Some companies have suffered huge losses by joining this race, but Sony has taken a stubborn stance regarding the features and prices of its products. In such a situation, do not expect the appearance of a flagship product from this Japanese company in the price segment, half the current price. For this reason, at first glance, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua Dual smartphone lags behind its cheaper phones. So, we tried to figure out how Sony can survive in this race, and we came up with a very unexpected result.
Appearance and Design
The Xperia M4 Aqua Dual is a plastic and glass phone with a flat back and curved sides. The white and coral pink versions look good, but the black version we received for review looked a little heavy. The silver brand logo throughout the body, the ring around the rear camera lens and the power button on the side look a little different. When the screen is turned off, it appears as a glowing black slab.
The phone is slightly curved and has a matte design, but the flat back makes it awkward to hold. This phone is completely sealed, so all ports and slots can be accessed from the outside. The microSD card slot is on the top left and the Nano SIM slot is on the top right, both behind rubber-lined covers.
This is because the biggest feature of the Xperia M4 Aqua is its water resistance. IP65 and IP68 ratings mean that nothing will happen to this phone if left in fresh water at a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. In addition, it is also dustproof. Interestingly, Sony managed to do this without covering the 3.5mm audio port on the top and the micro-USB port in the top left corner with any kind of cover. The lack of a cap on the micro-USB port is even better, since repeatedly removing and reinserting the charging cap can be quite annoying.
The power button is very small and located in the center on the right side, this position is very inconvenient. Below are the volume buttons. And at the bottom there is a quick access button to the camera. The camera button feels good to touch and is positioned well for using the camera. Sony is currently the only company that makes these buttons, and we love it.
Specifications and software
This phone uses the Snapdragon 615 SoC, which is common in most smartphones these days, and its price is also lower than this phone, but that’s not enough. With four 1.5GHz cores and four 1GHz cores, this SoC can handle demanding tasks and even save battery power when needed. The phone has 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB using a microSD card.
The resolution of the 5-inch screen is 720x1280P. It’s less sharp than the Full HD screens of other phones available in this price range, but there’s virtually no loss. Everything is still sharp, and this screen is much better in color reproduction and viewing angles.
The phone has features like Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, A-GPS, FM radio and NFC. The 2300 MHz band used in India’s 4G network can be accessed using a SIM card in both slots. Interestingly, the phone does not support USB-OTG drives. The battery capacity is 2400 mAh, which is quite good for such a thin device.
This phone is based on the Android 5.0 operating system, in which Sony has used its own user interface, which we liked. There are several themes available, although most of them resemble Sony-branded movies or music. The company has done this in the past when it overloaded its software to advertise its media products. On the home screen you’ll find the Sony Liv icon, as well as the Sony Music, Albums, Movies and PlayStation apps. Another new app is a large “What’s New” widget whose purpose is purely advertising. While some of the pre-installed apps like Line, Movie Creator, File Commander, Sketch, MobiSystems OfficeSuite, AVG Protection and TrackID are useful, apps like Xperia Lounge and News from SociaLife are a bit spammy. Very few of them can be removed.
TV SideView is a useful app. It will act as your local TV guide, and the app will give you the option to use compatible Sony TVs as long as you’re on the same network. You can view shared media via the DLNA network and enjoy content displayed in Sony apps on compatible TVs, Bluetooth and speakers.
Sony’s camera app allows third-party integration, so you can download the app to add a slow motion mode or any other filter in addition to the Super Auto, Manual, AR Effect, Creative Effect, and Sweep Panorama modes. default. Apart from this, you can also run many famous applications such as Vine, CamScanner Phone PDF and Evernote.
performance
The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua Dual was a lot of fun to use, and I have no complaints about the speed or response. Apart from the inconvenient placement of the buttons, there were no problems holding and using the phone in one hand. Call quality was excellent and LTE also worked well. One issue we noticed was that after a few minutes of normal use, the top back of the phone started to get warm.
The test results were also good, but not the best in this price segment. We received 33,097 points in the AnTuTu test and 16,108 points in the Quadrant test. It scored a good 22fps in the GFXbench test and scored 4,345 in 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme. Video playback capabilities were also good, and we played even heavy 1080p clips without any problems. The sound was fairly clear and well-balanced, but quite soft even at maximum volume.
Battery life in particular was excellent, clocking in at 9 hours and 58 minutes in the video loop test. Sony claims that once fully charged, the phone can be used for two days. It’s possible, but you won’t have to stress yourself too much with games and web browsing. That said, it will easily last a day even with heavy use, so you won’t have to worry about storing your power bank and charger.
The camera has become the biggest feature of the phone. Even with difficult exposures, the pictures taken by the camera are detailed. We were pleased to see that compression artifacts and noise were under control. Even in low light, the camera captured images with detail not normally seen. Finally, we had to test Sony’s claims that the Xperia M4 Aqua is waterproof, so we tossed the phone in a bowl of tap water for 10 minutes. This phone continued to work even while in water, even if you took it out and wiped it with a towel, there were no problems in use. The touch screen doesn’t work underwater, but you can use the camera since it has physical buttons. Water resistance is a great feature in this price range, and you won’t have to worry about it getting wet in the rain or accidentally spilling liquid on your phone.
our decision
On the specs alone, the phone can’t compete with the Oneplus One and other similar phones, but Sony has given the Xperia M4 Aqua Dual a lot of new features and made it easy to use, making the price of the phone seem reasonable. It’s also true that you don’t get the fastest processor and brilliant screen, but this phone is way ahead in terms of product quality. You get features like a good camera, excellent battery life, and water resistance.
If the price were a little lower, the phone market would not be affected. By the way, the phone is already available at a price slightly lower than the starting price. So keep an eye out for offers. Sony has proven that it can bring a reliable smartphone to the market without engaging in a price war.
