**The Sony Xperia 5 Mark II: A Flagship Device with a Twist**

The Sony Xperia 5 Mark II is a smartphone that promises to deliver flagship features at a lower price point than its predecessor, the Xperia 1 Mark II. With a focus on providing a premium experience without breaking the bank, this device is sure to appeal to those looking for a high-end phone without the hefty price tag.

**Camera Capabilities**

One of the standout features of the Sony Xperia 5 Mark II is its camera system. The phone boasts a triple-camera setup, which includes a 12MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 16MP telephoto lens. This allows for a wide range of creative possibilities, from capturing sweeping landscapes to snapping close-up portraits. The camera app itself is also noteworthy, featuring a variety of modes and settings that allow users to customize their shots. For example, the phone's "Zoom" mode allows users to switch between different lenses, including an ultra-wide lens and a 7D (a focal length equivalent to a 35mm lens). This gives users a sense of camera versatility that is not always available on smartphones.

**Audio Performance**

The Sony Xperia 5 Mark II also boasts impressive audio capabilities. The phone's speaker system is particularly noteworthy, with deep bass and clear treble that makes it well-suited for listening to music or watching videos. The device also features a vibration mode, which adds an extra layer of immersion to the listening experience. This feature allows users to feel the beat of their favorite songs in a way that is not always possible with traditional headphones.

**Display and Input**

The Sony Xperia 5 Mark II features a stunning 6.1-inch display that is well-suited for both gaming and video consumption. The device's aspect ratio is slightly different from the standard 16:9, which may require some adjustment when watching content or playing games. However, the phone's "Cinema Pro" application allows users to adjust the aspect ratio to their liking, making it easier to watch movies or TV shows on this device. In terms of input, the phone features a comfortable and intuitive design that makes it easy to navigate with one hand. The "Game Enhancer" feature also adds an extra layer of convenience, allowing users to quickly pause notifications and focus on gaming.

**Additional Features**

In addition to its impressive camera system and audio capabilities, the Sony Xperia 5 Mark II also features a range of other innovative technologies. For example, the phone's "Power Button Fingerprint Input" allows users to unlock their device with ease, without having to physically press the power button. This feature is particularly useful for those who like to keep their devices unlocked while still maintaining some level of security.

