Introduction
The Internet can be a scary place with its billions of users, but modern smartphones have a way to let you leave your mark - the selfie camera. That's exactly what the Sony Xperia XA Ultra is all about.
It's one of only two phones to feature optical image stabilization on the front-facing camera. And what a camera it is - a dedicated LED flash and a large 1/2.6" sensor of 16MP resolution. That's the same sensor size and resolution as the main camera on the Galaxy S6!
The rest of the Xperia XA Ultra is quite similar to the smaller XA, which (it is no secret) is our favorite looking phone of the new Xperia X line. Aside from the screen, of course, Ultra is Sony speak for a 6" screen.
It has a higher resolution, 1080p, which makes it sharper to boot. And slender it is too - the narrowest 6" phone in our database, despite its metal sides.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra key features
- Monster of selfie camera: 16MP 1/2.6" sensor, optical image stabilization, LED flash
- Narrowest phone with 6-inch screen
- 6" 1,080 x 1,920px LCD with 367ppi, Mobile Bravia Engine 2; 2.5D scratch-resistant glass, oleophobic coating
- Android v6.0 Marshmallow with Xperia launcher
- MediaTek MT6755 Helio P10 chipset, octa-core 2GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Mali-T860MP2 GPU; 3GB RAM
- 21.5 MP camera with 1/2.4" sensor; 1080p@30fps video recording and hybrid autofocus
- 16GB of built-in storage and a microSD card slot
- Single and dual-SIM variants
- LTE Cat.4 (150Mbps); Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n; A-GPS/GLONASS receiver, Bluetooth v4.1, FM radio with RDS
- Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
- 2,700mAh non-removable battery (Pump Express 2.0 charging supported)
Main cons
- Tiny battery for the size, and not particularly efficient 28nm chipset
- No fingerprint reader
- OIS on selfie camera, but not on the main camera. Go figure
- No increased water protection
The front-facing camera on the XA Ultra is impressive, more impressive than the main camera on the small XA. So the back camera had to be upgraded too, it got a 21.5MP sensor (1/2.4" Exmor RS IMX230, if you're keeping score). We don't want an Oppo F1 Plus situation where the selfie cam is better than the one on the back, do we?
The Ultra model also gets an extra gig of RAM and a bigger battery too, but that's where the differences end. It's the same chipset, same software, even the battery isn't that big - actually, at 2700mAh it's downright tiny for a 6" phone. Especially one that's 8.4mm thick.
Sony Xperia XA official images
Well, we did love the XA and we are fans of big screens, so we're diving into the Sony Xperia XA Ultra a positive attitude (and a few worries).
Unboxing the Sony Xperia XA Ultra
The retail box is visibly larger than previous X boxes, and you should be excited to know that the phone just barely fits in, it's that big. There's not much else other than the phone, though - a charger and a microUSB cable, a few notes of paper tucked in at the bottom, that's it.
A big box with few items inside: phone, charger, cable
We got the 1.5A charger, however Sony packaging varies by region and the US market usually gets a fast charger. Be sure to check before you buy and if there isn't one, look for a charger that supports MediaTek's Pump Express 2.0 standard and not Qualcomm's Quick Charge.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra360° spin
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra measures 164 x 79 x 8.4mm, making it the narrowest 6" phone in our database. It beat the Xperia C5 Ultra by 0.6mm in that department.
The XA Ultra isn't as dainty in the other directions, though. There are shorter, thinner and lighter 6" phones around. To be fair, width and weight are the most important factors for comfort when holding a large phone, but at least that thickness and weight could have come with a large battery.
Hardware
The Sony Xperia Z Ultra was one of the earliest - and one of the best - big phones. Seriously, that thing had a 6.4" screen back in 2013! It was super thin too, 6.5mm, and yet had a 3050mAh battery (bigger than XA Ultra's). It had a metal frame and a glass back, a round button on the side.
The T2 Ultra came later on in 2014 and C5 Ultra in 2015, and gradually Sony began having one of these 6" monsters every year. This year they're also continuing another feature from the C5 Ultra - the focus on selfies. The C5 Ultra had a 13MP selfie cam with its own LED flash.
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra's selfie camera is much better, of course. The sensor is bigger and of higher resolution, it has OIS too. The new Ultra is a more premium offering with a metal frame, even though it fills in the same midrange niche. None of that ugly glossy plastic on the back either, it's smooth, good quality polycarbonate this time around and we very much appreciate the change.
