Sony Xperia M4 Aqua Pro Reviews

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua features one of our favorite designs for an affordable phone: it’s slim and stylish, and while it’s all plastic, it has the looks and feel of a more expensive gadget. This, however, would not mean much if the phone could not perform well. Luckily, that’s not the case, and the device handles the daily Android grind quickly and mostly stutter-free. Looking at its price, it sits right in the middle of the market: the full retail price of the Xperia M4 Aqua is around $350 (280 euro), about on par with the Samsung Galaxy A5, its main rival in this segment. Both phones feature great design, with the Galaxy A5 having an advantage in the camera department, but lacking that water resistance. Naturally, there are a bunch of competitors at the same price point from China - phones like the Xiaomi Mi 4 are currently available for the same price, and the Mi 4 in particular comes with the advantage of a sharper, 1080 x 1920-pixel display, as well as a feature rich MIUI software. The two big downsides of the Xperia M4 Aqua are in the camera department and the limited amount of built-in storage. The 8GB of storage issue can be fixed simply by getting a microSD card, but the slow-to-start and focus camera with middling quality are there to stay. Ultimately, the M4 Aqua is not a bad device, but it’s hard to give it a heart-felt recommendation with those two issues.

The mid-range smartphone market is always tricky, especially with budget devices getting so good. If you are looking for something around this price, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is a solid choice although the Honor 6 is worth a look for extra features. It offers flagship-like design, a great camera and a user-friendly Android Lollipop.