Rather than the XA2 losing a star, it's SONY themselves that I feel warrant this.
Out of the Xperia X flagships, I chose the XA2 for many reasons. Both technical, as well as personal.
Having used Sony (Ericsson) mobiles since the beginning, around 1998 in the UK, I've always appreciated Sony's approach, in 99% of products actually.
At the same time, I'm no "gadgetphile". But, do keep upto speed on inivations ans specs etc.
The XA2, in my opinion, is the best all rounder under 6" screen, since the Z2. I chose a under 6" screen, as I know a tablet. Of which I use extensively. Hence, personally, I see no reason for duplicating that in a phone, that I can't get in a pocket comfortably, and need to carry in the same bag as my tablet.
I loved my Z2! It was, and still is a solid piece of kit. You see much of that build quality in the ZA2.
Having seen friend's all plastic phones come, drop, crack, and go, I began to see that absolutely, the longevity of phones with an aluminium chaisy had alot to do with it. Again, the XA2 is fitted out in this way. Which, granted, does make it a thicker, and quite a lot heavier phone. But, for me, I find comfort in at. As it reminds me, I've got a phone that can last me (like my 4 year old Z2), possibly another 3 years of around the world trips.
The feel of the screen, is very nice. Input and gestures feel well executed. I am unsure if that's down to the glass itself, or Oreo. Or, a combination of both.
True, Sony's innovative colour settings are needed to get the very best out of the screen as a whole.
Fingerprint tech, once you get Oreo to finally agree and accept your print (which was alittle tedious), I find the scanner on the XA2 never is at fault.
The bottom facing single speaker is nothing at all to brag about. But, then Sony have always been more concentrated on their phones being an extension of their pioneering 'Walkman' tech.
That brings me to my first gripe about the XA2 - namely, the dumping of any noise cancelling surround via the 3.5mm headphone jack. The still pretty much top of the line Sony wired earbuds that came with the Z2 are still going strong. And, being used to the quite brilliant on ear position of the stereo mic there, I was looking forward to seeing how they performed with the ZA2. Moving past that initial disappointment, the question of "why no noise cancelling support?". Because, it's there, only on a wireless (bluetooth/ NFC) basis. Still, with an excellent 3300mAh, fast charging battery under the hood, the power is definitely there, to give to wired earbuds. I have still not found a good reason for Sony's decision on this?
As to range and connectivity of and to any wireless headset you may choose? I guess no point in talking about quality here. I can say, the Sony midrange wireless earbuds I finally bought, connect quickly, and solidly. Never experienceing lag, echo, nor skips. With the XA2' s inbuilt EQ software, reproduce a more than good sound. Even for a home stereo audiophile. But, you'll need to play around with that EQ, for sure. Before your get your own close to prefect sound.
My second but, final gripe is - and this may be the killed for many - the 23MP camera on the ZA2.
As the capacity goes up on senor chips, Sony have always been there to roll them out to it's public.
What can I say? Something is a miss here. With all that capacity, why are we still fiddling endlessly with setting, just to get an in door low light photo that shows off all that 23 million pixels can offer? I haven't read yet of a alternative app to run the ZA2 camera through, to get what's promised. But, I hope it's out there?
Conclusion. For a £150-ish price tag, and a fan of the Xperia, yeah. Why not?
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned