Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and we explain how the stack up against each other in terms of their specs, features and design.
Price & availability
The Sony Xperia XZ2 is available to buy now from Carphone Warehouse at £699. It’s also available from Vodafone and O2. It costs $799 in the US. The Nokia 8 Sirocco costs less, now available from all major UK retailers at £649. Those who order from Nokia.com before 14 June will also get a free Google Home Mini.
Features and design
Both phones have upped their game in terms of design, but it’s Nokia which is the clear winner in our opinion. Sony has done a nice job of making the XZ2 look good from the back with a curved glass rear, but that’s hardly unique: plenty of phones have those. At the front, there are still chunky top and bottom bezels compared to rivals. They may be smaller than before, but not enough to offer the wow factor you get with the Nokia. Plus, it’s 12mm taller than its rival and surprisingly fat for a modern phone at over 11mm.
The 8 Sirocco’s vacuum-moulded curved glass does look and feel great but it’s hard not to immediately conclude that Nokia has produced a Galaxy S8/S9 clone rather than coming up with its own design. Whatever your view, it’s good to see Nokia back and slugging it out with the big boys.
Things get a bit tricky for the Sirocco when you put its specs side by side with any similarly priced rival, though. Even the XZ2, which itself doesn’t stack up brilliantly against the Galaxy S9, trumps the Sirocco in several areas including its processor, expandable storage and screen size. To be fair, the Nokia does have a dual-camera setup at the rear, more on-board storage, more RAM, a higher screen resolution (and an OLED display), a slightly bigger battery and is smaller and thinner. Neither phone has a standard headphone jack, but they are both water-resistant and support wireless charging. Both place a fingerprint scanner on the rear and they run the latest version of Android. A unique feature of the Xperia is Sony’s new Dynamic Vibration system. Essentially the same as you’ll find in the DualShock 4 PlayStation controller, the phone vibrates in games and when watching video or listening to music. It’s the kind of thing that some people will call a gimmick, while others will love it.
Cameras
Photography is often where phone makers try to differentiate their phones and it’s no different with this pair. Nokia has gone for a dual-camera arrangement with a secondary 2x telephoto lens and Zeiss branding. The assembly protrudes like the iPhone 8 Plus’ but it’s mounted vertically in the centre.
Early indications are that the cameras are capable of taking great pictures including portrait photos with a depth effect, and we’re also glad Nokia has brought back the old Pro Camera mode from its older Lumia phones. This has a selection of manual controls and should be a decent shooting experience.
Nokia is also making much of its trio of microphones for HDR audio recording. Their ability to record sound up to 132dB should be good news for those to record live bands and aircraft at take-off. Sony has opted for a single camera and no depth effect, instead focusing on video features. For example, the 960fps ultra-slo-mo can now record at 1080p on the XZ2 rather than 720p. And it will capture 4K in HDR. There’s still no support for 4K at 60fps, though. Its other USP is 3D Creator: you scan yourself with the rear or front camera to create a 3D model which you can then print or post on Facebook.
Around the front, both phones have a 5Mp selfie camera – pretty low resolution for flagship devices, we think.
Software
This is another area where the 8 Sirocco and XZ2 are level-pegging. They both run AndroidOne which means that they have stock Oreo with the interface as Google intended it. It also guarantees two years of upgrades to the latest Android version. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