All this history lesson is to say that Sony has been doing large phones for years and if you liked the previous Ultras, you'll love this one too.
The 79mm worth of width is okay to hold with one hand, but to use the phone, you'll need both hands, which is understandable for such a big phone.
The whole thing is heavier than expected, which makes it more tiring to hold for long periods. We wish it weighed less. As it is now, it weighs as much as the 6.4" Xiaomi Mi Max and that thing is fully covered in metal and has a 4,850mAh battery as well.
Credit to Sony, however, for doing what it could to keep the phone as narrow as possible. In fact, as far as our research went, the XA Ultra might very well be the narrowest 6-inch phone there is.
The side bezels around the display are spectacularly thin. Any less than that and you'll be triggering unintentional touches from just holding the phone.
The front glass has beveled edges (aka 2.5D glass) and it is scratch resistant, though Sony doesn't name any brand. The curve flows smoothly from glass to rounded metal sides which felt great. What's more the curved edges look great as well.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra is a lot of screen in one handful
The sides themselves are made of metal, but the top and bottom parts of the phone frame pieces have a different finish than the side frames. That's a minor complaint, but they would have looked much better if they were of the same color.
The sides have a different finish, a small blemish on the polished look
Besides the front camera, above the display there's the selfie flash, the earpiece, and the proximity and ambient light sensors. This camera, of course, is the highlight here and it is visually much bigger than a typical selfie cam, one glance is all you need to know that it means business.
Next to those, a bit harder to spot, is a LED notification light.
There's nothing below the screen - no keys there. Too bad that Sony missed the opportunity the put their traditional stereo speakers on such a big phone where there sure is room to spare.
The massive selfie camera means business • Stereo speakers would have elevated XA Ultra's status
The single loudspeaker is on the bottom of the phone, to the left of the microUSB port and one of the mics.
The other mic is on the top of the phone, next to the standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
Bottom firing loudspeaker • microUSB 2.0 port • Long live the headphone jack
All hardware buttons on the Sony Xperia XA Ultra are on the right side. This includes the volume rocker, stuffed between the Power key and the shutter key. The keys are nice and responsive.
True, we're not big fans of this arrangement in most recent Sony phones as it places the volume rocker too low for comfortable use. But the XA Ultra is so large that its placement actually works out okay this time.
The Power key is the trademark round aluminum key we know from the Z series, there's no fingerprint readers on the XA duo. Sony says the fingerprint reader would not have fit onto the thin bezels and it kind of makes sense but we would still have liked to see one on a phone in this price segment.
No fingerprint reader, but the buttons offer a solid press
On the left side is a flap that covers the card slots. There is no water-ingress protection on the XA Ultra so there is no extra seal on the flap.
Behind the flap there is a solid-looking tray for the SIM card and a slot for the microSD card.
There are dual-SIM XA Ultras as well but we didn't have one available to us. On those models the SIM card tray is longer so it holds two cards. No hybrids slots here, you can keep using a microSD cart (and you'll probably need one).
The flap is purely aesthetic, there's no waterproofing on it
The back of the phone is made of satin finish plastic. It feels nice to the touch and it looks really nice. It's also less of a fingerprint magnet than the shiny plastic on the C5 Ultra but still, it would get smudged up quite fast in every-day use.
The camera and flash are tucked into the top left corner and the NFC antenna is a bit down and to the right. Some recent Sony phones have it on the front, which is somewhat inconvenient, so we're glad it's on the back now.
Classy material, but does need to be wiped occasionally • NFC is on the back, next to the camera
Overall, the Sony Xperia XA Ultra has the look and feel of an expensive phone and we're left with quite positive impressions.
The look of the thin bezels is strikingly impressive, which is a rarity these days. The metal sides make this huge phone feel rock solid so build quality is on par with the looks.
Display
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra comes with a 6" screen - even by today's standards that's big! And it has 1080p resolution, giving it a pixel density of 367ppi, sharper than the 720p screen of the small XA (294ppi). We are really happy with the how fine details look on the screen and we think this sort of resolution is quite adequate for pretty much anyone - not to mention the power efficiency and graphics performance benefits.
The panel used is an IPS LCD and it has great viewing angles. It doesn't have Sony's Triluminos panel tech like on the Xperia X lineup but honestly, we can't tell just by looking at it and without comparing it directly to another display that has it.
