The Sony Xperia XA2 Plus introduces the first 18:9 screen to company's mid-range series - a 6" 1080p+ panel, which offers almost the same surface area as the regular 6" 1080p screen we saw on the XA2 Ultra. Luckily, the Plus model isn't as chunky now, owing to its thinned bezels.
There is a Gorilla Glass 5 shielding the screen, a level up since the XA2 Ultra.
The screen resolution is 1,080 x 2,160 pixels - those are spread at 402ppi on the 6" panel and we experienced perfectly sharp picture.
The XA2 Plus screen offers an excellent maximum brightness of 520 nits. The black levels have improved a bit since the XA2 Ultra, and thus the contrast ratio is now great at more than 1500:1.
Display test
100% brightness
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
0.341
519
1522
Sony Xperia XA2
0.401
532
1327
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
0.404
631
1562
Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
0.382
603
1579
Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
0.376
591
1572
Xiaomi Pocophone F1
0.314
461
1468
Honor Play
0.414
470
1135
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
0
455
∞
Xiaomi Mi A2
0.277
420
1516
Nokia 7 plus
0.254
432
1701
Te outdoor visibility of the Xperia XA2 Plus screen is great, just like it was on the XA2 Ultra.
Sunlight contrast ratio
Apple iPhone X 5.013
OnePlus 5T 4.789
Samsung Galaxy S8 4.768
Samsung Galaxy S8+ 4.658
Samsung Galaxy S9 4.63
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 4.615
Samsung Galaxy S9+ 4.537
Samsung Galaxy Note9 4.531
Sony Xperia XZ3 4.502
Motorola Moto Z2 Play 4.459
Oppo R11 4.454
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 4.439
OnePlus 3 4.424
Samsung Galaxy S7 4.376
OnePlus 6 4.321
HTC One A9 4.274
Oppo R15 Pro 4.251
Samsung Galaxy Note7 4.247
Samsung Galaxy A3 4.241
Nokia 8 4.239
Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update) 4.234
OnePlus 3T 4.232
Google Pixel XL 4.164
ZTE Axon 7 4.154
Samsung Galaxy Note8 4.148
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 4.147
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) 4.124
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 4.124
vivo V11 4.113
Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal) 4.096
Samsung Galaxy Note5 4.09
Huawei P20 Pro 4.087
Xiaomi Mi 8 4.086
Meizu 15 4.082
Nokia 6 (2018) 4.052
Google Pixel 2 (pre-update) 4.023
LG V30 4.022
Huawei Nexus 6P 4.019
vivo NEX S 4.012
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro 3.998
Vivo Xplay5 Elite 3.983
OnePlus X 3.983
LG G7 ThinQ (outdoor) 3.978
Oppo R7s 3.964
Apple iPhone 7 3.964
Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone) 3.957
Huawei P9 Plus 3.956
Oppo Find X 3.954
Meizu Pro 6 Plus 3.935
Lenovo Moto Z 3.931
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 3.918
OnePlus 5 3.914
Samsung Galaxy C5 3.911
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE 3.901
Samsung Galaxy C7 3.896
Samsung Galaxy A5 3.895
Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor 3.879
Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor 3.873
Motorola Moto G6 Plus 3.865
Samsung Galaxy A8 3.859
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) 3.842
Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018) 3.834
Sony Xperia XZs 3.818
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016) 3.817
Motorola Moto X (2014) 3.816
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) 3.812
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) 3.804
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode 3.802
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 3.798
LG V20 Max auto 3.798
Sony Xperia XZ 3.795
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) 3.789
Apple iPhone 6s 3.783
Meizu Pro 5 3.781
Microsoft Lumia 650 3.772
Xiaomi Mi 6 3.767
Sony Xperia XZ1 3.765
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 3.756
Nokia 8 Sirocco 3.745
Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact 3.729
Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone) 3.725
Oppo F1 Plus 3.709
Vivo X5Pro 3.706
Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) 3.688
Huawei P20 3.683
Apple iPhone SE 3.681
Huawei Mate 9 3.68
Samsung Galaxy A7 3.679
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact 3.675
Meizu PRO 6 3.659
BlackBerry Priv 3.645
Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra 3.597
Apple iPhone 7 Plus 3.588
Sony Xperia XZ2 3.58
LG G6 3.556
Apple iPhone 6s Plus 3.53
Motorola Moto Z Play 3.526
Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode 3.523
Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) 3.523
Acer Jade Primo 3.521
Microsoft Lumia 950 3.512
Oppo R7 Plus 3.499
Nokia 7 plus 3.479
nubia Z11 3.466
Huawei P10 Plus 3.456
HTC U Ultra 3.453
Motorola Moto G6 3.448
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus 3.445
