Thank you sir. I am looking forward to purchase this phone but in my situation (paralyzed right arm and legs but I can stand). I am actually using a tripod. Is there any "cable" this phone has?
Great video have just bought a pre owned Sony Xperia 5.2 for 129.00 pounds UK alot slicker and nicer to hold then some phones up to now really no complaints
FINALLY! A reviewer who doesn't just talk tech. Thank you. All information clear and understandable. I love Sony and have had so many but was just about to switch to a Samsung. You've helped me enormously. I use my phone so much for photos and for Facebook lives and need it to be reliable. You are a star (and I reckon you're northern too ;-) ) 😁
Great video. Love this comprehensive overview of the 5 II. I loved my 5 III and I'm definitely picking up that 5 IV. My 1 III and 5 III definitely encouraged me to do more with my phone camera. But yeah, it is hard to spend that kind of cash when the support window is so poor
There's definitely downsides of these latest Xperia's even compared to the mk iii. I'm tempted to get the 5 IV though to see if it's much different to the 1 IV. Thanks Twin
I had the 5 Mark II and then the 1 Mark III and to my surprise it was a better experience with the 5 Mark II. Less overheating and better photographic experience. Cheers!
I've just got the 1 IV and I'm finding the overheating and battery drain to be much more of a problem. I think the 4k screen is a big part of the problem. I may grab the 5 IV to see if there's much difference in the experience. Thanks!
@jerichojoebasilio5601 definitely the 1 iii. Native 4K/120 video recording on the main lens is 🔥 Also has the better screen for watching that video back.
My Xperia 5 II is still running amazingly great!!! The battery thanks to Sony's battery care... It still holds great through out my day. One of the best Android phones i had. Thanks Sony.
More so in the consistency of the SoC and a more practical telephoto for portrait photography. Otherwise the 1 IV is a fantastic phone. I have the 5 IV coming in this weekend so stay tuned for that. Thanks Francis.
Nothing wrong with it. It starts at 3.5x and is a touch softer than expected. Otherwise it's solid. I may pick up the 1 IV again at some point to review it properly.
Perfectly said - grabbed one for $100, best Walkman ever (beats the $300 one Sony has...) ---- great choice for music (700gb of FLAC + nice headphones) and for smaller phone; it has a nice UI.
got this for 200 usd here in the Philippines It's like new also probably a refurbished one but it's all good and I hope it will last til next year hehe nice review bro
I bought a Japan used unit last Dec, and it developed green lines in April. Then I bought another unit immediately and after four months the green line also appears in my second phone. Can't describe how frustrated I'm now 😢😢
Intentionally seek out phones with the 865 chip because I think it had great thermals and performance. That's two generations of Qualcomm Flagship chipsets have run pretty hot with less efficiency
Many thanks bro, after watching your review - i will go to buy Xperia 5ii ( i confused Xpeia 1 ii and 5 ii). Now i choose Xperia 5ii . Many thanks your review.
This model is notorious for having green line problem. I bought two used Japan units and both ended up green lines. Does 5iii has green line problem as well?
im rocking a 5ii still at this moment. the biggest cons i have with this phone are the no point and shoot camera software. the shutter button for example always takes two photos when you use burstmode, there should be a second in between the burst mode and normal photo. for the rest the battery saving mode should have some app exceptions toggle in it so you can use google maps in battery saving mode when roaming around cities. for the rest this phone is perfect for me.
i bought it for 630 euro new in 2021 or so. i almost always charge the phone up to 80% cause that is enough battery for normal dayly usage. and otherwise i just use charger again through the day.
Still a solid phone. The standard camera app is pretty point and shoot but the newer phones combine it all into one app. If you can hold out for the mk V I think you'll get more significant camera upgrades plus a fantastic SoC upgrade too.
@@GroundedTech yes I might do that. I do hope they get a bit more computational at least for night shots. And what I said about the shutter button and having burst mode in standard camera app on. Cause I need to use the on screen shutter button instead of the physical one if i want to make one photo then. So it's bit of a waste of that nice physical shutter button. In my opinion the 5ii is hardware wise perfect. Software wise sony still has a lot to improve. And I would say they should now improve a bit more for the normal user instead of the photographer so they will compete better with the other brands and get bigger market share. At least that are my thoughts haha. A high sony ceo did however say that computational photography is the future so that is maybe a great sign for Sony's future too haha
The shutter button should only be taking one photo. Mine does. In terms of computational I wouldn't expect it because that's not the philosophy that Sony is using. I can say though that the 1 IV is doing a better job in photos but you still have to do things in the old school photography way to get the best results in difficult conditions.
