Introducing the New Xperia 1 II Smartphone, from Sony

Now available at B&H: the Sony Xperia 1 II smartphone. The Xperia 1 II is Sony's newest flagship device and the direct follow-up to last year's acclaimed Xperia 1, which, on top of being the best smartphone Sony ever built, also ranked as one of our top smartphones of 2019. Eclipsing the Xperia 1 won't be an easy task, but if its specs and exhaustive list of features are any indicator, then all signs point to the new Xperia 1 II besting the original. Here's why we're excited about Sony's latest smartphone.

The Xperia 1 II features a 6.5" 4K HDR OLED panel with a 21:9 aspect ratio. This appears to be the same CinemaWide display Sony featured in the original Xperia 1, which, at the time, was arguably the most advanced display ever put into a phone. Even now, a year later, the CinemaWide display is still one of the sharpest screens you can find.

The reason Sony dubbed it the "CinemaWide" display is because it's designed to deliver cinematic aspect ratio and color accuracy—basically a movie lover's dream come true. Sony wants the Xperia 1 II to show you content that's as close to the creator's vision as possible, and the CinemaWide display is one of the features that makes that possible.

Last year's Xperia 1 had two groundbreaking features: the CinemaWide display and its camera setup, which borrowed technology from Sony's Alpha series of cameras. With the Xperia 1 II, Sony once again leveraged features from its Alpha lineup, only this time adding more of them.

Similar to its predecessor, the Xperia 1 II features a 12MP triple rear-camera array with RAW support, Eye Autofocus, and a full complement of manual controls. However, this time around the autofocus was enhanced to work on humans and pets at up to 60 fps.

Previous Pause Next

Additionally, the Xperia 1 II's manual interface has been redesigned and expanded to give photographers even more control over their shots—which they can exercise using the new Photo Pro app. On top of all that, Sony also added in continuous burst shooting up to 20 fps, which is a world's first for a smartphone, and the ability to shoot 4K up to 60 fps.

Along with its 4K display and professional-grade camera, the Xperia 1 II appears to have all the hallmarks of a true flagship. It ships with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of base memory, and an octo-core Snapdragon 865 processor that's built for speed and optimized networking. All-day performance shouldn't be an issue, thanks to its 4,000mAh battery with fast-charge technology; it supports wireless charging, as well.

The list of features goes on, but suffice it to say, on paper, the Xperia 1 II definitely looks like it's ready to take over the mantle of Sony's best phone. Be sure to drop us a line if you have any questions or comments about the Xperia 1 II.