The new Xperia Z2 is Sony’s ‘best ever smartphone’

MANILA, Philippines — Sony unveiled its newest flagship smartphone the Xperia Z2 at a low-key launch event at the 2014 Mobile World Congress boldly calling its their best smartphone ever. 

On the outside the Z2 is exactly the same as its 5-month old predecessor Xperia Z1 model – same size, same button placements, same look and feel; the company instead focused on under the hood improvements.

The biggest noticeable change is the Z2’s bigger 5.2-inch display. Sony has taken out the Z1’s 5-inch display and is replacing it with a new Triluminos IPS display that uses the same Bravia engine as its high-end TVs. The display comes with a new technology called Live Color LEDs that Sony claims has the widest color gamut in a mobile device today. The resolution of the 5.2-inch screen remains at 1920 x 1080 and is not a 2K display as previously rumored.  

The rest of the spec sheet gets an upgrade including the latest 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM and a 3,200 mAh battery. The new smartphone runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat.

Like the Xperia Z1 Compact the Z2 nows has an IP58 rating and is certified water proof, not just water resistant and can be kept under 1.50 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. It is also dust proof.

The Z2 sports the same 20.7 megapixel Exmor RS camera and 1/2.3-inch image sensor as the Z1 but it can now shoot 4K video. New in the Z2 is a feature called “SteadyShot” similar to that used on Sony’s Handycam line – which is software image stabilization – not quite the same as optical image stabilization found on the Lumia 1020, LG G2 and Nexus 5. The Z2 also includes Background Defocus and TimeShift video modes. The latter allows you to shoot at 120 frames per second and then slow them down for a dramatic slow-mo effect.

The Xperia Z2 is available in black, white and purple and will go on sale globally this March. — Rappler.com