It’s that time of year again in Japan, and KDDI au is announcing their Summer lineup of smartphones. Included in this lineup are devices from big names like LG, who will be shipping the QHD-packing ISAI in Japan later this Summer. Sony isn’t one to be left out, and with Japan being such an important market for them, it’s understandable they’ve tweaked their Xperia Z2 for the home market. Dubbed the Xperia ZL2, the device is a colorful, more mainstream take on the Xperia Z2 that the company debuted during Mobile World Congress back in February.
On the inside, we’re looking at a device that’s pretty much the same as the Xperia Z2, with a 5-inch Full HD IPS display, a Snapdragon 801 with 3GB of RAM and the same 20.7-megapixel camera that’s been impressing critics since the Xperia Z1. The display size has shrunk a bit to make for a smaller device, but this does result in some added thickness, making this a 10.8mm thick device, whereas the Xperia Z2 is a little thinner at 8.2mm. Still, the Xperia ZL2 still manages to pack in a 3,000 mAh battery as well as all the great specs we saw launch with the Xperia Z2.
As this is aimed at a more mainstream audience, the device is available in colorful Turquoise (which would match my Chromebook nicely), White and Black. It retains the same sort of waterproofing as the Z2 and has a dedicated camera button to take advantage of the 20-megapixel shooter. All-in-all, this is a slightly tweaked version of the Xperia Z2, similar to the ZL that debuted with the Xperia Z over a year ago now. While the Xperia ZL made it to regions like Canada, we won’t be holding our breath to see this launch outside of Japan, although a splash of color would be nice to see in the market. Take a closer look in the gallery below.
