 this). In actual use the phone never stuttered and was as fluid as any other top-tier device - as you'd expect.
Top-quality triple camera
The Xperia 5 II has the same camera system as the bigger 1 II. Or almost the same - it's missing the ToF emitter/receiver combo, which could potentially be slightly detrimental to low-light nearby focusing or subject isolation in portrait mode - more on that below.
Camera parity between the 1 II (left) and the 5 II
Sony insists that the high-res Quad Bayer (or Nonacell) sensors are too slow to read out, and opts for a 12MP main camera that offers much better speed - 10ms vs. the 30ms they quote for a 12MP shot out of the 108MP Samsung solution and 100ms for a full-res 108MP picture. The sensor isn't small by any stretch either - it's a 1/1.7" imager with 1.8µm pixels and dual photo-diode autofocus. A fast f/1.7 aperture lens sits in front of it, with an equivalent focal length of 24mm, stabilized too.
There's an ultra wide angle cam too, of course. This one has a 16mm focal length and can autofocus, plus it uses a big-for-an-ultra-wide 1/2.55" sensor. The telephoto completes the camera trifecta with a 70mm equivalent focal length and 3x optical zoom.
Once again, there are no improvements on the selfie front - the camera is the same 8MP unit with a 24mm equivalent lens with an f/2.0 aperture and fixed focus that you get on the Xperia 1 II, but also on Mark One 1 and 5.
Predictably, there is a total of three camera apps - the vanilla one you're likely to be using most of the time, as well as the Photography Pro and Cinematography Pro apps for more advanced shooting.
The 'simple' app is entirely identical as on the Xperia 1 II. There's a camera selector with tree designation for direct access to each module - no need to cycle between them to get to the one you need as is on the 5 Mark One.
Side swipes switch between stills and video, while swiping down (but not up) toggles between front and rear cams. The far end of the viewfinder has controls for flash, bokeh mode, aspect ratio, implicit white balance and exposure compensation adjustment, an extra toggle for switching between front and rear cams and a cog wheel to take you to settings.
A Mode button in the vicinity of the shutter release gives access to extra modes like Panorama, and Creative effect (a.k.a. filters) and the last mode you pick from here gets promoted to a sticky position for quick access from the viewfinder.
Camera UI
There is no Manual mode in the simple app, but there's a whole 'manual' app - Photo(graphy) Pro. It's got its interface strongly inspired by Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras and offers a lot of control, but is also a bit clunky to operate. We went into more detail in the Xperia 1 II review, and since the app is the same, feel free to head there for the full scoop.
Photo Pro
As for the video-only Cinema Pro app, we have a dedicated article going over its functionality on the Xperia 1 II. A single new addition on the Xperia 5 II is the ability to record 4K at 120fps in HDR - Sony says the Xperia 5 II is the first phone to do that.
Cine Pro
Daylight image quality
In daylight, the Xperia 5 II captures photos that are practically indistinguishable from ones taken on the Xperia 1 II. That is mostly a good thing.
We generally enjoy the more restrained processing in terms of sharpening that leaves random detail natural looking. Noise suppression isn't as strong as on Samsungs, though noise is still controlled excellently.
Daylight comparison: Xperia 5 II • Xperia 1 II
Another point where the 5 II, just like the 1 II, remains conservative is HDR. It doesn't strive to recover all of the highlights and boost all of the shadows and instead produces more contrastier, more 'photographic' and less 'instagrammy' shots.
Having said all that, if you're coming from a Samsung or maybe a Xiaomi, and you're one to prefer your images with more punch straight out of camera, the Xperia's tendency for moderation may not be immediately likeable.
Daylight samples, main cam, default Camera app
There's a way to get images with a more HDR look out of the Xperia. That's the Photo Pro app with the DRO/Auto HDR setting in the Auto HDR state. The differences are often minuscule, particularly so in evenly lit scenes, but for high-contrast shots like the snail you get much better tonal development on both ends of the histogram.
Daylight samples, main cam, Photo Pro app, Auto HDR
In a few scenes we specifically explored the four different 'modes' for exposure/HDR processing. In our experience here, the full auto from the vanilla Camera app was generally a close match for the DRO mode. Auto HDR does get you that boost in the shadows and better highlight retention, but the default Camera app will do just fine in the majority of the scenes.
HDR comparison, main cam: Camera app • Photo Pro Auto HDR • Photo Pro DRO • Photo Pro HDR off
The images out of the ultra wide cam have similar properties to the ones from the main module. If we were to nit pick, there's a bit more noise, and some purple fringing along high-contrast edges. However, dynamic range is wide, colors are nice without oversaturation, and fine detail is among the best you can get out of an ultra wide cam.
