Sony Xperia XA Ultra – Latest 6-inch Mobile Phone from Sony
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is the latest 6-inch mobile phone from Sony since they released the 6-inch Xperia C5 Ultra last August 2015.
A 6-inch mobile phone is very useful if you like reading, watching movies, and internet browsing because of the huge display. But is the Xperia XA Ultra comfortable to hold with one hand?
And how is it compared to Xperia C5 Ultra and its 5-inch sibling, the Xperia XA? Let’s find out.
Device Type: Smartphone
Display: 6.0 inches (1080 x 1920 pixels)
Camera: 21.5 MP
Hardware: Mediatek, Octa-core 2.0 GHz, 3GB RAM
Battery: 2700 mAh
Price: US$ 379.99
Design and Display
The XA Ultra comes with a metallic build, unlike the XA which is only made of plastic material.
The displays is also protected by a 2.5D scratch-resistant glass.
The 2.5D glass is a kind of glass design where there is a slight curve at the edges, but the display is not actually curved unlike in Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
The purpose of this design is for a more comfortable grip and more stylish look.
This kind of glass design can also be found in latest smartphones like the iPhone 6s/6s Plus. Other smartphones have slightly sharp edges.
If you have used iPhone models older than the iPhone 6, you know what I mean.
It has a larger display which is at 6 inches while the XA only comes with a 5-inch display. The main concern with a 6-inch smartphone is the comfort in holding with one hand. You don’t want a smartphone that is too wide to hold.
In order to address this, Sony designed a borderless display for the Xperia XA Ultra, making the smartphone only 79 mm in width. To give you an idea of what it’s like to hold this smartphone, it is only about 1 mm wider compared to the iPhone 6s Plus.
At only 202 g in weight, it is amazingly not far from the weight of the iPhone 6s Plus. With this weight, your hand won’t get tired when you hold it too long.
It is also only 8.4 mm thin. It is not the thinnest around but no too thick either if you compared it with the 7.3 mm profile of the iPhone 6s Plus.
It comes in White, Graphite Black, and Lime Gold like the XA except for the Rose Gold color.
When it comes to display quality, it has a higher resolution (Full HD) compared to XA (HD display). The overall sharpness (as measured by pixel density) is also higher at 367 pixels per inch (ppi).
Compared to the C5 Ultra, the XA Ultra has the same display size, resolution, and pixel density.
All three smartphones use the IPS LCD display technology which is better than TFT technology because of its better viewing angles.
Processing Power
The chipset is the same with the XA. A Mediatek with Octa-core 2.0 GHz CPU. This CPU speed is already very fast and will give you an excellent Android experience.
It is faster compared to the Octa-core 1.7 GHz of the C5 Ultra which uses an older chipset.
It has a larger RAM (3 GB) compared to the XA (2 GB RAM) and C5 Ultra (2 GB RAM). So you can multitask more application and switch between them more smoothly.
It also runs on the latest Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) OS. With this OS, you can now use Android Pay and also benefit from its new power saving features.
If you need more storage space, the internal storage of this smartphone is also at 16 GB and can be expanded up to 200 GB using a microSD card.
Camera
The XA Ultra has a 21.5 MP camera resolution. That is very high compared to the best smartphones of other brands which are usually up to 16 MP only. This level of camera resolution is common to many upper mid-range to high-end smartphones of Sony.
The XA and C5 Ultra both only have a 13 MP resolution.
But camera resolution is not the only feature that you should look at to determine the image quality output of a camera. One of the features that you should consider is the camera sensor size. The larger the sensor size, the more light could come in, the better the image quality of your images even in a low-light condition.
The camera sensor size of the XA Ultra is 1/2.4″. It is larger than the 1/3″ sensor size of the XA and iPhone 6s Plus.
Another feature that you should consider is the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), but this was not mentioned in the rear camera specs by Sony. Only the front camera have this feature according to the specs. The OIS feature is responsible for reducing blurs when your hands are shaking or if the subject is moving while taking your photos.
Other features such as aperture size and pixel size are also not mentioned by Sony.
If you like taking selfies, the front camera features a 16MP resolution with a 1/2.6″ sensor size. This is a lot better compared to the 5MP resolution of the C5 Ultra and 8MP resolution of the XA.
It has an OIS feature and a LED flash which is not a common feature of front cameras.
Battery Life and Other Cool Features
The XA Ultra can last up to 12 hours of talk time in 3G which is longer by 2 hours compared to XA. The 12 hours of talk time 3G is within the normal average battery life. It is neither very long nor very short.
If you frequently listen to music, the music playback can last up to 65 hours.
The battery is still non-removable.
It is also LTE-capable with a speed of LTE Cat4 150 Mbps. It can connect to Wi-Fi and can be used as a spot. It has Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity if you want to connect it with wireless accessories such as speakers and headsets.
When it comes to location technology, it can use GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS. This is very useful when you use this with Google maps when you are driving or searching a location.
It also has NFC support and FM radio.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is an excellent 6-inch smartphone from Sony. You will like the borderless design which makes it only almost as wide as the iPhone 6s Plus despite the larger display size. It also has almost the same weight.
Compared to its sibling, the Xperia XA, it has better display quality, more excellent camera features, higher RAM, and longer battery life while the CPU speed and GPU are the same.
Compared to the Xperia C5 Ultra, it has the same display quality, better camera, higher RAM, and faster GPU and GPU.