The Xperia L2 is equipped with a 5.5-inch display of 720p resolution. It's an IPS LCD panel with an equal number of subpixels for each primary color.
We were wondering if it's the exact same display from the previous L-series Xperia, but if that's the case then it's been tuned rather differently for the L2. For one, its maximum brightness is lower than the L1's at 400nits flat. On top of that, there's no boost in Auto mode, so 400 is all the nits you're getting in brightly lit conditions, while the L1 could pump it up all the way to 530-ish. The L2's number is quite low for an LCD, and sure enough, only the SuperAMOLED Galaxy J7 Pro is behind, but it makes up for it with a healthy boost in Auto.
By the way, minimum brightness is unusually high at 19.4 nits, and that may be too much for comfortable viewing in very dark environments.
Decent black levels help make for an okay contrast, despite the low brightness, and it's a notable improvement over the L1. Even so, most of the competition posts superior scores, Redmi 5 Plus excluded.
Display test
100% brightness
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Sony Xperia L2
0.354
400
1130
Sony Xperia L1
0.47
450
957
Sony Xperia L1 (Max Auto)
0.571
531
930
Sony Xperia XA2
0.401
532
1327
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
0
350
∞
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro (Max Auto)
0
539
∞
Xiaomi Mi A1
0.351
551
1570
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
0.548
555
1013
Nokia 6 (Global version)
0.364
484
1330
LG Q6
0.288
510
1771
Motorola Moto G5S Plus
0.352
483
1372
Motorola Moto G5S Plus (Max Auto)
0.455
616
1354
Vivo V7
0.295
470
1593
Sunlight legibility also took a hit this generation and the L2 is noticeably worse than the L1. What was a respectable LCD showing last year, is now a below average result.
Sunlight contrast ratio
Apple iPhone X 5.013
OnePlus 5T 4.789
Samsung Galaxy S8 4.768
Samsung Galaxy S8+ 4.658
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 4.615
Motorola Moto Z2 Play 4.459
Oppo R11 4.454
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 4.439
OnePlus 3 4.424
Samsung Galaxy S7 4.376
HTC One A9 4.274
Samsung Galaxy Note7 4.247
Samsung Galaxy A3 4.241
Nokia 8 4.239
Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update) 4.234
OnePlus 3T 4.232
Google Pixel XL 4.164
ZTE Axon 7 4.154
Samsung Galaxy Note8 4.148
Meizu Pro 7 Plus 4.147
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 4.124
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) 4.124
Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal) 4.096
Samsung Galaxy Note5 4.09
Google Pixel 2 (pre-update) 4.023
LG V30 4.022
Huawei Nexus 6P 4.019
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro 3.998
OnePlus X 3.983
Vivo Xplay5 Elite 3.983
Oppo R7s 3.964
Apple iPhone 7 3.964
Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone) 3.957
Huawei P9 Plus 3.956
Meizu Pro 6 Plus 3.935
Lenovo Moto Z 3.931
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 3.918
OnePlus 5 3.914
Samsung Galaxy C5 3.911
Samsung Galaxy C7 3.896
Samsung Galaxy A5 3.895
Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor 3.879
Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor 3.873
Samsung Galaxy A8 3.859
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) 3.842
Sony Xperia XZs 3.818
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016) 3.817
Motorola Moto X (2014) 3.816
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) 3.812
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) 3.804
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode 3.802
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 3.798
LG V20 Max auto 3.798
Sony Xperia XZ 3.795
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) 3.789
Apple iPhone 6s 3.783
Meizu Pro 5 3.781
Microsoft Lumia 650 3.772
Xiaomi Mi 6 3.767
Sony Xperia XZ1 3.765
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 3.756
Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact 3.729
Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone) 3.725
Oppo F1 Plus 3.709
Vivo X5Pro 3.706
Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) 3.688
Apple iPhone SE 3.681
Huawei Mate 9 3.68
Samsung Galaxy A7 3.679
Meizu PRO 6 3.659
BlackBerry Priv 3.645
Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra 3.597
Apple iPhone 7 Plus 3.588
LG G6 3.556
Apple iPhone 6s Plus 3.53
Motorola Moto Z Play 3.526
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
nubia Z11 3.466
Huawei P10 Plus 3.456
HTC U Ultra 3.453
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra 3.445
Samsung Galaxy J7 3.422
Meizu MX5 3.416
LG V20 3.402
Huawei P10 3.379
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 3.378
Oppo R9s 3.352
Honor 8 Pro 3.341
Oppo R7 3.32
Lenovo P2 3.316
Archos Diamond Omega 3.305
Honor 9 3.289
Xiaomi Mi 5s 3.276
Nokia 5 3.261
Nokia 6 (Chinese version) 3.244
Nokia 6 (Global version) 3.238
Samsung Galaxy J2 3.235
Sony Xperia X Performance 3.234
Xiaomi Mi Note 2 3.228
Motorola Moto X Play 3.222
Oppo F3 Plus 3.218
Huawei Mate 9 Pro 3.206
Huawei P9 3.195
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 3.19
ZTE Nubia Z17 3.159
Oppo R11s 3.153
Lenovo Vibe Shot 3.113
HTC U11 Life 3.108
Motorola Moto X Force 3.105
LG Nexus 5X 3.092
HTC U11 3.089
Huawei Mate S 3.073
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL 3.065
Apple iPhone 6 Plus 3.023
Motorola Moto X4 3.012
Sony Xperia XA1 3.012
Sony Xperia L1 2.994
Sony Xperia X 2.989
LG Q6 2.987
Huawei P10 Lite 2.974
Samsung Galaxy Note 2.97
Xiaomi Redmi 5 2.951
Sony Xperia Z1 2.95
Huawei Mate 8 2.949
Sony Xperia XA2 2.938
Xiaomi Redmi 4 2.92
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus 2.913
Xiaomi Redmi 3S 2.913
Sony Xperia XA Ultra 2.906
LG G5 2.905
HTC One S 2.901
Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime 2.893
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus 2.884
Sony Xperia XZ Premium 2.877
Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB) 2.877
Sony Xperia Z5 2.876
Nokia 3 2.871
Microsoft Lumia 550 2.851
Lenovo Moto M 2.813
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro 2.803
Sony Xperia Z5 compact 2.784
Nokia 2 2.752
Meizu MX6 2.751
LG V10 2.744
Huawei Mate 10 (normal) 2.742
Motorola Moto G5S Plus 2.737
Xiaomi Redmi 3 2.735
Huawei Honor 7X 2.734
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625) 2.714
Meizu M5 2.71
Sony Xperia M5 2.69
Xiaomi Mi A1 2.689
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime 2.679
Huawei P9 Lite 2.679
vivo V7+ 2.671
Vivo V3Max 2.659
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2.658
Huawei Mate 10 Lite 2.654
Oppo F5 2.653
Doogee Mix 2.642
Xiaomi Mi 4i 2.641
Xiaomi Redmi 4a 2.635
Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard) 2.616
Sony Xperia XA 2.609
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 2.582
Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto) 2.582
Meizu M5s 2.58
Xiaomi Mi 4c 2.574
LeEco Le Max 2 2.567
Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL 2.563
Microsoft Lumia 640 2.563
Xiaomi Mi Max 2 2.561
HTC U11+ 2.556
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1) 2.556
Lenovo Moto G4 2.544
Lenovo K6 Note 2.544
Oppo F1 2.528
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 2.525
Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c 2.506
Sony Xperia M4 Aqua 2.503
BlackBerry Motion 2.494
Oppo F1s 2.481
Motorola Moto G 2.477
Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus 2.473
Huawei G8 2.471
Huawei nova 2.467
Sony Xperia Z 2.462
Lenovo Vibe K5 2.459
Meizu m3 max 2.447
Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto) 2.417
HTC 10 evo 2.407
Huawei Honor 7 2.406
Vivo V7 2.404
Sony Xperia E5 2.386
ZUK Z1 by Lenovo 2.382
HTC 10 2.378
Oppo F3 2.376
vivo V5 Plus 2.371
Meizu m1 note 2.362
Huawei nova plus 2.329
Razer Phone 2.328
HTC One E9+ 2.305
Alcatel One Touch Hero 2.272
Apple iPhone 4S 2.269
Sony Xperia L2 2.266