Daylight samples, ultra wide cam, default Camera app
Having autofocus, the ultra wide camera of the Xperia 5 II is well suited to exaggerated perspective shots with close-up subjects - something you can't really do with modules that have fixed focus at infinity (like Galaxies and iPhones). Okay, maybe these quickly get old when you're trying to come up with stuff to shoot around the office, but the point is that the Xperia's ultra wide has the autofocusing capability.
Daylight samples, ultra wide cam, default Camera app
Software distortion correction is available for the ultra wide angle images giving you the familiar tradeoff between wider coverage and straight lines around the edges. We're leaning heavily towards the corrected option for regular shooting, though the bulging edges could be a look you may want on occasion.
Distortion correction: On • Off
We had a generally more positive experience with the Xperia 5 II's telephoto than what we observed on the 1 II. The images here are consistently sharp - that couldn't be said of the 1 II's 3x shots. Whether that's been achieved with a hardware or software tweak we can't be sure, but 5>1 once again.
Daylight samples, telephoto cam, default Camera app
Here's a quick comparison.
Daylight comparison: Xperia 5 II • Xperia 1 II
Low-light image quality
The Xperia 5 II's low-light images are, again similar to the ones out of the Xperia 1 II, though somehow not quite the same. In our experience, the 5 II comes with slightly better contained highlights but the 1 II's photos are sharper - not huge differences in either respect, but they do exist.
Low-light comparison: Xperia 5 II • Xperia 1 II
Other than that, the Xperia look is maintained - the higher contrast means darker shadows than what most competitors will capture in the same circumstances, but the shadows do take a boost in post processing nicely. Colors are well preserved and there's no drop in saturation, plus the Xperia doesn't seem to have issues with white balance in warmly lit night scenes, a fairly popular problem for others.
Low-light samples, main cam, default Camera app
The Auto HDR mode in Photo Pro will lift up the shadows a little for you, compared to the main app, if you don't want to deal with them yourself in post. The effect is marginal and there's little done for the highlights despite the fact that this is sort of Night mode (without being called that) - it takes about two seconds to capture an image. An added softness is also introduced here. Overall, the Camera app does better, even if the photos could use some additional tweaking post shot.
Low-light samples, main cam, Photo Pro app, Auto HDR
In the other modes you won't be getting better results. Here are comparison shots with DRO and HDR off.
Mode comparison, main cam: Camera app • Photo Pro Auto HDR • Photo Pro DRO • Photo Pro HDR off
Provided it has some light to work with, the Xperia 5 II's ultra wide angle cam can take good pictures. We'd have preferred brighter exposures than it typically delivers, but sharpness and detail are excellent and color saturation is on point.
Low-light samples, ultra wide cam, default Camera app
The Xperia 5 II's telephoto cam is always used when you hit the 1 tree selector - there is no light threshold below which it'll default to the main one, and we appreciate that. It takes very respectable photos in low light too, with good detail, well contained noise and saturated, if a little extra warm and reddish colors.
Low-light samples, telephoto cam, default Camera app
Low-light focusing
Since Sony didn't fit a ToF camera on the Xperia 5 II and one of its supposed uses on the 1 II was for low-light focusing aid, we figured we'd compare how the two phones behave when having to focus in the dark. As the video below demonstrates, the Xperia 5 II is no slower than the 1 II. In fact, it's actually faster to find the eye on the face of the subject than the older phone. Oh well, ToF camera won't be missed.
Portrait mode
Portrait mode on Xperias isn't in the mode selector, but is instead accessed from an icon in the viewfinder - not immediately obvious, but always in plain sight when you learn where it is. It delivers excellent subject separation, even without the ToF camera that the Xperia 5 II is missing, and the natural-looking background blur is just right at the default setting.
What's not so great is the apparent lack of HDR processing, leaving bright areas of the image completely blow out. We get that exposing for the face should be a priority, and that portrait shots are likely very processing-intense even without throwing HDR into the mix, but if others can do it, so too can Sony.
Portrait samples
We were worried that with the scrapping of the ToF module, the Xperia 5 II wouldn't be able to do subject isolation quite as well as the 1 II. We did a bunch of side-by-side shots and that turned out not to be the case. If anything, the small Xperia is actually better at it.
Portrait mode comparison: Xperia 5 II • Xperia 1 II
Selfies
The selfie camera on the Xperia 5 II remains the same as on the 1, 5, and 1 II. It's not the best selfie cam there is, but takes good pictures with likable colors and decent detail.