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra 3.445
Samsung Galaxy J7 3.422
Motorola Moto G6 Play 3.419
Meizu MX5 3.416
LG V20 3.402
Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018) 3.397
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera 3.393
LG G7 ThinQ 3.39
Huawei P10 3.379
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 3.378
Oppo R9s 3.352
Honor Play 3.349
Honor 8 Pro 3.341
Oppo F7 3.333
Oppo R7 3.32
Lenovo P2 3.316
Archos Diamond Omega 3.305
Honor 9 3.289
Xiaomi Mi 5s 3.276
Nokia 5 3.261
Nokia 6 (Chinese version) 3.244
Xiaomi Mi 5 3.24
Nokia 6 (Global version) 3.238
Samsung Galaxy J2 3.235
Sony Xperia X Performance 3.234
Xiaomi Mi Note 2 3.228
Motorola Moto X Play 3.222
Oppo F3 Plus 3.218
BlackBerry KEY2 3.212
Huawei Mate 9 Pro 3.206
Huawei P9 3.195
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 3.19
ZTE Nubia Z17 3.159
Oppo R11s 3.153
Lenovo Vibe Shot 3.113
HTC U11 Life 3.108
Motorola Moto X Force 3.105
LG Nexus 5X 3.092
HTC U11 3.089
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 3.087
HTC U12+ 3.085
Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2) 3.077
Huawei Mate S 3.073
Oppo F9 3.069
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL 3.065
Xiaomi Mi Max 3 3.061
Xiaomi Pocophone F1 3.059
Huawei Mate 20 Lite 3.051
Apple iPhone 6 Plus 3.023
Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL 3.019
Sony Xperia XA1 3.012
Motorola Moto X4 3.012
Oppo Realme 2 3.006
Sony Xperia L1 2.994
Sony Xperia X 2.989
LG Q6 2.987
Huawei P10 Lite 2.974
Samsung Galaxy Note 2.97
Huawei P20 Lite 2.952
Xiaomi Redmi 5 2.951
Huawei Mate 8 2.949
Sony Xperia XA2 2.938
Oppo Realme 1 2.932
Xiaomi Redmi 4 2.92
Xiaomi Redmi 3S 2.913
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus 2.913
Sony Xperia XA Ultra 2.906
LG G5 2.905
Huawei Honor View 10 2.896
Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime 2.893
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus 2.884
Sony Xperia XZ Premium 2.877
Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB) 2.877
Sony Xperia Z5 2.876
Nokia 3 2.871
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium 2.867
Microsoft Lumia 550 2.851
Nokia 3.1 2.837
Lenovo Moto M 2.813
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro 2.803
Sony Xperia Z5 compact 2.784
Honor 10 (Vivid) 2.757
Nokia 2 2.752
Meizu MX6 2.751
LG V10 2.744
Huawei Mate 10 (normal) 2.742
Motorola Moto G5S Plus 2.737
Xiaomi Redmi 3 2.735
Huawei Honor 7X 2.734
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625) 2.714
Meizu M5 2.71
Xiaomi Mi A2 2.696
Sony Xperia M5 2.69
Xiaomi Mi A1 2.689
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime 2.679
Huawei P9 Lite 2.679
vivo V7+ 2.671
Vivo V3Max 2.659
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2.658
Huawei Mate 10 Lite 2.654
Oppo F5 2.653
Doogee Mix 2.642
Xiaomi Mi 4i 2.641
Xiaomi Redmi 4a 2.635
Sony Xperia Z3 2.618
Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard) 2.616
Sony Xperia XA 2.609
Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto) 2.582
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 2.582
Meizu M5s 2.58
Xiaomi Mi 4c 2.574
LeEco Le Max 2 2.567
Microsoft Lumia 640 2.563
Huawei P Smart 2.563
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL 2.563
Xiaomi Mi Max 2 2.561
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1) 2.556
HTC U11+ 2.556
Lenovo Moto G4 2.544
Lenovo K6 Note 2.544
Oppo F1 2.528
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 2.525
Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c 2.506
Sony Xperia M4 Aqua 2.503
BlackBerry Motion 2.494
Oppo F1s 2.481
Motorola Moto G 2.477
Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus 2.473
Huawei G8 2.471
Huawei nova 2.467
Sony Xperia Z 2.462
Lenovo Vibe K5 2.459
Meizu m3 max 2.447
Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto) 2.417
HTC 10 evo 2.407
Huawei Honor 7 2.406
Vivo V7 2.404
Sony Xperia E5 2.386
ZUK Z1 by Lenovo 2.382
HTC 10 2.378
Oppo F3 2.376
vivo V5 Plus 2.371
Meizu m1 note 2.362
Huawei nova plus 2.329
Razer Phone 2.328
HTC One E9+ 2.305
Alcatel One Touch Hero 2.272
Apple iPhone 4S 2.269
Sony Xperia L2 2.266
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note 2.254
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra 2.253
HTC U11+ (EU) 2.253
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek) 2.249
Sony Xperia C4 Dual 2.235
Xiaomi Mi Note 2.234
Motorola Moto G (2014) 2.233
LG Nexus 5 2.228
Huawei P8 2.196
Meizu M5 Note 2.189
Huawei Honor 6 2.169
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 2.166
OnePlus Two 2.165
HTC One X 2.158
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20) 2.145
As far as color reproduction is concerned - the XA2 Plus fails to impress. Its whites lean heavily towards cyan, to the tune of a DeltaE of around 11. The average DeltaE is an okay 6.2, but the whites you'll probably notice.