Color accuracy is average with an average deltaE of 7.4 and a maximum of 13.4. Those are similar readings to the Xiaomi Mi Max, for example, but worse than some large AMOLEDs (e.g. Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016) or Oppo R7 Plus).
The main culprits are the white balance, which is on the cool side, and the red channel. There are sliders to adjust the screen's RGB channels separately, but eyeballing a more accurate result is next to impossible. Just get a color balance you like and stick with it.
Two additional screen modes are Mobile Bravia 2 and Super Vivid. Bravia applies image processing - noise reduction, sharpening, etc. in the gallery and video player - while Super Vivid boosts the gamma curve to make images pop. Neither screen mode affected the maximum achievable brightness or the color accuracy.
Speaking of brightness, the Sony Xperia XA Ultra screen is very bright, brighter than most screens its size. It went up to 530 nits while keeping the contrast relatively high at just over 1,000:1.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.38 | 523 | 1376 | |
| 0.50 | 531 | 1071 | |
| 0.37 | 422 | 1144 | |
| 0.00 | 351 | ∞ | |
| - | 351 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 427 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 609 | ∞ | |
| 0.46 | 424 | 922 | |
| 0.30 | 426 | 1444 | |
When you go the other way, push the brightness slider to minimum, the display put out 6.7 nits - low enough that you can use it in the middle of the night.
Sunlight legibility is surprisingly good. AMOLEDs still offer a slightly better performance, but most LCDs in this price range - and several flagships among which the Xperia Z5 - don't do quite as well on a bright sunny day. Sony gets top marks for the XA Ultra display.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Apple iPhone 6
3.838 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - 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 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2.378 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Connectivity
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra comes in single and dual-SIM variants. It has LTE connectivity, Cat. 4 150Mbps/50Mbps, and HSPA+. Other Internet connectivity options include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (150Mbps speed, there's no ac).
Bluetooth 4.1 has both the Low Energy option and the high-quality aptX audio streaming codec. NFC is on board as well.
The microUSB 2.0 port handles charging and data, obviously, but it also supports USB OTG so you can hook up external hardware. If you're going to use flash drives, make sure to install a file browser first as there isn't one out of the box.
Sony's Video & TV SideView app shows an electronic program guide and can control Bravia TVs via Wi-Fi (there's no IR blaster to control regular TVs or other appliances).
FM radio is available for old-school entertainment. Like with TV, Sony has added some Internet smarts and built TrackID into the radio app.
Battery
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra has a tiny battery - just 2,700mAh. We're not being overly harsh, the C5 Ultra is about this size (a bit thinner, actually) and it has a 2,930mAh battery. Hell, even the Xperia Z5 Compact has a 2,700mAh battery. Yes, the 4.6" phone!
Considering that battery life was the major weak point of the Xperia XA, which had a similar-sized battery (2,300mAh), the same chipset and a smaller screen, we just didn't expect much before we started the following battery tests.
It turns out things are better than expected, a decent step up from the 5" XA (not so much the endurance as the performance in the web and video tests). However, endurance hasn't improved since the C5 Ultra and is fairly average for 2016. Other recent 6" phones (and bigger) push up against the 100h endurance rating mark and can last close to 20 hours of browsing the web. We're not afraid to take those to even the longest tech conventions, but with the XA Ultra we will pack an external battery.
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.
Marshmallow with a dash of Xperia
Sony's new X line of smartphones come with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box. As always, Sony brought its own media apps - multimedia is its bread and butter after all - but core changes to Android are relatively few.
The software does weigh more than the typical AOSP installation. The Xperia XA Ultra is available only with 16GB of internal memory and you're left with about 8GB of that. A microSD card is a must as apps, photos, videos and music will quickly eat up the available storage.
The lockscreen is customized to show off the Xperia theme (the numbers of the clock are see-through so you see the wallpaper through them). You can swipe left or up to unlock, down to view notifications. You can't swipe right to unlock, though that's not much of an issue after the first hour or two with the phone.
Lockscreen • Lockscreen settings
The homescreen appears unchanged. This includes the swipe down gesture, which shows a screen of the apps you use most along with recommendations for new apps to install. A search field is highlighted so you can start typing the app's name immediately.
Homescreen • App suggestions and search
The traditional app drawer is still on board and it features an above average amount of vendor apps. Sony takes great pride in their AV prowess, so there is no way that they could have gone for the stock multimedia apps made by Google.
Standard app drawer
Themes are available (both free and paid) that can customize the look and sound of the Xperia XA Ultra interface.
