My first impressions of the Xperia Z2

The Test Lab is back!

Thank god!

Its been quite a while since the last one and I am very excited to be back.

A lot has happened since the last Test Lab.
 Sony has finally finished buying out Ericsson and making itself in to a singular brand.
Not only that but Sony has been making steady progress back up the mobile rankings too, not just in sales but with journalists too.
A lot has changed in the market as well with the introduction of the phablet and the advent of water proofing in mobile phones...So, a lot to catch up on!

The guys at Test Lab were kind enough to get us up to speed on what Sony have been doing and their plans for the future. They certainly have been busy and the future sounds incredibly exciting.

We were lucky enough to be shown the latest and greatest phone by Sony - The Xperia Z2.

This is my take...

Geeking out with the guys at Test Lab

Being the current owner of an Xperia SP, a mid ranged phone from a previous generation, I was expecting some big changes with the Xperia Z2 and boy was I not disappointed.

When you first set eyes on the Xperia Z2 you notice how incredible it looks. It really has a premium look to it. Its sleek, sexy, stylish and incredibly thin. Its hard to imagine that Sony have packed so much in to it. You really do wonder how they do it! 

It doesn't stop there though, despite its screen being well over 5 inches, its a dream to hold. I was under the impression it would be a phone which mostly needed two hands to hold and operate most of the time, but it handles so well. It helps that the phone isn't particularly heavy either, being a mere 163g, which for its size and class, is respectable. 

You may have seen its most recent advert showing nothing more than a group of dancers. A lot of people haven't understood the video claiming it has nothing to do with the phone and shows little detail about it either, but when you handle the Z2 you really start to understand it. Its a perfect balance of elegance, style and beauty, yet mixed with power, durability and expression. Its quite simply a work of art. 

Naturally, art is down to perception. So let me explain further why it is a thing of beauty rather than just a cold piece of machinery designed to near perfection. Sony have worked hard to gradually merge all their successful technologies in to one product. All their hard work and character over the generations has been merged in to one great personality, which is the Xperia Z2.
 We have seen the Bravia technology from their TV's, Exmor sensors from their cameras and the Playstation from their console department which has been merged in toall in their previous phones, just like my Xperia SP...

....The Xperia Z2 is more than that though, is quite simply IS SONY. 

The best example of this is their camera. We now have the award winning "G lens", the Exmor RS sensor AND the "Bionz" processor in their camera. Just the camera. 

They have taken every part of what makes a camera great and stuck in their very own piece of Sony technology and merged it in. Some manufacturers are stuck with just a stock, standard x mega pixel camera and absolutely nothing else.
Still not impressed? The Z2 is also packed with 4k video recording too. So get your memory cards ready!

So as you can see, Sony are aiming for premium and working hard to make sure it delivers premium!

The same can be said for their screen too. Full HD screen has become standard in the industry these days and 4K screens are either pointless at the moment, or a long way off. Sony have again, merged everything which makes Sony who they are in to this phone. We have the third generation Bravia engine, which is now known as X-reality. We also have Triluminos display, which can be found in their high end TV's.
X-reality focuses on up scaling videos to make them look as sharp and crisp as possible, and Triluminos display offers the widest spectrum of colours around in any mobile phone.

Boom!

I have also noticed that Sony are now (finally) using IPS screens instead of standard LCD, which was one of the few things a lot of reviews marked Sony screens down for in the past. They have now caught up, and possibly leap frogging the rest because of all the other technology added to compensate in the past.

So, with all that technology inside, you are also probably quite worried about breaking it, right?
Fear not!
 The Xperia Z2 has a IP58 certificate, which gives it the ability to be soaked in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. This is something offer by no other manufacturer on the market. With only the Samsung S5 offering some cheap "water resistance" alternative.
I am going to have great fun seeing what I can do with this phone now I no longer have to cower away at the sight of a bit of rain, or some condensation. I can watch a film in the bath, take photographs under water and not constantly worry about my son spilling drink all over my phone when its laying on the table!

Liberation!

Doesnt bother me! 

To have such an incredible amount of technology in something so small and yet so durable is incredible. Using the phone has been a pleasure. We were sent out by Sony to experiment with the phones for the day.

We decided to go in to Hyde Park and mess around with the camera to see what it could do. The Xperia Z2 has a ton of new features. Some of my favourite being Augmented Reality, which actually puts imaginary objects like Dinosaurs, fairies or elves in to your screen shot so you can spice up your photos. You can even download other versions so you can add super hero powers to your photos or halloween themes.
We had other numerous features worth mentioning too, like slow motion filming, 4k recording, tunnel vision and time shift bursts.

Sadly we weren't able to keep most of the photos from the day so I am unable to show you most of the ones we took. Here is a few ones we did manage to salvage though.

There were some great results from simply pointing and clicking thanks to Superior Auto. Not to mention a host of cool features as seen above.

Sadly we didn't get to keep the Xperia Z2 phones long so I can only show you a couple of the photos, none of them being the best ones either.
It was great playing around with the water proofing in the park. A couple watched from a park bench near by with great suspense as I dipped my phone under water at the lake and tried to take a photo. Some people still unaware of great steps forward mobile phones have made in the past year or so...well, Sony anyway. 

Most impressive was the battery life. When I left Sony Music Studio we had about 31% battery on the phone. We spent well over 2 hours running around taking photos, messing with settings, recording video (some in 4k) and bluetoothing/NFC'ing our pictures around. When we got back my battery had only gone down to about 22%. 

I wish I could say the same for my Xperia SP, which I also had on me, as it did pretty much NOTHING during the same time period and had gone down by about the same percentage. 

So there is progress in nearly every sense of the word. 

I cannot wait to get my hands on the Xperia Z2 myself and really show you guys what it is capable of!

Watch this space...