Sony Xperia Z2: Five reasons to buy

The Sony Xperia Z2 is the latest flagship from Sony. With tough competition in the guise of the HTC One (m8) and the Samsung Galaxy S5, does it have the what it takes to be a worthy competitor? We take a look at some of its good points.

It is Waterproof

If you find yourself constantly jumping in muddy puddles like Peppa Pig, or more to the point dropping your phone down the toilet, then you'll love that the Xperia Z2 is waterproof in freshwater up to 1.5 m for 30 minutes. Of course that means you have to deal with seals and covers when ever you want to plug in a charger, but at least if someone pushes you in the pool over the summer you know that your phone will be fine.

It has got a big screen

At 5.2-inch the Z2 is a bit of a whopper. Sony has packed the screen with a number of its own technologies, some found on its TV range including Live Colour LED, Trimluminos, and X-Reality making it a real cracker. Touting a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels the Z2 screen is considerably better than the original Z1 from Sony and features a pixel density of 423ppi. That's not as sharp as the original Z1 but still very good compared to the competition.

It sounds good too

The Sony Xperia Z2 has followed HTC's lead and moved the speakers from the end of the phone around to the front, introducing S Force Surround Sound which makes it for a better experience when watching movies or playing games through the speakers. Add that to the digital noise cancelling bundled headphones in the box and the Z2 should be a popular phone for commuters including those sitting next to you.

There's a great camera

The Xperia Z2 features a 20.7-megapixel Exmor R for Mobile sensor that delivers great still pictures and 4K video as long as you can find interesting things to take a picture of. The Xperia Z2 brings all the same Smart Social features that the Xperia Z1 has, but it adds 4K video capture to its offering. There have also been some video effects added to the Xperia Z2 including AR and Vine, as well as SteadyShot image stabilisation. In addition, the Xperia Z2 brings 120fps slow motion as well as a new background defocus mode for stills.

Oh and it's really fast

The Xperia Z2 features Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon processor; the Snapdragon 801, a quad-core processor running at 2.3Ghz. There is also 3GB of RAM to make everything run smoothly and 4G connectivity so you can access the internet quickly as long as you've got good coverage. Beyond that Sony has included all the usual bells and whistles including NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and some clever battery stamina features that means you should still be able to make a call on the last train home.

Bonus

And if you are into this kind of thing, you also get the new Michael Jackson album bundled in the box. Shamone.

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