@@GroundedTech yea I did try and I even bought a tripod but in most situations I think the standard camera app is easier and doing a fine job. The fiddling with the setting might give a better photo but I don't think it is worth the hassle at least at this moment of my Xperience with this phone. Although in certain situations where I have a lot time too I might still use the photography pro app and making the raws. I did also try to edit raws on the pc. It's a fun thing but still I think not worth the time haha. But maybe in some cases for like holiday pictures or so I might try that more again
All depends what you can get for a similar price. It will still be a very performant phone. The 5 iii is worth looking at unless you're worried about thermals.
It lacks wireless charging but it has bypass charging. I wish all phone have it. Which will prolong battery life.and 120hz oles panel which gamers love.
@@GroundedTech the sony Xperia 5ii makes better picture than the Pixel 6a. But then again they are not really comparible. One flagship one midranger. But i expected more from the Pixel 6a. I bought the 6a as an in between option because my 5ii screen didnt work anymore. Now i fixed the 5ii screen last summer and it worked normaly again. Until like a few weeks ago 1 green line appeared in screen. And that turned into 3 green lines now after a month. So in doubting to still keep it and sell the Pixel 6a(cause now its still worth something) and keep the 5ii with the green lines for while 😅 hahah or just start using the Pixel 6a hahahaha and in the mean time save up some money for another sony Xperia 5 or 1 series. Which one exactly i dont know yet but 2d hand i wouldnt mind nessaceraly. 1v seems amazing and saw it discounted already but i ait have money at the moment 🤣 and 5 series is so nice compact i love it
@namelesssnitchy I'd save for a better Xperia if you can. The 1 V is truly an excellent phone. Will have more videos on that soon. I did like the Pixel 6a and tbh for most people it's a far easier camera to use. But the 7a was a fair upgrade and it won't be long till the 8a comes along. But Xperia is still my favourite.
I own this phone since it came out, purchased it because I was a die hard 3.5 jack user and no flagship use it no more. But few complaints indeed, front camera is pretty bad compare to the competition, and rear cameras are excellent but only in full daylight, night shots are very deceiving. Main complaint is the screen failing for no apparent reason, the notorious pink lines popping up for no reason on galaxy phones is now also a thing for the Xperia 5 ii. I now have this magical green line right in the middle of the screen, my phone has been protected since day one, and under normal usage, having to replace the screen after a couple or years only is very disappointing and costly.
I've seen a few people complaining about the screens. Seems to be a fault with this particular model. Front camera is sorted on the latest models. It's a shame you've had those issues.
@@GroundedTech such a shame indeed, I love the aspect ratio, as you mentioned it is very convenient and easy to use, sound quality is up there as well as the 120hz refresh rate on point. Couple of other things is the 3 button navigation not having the option to swap back and recent button on this version of Android, and the flash light being pretty much useless are other complaints I have to make.
I agree with you on all of that. Unfortunately the flashlight is still poor on recent models. Not sure about the navigation buttons as I always use gestures. I'll go over things more once I get the 5 IV in and do a review next month.
Great video and thanks for the review! I am doubting on to buy this xperia 5 ii or the xperia 10 iv, both found at about the same price now. Which would be your recommendation? For spec, the 5 ii is clearly better, but I am concerned about the shoter time updates and if this would affect it for the long term use.
The updates are a problem. Should be able to get the 5 III pretty cheap now. Performance and camera are the reasons to go with the 5. The 10 will give you very nice general use and battery life.
Definitely the 5 iii but Sony phones just don't get supported for that long. The 1 IV refurbished can be found at crazy prices these days. Definitely worth a look as long as you're not in a hot climate.
I looked into the specs and all that it says that it's upgradable to android 12 I bought the phone but it still has android 11 and didn't get the 12 update
Noice... Yep, some of the shots can easily beat shots from the Pixel, iPhone, Galaxy etc...However it's the consistency of point and shoot that puts the majority of folks off the Sony. Patience is key to using a Xperia device when it comes to photos & videos, hence why Sony has accepted this and turned these devices into a so called niche market. Outside of that, the rest of the phone easily beats a majority if not all other devices when it comes to a balance of hardware/software features...Shame as you mentioned they don't provide newer features to previous phones, like Pixel devices do.
The auto on the 1 IV is even better tbh. In day time shots it rarely fails. Still the same issues with low light though. The 5 ii is still crazy good. Feels faster than my 1 IV weirdly. Thanks Ibrahim 👍🏻
Hello sir from the Philippines! I "was" a photographer in Dubai until my stroke in 2016. I sold my camera and lens in 2022 but now, I miss shooting. Will this help replace my camera (minus the aperture mode)? Thank you for your video. It is very helpful.