**Conclusion**

The Sony Xperia 5 Mark II is a flagship smartphone that delivers impressive performance at an affordable price point. With its stunning camera system, immersive audio capabilities, and comfortable design, this device is sure to appeal to anyone looking for a high-end phone without breaking the bank. Whether you're a photography enthusiast, a gamer, or simply someone who appreciates premium technology, the Xperia 5 Mark II is definitely worth considering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyou want this phone if you care about video and photo if you care about control if you want something like a dslr or mirrorless experience inside of a smartphone there's probably nothing closer than this triple camera setup three times 12 megapixel 8 megapixel selfie camera on the front fhd plus hdr oled display 6.1 inches four thousand milliamp hour battery snapdragon 865 and ip6568 it's also got expandable storage via micro sd let's pull this out now the trademark of these sony devices is oh my god this one's even comfier than the previous one that is so comfy because they're narrow they're so easy to hold in one hand but you still have a 6.1 inch screen now of course it's not all bonus here because a lot of content is not this wide therefore you're gonna have black bars on each side full device that's kind of funny if you look at this versus this but i think it's a it's a valid trade-off this might be the most comfortable single-handed phone i've ever held quite possibly that's a real-time reaction a part of it is the way they've curved the edges as well it's just it's very friendly to your hand also inside the package we have an 18 watt usb pd power brick same one that you get in the flagship model the xperia one too it's actually this is a flagship too they're both flagships just different sizes i think that's the way i'm looking at it we have a usb type-c cable and oh would you look at that that my friends is a dedicated headset in-ear style with interchangeable ear tips and it's a mini jack connection we've also got the headphone connector which this is increasingly difficult to find and you have it here this phone has a little bit of everything in it so let me just remove the plastic very nice fingerprint scanner over here on the thumb section which is also the power switch lines up just so beautifully i've been so used to the side fingerprint scanner not a big deal to me at all we have dedicated buttons for creativity dedicated buttons for your camera modes and so you can just hold it up and kind of snap photos in the old-fashioned way very confidence inspiring when you compare it to tapping on the display you don't need it but it's nice to have it i'm assuming this is your volume rocker just up above the power switch over on the other side this is what i was talking about i don't know if everyone's gonna appreciate this but for me the ability to just stick your finger in there and pull out the entire tray i just it's just so convenient for me and it's not just for sim cards of course the micro sd fits into there as well and so if you have to offload a ton of footage you could just quickly pop this out hand off the sd card to someone else it's greater flexibility and somehow they still manage that ip certification even though it's just your thumb to take it out it all seals up with a gasket in there top of the device is where you'll find that headphone jack that i mentioned down on the bottom it's going to be your usb type c connector and the microphone and then on the rear of the device you see that triple camera 12 megapixel on each setup of course different focal ranges supplied there there's a flash a little nfc logo over there as well it's a very simple utilitarian design it's kind of what sony is known for here this is the black this is the most subdued straight to the point so let's go ahead and boot this up another thing that happens with these sony devices is very little in the way of altering the android experience outside of things you would actually want which are those special applications for photo pro and cinema pro there's also a game enhancer here's the thing sony is involved in so many different segments within the tech space from phones to cameras to gaming playstation is getting a lot of talk right now but sony's been doing everything tvs displays some of my favorite headphones in a smartphone which kind of acts as a hub for all these various things sony does have a kind of advantage there where they can pull from their camera department they can pull from their game department but one thing i like that they didn't do is mess with android too much and as you look through here if i go ahead and launch into settings it's all very stock android like and look how comfy the single-handed is so by default out of the box it's not in 120 hertz instead it looks like it's in 60 hertz and you have to toggle on the high refresh to bring it up to 120 of course i'm gonna do that on a device this size with a 4 000 milliamp hour battery it should be a decent battery performer but it's a you know it's a tiny little one it's a it's a portable device it's a single-handed it's a kind of slightly different pitch than all the gigantic flagships that are out there and i know that's what some people want in the android space sony's given it to you try to find a snapdragon 865 in something this light and slender it's difficult but we have it here and we have the 120 and all of a sudden would you look at that something that was missing from the xperia one now of course we had to go down in resolution fhd plus in order to achieve that but by scaling down the size that doesn't really matter anyways because then we probably have too many pixels for a 6.1 inch display now you know i like to get up close and personal i could probably pick out the pixel difference but in most cases on a 6.1 inch device i'm going to take the faster refresh because i can notice that from here it gets buttery smooth you may not be able to see it in video but i promise you it's there the butter is present now things get really magical when you launch into the sony specific apps like cinema pro it just gets out of hand powered by cinna alto which of course is their cinema branded stuff you can apply looks