Xperia themes
The notification area is plain Android. You can re-arrange the quick toggle tiles and adjust the screen brightness. Note that just like in vanilla Android, there's no toggle for Auto brightness (you need to go into the settings for that). That's the one thing we don't mind skins changing and still, many manufacturers like to keep it stock.
Notification area is vanilla Android
We have to say we don't appreciate the spamminess of Sony apps - the notification area is full of reminders, suggestions and other prompts.
Anyway, the app switcher is similarly a vanilla Android affair with the 3D rolodex look. The small apps are gone, however, and there is no longer floating app multitasking.
So is the app switcher (note: no small apps)
The Smart cleaner feature will periodically empty the cache of apps you haven't used in awhile. You can switch this off or just manually tell it not to bother for certain apps.
Smart Cleaner frees up memory of both kinds
One thing Android has been missing for years is a proper backup solution and Sony gives you one. It can backup applications, contacts, messages, phone settings. The backup info itself can be stored on your Sony online account, on the microSD card or an external USB device.
Backups can be scheduled, including conditions like "Connected to Wi-Fi" and "Charging device", depending on your preferences.
Scheduled backups are the best way to prevent data loss
One-handed mode can be enabled with a swipe gesture. It shrinks the screen to more manageable levels and is helpful when you need to reach something, but can't use both hands. You can flip the shrunken screen to the left or right-hand side and adjust its size.
One-handed mode
Performance
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is powered by the MediaTek MT6755 Helio P10. That's the same chipset that is inside the 5" XA, but you get an extra gig of RAM - 3GB total. The extra gig made switching between apps smoother (the XA was already pretty snappy).
The processor in the XA Ultra is an octa-core Cortex-A53 clocked at a high 2GHz. There are no high-powered cores here like in some Snapdragon 6xx or Kirin chipsets. The GPU is a dual-core Mali-T860.
Overall performance hasn't improved greatly since the Xperia C5 Ultra, which had a similar MediaTek chipset. The Oppo R7 Plus and Motorola Moto X Play, which use a Snapdragon 615 chipset, perform about the same too. The Samsung Galaxy A8 has the same chipset but gets slightly ahead of the Xperia. The Xiaomi Mi Max with the newer Snapdragon 650 performs much better.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi Max
1362 - Samsung Galaxy A8
1089 - Sony Xperia XA
1013 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
987 - Oppo R7 Plus
968 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
931 - Motorola Moto X Play
809
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi Max
74488 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
50109 - Sony Xperia XA
47170
The GPU was great for the 720p screen of the 5" XA, but the Xperia XA Ultra has a 1080p screen and a Mali-T860MP2 doesn't quite cut it. It's faster than C5 Ultra's GPU, but at 1080p resolution, it only manages about 50% of the frame rate of the Adreno 510 in the Mi Max.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi Max
15 - Samsung Galaxy A8
13 - Sony Xperia XA
7.2 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
7.2 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
6 - Oppo R7 Plus
6 - Motorola Moto X Play
5.8
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XA
15 - Xiaomi Mi Max
15 - Samsung Galaxy A8
14 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
7.5 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
6.4 - Oppo R7 Plus
6.3 - Motorola Moto X Play
6.1
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi Max
9.4 - Sony Xperia XA
4.8 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
4.7 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.9
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XA
11 - Xiaomi Mi Max
9.4 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
5.1 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
3.1
Basemark shows similar scores between the two XA phones, but that's because the benchmark considers off-screen performance.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi Max
15487 - Samsung Galaxy A8
8838 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
6754 - Sony Xperia XA
6420 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
5695 - Oppo R7 Plus
5349 - Motorola Moto X Play
5032
Basemark X (medium)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi Max
27070 - Sony Xperia XA
14635 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
14360
Games can still render at 720p resolution like they do on the 5" XA (and miss out on XA Ultra's sharper screen) or render at full 1080p, but with reduced graphic effects.
Either way, the Sony Xperia XA Ultra handles apps and daily tasks smoothly, but it isn't the phone for serious gaming.
Phone
We have a single-SIM Sony Xperia XA Ultra, but there is a dual-SIM version if you need an extra phone line. Either model has active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic.
The call log can be filtered by missed, incoming and outgoing calls.
Dialer with smart dial • Call log • Call log filtering • Phonebook
The new Xperia family shares a fairly unique feature, a built-in answering machine. It picks up an incoming call, plays your greeting and would later replay your friends' messages. You can set up your greeting and pickup conditions.
