This is the Sony Xperia five mark two.
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It's basically a smaller, more affordable version of the experience one mark two.
So why do we need to do a review that it's got a high refresh rate display, and it's the first one that can film 4k video at 120 frames per second.
And it also costs hundreds of dollars less.
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Look, I absolutely enjoyed the experience one mark two, it was aimed at creative types who wants more control over photography and videography on their phone Since the majority of this phone is exactly the same, I want to focus on the differences and what's new.
So if you want to catch up on the basics, take a look at my Experia one mark to review video, or take a look at the short film.
I Robert that I shot and made on the phone with the cinema pro app also before we jump in.
This particular Xperia 5 II is a preproduction phone running final software.
Now, the Sony Xperia 1 II really impressed me with its solid specs, 4k display and creative apps like Photo Pro and Cinema Pro that allowed me to, Have detailed controls for photo and video capture, aside from the 4K display.
All of that is here, in the experience five mark 2 the same Snapdragon 865 processor, the eight gigabytes of RAM the same triple camera array.
The 20 frames per second burst mode with autofocus and auto exposure adjustments between each frame it's all here.
Okay it doesn't have a time of flight sensor but it still has eye autofocus for humans and pets and it's still Pretty wonderful my biggest gripe against the Xperia 1 mark two was its $1200 price now right off the bat the Xperia 5 mark two grabs my attention because at $950 It costs $250 less.
Two things so.
That's still a $150 more than last year's Xperia 5 I and we're in a pandemic and a lot of people are enduring financial hardship right now.
So it's hard to recommend any phone that costs close to a $1000.
That's it if you have the budget and are into Sony's mirrorless camera system then yeah, the extreme five mark two is definitely worth considering.
Another picky point I had with the experior one mark two was its 4k display.
The 4k part was stunning.
It looked fantastic, but it lacked a high refresh rate and that's because 4k displays.
Aren't made that have a high refresh rate, at least not yet.
So the experienced five mark two is nifty because it has 120 hertz display with an HD resolution.
As for the refresh rate, it's either 60 hertz or 120 hertz.
Now there isn't an in between option or adaptive software like other phones, but you can see the difference especially when gaming at 120 hertz Part of that comes from the new and improved game Enhancement Act, which basically has gone a complete overhaul and use a software to Crank that 120 hertz to 240 hertz.
And it worked, you could actually see the difference in gameplay.
It's like someone added sharpness and contrast to my games and it's pretty impressive, especially in a game like Call of Duty.
Now, the game enhancer app also has a little heads up display.
So if you're playing a game, you can actually preview what the refresh rate looks like before you use it.
So that's pretty cool too.
Then there is the battery, which is larger than the experience five despite the phone being pretty much exactly the same size.
And with game enhancer it gets another cool ability is called H.S power control aka heat suppression.
If your phone is plugged in the idea is you could turn on the mode and this will allow you to play longer while avoiding overheating the phone.
Now speaking of Heath Inside the phone, there's a new graphene layer that helps the phone dissipate heat so it doesn't feel hot to the touch.
In testing the phone, it got warm but never hot and that was mostly when I was playing games for more than 30 minutes or if I was shooting lots of photos and videos and I should say HS power control is only available in the game enhancer app, but Let's talk cameras.
Okay, the experienced five mark two builds on the same experience one Mark twos camera hardware and software and adds raw support for photos from each camera.
Now photos taken with the native camera app are good, but I like the control I get being able to take a raw photo and adjust things later.
Now also props to Sony the photo pro apps Menus have been updated and look like the ones from A7S3 camera.
And speaking of the A7S3 camera, you can now connect a cable between it and the Xperia 5 Mark 2 and send photo and video files, To the phone for FTP uploads, but the feature that I was most excited to try out was the new 4K 120 frame per second video capture.
Now, this only works in the Cinema Pro app and files get saved as 30 FPS or 24 FPS, which give it a dreamy four times or five times slow motion effect.
I shot a bunch of Slow Motion footage using the cinema pro app and even graded it.
And this is by far the best slow motion video I've seen from a phone.
Now as much as I liked the experience five mark to everything isn't great.
When using the cinema pro app, there's a sweet spot for exposure and I ran into the same Issue with the exterior one or two as well.
If it's too bright, you can't get the ISO or shutter angle low enough and if it's too dark, well you run into similar challenges.
ISO tops out at 800 because cameras on phones have a fixed aperture aside from the Galaxy phones a couple years ago.
You really only have the shutter angle to adjust for exposure which Isn't ideal because of how it affects movement.
But also, you bought them out pretty fast.
But let's get to the thing that probably bothers me the most.
Sony added an extra button.
Now, on the right side there's already a volume rocker, a combo power button and fingerprint reader and a shutter button for the camera and now There's a hardware key that triggers google assistant.
Look, it's just one button too many and are people using Google Assistant so much that it needs its own button?
Maybe I don't know.
I don't know these people and if that's you, please leave a comment.
But Here's what gets me this phone is aimed at photographers and videographers, gamers, creative types journalists, and nearly every one of those people are going to mount this phone.
Maybe if you're a game, you're going to mount it to a PS4 controller.
If you're taking photos or video, you might mount it to a tripod.
And when I put the phone into a holder for a tripod, not only is the Google Assistant but really easy to hit, avoiding it is so finicky
Sorry, I don't understand.
And when I do finally get the phone mounted, I no longer have access to it.
My recessed power button or fingerprint reader because it's under the tripod holder and
Here are the top search results.
That's frustrating.
So yeah, that's not cool, Sunny.
And this last one's more of a nitpick and our preference because I do really enjoy the way the exterior five mark two fits in my hand, but I missed the Squared off edges of the exterior one mark two I could even sometimes stand up the exterior one mark to to take a photo or video.
But on the whole I really like this phone.
I think it's the best phone Sony has.
Made in yours if you're looking at getting on pre order start on September 29.
And the film will be available December 4. Also Sony does these kind of pre order bundle things they have one for the Sony Xperia 502.
When you buy it, you can get a bunch of gaming accessories for free.
Including the hyper x cloud to gaming headset, a 10,000 milliamp hour portable power bank and 21,600 Call of Duty points.
I mean why not 22,000 but anyway also if you want a more in depth look at this phone, check out my Sony Xperia five mark to review on See, I'll have results from battery tests.
Processor test and more.
But I want to hear from you.
What do you think of the Sony Xperia 5 Mark 2?
Would you get it instead of the Xperia 1 Mark 2?
And what features are you most excited about?
Let me know in the comments.
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