you can set up a project your fps your resolution it's just a ton of control to have on your smartphone you're totally not used to it it's out of hand you're picking your codec you're seeing your your memory i mean you could pick look hlg i can go in here and set manual or autofocus my different lenses 16 24 70. you can see your f-stop your maximum f-stop in there as well project fps resolution uh your i mean your iso your shutter angle never mind speed your angle because we're in cinema land so i go ahead and i just shoot a video oh right now the look is venice cs which they're pulling from their much more expensive cameras and and the reason you want to shoot in a flat profile like is provided here in the cinema mode is because then when you go to edit the footage you have way more to play with in terms of shadow detail highlight detail you can kind of make it look however you want and you're also going to be hearing the audio recorded through this device as well so there's a little sample clip for the video now the same thing is true within the photo pro mode this is essentially the exact same interface as what you would get on their semi pro or even pro equipment in the photo space this is the most important part okay sony has some of the best face and eye tracking autofocus in the entire business when it comes to cameras the fact that that same software and those same algorithms exist inside of a smartphone where i can just go over here and turn on face tracking for autofocus i'm just going to go out and say you know that i use a lot of smartphones i use them all everything that comes through there's no other smartphone that gives you as much of the camera experience that this one does all of the controls and the feeling of handling the device this is your shutter button up top so you can maintain a visual on all your controls as you snap a photo boom and then i can go in and switch the lens 16 ultra wide switch the lens to a 7d that's your zoom so this gives you an idea of the different focal ranges that is your standard range that's your highest performer the ultra wide looks great and you can see the color temperature is identical through the different shots which is not always the case with multi-camera smartphones so you have a little bit of camera versatility in there which is obviously nice to have as well it has a regular camera mode by the way you can still launch into something that looks like it almost looks like the google camera app and it's just a shutter button and you can still use your mechanical shutter and that's fine for a quick photo if you're like me and you're a bit of a geek when it comes to camera stuff at least you know you can really dive in there if you choose to and if you want to and certainly for video mode i think it's worthwhile because chances are you're going to edit that footage later and you may want to play with the look and feel of it and you just have more information to work with if you use the cinema pro application whoa all right so there's a vibration mode in here where the device almost it shakes a little bit you can turn it on or off to sort of increase the thump of the audio that you're listening to it's so strange there is actually sound coming out of the rear panel of course there's sound coming out of the earpiece section and sound coming out of the bottom here totally room of their house what you really want is a drone it's a pretty satisfying speaker experience there's some configurability into how that sounds i like the audio performance on here but this is the thing you're going to be concerned with so obviously you have a very tall device and an unusual aspect ratio and there's content that you're going to run into that's regular 16 by 9 stuff so you're wondering well lou what happens when i zoom in and it really depends on the content the loo later show it kind of works i mean it still works because i have lots of head room if you have cinema content then you're actually going to see more of the frame than if you were to crop in on a different aspect ratio because that content is shot very wide so there's no notch no distraction but it's not the most aggressive screen to body ratio that's out there we're registering on the side the central part of the finger and as mentioned i've grown accustomed to this input i think even even apple on the upcoming ipad is going with a power button fingerprint input so if you're if you're completely locked you can just lay your thumb on there you don't actually have to even click the button but if you're in the sort of semi-unlocked mode just lay your thumb on and unlock it like that this is it's it's a very straightforward it's a comfortable thing it's especially comfortable on this device since it is a one-handed masterpiece it's it's so easy and comfortable to hold in one i don't care what size your hand is i mean even a child i think could comfortably hold this thing and reach the opposite side of the screen now another sony specific here we have game enhancer you have to believe they're pulling something from their a playstation background here into this mode and prevent notifications from showing up while gaming carry out searches easily capture your most epic gaming moments with screenshot burst change performance settings click in the top i can see i could pick between performance preferred versus a balance between battery life i'm gonna go for performance preferred here uh focus settings look at this release ram hide notifications it's a ton of settings and optimizations i can also record my gameplay take a screenshot and so on whoa wait a sec i think this is 120. whoa wow that is so twitchy oh i got a sniper now oh wow this is an experience it's an xperia experience look i'm a fan of these products i'm a fan of sony making phones i think they have a unique advantage as mentioned with the experience in those various other technology segments they can take what they learned and apply it here in the form of applications the whole thing feels really elegant refined it's comfy to hold and it's an option now for people who want flagship features inside of a package that's just a little bit lighter and a little bit more portable while still having expandable storage headphone jack is still there a 120 