The Xperia X has a built-in answering machine
Loudspeaker
Unlike the Xs, the XA phones have a single loudspeaker, located at the bottom. The Sony Xperia XA Ultra blew others away with an Excellent mark. It is a truly powerful speaker that manages very good quality (though some distortion creeps in if you push it to maximum volume).
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 61.6 | 66.2 | 68.3 | Below Average | |
| 66.3 | 66.2 | 65.9 | Below Average | |
| 67.1 | 66.2 | 68.1 | Average | |
| 65.5 | 72.2 | 65.2 | Average | |
| 69.8 | 66.6 | 82.7 | Very Good | |
| 74.9 | 69.3 | 77.2 | Very Good | |
| 73.7 | 72.8 | 79.9 | Very Good | |
| 88.9 | 79.3 | 82.7 | Excellent |
Messaging
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra has a beautiful Material design messaging app. It feels like the instant messengers you might be used to, including conversations wallpapers and cute stickers you can send.
Ours came with panda stickers pre-installed, but you can download more (free and paid sticker packs are available). You can also send your own creations drawn in the Sketch (obviously, this changes the message type to MMS).
Messaging app • Stickers are available, just like in chat apps
For text entry, Sony picked the SwiftKey keyboard. It became popular for its swipe input, but regular tap-typing with text correction is available as well. Typing is quite comfortable and the narrow bezels didn't lead to accidental presses. One-handed mode can be enabled if you want to type with just one thumb.
Customizable SwiftKey keyboard
The keyboard is highly customizable - you can change the layout, choose what characters are available (accented characters, emoji), enable a number row, resize the keyboard or even undock it. The Messaging app also handles voice input.
Sony's Album is one great gallery app
The Album app is among the most comprehensive and feature-rich we've seen, it's fast and easy to use, too! Photos are organized by month, and you can use pinch-zoom to change the size of thumbnails (then they smoothly animate into the grid).
At the very top of the list is a slideshow, showing off your photos, lower down, the first photo of each month is shown at twice the size of other images.
The Album app is beautiful and functional
You can instead browse photos on a map (you can manually add geotag info too) or by folder. This includes network storage so that you can view photos from a DLNA server (your home computer for one). Then there's integration with online albums - Facebook, Picasa, Flickr.
Image editing is handled by Sketch. It lets you fingerpaint over a photo or a paper-like texture, add text, stickers, photos and so on. If you're talented, you can share your creations on the Sketch mini-social network, and if you're not, you can just browse what others drew.
Sketch is a fun image editor with a mini social network for sharing art
Movie Creator is similar to the Assistant of Google Photos. It automatically creates short videos from the photos and videos you've shot.
You can do it manually too: pick photos and videos, change their order, add color effects and music (you get a small audio collection to start you off, but can use custom files too). Then tap the Share button and send out your animated slideshow.
The Movie Creator can automatically or manually make shareable slideshows
We mentioned it in the Display section, but we'll repeat it here. The Sony software uses image enhancements to make even average-looking photos pop. You can choose from Off, Mobile Bravia Engine 2 (sharpen and boost contrast) and Super-vivid.
Screen settings
Music app
The Music app feels like a part of the same software package as the rest of the custom Sony stuff. The contextual side menu offers much of the same browsing options - by folder, network folder and online services, in this case, Spotify (it's just a link to the Spotify app though). You can share music from the phone to compatible players.
Music app
The Infinite button as such is gone, but its functionality is still here in the menu. It can find the track's video on YouTube, look up info about the artist on Wikipedia and search for lyrics on Google. Gracenote is used here too and it can automatically download information about your tracks and album art.
There are presets for Sony headsets and a number of audio settings. ClearAudio+ determines the best audio quality settings depending on the track you're listening to. We liked how it changed the sound and carefully accentuated various details. You also get a 5-band equalizer if you want to do the tuning manually.
Dynamic normalizer evens out the volume differences across tracks, which is great if you've mixed multiple albums from multiple sources.
Audio settings
TrackID is Sony's trusted song recognition software, which has since evolved way past that. It can now show you music charts by country, give you live updates on recent searches across the world, and store your search history as well.
TrackID
FM Radio
There's also an FM radio tuner with RDS. The app features multiple visualizations and integrates with TrackID to recognize the currently playing song. Of course, you would need to have your headset plugged in for the FM radio to pick up any signal.
