The new Xperia 10 II is the first Sony mid-ranger with an OLED display (Update)

Update, February 26 2020 (3:12AM ET): Sony announced the Xperia 10 II earlier this week, revealing a phone with plenty of features. Now, Sony Germany has noted that the phone has a European price of €369 (~$401).

This puts it on par with the Google Pixel 3a and likely on a similar footing as the upcoming Pixel 4a. In fact, the Xperia 10 II has a few features that the Pixel 3a lacks, such as water resistance and a triple rear camera. And one of these shooters is a telephoto camera, which is pretty rare for a mid-range phone.

Either way, it looks like Sony has crafted a rather intriguing smartphone for budget-conscious consumers.

Original article, February 24 2020 (2:53AM ET): After simplifying its branding last year, Sony is back to its old tricks with the new Sony Xperia 1 II and Sony Xperia 10 II. While we’ve already covered the flagship Xperia 1 II, now it’s time to take a look at the mid-ranger.

Let’s be honest, the new branding is more than a little silly — read out loud as “Mark 2”. Sony says the new naming structure is designed to mimic the naming conventions found on its Alpha DSLR cameras.

The Sony Xperia 10 II looks very familiar to its predecessor, packing a divisive candy bar design. Of course, there are some welcome improvements here including IP65/68 water resistance, a triple camera, and an upgrade from LCD to OLED. As you’d expect, the rest of the specs also make a noticeable jump forward.

There’s only an Xperia 10 II this time, no Plus model. Considering the branding is already a bit long and awkward, we’re thankful for this.

The star of the Sony Xperia 10 II is the display. This marks the first time Sony features an OLED display on a mid-range phone. This means you get the richer colors and deeper blacks found on flagship level devices, even if the Full HD+ resolution isn’t quite as impressive. The 6-inch OLED display also offers the same 21:9 format we’re seen in other recent Sony devices.

The 21:9 display can be a bit awkward to hold and use, but it does bring a few unique features to the table, such as multi-window support and the ability to switch between recently used and recommended apps with the new multi-window switch feature.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor is pretty typical for mid-range devices, paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The battery also gets an upgrade from 2,780mAh to 3,600mAh this year. Unfortunately, there’s no quick charging onboard.

Sony has used side-mounted fingerprint scanners many times over the years, so it’s not a surprise to see one here on the Sony Xperia 10 II. It’s also great to see the phone jack remains, though that’s not unusual for mid-rangers.

The Xperia 10 II packs three cameras on the rear. The ultrawide camera has a 16mm focal length and an 8MP sensor. The telephoto lens has a 52mm focal length and 8MP. Then there’s the main camera, a 12MP wide-angle lense with a 26mm focal length. There’s also support for 21:9 image capture and 4K movie recording. While we haven’t had time to test out the camera, it sounds decent on paper and we are happy to see both telephoto and ultra-wide angle lenses on Sony’s latest mid-ranger.

The Sony Xperia 10 II will come in your choice of black or white and will ship in select markets starting in spring 2020.