hertz i mean you see where i'm going here so i was a fan of the xperia 1 mark ii that turned me on and now the xperia 5 mark ii also turns me on for less money this one's around 950 bucks i know it's not cheap but look at the spec list you might be surprised youyou want this phone if you care about video and photo if you care about control if you want something like a dslr or mirrorless experience inside of a smartphone there's probably nothing closer than this triple camera setup three times 12 megapixel 8 megapixel selfie camera on the front fhd plus hdr oled display 6.1 inches four thousand milliamp hour battery snapdragon 865 and ip6568 it's also got expandable storage via micro sd let's pull this out now the trademark of these sony devices is oh my god this one's even comfier than the previous one that is so comfy because they're narrow they're so easy to hold in one hand but you still have a 6.1 inch screen now of course it's not all bonus here because a lot of content is not this wide therefore you're gonna have black bars on each side full device that's kind of funny if you look at this versus this but i think it's a it's a valid trade-off this might be the most comfortable single-handed phone i've ever held quite possibly that's a real-time reaction a part of it is the way they've curved the edges as well it's just it's very friendly to your hand also inside the package we have an 18 watt usb pd power brick same one that you get in the flagship model the xperia one too it's actually this is a flagship too they're both flagships just different sizes i think that's the way i'm looking at it we have a usb type-c cable and oh would you look at that that my friends is a dedicated headset in-ear style with interchangeable ear tips and it's a mini jack connection we've also got the headphone connector which this is increasingly difficult to find and you have it here this phone has a little bit of everything in it so let me just remove the plastic very nice fingerprint scanner over here on the thumb section which is also the power switch lines up just so beautifully i've been so used to the side fingerprint scanner not a big deal to me at all we have dedicated buttons for creativity dedicated buttons for your camera modes and so you can just hold it up and kind of snap photos in the old-fashioned way very confidence inspiring when you compare it to tapping on the display you don't need it but it's nice to have it i'm assuming this is your volume rocker just up above the power switch over on the other side this is what i was talking about i don't know if everyone's gonna appreciate this but for me the ability to just stick your finger in there and pull out the entire tray i just it's just so convenient for me and it's not just for sim cards of course the micro sd fits into there as well and so if you have to offload a ton of footage you could just quickly pop this out hand off the sd card to someone else it's greater flexibility and somehow they still manage that ip certification even though it's just your thumb to take it out it all seals up with a gasket in there top of the device is where you'll find that headphone jack that i mentioned down on the bottom it's going to be your usb type c connector and the microphone and then on the rear of the device you see that triple camera 12 megapixel on each setup of course different focal ranges supplied there there's a flash a little nfc logo over there as well it's a very simple utilitarian design it's kind of what sony is known for here this is the black this is the most subdued straight to the point so let's go ahead and boot this up another thing that happens with these sony devices is very little in the way of altering the android experience outside of things you would actually want which are those special applications for photo pro and cinema pro there's also a game enhancer here's the thing sony is involved in so many different segments within the tech space from phones to cameras to gaming playstation is getting a lot of talk right now but sony's been doing everything tvs displays some of my favorite headphones in a smartphone which kind of acts as a hub for all these various things sony does have a kind of advantage there where they can pull from their camera department they can pull from their game department but one thing i like that they didn't do is mess with android too much and as you look through here if i go ahead and launch into settings it's all very stock android like and look how comfy the single-handed is so by default out of the box it's not in 120 hertz instead it looks like it's in 60 hertz and you have to toggle on the high refresh to bring it up to 120 of course i'm gonna do that on a device this size with a 4 000 milliamp hour battery it should be a decent battery performer but it's a you know it's a tiny little one it's a it's a portable device it's a single-handed it's a kind of slightly different pitch than all the gigantic flagships that are out there and i know that's what some people want in the android space sony's given it to you try to find a snapdragon 865 in something this light and slender it's difficult but we have it here and we have the 120 and all of a sudden would you look at that something that was missing from the xperia one now of course we had to go down in resolution fhd plus in order to achieve that but by scaling down the size that doesn't really matter anyways because then we probably have too many pixels for a 6.1 inch display now you know i like to get up close and personal i could probably pick out the pixel difference but in most cases on a 6.1 inch device i'm going to take the faster refresh because i can notice that from here it gets buttery smooth you may not be able to see it in video but i promise you it's there the butter is present now things get really magical when you launch into the sony specific apps like cinema pro it just gets out of hand powered by cinna alto which of course is their cinema branded stuff you can apply looks you can set up a project your fps your resolution it's just a ton of control to have on your smartphone you're totally not used to it it's out of hand you're picking your codec you're seeing your your memory i mean you could pick look hlg i can go in here and set