IN the middle of all the news that you must be getting about the Xiaomi, OnePlus, Apple, Samsung and others, it is possible that you may no longer remember that Sony also sells smartphones in India. Yes, this is about those Xperia smartphones, which are still available in market. They are launched quietly and at prices that seem like some sort of joke that Sony plays on the Xperia fans in India. The latest to join the list of the Xperia phones in India is the Xperia XZ2 and it comes into the country with a ridiculous price of Rs 72,990.
Now, before the talk on the price and what is wrong with it, first a quick look at the Xperia XZ2. It's not a bad phone, not by any stretch of imagination. It has got decent hardware, and its design too seems fairly good. Sony, even if it hasn't set the market on fire with the design of the Xperia phones, makes fairly unique phones that look good. They have always got some flair, and the Xperia XZ2 seems no different.
The Xperia XZ2 design uses a lot of glass and metal -- mostly glass that Sony calls3D glass -- and that does make it look premium. It is also a phone that uses Sony's new design language that eschews the edgy and blocky box like design of the older Xperia phones for the one that has rounded curves and more warmth. Looks good, basically.
Then there is the hardware, which too seems fairly potent in the Xperia XZ2. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. On the back, there is single camera that uses Sony-designed 19-megapixel image sensor. This camera is paired with a 25mm lens, that is somewhat wider than the 27mm lenses that others phones pack in. The camera is apparently the key feature of the Xperia XZ2, with highlighting that it can record 4K videos in HDR and is the first smartphone in the world to manage such a feat. On the front, there is a 5-megapixel sensor. The phone comes with a 5.7-inch screen with the FullHD+ resolution, which sounds good enough but not exactly spectacular despite Sony using words like TRILUMINOS and X-Reality to describe its features. The phone has a 3180 mAh battery inside.
So, what's the problem? The price is a problem. The Xperia XZ2 is going to be on sale in India from August 1 at a price of Rs 72,990. This is the kind of price that kills it on the arrival, unless it is spectacular in ways no Sony phone has been until now. With this kind of price, the Xperia XZ2 goes up against the likes of Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and the iPhone 8 Plus, phones that are on a firmer footing in terms of the features they offer and the brand name they sport. Apple, Samsung, up to an extent even Google, can command the big bucks for their phones. But Sony? Unfortunately no, not right now. And it is not that the Xperia XZ2 hits all the right notes. At a time when almost all top end phones come with dual-camera lenses, which offers features like the portrait mode, Sony is hawking the 4K video in HDR recording. For most people, a feature like portrait mode is useful. A feature like 4K HDR, recording meanwhile is useless in a phone unless you are going to shoot high-quality YouTube videos for your production house. Most people don't even have displays that can make full use of 4K videos. The people who probably have a HDR-ready 4K display in India will probably fit inside an Airbus A380.
Then, there is the size and weight of the phone. The design of the Xperia XZ2 looks good, but that doesn't take away from the fact that for a phone with 5.7-inch screen, this is a phone too big and too heavy. It weighs 198 grams, which is plain heavy at a time when a phone like the Oneplus 6 with a 6.3-inch screen has a weight of just 177 grams.
But the biggest problem with Xperia XZ2 price is just how big of a buzz-kill it is for the Indian fans of the Xperia devices. Phones with similar hardware sell at a price of around Rs 50,000 in India and while it seems understandable that Sony will like to position the Xperia phones as ultra-premium devices that marry cutting-edge technology with the taste of the Japanese design, the price of Rs 72,900 is still unpalatable. It is as if Sony no longer cares if people in India buy its phones or not. And that is sad because until a few years ago, Sony phones were used to evoke the kind of admiration that only Apples would do among Indian phone users.
Now, before the talk on the price and what is wrong with it, first a quick look at the Xperia XZ2. It's not a bad phone, not by any stretch of imagination. It has got decent hardware, and its design too seems fairly good. Sony, even if it hasn't set the market on fire with the design of the Xperia phones, makes fairly unique phones that look good. They have always got some flair, and the Xperia XZ2 seems no different.
The Xperia XZ2 design uses a lot of glass and metal -- mostly glass that Sony calls3D glass -- and that does make it look premium. It is also a phone that uses Sony's new design language that eschews the edgy and blocky box like design of the older Xperia phones for the one that has rounded curves and more warmth. Looks good, basically.
Then there is the hardware, which too seems fairly potent in the Xperia XZ2. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. On the back, there is single camera that uses Sony-designed 19-megapixel image sensor. This camera is paired with a 25mm lens, that is somewhat wider than the 27mm lenses that others phones pack in. The camera is apparently the key feature of the Xperia XZ2, with highlighting that it can record 4K videos in HDR and is the first smartphone in the world to manage such a feat. On the front, there is a 5-megapixel sensor. The phone comes with a 5.7-inch screen with the FullHD+ resolution, which sounds good enough but not exactly spectacular despite Sony using words like TRILUMINOS and X-Reality to describe its features. The phone has a 3180 mAh battery inside.
So, what's the problem? The price is a problem. The Xperia XZ2 is going to be on sale in India from August 1 at a price of Rs 72,990. This is the kind of price that kills it on the arrival, unless it is spectacular in ways no Sony phone has been until now. With this kind of price, the Xperia XZ2 goes up against the likes of Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and the iPhone 8 Plus, phones that are on a firmer footing in terms of the features they offer and the brand name they sport. Apple, Samsung, up to an extent even Google, can command the big bucks for their phones. But Sony? Unfortunately no, not right now. And it is not that the Xperia XZ2 hits all the right notes. At a time when almost all top end phones come with dual-camera lenses, which offers features like the portrait mode, Sony is hawking the 4K video in HDR recording. For most people, a feature like portrait mode is useful. A feature like 4K HDR, recording meanwhile is useless in a phone unless you are going to shoot high-quality YouTube videos for your production house. Most people don't even have displays that can make full use of 4K videos. The people who probably have a HDR-ready 4K display in India will probably fit inside an Airbus A380.
Then, there is the size and weight of the phone. The design of the Xperia XZ2 looks good, but that doesn't take away from the fact that for a phone with 5.7-inch screen, this is a phone too big and too heavy. It weighs 198 grams, which is plain heavy at a time when a phone like the Oneplus 6 with a 6.3-inch screen has a weight of just 177 grams.
But the biggest problem with Xperia XZ2 price is just how big of a buzz-kill it is for the Indian fans of the Xperia devices. Phones with similar hardware sell at a price of around Rs 50,000 in India and while it seems understandable that Sony will like to position the Xperia phones as ultra-premium devices that marry cutting-edge technology with the taste of the Japanese design, the price of Rs 72,900 is still unpalatable. It is as if Sony no longer cares if people in India buy its phones or not. And that is sad because until a few years ago, Sony phones were used to evoke the kind of admiration that only Apples would do among Indian phone users.
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