Sony has some options to basically make the colors punchy in pictures and videos. The option is within the display settings, and you can opt for standard picture tuning or super-vivid.
To get rid of the blue tint, we used the manual White Balance sliders. We pushed the Red and Green sliders to the maximum and left the Blue one at 0. This way we got a very accurate color presentation with an average deltaE of 3.7.
Battery life
Update: After discovering some issues with the quality of the network signal, we redid the call test on the Sony Xperia XA2 Plus and clocked in a time of 29:22 hours, compared to the original 20:06. We apologise for any inconvenience. The endurance score has been updated accordingly.
The Sony Xperia XA2 Plus is equipped with a 3,580mAh battery - same as on the Xperia XA2 Ultra. The phone supports Quick Charge 3.0, though our unit came with a 1.5A charger that fills merely 25% of a depleted battery in half an hour. Some regions might get the faster charger bundled. In our tests with Sony's UCH12 QC 3.0 charger, the battery charged from 0% to 38% in 30min.
The Sony Xperia XA2 Plus aced all of our endurance tests and posted a respectable score of 104 hours. It did outstanding in the screen-on and standby tests and matched the XA2 Ultra's endurance rating.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Sony Xperia XA2 Plus for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern, so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The speaker on the Sony Xperia XA2 Plus scored a Very Good mark in our loudness test, the same as the XA2 Ultra. The sound is rich and crisp, with good bass and clean high notes.
Speakerphone test
Voice, dB
Pink noise/ Music, dB
Ringing phone, dB
Overall score
Sony Xperia XA1
61.7
69.7
71.8
Average
Honor Play
68.3
73.8
75.8
Good
Nokia 7 plus
67.5
71.3
79.7
Good
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
66.4
73.4
79.3
Very Good
Sony Xperia XA2
68.7
72.7
78.3
Very Good
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
68.8
73.9
80.8
Very Good
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
70.5
74.1
85.2
Excellent
Xiaomi Pocophone F1
72.8
74.7
86.6
Excellent
Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
88.9
77.8
84.6
Excellent
Xiaomi Mi A2
89.5
72.2
89.8
Excellent
Audio quality
The Sony Xperia XA2 Plus did well when connected to an active external amplifier, delivering an output that was as accurate as we've come to expect from smartphones these days. It's hardly the loudest smartphone around, but it's doing a decent job overall.
Plugging in a pair of headphones did little damage - a moderate hike in stereo crosstalk was all there was to it. Volume levels remained unspectacular though, which prevents us from giving it full points here.
Test
Frequency response
Noise level
Dynamic range
THD
IMD + Noise
Stereo crosstalk
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
+0.03, -0.05
-93.6
89.2
0.0024
0.0011
-93.1
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus (headphones)
+0.06, -0.02
-95.3
89.7
0.034
0.035
-57.4
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
+0.04, -0.05
-95.6
89.6
0.0045
0.012
-95.5
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra (headphones)
+0.03, -0.04
-93.0
88.8
0.039
0.033
-57.6
Oppo F9
+0.05, -0.07
-92.8
92.8
0.0016
0.0073
-92.1
Oppo F9 (headphones)
+0.19, -0.50
-92.0
91.8
0.0090
0.380
-51.9
Xiaomi Mi A2
+0.02, -0.06
-91.6
91.6
0.0018
0.014
-95.3
Xiaomi Mi A2 (headphones)
+0.08, -0.12
-92.6
92.6
0.0028
0.120
-69.0
Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018)
+0.07, -0.03
-89.7
89.9
0.0060
0.201
-91.7
Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018) (headphones)
+0.22, -0.21
-91.6
91.0
0.016
0.305
-56.2
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
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