An Xperia from the mk.ii onwards will be a great alternative to having a camera. Functions in the same way as a Sony Alpha. I hope you can get back to some photography and I wish you all the best with your health.
@@GroundedTech Thank you sir. I am looking forward to purchase this phone. But in my situation (right arm and legs paralyzed but I can stand) are there any accessories like cable shutter button I can use?
I'm considering to get 1iii but then 5ii is heavily discounted right now. Based on your opinion, which one would be more reasonable based on price to features ratio?
If you want decent battery don't get a 1. The 5 gives you the battery and the performance. My honest opinion would be the 5 iii unless you really want a bigger screen and the wireless charging etc.
@@GroundedTech noted, since 1iii has both 120Hz refresh rate and 4k display, plus 12 GB RAM which makes it more appealing to me. While 5 ii (not 5 iii) has 120 Hz refresh rate only but is significantly cheaper than 1 iii. Oh well, what a dilemma
@@fara.r.8181 if you want the features and can put up with the battery drain go for the 1. I'm really enjoying the 1 IV despite the weaker battery. It's still good if you turn off 120hz at times you really need it. I'll have 1 IV videos coming up and will mention the 1 iii in there.
@@GroundedTech Wow, thanks. Can't wait for your opinion on 1 iv, but what a bummer that Sony is starting to ditch both charger and USB cable from the lineup. Totally sub'ed!
It's a shame Sony took so long to get their crap together. I had a few Xperias years ago, and I liked having a different phone to everyone, I liked the design, and I liked the minimal Android skin and built in Sony apps (also a shame they stopped those, Sonys gallery app and music player was great). But for years the cameras were comparatively very poor. Apparently the camera division refused to work with the mobile division because they didn't want to take sales away by making the mobile cameras too good. So although the Xperia phones had the same sensors as some of the best camera phones out there, the images were so bad - pretty much all images had extensive artifacts and noise, and looked overly compressed. In very bright light it was passable, but even then details were bad if you looked closely. It part of the reason Xperia got a bad reputation even though they were good phones overall. (as for the price, CEX are selling them in grade A which is boxed in mint condition with 2 year warranty for £140!)
It's more that they changed tact in recent years but yeah, if they'd brought on the camera expertise of the Alpha division earlier it might of helped. Great price for a 5 ii at CEX. I need to see what their 5 IV prices are like. The rumour is that the 5 is being discontinued this year.
this phone price is 200$ in my country refurbished but like new can i go for it or buy a new phone in 200$ my need is video recoding and watching movies thats it
The Sony and it's not even close. A52 still gets updates OS updates but otherwise the Sony is a corker of a phone. The A52 is a midrange phone whereas the Sony is still a flagship. It's not even close on performance, build, screen and camera experience.
Hi Thank you for sharing all this I wonder what exactly will happen in 2 years. The phone will stop working or pirate will easily hack the phone or something ? Thank you anyway
Hi Jean-Baptiste! The phone will carry on working you just won't have those security updates to protect from new threats. However as long as you don't go to those dodgy websites on your phone it should be perfectly fine.
The thing with 5ii and 5iii is there are faulty screen that after some time there will be green vertical line appeared, there is no fixing it, even if you replace the screen it will occurs again later on shortly, some get it after 9 months some are 3 months, check out their sub reddit. I have a 5ii hk version, and i got a single vertical line, tried to contact sony hk for a solution and they simply just blocked me. Yep you read it right they blocked me in facebook, sent email and there is still no reply at all. Just when i think i got the right phone
I've seen a few mention it. It hasn't happened to both 5 ii's I've had at least and I can't speak for how frequent the issue occurs. All I can say is that it's a great phone. If you're worried about an issue with the screen then grab the 1 ii or a 5 iii.
@@GroundedTech the problem also occurs on 5iii, even the japan model docomo, au u name it. As long as it is 5ii and 5iii there are risk of it. Lets see if the 5 iv also have this problem, i hope not
@@GroundedTech Thanks for the response. I am planning to get one as my backup device. I was just worried that I may have to deal with a broken fingerprint sensor considering the amount of complaints I have have been reading.
Hi Xperia 5 ii used model (good condition) is available less than $180 in my hometown. Should I buy it? My intention is to use that for just 1 year Hopes your reply.........
Battery health is usually good as Sony have good battery management tools. I think it supports 18W fast charging and with it being 4000mah it doesn't take too long. Depends if you have adaptive charging on or not but you will be around an hour or so to charge.
