Sony Xperia XA review: Now with Android N, but superseded

Camera

Another saving grace of the Xperia XA is its rear 13-megapixel camera. While the Xperia X’s camera left me distinctly unimpressed, the XA’s sensor managed to produce smooth, natural-looking shots that were almost entirely devoid of the noise and grain that plagued the X’s 23-megapixel camera.

Areas of fine detail were, perhaps, a little soft for my liking, with brickwork often blurring together and paving stones fading into obscurity, but on the whole, images were well-exposed, had great colour reproduction and plenty of contrast.

That said, I’d recommend switching to the camera’s manual mode and enabling HDR where possible, as this produced much brighter, more vivid photos than the default Superior Auto mode.   

^ Unlike the Xperia X, the Xperia XA’s sensor produced excellent shots that were largely free of any overt noise and grain

^ Switching to HDR mode was even better, as colours looked brighter without losing their contrast

Results were a little more mixed with our indoor test shots, but again, they were much better than what I managed with the Xperia X. Admittedly, noise started to creep in when our studio lights were turned off, resulting in some rather smeary patches of detail in our still life arrangement, but this improved greatly once I’d switched them on, so you should be able to take some pretty decent shots provided you’ve got enough light.

^ Noise started to appear in low indoor lighting conditions, but on the whole, colours were rich and punchy and contrast was good

^ For the best indoor results, make sure you have plenty of light available

Conclusion

Ultimately, the Xperia XA’s mediocre screen and diabolical battery life just aren’t good enough to recommend it. Had Sony mashed the Xperia X and Xperia XA together, marrying the XA’s edge-to-edge screen design and camera sensor with the X’s more accurate display, faster processor and longer-lasting battery, it might have created a great smartphone. On their own, though, they both have too many flaws to be recommended. However, given the phone can be found or a lot cheaper now, it’s still worth considering.

If you’re buying SIM-free, you’d be much better off getting the OnePlus 2 at this price, but if you’re after a contract, then your next best bet is the superior Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo, which has a great display and brilliant battery life, admittedly it doesn’t look as nice, but you won’t be complaining when the S5 Neo is getting you that late-night taxi when the XA’s battery would have been completely drained.