FM radio with RDS and track recognition
Video
The Movies app is gone, the Video app is more focused on TV and movies than watching local content (Movies had HTPC-like functionality). The app will insist you enter ZIP code and cable provider before it lets you into the main UI.
Then you get multiple tabs that cover what's on the air right now, browsing info about TV series, upcoming movies on TV, getting recommendations and so on.
It's only the My Library tab that is concerned with watching stuff from the Xperia XA Ultra memory.
Video player • Now on TV • Popular shows • Subtitle settings
Videos can continue playing in the background (it's an option), but you can't view the video in a small floating window. At least you get full subtitle settings.
Audio output starts off great, loses some brilliance with headphones
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra did greatly in the active external amplifier part of our audio quality test. The smartphone's output was clean and its loudness was nicely high, making up for one of the better showings out there.
Plugging in a pair of headphones does cause some damage to stereo quality and adds some intermodulation distortion, but neither reading gets too bad. Yet with volume levels also plummeting to below average the final result is only decent, rather than impressive.
Here go the results so you can do your comparisons.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.15 | -92.9 | 92.8 | 0.033 | 0.038 | -92.5 | |
| +0.53, -0.25 | -90.8 | 91.6 | 0.019 | 0.427 | -49.1 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -93.5 | 93.5 | 0.0029 | 0.0068 | -93.8 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -93.4 | 93.3 | 0.034 | 0.035 | -57.7 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -97.8 | 99.1 | 0.0054 | 0.0087 | -97.3 | |
| +0.02, -0.09 | -97.3 | 97.9 | 0.015 | 0.078 | -81.3 | |
| +0.01, -0.08 | -91.6 | 91.7 | 0.0035 | 0.012 | -89.3 | |
| +0.48, -0.07 | -90.4 | 91.5 | 0.011 | 0.293 | -55.6 |
Sony Xperia XA Ultra frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Camera
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra uses a 21.5MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 1/2.4" sensor. It's not the flagship camera used in the X and X Performance, but it comes close.
The camera has hybrid autofocus (contrast + phase detection) and supports object tracking, although this feature doesn't seem to work as good as it does on its X stablemates.
The phone uses mostly the same UI as the other X phones. This means vertical swipes change modes, horizontal swipes flip between front and back cameras.
Xperia camera UI
The models include Superior Auto, Manual (just a name, there's no focus or shutter speed control) and some "camera apps" which range from useful (panorama) to fun (AR). These are downloadable so you can easily add more functionality.
The selfie camera is an 16MP camera with an f/2.0 lens and 1/2.6" sensor. It also has its own flash and optical image stabilization to boot. It's the most impressive selfie camera among the new X series (actually, the most impressive selfie cam Sony has ever made).
The Quick Capture feature from a locked phone option is available - just press the shutter key and the phone will unlock and take a photo. Optionally, it can just unlock and launch the camera or shoot video instead of a photo. This feature isn't quite as fast as it is on the Xperia X, but still quite fast. Note that the camera doesn't always give itself time to focus and adjust exposure properly, so check how the photo turned out as you may have to re-shoot some.
Additional settings • Camera apps
Shot to shot time is better than on the 5" XA. Only the HDR mode was slow, but frustratingly so. The UI becomes unresponsive while the HDR shot is processed in the background. You can tap away on the shutter key and nothing happens until the processing is done and at that point the phone immediately takes another photo and becomes unresponsive again.
Image quality
We were impressed by the quality of the main camera. The 21.5MP sensor captures rich detail, while noise is kept low. Photos are sharp even when viewed at 100%, touch complex detail like foliage is softer due to noise reduction.
We focused on three modes - Superior Auto, Manual and Manual + HDR. Superior Auto detects the type of scene you're shooting and makes the appropriate settings. Manual works without this automation, it doesn't actually have manual controls like the Pro mode on other cameras.
We found that Superior Auto leans towards a warm white balance, which sometimes is a very visible yellow tint. Manual mode photos have more accurate colors and often a different gamma curve - they have higher contrast, which we prefer.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode
Superior Auto on Sony cameras can enable HDR (you can't do it manually in this mode), but on the Xperia XA Ultra didn't do it often. When we enabled HDR ourselves in Manual mode, we often got better results.
The dynamic range of the XA Ultra is already pretty good but with HDR you can get solid photos even in difficult lighting situations.
