Sony Xperia Z2: 10 things you need to know about the most powerful phone in the world
The Sony Xperia Z2 has been unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2014 – and we've got the skinny on it.
Below are the 10 key things you positively, absolutely need to know about Sony's most complete smartphone yet.
1. IT'S (A BIT) BIGGER
The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact hasn't started a trend towards downsizing – the Xperia Z2 is 0.2in larger than its predecessor the Xperia Z1, albeit a touch lighter and thinner (8.2mm) with it.
READ MORE: Sony Z1 Compact review
2. IT SHOOTS 4K VIDEO
The Xperia Z2 packs a 20.7MP camera that can shoot 4K video footage – the actual resolution is a whopping 3840 x 2160. You can also shoot slo-mo footage at 120fps using the Timeshift mode. And as if that wasn't enough, it'll also let you zoom in on video footage during playback. Don't worry about shaky hands, either – Sony's camcorder division has added its SteadyShot image stabilisation tech to the Z2's snapper.
3. IT TURNS YOU INTO SPIDER-MAN
Ever wanted to don a Spider-Man costume and do battle with evil-doers? The Z2 is here to help – on the first count, at least. It can add AR effects to video, so you can do battle with a T-Rex or become Spidey. It can't make you do whatever a spider can, though.
4. THE BUNDLED HEADPHONES AREN'T RUBBISH
Too long have we suffered from inferior bundled headphones with our smartphones. Sony has declared, "enough is enough!" – the Xperia Z2 will come bundled with Sony's £60 MDR-NC31EM headphones – and as a further inducement to use them, the phone incorporates additional noise-cancelling smarts that'll only work with the bundled in-ears; they're powered by the phone, through a special five-ring 3.5mm audio jack, meaning that you can get full noise-cancelling in-ears without having to cart a battery pack around with you.
5. IT'S PACKING PLENTY OF POWER
The Z2 comes with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU running at 2.3GHz and 3GB of RAM, plus a 3200mAh battery. While we need to test it properly to gauge performance, on paper that's a pretty impressive haul of specs.
6. IT MIGHT OFFER THE BEST SOUND RECORDING OF ANY PHONE EVER
4K video quality is all well and good, but if the accompanying audio is muddier than the front of the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2005 you’re left with a pretty disappointing result. Keen to help you avoid this, Sony has created an STM10 stereo microphone accessory for the Z2 (it’ll also work with the Z2 Tablet). It uses the five-ring audio jack and is small enough to slip into your pocket when not in use.
7. IT'LL PLAY NICE WITH YOUR PS3 CONTROLLER
Like the Xperia Z1, the Z2 will feature out-of-the-box compatibility with the PlayStation 3's DualShock 3 controller. Next-gen PS4 gamers are out of luck, though – the Z2 doesn't feature DualShock 4 compatibility (yet).
8. IT'S GOT A SUPER SCREEN
As mentioned above, the screen is 0.2in bigger than the Z1’s: 5.2in in all. But the larger size isn’t its only improvement: the Z2’s 1920 x 1080 Triluminos display features IPS for wider viewing angles as well as Sony’s Live Colour LED technology, which uses red and green phosphor with blue LEDs and a custom colour filter. Sony claims that produces a brighter, more uniform backlight that results in richer colours. We’re looking forward to putting that claim to the test in our upcoming review.
9. IT’S JUST AS WATERPROOF AS EVER
The Xperia Z2 offers Sony’s highest degree of dust- and waterproofing, with its build rated at IP55 and IP58. That’s the same as the Xperia Z1, and means you can dunk the phone in up to 1.5m of water for as long as 30 minutes.
10. IT’S OUT NEXT MONTH
Sony hasn’t given a price or specific UK release date for the Xperia Z2 yet, but says it will ship globally from March 2014. So at most you’ll have a few weeks to wait until it’s in the shops.
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