manual or autofocus my different lenses 16 24 70. you can see your f-stop your maximum f-stop in there as well project fps resolution uh your i mean your iso your shutter angle never mind speed your angle because we're in cinema land so i go ahead and i just shoot a video oh right now the look is venice cs which they're pulling from their much more expensive cameras and and the reason you want to shoot in a flat profile like is provided here in the cinema mode is because then when you go to edit the footage you have way more to play with in terms of shadow detail highlight detail you can kind of make it look however you want and you're also going to be hearing the audio recorded through this device as well so there's a little sample clip for the video now the same thing is true within the photo pro mode this is essentially the exact same interface as what you would get on their semi pro or even pro equipment in the photo space this is the most important part okay sony has some of the best face and eye tracking autofocus in the entire business when it comes to cameras the fact that that same software and those same algorithms exist inside of a smartphone where i can just go over here and turn on face tracking for autofocus i'm just going to go out and say you know that i use a lot of smartphones i use them all everything that comes through there's no other smartphone that gives you as much of the camera experience that this one does all of the controls and the feeling of handling the device this is your shutter button up top so you can maintain a visual on all your controls as you snap a photo boom and then i can go in and switch the lens 16 ultra wide switch the lens to a 7d that's your zoom so this gives you an idea of the different focal ranges that is your standard range that's your highest performer the ultra wide looks great and you can see the color temperature is identical through the different shots which is not always the case with multi-camera smartphones so you have a little bit of camera versatility in there which is obviously nice to have as well it has a regular camera mode by the way you can still launch into something that looks like it almost looks like the google camera app and it's just a shutter button and you can still use your mechanical shutter and that's fine for a quick photo if you're like me and you're a bit of a geek when it comes to camera stuff at least you know you can really dive in there if you choose to and if you want to and certainly for video mode i think it's worthwhile because chances are you're going to edit that footage later and you may want to play with the look and feel of it and you just have more information to work with if you use the cinema pro application whoa all right so there's a vibration mode in here where the device almost it shakes a little bit you can turn it on or off to sort of increase the thump of the audio that you're listening to it's so strange there is actually sound coming out of the rear panel of course there's sound coming out of the earpiece section and sound coming out of the bottom here totally room of their house what you really want is a drone it's a pretty satisfying speaker experience there's some configurability into how that sounds i like the audio performance on here but this is the thing you're going to be concerned with so obviously you have a very tall device and an unusual aspect ratio and there's content that you're going to run into that's regular 16 by 9 stuff so you're wondering well lou what happens when i zoom in and it really depends on the content the loo later show it kind of works i mean it still works because i have lots of head room if you have cinema content then you're actually going to see more of the frame than if you were to crop in on a different aspect ratio because that content is shot very wide so there's no notch no distraction but it's not the most aggressive screen to body ratio that's out there we're registering on the side the central part of the finger and as mentioned i've grown accustomed to this input i think even even apple on the upcoming ipad is going with a power button fingerprint input so if you're if you're completely locked you can just lay your thumb on there you don't actually have to even click the button but if you're in the sort of semi-unlocked mode just lay your thumb on and unlock it like that this is it's it's a very straightforward it's a comfortable thing it's especially comfortable on this device since it is a one-handed masterpiece it's it's so easy and comfortable to hold in one i don't care what size your hand is i mean even a child i think could comfortably hold this thing and reach the opposite side of the screen now another sony specific here we have game enhancer you have to believe they're pulling something from their a playstation background here into this mode and prevent notifications from showing up while gaming carry out searches easily capture your most epic gaming moments with screenshot burst change performance settings click in the top i can see i could pick between performance preferred versus a balance between battery life i'm gonna go for performance preferred here uh focus settings look at this release ram hide notifications it's a ton of settings and optimizations i can also record my gameplay take a screenshot and so on whoa wait a sec i think this is 120. whoa wow that is so twitchy oh i got a sniper now oh wow this is an experience it's an xperia experience look i'm a fan of these products i'm a fan of sony making phones i think they have a unique advantage as mentioned with the experience in those various other technology segments they can take what they learned and apply it here in the form of applications the whole thing feels really elegant refined it's comfy to hold and it's an option now for people who want flagship features inside of a package that's just a little bit lighter and a little bit more portable while still having expandable storage headphone jack is still there a 120 hertz i mean you see where i'm going here so i was a fan of the xperia 1 mark ii that turned me on and now the xperia 5 mark ii also turns me on for less money this one's around 950 bucks i know it's not cheap but look at the spec list you might be surprised you\n"