So far it's not an issue I've come across. Buy refurbished with a guarantee if you can. At least then you can get it replaced if you have the misfortune of it occurring. I've had two of these and know a couple of other people with them and they've been fine too. Hope that helps.
100% agree with you and i am using a sony xperia 5ii . bought it for 630 euro like about 1 and half year ago. sony need to get their software updates better and also their software usability. cause i really have 1 word for their camera software: cumbersome
I like the camera software. Their intention is for it to be more like a proper camera, but tbh they have improved it a lot with more recent phones. Just wish as you'd say they'd improve software, offer more updates and for more important things like the camera app they could at least update phones from the last couple of years to the same standard.
@@GroundedTech , Sony phones gets pretty hot while charging which leads to a complete/partial failure of the finger print sensor. Sony has gone downhill, their phones have the worst thermal control.
@uaeelectronics I don't agree that this is the case. They had more of an issue with the 888 and 8 Gen 1 chips but the Xperia Mk V series has been fantastic.
Depends what you want. Pixel 6 is much newer and is supported for years whereas Xperia 5 ii is older and now end of life. Of course they both have completely different feature sets so you'll have to decide what works best for you.
I don't have the phone currently. Will have one again in a couple of weeks. Battery life is fine though unless you're pushing it with camera/gaming. In regards to battery test what would you want to see in that? How would it be done?
That's not the sort of thing I tend to do on the channel. I'm more interested in how phones work in general use day to day and what you can do with them. I will have my review for it later this month and more. We'll see what we can cover.
WARNING: DO NOT BUY THEM This phone is plagued with Fingerprint issues, we have received one faulty Sony Xperia 5ii, which didn't recognise our fingerprint, upon wiping the fingerprint it would work but then again after a few days the fingerprint completely stopped working.
Apart from dropped OS support, this phone has below the average photos quality output, unusable selfie camera, missing wireless charging, no face unlock and not good enough screen brightness. So it's not worth it to keep it in 2023 unless you have got it as a gift
It depends how capable you are with a camera. If you know how to take a decent picture you'll still get great shots as you can see in the video. All comes down to the feature set you want. I. 2023 it's hard to recommend especially when we have Xperia 5 IV here in the UK going for £349 right now.
@@GroundedTech Unfortunately this is a theory and an Sony's idea to justify the lack of computational photography. I'm not a first time photographer, I know what to do but I didn't help me.
You can do a lot more with an Xperia 5 ii but it doesn't have a great auto mode for casuals. If you like night modes and stuff like that the Galaxy will be the better buy. But I think in general the Xperia is a better phone.
A hard NO on this one. ASUS is better. Sony Xperia 5/1 have fingerprint , overheating issues and 5G may not work at best. You will most likely see 4G+ only.
I have none of those issues tbh. 5G works fine. Fingerprint reader is great. Overheating issues only really occur in a warmer climate or if you're pushing the phone hard.
@@GroundedTech , 5G doesn't work either. At best you will see 4G+, it's half baked 5G support. Pretty much outdated hardware with only 20 watts of charging. The Asus Rog 6 supports 65 watts of charging.
@@Musa--javed Didn't buy it On Reddit most users complained of the appearance of green lines even if they gave extra care for the phone AFAIK, the Sony Xperia 1 didn't suffer from this issue
I've only seen one or two cases. I've had screen failures with Samsung doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend the phone unless it was a seriously widespread issue.
@@GroundedTech Many cases in Taiwan and HK by now. They write in Chinese, so you might not be able to read it. Almost everyday with one new case. (From HK discuss & Mobile 01)
It's a waste of money because they have downgraded the os update policy from the xz series, which few had 3 to 4 years os updates now its only 2 years os and 3 years security where xiaomi flagships offer 3 os 5 security and Samsung and oppo are offering 4 os and 5 security and oneplus 4 years os and 5 security if sony wants to sell they need support their phones at least 3 to 4 years os and 5 years security or they might aswell stop making phones when it's no longer selling like the z and xz series did
@GroundedTech it's a great build, probably the best, specally the 4k 21/9 for most movies but the problem is the update policy for the price tag and u can't get the most out of their cameras on their base camera app u have go to their pro camera app and the settings are very hard to find its also the only phone that allows 4k 120fps for all 3 lens but u have to use their pro app to find it
Well the 5 ii only has a 1080p screen and it doesn't do 4k 120 on all lenses. It does it on the main lens but it isn't true 4k 120fps. You can get this phone very cheap now. Even the latest Xperia 1 IV that has all those things you mentioned can be had for under £500.