Mobile World Congress: 5 reasons Sony's new Xperia XZ2 could land in your pocket

Sony has officially announced the Xperia XZ2 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

In front of a packed house, attendees were shown the newest flagship from the Japanese technology company along with a smaller "compact" model. The Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact will both launch sometime in March.

But what stands out about the new models? Here are the top five features and reasons that the Sony Xperia XZ2 could be your new phone:

1. An unbelievably good video camera

Sony was the first company to put a 4K display in a smartphone. In 2018, the Xperia XZ2 will be capable of recording content in 4K HDR - another first for mobiles. The biggest problem people have with upgrading to 4K is a lack of content. And while most premium smartphones can shoot at 4K, Sony's new device will be the first to do it in HDR (High Dynamic Range).

Another camera feature that should be applauded is the 960 frames per second super slow motion recording. In the Xperia XZ2, users will be able to capture the footage in Full HD. If you want slow motion videos, this is the phone to shoot on.

2. Dynamic Vibration System

Up until now, vibrations in a smartphone have been used mostly for incoming notifications and calls, and for haptic feedback on the touchscreen. Sony has now unveiled the Dynamic Vibration System, something it says is like a Dual-Shock PlayStation controller baked in to your phone.

While watching movies and playing games, the phone will vibrate to match content on the screen. Playing Angry Birds? The phone will vibrate whenever you take down some pigs or an explosion goes off. Watching a dramatic film? Expect vibrations to accompany the action.

3. 3D scans

It's not a coincidence that 3D scans came in at number 3. Sony will let XZ2 owners scan people's faces with the rear-facing camera to create a 3D model of their head. This feature has appeared in previous models, but in the XZ2, you can use the front-facing camera to scan yourself.

It's an odd feature that is still in its infancy, but once social media platforms allow for 3D uploads, it could put the Sony flagship at the front of the queue. From our tests, the one minute it takes to scan can produce a very accurate render.

4. Choices

Matte or gloss? Large or compact? The new Xperia XZ2 will give you eight choices for essentially the same phone. The compact version comes in matte variants of the colours and the regular model comes in gloss. Both have curved backs and both include the four colours - Black, silver, pink and green for the compact and black, silver, pink and blue for the standard model.

And in its own right, the Compact version of the Xperia XZ2 is a great option. A 5in screen (the standard model has a 5.7in display) is a pretty large size for a "compact" device. In comparison, the iPhone 8 only has a 4.7in screen.

5. Upscaled HDR video

Sony announced another new feature with the Xperia XZ2 - upscaling SDR content into HDR. What does this mean? The footage already shot on your old phone, which would not be in high dynamic range, can now up-converted to look like it is.

This means that the videos you have shot over the past year or two will now look even better on the new Sony flagship. It is clear Sony is going in hard on HDR, and the upscaling is yet another feature proving this to be the case.