Sony Xperia 5 II review

Stock Android 10, some Sony enhancements

The Xperia 5 II runs Android 10 in a mostly stock-looking state with a few Sony bits added here and there. Rumor has it that Sony will push an update to Android 11 shortly after the phone's market launch, but we haven't heard official word on that yet.

There's little to set the 5 II apart from the 1 II, and both phones share the UI basics with Google's Pixel phones.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Task switcher • Quick toggles

That includes the options for navigation too - you get the gesture-based system from the Pixels or the classic three-button nav bar. The pill-based method that the previous-gen Xperias used and is still available on Pixels is not an option on the Mark 2 Xperias.

The Fingerprint unlocking is the only biometric unlock method available - as was the case on the 1 II. Similarly to the bigger phone, we found the side-mounted reader to work with consistently high speed and accuracy, whether using the right thumb or the left index finger. Hence, the lack of any form face unlock is perhaps forgivable, though if you're one to often handle your phone with wet/sweaty/dirty hands, you may miss the ease of use of face unlock.

Navigation options • Back sensitivity • Biometrics security

Among the features Sony bolted on top of Android is a one-handed mode. It lets you shrink the UI to one corner by double-tapping the home button (if you're using the legacy nav bar) or by tapping on the feature's icon in Side Sense.

Speaking of, Sony's Side Sense is present as well. A pair of touch-sensitive areas on either side of the phone enables various actions, most of which user-configurable.

One particularly powerful and customizable option is the 21:9 pair shortcut feature. Through it, you simply select two apps and the relative location you want to launch them in, and then you can trigger a split-screen with the pair instantly.

One-handed mode • Side sense

With the Album duties already offloaded to Google Photos on the Xperia 1 II, the Music app is the one piece of in-house multimedia software remaining on the Xperia 5 II as well. Again, it's likely not long until this one dies down too.

Then there's Game Enhancer, itself further enhanced on the 5 II even compared to the 1 II. The basic premise is the same - it has two main interfaces, one acting as a game hub and launcher, while the other is an overlay that can be pulled out mid-game.

Game Enhancer, launcher app

Performance profiles (or Game Mode) can be set on a per-game basis, but now, in addition to the "Performance preferred", "Battery life preferred" and "Balanced" profiles, there's also a 'Custom' setting, and that's where the fancy stuff is. Here you can set the screen refresh rate, and you can lock it at 120Hz regardless of whether the game supports it (though, obviously, it would make sense on the games that do).

There's also a 240Hz blur reduction setting that will make things look even smoother using black frame insertion.

Additional sliders let you select Touch response speed and the touch tracking accuracy.

H.S. power control that we saw on the Xperia 1 II is here on the 5 II as well. When you're gaming, and the phone is plugged in the charger, it won't charge the battery but will only essentially meet your current power consumption. The rationale is to limit the charging-related heat generation - H.S. stands for Heat Suppression.

The Focus settings is an array of toggles that let you disable pesky notifications, turn off adaptive brightness, disable the camera button and the side sense functionality - limit distractions.

There are also screenshot and video capture features. Video capturing can also capture footage from your selfie camera along with the game, as well as sound from your microphone. Volume level adjustments are provided. There is no direct streaming to any video platforms, though. Last but not least, a quick search function can bring up YouTube videos in a floating video for you, related to the game you are currently playing.

Game Enhancer, in-game features

Synthetic benchmarks

The Xperia 5 II is powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset. It's not the improved 865+ version that the cool kids got this fall, but that's fine. It's the same hardware the Xperia 1 II was kitted out with - for the six months or so between them, a plus would have looked better, though the regular 865 is, of course, plenty potent. There's 8GB of RAM, and two storage tiers are available (128GB and 256GB), with our unit being the 128GB one.

Predictably, the Xperia 5 II posted benchmark results in line with other Snapdragon 865 devices - average ones, you could say. The 865+ equipped Zenfone 7 Pro, ROG Phone 3, and Galaxy Z Fold2 have an edge in single-core CPU performance, easily explained by the higher clock of the Prime CPU core. It's an advantage that diminishes in multi-core tests where S865 overachievers post slightly higher numbers than S865+ ones.

GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  1333
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  996
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  975
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  950
• vivo X50 Pro+
  930
• OnePlus 8
  919
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  910
• Motorola Edge+
  910
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  905
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  902
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  897
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  895
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  890
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  886
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  880
• Huawei P40 Pro
  780

GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  3466
• vivo X50 Pro+
  3411
• OnePlus 8
  3399
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  3374
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  3357
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  3331
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  3322
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  3318
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  3302
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  3301
• Motorola Edge+
  3295
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  3289
• Huawei P40 Pro
  3197
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  2715
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  2703
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  2603

The differences aren't as clearly defined in Antutu where the performance of all components goes into play. The Xperia 5 II does okay and outperforms the Exynos-powered Galaxy S20s and the Note20 Ultra, as well as the Kirin-powered Huawei P40 Pro, though the Sonys are around the bottom of the SD865 pack in this benchmark.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• vivo X50 Pro+
  621433
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  602934
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  601858
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  595246
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  578056
• Motorola Edge+
  574155
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  573276
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  564907
• OnePlus 8
  564708
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  534701
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  532655
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  527612
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  508760
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  500114
• Huawei P40 Pro
  496356
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  489371

This middle of the road performance continues into the graphics tests. The Xperia does indeed deliver flagship-grade numbers; it just does so without standing out.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  178
• Motorola Edge+
  128
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  128
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  128
• OnePlus 8
  127
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  127
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  126
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  124
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  123
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  123
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  123
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  120
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  119
• Huawei P40 Pro
  118
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  116
• vivo X50 Pro+
  106

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• vivo X50 Pro+
  122
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  111
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  101
• Motorola Edge+
  89
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  89
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  88
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  88
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  88
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  84
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  84
• OnePlus 8
  60
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  60
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  60
• Huawei P40 Pro
  59
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  58
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  57

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  118
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  92
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  91
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  90
• Motorola Edge+
  89
• OnePlus 8
  88
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  86
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  86
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  86
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  86
• vivo X50 Pro+
  85
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  85
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  85
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  84
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  84
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  80
• Huawei P40 Pro
  75

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge+
  83
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  82
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  78
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  76
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  75
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  75
• vivo X50 Pro+
  74
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  73
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  71
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  60
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  59
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  59
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  53
• Huawei P40 Pro
  52
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  43
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  43

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  66
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  56
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  55
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  54
• OnePlus 8
  52
• Motorola Edge+
  52
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  51
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  51
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  51
• vivo X50 Pro+
  51
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  51
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  51
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  50
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  50
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  50
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  50
• Huawei P40 Pro
  44

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro
  57
• Motorola Edge+
  48
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  48
• OnePlus 8
  46
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  46
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G (new run)
  44
• vivo X50 Pro+
  43
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  42
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  42
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  42
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  42
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  41
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  39
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  33
• Huawei P40 Pro
  31
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  25
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  24

Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge+
  32
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  31
• OnePlus 8
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  29
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  27
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  26
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  23
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  22
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  20
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  20
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  17
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  14

Aztek OpenGL ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge+
  33
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  32
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  32
• OnePlus 8
  31
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  31
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  29
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  28
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  27
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  22
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  19
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  17

3DMark SSE OpenGL ES 3.1 1440p

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  7687
• Asus ROG Phone 3 (144Hz)
  7645
• Motorola Edge+
  7409
• OnePlus 8
  7290
• vivo X50 Pro+
  7253
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  7138
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  7132
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  7127
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  7035
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  6819
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  6735
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  6716
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  6543
• Huawei P40 Pro
  6062

3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  7002
• OnePlus 8
  6720
• Motorola Edge+
  6666
• Sony Xperia 5 II
  6579
• Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
  6490
• OnePlus 8 Pro (120Hz, 1440p)
  6425
• vivo X50 Pro+
  6393
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  6354
• Galaxy S20+ (60Hz, 1440p)
  6311
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  6248
• Sony Xperia 1 II
  6167
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  5879
• Huawei P40 Pro
  5637

The Xperia 5 II does get warm under sustained load, in a similarly 'average' fashion - it's not uncomfortably hot, and it's not entirely cool either. Its performance does decline with repeated benchmark runs - for example, a drop of 10-12% in Antutu scores after a few runs is expected, but that's really the norm with mainstream designs (it's no ROG Phone 3 this one). In actual use, the phone never stuttered and was as fluid as any other top-tier device - just as you'd expect.