Selfie samples
Selfie portraits haven't improved either and if you get your entire face sharp in one shot, you consider yourself lucky. Again, the missing HDR in this mode is than ideal either.
Selfie portraits
Video recording
Using its default Camera app, the Xperia 5 II can record video up to 4K with each of its three cams, though it doesn't support 4K60. 1080p does offer the option for 30fps and 60fps frame rates. You get to choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs for 4K video, while 1080p is encoded using the h.264 only. There's an HDR mode too, again on all three cams, and that one is in h.265 only.
If you use the Cinema Pro app, in addition to the advanced controls, you get to 4K at 60fps (played back at 60fps), as well as 4K at 120fps slow motion, which plays back at 24fps. The Cinepa Pro's 4K is 3840x1644px (i.e. in 'cinematic' 21:9 ratio), however - it's worth keeping in mind when comparing against other smartphones with 'consumer' 4K (3840x2160px).
As expected given our previous experience with teh Xperia 1 II, the Xperia 5 II's main camera takes great 4K videos. With the relatively conservative processing, you're getting a natural look, everything is nice and detailed and colors are spot on.
The ultra wide angle cam footage maintains the same properties. Colors and dynamic range are so closely matched that it's hard to tell it was shot on a different module and detail is hard to beat by a competing ultra wide cam.
A very nice surprise is the 4K output from the Xperia 5 II's telephoto camera - it's leaps and bounds sharper than what we saw on the Xperia 1 II and here it's as good on a pixel level as the main cam.
EIS is available in all modes on the Xperia 5 II. Sony makes a differentiation between Optical SteadyShot and plain SteadyShot in its camera specifications, but that's only to account for the lack of OIS on the 16mm cam - in essence all three cams have EIS, the 24mm and 70mm ones also have OIS.
SteadyShot stabilizes footage recorded on the main and ultra wide cameras fairly well though we had more positive experience with the Xperia 1 II. This one has more visible global shake as well as fine jittery motion. The telephoto camera's capture is about as shaky as what we saw on the 1 II - not really smooth, but not unusable either.
Competition
The 5 II is the better Xperia to come out of 2020, that much we've established, hopefully. The 1 II lags far behind in battery life, the 4K resolution on its display does less for the user experience than the 5 II's high refresh rate, and… well, most other things are the same between the two, but let's say we're also fans of the relatively compact form factor.
Let's say that so are you. With the small iPhone 11 Pro weighing as much as the big boys and Google all but having given up on the Pixel, small and large alike, the Galaxy S20 is the only realistic competitor to the Xperia that combines high-end hardware in a compact body.
Samsung's 'compact' is no match for the Xperia's battery life, but does offer objective benefits of its own – the brighter and higher-res display, the thoroughly superior selfie cam, and the faster charging come to mind. Individual preferences will divide people here – the vanilla looking software of the Xperia vs. the extensively customized OneUI, Samsung's… expressive photo processing vs. Sony's restrained approach, even a headphone jack or a wireless charging coil could settle it one way or the other.
Regardless of personal taste, however, the S20 is some €250/£200cheaper in Europe, and we can't pretend that's a difference that doesn't matter - flagships or not. Meanwhile, in the US, the Xperia will become available in December, by which time the new iPhones will be out, and the next-gen Samsung will be a couple of months away.
Samsung Galaxy S20
And that just about sums up the true competitors of the Xperia 5 II we can think of. Sure, a OnePlus 8 Pro would have been a sensible alternative, but with an 8T on the way, we'd hold off on that. Xiaomi's Mi 10 lineup is confusing as it is, but also due for an overhaul in mere days. Huawei's P40 Pro should normally be here, but it's got no Google backing. LG has no true global flagship to speak of, with the V60 being essentially US/Korea only and the brand trying to reinvent itself with niche products like the Velvet and the Wing. Not to mention that none of these is either small or light. The Motorola Razr 2020 is compact, sure, but it's priced generously like any other foldable, plus it can't hold a candle to the Sony camera system.
Verdict
In a landscape with a single obvious rival, the Xperia 5 II is still going to have a hard time. We're convinced it's got a very capable camera system, battery life that you wouldn't expect from such a pocketable handset, a lovely display, and an almost complete set of nice-to-haves.
So there's no doubt in our minds that the Xperia 5 II is a superb phone with a lot going for it. But it also carries the Sony premium, that additional monetary burden that makes it hard to recommend despite its obvious merits. Still, true brand loyalists need not look any further, and certainly not back at the 1 II.
Pros
Slimline, compact body, actually light too.
Headphone jack, stereo speakers, IP68 rating, microSD card, even a status LED.
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