Note that HDR mode requires some post processing, which slows down shot to shot time considerably and the UI feels unresponsive. Sometimes we would tap several times thinking the first tap didn't register, only to have the camera snap several photos in succession afterwards.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode • HDR
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode • HDR
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode • HDR
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode • HDR
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Superior Auto • Manul mode • HDR
Low-light shooting is not ideal, you may want to take several snaps for safety (some of ours came out blurry). Noise is high and detail is low, but overall this is a decent performance from the mid-ranger.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra, low-light: Superior Auto • Manual
The Panorama mode shoots images 1080px in height. The resolution isn't great and the stitching has issues, vertical strips of repeated pixels.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra panorama
Most phones in the Xperia XA Ultra class have 13MP-16MP cameras, so the Sony has a leg up.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra in the Photo quality comparison tool
Selfies
The selfie camera on the Sony Xperia XA Ultra is as advanced and fully featured as the main camera on most mid-rangers and it shows. The image quality is quite impressive, more so compared to other selfie cams out there.
Picture in picture mode lets you use both cameras at once
Selfies capture minute detail and have very little noise. Colors are accurate, if a bit too saturated. The dynamic range is good and becomes great when you enable HDR mode.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Selfie • HDR Selfie
Sony Xperia XA Ultra: Selfie • HDR Selfie
We took a few selfies after sundown and tried out the different flash modes. Here is Superior auto with flash set to auto and then set to fill light. The images may seem out of focus, but they are just very soft - the selfie cam struggles at night, even with the flash.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra low-light: Auto flash • Fill light
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra selfie camera is impressive enough that we've added it to the Photo and Video quality comparison tools. Note that we're comparing it against the main cameras of other mid-rangers and not their selfie cameras, which are much less impressive. The low-light performance is much better here, shot at dusk-like light and without flash.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra selfie camera
We shot a short video while walking to test out the OIS and the selfie camera in general. The stabilization does a solid job, but the camera sometimes loses focus (even if it started out okay). Audio has good quality, even with plenty of ambient noise.
The selfie camera on the Xperia XA Ultra shows a strong fisheye effect. The still camera fixes it in post-processing, but the video camera doesn't.
You can see it clearly in the Video quality comparison tool.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra selfie camera
Video camera
The video camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps from both cameras. HDR video mode is available from both too.
Whichever camera you're using, videos are recorded at 17Mbps bitrate with stereo audio (128Kbps, 48kHz).
The videos are sharp and have very good dynamic range no noise. The color balance is again a bit off (warm white balance and oversaturated colors). The focus is stable, there is no focus hunting.
Audio quality is good, the XA Ultra even managed to filter out much of the wind noise.
You can download a short sample if you want to view it without the YouTube compression.
Sony Xperia XA Ultra in the Video quality comparison tool
Final words
Sony almost seems uncomfortable with how good its midrange offerings are. Yes, the Xperia Z series was awesome, but it's gone now and the Xperia X got a lukewarm reception. Yet Sony keeps putting up the image of a premium maker, with the low and midrange almost as an afterthought.
Well, we loved the Xperia XA looks (much more than we did the X) and we've grown quite fond of the Xperia XA Ultra too.
Besides the huge screen, it's the selfie camera that we liked most. It's the best on the market hands down. Even more expensive phones can't match it, not the HTC 10 (5MP + OIS), not the Oppo F1 Plus (16MP). It offers high-quality stills and videos, great dynamic range, especially with HDR.
HDR takes forever to process, though, we would have liked to see a faster chipset. It handles most apps easily, but the Helio P10 isn't cut out for gaming or fast image processing.
The screen - the huge 6" screen - is bright and offers high-contrast and great viewing angles. Color reproduction is not perfect, but more accurate screens in this price range are rare.
The metal frame of the phone feels pretty upscale and Sony even managed to fix up the battery life (it's still well below what we expect from phones this size).
Sony Xperia XA Ultra key test findings
- High-quality build for a large phone; it's as narrow as 6" phones can get, but that doesn't make it any less huge;
- Heavier than expected given the choice of materials and battery capacity; puts a strain on your hand after prolonged use;
- A bright, sharp display for the class without the color shifting of the 5" model. Fairly accurate color rendering;
- Average battery life with 55h Endurance rating. The battery should have been bigger, but at least it's noticeably better than the 5" XA's;
- Sony's multimedia apps are better than their stock equivalents, but software takes up half of the available 16GB of storage; microSD is a must as we were running out of space after shooting the camera samples;
- Smooth multitasking in apps but games can't use the sharper 1080p screen to its full potential (the GPU was meant for 720p screens);
- Loudspeaker is loud, it's good quality too (when it's this loud, we're fine with having just one);
- Audio output starts off great, loses some brilliance with headphones;
- The selfie camera is unique, even the HTC 10 camera can't match it. It gets even better with HDR on (but processing time is annoyingly long);
- The main camera is excellent for the class with good quality stills and video. Again, it gets better with HDR if you're patient.
