Xperia XA2/XA2 Ultra: Sony finally makes mid-range smartphones that you would want to buy

Sony has introduced its latest selfie-centric smartphones with the new Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra. The larger Xperia XA2 Ultra is Sony’s first smartphone that offers dual-selfie cameras with Optical Image Stabilisation and it can even take wide-angle selfies.

Xperia XA2 Ultra

Succeeding the Xperia XA1 Ultra, the new XA2 Ultra gets a 6″ Full HD display which Sony claims is the most vibrant 6-inch display with a wide and accurate colour gamut. Although it still has a traditional 16:9 display aspect ratio, the XA2 Ultra still offers a near borderless display with the use of thinner bezels for the edges of its display.

Over at the front, it gets Corning Gorilla Glass protection, while the body uses anodised aluminium on the sides with a diamond-cut finish at the top and bottom. While the appearance looks somewhat similar to its predecessor, Sony’s “Loop surface” design comes with a subtle smooth curvature on the screen for a sleek look and comfortable feel. For quick unlocking, the device comes with a one-touch fingerprint sensor that’s integrated onto the metallic back panel.

Under the hood, it runs on a Snapdragon 630 processor and powering the device is a larger 3,580mAh battery. As a comparison, the current XA1 Ultra only comes with a 2,700mAh battery. The device has 4GB of RAM with either 32GB or 64GB of storage that’s expandable via microSD (up to 256GB).

In the imaging department, Sony wants to take their selfie game up to the next level with two selfie cameras. It has a primary 16MP shooter with OIS while the secondary 8MP camera is capable of taking 120-degree super wide-angle shots and it’s further assisted with a front flash.

Over at the rear, the XA2 Ultra features a 23MP 1/2.3″ Exmor RS camera that’s capable of ISO 12800 sensitivity for low light photography. For videos, it does 4K resolution and it also shoots slow-motion video capture at 120 fps. Also included as standard is a dedicated shutter button which can be used to trigger the camera app from sleep mode.

Xperia XA2

If you’re looking for something smaller, there’s the Xperia XA2. It looks like the XA2 Ultra except that it comes with a 5.2″ Full HD display and there’s just a single 8MP front camera that’s capable of 120-degree super wide-angle selfies. It also gets the same industrial exterior look with the use of anodised aluminium.

The Xperia XA2 also runs on the same frugal and capable Snapdragon 630 processor that’s mated to 3GB of RAM along with 32GB of internal storage. Storage expansion is also available via microSD.

Over at the rear, it also gets a 23MP main camera that can do 4K videos plus a fingerprint sensor which unlocks on a single touch. Powering the XA2 is a 3,300mAh battery which 1,000mAh more than last year’s Xperia XA1. As usual, Sony is still bundling its Battery Care and Qnovo Adaptive Charging for a quicker charge while preserving its overall battery lifespan.

After 2 years of using MediaTek processors with smaller batteries, the latest XA2 and XA2 Ultra marks a new comeback for Sony. The exterior is refreshed slightly with premium looking materials while the internals are refreshed with better hardware. As a comparison, the Xperia XA1 Ultra was launched in Malaysia at RM1,899, while the XA1 was released at RM1,199. Assuming if Sony can retain the same pricing for the XA2/XA2 Ultra, these two can be serious contenders in the mid-range segment.

Both the Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra will be available starting February 2018 with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. The Xperia XA2 comes in Siler, Black, Blue and Pink, while the Xperia XA 2 Ultra comes in Silver, Black, Blue and Gold.

For more info, you can check out both Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra product pages.