Gadgetory

for some folks bigger will always be better and there is no shortage of many tablet smartphones for our pockets and purses but as we start moving towards the mid-range in terms of pricing what can we do to balance some of those potential compromises how do we deliver that bigger display in a nice premium feeling shell but while keeping prices in check sony thinks they've found the right formula for balancing those compromises with the xperia x a2 ultra and we've been putting this beast through its paces so here's our full review here we go folks a 6 inch 1080p display 16 by 9 aspect ratio with Sony's hallmark forehead and chin bezels against another big screen champ we've got similar heights this phone is a little bit wider but overall we've got very similar screen surface area when compared against a phone like the Galaxy Note 8 I think Sony has done a remarkably good job of balancing thinner side bezels against their traditional blocky modern aesthetic and we get a nice combination of materials here the back does arrive in plastic but it blends in really well with the aluminum sides whatever they're using to paint to coat this rear panel feels very similar to the edges and overall does not feel like a cheap flimsy plastic more a higher-quality Polycarp it gives off a great first week impression but we do have some concerns over how this product will age over time how this paint how this coating will hold up against scratches nicks bumps bruises and other lifestyle abuse the crown jewel feature we get a big bold LCD display but I have found that in bright direct california sun this screen can be a little hard to read otherwise it's a well-executed display with plenty of room for you to get your work done if we needed another reason to proclaim the death of the mini tablet sony is giving us a great piece of evidence to point to another critical victory for this brand a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which works in the United States I prefer rear-mounted fingerprint sensors on larger phones I think the ergonomics how you unlock the phone in your hand just works out better you don't have to try and slide down to some sort of bottom mounted home button overall this is a more accessible package for more people who are likely to purchase a bigger phone now there are a ton of different ways that we can build a smartphone in this mid pack priced here now Sony is balancing this huge display against a lower powered chipset instead of a Qualcomm 800 series processor the XA to ultra is rocking the Snapdragon 630 they might lack a little horsepower but I am a fan of these lower power chipsets delivering a hearty balance of daily lifestyle usage while sipping a lot less battery UI performance is generally smooth if a bit sticky with some heavier multitasking and the phone is capable of handling whatever media files you might want to throw at it including capturing 4k video again a tightrope walk but using a less expensive chipset may have helped Sony budget for a beefier camera sensor the rear shooter here is largely the same hardware as what we'll find on a more expensive Xperia - some of just the fancier sensors and accessories but the Snapdragon 630 just isn't powerful enough to ramp up that really crazy 900 frame per second slow-motion burst Sony's camera app covers the basics well if it can still feel a bit intrusive at time superior auto feels a little anachronistic when compared against the auto mode you might find on a pixel or some of the AI processing you'll find on a hallway it's certainly gotten better over the last couple generations of Xperia but even something as simple as how you tap on the screen to focus and that is a marker that the phone refers to after you push the shutter button can feel very unfamiliar personally I just feel there are more pause points when you're going to capture photos and videos as you get acclimated to the camera when you compare it against some of its competitors but a happy addition for selfie fans there are dual cameras and an LED flash on the front face reminding me of an experiment that I absolutely loved on the LG v10 in the LG v 20 we've got an ultra wide shooter if you want to try and capture a group shot we've got a more narrow field if you just want a better portrait I think that's a really handy option for people capturing their memories capturing those moments when out and about now this forehead bez is dedicated to camera tech so the overall audio commentary here isn't really much to write home about there's a capable mono bottom firing speaker it's plenty loud for notifications and it sounds fine for movies and games maybe you want to play a little music or a podcast out of the bottom of your phone we've about peaked on mono bottom firing speakers so the XA is a bad as well equipped as you would expect the headphone game is a little bit disappointing though we're always happy to see a built-in 3.5 millimeter jack it's way more convenient than dongles and adapters if you already own some headphones or some good earbuds you plug them right in you're good to go Sony built a reputation on being a high-end multimedia consumer content consumption company and this probably won't satisfy folks who are looking to drive nicer cans this hardware is totally fine for sound tracking other activities are taking phone calls but if the activity you want to pay attention to is listening to nice music on nice headphones you're probably gonna want to shop elsewhere and lastly that brings us to battery life we've got a nice sized capacity here but again this oversized display drinks up more than its fair share of juice testing a smart phone like this can be a bit tricky it's handily an all-day performer when used for just covering the basics in terms of smart phones communication social media and under light use if I really hyper mild as Beast I can get two full day's problem is for how we normally test these phones it just doesn't synthetic benchmark very well really driving the display hits that battery harder so the numbers that we get out of this for our video streaming benchmark just don't feel indicative of what you're likely to see in day to day use Church times are also a little bit slow even though this phone support squall comes qc3 quick charging charging this off of the included adapter that came in the box not very impressive performance here either so that's enough rambling from me let's wrap this up where's that leave us with the Sony Xperia x8 ooh ultra there are some obvious points on paper and a few design elements which might scare away some of the consumers considering a bigger phone if you're watching this video you're probably an enthusiast used to a different kind of me amid ranger conversation aka you probably care a bit more about horsepower than just having the biggest screen you can at this price tear considering where the markets moved on to you probably can't buy a 1 plus for example anywhere close to this price anymore but there are other brands that are including beefier processors in this middle chunk of the market the XA 2 ultra doesn't do the best job of competing against that kind of conversation but I'm always happy to discuss beefier battery life the appeal of this phone is totally neat just as when we went through some of those experiments on devices like the Lumia 1320 but Sony does a good job of delivering exactly what they set out to do this phone lives up to the manufacturing claims if you want a big phone in a nice overall presentation and you want to avoid some of the sticker shock found on premium flagship grade devices there aren't many gadgets that can truly go toe-to-toe with what Sony offers here as always folks thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for more reviews like these and help us out with some sharing on your favorite social networks for PocketNow i'm juan carlos bag now some gadget guy around the internet and i will catch you all on the next review