When it comes with large-screen alternatives to the Xperia XA Ultra, you haven't known "huge" until you've used the Xiaomi Mi Max (well, unless you've used 7" tablets as your phone). The 6.44" phone is a big slab of metal and glass. It comes with a fast chipset - Snapdragon 650 or even better, 652. You can get anything between 2GB and 4GB of RAM and from 16GB storage all the way up to 128GB. It runs a heavily customized Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The 16MP main camera is quite good and even shoots 2160p video. The 5MP selfie cam feels ordinary, though. The huge phone offers a matching battery life too, 108h of endurance.
Xiaomi Mi Max
The Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016) is another handful. This one has a 6" Super AMOLED screen, which is brighter and has much more accurate colors than Xperia's screen. The A9 comes with the Snapdragon 652 chipset and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with a lighter custom touch than Xiaomi's.
Both of its cameras have a bright f/1.9 lens, the main 13MP camera packs OIS while the selfie cam has an 8MP sensor. Both record 1080p video. The Galaxy A9 (2016) has a 4,000mAh battery with 103h endurance, while the A9 Pro version goes up to 5,000mAh (it also adds a gig of RAM).
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016) • Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro (2016)
The Oppo F1 Plus places more focus on the selfie camera than it does on the main camera. It's a 16MP camera with f/2.0 lens and 1080p video, compared to a 13MP f/2.2 camera on the back.
It has the same Helio P10 chipset as the Xperia and a slightly bigger battery (2,850mAh), which offers noticeably better battery life, 74h endurance. Part of that is likely because of the smaller screen - 5.5" 1080p AMOLED. It's not very bright, but it does have better colors than the XA Ultra.
The Oppo R9 Plus is around if you need a 6" 1080p screen (also AMOLED). For some extra cash over the F1, you get a much faster chipset (Snapdragon 652), 64GB or even 128GB of storage and 2160p video capture from the camera.
That's from the main camera with a 16MP 1/2.8" sensor. The selfie cam has a 16MP sensor. The battery is pretty big, at 4,120mAh.
The older Oppo R7 Plus is a more affordable version. It has a 6" 1080p AMOLED screen too, but a Snapdragon 615 chipset. The camera setup includes a 13MP main camera (f/2.2 Schneider-Kreuznach optics, 1/3" sensor) and an 8MP selfie (f/2.4). Both shoot 1080p video. You get a solid 94h endurance from the 4,100mAh battery.
Oppo F1 Plus • Oppo R9 Plus • Oppo R7 Plus
The upcoming Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra ZU680KL is humongous - a 6.8" screen! It has 1080p resolution and is backed by a Snapdragon 652 running Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The main camera is impressive - 23MP 1/2.6" sensor with an f/2.0 lens and optical image stabilization. It tops out at 1080p video, though. The selfie camera is a more regular 8MP/1080p shooter. The battery is big, 4,600mAh big, but not quite "humongous."
Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra ZU680KL
The OnePlus 3 is aggressively priced - so much so that it brings a flagship Snapdragon 820 chipset and 6GB of RAM to compete with the mid-range Xperia. The main camera is a high-quality 16MP shooter with OIS and 2160p video. The OnePlus has a capable 8MP selfie cam with fairly large 1.4µm pixels. The phone has a premium metal build and a smaller 5.5" display (but it's an AMOLED with great image quality).
OnePlus 3
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra hasn't even reached proper market availability yet, but from what we gather, it should be priced around $380/€380. That's a lot of money but you also get a lot of phone for it. If the extra large screen is not compelling enough, then there are the two excellent camera - front and back. The only departments where this great-looking phone falls short is battery performance and gaming performance.
Regardless of this fact, the Xperia XA Ultra looks to be a much better value than what you could expect on paper. Sony, there's no shame in having a great mid-ranger. The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is great, so please get it a matching chunk of that Xperia X advertising budget. It deserves it!
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