Why You Can Trust CNET Sony brings slick looks and waterproofing to Xperia M4 Aqua (hands-on)
Sony's latest smartphone has a stylish waterproof design, the latest Android Lollipop software and doesn't cost the Earth.
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Sony's flagship Xperia Z3 was one of my favourite phones of last year, with a stunningly sleek design and completely waterproof construction. It did, however, come with an extremely high price tag. With the Xperia M4 Aqua, Sony has watered down the Z3 to create a much more affordable version.
To lower the price, the internal specs of the phone have been rather toned down. It has a 720p display, instead of full HD, a less powerful processor and a 13- rather than 20-megapixel camera. It is still waterproof, however, and its design is almost identical to the beautiful Xperia Z3. It even has 4G LTE.
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Sony hasn't said exactly when -- or where -- the phone will be available, but has said it'll be sometime this spring. The phone will go on sale for the reasonable price of 299 euros, which converts to around £220, $340 or AU$435, although expect final pricing to vary considerably.
Design
The M4 Aqua has clearly taken all its design cues from Sony's glorious Xperia Z3. It has a glass front and back, with an identical rounded edging along the sides. From a distance, it's not easy to tell the phones apart. Up close, it does feel a touch less luxurious -- that band is plastic, not metal, for one -- and it's slightly fatter than the Z3 too, at 7.3mm thick.
The plain black design, minimalist Sony branding and sticking-out silvered power button are other elements the M4 borrows from the Z3. It's fully waterproof too, allowing it to survive a spilled drink or an accidental dunk in the bathroom. A physical camera button on the outside means you can also take photos underwater.
Sony has also performed some wizardry on the Micro-USB charging port, meaning it no longer needs a rubberised port over it to keep the water out. I was frequently frustrated at having to open a fiddly little flap every time I put the phone on charge, so this is a welcome change to me.
Features
Inside the waterproof frame is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor -- that's an octa-core chip, backed up by a generous 2GB of RAM. I haven't been able to run my usual series of tests on the phone, but my hopes are high that it will handle the essentials with ease.
The phone has a 5-inch display with a 1,280x720-pixel resolution. That's not brilliant by any means, particularly when you bear in mind those pixels are scattered over such a large area, but the display certainly seemed adequately crisp and bright in my hands on time.
Sony reckons the battery will be able to keep going for two days of regular use. That's a big ask for any smartphone, but I found the battery life on the Z3 particularly good, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the M4 can achieve. Of course, how much battery life you'll get will depend on how much you use it.
You'll find a 13-megapixel camera on the back of the phone. It comes with a range of automatic shooting modes, and you can expect to see the usual array of burst modes and HDR features. On the front is a 5-megapixel camera, with a wide-angle lens to help make your selfies look better than ever.
Outlook
No, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua doesn't come with the best camera or the most supercharged processor around. What it does have though is good looks, a reasonable price tag and 4G LTE data speeds -- and it won't quit on you the first time you drop it in the bath.