Sony's new phone takes your selfies to the next level with two front cameras
Are you a selfie addict? Pfttt, who are you kidding? We all are. Let's get something else straight: For real selfie addicts, an iPhone won't cut it.
Instead, you'll want a phone that's more versatile, like Sony's new Xperia XA 2 Ultra that was just announced at CES 2018. The new Android phone has two front-facing cameras -- one regular wide-angle and one ultra-wide angle for those group shots.
Sony's Android phones are usually a huge snooze-fest (they've basically made all the wrong moves over the last few years), but the XA2 Ultra actually has something few phones have.
Whereas most phones only have a single wide-angle front-facing camera, Sony's new phone has a 16-megapixel 80-degree wide-angle camera and a secondary 8-megapixel 120-degree ultra-wide angle shooter.
Anyone who knows anything about selfies will tell you how useful an ultra-wide camera is. You can squeeze more friends into group selfies (groufie?) or actually capture the background when you're flying solo.
The XA2 Ultra's also got a built-in LED flash to help better illuminate your crazy bar selfies. Additionally, Sony's tossed in a slow-sync flash feature that'll light up the backgrounds of your nighttime selfies, instead of washing it all out.
Selfies look good. I noticed the camera heavily "beautified" my face, but you can tone it down if you're not into getting digitally airbrushed.
Taking on-point selfies is one thing, but the 120-degree camera could also be really useful for budding vloggers who don't want to carry around a heavy camera and tripod.
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Specs for the XA2 Ultra are pretty good for a "mid-range" phone, too.
You get a big 6-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) screen, Snapdragon 630 processor with 4GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of storage, a microSD card slot for storage expansion, and a large 3580 mAh battery.
Sony's also finally blessed the phone with a fingerprint sensor (on the backside this time) after years of disabling it on the U.S. version. And, wouldn't you know it, it has a headphone jack!
The XA2 Ultra looks like a solid phone, especially if you're really into taking selfies. I can only imagine how the ultra wide-angle camera is going to up your Snapchat or Instagram puppy face game.
The phone comes out in February. Pricing is TBA, but hopefully it'll be reasonable.
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