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note 2.254
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra 2.253
HTC U11+ (EU) 2.253
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek) 2.249
Sony Xperia C4 Dual 2.235
Xiaomi Mi Note 2.234
Motorola Moto G (2014) 2.233
LG Nexus 5 2.228
Huawei P8 2.196
Meizu M5 Note 2.189
Huawei Honor 6 2.169
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 2.166
OnePlus Two 2.165
HTC One X 2.158
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20) 2.145
LG Aka 2.145
Archos 50 Diamond 2.134
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.119
Xiaomi Mi 4S 2.095
Acer Liquid X2 2.084
Huawei P8lite 2.078
vivo V5 2.059
Moto G 3rd gen max manual 2.026
Xiaomi Mi 3 2.001
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
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact 1.772
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
Samsung Galaxy S Duos 1.4
Sony Xperia L 1.351
HTC Desire C 1.3
Meizu MX 1.221
Sony Xperia E 1.215
Not much good can be said about color accuracy, where an average DeltaE ot 6.7 doesn't go to show just how blue the whites are. Using the RGB sliders in the custom color mode, we only managed to make them greener, and overall accuracy didn't improve to a meaningful degree.
Sony Xperia L2 battery life
As part of this year's 'more battery is better' philosophy, the Xperia L2 gets a 3,300mAh power pack - significantly larger than the L1's 2,620mAh unit. That's good having in mind that the L1's battery life wasn't at all impressive, but with the same chipset as last year, miracles were out of the question.
The capacity increase has resulted in more or less proportionate improvements in both 3G voice call endurance and web browsing, though video playback time has been rather inexplicably slashed by more than 2 hours. In the end, we got about nine and a half hours in both of the screen-on tests, and 13 hours of talk time. Dialing those into our established formula, resulted in a 65h Endurance rating - 2h more than the L1.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Sony Xperia L2 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. 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.
Audio output is nicely clear, loudness is below par
The Sony Xperia L2 had excellent clarity when hooked to an active external amplifier, posting excellent scores top to bottom. Its loudness wasn't quite spectacular though - it was just below average.
Plugging in a pair of headphones did an average amount of damage - some stereo crosstalk and a tiny bit of interomodulation distortion crept in. The overall output was still pretty nice, although with the volume dropping even further, you may want to stay clear of high-impedance headphones.
Test
Frequency response
Noise level
Dynamic range
THD
IMD + Noise
Stereo crosstalk
Sony Xperia L2
+0.02, -0.17
-92.0
92.5
0.015
0.020
-89.7
Sony Xperia L2 (headphones)
+0.66, -0.31
-90.2
89.7
0.0084
0.287
-49.7
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
+1.55, -0.61
-29.7
76.6
0.0017
12.493
-91.8
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus (headphones)
+0.06, -0.02
-92.4
92.3
0.0023
0.025
-76.3
Nokia 2
+0.15, -0.23
-53.2
86.4
0.0021
3.246
-96.2
Nokia 2 (headphones)
+0.02, -0.08
-89.5
89.9
0.0023
0.026
-59.3
LG Q6
+0.03, -0.05
-85.0
88.8
0.0014
0.0065
-92.9
LG Q6 (headphones)
+0.14, -0.04
-91.8
91.8
0.0031
0.113
-56.8
Oppo F5
+0.06, -0.08
-93.5
93.3
0.0020
0.0071
-93.2
Oppo F5 (headphones)
+0.64, -0.07
-89.3
91.3
0.0093
0.361
-52.0
Sony Xperia L2 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Loudspeaker
The Xperia L2 comes with a single loudspeaker positioned on the bottom of the device. For all it lacks in the bass department (practically non-existent, sadly), the L2 makes up for in loudness. It aced our three-pronged test and earned an Excellent mark, though voices in particular could have been louder.
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